by J Bigby
"Put your hands up and get on the ground," one of the law enforcers says through a megaphone. White turns around to see them and smiles then he fires a small missile out of a compartment in his suit. He causes a massive explosion blowing up four of the vehicles and sending one of the ships out of control.
Smoke billows from the destroyed vehicles. "I can't see! I can't see!" screams the pilot as he crashes into the other two vehicles, destroying them.
White runs towards the remaining ship and jumps tremendously high, landing on the roof of the vessel. He then punches a hole straight through the cockpit window right above the pilot.
"Need backu..." the pilot yells out but before he could finish his sentence, White grabs him by the bottom of his jaw and throws him out of the ship. The vessel tilts forward and crashes right in front of the landing platform. White jumps off the wreckage and casually walks back to his fighter and climbs inside.
Once back on The Tiger Claw, White chains Leah up by her wrists to the ceiling of the ship while she's still unconscious. Commander White grabs a bucket of boiling water from one of the crew and splashes it on Leah instantly waking her up screaming.
"I'm going to only ask this once so you better answer me truthfully... because I HATE liars," White says intimidatingly staring into Leah's eyes. "Where is Raygan?"
"I... I don't know" Leah says almost too scared to talk.
White pulls out a knife from a sheath attached to his armour and cuts off a finger. Leah screams in pain as White just stands there " As I said, I won't keep asking, so let's try again and if I don't like the answer off comes another body part... and you have plenty left," he says.
"No! Please! Someone wearing armour like yours, but it was white... they took him! That's all I know!"
White quickly cuts off another finger "I already knew that! Your his aide, you should know where he's going!" his yells out. "I'm becoming impatient and trust me you don't want that!"
Leah screams out again and starts crying "Okay... Okay..." she pauses to think. "The Ambassador was going to his system to get food and supplies to save millions of lives." White puts his blade up against another one of Leah's fingers.
"Don't you think I kn..." He pauses as Leah closes her eyes, trying to not think about what might happen next "Wait... That's it! They are heading to his system because Dex wants to be the hero. What system is it!"
"The Marvos system! Please stop! I'll do anything!" Leah cries out.
"Today's your lucky day. I could use you." White leaves Leah hanging there as he exits the room and walks onto the bridge. White stands behind the pilot and says to him "Set a course for the Marvos system. Our ship is much faster so when they get there, they will be in for a little surprise." He pauses as he looks out into the stars. "They don't stand a chance."
Chapter Seven: The Warrior Four
Dex looks out at The Tiger Claw and stands there baffled.
"I thought you said they wouldn't follow us here!" Raygan shouts out.
"I didn't think they would. We must have made it too personal for White, if he wants to attack us in your system," Dex replies.
The green light on the communication channel starts blinking, indicating someone's trying to get through to them.
"What's that?" Raygan asks.
Dex walks up to the channel slowly, thinking it is White trying to communicate with them and it couldn't possibly be good. As Dex gets to the com's channel, he presses the blinking green light and a hologram of White's face appears.
"Hello Dex. Like I've said to you thousands of times, you will never be free. Hand over the Ambassador and I will kill you quickly instead of destroying you piece by piece... If you ask me, that's a pretty good deal," White taunts.
Dex looks at his new found crew and family, as they all shake their heads. That's all the approval he needs, to finally not be afraid of the person who tormented and destroyed his life.
He turns back to White and says, "no. You want him? Come pry him from my cold dead hands." Dex looks at White, like he never has before, fearless and determined to end this once and for all.
"Always trying to be the hero. These people wouldn't look at you the same way if they knew what you have done. All the people you brutally murdered... all the women... all the kids." White tells him, trying to get inside his head.
Dex tries to hold back his emotions from White but realising, what he was saying was true. 'How can I make up for all the bad things I have done, when there is just too much death in my past,' he thinks.
"Don't listen to old man cliché over there! We have all done bad things but you are the only one out of The White Tigers, who has ever had any remorse, second guessing themselves about what they were doing and who they were killing. You did the one thing no one else could... Leave that old pile of shit behind and stand up to him! And... you helped me. I will always come through no matter what happens!" Hotshot yells out to Dex.
"You saw what was at stake and you saved Raygan. You reminded me of what I was fighting for! Don't let him get inside your head!" Fury says.
"Hell, I wouldn't know where I'd be if it wasn't for your plan. You saved me and I can never repay you." Sh'kar continues.
"You could have chosen to kill me but you didn't. Don't let this man define who you are anymore." Raygan states.
"And I think you're quite swell... Sorry sir, everyone else said all the good lines," Vicor adds.
"Really guys?... Way to steal my thunder and make this a cheesy moment," Hotshot says lifting his arms up in annoyance.
"Thank you guys," Dex says with a grateful smile. "You see White, family is the most powerful thing but you couldn't possibly understand that." He continues with a new found confidence.
"I know more than you think... Fine, hero! Let's see what happens when your given a difficult moral choice," White says as he brings the Ambassador's aide into the holograms frame, with her being bruised and bloody. "The Ambassador or his innocent aide!... your choice."
"Leah!" Raygan shouts out. "We have to do something."
"What do you suggest, hand you over?" Sh'kar says.
"We are not handing the Ambassador over to White!" Fury states.
"Yeah we don't even know this girl," Hotshot replies.
"But I do!" Raygan responds.
"You have three seconds to decide." White says holding three fingers up. "3..." he puts down a finger.
"Stop this!" Dex yells out to White.
"2..." White continues as he drops another finger down.
"I'm sorry. You are too important to give to him," Dex says to Raygan, with a look of bitter disappointment.
"1..." White shoots Leah in the head. "No more games. I gave you a chance but now you all die." The hologram disappears and communication abruptly ends.
"Quick! Send for reinforcements!" Dex yells out to Raygan.
Raygan runs past Dex, to the ships communication device and tries to send a message but nothing happens. "I can't get a signal out!" Raygan shouts.
"They must of blocked all communications," Sh'kar states.
"I think I can overwrite it but I need time," Vicor tells them.
"Then we will give you as much time as we can," Dex says as he uses the cord from his suit to transfer Vicor into the ships computer. A blast from The Tiger Claw hits their ship causing it to shake about.
"Guess it's just four warriors up against an army of deadly bounty hunters... That kind of has a nice ring to it. We should be called Deadly Bounty Hunters!" Hotshot says.
"We are not calling ourselves that, in fact we're not calling ourselves anything. We need a plan," Fury says as the ship takes another hit.
"Fury, pilot this thing. Make sure we don't take another hit like that! Sh'kar, keep this thing from falling apart, fix up as much as you can! Hotshot, man the guns and take out as many of their fighters as possible! And Raygan, stay with Vic and make sure as soon as he's finished, you send a message out to your army... We're going to need it," Dex continues as they all rush to th
eir posts.
"What are you going to do!?" Raygan asks.
"I'm bringing the fight to them, if I go to him, there's a chance he will back off you guys and focus on me." Dex states as if he might not see them again.
"Okay everyone! Time to take out the big guns!.. No seriously, take out your big guns," Hotshots yells out to the crew while they all ignore him.
Dex opens the back ramp of the ship and presses a small button on the collar of his armour to form a helmet around his head. He uses his thrusters on his feet, to propel himself into space, heading straight for The Tiger Claw's view port. He dodges pieces of debris, that fly towards him as he takes out his rifle loaded with experimental ammo. Dex fires his weapon at the view port, cracking it and making it just weak enough to smash through the fortified glass.
He immediately stops the thrusters inch's from the glass and brings his feet out in front of him. He uses them to ram into the view port window, smashing it.
Dex rolls onto the ship's bridge. He joins seven Tigers and Commander White. Just after he lands, the shielding automatically closes, covering the broken view port. Dex quickly gets onto his feet. He uses his rifle to shoot the White Tiger to the far right then grabs a guy in front of him as a body shield. White just watches Dex. Dex turns slightly to the left and shoots two of the technicians manning the computers.
The pilot gets up behind Dex with a pistol but before he can fire, Dex without looking, brings his rifle to his right shoulder and fires a shot behind him, hitting the pilot in the head. One of the bounty hunters quickly dives behind cover, while another one fires his rifle at Dex, hitting his body shield. Dex throws the dead body at the guy firing at him then spins around to the right side of the guy flanking him.
Dex lets off a few shots, instantly downing the bounty hunter. The other hunter emerges from behind his cover and starts to empty his magazine. Dex starts to run, avoiding the bullets and dives. He grips his rifle with both hands and lets his bullets fly, with every one of his bullets hitting his target. Dex hears a slow clap coming from straight in front of him by the door. He quickly gets up and faces White.
"I must say, I am quite impressed. You've gotten better since I last saw what you could do... That's all me," White says not worried at all. "I taught you that... And to be honest, I never did think you would use it against me." He laughs. "You got balls... But you really think you can just take this from me! I've built this organisation and no one WILL FUCK WITH MY LEGACY!" White charges at Dex and smashes him into a terminal, causing him to drop his rifle.
Dex grunts as sparks fly around him and White starts throwing a flurry of punches with almost super strength. Dex's helmet starts to break but then Dex grabs his pistol from his hip sheathe and fires it at White's stomach. The bullets hit an energy shield, that forms around Whites armour. The force of the ammo sends White back just enough for Dex to roll away then ready himself.
Meanwhile on The Fury Fighter:
The crew are becoming severely outnumbered as more of The White Tiger's frigates appear from hyperspace. A blast from one of the ships hit The Fury Fighter and a small explosion expels from inside the ship. "There's too many! Even slowing down time isn't enough to keep up," Fury shouts out.
"And this damage is too severe to be able to patch it up in time!" Yells Sh'kar.
"Vicor still needs more time!" Raygan shouts.
"Well... I'm doing pretty well actually." Hotshot turns to them with a cocky smile as a bunch more fighters appear from the frigates. "Oh... never mind." A missile flies directly towards them.
"Hold on tight!" Fury yells out to everyone.
The Fury Fighter goes to full speed as Fury spins the ship around to confuse the missile's guiding system. Suddenly it explodes sending a massive blast hurling at them. The explosion's reach hits the vessel, damaging most of the systems.
"There's a moon nearby, if we could just land there," Fury says to himself. Fury aims the ship towards the moon's surface. 'We're not going to reach it!' He thinks. 'Unless...' Fury jumps out of the pilot seat and runs to the other end of the ship. He closes his eyes and unleashes a blast of energy directly at the ground to change their ship's trajectory. He then races back to the pilots seat, sits down and grabs the wheel tight, that's shaking out of control.
Just as they are about to land, another blast hits they're thrusters, sending them spinning out of control and crashing violently into the ground.
Back on The Tiger Claw:
Dex stands there facing White, ready at a moment's notice to defend himself.
"You're already dead... You just haven't fallen down yet." White remarks at Dex.
"You can't intimidate me anymore White. I've gotten this far."
"And this is as far as you will go!" White yells as he swings a punch at Dex, destroying a piece of his helmet and knocking him to the side. White throws another punch with his other hand. Before Dex can do anything, White grabs the collar of Dex's suit and knees him in the stomach. White head butts Dex. As he stumbles back, White lifts his left leg up, push kicking Dex with extreme force. Dex fly's through the air, tumbling across the ground and crashes onto the front terminal, that reveals all of The White Tigers locations in different systems.
As he stares at the map. White grabs both of his shoulders and throws him back. He slides across the ground, crashing into a stack of metal crates. Dex quickly gets up and extends a blade from the forearm of his armour, he runs and swings it at White. White moves his head back as the blade's tip just reaches him and causes a small cut.
White laughs "A tiny cut? Let me show you what a real cut looks like!" He says as he grabs Dex by the throat. White extends a serrated blade from the forearm of his suit and puts it through Dex's stomach, ripping right past his armour. Dex yells out in pain as he gets tossed aside.
"You know, if you had just did I what ordered, none of this would be happening! You got no one to blame but yourself!" White shouts out while Dex starts crawling away.
"You killed my parents... That's something I can't forgive!" Dex cries out as he grabs a hidden blade from inside his left boot and throws it at White. The blade bounces off White's shield and hits a terminal sending sparks outs, blinding White for a second as Dex quickly gets up and tackles him into the ground.
Dex throws a flurry of punches, landing each one on White's face but White suddenly electrifies his suit. Dex lets out a scream as he gets electrocuted. White pushes him back with the palms of his hands. Dex hits the ground hard then slides back into the bottom of another terminal.
"You don't give up, do ya kid?" White says almost impressed as he gets to his feet.
"I will, if you do first." Dex groans from pain as he spits out blood.
Dex looks up to see White rushing towards him. Dex quickly gets to his feet, with a lot of effort. He then crouches down and uses his right leg to sweep White off his feet. Dex pulls out his knife from his body armour's sheathe and jumps with the blade in both his hands. As soon as he's about to strike, White kicks Dex in the chest with both of his feet. Dex gets sent flying, smashing into one of the other view port windows, cracking it. Dex falls to the floor.
White walks over to Dex. "Do you know what the most pain you can feel? Having a goal but unable to accomplish it." Dex looks over at the cracked window then looks back at White.
"Well luckily for me... I won't be feeling that today!" Dex grabs his pistol and shoots at the window, shattering it. Dex then grabs his knife, that fell next to him and stabs it into the ground. He holds onto it with a tight grip as his feet lift from the ground and Commander White gets sucked into the vacuum of space.
As the shielding comes down, sealing the window, Dex falls to the ground and groans. "I really hope this isn't going to be a everyday thing," he comments as he slowly gets to his feet.
Dex walks over to one of the dead bounty hunters. He picks up one their thermal detonators. "Oh, Sven, looking good. You don't mind if I borrow this do ya?" he pauses "You were never really much of a talker..."
He then goes over to his rifle, picks it up, throwing it over his shoulder and attaching it to his back. Dex limps out of the bridge door and starts to walk on a platform metres from the ground.
A two White Tigers see Dex and rush towards him, aiming their guns in his direction.
"Guys stop! White is dead, your free!" Dex explains.
"He's lying!" one yells.
"No one can kill White!" The other shouts as they fire their weapons.
Dex vaults over the side of the platform and falls to the ground. Just mere moments before landing, Dex actives his thrusters softening his impact. He races to the ships core room only a few rooms away.