G.H.O.S.T.: The Vaknar War

Fisher

Atlas cried out as he ran towards Shane, who was cackling as purple sparks of energy emitted from his fingers.
Time slowed at that point.
The slow spread of lightning as the headquarters shook once more. A portal slowly opening with Amadeus jumping towards Shane with hieroglyphic signs as Malcolm activated his own emitting from their fingertips. Shane's forehead emitted the same sign. The ground shook as the floors all crumbled from Shane's burst. Kane jumped towards the medical agents healing Toya and Frost as Oliver was slowly releasing arrows that emitted blue hues at the tip. At the floor below them was a reemerging Hunter. The only one unaffected was the Vaknar Knight. The entire battle he slipped into the shadows to protect Shane, leaving his brethren to handle the Elites, or so he thought.
He sat on a ledge above as he witnessed the slow movements of everyone below.
To his right another portal emerged.
Red in its hue as a glimpse of a world was shown.
A world full of screaming and gusts of wind filling the air. Out stepped a foot, or rather a boot, military outfitted like...The knight instinctively jumped off the ledge as he dove towards the portal. As the figure continued to step out, the Knight unsheathed his War Axe, as it emitted a heavy purple flame dragging through the wind.
"NO!" The Knight screamed.
The figure turned to face him.
"Enough of this madness."
It was Grim.
Outfitted in a suit similar to the knights, however black and a trenchcoat, Grim unsheathed two batons from his back. Flicking them forward, two scythe's appeared on each one, with a chain connecting them. Grims skull faceplate looked at the Knight as the Knight swung towards the G.H.O.S.T. Director. Grim was no longer in the realm he walked from, his powers came from his own dark aura. It was a power that could bring down an entire army with ease.
With his final swing, the Knight brought his axe down onto Grim's helmet.
Grim easily blocked the move with his batons, deflecting the attack and sending it back at the Knight. The impact sent the Knight flying backwards, where he landed on the ground, stunned and bleeding.
Grim raised his batons and slammed them down on top of the Knight.
"I should have killed you long ago." Grim said as he lifted his batons. "But no, I allowed you to live, and now look at us."
The Knight was lying on the ground and couldn't get up.
"I'll finish what I started." Grim said, walking closer to the downed Knight.
As Grim approached, the Knight slowly got up and drew his sword.
"You can't win." Grim said.
"No?" The knight said.
The Knight leaped forwards and stabbed the ground in front of Grim.
Blue flames erupted from the ground, engulfing Grim's feet.
"I told you I'd kill you!" Grim said.
The Knight then quickly held Grim's feet and stepped on them, using his weight as leverage to knock Grim over. He then jumped away from Grim.
"Enough games." Grim said.
The Knight then charged towards the Grim, who parried the attacks with ease.
"Let me show you how it's done, boy." Grim said.
Grim dodged the Knight's strikes, blocking them with his batons. With every block, the Knights energy was drained.
With a flick of his wrist, the Knight swung his axe.
Grim easily blocked it, followed by a quick thrust to the Knight's side, knocking him out cold.
***
Malcolm and Amadeus were watching the events unfold as their body's were frozen in movement. Amadeus's magic enhancements only willed him to be immune to Time displacements but not motion.
Grim walked up to the downed Knight and placed his hands on his neck. His skull mask emitted a purplish red hue from his eyes as he picked the Knight up, forcing him to remove his helmet and reveal his skull-like face.
"Oh Grim..." Grim said.
The Knight was none other than Grim himself. Yet it wasn't the Grim that stood before him.
Grim took his own helmet off, showing a handsome face, deprived of sleep but nonetheless his brown skin still shined with youth. Gray hair locs flowed to his neck as he looked upon his other self.
"You changed." Grim said.
"Can't say I didn't deserve it." The Knight said.
They both looked at each other for a moment before Grim sunk his blade into his copy.
"Another undeserving phantom of balance" Grim said.
The Knight fell on the ground with Grim standing over him. A lifeless body as the flames within him left his husk of a suit.
"Now onto this stubborn child," Grim said.
Grim sheathed his sword and put his helmet back on.
Time resumed once more.
Kane jumped on the agents, shielding them from the incoming debris.
Oliver's arrows expanded into a paste that exploded outward, holding the debris from hitting the ground and stuck to the walls of the groaning building. Malcolm and Amadeus jumped on Shane as they slapped a seal on his head before Atlas halted his attack. Hunter then teleported besides Xavier, looking down at his slain friend.
Everyone looked up to see Grim, who was walking over to Xavier's body.
"Step aside." Grim asked.
Hunter was in shock as Grim walked past him and knelt next to Xavier.
He had a foggy recollection of what happened after his body was riddled with bullets but that was the last thing on his mind right now.
Muttering an ancient language, Xavier's body lifted up in the air as a signs appeared on the ground, with fluid movements of Grim's hands the circle expanded momentarily and blinded everyone nearby before disappearing and leaving a stunned Xavier standing.
"What did I tell you about letting your guard down, Xav-?"
Xavier hugged Grim without a second to waste
"I never stopped searching." Xavier said.
"I know, kid. Hope I didn't scare you when I disappeared." Grim asked.
"Not a chance." Xavier said.
"Let's get out of here before this place comes down." Grim said.
"Grim."
The phantom turned to face Atlas.
"Old friend"
Atlas extended his hand, Grim placed his hand on it and shook it.
"We have unfinished business." Atlas said.
"Agreed." Grim said.
"For now we must go. We have much to catch up on. Amadeus and Malcolm can handle sealing Shane." Atlas said.
Shane's eyes fluttered as Amadeus and Malcolm healed him down with their seals. Xavier watched on as his body was slowly being wrapped in ancient texts. Xavier still didn't understand why Shane and all the Vaknar would go through all the trouble to try to resurrect the Dark Lady, what their intention was.
Grim suddenly unsheathed his scythe baton and Atlas twirled his blade towards an approaching figure coming through the dark hall of the floor.
"Somethings coming." Atlas warned.
Malcolm raised his left hand, activating a cybernetic glove to emit a light that illuminated the area.
Everyone braced themselves as the figure started cackling.
"I never thought I'd see you again, Grim." The figure said.
Grim stood tall and faced the figure.
"You've been busy." Grim said.
"I always had my ways." The figure said.
Into the light walked Shane Toribio, however everyone was unfazed.
"Hmm...I was expecting a better reaction."
"Do you think we were fighting blind boy?" Atlas asked.
" I expected you to figure it out, old geezer, but not all of you. So spill while you have the time." Shane said in a menacingly calm tone.
"We knew this one was a clone but..."
"But what?" Shane asked
"We ran records and the Shadow's ran intel with Atlas before your assault. It's why they weren't on the scene." Xavier said, walking towards the pinned Shane.
"I had a hunch but I didn't really want to focus on it, but you've been conserving energy to give to your clone to undo the merge Ace did so you could then let Marsa inhabit the clone " Xavier then tapped on his suits keyboard, "and reform herself fully. Am I right so far?" Xavier asked.
Shane's eye twitched slightly, yet remained composed with a smile on his face.
" An unfortunate setback we have but you're still missing a crucial piece."
Shane pointed at Grim.
"Wrong one." Grim said.
"You may be surprised who we meet in the afterlife, or rather the multi life ." Shane said.
Grim turned around, his scythe still in hand as he began to walk.
"I'm afraid there won't be an afterlife. Not for any of you." Grim said.
The figure laughed at him.
"You think you can win this? This isn't even close to the first time we've met."
"I know. My other versions. Including that Buffoon of a knight."
"You haven't seen anything yet." The figure said.
"So what is it that you want this time?" Grim asked.
"The same thing. The power to rule this world. No, the damn universe. All of it. And I don't care if it takes every life I have left to do it. You will pay the price for killing me."
Grim sighed.
"You're wasting your time." Grim said.
"Then let's dance, Grim."
As the two figures clashed, the floor began to crack, as the foundations were crumbling underneath them. Everyone took cover, as the floor began to collapse.
"Malcolm!" Xavier shouted.
The agent grabbed his fathers arm as he felt the floor come crashing down. Malcolm looked at the roof above them and saw pieces falling down.
"We need to move!" Malcolm said.
They both moved to the opposite side of the room and hid under the rubble.
Grim and the figure fought, creating a whirlwind of dust that was impossible to see through.
"This is going to take a lot of his strength!" Atlas said.
Amadeus looked at the ceiling, seeing that the tiles were starting to fall.
"We need to move fast, or we are as good as dead." Amadeus said.
"No, we need to stay here and help Grim. We can't leave him alone, the man just came back from the literal dead." Atlas said.
"What do we do about the clone?" Malcolm asked.
"We have to end this now, this has gone on for too long and my spell is weakening." Amadeus said.
"Who knows how long before the mirage comes down and the world sees this horror."
"So what do you propose?" Atlas asked.
"How about we make sure our friend doesn't get hurt?" Malcolm asked.
Amadeus nodded his head and turned to the side, where Shane was battling Grim.
Malcolm looked up at the ceiling and noticed the tiles were beginning to fall, a large chunk of concrete was getting ready to drop.
"Malcolm! Get us out of here!" Xavier shouted.
Malcolm and Xavier got up and ran to the other side of the room, before the roof caved in. They hid behind a wall as another piece of the roof fell.
"Atlas, how do we stop this?" Xavier asked.
"I am unsure. But I know one way to find out." Atlas said.
The real Shane was trapped in the dust and smoke as Grim continued to battle. Altas pulled out his sword and prepared himself.
Through all the chaos around him, the gleeful face on Shane's face as he fought his mentor, the clone on the floor and the deceased Knight, all the pieces lay before Xavier."
"Wait...I figured it out" Xavier said.
"What is it?" Amadeus asked.
"The knight...he's a version of Grim. Shane's been doing way worse than just plotting on our universe."
"What are you talking about?" Malcolm asked.
"A fragment of the puzzle, it's something I just heard recently, not gonna go too much into it right now," Xavier said as he hauled the body of the knight over to Shane's clone. ", If I'm correct, These two were going to sacrifice towards the Dark Lady."
Amadeus nodded, binding the two bodies together.
"So we simply have to erase these two"
"Exactly"
Shane looked over as he parried Grim's strike, grunting through the pain. As long as the director had been missing he still packed a punch.
Grim then swung his baton downwards, slicing Shane in half.
"That's what you get for trying to mess with me." Grim said.
Shane smiled as he fell to the ground.
Xavier's eyes widened as Shane's body dropped with a thud.
"No, That was too eas-!!!!"
It was too late, as the cloned body of Shane emitted a powerful light, blinding everyone and everything as the floors below them finally succumbed to all the stress of the fights.
As much as the headquarters was made to withstand battle, it wasn't enough to deal with the chaos of the most powerful individuals in the world. The building collapsed, collapsing around them.