NAVADA: RUMBLES OF WAR

Part 13

     Serpent Barnes wore a special kind of armour made from Titanium, wore an helmet, and had a cape flowing behind him. He had lasers and hidden blades on his hands, with a blaster hidden by his cape. He stood triumphantly and spoke with an air of authority.
     " Glad to see you awake Kevin", Barnes said to Deathblade.
     " Barnes?", said Kevin, too shocked to see Barnes himself. Although he noticed that I held Fred captive, the presence of Barnes disturbed him.
     " Forty good years Kevin, and not a day pass that I didn't forgot you. Looking so surprised old friend? Are the memories ever fresh in your mind?".
     " What's he talking about Deathblade?", Erik asked Kevin.
     " Save your questions lad, because today, retribution finally comes to me", said Barnes.
     Knives saw that the Barnes' men were about to shoot them, so he threw a knife at an alarm system. As the blade pierced the device, the fire defense system came to life, using its extinguishers which were attached to the ceiling to shower Carbon dioxide on everyone. I instinctively ducked to the ground with Fred as the guns were let loose. The Daredevil Squad fought back, using the smoke as their disguise. Barnes wasn't pleased at this, so he brought out his blaster and shot any enemy he found, all with the aim of finding Deathblade. Erik attacked the serpent as he tried to find Kevin. Erik tried to stab him, but the serpent was faster and struck Erik in the balls. Erik fell down in pain, and before he knew it, his brain was splattered by Barnes' blaster.
     I still held Fred, not sure what to do at all. Then Eve saw us and shot her way towards us. She saved me from a soldier who was about to kill me and took us to a safer place.
     " Let go of me!", Fred said to me. I obeyed immediately as if he was my master.
     " We've got to go Fred", said Eve," They'll burn this place to the ground".
     " Not without Deathblade", said Fred.
     " If we look for him we may get killed Fred".
     " Not without Deathblade", said Fred again, bringing out his gun and getting ready to find Kevin.
     Eve saw the determined look on his eyes. But then she looked at me and then said to Fred," What about Navada?".
     " She'll be fine as long as you stay put with her", replied Fred.
     " You're going there alone?".
     Fred didn't reply. He entered the heat of the gunfire and searched for Kevin.
     Knives fought against Barnes and proved difficult in combat. Barnes however had faced cruel men better than Knives. Overpowering Knives, he attempted to kill him when Fred showed up and saved him from Barnes. He had  shot the serpent in the chest, thus saving Knives. But the serpent wore a bulletproof vest and showed no sign of injury. Fred continued the shooting until Knives got to him. Barnes got angry and lasered Fred's gun. Knives was too injured to fight, and so Barnes walked towards them, his blades released for battle. But at that moment, Deathblade jumped from nowhere and kicked the serpent back.
     " Deathblade!", said Fred," Thank goodness. We've got to get out of here!".
     " Go!", Kevin said to Fred," Get the others to safety".
     " What! Not without you Deathblade".
     Seeing that Barnes was coming, Kevin attached two devices on them, which teleported them to separate locations outside the base. Kevin activated a lockdown, trapping himself with the enemy. Fred teleported to where me and Eve where, and saw that the base was on lockdown. He shouted Deathblade's name repeatedly but got no response. He brought out his watch which displayed a small holographic screen, showing Deathblade being beaten up by Barnes and was later carried away by his men.
     Fred stood there shocked, too stunned to believe what just happened. Then Eve suddenly spoke to him," Have they got him Fred?".
     Fred nodded, but didn't speak.
     " Then what are you doing? We've got to go Fred. There's nothing we can do. We have to get outta here quick".
     Fred nodded again and finally followed me and Eve. We caught a bus going to Raggers Lucan street and hopped in.
***
     San Franciso was counting her remaining hours. The blutonium still wasn't found, meaning that she was done for. Her soldiers however decided that they and their people weren't going to be killed unjustly. They planned to fight and defend the city to their last breath.
     That evening, a message from a strange source was passed across the whole city through any device that readily displayed information. It was a video showing Deathblade, beaten up and tied to a chair, surrounded by some men who wore scary masks. As many, including Fred and his duo, watched the video, Barnes came from nowhere and stood beside Kevin with a barrel of oil. He poured all the oil on Kevin, making sure it touched all his body. He said that Deathblade was the saviour of San Franciso, but her president wanted Kevin dead because he believe that Kevin had the blutonium and so wanted him dead in public, with a fine ransom for his killer. With that, he brought out a lighter and smiled before setting Kevin ablaze.