They'd been at it, taking pot-shots back and forth down the hallway, for a while now. Or maybe they'd been doing it for no time at all. Even for seasoned soldiers, the brain has a funny habit of playing with time, making it slow down of speed up in rapid bursts, when in situations of stress; and as far as situations of stress go, being in the middle of a pitched firefight in a claustrophobic space ranked pretty highly on the list.
It was no use continuing as they were. While they had succeeded in buying enough time for Clem and Aggie to get away with the supplies, which was what mattered primarily, Chen was in no hurry to die here. Trying to take the exit now left them too exposed, and they couldn't stay here. Even if he and Felix succeeded in holding off the two men still trying to advance on them, they were almost sure to have backup on the way. They couldn't run, and they couldn't just stay still, so they had to turn the tables...
Right now, Chen and Felix were on the low ground, figuratively speaking. It was clear Felix was no great shot, but even with Chen's extensive training, his opponents had him outmatched for range and rate of fire. They probably had more ammo to spare too. Chen would have to get up close if he wanted to finish this with a positive outcome. It was a huge risk, but he didn't see any other option.
"Hey!" Chen called out to Felix, sliding one of his handguns across the floor to the other man's cover. Piss-poor shot or not, he needed the extra firepower more than Chen.
"I need you to keep the one on the left pinned down. Keep shooting, but when I move, do NOT shoot me in the back!"
Ducking back into cover and reloading his weapon, Felix picked up the extra handgun that Chen had thrown him. "Okay!" He yelled back, somehow still sounding polite as ever.
Travis meanwhile was still peppering his enemy's position with his assault rifle. He was focusing his fire on the worse shooter of the two while Barrows kept the fire on the one who's shots hit closer to home. How long was their backup going to fucking take anyway?
'Well this day finally decided to sort its shit out at least.'
Barrows pressed himself close to the nearest piece of cover as he tinkered with his pistol. Should have brought a bigger gun. This was what he got for trying to be a social creature. Ugh, people!
"Ah well." He shrugged to himself, popping out just fast enough to pepper the darty lad with a closely grouped double tap.
Felix held two handguns in each hand. He just needed to scare the guy, keep him in cover. It was dangerous sure, but he was sure he could do it without shooting Chen down.
Waiting just long enough for the bullets to stop, Felix peeped out of cover and began firing guns akimbo at the one on the left. They weren't hitting but they kept the man in cover.
‏Chen wasted no time. As soon as Felix started shooting, he was off, sprinting at full pelt down the hallway. As he ran, Chen drew his remaining pistol and fired rapidly. At full speed, even his shots were wild, but they were enough to send the second opponent back-pedalling for cover, that was enough.
When he was within a few short yards of his target, the tell-tale click of the trigger told Chen the gun was empty. With no time to reload, Chen simply dropped the gun and kept on running. His opponent had obviously heard the click too, and wheeled out of cover, presumably ready to blast Chen to pieces at point blank range. He never got the chance. Before the man's trigger finger could tighten, Chen was already on him. Just a few more footfalls away, Chen leapt into the air, planting his foot on the wall before vaulting up and grabbing a vent grate on the ceiling with both hands. His momentum at full, Chen powered up and released a devastating two-footed kick right into the man's centre of mass. His opponent was larger and heavier than him, but even so the man staggered back, winded, the gun spinning out of his hands.
Dropping back down the few feet to the ground, Chen had the moment's time necessary to take in who the man was. He knew that face, that twisted snarl...
Chen's blood ran cold, then very hot, and he was stony faced when he put up his hands, legs apart, inviting the challenge. He knew he had what it took to beat Travis one on one in an unarmed brawl, even when injured. However, if he made so much as on mistake, this would get very ugly indeed.
Travis felt as if a missile had just been launched into his chest. His head snapped up, seeing his gun sent sprawling across the floor. Fuck it, guns were boring anyway. Jumping up he pulled out the giant knife he had been 'donated' by The Reaper. Meanwhile, the only thing keeping Barrows from filling Chen full of holes was an unstoppable barrage of bullets by Felix, paced perfectly between firing each individual bullet and reloading just fast enough to halt the man in his tracks whenever he wanted to peek out.
Travis stepped forwards, swinging his blade like a mad man. No grace, whatsoever, he just wanted to gut this slit eyed bastard.
Chen let Travis come to him, ducking a weaving in and out of the psychopath's wild slashes in a half-graceful, half manic dance. The more Travis pressed the charge, and the more animated he became at he endeavoured to cut Chen to pieces, the more he put himself between Chen and Barrow's, preventing his partner from coming to his aid. That was all for the good.
Unfortunately, what Travis lacked in finesse, he made up for in pure ferocity. The man was fast, strong, and showed no signs of losing stamina anytime soon, even with the winding Chen had given him. Picking a moment to counter the blur of steel before him was no mean feat. A jab here and there would be useless, but getting inside Travis' reach for a more decisive strike carried its own risk. Unless Chen could put Travis on the ground then and there, the other man could use his superior brute strength to crush him.
Eventually, the right moment came, and Chen didn't hesitate. A wild lunge from Travis sailed passed Chen's ear, as he glided inside it like fluid. With Travis still moving forward, Chen planted his foot firmly between his opponent's step, and his shoulder into the centre of Travis' torso. Grabbing his arm, Chen used Travis' own inertia to turn him, pulling him off balance as they twisted round together, to slam into the wall with shuddering force. Chen felt the impact travel up Travis' arm as he pinned it against the concrete, jamming it. Before the other man could get Chen in any kind of choke hold, or attempt to wrest his arm free, Chen delivered a devastating open-handed strike to Travis' wrist, crushing it between him and the concrete.
The knife fell with a clatter to the floor.
Off balance and stunned by pain, Travis' body may as well have been lying on a slab in that moment. An inanimate mass of pressure points Chen could abuse at will, which he wasted no time in doing, striking high and low in quick succession. He ended that flurry of blows with a head-butt delivered right on the bridge of Travis' nose, sending him reeling, and followed up with a roundhouse kick that struck right on the temple. For a second, The Dragon was only upright for the virtue of his skull being wedged between Chen's heel and the wall, holding the rest up him up. When Chen released, he collapsed, barely conscious.
'Now! Finish him now!'
Deftly, Chen flipped the knife up into the air with his foot, caught it, and began to crouch down, a second away from slashing Travis' throat wide open.
All those raids and beach stormings that the songbirds had given him had spoiled Barrows apparently. A small, intimate, kind of fight just didn't have the same kind of lustful thrill that it did before. He'd gotten a big ol' helping of warfare diabetes. No explosions, no roars and crackles of radio static, no thrill of flames and tattered concrete. Just a ***** and a rapist going at it like they were on display for the kiddies the two were probably in here for buggering.
'I might have sunk to a new low.'
No time to dwell though! Apparently Selena wasn't the only one taking community martial arts classes round these parts and Travis was about to find himself fucking off the edge of this mortal dick. Probably wouldn't be good for the mission parameters.
Take a deep breath and... go! Barrows threw himself from cover and sprayed what he had left in the clip in the direction of the secondary gunner, closing the distance fast enough to get himself tangled up into a threesome worthy of the shower room, clamping Chen's knife arm into a quick lock and cracking the butt of his pistol into his shoulder.
'Shit!'
Chen sprung up and was ready to gut his second assailant like a fish, only this one was too quick for him. He had been breathing heavily after all that exertion with Travis, and his arm was starting to ache more noticeably now. Had Travis been a tougher foe than he'd bargained for, or had the last two weeks of sneaking around scrounging food begun to take their toll on him? While he still trained every day and worked hard to keep his fitness up, Chen wasn't as young as he once was...
Pain lanced down his arm and across his chest as the other struck him, and the knife very nearly slipped from his grasp. Before the man had time to do it again, Chen utilised the movement he still had in his wrist, to flip the knife up into the air and over the Songbird's head, catching it with his free hand, and bringing down a deadly slash. His opponent danced away before the blade could slice his face in two, and Chen was free, his shoulder stiff and sore, but free.
As they circled each-other, Chen tossing the knife from one hand to the other, keeping his opponent guessing, he had time to take in the man's appearance. He recognised this one as well. He didn't know of him as well as Travis obviously, but he'd seen him out on patrols a few times. No hired Inmate, this was one of General Hammond's most feared enforcers, the one they called Barrows. Chen was good at sizing up opponents quickly, taking in not just their physical bulk or any visible handicaps, but measuring their temperament and experience as well. He didn't like what he saw. It was clear that Barrows had all the brawn of Travis, perhaps even a little more, and with at least half a brain to match. That was the really worrying part. The man had heavy, and recent, bruising across the bridge of his nose, but no other visible exploits than that.
Chen knew his own capabilities. He was a CQC specialist, a veteran of one of the most elite fighting forces on the planet, with years of experience surviving inside The Pit, compared to this man's near-fortnight... and he was tiring, malnourished, and nursing injuries. On balance, this could be the fight of his life.
Acting quickly, giving nothing away before he lashed out, Chen launched into a pirouette. As he completed the turn, he flung the knife from under his arm, it's path having been concealed by his twisting form up until the last moment. In a blur of steel, the blade tumbled towards Barrows. Perhaps Chen could still finish this quickly...
Oh well if he wasn't a tricksy little blighter. Barrows would have even apreciated the funky gymnastic knifey crap if they hadn't been trying to kill each other. Or if it had been a fit Indian belly dancer type bird, then he probably wouldn't have minded some light murder attempts. Coming from a bloke it just felt pooftery.
He carried on his dancing crap and Barrows was sent a step back with a grunt as he felt a light prick in his chest and the tingling warmth that followed a cut. Apparently he hadn't been fast enough to dodge the knife. But that was what Kevlar was for as the trusty vest took almost all the real damage.‏
‎"Thank you very much, lad." Barrows smirked as he yanked the knife from his Arctic layers. Travis had good taste.
He got back to the merry business quick enough, after all they had a second gun to worry about so odds were it was better to take down Shanghai Shuffle here and take down his boy fast enough. Maybe take one in for questions, who cared?
Barrows put his body into things with gusto, taking full advantage of his heftier weight. Slamming his forearm into Chen's guard with his free hand sending a slash down low to bleed his troublesome legs.
Chen leapt back out of the way of the knife slash, gritting his teeth in mingled pain and frustration. He side-stepped, then lashed out with an elbow strike that caught Barrows in the jaw. Barrows staggered, and Chen had a second with which to take advantage. He had to use it, there was no choice. Barrow's superior size and strength be damned! Chen had to go all in, or he was going to lose this...
He ran at Barrows, moving as if to launch a flying kick right at his face, and was an inch from doing just that, before he feinted, dropping to the floor and skidding between Barrows' legs, his own shoulder blades brushing the floor as he leaned back. Once though, he vaulted to his feet, twisting, and powered up a devastating knee up between Barrows' legs, almost bringing him down. Not stopping to admire his handy work, Chen planted his foot at the back of Barrows' knee, and used it to leap up, so that he was sitting on the larger man's shoulders, his legs wrapped around his neck. Trying to draw on all the strength of his core, Chen crossed his arms round Barrow's head, and twisted, attempting to wrench the man's head round a hundred and eighty degrees, ripping his spinal cord apart.
Barrows let out some guttural noise between a snarl and a cry of pain as he got given the once over and his head got wrenched all over the place. After all the threats of being mounted by a warmth deprived gentleman he'd heard since getting here this was not the approach he was expecting. Lucky for him he was an exercise freak and his neck was muscled more than was probably healthy.
Holding out wasn't an option though, neither was getting a good punch in. Well! There was only one thing to do when a mad Chinaman demands a piggyback!
He staggered back and forth for a second as he struggled to stay upright with Chen's weight on his shoulders until he managed to get a firm balance and made a charge for the wall, like a bull, dipping his head and grabbing Chen's legs and swinging him face first into the concrete with a sharp thud. With his opponent stunned Barrows grabbed his chance and Chen along with it. He raised his arms and took a firm grip of Chen's folding form as the two of them recoiled from the force of the impact.
Before gravity could have its way Barrows charged for the wall again, holding Chen in place atop his shoulder like a battering ram and crashed him into the rock for a second time before allowing him to drop to the ground. Playing it fancy was a wanker's game.
"You! Little! Fucking!" Barrows dragged Chen to his feet and began punctuating each word with a fresh punch, working him over like tender meat. "Prick!" And a swift knee to the crotch just for good measure.
With all the strength and speed in his body Felix ran up to the mass of muscle bearing down on Chen, leapt up into the air and booted Barrows right in the side of the head, sending him careening off of Chen. He went down but was on the ground for less than a second as he hopped right back up. Felix came in close with a right swing, blocked by Barrows but the Spaniard delivered a vicious punch into his bicep, before elbowing him in the nose, staggering the soldier. Felix went to follow up with a strike to the throat but Barrows quickly batted his hand away and punched the prisoner in the face three times before he could lift his hands to defend himself.
Barrows shot his fist in an arc for the ribs, but Felix hooked the man's arm and head-butted him again and again in the nose. Lifting himself up a little to gain some leverage, Felix stole his idea and offered Barrows a series of hard knees to the ribs and landing another elbow against his jaw, pushing Barrows against the wall for support. Felix came in for another attack but the songbird kicked the knight with tank like strength in the stomach and chest before rushing him to the opposite wall.
Needless to say it wasn't proving to be a very good day for Barrows or his poor unappreciated nose. Somehow he thought that a simple snap back into place wouldn't fix all the damage it was taking this time. His, not so iron, discipline got set aside for a little while as he rushed Felix across the hall in a fit of blind instinct. Literally, almost blind, his eyes were watering up like crazy!
Out of spite more than anything he started lashing out against the little prick with a flurry of light blows. They weren't his best work though and Felix was able to take most of them with gritted teeth, offering up as good as he got as he fought his way out of his corner. Props to him at least he was fighting properly and not like a circus freak.
It was only after Felix managed to get a good hit in on Barrows' eye that the songbird got lucky enough for his blurring vision to find an opening and lashed out with an open palm hit to Felix's nose. God wasn't smiling on Barrows today though so of course the bone didn't go right up into his brain. Instead what he got was a response hit right near the point on his arm where the business ***** had sucker punched him earlier, sending a surge of fresh pain through Barrows' arm.
Felix took his moment and ran with it, grabbing his foe's arm and jamming two fingers into his pressure point, before striking him with as much force as he could in the throat. Despite whatever training this man had received, no man could stand strong against an attack to the throat. Felix struck with a knife edge chop under his jaw and to finish this fight once and for all, grabbed the side of the man's head and dug his knuckles into his temple.
Both opponents were down and Felix was still standing. It was a tough fight, and this sir seemed to have survived the attack to the temple, but despite their survival Felix remembered Chen's words.
"I need you to be relentless. Shoot first, shoot to kill, and don't stop shooting until they're all dead, you understand?"
They had won this bout but Chen's orders were of no survivors. Against enemies in a fair fight that was fine, but against unconscious men it was every kind of wrong. Was it worth breaking his oath if it meant victory in the long run?
These questions would have to be answered later, as his moment of hesitation had given enough time for backup to arrive. Felix could hear them running. Honour dictated he couldn't flee from battle, unless to save an ally who was in no state to fight. Technically he wasn't breaking his oath. Helping the man to his feet Felix damn near carried Chen before being shoved away, being told by the soldier he didn't need to be carried. That foe was strong, and sure enough fate would likely lead to reunite him and Felix on the battlefield, in hopefully a more honourable bout.
Weirdly, Chen was put in mind of his childhood, when he and Yu had been street rats scrounging up what they could. That had been the last time he'd been beaten up this badly, at any rate. Before he and Felix fled into the maintenance tunnels, where Hammond's men had no hope of taking them down, Chen had just enough time to scrape his empty pistol off the floor (Felix still in possession of it's twin).
They half-ran, half-hobbled for a few minutes, Chen in the lead as he showed Felix down a path he knew would lead them to safety. Chen finally came to a halt at a junction, with an old gang sign still scrawled on the walls. They could rest a while here, before going to meet up with the others. A shame Clem and Aggie had made off with all the meds already...
"Thanks." Chen wheezed, as he slumped down in the corner. "You did good out there."
It was no use continuing as they were. While they had succeeded in buying enough time for Clem and Aggie to get away with the supplies, which was what mattered primarily, Chen was in no hurry to die here. Trying to take the exit now left them too exposed, and they couldn't stay here. Even if he and Felix succeeded in holding off the two men still trying to advance on them, they were almost sure to have backup on the way. They couldn't run, and they couldn't just stay still, so they had to turn the tables...
Right now, Chen and Felix were on the low ground, figuratively speaking. It was clear Felix was no great shot, but even with Chen's extensive training, his opponents had him outmatched for range and rate of fire. They probably had more ammo to spare too. Chen would have to get up close if he wanted to finish this with a positive outcome. It was a huge risk, but he didn't see any other option.
"Hey!" Chen called out to Felix, sliding one of his handguns across the floor to the other man's cover. Piss-poor shot or not, he needed the extra firepower more than Chen.
"I need you to keep the one on the left pinned down. Keep shooting, but when I move, do NOT shoot me in the back!"
Ducking back into cover and reloading his weapon, Felix picked up the extra handgun that Chen had thrown him. "Okay!" He yelled back, somehow still sounding polite as ever.
Travis meanwhile was still peppering his enemy's position with his assault rifle. He was focusing his fire on the worse shooter of the two while Barrows kept the fire on the one who's shots hit closer to home. How long was their backup going to fucking take anyway?
'Well this day finally decided to sort its shit out at least.'
Barrows pressed himself close to the nearest piece of cover as he tinkered with his pistol. Should have brought a bigger gun. This was what he got for trying to be a social creature. Ugh, people!
"Ah well." He shrugged to himself, popping out just fast enough to pepper the darty lad with a closely grouped double tap.
Felix held two handguns in each hand. He just needed to scare the guy, keep him in cover. It was dangerous sure, but he was sure he could do it without shooting Chen down.
Waiting just long enough for the bullets to stop, Felix peeped out of cover and began firing guns akimbo at the one on the left. They weren't hitting but they kept the man in cover.
‏Chen wasted no time. As soon as Felix started shooting, he was off, sprinting at full pelt down the hallway. As he ran, Chen drew his remaining pistol and fired rapidly. At full speed, even his shots were wild, but they were enough to send the second opponent back-pedalling for cover, that was enough.
When he was within a few short yards of his target, the tell-tale click of the trigger told Chen the gun was empty. With no time to reload, Chen simply dropped the gun and kept on running. His opponent had obviously heard the click too, and wheeled out of cover, presumably ready to blast Chen to pieces at point blank range. He never got the chance. Before the man's trigger finger could tighten, Chen was already on him. Just a few more footfalls away, Chen leapt into the air, planting his foot on the wall before vaulting up and grabbing a vent grate on the ceiling with both hands. His momentum at full, Chen powered up and released a devastating two-footed kick right into the man's centre of mass. His opponent was larger and heavier than him, but even so the man staggered back, winded, the gun spinning out of his hands.
Dropping back down the few feet to the ground, Chen had the moment's time necessary to take in who the man was. He knew that face, that twisted snarl...
Chen's blood ran cold, then very hot, and he was stony faced when he put up his hands, legs apart, inviting the challenge. He knew he had what it took to beat Travis one on one in an unarmed brawl, even when injured. However, if he made so much as on mistake, this would get very ugly indeed.
Travis felt as if a missile had just been launched into his chest. His head snapped up, seeing his gun sent sprawling across the floor. Fuck it, guns were boring anyway. Jumping up he pulled out the giant knife he had been 'donated' by The Reaper. Meanwhile, the only thing keeping Barrows from filling Chen full of holes was an unstoppable barrage of bullets by Felix, paced perfectly between firing each individual bullet and reloading just fast enough to halt the man in his tracks whenever he wanted to peek out.
Travis stepped forwards, swinging his blade like a mad man. No grace, whatsoever, he just wanted to gut this slit eyed bastard.
Chen let Travis come to him, ducking a weaving in and out of the psychopath's wild slashes in a half-graceful, half manic dance. The more Travis pressed the charge, and the more animated he became at he endeavoured to cut Chen to pieces, the more he put himself between Chen and Barrow's, preventing his partner from coming to his aid. That was all for the good.
Unfortunately, what Travis lacked in finesse, he made up for in pure ferocity. The man was fast, strong, and showed no signs of losing stamina anytime soon, even with the winding Chen had given him. Picking a moment to counter the blur of steel before him was no mean feat. A jab here and there would be useless, but getting inside Travis' reach for a more decisive strike carried its own risk. Unless Chen could put Travis on the ground then and there, the other man could use his superior brute strength to crush him.
Eventually, the right moment came, and Chen didn't hesitate. A wild lunge from Travis sailed passed Chen's ear, as he glided inside it like fluid. With Travis still moving forward, Chen planted his foot firmly between his opponent's step, and his shoulder into the centre of Travis' torso. Grabbing his arm, Chen used Travis' own inertia to turn him, pulling him off balance as they twisted round together, to slam into the wall with shuddering force. Chen felt the impact travel up Travis' arm as he pinned it against the concrete, jamming it. Before the other man could get Chen in any kind of choke hold, or attempt to wrest his arm free, Chen delivered a devastating open-handed strike to Travis' wrist, crushing it between him and the concrete.
The knife fell with a clatter to the floor.
Off balance and stunned by pain, Travis' body may as well have been lying on a slab in that moment. An inanimate mass of pressure points Chen could abuse at will, which he wasted no time in doing, striking high and low in quick succession. He ended that flurry of blows with a head-butt delivered right on the bridge of Travis' nose, sending him reeling, and followed up with a roundhouse kick that struck right on the temple. For a second, The Dragon was only upright for the virtue of his skull being wedged between Chen's heel and the wall, holding the rest up him up. When Chen released, he collapsed, barely conscious.
'Now! Finish him now!'
Deftly, Chen flipped the knife up into the air with his foot, caught it, and began to crouch down, a second away from slashing Travis' throat wide open.
All those raids and beach stormings that the songbirds had given him had spoiled Barrows apparently. A small, intimate, kind of fight just didn't have the same kind of lustful thrill that it did before. He'd gotten a big ol' helping of warfare diabetes. No explosions, no roars and crackles of radio static, no thrill of flames and tattered concrete. Just a ***** and a rapist going at it like they were on display for the kiddies the two were probably in here for buggering.
'I might have sunk to a new low.'
No time to dwell though! Apparently Selena wasn't the only one taking community martial arts classes round these parts and Travis was about to find himself fucking off the edge of this mortal dick. Probably wouldn't be good for the mission parameters.
Take a deep breath and... go! Barrows threw himself from cover and sprayed what he had left in the clip in the direction of the secondary gunner, closing the distance fast enough to get himself tangled up into a threesome worthy of the shower room, clamping Chen's knife arm into a quick lock and cracking the butt of his pistol into his shoulder.
'Shit!'
Chen sprung up and was ready to gut his second assailant like a fish, only this one was too quick for him. He had been breathing heavily after all that exertion with Travis, and his arm was starting to ache more noticeably now. Had Travis been a tougher foe than he'd bargained for, or had the last two weeks of sneaking around scrounging food begun to take their toll on him? While he still trained every day and worked hard to keep his fitness up, Chen wasn't as young as he once was...
Pain lanced down his arm and across his chest as the other struck him, and the knife very nearly slipped from his grasp. Before the man had time to do it again, Chen utilised the movement he still had in his wrist, to flip the knife up into the air and over the Songbird's head, catching it with his free hand, and bringing down a deadly slash. His opponent danced away before the blade could slice his face in two, and Chen was free, his shoulder stiff and sore, but free.
As they circled each-other, Chen tossing the knife from one hand to the other, keeping his opponent guessing, he had time to take in the man's appearance. He recognised this one as well. He didn't know of him as well as Travis obviously, but he'd seen him out on patrols a few times. No hired Inmate, this was one of General Hammond's most feared enforcers, the one they called Barrows. Chen was good at sizing up opponents quickly, taking in not just their physical bulk or any visible handicaps, but measuring their temperament and experience as well. He didn't like what he saw. It was clear that Barrows had all the brawn of Travis, perhaps even a little more, and with at least half a brain to match. That was the really worrying part. The man had heavy, and recent, bruising across the bridge of his nose, but no other visible exploits than that.
Chen knew his own capabilities. He was a CQC specialist, a veteran of one of the most elite fighting forces on the planet, with years of experience surviving inside The Pit, compared to this man's near-fortnight... and he was tiring, malnourished, and nursing injuries. On balance, this could be the fight of his life.
Acting quickly, giving nothing away before he lashed out, Chen launched into a pirouette. As he completed the turn, he flung the knife from under his arm, it's path having been concealed by his twisting form up until the last moment. In a blur of steel, the blade tumbled towards Barrows. Perhaps Chen could still finish this quickly...
Oh well if he wasn't a tricksy little blighter. Barrows would have even apreciated the funky gymnastic knifey crap if they hadn't been trying to kill each other. Or if it had been a fit Indian belly dancer type bird, then he probably wouldn't have minded some light murder attempts. Coming from a bloke it just felt pooftery.
He carried on his dancing crap and Barrows was sent a step back with a grunt as he felt a light prick in his chest and the tingling warmth that followed a cut. Apparently he hadn't been fast enough to dodge the knife. But that was what Kevlar was for as the trusty vest took almost all the real damage.‏
‎"Thank you very much, lad." Barrows smirked as he yanked the knife from his Arctic layers. Travis had good taste.
He got back to the merry business quick enough, after all they had a second gun to worry about so odds were it was better to take down Shanghai Shuffle here and take down his boy fast enough. Maybe take one in for questions, who cared?
Barrows put his body into things with gusto, taking full advantage of his heftier weight. Slamming his forearm into Chen's guard with his free hand sending a slash down low to bleed his troublesome legs.
Chen leapt back out of the way of the knife slash, gritting his teeth in mingled pain and frustration. He side-stepped, then lashed out with an elbow strike that caught Barrows in the jaw. Barrows staggered, and Chen had a second with which to take advantage. He had to use it, there was no choice. Barrow's superior size and strength be damned! Chen had to go all in, or he was going to lose this...
He ran at Barrows, moving as if to launch a flying kick right at his face, and was an inch from doing just that, before he feinted, dropping to the floor and skidding between Barrows' legs, his own shoulder blades brushing the floor as he leaned back. Once though, he vaulted to his feet, twisting, and powered up a devastating knee up between Barrows' legs, almost bringing him down. Not stopping to admire his handy work, Chen planted his foot at the back of Barrows' knee, and used it to leap up, so that he was sitting on the larger man's shoulders, his legs wrapped around his neck. Trying to draw on all the strength of his core, Chen crossed his arms round Barrow's head, and twisted, attempting to wrench the man's head round a hundred and eighty degrees, ripping his spinal cord apart.
Barrows let out some guttural noise between a snarl and a cry of pain as he got given the once over and his head got wrenched all over the place. After all the threats of being mounted by a warmth deprived gentleman he'd heard since getting here this was not the approach he was expecting. Lucky for him he was an exercise freak and his neck was muscled more than was probably healthy.
Holding out wasn't an option though, neither was getting a good punch in. Well! There was only one thing to do when a mad Chinaman demands a piggyback!
He staggered back and forth for a second as he struggled to stay upright with Chen's weight on his shoulders until he managed to get a firm balance and made a charge for the wall, like a bull, dipping his head and grabbing Chen's legs and swinging him face first into the concrete with a sharp thud. With his opponent stunned Barrows grabbed his chance and Chen along with it. He raised his arms and took a firm grip of Chen's folding form as the two of them recoiled from the force of the impact.
Before gravity could have its way Barrows charged for the wall again, holding Chen in place atop his shoulder like a battering ram and crashed him into the rock for a second time before allowing him to drop to the ground. Playing it fancy was a wanker's game.
"You! Little! Fucking!" Barrows dragged Chen to his feet and began punctuating each word with a fresh punch, working him over like tender meat. "Prick!" And a swift knee to the crotch just for good measure.
With all the strength and speed in his body Felix ran up to the mass of muscle bearing down on Chen, leapt up into the air and booted Barrows right in the side of the head, sending him careening off of Chen. He went down but was on the ground for less than a second as he hopped right back up. Felix came in close with a right swing, blocked by Barrows but the Spaniard delivered a vicious punch into his bicep, before elbowing him in the nose, staggering the soldier. Felix went to follow up with a strike to the throat but Barrows quickly batted his hand away and punched the prisoner in the face three times before he could lift his hands to defend himself.
Barrows shot his fist in an arc for the ribs, but Felix hooked the man's arm and head-butted him again and again in the nose. Lifting himself up a little to gain some leverage, Felix stole his idea and offered Barrows a series of hard knees to the ribs and landing another elbow against his jaw, pushing Barrows against the wall for support. Felix came in for another attack but the songbird kicked the knight with tank like strength in the stomach and chest before rushing him to the opposite wall.
Needless to say it wasn't proving to be a very good day for Barrows or his poor unappreciated nose. Somehow he thought that a simple snap back into place wouldn't fix all the damage it was taking this time. His, not so iron, discipline got set aside for a little while as he rushed Felix across the hall in a fit of blind instinct. Literally, almost blind, his eyes were watering up like crazy!
Out of spite more than anything he started lashing out against the little prick with a flurry of light blows. They weren't his best work though and Felix was able to take most of them with gritted teeth, offering up as good as he got as he fought his way out of his corner. Props to him at least he was fighting properly and not like a circus freak.
It was only after Felix managed to get a good hit in on Barrows' eye that the songbird got lucky enough for his blurring vision to find an opening and lashed out with an open palm hit to Felix's nose. God wasn't smiling on Barrows today though so of course the bone didn't go right up into his brain. Instead what he got was a response hit right near the point on his arm where the business ***** had sucker punched him earlier, sending a surge of fresh pain through Barrows' arm.
Felix took his moment and ran with it, grabbing his foe's arm and jamming two fingers into his pressure point, before striking him with as much force as he could in the throat. Despite whatever training this man had received, no man could stand strong against an attack to the throat. Felix struck with a knife edge chop under his jaw and to finish this fight once and for all, grabbed the side of the man's head and dug his knuckles into his temple.
Both opponents were down and Felix was still standing. It was a tough fight, and this sir seemed to have survived the attack to the temple, but despite their survival Felix remembered Chen's words.
"I need you to be relentless. Shoot first, shoot to kill, and don't stop shooting until they're all dead, you understand?"
They had won this bout but Chen's orders were of no survivors. Against enemies in a fair fight that was fine, but against unconscious men it was every kind of wrong. Was it worth breaking his oath if it meant victory in the long run?
These questions would have to be answered later, as his moment of hesitation had given enough time for backup to arrive. Felix could hear them running. Honour dictated he couldn't flee from battle, unless to save an ally who was in no state to fight. Technically he wasn't breaking his oath. Helping the man to his feet Felix damn near carried Chen before being shoved away, being told by the soldier he didn't need to be carried. That foe was strong, and sure enough fate would likely lead to reunite him and Felix on the battlefield, in hopefully a more honourable bout.
Weirdly, Chen was put in mind of his childhood, when he and Yu had been street rats scrounging up what they could. That had been the last time he'd been beaten up this badly, at any rate. Before he and Felix fled into the maintenance tunnels, where Hammond's men had no hope of taking them down, Chen had just enough time to scrape his empty pistol off the floor (Felix still in possession of it's twin).
They half-ran, half-hobbled for a few minutes, Chen in the lead as he showed Felix down a path he knew would lead them to safety. Chen finally came to a halt at a junction, with an old gang sign still scrawled on the walls. They could rest a while here, before going to meet up with the others. A shame Clem and Aggie had made off with all the meds already...
"Thanks." Chen wheezed, as he slumped down in the corner. "You did good out there."
