[centre][b]Vates – Sector Zero[/b][/centre]

“You!” the loud metallic roar pierced the ears off all the people nearby and cast an immediate silence over the area. Vates slowly turned to see the hulking giant before him and his band of not-so-merry men. The giant had a vaguely familiar face and upon recognising a few of his men realised that it must have been the infamous ‘Chief’, the very same who had been sending his men to kill Vates. Roebuck and the others had jumped up and looked prepared to defend their friend against the equally sized gang, although their morale was clearly stunted by the daunting host. Not wanting a bloodbath to ensue, Vates held his palm towards his fellow squad mates – a signal he hoped would tell them not to attack. 

“You must be Chief. I’ve heard that you’ve been trying to kill me.” Vates tried to keep a neutral stance and he managed to stop his voice from wavering. Chief clearly wasn’t interested in talking or justifying his reasons and instead stomped towards his target.

“He’s mine.” The words came out as a twisted sadistic chuckle, made worse of course by his already inhuman voice. This caused Vates to quickly begin stepping backwards as his mind began desperately tried to think of a way out of this predicament, however his mind went blank as the giant man slowly morphed into metal. By now the scene had begun to attract the attention of pretty anyone within eyesight and yet no one was really animated save for Vates and Chief. 

[b]“Run Edward!”[/b] Janus pleaded, but he went unheard. Vates heart was pumping furiously and were he not so focussed on the threat he would have felt it beating. He tried to assess the situation as quickly as he could. His blades would be useless, as would his light gauntlet. His kinetic gauntlet might be of use but certainly wouldn’t help him reach an end goal. He couldn’t run, he was still tired from earlier and he figured the giant could probably run faster anyway. If others came to his aid then there would be a bloodbath. He could try melt his foe but there was no way he could find a source of heat high enough to melt whatever metal Chief was made of. Water might oxidate his foe… after a long long period of exposure.

His scheming yielded no results quick enough however for Chief had closed the gap and begun sending a series of swipes and kicks at Vates, who only just managed to avoid them. Quickly onlookers started to edge closer to the fight and began to cheer. Did they think that the two were training? Or had society really become so desolate and barbaric in the year since the gate opened? Every now and then Vates would manage to deflect an incoming attack using his kinetic gauntlet and would quickly try a counter attack, but at best he would only manage to throw Chief off balance. After only about 40 seconds (although to Vates it felt like hours) Chief managed to clip Vates and send him tumbling over, breaking a rib and causing bruising in the process. Chief quickly lunged forwards before attempting to stomp down upon his victim, but Vates quickly rolled over and managed to stop the foot at the last moment with his gauntlet. Chief arced over to put more weight onto his leg and slowly his foot began inching towards Vates, causing him to smile manically. It was only about four inches from Vates’ upper body when he managed to shift the angle slightly and push the foot off to the right of him. Vates relief was short lived though for as he clambered to his feet Chief swung back around and grabbed him, picking him up effortlessly with one hand. 

“What are you going to do now, little worm?” whispered Chief as he held his victim face to face. Vates couldn’t respond if he wanted to as Chiefs ever increasing grip left him breathless. Vates looked around at the faces of the onlookers and in his desperate moment hoped that someone would actually sweep in and save him, regardless of what fight might ensue… but no one did. Chief noticed his trailing eyes and laughed, “No, they won’t help. I’m more important to them than you are. You’re just another survivor… whereas I’m a god.” And with that he violently tensed his grip, breaking all of Vates ribs and rupturing his organs. Vates eyes opened wide in pain and horror but he could do nothing but writhe and let the blood ooze out of his mouth and various wounds. Happy that the damage was done Chief tossed the barely alive body like he was a piece of trash, and unless someone helped him immediately, he would surely die.