[hr][i][h1]The Hostage Situation.[/h1][/i][hr]
[i][u]Courtbridge, Prince Edfield.[/u][/i]


The Black Hound, after escorting Reed around the hostage situation, had merely separated from the rest of the Intimidation Unit and hidden himself in the back of a Victoria's Secret. The Black Hound pressed his earpiece, and communicated with his superiors.

"Ah, Black Hound." He heard the voice of Blake Schmidt. "Your handiwork is all over the news - I think at this rate, it's going to be [i]national[/i]." Blake confidently said.

"Thanks to my calculations... I have forced them into an unfavorable situation." The Black Hound said.

"However, I wouldn't get cocky, and force them to act rashly, that'll only end badly for all of us." Blake said. "This is like a game of chess... you have to work around what your enemy plans."

"You underestimate me, Blake," the Black Hound cockily said. "Once I have thwarted them... they'll have no choice but to give in. As they'll have no other options..."

"Oh," Blake said. "I almost forgot to ask..." He trailed off. "...Are there any possible [i]candidates?[/i]" He laughed.

"...A small amount," the Black Hound said.

"Good enough! We need everyone we can for the [i]Machine![/i]" Blake said. "Force them into the portals before anyone notices."

"...Wouldn't that force their hand?" the Black Hound said, remembering that he gave the DOVE a "tour."

"You're a master of subterfuge, Hound," Blake said. "I know you can do it without them seeing it."

[hr]

The hostages around Haruka were fidgeting restlessly, staring at the armed men patrolling around them with fearful eyes; Angela and Ryan had finally moved back to his side, but Marcus still maintained his distance, glaring at the device strapped under his shirt.

"W-We're all going to die in this anyway," was what Angela said when she inched next to Haruka. "There's nowhere we can run with this evil SWAT team swarming around to keep us here."

Haruka could tell that she was trying to act brave - her lips were trembling as she spoke. "...Thanks," he murmured. Ryan only shoulder-bumped him, but he understood his gesture.

Just then, he felt a vibration in his back pocket. He could get the mobile out, but with his hands tied behind he couldn't see the message.

"I'll help," Angela whispered. Ryan had also closed in, to shield what they were doing from the watchful eyes of the Intimidation Unit.

"[i]'Vacuum'[/i]," Angela read softly. "What...?"

"Who is it from?" Haruka injected. He had a good idea, but he had to be sure.

"I don't know, the name is in Chinese? Wait, you're [i]Japanese[/i]..."

[i]It's Shizu[/i] - definitely him. Haruka wondered where his twin was watching him from, but he wasn't stupid enough to start looking around and draw unnecessary attention to himself. Not with a bomb still stuck to his chest.

He didn't know what his eccentric twin was planning - there was nothing he could do but to trust his brother, anyway. "I need to concentrate... I'll explain later."

"...Looks like you have a plan," Ryan muttered out of the corner of his mouth, his eyes on the guards. "Just do your thing. We got your back."

Haruka poured all his concentration to the air around the hall; he began pushing the air out of the area slowly, creating an [i]air vacuum[/i] around the hostages and the guards around the perimeter, while careful not to rush and alert the armed men with an unnatural draft.

[i]...Trust that brother of his to come up with such an insane idea.[/i]

Heavy breathing sounds began to ripple through the crowd, and those weaker ones were fainting. The armed men were also becoming restless, distracted...

Sluggish.

Haruka wasn't spared from the suffocation, but he knew he couldn't cave into his body reaction to the lack of air. He would have to hold this vacuum until Shizuka put whatever madness into action.

[hr]

After Shizuka told his plan, Cindy was able to form a strike team and positioned them on the roof of the building. Each of the strike team were armed to the teeth, and had a rappel line attached to their belts. They were ready to rappel down through the glass ceiling, and begin shooting. However, it was Cindy who was the most worried. This plan of Shizuka required so much God damn precision that she doubted her ability to cover everyone. However, she would have to make due. Just in case everything went wrong, she had a bullet-proof vest, tear-gas, and flashbangs - and of course her trusty pistol.

Okay, so Cindy was going to break the glass at the [i]exact[/i] moment they were going to rappel down, and hope she didn't get filled with bullets as she covers everyone with glass barriers. It was going to be tricky because this was the most glass Cindy has ever controlled, like, ever. They just had to rely on the air vacuum buying them a window of opportunity. There were snipers positioned on the rooftop as well.

"Is everyone ready?" Cindy spoke into the comms.

"Ready." Quentin said, after tugging at his own rappel harness until he felt the cable's firm hold. His last encounter with the Black Hound had stuck with him and he'd not forgotten how close he'd been to dying, but that was an occupational hazard - one he'd known since Verthaven. This time he'd come prepared and better equipped, with higher stakes to keep him focused.

"Ready as ever," Max added, checking her own harness one last time. She didn't exactly feel prepared for this plan but hey, it was the best they had. It should work.

Shizuka had already slipped beneath the roof, hiding on the topmost level with his scope trained on the hostages and the Hound's army below - to give the team the signal. "It's working," he smirked to himself as he muttered into the comm. "Showtime, boys."

"Okay..." Cindy took in a deep breath as she cleared her mind and tried her best to focus on the glass. All over the glass subtle cracks had begun to form so silently they were utterly out of the range of the Intimidation Unit. They started out small, before they became gigantic... with the air vacuum, it would be hard to notice. "On three... One..."

The glass started cracking even harder.

"Two..."

Tiny fragments of glass began to fall like powder.

[hr][hider=Ace Combat: Assault Horizon OST - Dogfight][youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67v5mEbGu0U[/youtube][/hider][hr]

"...[i]Three![/i]"

That's when Cindy pushed the weakened glass over the edge, and utterly shattered the glass into millions of small pieces. Everyone was quick to rappel down as Cindy "caught" as much of  the glass as she could, it was suspended into midair. When the agents rappelled down, they immediately cut loose with their assault weapons and, thanks to Shizuka's plan, managed to take out a great deal of them before they had a chance to fight back.

"Here they come!" A member of the Intimidation Unit shouted as he opened fire on the RAVENS, followed by his allies.

Acting fast, Quentin quickly cut his harness loose and made a push for cover, taking advantage of the moment of confusion to get to a better position.

Cindy was able to grab the glass, and use it as a barrier for the hostages. She created a square, before the glass heated up to the point where she could bend it, and then she curved it inwards over them. Creating a tunnel of sorts. Which should be enough for them to crawl away. She was creating it towards the nearest exit (and closed off the other side). With all the bullets being slung around, she needed it.

While Cindy was busy with the glass tunnel, Shizuka was covering her back. Shooting with handguns was a different sensation from firing sniper rifles - not that he wasn't good with small guns like this, but there was no sense of weight behind every squeeze of the trigger as he speed-shot down the approaching goons. By the time the first one went down, he had already taken down another three more. He felt mixed at the sight of the increasing dead bodies - his mind was disgusted, but his finger was trigger-happy... and unstoppable.

There was death, people crawling around, and everything else... it was God damn chaos here.

[hr]

Jennifer was feeling [i]pretty[/i] lightheaded... she found that it was getting hard to breathe. Was it caused by the Hound's machinations? Or was the sheer stress causing her to fall apart? She looked around, and people were passing out. She was [i]praying[/i] that it was employed by RAVEN, and not some other unknown factor that'd make an already insane situation three times as chaotic... Then it got [i]ten[/i] times as chaotic. The glass broke, then RAVEN began grappling down from the roof, and killed the Intimidation Unit that were guarding them. Which was great... but, there was a god damn bloodbath now. Bullets were everywhere. People were desperately trying to get away. And all sorts of chaos.

It was time for Jennifer to break herself free. She had the power to do so from the beginning, but she knew that it was retarded to tangle with the likes of the Black Hound.

A bone spear violently erupted from her wrist and destroyed the cuff that was around her. There was a stream of blood coming down from her wrist, but it quickly stopped - and the gaping hole closed when Jennifer retracted the spear. Good. Her legs were getting sore from all this sitting around. She quickly looked off to the side, towards the exit and hauled ass (by that, she meant she limped with the best of her ability) off in that direction. Though, it wasn't long before she stopped.

She came across Lihua, who was lying down on the ground, damn near unconscious. While people were stepping over (or on) her in their desperation to get away. The altruism in Jen's heart, mixed with the fact that this was Meifeng's [i]mom[/i] made her go out of her way to help her. She first created another bone spear out of the palm of her hand, knelt down and stabbed through the cuffs. She looked over at her neck, and then quickly stabbed it open and threw it off.

Jennifer grabbed Lihua by the wrist, and began to drag her with all of her strength.

[hr]

It took Haruka some time to cut through the plastic cuffs with an air knife (well, how sharp would you expect from a knife made out of crudely compressed air?), even more to free his college friends too. His friends managed to remove the disc-shaped device from Haruka's chest and threw it among mass of dead bodies nearest to them. The boys were able to recover from the breathlessness just now, but Angela was still feeling weak, and had to lean on Ryan for support in order to move towards the glass tunnel as quickly as they could.

Haruka perked up at the sight of his twin; before he could call out to Shizuka, the silver-haired RAVEN yelled at them, "Get [i]down[/i]!" The four dipped down just in time as Shizuka shot down two of the Hound's men behind them.

"Shizu!" Haruka broke away from his friends and rushed to his brother, and gave a quick, grateful nod to Cindy. Although Shizuka's face remained stony, Haruka could see a shadow of relief in his twin's sharp eyes.

Shizuka noticed that whatever was underneath Haruka's shirt was now gone, but now wasn't the time for chit-chats. "Talk later - now get your asses out of here."

As the four young adults were beginning to walk into the tunnel, Marcus made a remark, "All this wouldn't have happened... if it wasn't because of [i]you lot[/i]."

And then it happened in a flash. Before any one of them could react, Shizuka suddenly slammed Marcus onto the ground by the neck, and pointed his pistol on the shocked blond's head. "Get this drilled into your [i]cock brain[/i]," he snarled, his grip tightening around Marcus' collar, making the blond choke. "While we're all using our cursed powers to save the likes of you, how about some words of gratitude from that filthy mouth of yours?" Marcus would have never dreamed of looking into a face that was the exact same with Haruka's with such piercing look that was enough to make him pee his pants.

"Wait, Shizu, don---" Haruka was going to rush forward to pull his brother away, but Shizuka had already stood up.

"Words are as dangerous as superpowers," Shizuka said as he looked down at Marcus with scorn. "Enough to get yourself - and everyone else - killed if you don't stop being a retarded pussy." With that, he turned away from the quartet.

Unfortunately for them, one of the fallen thugs wasn't dead. Raising a shaking hand, his pulled the trigger of his gun, trying to take a shot at the RAVEN agent - Shizuka - with his last breath. The bullet missed the surprised silver-head and merely grazed a cut on his leg, but it went to Marcus' arm, who was sitting up. Shizuka immediately whipped around and pumped two shots into the goon to make sure he was completely put out of his life (and it wasn't a pretty sight, at all).

"Marc!" Haruka stepped forward to help Marcus, but the blond slapped his hand away. Marcus then threw them a look before he held onto his bleeding arm and wobbled through the tunnel on his own.

"Leave him be," Shizuka said, sweeping his handgun around in case of another sneak attack like just now. "...Some people just have to learn things the [i]hard[/i] way. Now go!"

[hr]

When the glass broke, the Black Hound immediately whipped around and pressed a button in his helmet to turn on the IR scanner. He saw the skeletons of RAVENS propel down - armed with assault weapons - and he tightly clenched his fist. Why were the Intimidation Unit just standing by and letting them come in? There had better have been a good reason for this. He readied his FN Minimi and was quick to kick down the doors of the department store. He didn't waste any time in opening fire on the RAVENS with a barrage of machine-gun fire. Even if the hostages got away, he was going to turn this around for the Founding Family... or at least get some of the "candidates" to please the Blessed Three.

"Heads down!" Quentin warned the other RAVENs, aware of the incoming suppressive fire.

It didn't take being told for Max to duck down, taking cover from the open firing from the Black Hound. She got hit by a bullet in the ass - it was painful but it would regenerate. Could've been worse.

The Black Hound ran out of ammo, but the bastard wasn't going to stop here. He quickly pulled the ammo can out, throwing it to the ground, before slamming another in.

Cindy had to roll down and take cover behind a potted plant as the Black Hound's overwhelming offense continued. It would be tough, since the Black Hound is so damn durable that they'd need a 50. cal to do more than tickle him. Each of his stray bullets hit her glass shield and punched through it like it was nothing. His caliber was way too damn high for her to properly guard against... Then the idea hit her!

"Shoot his gun!" Cindy shouted as loud as she could over the comms in hopes that she wouldn't be completely drowned out by the fire. Unless there was some [i]mighty[/i] bullshit going on, they should be able to damage his weapon at least.

Although the bullets passed through Shizuka's intangible body harmlessly, he still felt annoyed getting shot at. "What d'yo--- [i]God damn it[/i]," he swore in mid-sentence as another round of bullets sprayed at the RAVENs, drowning out the rest of Cindy's voice in the comm. A sideways glance at Cindy told him that her glass shields weren't going to hold up much against the Hound's machine gun. He fell back next to Cindy. "Forget about the shield - [i]I'll[/i] shield you. Just focus on finding a way to bring that mad dog down!"

He had grabbed an assault rifle from one of the dead Hound's men - he knew a mere pistol would be utterly useless against the Black Hound, but not even the AR could put a single scratch on that monster. Even if he could somehow haul his Barrett in here, it would already be too late...

This time, Quentin had made preparations after how badly his [i]last[/i] encounter with the Black Hound had gone. Recalling how the AR he'd grabbed had barely tickled the bastard, the veteran RAVEN had loaded his 870 with slugs - which were now pointed downrange towards the assassin.

After a moment of lining up his reloading target, Quentin squeezed back on the trigger.

The slugs served nothing more than to annoy the Hound. It punched against his resistance armor, and his Metahuman durability absorbed what was left. He put his hand up to block his face... He narrowed his eyes in irritation. RAVEN was going to gang up on him, he could feel it. They know that they couldn't let the Black Hound get the advantage and pick them off one by one - his usual strategy... [i]Where's the Phantasm when you need him?[/i] He thought to himself.

The Hound dipped behind cover, and grabbed one of his many grenades - he pulled the pin, and tossed it in the direction of the largest group of RAVENS.

"Get back!" They shouted as they tried to get away, but some couldn't escape the explosion.

He was quick to get back out from cover, and immediately opened fire yet again towards the Agents that weren't in cover as he moved [i]away[/i] from them. [i]Suppressing fire.[/i]

Max was pushed to the side by the nearby explosion - but thankfully had avoided being in the main blast. She ducked behind cover, peering her head up and over to try and get a few shots off at the Black Hound as he backed off. She realised, though, that if they didn't do something soon he'd get away.

Forced out of his position, Quentin scrabbled for cover as the Hound began his next volley of suppressive fire, practically throwing himself against a low hanging tile wall whilst other RAVENs were caught up in the crossfire. [i]Shit.[/i] Across the centre he spotted Cindy, still hidden behind one of her shields when another idea had dawned on him. [i]IR.[/i]

"Bird, suppressive on my mark!" His voice blasted over the comms, as he reached for a flare in one of his pouches. The heat had thrown him off last time, giving it another shot couldn't have hurt. Quentin twisted off the cap and struck it against the tip of the flare, igniting it in a glorious red hue, before quickly leaning out from behind cover and throwing it straight into the Hound's field of view.

[i]"Now!"[/i]

Okay, Quentin wanted her to start shooting? With her God damn peashooter that's basically going to tickle him? She was wondering if he was insane, but honestly, Shizuka's plan was so God damn insane that it literally couldn't get anymore insane. She took in a deep breath and quickly dipped out of cover and unloaded her pistol on the Black Hound. Which was enough to catch his attention... in the worst way possible. He aimed his machine gun at her and Cindy immediately dipped back into cover.

The flare... The Black Hound's infrared vision was being disrupted. He groaned in irritation as he backpedaled some way away from the RAVENS. Once he was enough distance, the Black Hound grabbed various grenades off his vest, and threw them onto the ground between himself and the RAVENS.

"Find cover!" Cindy shouted as she got the hell away.

When the grenades exploded, it was a mixture of flash bangs, and fragmentation grenades that utterly ravaged the area around them. "Son of a bitch!" Quentin seethed, forced back to cover by the blasts.

"...Zenith." The Black Hound said as he took a step back and saw the portal open behind him. He pressed his helmet and ordered, "Intimidation Unit, on me!"

Armed men and women came out of the portal, and assembled from the firefight going on around the mall. They quickly took position around the Black Hound, who merely stepped into the portal, and it closed behind him. The Intimidation Unit opened fire and kept the RAVENS suppressed.

"Damn it!" Cindy shouted, "He got away... but, wait..." She thought about it for a moment. The last time the Hound pulled out, he took his mooks with him. Here, he just called [i]more[/i]. Cindy pressed her earpiece again, "I don't think he's gone, keep an eye out!" Cindy shouted into the comms, before she popped out of cover and started shooting again.

[hr]

While the battle raged inside the mall, the hostages were hauling ass out of the mall, unaware the Black Hound had re-positioned. Right in the doorway of the mall the Black Hound stepped out with a change of weaponry. His FN Minimi was slung over his shoulder by a strap, and he was holding a M23 Grenade launcher in his hands. Everyone shouted as the Black Hound aimed his grenade launcher at the perimeter and fired a barrage of grenades at the LEOs. An explosion rocked the area as a vehicle was blown in the air and rolled over some officers. It wasn't long before the whole place was reduced to a burning wreckage.

"Zenith." The Black Hound said as a portal opened behind him, and the Black Hound had stepped in after throwing a volley of grenades that trashed the place even further. Another portal opened up in the center of the scene. He started unloading his grenade launcher yet again at the LEOs before his clip went dry and he called, "Zenith." And retreated into another portal. His strategy was becoming quickly apparent.

[i]This should be enough.[/i].

[hr]

"The Black Hound!" Someone shouted in the comms. "He's out here, and tearing us apart!"

"Ugh!" Cindy loudly grunted as she dipped out of cover and fired a volley of three shots that hit an Undertaker in the chest, and dipped back behind cover just as fast. They either have to continue fighting these mooks, or do they go back to face the Hound? Who was apparently [i]such[/i] a problem that nobody could handle him.

[i]Reed![/i] It was Quentin who quickly realised that his brother was still out there, along with the hostages and the others. Still in cover, he started retrieving and loading more slugs into the magazine tube of his 870, determined to put himself between the bastard and the others before he lost any more friends or colleagues to the likes of the Founding Family.

Meanwhile, Shizuka had slipped out of the chaotic hall and gone up to the level where some of the RAVEN snipers were positioned. Why weren't they doing their job when everyone needed them most now? He got the answer when he found one of the snipers.

Fear had completely overwhelmed him - to the point that he was shitting his own pants. (Even more ironic that he was [i]older[/i] that Shizuka.)

[i]Jesus.[/i] Shizuka slipped his handgun back into the holster next to his thigh, then he snatched away the sniper's .50 cal. "I'll do this. Now get lost and go make yourself [i]useful[/i]."

After giving a quick check of the sniper rifle, Shizuka adjusted his aim down at the Hound's armed thugs below. Then he began blowing their heads off mercilessly, taking out a good number of them faster than using the gay pistol at his side.

"While I keep these puppies busy," Shizuka said into the comms without much enthusiasm. "Can someone go and deal with the Hound?"

"Counterpoint here, I'm on it, just keep the others covered." Quentin answered back, now on the move whilst his colleagues kept the paramilitaries of the Intimidation Unit occupied. Years of fighting and he was [i]sick[/i] of it. Sick of seeing decent people hurt and sick of seeing these egotistical bastards with their moronic codenames - no, as much as he thought he sounded like an idiot with a hero complex, he was going to try his best to put an end to it.

"Copy that!" Cindy said.

[hr]

The Black Hound continued his onslaught, a seemingly endless barrage of grenades aimed towards the vehicles, and the cover the RAVENS were hiding behind. People attempted to return fire, but the Hound was quick to retaliate with a grenade. He continued his rampage, with the intent of killing as many RAVENs and DOVEs as possible. He turned his eye on a certain DOVE who was otherwise preoccupied evacuating some of the remaining hostages... He didn't even need his scanners to know it was Reed Taylor. The Black Hound regretted this, but he has to appease the Blessed Three somehow.

He aimed the launcher at him, and fired off three grenades, one after the other in sequence.

It was the second blast that actually knocked the ex-cop off his feet, the third which tore through him with the resulting shrapnel. Reed gasped and screamed as the pain tore through him and when he rolled over, one could see the bloodied stump of meat and exposed bone, where his left had been moments before.

The grenades rained on the DOVEs and evacuating hostages, making the scene even more chaotic than it already was. Haruka was separated from his friends in all the confusion; he looked around to find a way to get out of here when he spotted a familiar figure not far away. [i]Mr. Reed?[/i]

His relief soon turned to horror when he saw the Black Hound aiming his launcher at the agent.

He managed to intercept the first grenade with a wind blade before it could hit Reed, but his control was faltering for the subsequent grenades - he still hadn't fully recovered from overexertion of his power just now. Worse, some stray shots had hit him in the [s]ass[/s] leg and the back of his shoulder from the DOVEs trying to shoot down the Hound.

"Mr... Reed..." Haruka dragged himself towards the injured agent with a hole in his left. It was a revolting sight to see exposed ribcage and burned flesh hanging off the hole, but to Haruka, nothing could get any worse than what he had experienced back in Verthaven. He remembered what Shizuka had told him about Reed's power. Maybe if he could let the agent absorb some blood from his gun wounds to help him recover a bit---

"...Get the [i]fuck[/i] away from them!" Another, muffled voice could be heard from behind the Hound, moments before a slug was fired into the assassin's central mass.

The Black Hound turned around - barely bothered by the bullets - and faced his aggressor... The masked man from before, but he recognized that voice.

"...Quentin Taylor."

The Black Hound said, before leveling the grenade launcher at him with one hand, and fired it.

Quentin quickly made a dive for cover behind a reinforced armoured truck, before scrabbling back to his feet. He had to break from the Hound's line of sight, at least.

The Black Hound continued his onslaught by opening fire with the grenade launcher. Firing two more grenades at the armored truck as he paced towards it. This time, they managed to put a dent in the truck's side and rupture its fuel tank, spilling gasoline across the ground. When the Hound finally rounded the corner, Quentin was nowhere to be seen, until the veteran RAVEN popped out from behind the cover of a burning cruiser and opened fire with another series of successive slugs, this time aimed for the Black Hound's upper mass.

The burning wreckages negated the Black Hound's infrared vision, and he regretted letting Quentin Taylor get the drop on him. The bullet hit him in the side of the helmet, and there was an instant crackling of electricity as the slug dug into the helmet. His vision started distorting and he quickly he tore out his goggles, and crushed them in his hand. "...Clever." The Hound said. "Going have to do this the old fashioned way." The Black Hound quickly swapped the grenade launcher for the bulky machine gun, and gunned down Quentin's previous location with a barrage of bullets.

That, at least, forced Quentin to keep his head down as he scrabbled from cover to cover, hiding between the assorted burnt out husks and wreckages littering the parking lot as the rounds punched through. For a moment, the Hound heard what sounded like a pained grunt, then... nothing.

The Black Hound lost sight of Quentin... no matter. He's got another idea. He once again switched back to his grenade launcher, and started unloading the grenades on all the burning wreckages in the area - the ones that Quentin could have reasonably gotten behind, of course. Before he reloaded and slammed another shell into his grenade launcher.

Yet another shot rang out as the Hound was pre-occupied with reloading the launcher, but this one was again aimed for the Hound's upper mass. Quentin sluggishly emerged from behind one of the last cruisers, slower than before, but still on his feet - though someone who was paying attention could see the tears in the side of his vest and the gashes on his sleeves. [i]Come on, come on.[/i]

The slug punched into the armor, and the Hound thought of [i]why[/i] he was shooting wildly when it clearly wasn't working... Then he thought of some plan the man was coming up with. But what? Either way, the Hound turned his attention to Quentin and impulsively fired another quick grenade at him - the last one before his clip went dry again. He took steps towards Quentin as he slammed more shells into his clips.

[i]Closer.[/i] Quentin thought, firmly racking the 870's pump action one more time. He fired off another shot, this one aimed at his central mass - Quentin hoped to at least throw off his aim if not outright forcing him to delay using the launcher, if only for a few seconds.

[i]It's useless.[/i] The Black Hound thought to himself as the bullet disrupted his reload for a brief second, before he got annoyed and stepped over towards Quentin. "Give up..." The Hound said.

Ignoring him, Quentin's focus briefly drifted to the hard ground beneath the Hound's feet. Ground that was soaked with gasoline, courtesy of the armoured truck he'd damaged earlier, right where he wanted him. It was now or never - the veteran RAVEN grasped for one of the spare flares on his vest, twisted off the cap and struck it, unleashing a bright red spark, before finally tossing it at the assassin's feet and backpedalling.

[i]Clever... fell for that again.[/i] The Hound thought to himself as he was ignited in flames for the second time. The flames quickly traveled up his clothes, and he was forced to toss away the grenades in his vest before they prematurely exploded. However, the Hound wasn't even finished. Despite being in flames, the Black Hound wasn't going to stop. He stopped at nothing, after all. The Black Hound tossed aside both the grenade launcher and machine gun, then pulled out a large combat knife and dove through the air straight at Quentin.

The assassin's reflexes were swift; there was barely a second to react before the Hound was at Quentin's throat. He swung his 870 forward in a frantic effort to block the first jab, then swung round again as the man closed in for another and retaliating by smashing the stock against the Hound's head with enough force to leave a crack in the polymer, only for the assassin to grasp and wrench it away from him with a firm blow that left a visible gouge in his vest.

On instinct, Quentin quickly reached for his sidearm but when he tried to level it the assassin firmly twisted his wrist until he was forced to drop it and smashed an elbow into the RAVEN's face, before following that up by slashing the blade across his side, leaving a gash that left him reeling.

Disarmed and bleeding, he found himself already struggling to keep up with the man's strength and stamina in the condition he was in, yet Quentin relentlessly pushed back with a ferocity that was only fueled from knowing of the Hound's responsibility for so many atrocities, the attack on his brother at the forefront of it all.

"You don't hurt my fucking [i]family[/i]."

Another lunge with the knife and Quentin wrestled with the Hound for control over it, fighting for dear life until he realised he had one option. One thing the years with RAVEN had taught him was that there was no such thing as dirty fighting. Only doing what needed to be done, especially with someone like this. Quentin lurched forward and drove his fingers into the Black Hound's exposed eyes.

The Black Hound was quick to respond by jamming the knife into Quentin's exposed body, and leaving it there. He kicked Quentin back, and began to move in forward. "...Your [i]family[/i] knew what they were getting into when they came here, Mr. Taylor," The Black Hound started off. "You'd have to be stupid to expect that everyone would leave here unharmed... don't let your altruism become [i]idealism[/i], Mr. Taylor."

Quentin clutched at the knife as he took a few staggered steps backwards. "Do you assholes... [i]ever[/i]... shut the fuck up... about philosophy?" His words were laboured and inflected with pain, but he kept up a brave front.

"No." The Black Hound said as he lunged forward and grabbed Quentin by the neck with an iron grip and lifted him over his head.

[I]Cass,[/i] Quentin thought, fingers clutching at the blade sunk deep into his gut. [i]Wish me luck.[/i] His fingers tightened and pulled. Blood seeped from  the open wound, into the ground beneath them. "Shame..." Quentin let off one last grunt as he drove the blade into the Hound's exposed eyes.

"...Heh." The Black Hound said as the point stabbed through the eye. It was enough to warrant the Hound dropping Quentin, and taking a step back. He grasped his wounded eye that was oozing a bright red blood... but otherwise was not showing any signs of pain. "I underestimated you yet again..." He took his hand off his eye, and then pulled the knife out. His other eye flashed a bright red color as he charged Quentin and swung the knife right at his throat.

"Don't care." The veteran RAVEN reached out to stop the blade, blocking its path with his hand. He growled hoarsely as the blade bit deep into his gloved palm, fingers stiffening as blood welled started to well between them, then sluggishly drove his knee against the assassin's mid-section in an effort to force him back.

The attack did nothing to the Hound, but annoy him - but, it did plenty to Quentin, weakened by his wounds. It threw him off balance, and the Hound was quick to shove Quentin Taylor  to the ground and was quick to step over to him. He placed his foot on his head, and prepared to crush his skull underneath his feet...

When a lound [i]blast[/i] rang out from across the parking lot. The other Taylor knelt, shrapnel wounds visible across one side of his body, one arm holding a shotgun whilst other supported he it by his forearm, the ruined stump of his hand still visible. [I]Quentin's[/i] shotgun, the barrel smoking from where Reed had fired off a slug aimed for the upper half of the Hound.

The Hound was utterly caught off guard. Without his sensors he was unable to predict it. He whipped his head around to see the younger Taylor, the one he swore was heavily injured, holding a shotgun. The Black Hound had his eyes wide as he turned into an expression of rage, then was caught off guard yet again as Quentin used the last ounce of energy he had in him to twist at the foot planted against his skull, then scrabbled free of the bastard's reach, a thin trail of blood trailing behind him.

Realizing that Reed was out of ammunition, the Black Hound snapped his focus back to the elder Taylor, only he saw Quentin raising his own grenade launcher at him. Even with his reflexes and his speed, he never had a chance once the RAVEN squeezed the trigger, firing off a shell which exploded on contact with his armour.

The Black Hound was sent staggering backwards, dropping his weapon... while it didn't kill him... his rib cage was blown open, organs exposed, and oozing blood. It was a devastating blow that would leave anyone else dead. However, the Hound was still kicking. Hell, he was still standing, albeit lurched over, and holding his organs in. Breathing in a very hoarse manner. Before he started laughing... in a very pained manner.

"....[i]Hahahahaha[/i]..." The Hound laughed, this time, his voice wasn't distorted by his helmet. It was the Black Hound's rather deep voice that was still intimidating regardless. "...You're a fine warrior... I'll give you that. Until next time, Mr. Taylor."

If one were to pay attention, his wounds were regenerating at a rapid rate. In a fashion that the Taylors were [i]very[/i] familiar with. He pressed his earpiece, and said,

"...[i]Zenith.[/i]"

A portal opened behind him, and he fell backwards, and the portal quickly closed.

"...He defeated the Hound?" One of the RAVENS said, with a raised eyebrow, finally coming out from cover, but it didn't seem to matter to either of the Taylors. "He defeated the Hound!"

Quentin, exhausted from his wounds, collapsed against the ground once more, barely conscious. Reed quickly dropped the shotgun, sluggishly limped over to him as fast as he could and took a knee beside him, turning him over to find the deep stab wound where the Hound had stuck him with the blade.

"Stick with me Quent," the younger Taylor said with a frantic haste, placing his remaining hand over the wound and concentrating with all he had. "C'mon! C'mon!" His voice was pleading as he tried to stem the worst of the bleeding. "C'mon Quent, you bastard... don't pull this bullshit on me..."

"...Hey!" Cindy shouted through all the destruction as she ran up. "Shizuka took out his goons... Are you okay?!" She had to ask.

Shizuka was behind Cindy, a sniper rifle resting on his shoulder. "Holy," he breathed, surprised at the state the Taylors were in. Then into shock when he saw his own injured brother on the ground ahead and rushed to the fainted Haruka. "That [i]idiot![/i]"

"Get a paramedic!" Reed shouted back, still at work. First aid skills and his ability would only go so far... and things were looking [i]bad.[/i]

"Alright, on the way!" Cindy shouted... before she looked around at all the injured people. Mentally noting them one at a time.

[i]He needs a paramedic. He needs a medic, and HE needs a medic. Dear God, when does all of this ever end?[/i]

Before Cindy could finish, there was a massive bolt of lighting in the distance that caught Cindy to jolt because it was so bright. "What in the world...?" Cindy trailed off before her earpiece buzzed.

"...We have another problem: there is an electrokinetic Metahuman going on a rampage not too far away from your current position," Holly spoke into the comms.

Cindy clenched her fists and threw her head back.

"...Does this bullshit ever end? My [i]God.[/i]"