Slingers (The Slingers Trilogy, Book 1)

Chapter 26

The clashing of swords echoed throughout the small space as Dante and the masked man moved with incredible speed, their weapons flashing through the air and sparking occasionally as the masked man's plasma cutter occasionally scraped off of Dante's sword, making the air light up with their attacks. Dante was concentrating harder then he ever had before, putting every bit of his training and focus into the battle. It was the only thing he could do to keep up with the slicing katana. The masked man's face couldn't be seen underneath the visor, but Dante could tell by his movements that he was concentrating just as hard, and was putting all his effort into the duel. Dante used every technique in his arsenal of knowledge to try to damage the mystery man at least once. He sliced, cut, blocked, parried, and thrusted repeatedly, but every move he made, the man in the mask seemed to anticipate it and block it instantly. The two finally swung down with all their might, clashing their swords together, the metal on metal sound reverberating through the hangar. Dante had both his swords in an X position, the masked man's katana in the middle of the two black blades. He pushed forward, but the masked man kept pushing back. Neither of them showed any sign of restraint, and neither seemed willing to back down.

Dante grit his teeth and stared down at the red visor that hid his face. Then, Dante noticed something about his katana. The plasma cutter on the bottom was controlled by a small button on the handle of the weapon. Dante had an idea. He pushed upwards and broke the clash, then leaped back and retreated towards a pile of crates. He kicked one over towards the masked man, who activated the cutter and sliced the crate in half like butter. Then, right after, Dante was there, lunging through the air straight at him. His sword swung down while his guard was lowered, and hit not anywhere on the armour, but sliced the handle of the sword itself in half, deactivating the plasma cutter. The masked man stumbled back, and then Dante swung upwards with his second sword, this time cracking through the red visor. The masked man was forced back against a crate, dropping his sword. Dante looked up from the floor, and saw the man staring at him, his yellow eye showing through the cracked visor. The two stayed there silently, breathing. Dante had won. He stood up slowly and put his sword back in his sheath hesitantly. When the masked man simply stood there, he went upright. Then, a large explosion rocked the ship, making everything in the hangar shift, and making Dante and the masked man topple over. As he got up from the floor, Dante realized that his friends were still in danger. He picked himself up and rushed to the door, then turned to the masked man. He didn't have time to finish him. He gave one last nod, signalling that it wasn't over. The masked man returned the nod. Dante ran out of the hangar, and raced through the halls.

Andress had been watching Nolun and Bunker's progress through the monitors in the security room. All seemed to be going well, until a large explosion shook the ship, and then the cameras to the generator room where the twins were cut out. Koil looked over at her and typed out commands on the console, but after a few moments gave up. "It's no good. The generator probably had an energy surge due to the explosion. The EMP's knocked out everything." Andress cursed and looked at all the static on the screens. "How longs before things come back online?" Koil looked at the screens. "The effects of the EMP will only last for a few minutes, then a few minutes for everything else to come back online. Let's hope Nolun and Bunker take this opportunity." Andress nodded, then Bunker's voice came out of her comlink. "Andress...Gottlieb's here." Andress's heart stopped and she couldn't help but gasp. No...not now. He couldn't be here on such an important time. She had to get past it. She needed to focus. He couldn't touch her, not anymore. He didn't even know she was here. She just needed to get past him. Suddenly, her thoughts were interrupted by a loud banging on the lift door. "Open up! You're surrounded!" Andress whipped around to look at Koil. The security station was locked down due to the EMP, but how had they known to look down here in the first place? They were trapped. Andress drew her rifle. "I'll buy you some time. Try to get us a way out." Koil nodded and began typing on the console. Andress aimed her rifle at the door, and fired some shots back at them, killing the GDF soldiers from behind the door. They began to fire back, and Andress ducked behind some cover.

Nolun and Bunker rushed through the corridors, the ship going into complete chaos as the effects of the EMP took their hold. The lift to the security station had malfunctioned, and now there was no way of getting down. Then, as they rushed past a corridor, they saw a person with damaged GDF armour, a black coat, and a large sword sheath over his back run past them, and Nolun turned around. "Dante!" He spun around and stared at them, then recognized them for who they were. He nodded, and Nolun stepped forward. "What happened to you? Where are the twins?" Dante sighed and shook his head. "I don't know. The man in the mask was there. I had to face him. We got separated." Nolun clenched his fists. "Mister Zero, huh? Where is he now?" Dante looked back down the hallway. "Gone. For now, at least." Nolun looked at Dante then nodded. "We'll find the twins later. Right now, we have to get to the security station and help Andress and Koil." Dante looked at Nolun. "What do we do?" Nolun motioned for him to follow and rushed over to the lift doors. Bunker pulled one open, and saw that the sides of the lift walls were covered with things that could be used to climb down. They heard gunshots down below, and felt smoke rising upwards. Nolun and Dante grabbed onto the sides, and with Bunker, began to descend into the lift shaft.