This chapter is my most current chapter, so unfortunately it may be a week or two before the next installment. Still, I hope you all enjoy it. Any comments or criticisms are welcome, naturally!
Chapter 2
South America; that is where I am now. A country in the north was having trouble dealing with the massive drug cartels that are working in the mountains. The military and police didn't have the firepower or the numbers to dislodge them, and the effects of the market were spreading through the entire region. This new drug they had manufactured was highly addictive and was destroying the country's livelihood and workforce. If someone didn't do something, the nation would collapse into poverty so deep it would never recover. It's fallen to me to deal with the cartel, and eliminate the manufacture and sale of this new drug. It's not something I was asked to do, but something I needed to do.
I leaned over the edge of the building, watching the street below with vague disinterest before checking the watch on my right arm. It's eleven A.M. I spent the last week scouring hideouts in this town. I raided every single cartel safehouse and base of operations, looking for information. I didn't find any, but I got something better. I left every man I disabled in front of the police station, and the sheer amount had attracted the attention of some of the cartel's higher ups. One of the biggest leaders was coming here today to put his foot down. If my intel was right, he would arrive in thirty minutes.
The building I sat on lay on the main street of the town. I sat on the parapet, pressing my back against a large column that supported another decorative ceiling above me. I looked down to my right at the compound bow that sat propped against the lip of the beige stone. I couldn't afford an rocket propelled grenade launcher, but with my projection, this would do fine. I checked my watch again. The kingpin would come down this street in a convoy soon. I was sure the sight of dozens of people clearing the street would alert me to the motorcade's presence, but it didn't hurt to be sure. My other weapons lay next to the bow. My pistol, the same I wore in Africa last November, was there with four mags of ammo, and my new assault rifle was next to it. It was an Israeli Galil with a skeleton stock. I blew my budget on it when I was last in Eastern Europe. That white haired arms dealer pretty much robbed me.
Today I also wore my red coat. It's a Holy Shroud, given to me by a member of the Burial Agency. While its purpose is to protect me from hostile environments, it has become a symbol in the past few months. This coat spells ruin for those that stand in its path. I liked what it stood for. Villains that fear justice will know my approach. While it's not bulletproof, my Kevlar underneath will protect me from most small arms.
Something caught my eye from the street, and I looked down. A police officer with a few of his friends out to lunch. It reminded me of something unpleasant, and I scowled. The police in this area, while happy to arrest the criminals I threw at their doorstep, were also unhappy that a so-called vigilante was roaming their streets. There was an order out to arrest me on sight, and I've been in more than one scuffle with police. Thankfully, I was able to avoid using lethal force in all confrontations.
I tested the string of my bow after checking my watch again. It was almost time, and I begin to control my breathing. Suddenly, my phone rang, and my concentration shattered. I pulled out my battered cell phone that was outmoded by eight years and checked the caller ID. It was an international number, one that I recognized. In a situation like this, one would not usually take a phone call, but I needed to make an exception here. I flipped it open and put it to my ear.
"Hello?" I said in Japanese.
"Shirou, it's good to hear your voice," said a voice that I myself had not heard in a long time. I was surprised, she wasn't yelling at me like she did a year ago. She actually sounded happy, and I felt the same.
"Rin," I breathed, "I'm glad you called. It's been a long time."
Tohsaka Rin and I have been friends for a long time. While it used to be "Emiya-kun" and "Tohsaka" between us, we've grown a lot closer over the years. I can safely say that I trust her with my life.
"Yeah it has been a long time you idiot!" she yelled, and I pulled the phone away from my ear quickly. That was more like the Tohsaka Rin I know.
"How's England?" I asked, "How's teaching?"
She laughed sharply, "The weather's great! Teaching with Lord El-Melloi II while you're running around the world playing Hero is nice as well. Heck, even he gets to go on adventures occasionally."
I smiled at her words. "Are you worried about me, Rin?"
There was a long pause, and I frowned. Normally I'd expect her to call me an idiot for insinuating such a thing, but she didn't, and after a moment she spoke again.
"Yes, I am." Her voice was quiet, almost inaudible. "I want you to come back."
Rin is the only person in the world that knows everything about me. After the War, I promised to never keep secrets from her. So I told her everything; my past, my dream, my plans. At first she used call every week, but they came less and less often over time. This was the first time I've spoken to her in eight months.
"Rin," I said, "You know I can't."
There was a crack in her voice, and I felt terrible all of a sudden. "Please," that was all she could say.
"Rin, I can't let these people suffer like this. I can't let them cry and wither away without their dreams seeing the light of day."
Suddenly her voice changed tone. She pleaded with me, "Shirou, why can't you see past the people around you? There are people who know you, people who love you, that haven't seen you in years, and it's all because you're out helping people that mean nothing to you!"
"Rin," I replied, "If I don't help them, who will?"
I'm a lot like my father. I put the happiness of others before my own happiness, and as a result, the people closest to me suffer for it. I hate that Rin and the others can't smile, but I can't stand the idea of the masses suffering either. So I do what I can, until the day comes where I can be a true superhero and no one will have to be sad anymore.
"What about me Shirou? Where are you when I'm crying?"
"Please, Rin, you know I'll be back soon."
"When?" she demanded. Her voice was cold and accusing. "She asked about you yesterday."
I paused. It felt like I had been hit by a freight train. "What did you tell her?" I asked tersely.
"The truth," she replied. "I told her you were out saving people, and that you were very happy."
"That's misleading Rin, you know I want to see her again. You know I'll go back to see her."
I was angry now, and I seriously hoped that Rin was twisting her words. She wouldn't be so needlessly cruel. Not to her.
"I know, and so does she. She still loves you Shirou. She wants you to be happy."
"I want her to be ha-" I begin before I'm cut off.
"Then go back to Japan, and live the rest of your life with her. Give up on your dream and live the life you want to live. She's head over heels for you. So please, go make her happy like you want to."
I sighed and replied with what I've told her hundreds of times. "I can't yet, Rin. This life now is what I want. I need it as much as these people need me. As much as I want to go home, I can't yet. Tell her what I told you. Please help her try to understand."
It was a moment before she responded. "I can't change your mind can I? Tell me one thing then?"
"Sure," I said. I hoped I would actually be able to answer.
"Tell me where you are. When you do whatever it is you plan to do, I want to see it on the news."
"You can work a television?" I asked with a laugh.
She groaned and said, "Just tell me!"
"South America. You should see it soon."
She said one last thing before cutting off the call, "Don't die, Shirou."
I shut the phone with a deep breath, and dropped it into the bag below my perch. Suddenly, the streets below were clear. The cafes were empty and the old men and women that were gossiping the morning away had vanished. All was quite save for the chirping of birds and the rumbling of distant gas engines. I quickly dropped behind the parapet of the building and grabbed my bow.
"Trace. On." I whispered as my circuits opened. The cars were approaching from the distance. I would only have this one chance to do it. About a minute later, the first car in the convoy turned down the road and drove past my position. It was going slow, only about fifteen miles an hour. As it passed, I noticed the rest of the motorcade. There were eight cars total, all black compacts spread evenly save for the leading and trailing vehicles, which were about fifty yards ahead and behind respectively. One of the middle cars no doubt held the man I was looking for.
I saw the image in my mind as I traced, and I felt the tug on my resolve as the object formed itself in my right hand. A wave of fatigue hit me as the blade manifested itself, and as I forced a bit more prana into it, the weapon deformed. It was only a few months ago that I discovered how to create Broken Phantasms from the weapons I traced. Now I could easily compensate for the lack of prana I possessed.
I put the deformed sword onto my bowstring and drew it back like I would any other arrow. This was the easy part. I quickly aimed next to one of the middle cars, and let fly my "arrow". It flew straight and impacted the cobblestone road next to the vehicle before exploding violently. The car swerved, hitting the metallic railing that lined the street and threw off the heading of the cars behind. I quickly projected another weapon and forced more prana into it before putting it to the bowstring as well. I fired this shot further towards the back of the convoy. It struck next to the rear axle of one of the black cars and the ensuing explosion flipped the vehicle entirely. I seriously hoped everyone was wearing their seatbelt.
I was fatigued. The strain of the projections was getting to me, but my job wasn't even half done yet. I dropped the bow and quickly grabbed up my other weapons before reinforcing my limbs with a short burst of power. Suited men armed with sub machine guns and a variety of pistols were beginning to climb out of the cars.
I leapt off my perch, dropping two stories to the ground and rolled when I hit. As I stood, I pulled a stun grenade off my belt and rolled it ahead of me to the feet of a large group of the men. They looked at it for a second as it skittered to a stop on the rough stone, but by then it was too late. The grenade burst and hit them all with a medium strength concussive force, as well as blinding them and rendering them deaf with the flash and crack.
Before anyone else could react, I ran around the convoy towards the other side, pulling two other grenades off of my belt. They were tear gas, a favorite of mine. I threw them in front of the nearest cars and smiled as the black suited men fell to their knees. I had undergone extensive training to resist the effects of the painful gas, so the discomfort is minimal for me. For those not resistant to it, its nearly suffocating, but a true non-lethal weapon. My first objective was complete, stop the convoy. My second objective was complete now as well, sow confusion. The third and fourth still needed to be accomplished, incapacitate every cartel member present, and arrest the leader.
I ran into the smoke, landing a knee into the face of a man that was scrambling for his gun. I swung my rifle off its sling to deflect the stab of a knife, and slammed the muzzle of the weapon into the man's shoulder. As he fell, I stomped down on his groin as hard as I could and then spun to whack the skeleton stock into the head of a man behind me. There were a lot of these guys, I needed to be careful. Quickly, I threw another tear gas grenade. I needed to engulf the whole area. I moved carefully through the smoke, using the environment and my rifle to beat every opponent in my way into submission. From a distance through the smoke, I saw two men pointing guns at me. Quickly, I dove into cover behind one of the black cars as they open up. From the crack of their weapon, I correctly identified their arms as MAC-10s, fast firing, but quick to run out of ammo. After less than five seconds, I heard two clicks as their bolts fall on empty chambers.
I vaulted over the car and struck the first man dead center in the chest with my rifle muzzle. I heard his sternum crack with a hideous sound, but it doesn't give me pause. I swung out my leg and hooked the ankle of the other man. As he fell, I dropped backwards onto his legs, breaking one of them in an instant. Two other men were on me before I could stand. I was thrown back by a kick to the face. I stumbled before bracing myself on a car. Before I could recover, a fist took me in the chest. Kevlar can't stop concussive force, and it hurt like hell. The second punch I dodged, and then planted an elbow into the forehead of my attacker. Before he could recover, I had grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and slammed him into the hood of the car hard enough to dent the black metal.
The others were beginning to recover, and I realized exactly how outnumbered I was. I reached down and pulled out my handgun. I aimed for the legs and arms, but that's a lot harder than it seems. I emptied my magazine in twenty seconds, but before I could reload, I was grabbed from behind. I struggled, leaning forward before slamming my head back to dislodge my attacker. Then I turned and planted a hard kick into the man's shin. I finish him with a punch to the solar plexus that I put my whole body into. The man was unconscious in seconds, and was lifted into the air by the hit. I didn't doubt that he would have internal damage. I find it ironic that I use the martial arts of the greatest enemy I ever faced, but bajiquan is a useful set of skills.
"Get the boss out of here!" cried one of the men. The fusillade of gunfire increased as one of the car's opened its back door and an older man fled into the city, followed by eight of his men. Twenty more were in my path now, laying down suppressing fire to slow me down. I looked down. I was out of tear gas, and the single flashbang I possessed probably wouldn't give me enough time to beat them down. Still, I couldn't shoot them. Not after I came this far. I threw the flash, and I was already on the move as it went off. They were still blinded when I closed, and the first four were down before they could even hear properly.
One man stumbled into my path, blinking heavily. My foot arced up, slamming into his groin, and before he fell, I used his body to bowl over three more. As I moved, I kicked firearms away. Still, some men got shots off. A nine millimeter round struck my vest, and another grazed my left arm. Those were the only shots that particular man loosed before my elbow broke his jaw. I kicked out, hitting a man in the kidneys hard enough to make him pass out from the pain. Then I rolled to escape more gunfire, and used the tangle of bodies to land a few more crippling blows.
Fourteen were down; the six left had recovered their guns. I rolled to my feet and charged them with only fifteen feet between us. As I reached the halfway point, the twin blades Kanshou and Bakuya appeared in my hands with a clicking noise. One step later, the bullets were heading towards me. My blades helped me block the worst of the shots, but eight rounds grazed my extremities by the time I reached the men. The twin swords flashed with all the skill of their original owners, leaving severed guns and nonlethal wounds in their wake.
Quickly, I grabbed one of the terrified men. "Stay and wait for the police or I'll hunt you down again!" I shouted in Spanish. As he began to nod furiously, I headbutted him in the nose, leaving him little choice in the matter as he passed out. Then I made my way in the direction the kingpin went. I was followed by a trail of blood from dozens of minor wounds.
The road led uphill towards a residential area. I was limping, and I could no longer keep up the projected blades. A gateway was ahead, the entrance to a villa. Then I realized how exposed I was out here. As the thought crossed my mind, a shot ran out and something small and fast pierced my Kevlar vest, lodging itself somewhere in my abdomen. I grunted in pain and fell flat on the ground, playing dead. The blood was slowly leaking around me, and I heard one of the men say he had killed me. Then I heard footsteps approaching.
I summoned all the strength I possessed as the man reached my side and knelt to examine me. I threw myself up and crushed his nose with the back of my head. I wrestled his gun and used the magazine to beat him unconscious. Then I looked over my weapon. An Israeli made mini uzi, a fairly common gun amongst criminals. Before I could stop to think, I was under fire again, less accurate this time. I aimed and fired at a shadow in the gateway and hit him twice in the chest. Then I advanced to the cover it provided. The wound in my side hurt horribly, and it felt like I was on fire. The blood was seeming through my clothes and even though the wound burnt, it felt like all my warmth was leaving me.
I entered the villa on shaking feet, moving past the body of the man I killed, and the gunfire came at me seconds later. A raised garden provided my cover, and I used it to shoot and kill four more of the black suited men. Then my weapon ran dry.
"We know you're out," shouted a man. "Let's just end it quickly. Come out here and let us kill you."
I laughed quietly to myself as I prepared to project again. This time, my bow appeared in my hands, and the "arrow" soon after. A hero never surrenders to the villain. Not when justice is at stake. No matter how much it hurt, I would never surrender to the likes of them. I rolled out of the cover I was behind and fired my arrow. Both the bodyguard and his boss fired at the same time. My arrow struck the bodyguard in the chest, and the explosion painted the villa in a thin film of his blood. Two of their bullets struck me. One was deflected off a bone in my shoulder and exited without causing serious damage. The other pierced my right leg and shattered the tibia.
"Trace. On." I growled through ground teeth. Kanshou and Bakuya appeared in my hands and I threw them with as much precision as I could muster. As they flew, I pushed prana into my body, reinforcing its broken structure. The twin swords flew around the kingpin as he dove for cover. One of the blades nicked his gun and knocked it away. By that time I was there.
In my wounded state, the old man put up quite a fight. His first punch hit me straight in the gut, right on the bullet wound. I coughed blood and threw a wild haymaker that he easily dodged. A knee flew up into my stomach again and I dirtied the man's suit with more of my blood. Then a punch of mine connected. A straight strike hit his right hand dead on and shattered it. Taking advantage of the situation, I twisted his other arm and quickly broke it at the elbow. From there it was easy. I pulled him into a sleeper hold and he was out in seconds.
As his unconscious body slumped to the ground, I leaned against a nearby column for support. My prana was all but gone, and my vision was fading. Then I saw lights. The police were coming, arresting the villains. I took one step out towards them before I realized that the reinforcement on my leg was gone. The pain spiked up my leg, blinding me, and I fell forward onto my face. I struggled to stand, but I felt my consciousness escaping me. The last thing I felt before passing out was the handcuffs being locked around my wrists. Then the world faded to white.