Death To The Fittest

BLITZ Team: Death To The Fittest is the third episode of BLITZ Team's first season. It is a static-panel episode.

## Synopsis

ASSD gets a call from a Rivvian high school, disclosing a case of three missing students. When the students turn up dead and ripped apart, Barton suspects there is something way worse than a serial killer lurking in the shadows.

## Plot

Barton is instructing a physical-training class with the cadets one morning before a thunderstorm, when suddenly the alarm rings. Barton hurries the cadets into the building, and the group is greeting by Felicia with a report of three students that have gone missing from their school in Rivvia. Barton goes on to ask questions about the students, and Felicia tells him that the students haven't been showing up to their after-school jobs or even at their homes. Barton tells the cadets to shower and clean themselves up before they launch a search party.

The cadets pile into the Hound, and Kylee drives them to the school, followed by Barton in the Double-Iron. When they arrive at the school, the cadets are told to search the school campus for traces of the students that may give hints as to where they went. Ward and Cathie decide to pair up and search the downstairs area for the students. While investigating the janitors' closet, Ward finds the bodies of the three students, lying in a pool of blood with their limbs dismembered. Ward almost has a heart attack, and runs to find Barton, practically dragging Cathie down the hallway with him.

Later, at the hospital, Barton is called to a surgical annex on the third level. In the annex, a nurse gives Barton a key, saying that she has a victim on a bloody attack. Barton asks who this person is, and the nurse says police have identified him as Daniel Krieger, a high-paid office executive from a biology company. The nurse says she and her co-workers tried everything they could to save Krieger, but in the end, he bled out. Barton asks what happened to Krieger to make him lose so much blood, and the nurse reveals that Krieger had lost his right hand in the attack from the suspect. According to the nurse, police found no evidence of the hand nearby.

Barton leaves the hospital, accidently bumping into the student from the conference room, Yukon, excusing himself. Yukon leaves without a response, heads down an alleyway, and pulls a key out, one that matches the one Barton received from the nurse. Yukon opens the door, and reveals a horrifying sight in the apartment he has stepped into. On the table in front of him is a human arm attached to an electrical device. Yukon pulls out a handgun and loads it, then sneaks downstairs.

Meanwhile, he doesn't realize it, but Barton has followed him, and is watching through the window. He quietly calls for Ward and Jacky to appear on his phone, then puts his phone in his pocket, takes out his BLITZ Crystal and charges his shooting attack. He shoves the Crystal back into his pocket just as Ward and Jacky arrive in the Grenadier. Ward gets out, and Jacky drives the machine away. Barton gives Ward a fighting knife and a handgun, and both of them creep silently into the apartment. Ward accidently knocks over a tower fan, alerting Yukon of someone's presence. He rushes downstairs, slamming the door and locking it, cocking his handgun. Ward and Barton tiptoe downstairs, and Barton tries to open the door, without success. He orders Ward to step backwards, and kicks the door in. This knocks Yukon over, who picks up his handgun and attempts to shoot Barton. Barton deflects the shot by sending Yukon's handgun to the floor with a well-timed heel kick. Yukon gets up and socks Barton in the face, then attempts to pick up his handgun, but Barton grabs Yukon's hand as soon as he retrieves the weapon. As Barton attempts to get the weapon out of Yukon's grasp, Barton orders Ward to shoot at Yukon, and Ward shoots twice and misses both times. Ward is then ordered to get Jacky, and runs out of the apartment to do so.

Outside, Ward slips in a puddle of the now-pouring rain, and as Jacky walks up, Ward tells him that Barton is under attack, and Jacky charges his own shooting attack with his BLITZ Crystal before both of them head inside the apartment. As soon as Jacky and Ward enter the house, Yukon socks Jacky with a table lamp, but Ward kicks him from behind. While Jacky fights Yukon, he orders Ward to go downstairs and find Barton. As Ward hurries downstairs, he finds Barton with his hand trapped in a crevice in the rock wall. Barton tells Ward he can't get out, and Ward gives Barton his BLITZ Crystal which he dropped during the fight. Barton powers his shooting attack again, and blasts the wall apart, causing the plumbing system to pour water from the drains. Barton and Ward hurry out of the basement and back up stairs, to find that Yukon has stabbed Jacky and ran. Ward helps Jacky while Barton runs after Yukon.

Yukon hops onboard a helicopter platform above the Shulker Tower after a lengthy chase, and shortly after Barton joins him. Yukon is now bloodied and armed with a large kitchen knife. Barton takes out his Crystal to power his shooting attack, but Yukon knocks the Crystal out of Barton's hands. Barton pushes Yukon to the floor of the platform, picks up the Crystal, and deflects a blow Yukon had aimed from behind. He spins around skillfully, kicking Yukon across the face. Barton calls for help, and shortly afterward, Drew and Shannon enter the building. Kurt and Gren are alerted by this, and they run up the stairs after them. At the top, a news helicopter watches the fight, and the anchor broadcasts the brawl to live TV.

Barton shoots three times at Yukon, only to miss. Yukon hits Barton with several hard punches and kicks, sending him to the ground. As Yukon is poised to aim the killing blow, Drew and Shannon come in from behind, taking Yukon by his arms and throwing him the ground, where they pin him down. ASSD's own helicopter pulls up as Yukon is handcuffed, unarmed and led into the flying craft. Barton and his team climb into the craft, and Kurt and Gren turn around and go back downstairs, deciding it is best not to fight.

The episode ends with the helicopter flying away to the Rivvia Detention Facility with Yukon screaming crazily all the while.

## Trivia

* The disembodied human parts are from a total of 19 of Yukon's victims, and according to RampGroovesFighter, "there are more where that came from."
* As usual, RampGroovesFighter has given some hints of other possible paths in the battles of this episode.
	+ If Barton and Ward had managed to keep Yukon in the house when the plumbing system burst, they could have drowned Yukon.
	+ If Drew and Shannon were even one second later, they wouldn't've been able to save Barton.
	+ If Jacky had brought the Spider instead of the Grenadier, Yukon would've stolen it.
	+ If Kurt and Gren had decided to fight the ASSD when Yukon needed help, they too would've gone to prison.
	+ If Yukon had stabbed Jacky in the head instead of his abdomen, Jacky would've died.
	+ If Yukon had called for other helpers in the fight, Barton would've called the cadets, and at least one person from both sides would've been killed in the bloody battle that would result.
	+ If Barton and Ward had simply stormed into the house, they still would've defeated Yukon, but it would've been easier.
		- According to RampGroovesFighter, this is because Yukon knew of their presence in his apartment, which gave him time to prepare countermeasures to get rid of them.
	+ If Kylee had been involved, Yukon "almost definitely would've died" according to RampGroovesFighter.
* Originally, RampGroovesFighter was going to have Jacky and Ward drive the Scarab, when he figured the hybrid-electric Grenadier would allow for a quieter approach.