Race in Time S1 Vol. 5

# Race in Time: Volume 5 - Corporate Raid

Written by Warpig (UNFINISHED!)

Hey, before you start reading, there's been some confusion as to what character is on which team so I'm here to clear that up with a hellishly long list.

Fitten Co. / Copper n' Co. :

* John Kenneth Copper
* Arthur "Nitro" Ryder
* Carl W. Rogers
* Gregory "Gre" Patterson
* Jack Fox
* Sebastian Wilson
* Joey M. Tortoise
* Cassidy "Kaz" Wolf

Troll Co. :

* Samuel Tachiarai
* Daniel Von Schaft
* William Ross
* V
* Al
* Max Leatherman
* Nate Benjamin Hunter
* Urobonist
* March "Marcy" Forain
* Bravo
* Dilan "Aedifex" Ferro
* Pearl Klein
* Vel Evergreen

Canadian Security and Intelligence Service (CSIS):

* Trevor Stefan Kulzeir
* Anna Áine
* Lucy Reed
* Rose Hallow
* Song "Wendi" Wei Lin

Bohemian Legion PMC:

* Jana "Inari" Hajchlová
* Legionnaire
* Aaron McFaalin

The Church:

* Cerval
* Emma
* Scarlet
* Vienna Altair
* Azrael

Hopefully that clears it up! Enjoy Volume 5.

## 11:05 AM, Lobby, Troll Co. HQ

John: "FUUUUUUUUUCK!"

Copper n' Co. are shooting their way through the Troll Co. mercenaries as civilians evacuate from the building.

John: "GET TO THOSE ELEVATORS!"

Copper n' Co. shoot another mercenary after another.

John: "HEY, SWORD PEOPLE, YOU CAN BLOCK BULLETS, COVER US DAMNIT!"

Azrael: "Sure."

Azrael nods at Vienna and Cerval.

The three Ichimonji sword holders jump out of cover and start providing cover for the rest of the group.

A while later, the group makes it to the elevators.

Some more shooting later, the elevator finally arrives.

John: "GET IN!"

The entire group gets into one elevator, most of them sighing from relief.

...

...

...

Kaz: "Uhh... Why aren't we moving...?"

John: "Seb, the button."

Sebastian: "Oh, sorry boss."

Sebastian presses the floor 20 button, the highest there is.

Sebastian: "Only 20 floors on this elevator, building is huge though so this must be a civilian-only elevator, find a way to get to the higher floors when we arrive at 20, aye lads?"

John: "Nice thinking."

Nitro: "Lock and load."

...

Ding-dong.

As the doors open, two mercenaries notice the group, but get blasted immediately.

John: "Doubt administrators and senior personel are still in the building, evacuation order was through the entire neighborhood..."

The group walks into a room.

Gre: "There's a security gate here..."

John: "If we cut the power to the gate, we should be able to advance further, and since this security gate is probably between the way to the higher floors..."

"CONTACT!"

Nitro shoots the mercenary.

John: "Damnit! Find those panels, if you look at the gate you can see wires! Find the corresponding panels!"

The group splits up in search of electrical panels.

John tracks down the wiring and finds a panel in a separate room.

John: "Jackpot..."

John shoots the panel, detonating it.

John: "ONE DOWN TWO TO GO!"

Nitro and Kaz are in another office room searching for the panel...

As they're looking at the wiring, more mercenaries breach the windows around them.

Nitro: "God damnit."

Nitro starts shooting the mercs, taking each one out one by one.

Nitro: "Kaz, get the panel."

Kaz: "Yeah, I got it!"

Kaz stabs his wooden sword into the panel, destroying it.

Kaz: "Done!"

Nitro holsters his revolver as the last body falls.

Vienna, Azrael and Cerval are looking for the last panel while the rest of the group regroups at the gate...

"FREEZE!"

The three turn around.

Vienna pulls the rifle from the mercenary's hands.

Azrael sighs and starts walking towards the merc.

The mercenary starts running away.

Azrael: "Coward."

Vienna: "Found the panel."

Vienna stabs the panel, destroying it.

Azrael: "That's all of them."

Back at the gate John and Gre are figuring out the panel required to unlock the door.

John: "Stupid system... FUCK!"

John slams the panel, which somehow opens the door.

John: "Heeeeey! Fuck it we ball!"

The group makes their way up the stairs...

Gre: "From what I saw the next floors should all have a four-way cross design, four halls with office rooms in them connected at one huge hallway."

John: "So if we start getting shot at just hide in the offices?"

Gre: "Yes, that's our best cover."

John: "Got it."

## 11:12 AM, Floor 23, Troll Co. HQ

A group of hired mercenaries are waiting at floor 23.

Max: "Well...They could be here any second now..."

Aedifex is looking at the security cameras.

Aedifex: "They just got past the security gate at 20, they're approaching 21 now."

Sam walks in, stretching his back.

Sam: "Can I take a look?"

Aedifex: "Sure."

Sam looks at the camera footage, seeing Cerval and Emma alongside three new figures.

Sam: "Oh, more people walking into the blender."

Sam inspects the footage with two people catching his attention.

Sam: "Eh? More Ichimonji blades? Great."

As the mercenaries wait, a blonde girl happily walks over to them.

Sam: "You're Vel from marketing, right? What are you still doing here?"

Aedifex: "There was a evacuation order, why are you here?!"

Vel: "I'm combat-capable, so I stayed here!"

...

Sam: "Is that a Ichimonji?"

Vel: "Yep! The Yami no Ha-Ichimonji!"

Sam: "I'm not even suprised anymore, every other schmuck today has a Ichimonji."

The Urobonist and Marcy walk in the room.

Aedifex: "Let me guess, combat capable?"

Urobonist: "Yes."

Sam: "Right, we've got: A outdated robot, Head of Construction, a marketing department worker, a guy with laser guns and the least effective combat uniform known to mankind, a guy with a bolt action, a sassy child with a spear, and...I don't know who you are."

Sam points at Marcy.

Marcy: "I am Marcy! The resea-"

Urobonist: "She is nothing but a distraction in the way of research."

Sam: "Is she at least useful in a fight?"

Urobonist: "She is made of slime."

...

Sam: "huh."

Sam pulls out one of his pistols and shoots Marcy in the torso, seeing the bullet go right through her with no blood.

Marcy: "HEY!"

Sam: "Alright, you weren't lying."

Marcy: "I CAN BEAT ANYONE IN THIS ROOM!"

Sam chuckles.

Sam: "Sure you can."

Sam sighs.

Sam: "Shame Dan has a job to do, the geezer really gave that to him at the worst possible time."

Sam hears footsteps from the stairwell leading down to the bottom floor...

Sam: "They're probably here, get ready."

Max: "Hooah."

The freelancers prepare to fire at the intruders approaching...

Sam unsheathes the Yōtō-Ichimonji, the steel of the blade flashes under the light of the office building.

Sam: "Let's dance."

Sam raises his mask up.

A person goes up the stairs, but immediately start getting shot at by the mercs.

Max: "Visual Contact!"

A grenade is thrown from the stairwell into the room.

Max: "GRENADE!"

## 11:18, Outside of the Troll Co. HQ.

Legionnaire, Inari and some contractors exit their trucks.

Inari: "So...how are we doing this?"

Legionnaire looks at the HQ Building...

Legionnaire: "That's a CSIS Heli, hold on."

Legionnaire calls someone...

Legionnaire: "Lucy, get that heli to the front entrance of the building, we're going in with you."

Lucy: "Always a pleasure to be working with you, Legion~"

Legionnaire: "Save it for someone who cares."

Lucy: "Aww~"

A minute later, the helicopter arrives.

Legionnaire: "Get in."

The contractors get in the heli and start moving towards the HQ again.

Legionnaire: "We can fly next to a window where the targets are and breach from there, just don't fall from the heli."

Lucy: "Quick thinker, eh?"

Inari: "He does that all the time..."

Legionnaire: "Apparently Troll Co. has mercenaries of their own defending, we have info on the targets so don't go around killing Troll Co. mercs."

Inari: "Can we blow up a window? We have missiles right?"

Legionnaire looks over at Lucy.

Lucy sighs and nods.

Lucy: "Blow up that window, we're going in."

The pilot sends a missile at the window, a second later a loud explosion and a lot of fragments and smoke emerge, serving as a smokescreen for the breach.

Legionnaire: "Move in."

Aedifex: "The hell?"

The Troll Co. mercs look at the source of the explosion, but only see a catgirl, a grey haired combatant and woman with cybernetic legs and a sword.

Sam: "And you are?"

Legionnaire: "Bohemian Legion PMC and Canadian Security and Intelligence Service, William Ross called about a corporate raid."

Sam: "Oh nothing to worry about, it's just a few domestic terrorists."

Lucy: "Anna, Rose, report."

Anna: "Approaching from the left, Rose is on the right side, we're preparing to breach."

Lucy: "Don't forget the target."

Anna: "Don't worry, I won't!"

Legionnaire gestures the contractors to move in.

Legionnaire: "Support the Troll Co. mercs."

Contractor: "Aye-aye."

A group of BL PMC Contractors make their way over to the firefight to support the mercenaries.

Sam: "We're having a shootout with them right here as you can hear and see, but they do have...not entirely human adversaries with them."

Inari: "What, they have a dog?"

Sam chuckles.

Sam: "Say, do you believe in angels?"

As Sam finishes his sentence, a beam of light dashes by their heads, burning through anything in its way.

Sam: "Said angel can do that."

Inari: "oh."

Sam: "Not even angels are invincible though..."

Sam rests the Yōtō-Ichimonji on his shoulder and heads towards the fight.

The contractors and agent follow him, readying their weapons.

As Lucy unsheathes her sword, lightning runs across it.

Sam stops and sighs.

Sam: "Don't tell me you have a Ichimonji too..."

Lucy: "Oh? We're both Ichimonji wielders?"

Sam: "There's four more in the building with us, the angel is wielding the Seiken, one of our employees has the Yami no Ha-Ichimonji, and two of those terrorists have Ichimonji swords too, just don't know which ones right now."

Lucy: "That's weird..."

Sam: "You get used to it."

Sam walks to the firefight and sees Cerval.

Cerval: "Samuel Tachiarai, we meet again."

Sam: "Missed me?"

Cerval: "No."

Sam laughs and gestures Cerval to follow him, then runs off into another section of the floor.

Azrael: "Cerval, we shouldn't run through the main hall, too much gunfire."

Vienna: "Leave that to the gun nerds, we're going after Tachiarai, we can reach him if we go through these offices and we probably won't get shot at."

Cerval: "Very well then, follow me."

Cerval goes through the office rooms to catch up to Sam

Vienna and Azrael follow Cerval into the other sector, eventually catching up to the swordsman.

Vienna: "That's him."

Azrael: "I noticed."

Vienna and Azrael start walking towards Sam.

Vel: "Well, this looks like a Ichimonji reunion."

Sam: "Let's see how they hold up."

Sam inspects Vienna and Azrael.

"The ginger's sword is giving off a weird aura...space, maybe? The white haired guy obviously has the flame one..."

Sam: "So, why are you here?"

Cerval: "The demon."

Sam: "Oh right, that...let me guess, Copper told you about me?"

Cerval: "Yes."

Sam: "Not going to lie, he's good at getting allies."

Lucy: "Allow me to interfere~"

Sam and Cerval look over at Lucy.

Sam: "We could use another Ichimonji, a three on three is pretty fair."

Cerval: "The Raiken-Ichimonji."

Lucy: "Yep~"

Cerval: "It holds a portion of Raijin's power, impressive."

Vel: "Who's Raijin?"

Cerval looks at Vel.

Cerval: "The Japanese God of Thunder."

Vel: "oh."

Cerval: "Your sword...the Yami no Ha-Ichimonji manipulates the darkness, strange, considering it was blessed by the goddess of the moon..."

Vienna: "What...?!"

Cerval: "Tsukuyomi, Goddess of the Moon."

Vienna summons a black hole and pulls her sword out of it, then grips her sword in anger.

Vienna: "YOU BITCH!"

Vienna runs at Vel and swings at her, but Vel dodges it and swings back, Vienna blocks the swing and the two get into a bind.

Vienna: "Fuck you and your sword!"

Vel: "What, are you mad?"

Vienna: "I don't give a FUCK if it was blessed by the moon! Go fuck yourself!"

Vel: "You wish yours was, moon knight fangirl."

Vienna: "There's literally NO FUCKING WAY that happened to you!"

Vel dissapears into her own shadow and reemerges a few meters back.

Vienna: "You're literally just trying to get on my nerves and guess what?! IT'S FUCKING WORKING!"

Vel: "What, mad because the moon doesn't like you?"

Vienna pulls Vel into range and swings at her again.

Vel dodges again and pulls out her pistol, then starts firing at Vienna.

Vienna creates a energy sphere that consumes the bullets, then blasts the bullets back at Vel, but she dodges them.

Vel: "Fuck you and your stupid hair pin!"

Vienna: "IT'S A PAPER CLIP!"

Lucy walks towards Azrael.

Lucy: "So, what's your deal big boy?~"

Azrael: "I'm just tagging along, looking for a relative."

Lucy: "Well, I wish you luck with that."

Lucy teleports behind Azrael in a flash of lightning.

Lucy swings at Azrael but he blocks the attack, and tries to swing at Lucy, but she kicks his sword.

Azrael: "What the hell was that?"

Lucy: "Cybernetic legs, darling."

Lucy sends a bolt of lightning at Azrael, who barely deflects it, then the woman closes her AR Visor and runs towards Azrael.

Sam and Cerval are exchanging blows at inhuman speeds.

Cerval: "You always have the option to give up and let us kill the demon, Tachiarai."

Sam: "Nah, thanks."

Cerval sends a beam of angelic energy moving at nearly lightspeed, but Sam dodges it and runs towards Cerval.

Sam swings at Cerval but she teleports behind him and tries thrusting at him, but he steps on her sword and thrusts at her, but she parries the thrust and swings at Sam while stepping away.

At the entrance of the floor...

Copper n' Co. are in a shootout with the mercenaries and contractors...

The Urobonist teleports behind Sebastian, but gets instantly whacked by his baton.

Sebastian: "Eejit!"

The Urobonist tries to unholster his handgun but gets shot by Sebastian's .357, nearly ripping his hand apart.

Sebastian points his revolver to the Urobonist's forehead.

Sebastian: "So, what's yer edgy origin story lad?"

Urobonist: "I was beaten and neglected by m-"

Sebastian: "That's crazy, I don't care!"

Sebastian pokes him with the baton.

Sebastian: "Well lad, I can kill ya right here and now."

Urobonist: "You lack...the strength."

The Urobonist tries to move but is restricted by Sebastian's leg.

Sebastian: "Nuh-uh."

Sebastian stomps on the robot's chest, shattering it a small amount.

John: "SEB STOP FUCKING AROUND WITH THAT CLANKER AND HELP US DAMNIT!"

Sebastian: "Aye-aye!"

Sebastian puts three .45 rounds into the robot's chest before running over to John.

As Sebastian is running from one side to the other, a laser flies by his head.

Sebastian and Max look at each other and give each other a middle finger.

Sebastian: "Piss off ya wee lad!"

Max: "Hold still Scottie!"

The six Ichimonji wielders are exchanging blows as a window explodes next to them.

Lucy: "Took you long enough."

Rose: "I'm here, what did I miss?"

Lucy: "Nothing much, how are the others?"

Rose: "Anna just breached the other side with Wendi and Trevor, I'll help you here."

Lucy: "Try and keep up~"

Azrael: "Done monologuing?"

Lucy sends a bolt of lightning at Azrael and appears right where it hits, then swings at Azrael but he blocks the swing and counterattacks with a swing of his own.

As Lucy and Azrael are exchanging blows, Rose rushes between the two and starts swinging at Azrael.

Azrael: "Come at me!"

Azrael steps backwards and stabs his sword into the ground, right as the blade goes into the floor fire starts erupting around him.

Lucy retreats with a flash of lightning and Rose throws a grappling hook to pull herself away from the floor.

Azrael looks over at Rose and immediately back to Lucy who's sheathing her sword.

The two look at each other for a second before Lucy dissapears again, appearing above Azrael.

Azrael: "Same old tricks."

Azrael prepares to block the incoming strike from Lucy, but notices Rose dropping down on him.

The two women attack the man from both sides at the same time, slashing him over his back and front.

Lucy roundhouse kicks Azrael towards Vienna, knocking the two down.

Vienna: "Damnit..."

Vel takes advantage of this and swings at Vienna, but Vienna sees this coming and parries her.

As Vel is recovering, a small flash of purple energy starts appearing on Vienna's hand.

"Purple."

Vienna snaps her fingers and sends a orb of purple energy hurling towards Vel, who dissapears into her own shadow just in time.

As the orb of energy moves forward, it erases and creates a hole in a wall, then flies out of the building.

Vel looks back at the wall, terrified of the fact that attack could have erased most of her torso.

Vel: "What was that, star-girl?!"

Vienna: "Purple energy."

Vel: "The fuck does that mean?!"

Vienna: "Erasure, dumbass."

Vel grits her teeth and rushes at Vienna, then the two start exchanging blows again.

As Sam and Cerval are slashing away at each other, Sam starts shooting at Cerval.

Cerval deflects all the rounds and sends a small, blue orb towards Sam who tries blocking it, but the orb stops a few feet away from him and pulls him towards itself.

As Cerval is about to swing at a prepared Sam, a bolt of lightning hits Cerval's sword.

As the angel is caught off-guard by the lightning, Sam takes the opportunity to slash Cerval, knocking her away.

Sam: "Thanks, err..."

Lucy: "The name's Lucy, Lucy Reed."

Sam: "Right."

As Sam turns back to Cerval, he notices she's not in the direction she was a second ago.

He looks behind him in a short panic to see Cerval getting ready to swing at him with a overhead strike.

Sam grins and quickly sheathes his sword while turning around and closing his eyes, ready to deflect the strike.

As Cerval brings down her blade, Sam turns around again and starts unsheathing.

"First Strike: Reticence."

As Sam unsheathes, his eyes flash with a bright, blood red glow as cracks of lightning run across the Yōtō-Ichimonji.

The two blades make contact, but the Yōtō prevails and knocks the Seiken away, then proceeds to cleave at Cerval.

Cerval takes the hit and is knocked away by the sheer force of the strike.

Sam smirks while looking at the angel on the floor.

Lucy walks up to Sam and opens her AR Visor, Sam lowers his mask and looks over at Lucy, giving her a upwards nod.

Lucy: "Impressive Iaijutsu, where did you learn it?"

Sam: "My family was a samurai clan, we have a dojo for both Kenjutsu and Iaijutsu back in Japan, but my mom mentored me."

Lucy: "What's the clan called?"

Sam: "The Tachiarai clan."

Lucy: "And your mom?"

Sam: "Ruka Tachiarai, the Tanabata Swordswoman."

Lucy: "Cool, I'll keep that in mind."

As Sam and Lucy finish their exchange, they overlook Vienna and Vel fighting.

Sam: "We should probably help our little friend, she seems to be struggling a bit."

Lucy: "Right, Rose, cover us in case either of those two get up."

Rose: "Got it."

Lucy smirks and closes her AR Visor, Sam raises his mask again and they start running towards the two women.

As Vienna slashes away at Vel who's barely keeping up, she sees Sam and Lucy running towards her.

Vienna steps back in a panic.

As Sam and Lucy are about to unsheathe their swords and attack, Vienna's hand glows purple again.

Vienna sends another orb of purple energy, this time towards Sam and Lucy.

Lucy flashes away with a trail of lightning and looks at Sam, who's just standing there.

Lucy: "SAM!"

Sam smirks, right as the orb is about to evaporate him he steps to the side with minimal effort.

Sam: "What even is that stuff anyways? It's moving at relativistic speeds, so it's obviously some kind of energy.."

Vienna: "It's a orb of space that's stretched apart and pulled into itself at the same time, no idea how it actually works but that seems like the basic premise."

Sam: "I'm not a physicist, so I'll believe what you said."

Vel: "Still no idea how it works..."

Vienna: "That's because you're really fucking stupid."

Sam: "Vel, you can probably take a rest, I'll take her from here."

Vel: "M'kay..."

Vienna angrily swings at the retreating Vel.

Vienna: "Don't you fucking da-"

As Vienna's swing is about to hit Vel, Sam steps in-between them and parries Vienna, then kicks her away.

Vienna looks up at Sam from the floor, gritting her teeth as the swordsman walks towards her laughing with his katana resting on his shoulder.

Sam: "Well, make this interesting for me."

Vienna gets up and starts mindlessly swinging at Sam, who easily blocks all her strikes.

Sam: "So, what's your name?"

Vienna keeps swinging at Sam angrily.

Vienna: "I'm Vienna Altair...and you're about to be dead!"

Sam smirks and keeps blocking her attacks.

Sam: "You do realize you're going to be a easy target when you're exhausted?"

Vienna: "Nobody to target me when you're dead!"

Sam: "There's two other people ready to kill you, you know?"

As Sam keeps deflecting Vienna's strikes, Lucy shouts at him.

Lucy: "Sam, the angel's up again!"

Sam looks over to a rising Cerval while still deflecting Vienna's strikes.

Sam parries a strike and kicks Vienna away.

Sam: "Vel, you're up again, take care of star girl over here."

Vel sighs.

Cerval and Sam look at each other.

Sam: "Why don't you stay down?"

Cerval: "I will not rest until the demon is exterminated."

Sam starts shooting at Cerval, but the angel simply steps aside and charges towards Sam.

The two blades clash, sending sparks flying around them, then they slash away at each other, sending even more sparks flying.

Sam parries a swing and throws a jab at Cerval, but she tilts her head to dodge it and keeps cutting away at Sam, who reciprocates with his own barrage of swings.

At the opposite side of the floor...

Inari: "Ah, do píči s tímhle."

Legionnaire: "What are you planning?"

Inari: "I'm gonna CQC em'!"

Legionnaire stares at the catgirl blankly.

Legionnaire: "Good luck."

Legionnaire pats Inari on her back and goes back to providing covering fire with his F57.

Inari reaches into her pocket, reaching around for a few seconds until finally finding what she needs.

...

A protein bar.

Inari unwraps the bar and eats it in a few bites, executes a few shadow-boxing movements and then starts running towards the enemy.

At the opposite side of the shootout...

Carl: "John, we've got a hell of a problem!"

John: "What the fuck..."

The group sees a 6'2 catgirl running towards them at superhuman speeds with a knife in her mouth.

...

And they're in the way.

Inari tactically slides into a office with Sebastian, Nitro, Kaz, Gre, Scarlet and Jack in it.

The group sees Inari getting up from her stylish slide with a wide grin on her face and a shine in her green eyes.

Nitro tries shooting her, but she side-steps the bullet and closes the distance on Nitro, then uppercuts him in the jaw, nearly killing him.

Gre and Kaz run at Inari, but she delivers a haymaker to Kaz's stomach faster than he can react, then slaps Gre across the face.

Right as she finishes slapping Gre, Sebastian, Jack and Scarlet start shooting at her, but she manages to dodge all of their gunfire and close the distance again.

Jack tries to fistfight Inari, but the last thing he sees is Inari grinning as she spits out her knife, catches it and prepares to stab him.

Inari drives the knife into Jack's stomach multiple times, slits his throat then kicks him away and quickly steps away to make sure she doesn't get shot.

Scarlet and Sebastian shoot everything they have at Inari but she easily dodges everything.

Inari: "So...any last words?"

Scarlet: "...We're both catgirls...?"

Inari looks at Scarlet, looking up and down at her.

Inari: "Damn, we are."

Sebastian points his UMP-45 at Inari.

Inari sighs.

Inari: "I literally eat .45 for breakfast dude, don't even try."

Inari nods her head at Sebastian in disapproval.

Sebastian quietly rests his gun and leaves it on his sling, but then reaches for his baton.

Inari chuckles.

Inari: "Debile."

Inari pulls out her Glock 19 in the blink of a eye and unloads the entire mag into his vest.

As she does this, Scarlet fires at Inari but she dodges all of the 9mm rounds and closes the distance on her, putting her hand around her throat and lifting her up one-armed.

Inari: "Bad decision, sis."

Sebastian: "Ah...bloody hell..."

Sebastian tries reaching for his revolver but Inari steps on his arm.

Inari throws Scarlet across the office directly into a table, destroying it.

As she walks towards Scarlet over a lying Sebastian, Inari's ears twitch at the sound of a shotgun.

She punches the shotgun pellets out of the air before they reach her and makes eye contact with Joey who's preparing to shoot at her again.

Inari grits her teeth and grabs her slinged SCAR-H, aiming it directly at Joey.

Inari: "Try that again and I'll blow your fucking brains out."

Meanwhile in the office where John, Carl and Emma are taking cover, opposite of the one where Inari is at...

Carl: "John, where's Joey?"

John: "He went to Nitro's cover, maybe we should check up on th-"

John is cut off mid-sentence as Joey flies through the glass wall of the office, landing right in front of John.

Joey: "Ah...fuck..."

John: "Joey! What the fuck happened?!"

Joey: "That cat...got Nitro and the rest..."

John: "What cat?!"

Carl: "John...I think he meant her."

John looks at Carl who's pointing at Inari, cracking her knuckles.

Inari: "You're John?"

John: "And who are you, fucknut?!"

Inari: "A contractor who's capable of ripping out your damn spine barehanded!"

John and Inari stare at each other with anger in their eyes.

At the middle of the floor...

Max: "That catgirl just rushed in there, it seems clear now..."

Legionnaire: "You lot go secure that area, I'll check up on the commotion in the other sector."

Max: "Alright."

Legionnaire: "You're coming with me."

Legionnaire points at Pearl.

Pearl: "Why me?"

Legionnaire: "Because you have a spear, now hurry up and get up."

Legionnaire and Pearl make their way towards Sam and the others.

Meanwhile...

Vel is exchanging blows with Vienna again, but is slipping up more and more often with each swing.

Vel swings at Vienna, but gets easily parried and is open to an attack for a moment.

Vienna overclocks her exoskeleton, seemingly slowing everything down, then cuts Vel in a cross pattern.

As the time dilation effect wears down, two large cuts appear on Vel's body.

The girl falls backwards before losing consciousness from blood loss.

Vienna stands over the body for a while, victorious.

Vienna looks at the body with blood coming out of the torso.

Vienna: "She'll live."

Sam notices this from the corner of his eye while fighting Cerval and smirks while thinking to himself...

"Ah, she's out."

Sam refocuses back on his fight with Cerval, this time attacking her together with Lucy.

Cerval swings at Sam but he kicks her sword away, then both Lucy and Sam thrust towards Cerval, but she teleports out of there at the last second.

Lucy and Sam stop their blades and turn back to Cerval who's now behind Sam.

Sam does not have enough time to react.

Sam looks behind him with a mix of fear, adrenaline and suprise in his eyes.

The Seiken-Ichimonji pierces Sam's torso.

Lucy: "SAM!"

The swordsman looks down at his chest, with the blade of a katana sticking out of it.

...

...

As Sam inspects the sword in his chest, he thinks to himself...

"Wait... there's...no blood...?"

Despite just getting impaled, there is not a single drop of his blood to be seen.

Cerval: "It is time to end this."

Cerval starts directing energy into the Seiken, causing a agonizing burning pain in Sam's chest.

Lucy tries to attack Cerval, but the angel raises her arm and summons a blue orb that pulls Lucy away from Cerval.

A transparent silhouette of a demon starts manifesting near Sam's body.

Legionnaire: "What the..."

As Legionnaire runs towards Cerval, he's stopped dead in his tracks due to a barrier of angelic energy.

Legionnaire: "Lucy, what the hell is this?"

Lucy: "No idea, but it looks like she's pulling a...demon out of Sam...?"

Legionnaire tries shooting the barrier to no avail.

Legionnaire: "PEARL!"

Lucy: "Don't bother, we can't pierce it."

Legionnaire looks over at Pearl who's blankly staring at Azrael's unconscious body.

Legionnaire: "What's so interesting about that guy?"

Pearl doesn't respond.

Meanwhile, Sam is still screaming in pain from the burning pain from the ritual.

He can barely move, but he picks up as much willpower and courage as he can and...

Sam raises his fist and looks directly at Cerval.

Cerval can't do anything about the situation.

As Cerval keeps her sword in Sam's chest, the swordsman punches the angel, breaking free from the ritual and the pain.

But right as the sword exits his body...

A massive, crimson explosion occurs.

Lucy and Legionnaire are left coughing, alongside with Rose, Vienna is lying on the floor nearly knocked out by the explosion.

Cerval: "No..."

As the smoke clears, in place of Samuel Tachiarai stands a menacing demon with black skin, wings, a tail, burning red eyes and horns.

Cerval: "Haroumaru is free."

Haroumaru looks at his body and the Yōtō-Ichimonji, which now possesses a pure black blade and blood red colored serrations extending out of the edge.

The demon known as Haroumaru opens his mouth.

"CERVAL."

The demon looks up from his sword to the angel.

"ANGELIC FILTH."

Cerval: "I cannot allow you to roam free, demon."

On the other side of the floor...

Inari is fighting John, Carl and Emma when the whole floor is shaken by a explosion, throwing everyone off-balance.

Inari: "The hell..."

Inari quickly runs off towards the explosion, leaving the three opponents to fend for themselves.

In the hallway...

Max: "What was that?!"

Nate: "Explosion."

Max: "Well no shit sherlock, I know it's a explosion."

Aedifex: "We still gotta clear out this area, we'll check it later."

Max nods and keeps advancing.

As the Troll Co. mercenaries advance they see Inari running towards the source of the explosion.

Max: "Hey cat-"

Inari ignores the man and keeps running, soon dissapearing behind a office.

Max: "Fucking hell..."

At the source of the explosion.

Pearl observes the unconscious body of Azrael.

She gets closer to the body, ignoring the demon in the center of the room.

Pearl summons her spear, then brings it above the angel's head.

Pearl: "Hope you had fun playing hero, you damned-!"

Pearl brings her spear down on Azrael, who wakes up last second and tilts his head.

Azrael kicks Pearl away and summons his sword.

Azrael: "Pearl..."

Pearl: "I'm not going with you, piss off."

Azrael: "I don't care, we're going back."

Pearl grits her teeth and thrusts her spear at Azrael, who steps to the side and prepares to swing at Pearl, but...

Haroumaru notices the two fighting.

"AKA."

Haroumaru extends his arm towards the two siblings and a crimson orb appears in his palm.

A second later, the orb explodes violently.

The explosion creates another cloud of smoke that takes a while to clear out.

When the smoke clears out, Pearl is knocked unconscious meters away and Azrael is missing the entire left side of his torso alongside his entire left arm.

He tries to reach for the left side of his torso with his right arm, but is greeted with only blood.

Azrael walks over to his sister, barely hanging onto life as he uses his sword to keep himself kneeling.

Legionnaire and Lucy look at the two siblings in horror.

Haroumaru: "WITH THE DISTRACTION OUT OF MY WAY...I WILL KILL YOU, ANGEL!"

Cerval adopts a defensive stance as a strong aura of angelic energy gathers around her.

A halo and a pair of wings manifest on Cerval.

Cerval: "I will slay you this time."

Lucy: "We don't stand a chance against that thing!"

Legionnaire: "Retreat."

Legionnaire calls all of his units and starts commanding them.

"RETREAT, EVERYBODY RETREAT TO THE UPPER FLOORS, NOW!"

Legionnaire: "I'll get the girl, you two get out of here."

Lucy: "No way you're surviving here alone, I'm going with you."

Legionnaire sighs.

Lucy: "Rose, go after the others, we'll take it from here."

Rose nods and runs off.

Legionnaire and Lucy carefully make their way towards Vel, knowing Vienna, Haroumaru or Cerval could attack them at any time.

At the other side of the room...

Vienna finally gets herself together and realizes she needs to run.

She grabs the pistol lying next to Vel's body and starts running away while Haroumaru and Cerval are too busy fighting each other.

As she's running towards the hallway to meet up with her group, she notices Azrael bleeding out.

Vienna: "AZRAEL!"

Azrael looks up towards Vienna, but collapses before he can do anything.

Vienna struggles to put Azrael's dead weight on her back, but she eventually manages to do it.

She grabs Pearl by the hand and drags her on the floor as she starts running.

Meanwhile in John's perspective...

Carl: "John, they're coming over here."

John: "Fuck..."

Joey, John and Carl prepare to fight the approaching mercenaries...

Carl: "Wait, I hear..."

Back at the site of the explosion...

After Vienna runs away with Azrael and Pearl in tow, Legionnaire and Lucy manage to grab Vel while Cerval and Haroumaru are too busy fighting.

As Legionnaire and Lucy are running from the demon, the contractor thinks to himself...

"That ginger...looked similar to...her..."

Legionnaire looks at his Raven handgun and the engraving on it.

"Leech."

Legionnaire doesn't let the thoughts get to him and he keeps running.

...

Meanwhile in the office where Nitro and the others were taking cover, they all slowly get up from getting beaten by Inari.

Kaz: "Ahh...fuck... that hurt like hell."

Nitro: "Fellas, Jack's dead."

Kaz: "Wha-"

Kaz looks over at Jack's body.

...

Kaz: "...He bled out."

Nitro: "It's a shame...rest in peace."

Kaz looks at the body in disbelief.

His friend just died.

Nitro: "Kaz."

Kaz: "...Yeah...?"

Nitro: "We gotta move, c'mon."

Kaz: "...Right."

A tear runs down Kaz's cheek.

Nitro, Sebastian, Scarlet and Gre start shooting back at the mercenaries along with John, Carl and Joey.

John: "GET TO THE UPPER FLOORS!"

Scarlet: "EMMA! GO!"

Emma runs off towards the staircase to the upper floors.

As the two groups are shooting at each other, Legionnaire, Inari and Lucy come running from behind the mercenaries.

John: "WHERE'S VIENNA AND THE OTHERS?!"

Carl: "THEY'RE STILL BACK THERE, BUT WE CAN'T GET TO THEM, WE GOTTA GET OUT JOHN!"

John grits his teeth.

John: "EVERYONE TO THE STAIRS, NOW!"

The group starts running towards the staircase one by one while covering each other.

As Carl, the last person is about to get to the stairs he sees Vienna running towards them.

Carl: "I SEE VIE!"

Carl gestures at her to hurry up.

As Vienna passes by the mercenaries they start shooting at her, but she summons a sphere of energy that consumes their gunfire and eventually makes it to the stairs.

Vienna uses the sphere to spit out bullets at the mercenaries, hitting Nate in the head and providing covering fire.

Carl shouts towards the staircase.

"VIE'S ALIVE!"

John responds to Carl from the staircase.

"GOOD, NOW HURRY UP AND GET OVER HERE!"

Carl begins to run for the stairs, but is shot down.

As Carl screams a profanity, the group hears him from the staircase and suspects something is wrong.

John: "SOMEONE GO GET CARL!"

Sebastian comes down and starts dragging Carl to safety.

As Carl is carried towards the top of the stairs, John runs down to check up on his friend.

John: "SHUT THE DAMN DOOR!"

Sebastian slams the door control panel, closing it.

John checks up on his friend while dragging him.

John: "Don't worry Carl, you'll be fine, just stay with us!"

Carl: "John..."

John: "Yeah, what is it buddy?"

...

...

"I'm scared."

...

As Carl says that, John gets a massive shiver down his spine.

John starts thinking about all the casualties...

John: "Vienna, what's with Azrael, and where's Cerval?!"

Vienna: "...Azrael's out cold, Cerval's still fighting that...thing."

John looks down for a few seconds.

...

John: "And Cerval?"

Vienna: "She's fighting the demon, the demon caused those explosions."

John realizes that Jack just died, and Carl could be next.

John: "Guys, where did Carl get hit?"

Sebastian: "The heart."

John looks at Carl and his injuries.

Sebastian: "He's probably not making it."

John: "Bullshit, he can't die here...!"

John takes off Carl's gas mask only to reveal a dead man.

John looks at Carl's face in disbelief.

"Fuck...no...this can't be fucking happening..."

John: "FUCK!"

John punches a wall and starts crying.

His friends stand around him, wondering how to comfort him.

Nitro: "John, we gotta move, they're closing in on-"

John: "SHUT THE FUCK UP!"

John points his pistol at Nitro while in tears.

John looks down back at Carl's corpse.

Nitro: "Sorry John, we can't take him with us."

"Lie him to rest here, he died a warrior's death."

John rests Carl's corpse against a wall and gives him a salute.

"I won't forget you, friend."

John takes Carl's handgun, a old school M1911 in pristine condition, obviously cared for and maintained beautifully.

John: "Let's move then."

John and his group start running up the stairs, leaving Carl and Jack's bodies behind and Cerval to fend for herself.

On the top of the building, William and Bravo stand by, preparing for William's helicopter to start up.

Bravo: "It's been having problems lately, give it like five more minutes."

William: "Don't we have world class engineers?"

Bravo: "Aedifex is fighting down there."

William: "We don't have anyone else...?"

Bravo: "No, and the helicopter works just fine."

William rolls his eyes.

William: "Just make sure they don't get me."

Bravo: "That's my job."

The mercenaries are sweeping the hallway of the 23rd floor.

Inari comes back to Jack's body, this time she notices the Urobonist deactivated on the floor.

Inari: "That guy bled out, oops."

Legionnaire: "Knives usually tend to kill people, Inari."

Inari: "Neřikej vole."

Legionnaire calls to Aaron over his communications equipment.

Legionnaire: "Aaron, what's your status?"

Aaron: "All good, and you?"

Legionnaire: "Jack Fox is dead alongside a Troll Co. merc and some guy with white hair from Copper's group is mortally wounded, there's also a demon fighting an angel at the other side of this floor."

Aaron: "...what?"

Legionnaire: "Yeah, both of them have katanas and they're just duking it out, they're way too strong for any of us to handle so we're just going to go after Copper, those two only seem interested in each other."

Aaron: "Good luck then, I'll keep you updated if there's anything new."

As they move past Jack's body, the Troll Co. mercenaries try to breach the door shutting them down from the staircase.

Inari: "Move."

Inari punches the door, leaving a massive dent in it but not breaking it.

Inari: "Eh, I didn't put enough effort into that one."

Legionnaire pulls out a charge of C4 out of his duffel bag and gestures everyone to move away.

He plants the C4 and walks away from the door, walking into a nearby office for cover before detonating the charge.

One loud bang later, the mercenaries wait for the smoke to clear out.

Once the smoke clears, they see the dead body of a man in a gas mask.

Legionnaire: "Carl Rogers, check if he's dead."

Aedifex walks over to Carl's body and kicks it over, but the body only flops over.

Aedifex: "He's dead."

Legionnaire: "Right."

Legionnaire pulls out body bags from his duffel bag and throws them at Aedifex.

Legionnaire: "Bag those bodies, the rest goes after Copper."

Aedifex: "Hey Marcy, go handle Uro, we'll take him to the lab later."

Marcy: "Sure."

As Aedifex bags the bodies of Jack and Carl, Marcy inspects the robot.

Lucy: "Hey Legion."

Legionnaire: "What is it?"

Lucy: "After we get Copper, do you want to go get drinks?"

Legionnaire looks Lucy dead in the eyes, but she can't see his eyes due to his sunglasses.

Legionnaire: "Maybe."

Inari: "Hey buzzkill, get a move on."

Inari pushes Legionnaire.

The mercenaries make their way up their stairs.

11:36 AM, Stairway.

John: "Vienna, who is that?"

Vienna: "The girl Azrael was looking for, I'm taking her with us."

John: "She's a enemy merc, I'd kill her on the spot if she wasn't important."

John and his group keep walking up the stairs.

Emma: "...Azrael has a chance to live, angels have impressive regenerative abilities."

John: "That's a relief..."

John looks down while walking up.

"Do you think Cerval's gonna win?"

Emma: "...I'm not sure, I feel like if she can't beat Sam she cannot possibly match Haroumaru, but I feel like she's never went all out against Samuel..."

John: "So, she's got a few tricks up her sleeve, huh?"

Emma: "Basically, that's what I believe."

Vienna: "By the way, I grabbed this gun from a bitch I fought."

Vienna shows the pistol to the group.

Sebastian: "Ooh, a Taran Combat Master, fancy lil' thingy."

Vienna: "Is it good?"

Sebastian: "It's a 2011-style sporting pistol from last decade but it should work like a absolute beaut."

Vienna: "Right, but what do I do with it?"

Sebastian: "You could use it or something, then sell it, it's worth like five grand."

Vienna: "I'll keep that in mind, thanks."

As the group ascends up the stairway, they see the stairs end at floor 40.

John: "40, CEO office. Find that bastard and beat his skull in."

As the group walks around the entrance to the floor, they see a window in front of them blow up.

John: "Oh for FUCK'S SAKE."