Beat Down

It's been minutes since Storm team made a move towards their objective.

"Steve is taking a long time," Yuki points out, radioing in from the sky. Stopping at rooftops to give her plasma generator time to charge her systems.

~Crrck~ "Yes," ~Crrck~ Takashi acknowledged her comment.

"I wonder what he's doing…" Hana trailed off, thinking of the possibilities.

Watching his step, Kaito chimed in, "you guys aren't worried?"

Vaulting over rubble, Takashi took this one, "We are kid, just no point in dwelling on it."

The group walked in silence after, keeping an eye to their surroundings as they steadily made progress. The city was no longer recognizable.

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—Wham!

—Bam!

—Tish!

—Boom!

Two large men in power suits duked it out in the middle of the streets of Japan. The very crust cracked at every move under their weight. The fencer was sent hurling in the air as Aze landed a critical uppercut.

Moments before this, Aze tried to reason. Steve clearly understood as he shook his head here and there, but didn't vocally respond. Aze came up with possible reasons why, all of which were irrelevant now. It wasn't until Steve hitting the palm of his left hand with a balled fist did Aze come up with a ridiculous– yet plausible reasoning–

"You want to spar?"

*Heavy nodding*

*Peace signs on both hands*

A spar in the middle of a combat zone? With a heavy sigh, Aze holstered his bolter. Discarding his weapons like Steve is idiotic. As soon as he did, Steve took that as a sign.

—RUSH!

Dashing forward with his propulsion systems, he winded up his right hand.

"Impatient!"

Aze tilted his body sideways, head still looking ahead– side eying Steve as he passed. Steve made a swift recovery. Turning to meet Aze, all he saw was a large fist blacking out all the lights; leading us to this situation of a flying Steve after a quick combo.

—CRASH!

Landing on a pile of rubble, he landed hard. Aze walked, giving time for Steve to recover. Which was almost instantaneous. He dashed again from his awful state. Aze scoffs, labeling this fencer's brutish way of fighting–

—Dash!

—Wham!

Connected, a right hook from Steve. Aze in his helm went wide eyed.

'I'm mistaken,' Aze thought, 'I'm the idiot for underestimating him.'

Aze was caught off guard by the sudden change in trajectory. Steve dashed forward, simple and predictable. But Steve turned the table by immediately dashing right and then again towards Aze at a different angle. For a suit that size to change directions so quickly is a wonder.

The right hook was enough to make Aze's head turn right. Steve took his seconds of advantage to deliver another strike. With his left fist, he twisted his core and used his hips as he swung a heavy hand. For a suit meant to wield tank weaponry, that left hook to the body made Aze step back.

Only a step back.

Steve was shocked, it was like hitting metal on metal. No time to think about it as Steve let him have it. Another left hook to the body, a straight right followed by a push kick. Each shot pushed Aze by a step back. That created distance, enough for Steve to dash forward to deliver a dropkick.

—BAM!

Impact right on the chest, pushing Aze back three steps this time. Steve used his propulsion systems to stand up right in a boxing stance.

Aze stood in mild shock. He inspected his frontal armor.

"I felt that," Aze complimented, "Good."

He's not one for CQC. A bonafide marksman, not one to shy away from close combat as that is inevitable with his duty to serve. He's not as good with a blade like Xarvass nor is he as tactfully smart with it either like Dembit. He doesn't have the brute force of Frymrorth either. But every good marine knows how to get down and personal.

Steve lunged again, not letting Aze recover. But much to his believed expectations, Aze was never in a tight spot. Aze muscles tightened. Just before the incoming straight right, Aze swiveled his left side back. This gave him the opportunity to grab Steve's wrist as it extended with his left hand. Using his as well as Steve's momentum, Aze yanked hard, hurling Steve behind him. It happened so fast that Steve didn't have time to react.

—Crash!

—Poof!

Steve landed back first onto an already broken wall, he slid down into a sitting position. The wall crumbled onto him, surrounding him with a cloud of smoke and dust. Steve stood up, as if he hadn't been thrown yet his shaky legs betrayed that thought. 

—Thud-Thud-Thud-Thud-Thud-Thud!

Steve looked up as heavy thunderous steps came closer, only to see Aze sprinting towards him. He could've swore he saw a brief glint of killing intent upon his sparring partner's visor. The speed at which Aze was sprinting was mind boggling to Steve–

—WHAM!

–Aze spartan kicked him deeper into the already destroyed building, sending Steve into multiple sets of walls– tumbling– all the way to the other side. Steve entered a new street. Inside his helm, he barely stayed conscious, alarms blaring was the only thing keeping him awake as blood trickled down his forehead. A surprising feat as he just took a large boot to the face from an Astartes at full sprint.

Like a juggernaut, Aze bore through the building as if his speed didn't diminish. Seeing this, Steve couldn't let his partner be disappointed. Standing up, Steve tilted his head as a straight left just brushed past his head. To be able to react to an Astartes speed as a regular human– not that of a resident to 40k– is something else. Steve countered by hitting up on Aze's elbow– Steve's right hand in control of Aze's wrist.

Arms aren't supposed to bend that way, making Aze falter for mere seconds as his body jolted up. That was enough as he dashed inwards towards Aze. With his free arm he elbowed Aze right on the chest. With the sudden propulsion combined with the elbow strike was a recipe of disastrous power.

Aze was pushed back by the hit. Steve though didn't let go, still held tightly on Aze's left wrist. As a matter of fact, keeping a hold on it, he pulled to bring Aze in. As he does, he swings Aze's left arm above his head while switching the grip from his right to left hand. Struggling a bit, his right hand– open palmed– slammed down on Aze's elbow once again, keeping control of the arm. Aze wasn't given breathing room as a hard right hook scraped paint off his dragon helmet. Steve's propulsion unit fired up as it sent him up. With the sudden moment up, Steve drove a hard knee on Aze's face. Steve let go of the wrist at that point as he followed up with a dash downward. Aze, a bit dazed by the knee, found his face grabbed by Steve.

Suddenly, he found himself pushed down by a massive weight. Steve brute forced the Astartes down, hitting the surface of the Earth's crust. The ground cracked and broke under the weight of the fencer and marine alike. It took Steve's entire propulsion unit's full power just to do that feat.

Letting go, Steve wound up another strike. Just as it connected, a large hand covered it, stopping the attack like it never happened.

"My turn."

Aze yanked Steve's attacking arm sideways, sending him tumbling. Aze kipped up in his power armor as easily as anyone that could as if he wasn't wearing anything in the first place. Looking to the side, Steve was steadily recovering. Just as Steve stood on his two feet, he looked Aze's last known position only to see him lunging. Steve put his arms up, an instinctual block.

—Bam!

Instantaneous break as his arms felt like noodles for seconds. Guard broken, Steve was a sitting duck– and Aze was hunting. Instead of punching or kicking again, Aze went the King route and grabbed him by the shoulder. First order of business, a knee to the stomach, promptly bled out air from Steve's lungs. Still holding onto him, Aze picked and flipped him up in the air before slamming him down–

—BOOM!

–a devastating power bomb, completely deleting Steve's air reserves as he teeters between dream land and reality. Aze wasn't done as he lifted his left leg, only to bring it down on Steve's stomach. The ground broke already from the power bomb alone, with the added stomp, it was almost like Aze was digging Steve's grave as the crater expanded. Grabbing one of Steve's legs, Aze tossed him. Steve ragdolled in the air before landing on the hood of a car prompting its alarm.

Underneath the helm, Steve coughed. Aze though sped walked towards him like Steve owed him money. As Aze came to, he balled his right fist. His left hand covering said fist as he lifted his arms up. Steve recovered enough to sense the danger, aware enough to dash upwards. Aze brought the hammer down, hitting the hood as it further caved inward. 

As Steve landed, he dashed towards Aze, using his momentum to twirl mid air.

Aze looked up only to get rocked by Steve's flying roundhouse kick. That stunned Aze, which Steve took the chance to attack again. Closing in, Aze blazingly turned with open hands. Steve immediately aborted as he activated his propulsion systems to go up.

—Cling!

Too late. Aze already has hold of Steve's leg. No words were spoken as Aze brought him down like swinging a hammer.

—Crack!

As if there weren't enough cracks on the ground, Aze created another crater. But he wasn't done, pulling up, he sent Steve over head only to be slammed on the other side. Aze gave Steve the Loki treatment as he slammed him over and over again. With one final slam, it was over. Steve showed no signs of movement– not even a twitch.

"You fought well, human. Be prou–"

Aze's complement was cut short as Steve pushed up with shaking arms. Aze allowed him to be on his feet. Steve was breathing heavily, but he smiled. It's been too long since he had a good fight. He kept and lost his balance like a drunken man. But he made the effort to give Aze a thumbs up before completely succumbing to sleep. He fell down, Aze made no attempt to catch him.

"Indeed, it was an interesting fight. Be proud."

Despite Aze holding considerable strength back behind those punches and kicks, he still briefly showed explosive power as an experiment– to see whether the fencer could take it. He wasn't disappointed.

Aze's attention was caught elsewhere as the sound of footsteps and propulsion grew closer. Soon they came to view. The first was a wing diver.

"STEVE!" she cried out.

Soon, two rangers and an air raider came to view and saw why the wing diver cried out. Aze put two and two together. They were his teammates. He looks down and back at them.

'Shit,' Aze thought.

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Back in space Dureaus isn't faring well. There was an increase of mother ships, not only were they pumping out drones, they were now firing their weapons. Not at the SDF, but at his attack crafts. The ship was pretty much impervious to energy base attacks as it nullifies it upon impact. The motherships learned that and opted to focus on the attack crafts.

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~Crrck~ "On your six Fang four! ~Crrck~

"Understood."

This was a pilot, assigned to the Fang squadron; a squadron of stormhawk interceptors. He was recently spawned into this hellish event. Brought right into the thick of it. He cares not as a broad smile etches on his face. He has never felt more alive now than ever. An amusing thought considering he's 30 minutes old.

Four tangos on his six, dipping left to suddenly dip right, he performed evasive maneuvers like a pro. The drones had a hard time pinpointing him, missing all the shots in the process as a consequence. But, they were computers. They drew closer at blowing his engines– and soon, himself. With that in mind, he pulled hard, the nose of the craft pointed upward as he ascended. The sudden ascent of the craft drove the four drones up. A miscalculation as those drones collided with others on a different intercept course.

"Three down, one to go."

He brought forth another magic trick as he put the interceptor to its gears. Dogfighting was in his veins as he made a tight turn, massive Gs hitting his body. A worthy consequence as he found himself behind the chasing drone. Target locked, his twin icarus storm cannons opened fired, rendering the drone useless and destroyed.

~Crrck~ "Good shooting." ~Crrck~

The pilot cracked a smile–

~Crrck~ "Mayday– Mayday, I'm hit. I repeat: I'M HI– *static*"

No longer a smile but a horrored face, he watched as Fang three got gunned down by six drones. His eyes trailed the ball of fire. The fire out sourcing the light– brighter than the stars themselves in that moment. 

His breathing quickened as he put the pedal to the metal. When within range, he let them have it. Assault cannon, icarus storm cannons, heavy bolters, typhoon missile launchers, all armaments were red hot. All six drones were quickly disposed of. But through their smoldering wreckage came seven more. They met the pilot's rage as his guns never stopped firing. Passing them, his craft was smoking. The seven drones hit him well. All good though, all is well as he just slaughtered 13 drones in quick succession.

—Boom!

He suddenly felt fire… it burns. His last thoughts unknown as his ship exploded into thousands. Down goes another Fang.

All were met with the same fate. Tragic and hopeless. Just as another squadron racks up kills, more and more numbers keep appearing. Ending with their lives– hoping to get just one more kill to even the odds. Marines were dying– with no break in sight.

A young marine. Life feels so thrilling and alive as he dances the dance of death. A thrilling contrast and a comical jester. For one to feel alive interacting with one's end.