I snatched her out of the air, turned, and fed a round into the chamber.
It was dark after most of the torches had been snuffed out by the explosion, but the room was now dimly illuminated by the night sky, visible through the collapsing roof. Rubble was strewn everywhere in big slabs, chunks and toppled pillars. The level above us was visible in some places, and I notice at least one enemy Praetorian buried alive, only his head exposed.
I activated the night vision on my rifle’s ACOG scope.
Peering through it, I noted two Praetorians making their way towards Helena. Once again, even through the dim green glow of my night vision, I saw evil intent on their faces, just like the Praetorian four years ago that had almost killed her.
The rest of the boys were up now as well, searching for weapons of their own. Wang was already getting in touch with his inner martial artist, having taken out two Praetorians with quick karate kicks to the head. He’d been close with Bordeaux as well, former swim buddies, and his anger was obvious. Vincent was up as well, but he wasn’t fighting.
He was grieving.
A large chunk of the ceiling had fallen during the explosion right on Titus. I could only see the upper half of the young Roman’s body, everything from his belly button down having been crushed by the concrete. Vincent held Titus’ visible upper body in his arm, and cried for his adopted son. Watching the old man cry caused me to hesitate.
But Santino didn’t see Vincent in his time of grief, or if he did, he focused on the Praetorians going after Helena instead. He bravely body checked one of them into the other and started beating him to death with his fists. His action snapped me from my own sadness at the loss of Titus and the pain Vincent was feeling. I hit the second Praetorians in the back as he got to his feet with a three round burst, just before he could enact some measure of revenge on Santino.
Helena had noticed her savior as well and helped Santino to his feet after he was finished with his prey. She reached up and touched his cheek in thanks for the save, an intimate gesture only friends as good as they could share without it seeming awkward. He threw her a goofy smile, gripped her hand momentarily, and rushed off to find someone else to kill. Helena, meanwhile, spotted Agrippina and went directly for her.
A slight motion to my left pulled my attention away from her and I spotted one of the ninjas trying to flank me. He rushed at me with his small scimitar blade, but instead of waiting for him to skewer me, I ran out to meet him. Spinning at the last second, I managed to guess which way he was going to lunge and avoided his blade. He stumbled past me and I put another three round burst into his back.
Six down, another thirty or so to go.
I unloaded the remaining rounds in my magazine on whatever targets I could find.
Nearing empty, I watched Wang take a sword to his thigh, forcing him to fight on basically one leg. A group of five Praetorians tried to overwhelm him, but I evened up the sides considerably by putting four of them down before they even reached him. The last was no match for even a handicapped Wang.
The only thing keeping the enemy at bay was my gun fire, and as I fired off another round into the last of the ninjas, there could still be as many as ten Praetorians still lurking about.
I looked around frantically for Helena and found her wrestling with Agrippina a few dozen yards away. Both women had more bruises than they’d had just after the explosion, but Helena clearly had the upper hand. Her hands may have been bound, but she was a fighter, and a well-trained one at that. Agrippina may have known how to fight, but she wasn’t a match for my woman.
I fired my last round at a Praetorian approaching the two of them, shattering the left side of his skull.
Helena’s luck was about to change when Agrippina found the orb lying on the ground beside them. Helena was on top of Agrippina, pounding into her chest with bound hands when Agrippina managed to swing the hard ball up, smacking it into the side of Helena’s head. The impact sent Helena rolling off her foe, but it had only been a glancing blow. Agrippina jumped on top of her, hoping to get the upper hand, but a very nimble Helena placed a foot against Agrippina’s midsection and threw her away. Helena quickly took advantage and repositioned herself back on top of Agrippina.
Helena had the orb in her hands now, having torn it from Agrippina’s grasp as she had lain stunned on the ground. Not wasting any time on tricks or fancy moves, I watched as Helena’s smashed it into Agrippina’s beautiful and terror stricken face over and over and over again.
The first thing to go was Agrippina’s nose. That had caved in after the second impact of the orb. Helena’s expression grew angrier, and even though I was busy beating a Praetorian across the face with Penelope, I saw her tears and spit and sweat flinging all around her as she pummeled the empress relentlessly. Years of searing, pent up rage and frustration were finally taking over.
I watched as she slammed the orb again and again, turning Agrippina’s eye sockets into an indistinguishable crater in her face. Another blow and her upper teeth were shattered. Another blow and the orb was now halfway deep into Agrippina’s head, past her none existent face. She’d been dead after the third blow.
Helena’s rage was dwindling, but not before one more blow, this one slamming into the floor, having gone completely through Agrippina’s skull. The mother of my unborn child reared back from Agrippina’s lifeless corpse and her arms fell to the floor beside her. She sat upon Agrippina’s stomach as blood covered her from head to toe, arched her back and screamed, releasing everything she had in her. She slowly composed herself a few seconds later and turned to look at me.
Her eyes were vacant, distant, and blood streamed down her near perfect face.
It felt like the battle around me was dying down, but I couldn’t be sure.
My night vision scope had broken off with my melee attack, and the darkness was so deep that I had no idea who was still alive and who was dead. I made my way towards Helena, determining it was time to extract ourselves as quickly as possible. She simply sat there, waiting for me, when her eyes opened wide.
She noticed, before I did, a previously unknown Praetorian emerge from the shadows and take a swing at her with his gladius. His attack hit her square in the chest, pitching her backwards into a slab of rubble, but the blow had been with side of his sword, not the edge, so instead of slicing her chest clean open, it only knocked the wind out of her. It was enough to disorient her however, allowing the Praetorian the chance to place his foot against her neck and push her over the rubble. She fell down a slab of concrete, and I lost sight of her when she tumbled into the darkness.
My fear for her disappeared when her attacker noticed me out of the corner of his eye and instead of finishing her off, stepped around to leap at me instead, his sword held at his side. He thrust for my abdomen, but I sidestepped left. The sword grazed my ribcage and I felt pain race through my entire right flank. I stumbled as I turned, clutching at the wound, but it wasn’t enough to slow me down. This mother fucker was going to die. I found a broken gladius on the ground and picked it up. I reached out with my free hand and motioned for him to bring it.
He did.
He came at me hard and fast, putting me on the defensive almost immediately. Block. Block. Stab. Block. Riposte. I did everything I could to stay alive. As long as there was still a chance Helena survived, I would too. But he was clearly the better swordsman. His face was mature and hardened. He wasn’t some young rook, fresh out of boot. He knew how to fight and he was fighting for his survival just as I was.