The Revenant: Borei

James stood on in front of the mannequin that held his Revenant suit. He was angry. So angry. He spent the last ten years of his life dedicated to a mission, and he failed. He was always going to fail. He knew that deep down, he wanted to be a hero, but at the same time, he knew he was just a killer. He focused all of his efforts into becoming the complete killer, and now, now he was just a vigilante trying to save a friend. Where did his mission go? Did he still need the mission? Or would killing Jamal Cruel be enough to satiate his rage. He was soon going to find out, but what if It didn't? What if he still felt empty, angry and self hatred. He remembered like it was yesterday, sitting there like a passive waste as his father was murdered, and his mother was defiled. He caused the mother of his child, and his child to be killed. Everywhere he went, was chaos.

"No." James said to his slight reflection in the glass surrounding the mannequin.

"I will end this. I will kill King Cruel, avenge my parents. Then, I right all the wrongs" He whispered to himself.

The door to the main hall opened and Pike led Trench, DeadEye and someone James had never seen before.

"Gunner Pierce I presume?" James said, not turning to look at them enter. Pierce took a last drag of his cigerette before putting it out in his palm, and pocketing it.

"The one and motherf.u.c.kin only." He replied. James turned to look at him. Scanned the man up and down. He wore black cargo pants, black work boots, a red flannel unbuttoned with a gray wife beater underneath it. He didn't look like much.

"This is who you think can beat probably atleast a dozen FRAG men, and get the Cruel file?" James said, crossing his arms.

"Trust me. I've seen him in action. First hand. He's pretty hard to kill." DeadEye replied.

"Alright, let's get to work." James said as he laid out the FRAG schematics on the table. The rest of the men surrounded the table.

"We go in through these sewers. There is an opening just inside the walls surrounding the facility. We go in, me, Trench and DeadEye make a scene, drawing Cruel out, while Pierce sneaks in through here. Now, Pierce, this long hallway will most likely be full of guards." James explained.

" Just for some files? " Pierce asked.

" No, this room here is the armory. They're guarding that mostly, but that places them there. So they'll be in your way. I don't care how you do it. Stealth. Killing them. Just get in there, and find Cruels folder. We all clear?" James asked.

Everyone nodded.

"One question." Pierce said. Everyone looked at him.

"What about the boss?" Everyone turned back to James.

"After we kill Cruel, we go after Zero. Draken isn't my concern. If he gets in our way, he dies too, but I'm not seeking him out." James said.

"What? We could end FRAG with him!" Trench said.

"Yeah, for maybe a few days. Until the government just appoints a new Commander." James said. "Now, get suited up. Pierce, I assume you brought gear?" James asked.

"I'm wearing it." He replied. James just stared at him for a moment.

"You don't have a mask atleast?" James asked.

"Don't need one." Pierce replied.

"O-Kay. Let's get this done. Everyone comes back out. Alive, preferably. Im done losing people to Cruel and FRAG" James said before walking over to his suit.

"We just need to stop at ECPD real fast. Joe, get me a meeting with Park, alone, on the roof."

-----

Lieutenant Park opened the rooftop door, and closed it behind him. He looked around and didn't see anybody. He went to turn around and leave, when he heard the gravel that covered the roof shift.

"Park." James said. The Lieutenant turned around and saw The Revenant. He went for his gun.

"No need. I'm not here to hurt you. I just want to talk." Park was stunned.

"Uh, why would you want to talk to me?" He asked.

"There is going to be some chaos soon. At FRAGs base. I'm telling you, so you don't send your men there. I don't want innocent people caught in the crossfire." James explained.

"You're going after FRAG?"

"No. I'm going after Cruel. Who is employed by FRAG. And to get back a friend they captured."

"You expect me to just sit back and ignore this?" He said, with disbelief on his face and in his voice.

"Trust me."

"Trust you? Why would I trust you."

"You know me as The Revenant, but you also know me as a friend. It's Jimmy. James McCloud." James said. The Lieutenant was shocked.

"W-what? I don't... I mean... Why are you telling me? I'm a cop. You're a criminal, not a hero James." James turned around and walked to the edge of the rooftop. He looked over his shoulder at Lieutenant Park.

"I know. I might not be the hero you or this city wants, but I am the monster that it needs." James said before stepping off the roof.

------

The four men walked silently through the sewers. James leading, and Pierce in back. The only sound was the running sewage, pipes, rodents and the sounds of Knights feet touching the ground as he walked.

"Here." James said, looking at a ladder leading up after about forty minutes of walking.

"Youre all clear on the plan?" James asked. They all nodded while Pierce cracked his knuckles with a smirk.

James began climbing up the ladder.

----

James, Knight and DeadEye all stood in the courtyard of the base. James reached into his suit and pulled out an orb. He clicked it, and then tossed it at a nearby watchtower. It stuck to one of the support beams, then after a couple seconds, it exploded. Bringing the watchtower, and the men inside of it, crashing down.

The alarm began blaring, and Draken, surrounded by a few men with Assault Rifles aimed at the three men, stepped out onto one of the balconies of the main building.

James couldnt hear him speak, but he saw him gesture to his men to stand down. Then he spoke into his hand radio.

After a few minutes of waiting, the garage door of the main building open, and there stood Jamal Cruel. He strode forward, confidently until he was about twenty feet away from the three men.

"You ready?" James asked the other two. They nodded in reply. The men began to charge.

----

Gunner Pierce slipped through a door at the back of one of the side buildings. One thing he noticed was that there were no cameras. Like FRAG knew it was suicide to storm their base.

Pierce memorized the route he needed to take to get to the hallway the files were attached to. He went up two sets of stairs, and opened a door, and before him stood a white hallway. Clean. Precise. He could see the guards stationed at the end of the hallway, guarding a door which he assumed was the armory James told him about. Pierce counted four.

"Thats it? Easy." He said to himself as he stared walking forward. He lit as cigerette as he walked and the guards saw him and yelled.

Suddenly, the other four doors on the left and right of the hallway opened, and men poured out and charged him.

"Oh shit" Pierce muttered. Luckily the hallway was narrow enough that they would have to attack him one on one for the most part.

The first guard reached Pierce and swung his baton at him, Pierce bobbed his head back, just out of reach of the swinging baton, and then pivoted forward to deliver a punch that landed directly into the guards face, dropping him. Pierce stepped over him as the next guard literally threw himself at Pierce, launching into the air. Idiot. Pierce caught him in mid air, with a clothesline to the gut, which sent him crashing onto the floor, when he went to get back to his feet, Pierce slammed his boot down onto his face. A third guard grabbed Pierce from behind, but he broke the hold and sent a back elbow smashing into the guards face, he felt his nose broke. Then he turned to face the guard and thrust kicked him into the guard behind him, who caught him, but also stumbled backwards from the sudden weight. Pierce planted his back foot, and delivered a right roundhouse kick that connected with both men's heads and sent they're heads slamming against the wall. The fifth guard went to tackle him, aiming his shoulder at Pierces gut, but he got low too soon. It gave Pierce the time to lift up his knee and catch the guard with the point of his knee, into his skull. The guard was stunned, so Pierce grabbed him by his hair and lifted him up so he was standing up right, slammed his thumb into his throat, placed a left hook into his ribs, cracking them, and then a right hook into his temple, knocking him out and laying face down on the floor.

A door to Pierces right swung open, and a guard grabbed him and brought him into the room, then slammed him against the wall. Pierce pushed him back a few inches, but that was enough room to plant the heel of his boot into the man's knee, and use the wall to put more leverage and power into the kick, buckling the guards knee backwards, and crumbling him to the ground wailing in pain.

A seventh guard, who was in the room too, pulled out a gun and aimed, but before he could pull the trigger, Pierce already closed in and snapped the guards arm but bending his elbow up, causing the guard to yell in pain and drop the gun. Pierce heard someone coming from behind him, so he stepped on the gun and slid it quickly across the floor behind him, where the eighth guard stepped on it, slipped and fell.

Pierce flipped the guard with the broken elbow, over his shoulder, with the broken elbow, and on his back on the ground before placing a flurry of fast lefts and right into his face.

The guard who slipped was standing back up, so Pierce rolled across the floor towards him, and as soon as he was on one knee, grabbed him by the groin, and stood up, lifting the guard and dumping him back onto his head, before slamming a scissor kick back down onto the side of his head.

Pierce stood there quietly, just breathing heavily.

"Eight." Pierce said to himself, as he re lit the cigerette the was still between his lips. All of that took place in a matter of five minutes.

Pierce looked around the room he was in and was pleased to noticed he was in the room where James said the files would be. He began opening drawers and sifting through files.

'Mantis' 'Volt' 'Revenant' 'DeadEye' 'Knight' 'Krax' and then finally he saw it 'Jamal Cruel'. He grabbed the folder and looked through it, then he placed his hand on his ear to use the comms device James had given them.

"I got it!" He said.

"Nice job kid. Details." James said, in the background Pierce could hear fighting and James didn't sound like he was winning.

"Eight guys by the by. Anyway, it says here that 'Cruel is a cybernetic individual who's entire body was remade and the only original part is his brain. The only way to kill Cruel, to our observations, is by separating the head from the body'" Pierce read out loud.

" Damn, that's going to be harder. I was hoping for a weakness. " James replied.

" What did you want? Be able to hurt him with a shiny rock? " Pierce laughed.

"Well, we'd appreciate the help down here kid." James said.

"Coming." Pierce said and went to leave, when he saw a file that grabbed his interest.

After reading the file, he had a plan. A dumb plan, but a plan. He exited the file room and then he saw the door to the armory again.

"Hmm..."

-----

James ducked as Knight was thrown at him. They were losing this fight, but James wasn't going to give up. He was going to kill Cruel or die trying, but how was he going to cut his head off when they could barely land a hit on him. Even DeadEye, the world's greatest assassin was getting tossed around like a ragdoll. Bullets didn't stop him. Knives didn't slow him. They couldn't out maneuver him, and they couldn't match his power.

"Where the hell is Pierce?!" James yelled

"Right here." James looked towards the voice and saw Pierce standing on just outside the doorway to the building he was in, with what looked like a rocket launcher on his shoulder. He fired the rocket, it hit the ground right next to Cruel, propelling him into the side of a parked humvee. He pulled himself out of the metal, and James could see his torso and face no longer had flesh, but a bright platinum metal showing.

"You honestly think you four could kill me! I'm the King!" He yelled.

"No! That's why I brought him." Pierce replied.

Suddenly a wall to another building exploded open and out walked a very large man, 6'8", and his entire body was covering in Kraxinium.

"You released Krax?!" Trench yelled at Pierce.

"It said in his file that Cruel was the one who captured him after FRAG helped trap him. Oh, Cruel also killed his wife." Pierce explained.

James looked back to Krax who was now full sprinting at Cruel. They met and locked arms, matching each other's strength, even with Cruel only having one arm.

" Krax! Rip off his head! " James yelled. Krax glanced at James and nodded.

Krax pushed Cruel off, then grabbed for his face. Cruel threw a hard jab at Kraxs body, but it barely phased him. Krax was able to overpower him due to Cruels missing arm, and lifted him up by his head and slammed him face first into the ground.

He kneeled on his back, knee between his shoulders, one foot on the back of his head and he wrenched on Cruels remaining arm, after roaring for a moment while pulling as hard he could, Cruels arm ripped off and flung far behind Cruel.

"Carry out Vector 9." James heard Draken say.

"But sir...we haven't evacuated the base. That explosi-" One of the men began to say before Draken grabbed him by the collar.

"Vector.9.Now." Draken snarled.

"Y-y-yes sir" The man stammered before running back into the building.

"It's gonna blow..." James muttered to himself, calculating in his head.

"Pierce, Knight you're with me. DeadEye, if Krax starts to lose, try to help, otherwise keep soldiers off of him." James instructed. "Comms open, if I tell you guys to run, you run. No questions." James said. They nodded, then James led Knight and Pierce into the main building.

----

After a few minutes of fighting, Pierce had happily cleared the way of guards as they stormed through the building. James passed by a door in a strange hallway, and stopped. Did he see what he though he saw. He backed up and looked through the slit in the door and saw Connor laying on a cot.

James placed a small c4 charge on the door and blew it. He walked through the smoke and Connor barely lifted his head.

James knelt down next to the cot, checking his pulse.

"It's barely there, but it's there. Pierce, get Connor back to Deaths Door. Pike can help him." James ordered. Pierce grabbed Connor and carried him wedding style out of the room and out of sight.

"Draken." James snarled. He stormed down the hall and eventually found a war room. He saw Draken standing in the room looking at monitors that showed the fight outside. James could see DeadEye killing any guards who attempted to interfere with Krax and Cruel fighting, and he could see that Krax was easily winning.

There was only the one soldier with Draken as the others were either beaten down by Pierce or out in the courtyard.

James pulled out his Glock and fired. The bullet pierced the guards head and he dropped as a blood splatter shot over the monitors, it caused Draken to jump.

He attempted to pull out a gun, but James shot again, this time the bullet hitting Drakens hand, dropping the gun, and injuring his hand.

"You f.u.c.k.i.n.g freak! I swear I'll kill you!" Draken yelled as James casually walked over to him. They were face to face, and Draken was shivering. James headbutt him with the kraxinium mask, breaking Drakens nose, and he slunk down to the ground on his knees.

" I expected.... more." James said. Somewhat disappointed.

"Who do you think you are?! I am the Commander of FRAG!" He roared.

"Me? If Death had a face, you'd see me." James said, before aiming his gun at Drakens face.

Trench was about to intervene, but he didn't. This might be one time that he didn't feel someone needed to stay alive.

James noticed a timer on one of the monitors that was counting down from 5 minutes.

"DeadEye, get out. Now." He said. He looked at the monitor and saw DeadEye turn and run. James noticed Cruel laying on the ground, not moving, but head still attached, and Krax was gone.

"That might be a problem." Trench said.

"The captain goes down with the ship." James said as he pulled the trigger and the bullet went through Drakens knee. He screamed in pain as James and Trench ran back out to the courtyard.

Cruel was still lying on the ground, no arms and no legs. James didn't see the whole fight, but it was safe to assume that Krax ripped those off as well.

James kneeled down next to Cruels head. Cruel just looked at him. Hate in his eyes. James pulled out a kraxinium tanto, and held it to Cruels neck, but then sheathed it again, and stood back up.

"Long live the King." James said before walking away, and getting on The Pale Horse.

He drove off, with Knight flying beside him.

After a couple minutes of driving away from the base, he heard an explosion behind him. Both James and Trench stopped and turned to look. The bomb that Draken set off inside of Cruel took care of all of them. Did that make James a hero or a killer? He didn't know. He also didn't really care. He just turned back around on the Pale Horse and drove off.

-----

The next day James was at Deaths Door, packing a duffel bag full of clothes and supplies when Pike walked in. He tossed a newspaper on the bed in front of James.

'Revenant: Hero or Monster?' was the headline.

"There are people in the city who still believe you're a hero." Pike said.

"Well I'm not." James replied. Still packing.

"Where are you going?" Pike asked.

"Japan." He said. Pike was silent.

"Lady Masamusa needs to pay for what she did. I might have avenged my parents, but now I need to avenge my kid, and yours." James said before zipping up the bag.

"Well, I'm coming." Pike said. James turned to look at him.

"You're not leaving me behind either." Connor suddenly said from the doorway. He was banged up and barely walking but he looked better than he did yesterday.

"Well, you two better pack. You get to help me test out the Dead Jet." James said as he left the room.

"Dead Jet? Wait a jet?" Pike said trying to talk go James as he was walking away.

--------------------------

The Revenant will return.