He was outnumbered and they all knew it, him and his enemies. Mirage turned and killed one of the soldiers, backing further into the corner they had trapped him in.

He had no choice, unless he wanted to face them all.

"You have nowhere to go." Said a chilling voice.

He froze, his heart thundering in his chest. Reclaimer was here with him. He heard someone shout to somone else, a Rogue to another Rogue.

Most of his men were out by now, safely on transports. He was alone in this, his safe space slowly getting smaller and smaller.

He turned to his right and saw an opening that might allow him to escape, dashing towards it. He heard a shout, flinching as the echo of a handgun resonated through the small space.

Mirage cried out, feeling the bullet go through his shoulder. The pain tore a sound from his lips, his cry echoing through the air as he hit the ground hard.

He stumbled behind a stack of crates, breathing ragged.

"Give up Mirage," hissed Reclaimer's cold voice, "make this easier on yourself."

Mirage closed his eyes, taking in several deep breaths, trying to ignore the pain.

Never. He thought, opening his eyes.

Excruciating pain flooded his arm, blood trickling down his armor in thin red rivers.

Blood dripped from his fingers, dappling the floor as he kept pushing forward, not willing to give up. If he wanted to make it out alive he needed to move.

"Mirage," Reclaimer called, his voice taunting.

"I know you're wounded," he said, his voice ice cold.

He gritted his teeth as he ran down the hallway, using the wall as a crutch, unable to bear any weight on his wounded knee.

"Where are you?" He gasped over the COM channel.

"Almost there." Said one of the pilots in his helmet.

"Hurry." He said, his voice urgent.

Mirage swallowed the cry that rose in his throat, curling his hands into fists. He took deep, pained breaths as he fought through the blinding agony.

He wasn't dying, not now, not after all that had happened.

"Mirage," called Reclaimer's chilling voice again.

Mirage stopped, leaning heavily against the wall, breathing labored. He drew his sidearm, raising it as soldiers came around the corner. He could feel his shattered collarbone, the agony taking his breath away.

"There's nowhere for you to run." Reclaimer hissed.

As Mirage laid eyes on his enemy an inexplainable fear filled him. He looked away from Reclaimer, not letting him see his fear.

Mirage said nothing, breathing hard, blood dripping to the ground beneath him. He looked up as six more soldiers entered the small space, all of them with guns trained on him.

He took a deep breath, closing his eyes for a brief moment before raising the sidearm. Four shots rang through the warehouse, loud in the confined space. He had used all but one of his remaining shots.

The first missed, the second hit one of the soldiers in the neck. Reclaimer ducked the shots, sheltering behind one of the crates as another soldier collapsed, wounded. A third hit the concrete clutching his bleeding shoulder.

The remaining three soldiers and Reclaimer scrambled to get behind cover, cursing.

Mirage took advantage of this momentary mayhem and moved towards the extraction point. He got about twenty feet before he felt a hand close around his wrist, turning to see one of the Necron soldiers. He lashed out, hitting him in the face with an armored fist.

He went down and Mirage continued forward, trying to get to safety. Someone tugged him backwards, fiery pain clawing its way up his arm, blood spattering the floor.

Mirage cried out, his vision blurring around the edges. He turned, shoving the man away from him as he did so. He pushed the muzzle of his pistol up underneath his black chest plate, pulling the trigger.

His enemy jerked backwards, letting out a strangled cry before crumpling to the ground. Mirage didn't see Reclaimer which scared him more than if he was standing right in front of him.

A soldier tackled him from behind, pinning him to the ground. Pain like he had never felt before consumed him, leaving him completely immobile.

He saw the soldier get out the zip ties used by Bounty Hunters to bind hostages and fought against him, struggling to get his good hand underneath him. The soldier kept him firmly pinned to the ground, his knee on his back.

Mirage gritted his teeth, growling as he fought. He felt like a wounded animal that had been trapped, fighting for his life.

Mirage finally managed to get a hand underneath him and shrugged the man off, yelling in both anger and pain. He struggled to his feet, flinching backward as a combat blade flashed in front of his eyes.

His enemy slashed at him again not to kill, but to wound. He cried out as the blade cut open the space between his neck and shoulder, dark blood welling from the wound.

The gash wasn't deep but it hurt ever time he moved his head.

Mirage raised an arm to protect himself and took a cut across the wrist, hissing in pain. He turned to face the soldier, anger burning in his eyes. He caught the soldier's wrist, snapping the bones in arm to make him drop the weapon.

His enemy cried out in agony, taking a step backwards. Mirage grabbed the sidearm from where it kay on the ground, shooting the injured man and taking several guards out as well.

Blood dripped from his fingers like ruby tears, dappling the floor as he tried to catch his breath.

"Stop running Mirage." Reclaimer's voice taunted.

He looked up at the tyrant, his grey eyes weary.

"Don't make this harder on yourself." Reclaimer said, his eyes going to his knee, then the gash on his shoulder, then to the gash across his wrist.

"Come quietly and no one else gets hurt."

Mirage scoffed quietly, tightening his grip on his sidearm.

"We both know that's not true."

With those words he raised his pistol, firing, hitting Reclaimer in the shoulder.

Reclaimer roared in pain, stumbling backwards. Mirage took the opportunity to make it the rest of the way to safety, not looking back.

"Capture him!" Reclaimer bellowed, fury scorching his words.

Mirage shouldered the metal door open, the room opening out into the street. The rain stung as it hit his open wounds, a deep chill settling into his bones.

He saw the silhouette of someone standing in the light from inside the ship's bay and moved towards it, putting everything he had into the final stretch.

He ran without stopping, bullet pinging of his armor, his feet pounding against the wet street.

M Paragon and Rogue soldiers suppressed Reclaimer's men, allowing him a chance to make it inside safely. He turned to look behind him, seeing Reclaimer emerge from the darkness, pure hate plain in his eyes.

For a split second Mirage felt a bolt of terror race through him, his body telling him to get as far away from that look as possible.

That hate was terrifying. That hate was more dangerous than any weapon could ever hope to be. That hatred was relentless and undying.

Mirage heard the bay doors close behind him, separating him from his enemy. He was safe for now.

Winters said something to him but he didn't respond, her words muffled. He reached out, steadying himself as the world spun around him. Mirage closed his eyes, feeling dizzy. He felt Winters put a hand on his chest plate, steadying him as much as she could.

He looked up, looking past her at where Phoenix stood with other Paragon and Rogue soldiers, all of them watching them.

Mirage tried to stay on his feet but couldn't. His knees buckled and he fell forward, finally giving in to the agony, grief and fatigue. Winters caught him, gently lowering him to the ground.

"We need a medic!" She called again, easing him to the floor. "He's badly wounded!"

"Hey, stay with me." She said, trying to get him to look at her.

Mirage looked up at her, his eyes unfocused, breathing ragged. He gritted his teeth as the pain in his arm spiked, fighting to stay awake with every ounce of his strength. He was fighting a losing battle.

Phoenix knelt with him as well, putting a hand on his arm.

Mirage looked at his bloodied hands, trembling like a loose shutter caught in the wind. Not all of the vermillion that painted his hands was his.

No, he had lost someone very important to him.
Tears traced lines down his skin as he remembered losing him, losing Elijah...

"Hey," said the Commander, looking at him, her eyes worried.

"I lost him," he whispered, taking in a ragged breath.

"I lost him..."

"Who?" She asked gently.

"Elijah... I couldn't save him, I couldn't save him..."

He heard Phoenix take in a soft, sharp breath, pulling away from him.

Winters said something in response but he didn't hear it. He was finding it harder and harder to stay conscious, to cope with what had happened in the past half an hour.

"Hey stay with me." She said, trying to get him to look at her.

"Mirage," she said, "Mirage!"

His vision darkened and he slipped into unconsciousness, the pain and grief fading until there was nothing but silent darkness.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yay finally another action chapter that was fun to write!!! Reclaimer finally got some of what was coming to him (whooo!). Anywho hope you enjoyed!

Also me and my friend created a Discord server for this novel for editing, questioning and feedback purposes. You can also chill and hang out there as well and talk about writing. Here's the link if you're interested: https://discord.gg/N4jAFwMx