''Blood Red Berserker''

Alyss rolled her head to the side, looking at the communicator that was ringing on the bedside table. She had been staying the night at Aire's, who was still asleep next to her. She crawled towards the comm and opened it, seeing the face of a distressed looking solider with the word 'MILITARY BASE 4' scrawled on the side in a computerized font. The man was shouting non-sensical words at her before the screen was covered in the mans head, red leaking onto the screen. Alyss looked shocked and rubbed her eyes. This feed was being broadcasted to her comm, as well as Judah's tower. But why her- Oh wait. She was the closest comm to the area.
She had to be first to respond.

Must be some Resistance member attacking. Nothing she couldn't handle. Stupid humans.

She got to her feet, changing quickly into a black top, gold waist skirt and dark tights strapping a pair of sparkly Converse All Star onto her feet. She kissed Robert on the forehead and stroked his hair gently a smile painting her face.
She scrawled a note reading 'I'll see you later. xx A' on her pillow and snuck from the room, closing the door quietly.
::::::::

She arrived at the base ten minutes later, looking around the destroyed base she heard gunfire from the room ahead. From the cries and shouts she gathered it was an army. But from the cry of 'IM THE JUGGERNAUT, BITCH!' she knew the One Man Army was who she was looking for.
Slipping into the shadows of the ruins she walked into the room where the Juggernaut was shooting his heart out. She simply had to wait until- now. The last man was dead.

She stepped out from the shadows her shoes echoing in the dead room. Waiting for the huge man to face her, she let out a high laugh and smiled widely.

"Think you could get rid of me that easily?" she hissed.

Alyss shrieked as the sledgehammer caught her right cheek, pulling it open. She slammed into the rubble of the building, creating a large hole in the wall as her back clashed with the bricks. She sat up, dazed, seeing the sledgehammer wedged into her face. Pulling it out with great effort she threw it to the floor next to her. Feeling her face with her hand she felt the bone of her cheek actually swinging loose from her face, gore hanging down the side. Gasping, horrified she stood up to face him, holding the piece of flesh down.

"That.....hurt," she murmured, as her face healed and the cheek reattached itself without scarring. She brushed her hand off of her face and smiled widely.
"Look Jack, just get out. We both know that this time I am going to win."

She leapt up, grabbing the sledgehammer, propelling herself with streams of shadows toward the Hulk. She hit him square in the chest with her own weight and the huge metal hammer, cracking his armour down the centre. "Just takes a little more to get through to that soft, weak flesh, Tin Man," she hissed, propelling backwards into the top corner of the room, held in place by her shadows, watching him from above, charging and waiting for another attack.

''Just goes to show you Government psycho's don't have a brain to think with. You think I am planning to just walk away from this? This is merely punishment. If I wanted to walk away then I would always have an escape plan or two. Punishment for you and me, nothing more, nothing less...''

Jackson looked at his cracked armor. Tank shots would be buffed right out, but for some reason, these shadows along with his own sledgehammer got more then a dent. Three ton weighing armor, and she still tore it down like scrap metal. Well if that was how she wanted it.

''See if you can throw a sledgehammer like I can...I hit the bullseye.''

Jackson figured Alyss wasn't going to do as much, but it gave him some time for a new strategy. As punishment, he wasn't going to do much, 'cept for tearing down the place. A destroyed base, no living Government soldier but one..he had a pretty good start. He deserved the One Man Army name, but he was far from done. Out of his available equipment he grabbed a flashbang, and threw it at Alyss. She averted her gaze and used her shadows not to be blinded, recognizing an attack pattern.

''No new tricks huh?''

But when she looked back, no Jackson. She tried to locate him as fast as she could, but he made it quite clear himself.

''..Boo''

A pair of highly dense titanium metal came flying for Alyss from down below, while the building seemed to shake. She leaped off with her agility, as she noticed Jackson had moved below her, and was tearing at the building, making it fall to the side. The building came down with cracks and tears, collapsing on top of all that was left, including the most on Jackson and few on Alyss.

Alyss stood up, took a fair few feet distance from the building and dusted off her outfit.

''You sure know how to make a girl messy..Come out, I know you're alive.''

Rocks were moving away from her as Jackson surfaced. A surprising thing was that he looked really different now, and with a cynical tone in his deep low voice, he mentioned...

''Yeah, I just don't have some wimpy shadows to help me...Tough luck.''

Jackson dusted off what was left of his armor. Alyss' pounding had weakened it, and it was more a drag then offering true protection now. The Blood Red Berserker had already thrown a shoulder pad to his opponent but was now taking off what was left. Within seconds, Jackson had transformed and was now looking like an English street brawler, with taped hands, a black tight sleeveless T-shirt over his huge torso, and semi-tight fabric pants, kept together by a black belt. A huge tribal barbwire tattoo adored his both shoulders, shining in the vague sunlight.

''Freedom..''

Jackson moved a little, getting used to moving without armor. He stepped out of the rubble, keeping a sharp eye on his opponent. He cracked his neck and fetched his shotgun, dusting it off. Juggernaut took off his red goggles, and placed them on his forehead, but his eyes still had a bewildering gaze. Juggernaut's boots were still looking weird. They were normally covered in titanium plating, but they still looked firm. Alyss reckoned they were still enforced with titanium on the inside, to prevent any weight from crushing his toes or feet.

''Take a good luck. It's not often enemies see me like this...or live to tell the tale. What do you say we...'' *Click Click* ''Go for round 2? I wanna see who is truly going to win this one...''

Without waiting for an answer, Jackson leaped forward, with an amazing increase of speed, flexibility and agility, closing the gap between him and his opponent. Aiming for his opponent, Juggernaut fired off the shotgun as close as he could. Alyss had reckoned his muscles were already very strong, but due to his powers they were off the charts..

She let out a yelp as the shotgun's huge barrel fired two shots at her, narrowly missing her head by an inch.
Throwing her entire weight to the floor she rolled to the side, raising her head quickly to see where the gargantuan was. He was reloading his gun, whilst he had the chance, his face set in a serious line, creased up with concentration.
He looked different without his armour, she could see the powerful veins within his arms and the muscles as they swung the gun back onto his shoulder. She admired his courage, he would definietely stand up for Emma in times of need. But he was too reckless, too impulsive.


"Come out, come out wherever you are."

Alyss stood out of the doorway, silently. Flitting to the other side of the room, she ran forwards with a massive burst of speed and jumped onto Jackson's back.

"Oh nice outfit, what is that? A ninja suit?!" she giggled. She wrenched his great neck forwards and settled her teeth into his jugular vein, missing slightly and hitting minor vessels. She got a huge jolt of energy from the blood, whilst she ripped the veins from his very skin. "My shadows aren't weak. I just don't like to get my hands too dirty." she hissed. "They beat down Emma pretty well." she whispered in his ear.
Jumping backwards, and landing on her feet a little further away from him as he roared, clutching his gory shoulder.

Alyss stepped backwards, shadows surrounding her in case of a charge attack. They whipped out around her, spiking the air, or Jackson's flesh if he dared come near her. "Now tell me what you know of Darren Ray." she hissed, her eyes narrowing.

Falling flat on her back, she hissed upwards at the Juggernaut as he lurched over her. She pulled his elbows down after her, flipping them both over over, so her tiny feet were settled on top of his great chest, perched on it with her hands at his eyes. She moved her strong hands forwards, forcing her thumbs into his eyelids, pressing him down. As he let out a yell, a tear dripped down the girl's face and onto Jackson's black tee-shirt.

"Who killed him?" she whispered.

"That's none of your fucking business Vampy." he bellowed.

As Jackson started to rise, Alyss threw herself backwards and twisted over, before landing onto the ground. "Wow, your acrobatics impress me so mu-" he began.
Four dark springs appeared to propel her towards him, her rock hard body hitting him like a....well, a sledgehammer. She threw his massive bulk backwards into the wall, using the entirety of her strength, with her own bare hands rather than wasting power on conjuring more shadows. "It's entirely my business." she shouted at the top of her voice.

The inhuman shriek riled from her lungs, she recognized from earlier and her mind began to worry slightly. Was she turning into a monster? But for now, she had bigger fish to fry.
Turning to Jackson her eyes aflame with rage, just as much as the berserker at the moment. "No, Jackson. I think right now I'm going to be the one killing the one who murdered my love."
She took up the gun that lay strewn on the floor, checking the ammunition and loading. As the machine clicked in her hands she blinked twice, her mind getting to grips with itself. She couldn't kill him with this, it looked so oversized against her tiny form. No. She wouldn't.
She snapped the barrel of the gun and removed the ammo, before twisting the metal thing to pieces and throwing the rifle to the ground. "I'd prefer to rip you apart myself for what you did to him." she said, in a hushed voice.

Walking towards the big man with a tear in her eye, she spoke in a quiet tone. "I died the day he was taken from me. And you Resistance Members call yourself humane. You're barely human! And I'M the monster?! she laughed, strained.

A slight rumbling noise grew in Alyss's chest before she unleashed her inhibitions and let loose. The Shadow Monster had been festered away inside the tiny girl as a mental disorder and a lust for blood, before this had finally snapped her. She had searched high and low for years to find that person who had shot Darren. And here he was. At last.

Alyss's eyes grew entirely black as her fragile body began to shake. Blackness spread out of her finger tips into sharp blades, her teeth almost wrenched her head apart as they grew larger than before, her head seemed to adjust, becoming bigger at the jaw, wider, stronger and her muscles seemed to tone, her speed seemed to double. A thick layer of shadow passed over the room, crushing the lights and leaving Jackson blinded. The shaking finally stopped and she looked around the room, her eyesight defined to see his shape. She felt more powerful, less controlled. More dangerous.
Running her hands down over her hips she bit her lip and smiled before flitting to the other end of the room. This rage or energy burst wouldn't last forever though, she would scare the Juggernaut for a while, but need to kill him. Darren's face pictured in her mind, and that last kiss by the apartment door left a ghostly smile on her face. "Tick Tock Jack, come find me if you can."

Alyss let out a shrill cry as she felt the shadow compressions towards the door. Sprinting forwards, she jumped onto the great man's back, sinking her sharp fingers into his back.

They both toppled to the ground, as the room behind them crumbled to the ground. Outside now, she flipped over and crouched low to the ground, her teeth bared. Her appearance had returned to normal, her jaw clicking back into place, but her teeth remaining long and sharp.

"Don't lie to me, Jackson." she hissed. "If I'd of had such a good relationship with a friend I would never have killed them, no matter what the consequences!"

Her shoulders untensed and dropped significantly, a brief smile flickered across her face. "At least he remembered me. I searched for him for years, you cannot simply understand what I went through when I joined the Resistance and discovered his files. Deceased. Not in battle, but shot by his own side. Brothers in arms?! I don't give a crap! If you had any respect for his death you wouldn't be killing the girl he loved!"

She dropped to her knees and held her head in her hands, trying to contain her sadness inside. "I don't care. I don't care. I can carry on as I have for this long. But please, if you know how I feel then stop. I haven't killed Emma. You killed Darren Ray. Did you never put it together that our second names are the same?!" she slammed her fist onto the ground and looked down as her tiny hand had left a large dent in the ground. "I wish this fucking Genesis shot had never happened." she whispered.
Holding her hands up in front of her, with shadows surrounding her body, to keep him from entering and hurting her. Looking up at him, a small smile warmed her cold face. "Was he happy?" she asked, a slight crack in her voice.

Once again he was doing something because of a foolish act someone else pulled. Again he was too late to be of any practical use and uphold his promise. And again the so-called Scavenger made her appearance. She had quite her ways in doing so but always failed in choosing the right moments.

Brandon was clinging to a wall while he overheard the conversation, and battle for that matter, that went on between the man he followed over and the one who was responsible for most of their problems right now. Darren Ray, or Hurricane, dominated their words most of the time. For Brandon that part of history was long left behind, but some people always cherished the thoughts they had of someone dear to them, even if that meant having feelings of revenge.

Jackson closed up and began to move away and suddenly disappeared out of sight. The sirens that closed in probably made him realize it would be best to get out of there right away. A strange distortion now followed the trajectory Jackson just did, that must be something his armor could do. Sparing no more thoughts on the matter Brandon followed this distortion as fast as he could while staying hidden.

=====================
==A couple of miles further[==
=====================

This amount of distance would be far enough to be clear of enemies. They wouldn't follow them this far out, if they even did. It would be best to show himself to Jackson for at least a bit, he might even think he was spying on him if he didn't. The distortion still moved at the same speed it did when it started, sometimes shimmering a bit in the light of the sun. Brandon made a little burst of speed and moved himself a couple feet in front of the distortion.

"A ten for originality, but a zero for subtlety... even with the stealth generator."

The field dispersed, showing Jackson body again. A slight hint of surprise was riddled on his face. The questions he had for Jackson passed his mind, but a new more recent one took priority. Jackson had defended him by taking the identity of Hurricane's butcher. True, he was like that, keeping his friends out of trouble and taking it all on himself, but there was absolutely no need for it.

"You couldn't just shut up, stay put and wait for it to pass now could you? Sometimes I'm amazed how stupid you can be. Do you know what you left behind?"

Hints of emotion were plentiful in those last words. Jackson had it all in his eyes, the strength to endure whatever life threw at you, a girl to defend and come home to, the respect of others around you and even a decent amount of friends. He didn't spare any occasion to throw that right out the window and didn't even seem to notice that he did. Brandon had none of those, and although he didn't seem to care at all, he never understood how one could throw that all away while others struggled to gain even a little of it.

"See what I mean, you don't even get what I'm talking about. I don't care about that bloodsucker, or that base you destroyed just now. I care about the fact you left someone behind who sent me to stop you from getting hurt."

Mentally Brandon facepalmed himself at the reply he got from his ally. He couldn't have known Scavenger would be at that base so talking was not what he came here for. The expression on his face when he left the medical bay also pointed in that direction.

"The fact that I failed to do so, but got lucky enough to see you leave unharmed, shows I'm not perfect but you're one hell of a way down compared to the mistakes I make. You said you take hits, then why not let her have another shot at you instead of trying to get yourself killed. At least then you'll have people watching your back and not judging you on your actions."

Brandon stepped aside and showed the intention to move. Juggernaut got the hint and started walking, Brandon following his lead.

"Next time consult things with the council before you convince us your nickname is not for show. Speaking of the council, I'm forcing a meeting once we get back despite the state Emma is in. This is going way ouy of control."

Brandon looked down at the ground while he spoke his next words.

"I do owe you for pretending to be Hurricane's killer, but you really didn't have to do that. "

It was a relief Jackson told him they were even. He still didn't feel that way, but hearing him say this gave it some rest. Brandon didn't like owing things to anyone.

"I can let her off the hook since I already had my talk, that's just another reason why I'm here. But you will have to brief her on the meeting since I'm not going too."

The motivations behind his request were understandable, Emma was in no condition for a full questioning by the entire council at once. It was Jackson they needed anyway.

Then the subject went through a radical change. Jackson was asking him for training, very specific training in Brandon's mind. Brandon had been raised to follow in his fathers footsteps, which in turn led to him being trained to teach others his skills. Imagining what benefits this could have for Juggernaut, and with that their entire team, he couldn't agree more at the suggestion.

"No we won't train, we will fight as if we are on a field of battle. I will teach, you will follow and hopefully learn something useful out of what I offer. But first we got to do something about this berserker that keeps dominating your choices..."

The fact that he could teach didn't mean he did it in a kind or gentle way. Twice as much could be learned from a real fight compared to a sparring or training, and although risky with an opponent like Jackson there was a lot to learn for Brandon as well.