The Great Belligerency [Round 4: Static]

Originally posted on MSPA by Pick Yer Poison.

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Phil reached for his waist with his right hand. "Cole, shield your eyes!" Cole looked back at him quizzically, just in time to see the commando throw a small cylindrical object at the guards, turning his head to the side and covering it with his other arm as he did so. A moment later, a loud BANG was heard from the same direction, and the burst of light that accompanied it dazzled him momentarily. A few shots followed, and when Cole's vision cleared Phil was throwing a dead guard down the spiral ramp into a cluster of others. It crashed into the group and knocked two of them off. They landed 28 stories lower a few seconds later and promptly died; by that time Phil had already thrown the second guard's body down the ramp, causing another casualty and forcing the group of guards to retreat.

Cole blinked to help restore his vision quicker. "Wait, where did you pick up those flashbangs?" Phil only chuckled in response and bullrushed down the stairs towards the next group of guards. Cole chased after him, wondering what else the commando had up his sleeve.

The next group of guards pointed their guns at the two contestants as soon as they saw them coming. Cole jumped over the side and zipped around the group to get behind their back, while Phil fired his magnetic grappling hook at the gun of the guard in front. The instant it had a grip he dropped to a sliding position and retracted it as fast as possible, propelling himself towards the enemy at an astonishing pace. A moment later, he kicked the guard's legs out from beneath him and shoved the body into his three allies, getting him tangled up with one of them, pulling them both to their deaths. The rest stumbled backwards; Cole stuck out a leg, and they went tumbling down into the next group.

A hail of bullets danced around Phil and Cole as two guards across and down on the ramp suddenly remembered they had long-range weapons. Cole backed up and ducked down to avoid the whizzing projectiles, while Phil crouched and raised his own gun, tiny blue sparks rising up around his suit as it absorbed the shots. He fired once, and one of the guards dropped; a second shot took out the other one. Phil continued his mad rush down the ramp, while Cole dropped down the middle and charged into the next pair of guards. Quickly growing a stag beetle's horn, he gored one and forced him off the ramp, adding to the slowly growing pile of bodies at the bottom. He heard a gunshot and then a thump as the body of the guard behind him, who had been about to shoot off his head, fell heavily to the floor of the ramp. Cole assumed the unseen shooter had been Phil, who was in actuality engaged farther back on the ramp, and hurried down.

A short ways back on the ramp, Phil rushed into a group of guards. The first pointed his weapon at the commando, only for Phil to aim a flying kick at his chest. He dropped his weapon, doubling over, and Phil vaulted over him, kicking the legs out from underneath the guard behind him and sending him falling to his death. A gunshot sounded, and Phil followed through with the motion, jerking his left elbow where he had expected the first guard's chest to be; instead, he hit only empty air. Turning around, Phil found the guard lying on the ground, clearly dead. Huh. That kick shouldn't have killed him. Before he had a chance to notice the bullet wound that was the true cause of death, he was distracted by Cole shouting at him to hurry up. The scientist was on the run from a group of four guards who had arranged themselves in a two-man-wide firing line near the bottom of the ramp. Phil fired his grappling hook at the ceiling and swung across the gap feet-first, firing his weapon one-handed at the firing line. He killed one of the crouching ones and managed to land a few body hits on the other before he collided with the standing guard nearest to the edge. Phil wrapped his legs around the man's torso and pulled forward with them while releasing the grappling hook from the ceiling, flinging the man over the interior edge and pulling Phil onto the ramp. The remaining two guards stared at Phil with a shocked look in their eyes and dropped their weapons, raising their hands in the air. "We surrender! We surre--" Phil cut him off with a few choice gunshots, then dealt his buddy the same treatment.

Cole joined Phil from the spot he'd retreated to when he had encountered the firing line, eyeing the dead bodies distastefully. "Really, Phil? Shooting them after they'd surrendered? I expected more of you."

Phil turned to face Cole. "They were enemies. They decided that when they fired at us. I wasn't about to let them change their allegiance when they realized they were outmatched." He looked down at the bodies and picked up one of the weapons, eyeing it critically. After a moment's inspection, he nodded slightly and tossed it to Cole, who caught it reflexively. "Here. You might find yourself needing a long-range weapon at some point. The workmanship's good, so it should last you for a while." The pair turned and stepped off the ramp onto the eerily-quiet third floor landing, then made their way for the stairs down.