Hiro Pyre/Vengeance and Vindication

From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe

This is a character based story, for more information on the lead character, check out the page for Hiro Pyre.

Written by @Pyr and @Zem

VENGEANCE and VINDICATION

"Master Pyre?"

"Yes, Alias?"

"Our diversion is on the way." Annie Alias clipped the communicator back to her belt and regarded the black clad ninja master. He and two of his ninja "jounin", also attired head to toe in black crouched in the darkness on the beach. Ahead, three more men in gray ninja uniforms kept watch. They had swum the 500 meters or so from the opposite shore while the fortress before them had been distracted by a Sky Raider attack and then waited here for nightfall. The Sky Raiders sought to kill what Hiro and his team were here to capture, a visiting dignitary from Paragon City, sent here to Agincourt, main Longbow base of operations in the Rogue Isles to bolster morale at this difficult post. Information on the event had come to the X-Patriots only shortly before the scheduled arrival of this visitor via a contact at the Golden Giza in St. Martial.

"Did the General say who she was sending to distract our friends in the fortress?" Hiro asked.

"My sister said only that, 'They are old acquaintances who had better not learn who really hired them.'" The young, blonde haired assassin, Annie Alias, replied rather cryptically.

Hiro smiled and glanced out over the water. "Then we had best get moving again." As Hiro's team set out, sirens began to blare and the distinctive "thump-pop" sounds of several Tank Smashers opening fire could be heard. The sounds came from the direction of Crimson Cove, a small island containing several large statues of the so-called "heroes" of the people.

Old acquaintances, indeed. Knowing those statues were going to take a beating from the Freakshow during this "diversionary" assault made ninja master Hiro Pyre smile. He was reminded of a time he had attempted to destroy a statue in Atlas Park and had received the scar upon the right side of his face, forever reminding him of the tyranny of Freedom Corps. He had fought a vicious hand-to-hand fight with several Longbow troops and a couple of low class Heroes that had ended with his incarceration in the Ziggurat. That had only added to his resolve for vengeance upon the United States and the forces that stood protecting its brutal nature.

With the diversion now in full swing, the team ascended the rock wall quickly and quietly moving towards the entrance point that had been designated to them in the operation briefing. An entrance that was guarded by two Longbow riflemen.

"Shadou-ken, Alias", Hiro Pyre, spoke softly.

The pair sprinted forward, leapt over a large container box, and in mid-air silently drew their swords. The two Longbow gunners standing guard saw no signs of any intruders, even as the blades sliced into their necks from behind, killing them instantly and within a heart-beat of each other.

With the two guards removed, the way to the entrance was clear. Hiro stopped next to one of the sentries, what used to be a pretty blonde, to rip the identification badge from the corpse; after which his men quickly hid the bodies. Reaching the door, Alias moved to the right and, pulling a utility tool and a portable data device from her tunic, began disassembling the control panel and carefully separating wires. One bit of information the X-Patriots had been able to get out of Eric Bees during interrogation was how to successfully access a secured door in a main Freedom Corps Base. If this didn't work, however, the door would stay locked and a silent alarm would reveal their location.

Alias paused, turned her head towards Hiro and nodded once. He motioned for her to proceed as he drew his bow to cover the entrance. The door slid open and the team faced an empty hallway. The six men moved into the interior hall while Alias quickly replaced the control panel's cover and moved to follow. The hallways were relatively empty and the team was able to make it to the elevator tubes and down a floor without making contact. The informant had given them a detailed description of this part of the base and pointed out the meeting room to be used by the visiting dignitary.

Yet Hiro had expected more resistance. The hallways were strangely quiet and devoid of the patrols one should find in a fortified Longbow base in the middle of the Rogue Isles. He was beginning to feel uneasy and he knew the team could sense it as well. The corridor before them turned and they moved past several sealed doors. No sounds could be heard from behind these, so the team continued on to the large sliding doors at the end of the hallway. According to their information, the primary target was just on the other side of this door. The Commander had instructed that the target be brought back alive. Should he die, the body and all personal effects were to be retrieved. Hiro Pyre could only speculate that this person holds some incredible intelligence value to the X-Patriots considering the effort expended to accomplish this task on short notice.

The team gathered on both sides of the door and Hiro tossed the ID card to Shadou-ken. With sword in one hand and the card in the other, the Jounin pressed the card into the recessed rectangle to the right of the sliding door until it beeped softly. The doors opened to reveal an empty room.

So much for our information, Hiro thought. With swift hand signals, he instructed Kira-Shadou and Annie Alias to scout the room ahead. The pair moved cautiously forward through the doorway, their eyes scanning every corner. The room was an auxilliary control center of sorts. Not large, but with several computer consoles and displays showing views of the area surrounding Agincourt. Just inside the door, Alias suddenly stopped and raised her hand for Kira-Shadou to halt. On a console in the center of the room a cup of coffee sat, a faint whisp of steam rising from the surface of the liquid inside.

"It's a trap", she said quietly. As if on cue, the air shimmered before them and four Longbow Special Ops soldiers de-cloaked, their rifles aimed at Alias and Kira-Shadou. Hiro spun around in time to see the doors on either side of the hall behind his team open up to deposit another four Longbow troops followed by a larger man in a rather distinctive uniform and cape.

"And you've walked right in to it, villains. Surrender now and this doesn't have to get unpleasant," the Longbow Officer stood confidently before Hiro Pyre and his team as his men raised their rifles menacingly.

"Matters between us have long been unpleasant, my opressor," Hiro replied as his own warriors tensed for the inevitable battle, "but I do not think the odds are set so against me."

"I might have something to say about that," came a woman's voice from within the control room. Alias watched as a figure moved out from behind one of the large floor-standing displays. Though she had never met this woman, Alias knew her by reputation. Indeed, there were few in the Isles or in Paragon City itself who would not recognize her.

Ms. Liberty stood with arms crossed and a thin smile on her face. "How do you like the odds now, O' Master of Assassins?" she said with no small amount of sarcasm. "One last time. Lay down your weapons. You are all under arrest."

Hiro Pyre stood motionless for a second, his eyes taking in every detail of the room. Slowly, he knelt and carefully laid his bow on the floor. As he stood, he palmed a small pouch from his belt, closing his fist around it. “Kemuri”, he said softly, still standing with his fists clenched at his sides. Shadou-ken, following his master's lead, tossed his sword out in front of himself, letting it clang loudly on the hallway floor.

The Longbow Officer, seeing the apparent surrender began to chuckle and his men relaxed slightly though they still held their weapons at the ready.

Inside the room, Kira-shadou's heart sank. His master had used the Japanese word for "smoke". Hiro Pyre would not surrender. He would fight... and he would be killed or captured. Kira-shadou knew they were not prepared to face an opponent such as this. Oh, they had put down many a lesser vigilante who had thought himself a hero, but here before them was a true hero of Paragon City, and, if the rumors were to be believed, granddaughter of the Statesman himself.

His eyes darted to the left where the ninja woman Alias stood similarly frozen. Not by indecision... no. She would make no decision. She would not act, Kira-shadou knew, because she had not been ordered to act. He wondered sometimes if the woman even had a soul. She would not understand why Master Hiro must not be captured here. She had not been a gutter rat, stealing for food, running errands for the gangsters of Talos Island and dreaming only of fame and glory among their ranks should he ever come to the notice of his betters... as he had. An enforcer in one of those gangs had raised him up from that lowly state, clothed and fed him, and trained him in the martial arts. But above all this, the man had given him a purpose: Vengeance! He owed this man his life.

And it was time to pay.

Turning his head ever so slightly, Kira-shadou said simply, "Thank you, my master" and without further delay reversed his blade and plunged it into the control panel on the wall behind him. With a screech, the doors began to close, but he would not get a chance to remove the blade. The SpecOps soldiers had reacted instantly to the sudden movement. Blood splattered the wall and doorway behind Kira-shadou as bullets tore through his chest. His body slammed into the wall and then slumped down at its base, his eyes staring ahead, seeing nothing as the doors finally ground shut beside him.

In the split second that the Longbows attention focuses on Kira-shadou, smoke erupts around the hallway and the ninjas spring to action.

“ONI KOUGEKI”, Hiro chants, then dives around the cloud of smoke that stands still in front of him.

Shadou-ken leaps through the air as bullets spray his cloud of smoke where he had been standing. He draws his secondary sword and slashs open the chest of the nearest Longbow rifleman. Hiro slides across the floor to Shadou-ken’s initial sword, and in one motion grabs it, rolls over, and throws it into the chest of the second rifleman.

Keigo and Hogosha simultaneously launch themselves at the Longbow Officer, hoping the twin flying kicks can knock him back. But not only does the Officer deflect the attacks, he succeeds in knocking both of them to the ground.

Meanwhile the third archer moves next to the wall, firing arrows at the two remaining Longbow soldiers as they spray bullets wildly at the smoke. With the smoke clearing quickly, the Longbow’s eyes widen even more as they see a red robed demon stepping towards them spewing fire.

Hiro knew Kira-shadou would sacrifice himself for the rest of Clan Pyre to escape, but he also knows that the only possibility to retrieve the body and help Alias defeat Ms. Liberty, is to dispatch the Longbow before him as quickly as possible; even if that means bloody and noisy. As for the trap, whether this was deliberate or just mis-information he would sort out later; but Ms. Liberty would feel his vengeance, whether today or in the near future.

Inside the now sealed room, time seemed to slow for Annie Alias. It always did when she focused completely. Other practitioners of the art would call the technique Kuji-In Retsu, "The Mastery of Time and Space". Alias just... did it, not really knowing how but all too aware that this level of concentration and physical exertion could not be maintained indefinitely. The Longbow had allowed Kira-shadou to draw all of their fire and she did not waste the opportunity. By the time their rifles began tracking back to point at her, she was already moving in the opposite direction having thrown a small object from her belt at their feet.

The room exploded in blinding light as the flash grenade went off, momentarily staggering Ms. Liberty and her soldiers. They lost sight of her and before the nearest of them could recover, her blade exploded through his chest. To her, it seemed, he took forever to hit the ground. Time enough to slash the next from waist to opposite shoulder, actually lifting the now dead agent off her feet. With a tuck and roll, Alias ended up beneath a desk as the remaining Longbow finally recovered. A subtle change in the sense of the room alerted Alias to move again just as a gleaming white boot smashed through the desk from above.

"Enough!" Ms. Liberty shouted. "She's mine! Get the doors open!"

Alias regained her feet and brought her blade up, facing off against the hero in, what she knew, was an ultimately hopeless battle. It didn't matter. The mission had failed, but Master Hiro still had the reconnaissance data they had gathered on the way in. Commander Nimrod had a daring all-out assault planned for this place. One that would send a message to the leaders of Paragon City and embolden the so-called "villains" of the Isles to take back what was theirs... if only briefly. She didn't know why this was important, but that was irrelevant. It was the mission's secondary objective. Master Hiro Pyre must be given the time to escape.

Time she had. Try as she might, she could not seem to land a good strike. Several minor cuts, but nothing that seemed to slow the hero before her. For her part, she took a few solid punches that sent her reeling, but also nothing that would finish the battle. Ms. Liberty was fast, but not fast enough. It was a stalemate, until...

...her concentration faltered. Her breathing had become erratic and she knew the end was near. Enhanced though her strength and reflexes were, her endurance was not limitless. She saw the kick coming, again almost in slow motion, but she could not move.

Light. Pain. Darkness. She hoped she had managed to delay the hero long enough...

Hiro retrieves the sword from the chest of the slumping rifleman, and Shadou-ken and Hiro close in on the Longbow Officer. The Officer’s hands glow with energy as he raises them in the air then smashes into Hogosha, slamming him back to the floor and knocking him unconscious. Meanwhile the fire-breathing Oni, along with Shashu the archer, eliminate the last two Longbow troops in the hallway.

Hiro and Shadou-ken deliver lethal blows, striking at the weakest spots in the Officer’s armor, but he continues to fight back with great ferocity. Hiro Pyre was trained from the time he was a small child in a variety of ancient Japanese weapons, and while he normally prefers the bow and arrow, he is enjoying this chance to engage in a violent clash face to face. The strength and fortitude of this Longbow is great, but he can not hold me off forever, Hiro thinks as blows exchange back and forth. I must try to get to Alias; but if I can’t get her out, the Intelligence must be reported to the Commanders.

As the Officer raises his left arm to deflect Keigo’s shuriken, Hiro drives a sword into the armpit of the red and white armor.

"I was almost impressed." Ms. Liberty remarked, reaching down to check the woman's pulse. Still alive, too. I wasn't sure that last kick...

"Ma'am! We're almost through!" the soldier reported. Ms. Liberty stood as the doors finally jerked open an inch, then began slowly moving. The soldier who had worked to bypass the severed wiring at the panel stood also and brought his rifle to the ready position.

The scene outside was grim. Her soldiers were clearly dead. Blood splattered the floor and walls. Amidst the carnage a robed demon stood defiantly staring at her. Behind it, the mastermind of this mayhem crouched over her Captain just as she now stood over his ninja woman. Their eyes met and she could see the hatred in them. Only a moment, then with a flash of light he disappeared along with his team and the captive Longbow Officer. A modified emergency medical teleporter, no doubt

Only the demon remained, standing there laughing at her as Longbow soldiers came rushing in from the corridors behind it.

"Dispose of that thing." she ordered angrily. So much death, she thought, looking around the room. Have these villains no care for the lives they destroy?

As the Longbow agents opened fire, she looked down at her captive. "At least one of you murderers will live to face justice."

Continued in: Hiro Pyre & Annie Matter - Fallout