Fall Before Rise

Its a new day, new morning. News of chaos was reported to Commander Parker. She knew it was none other than Lionel, who was the cause of this chaos. She was getting worried about Lionel, that it was visible on her face. Madelyn too noticed it, and she too became worried about Lionel from inside.

"Its the first time I saw this much thirst of revenge in Lionel, I fear something bad may occur." Parker said.

"Don't worry Commander, he'll be fine. Remember, he fought a Tyrant alone when he was a new recruit, where everyone was struggling to face one Tyrant. He even saved you from an S-Ranked Tyrant fighting it alone, even killed Arachnoia, killed Nemean without his armour, and was the sole survivor of that battle against Tyrants, made the Father tremble in his name." Naomi said.

"You are right Naomi, but still I'm getting a bad feeling." Parker said, "What are your thoughts about it Madelyn?"

Madelyn stood there silently cleaning Commander's office room floor with a broom.

"Why are you silent?" Parker asked.

"I do-" Madelyn was about to say something when she was cut out by an S.O.S signal sent from the forest region.

"Naomi! Check whose it is, immediately." Madelyn said. Parker's forehead was sweaty as hell. Naomi checked upon the notification, and to her shock, it was from Captain. A pen fell from Parker's hand, while Madelyn was frozen in her place.

"An S.O.S from Lionel? Its impossible." Parker yelled, "Something's wrong, prepare the force, we need to check upon him."

Flashback

After creating chaos in the Tyrants' area, Lionel and team captured Father and took him as a hostage under the cloak of darkness. They camped in one of the Tech cities near the Duadella city. Lionel tortured Father like hell, cut his hands, legs, blindfolded him, stuck a cloth in his mouth, dipped him in a bucket of a corrosive chemical, burning his face and hair.

"Speak!" Lionel asked in his heavy, interrogative voice.

"Speak what?" Father asked.

"Tell us about you." Lionel said.

"After what you did to me, you expect me to talk?" Father asked.

"Yes." Lionel replied.

"Fine." Father sighed. "Hi, I am Zedd Moretti, the current heir to the lineage of Fathers. Nice to meet you Shirogane." Father said with a smirk.

"Tsk. That smile is enough to boost my want to kill you." Lionel said. Zedd laughed.

"You must have some reason to laugh. Tell me." Lionel asked with a glare.

"Lionel Ambrose. The descendant of the great Shirogane dynasty of Kings. It is said that you are invincible, however, even Nemean and Centaur couldn't find your weakness which I found." Zedd replied.

Lionel was listening.

"You are good with surprise attacks, but bad with being surprised. Oh yes, and a favourite attack you love a lot, Betrayal." Zedd said with a grin.

Lionel understood and looked around. Every comrade of Lionel started transforming into a Tyrant.

"In this battle, everyone of your comrade were dead, I just placed these little Tyrants in their place so that I can toy with you." Zedd said laughing.

One of the Tyrants attacked Lionel, which Lionel dodged skilfully. He took out his explosive shuriken but before he could use it, he remembered a former comrade and stopped.

"Emotions playing with you? That will lead you to your demise Shirogane. I shall take my leave now." Zedd said and transformed into Minotaur and left, while all the Tyrants jumped on Lionel.

Minotaur was walking away, feeling amused with the victory of his. He felt good after knowing that now the man who shattered his pride would die.

Suddenly, he felt something stick on his neck. Minotaur understood what it is. He desperately tried to reach his neck to remove the sticky bombs, but couldn't succeed. An explosion occurred and amidst the cloud of smoke, Lionel emerged.

"Short time no see Bullshit." Lionel said, pulling up the deformed Zedd, who transformed back to his human form.

"Shirogane!" Zedd struggled to say.

"Lets talk." Lionel said, pulling Zedd via his neck.

"You!" Zedd grunted.

Lionel took out two of his shurikens and started pointing at Zedd. Zedd was struggling.

"No use Zedd. You don't have enough energy and strength to heal yourself again and pick a fight against me." Lionel said.

Lionel cuts the region below hips of Zedd's body and dragged him to the place where he was thinking of camping.

"Are you done with your shitty tricks?" Lionel asked with a blank face. Zedd started groaning in pain. "Guess I need to do some stuff." Lionel said and took out some stuff.

"Hah! this should do." Lionel said.

Lionel stuck two grenades with the help of his shuriken in each side Zedd's rib cage, while tying Zedd's hands to the opposite hand's grenade's pin, in such a way that if Zedd tries to move his hands, the pins may come out creating an explosion. Then Lionel stuck Zedd's hand to the tree behind, with the help of S-Bombs. He set the bombs in such a way that if grenade explodes, a timer begins, triggering the bombs at 5 seconds.

"Flinch and you die for real this time. Stay still and you live." Lionel said.

"I'll choose flinch. This way you die with me." Zedd said and moved further to catch Lionel's feet. The grenade explodes, covering Zedd and Lionel in it, and five seconds later the S-Bombs triggered due to which, Lionel and Zedd fell a bit far.

Zedd nearly got destroyed, and Lionel's armour was torn. His cowl was broken, face covered in blood, he was unconscious somehow. On the other hand, Zedd's lower body was missing, shoulders broken, rib cage tearing skin and coming out, face missing eyes and teeth. A bloody mess was created around them.

Suddenly, ground started shaking. Lionel struggled to open his eyes. He saw a gigantic snake type creature coming out of ground, taking Zedd in its mouth, went beneath the ground again. Lionel struggled to reach his hand somehow, where an emergency S.O.S notifier was placed, before falling unconscious.

"Naomi! Check whose it is, immediately." Madelyn said. Parker's forehead was sweaty as hell. Naomi checked upon the notification, and to her shock, it was from Captain. A pen fell from Parker's hand, while Madelyn was frozen in her place.

"An S.O.S from Lionel? Its impossible." Parker yelled, "Something's wrong, prepare the force, we need to check upon him."

Present

Parker and team reached the location, they found the S.O.S signal from. When they reached the location, they saw area devastated. Trees burnt and cut, several Tyrant carcasses, burnt trees, blood puddles, and finally, lying like a dead man, Lionel.

"Mam! We found Captain. Can't say if he's alive or not." one of the soldiers informed Parker.

"Take him. We need to take him to the Medical Unit ASAP!" Parker ordered. The soldier saluted and went to pick Lionel along with few fellow members, and laid Lionel in a bed inside an Ambulance.

Madelyn went along with them, holding Lionel's bleeding hand.