Cassian gracefully turns to command his feral pack. “Lay down your weapons in the snow,” he says.
They glance around before one obeys. The rest follow.
Teasing his rifle with both hands, he stands before the line of alphas like a general before a weary army. “You have given me what I needed he says. For that, I say, thank you.”
Before anyone can speak, he opens fire. No alpha spared. It’s pure carnage.
Killian shouts, “What the fuck is wrong with you?”
Cassian faces them, once more with a crooked smile. “Pick up your weapons. I never told you you could surrender,” he says.
“We can’t outlast you,” Vash says. “We don’t have the ammunition.”
Cassian steps over the dead bodies and grabs whatever guns, grenades, and ammo he can get. “There are three of you and one of me. It should be an easy match,” he says, tossing the individual pieces their way.
Killian bends and grabs a few clips.
Vash seems more wary, but he does the same, pocketing a pulse grenade. “What tricks do you have up your sleeve, brother?” he asks.
Lucas stands silently behind the bodies.
“No tricks. Just a good ol’ fashioned brawl between old comrades,” he says.
Vash takes the first shot, diving before Cassian can shoot back. Both of the brothers miss, but Cassian is overjoyed by the conflict.
“Oh, brother,” he says. “I’ve missed our troublesome bond.”
Vash fires again. Cassian is knocked back, but his armor has smashed the bullet into a smoking disc of metal.
Cassian looks down and grins. He raises his battle rifle and poises to aim. He takes the shot, bullet cutting through smoke and air.
It nicks off a piece of Vash’s ear.
Cassian charges them. “You wouldn’t believe the things I’ve seen, brother.”
Killian shoots his rifle, but he can’t seem to get a handle on the wind trajectory. Each shot that’s made misses his steps. And, with the kids hugging his legs, he hardly has time to think. By the time he can reload, Cassian is shielded by a plot of snow.
Killian observes Vash wipe the blood from his ear and roll away, wheezing loudly. He’s never seen Vash do this poorly in a fight, and Cassian is taking every opportunity to make gains on him.
Cassian fires another round. The bullets barely miss his side.
“I’ve lived a nearly-endless stream of lives. I was an emperor in a nation called Sankara. I was a peasant farmer with a wife and three children. I’ve explored over thirty three different planets, and I haven’t aged an hour. Do you understand what I’m telling you, brother? Put the past aside for one moment. I have found the cure to death.”
Vash groans and tightens his body as he takes out the pulse grenade. He pulls the pin and waits. “You’ve done it all brother. But the one thing you’ll never be able to do is conquer Rae,” he says.
He lobs the grenade and braces for the explosion.
But it doesn’t come.
Cassian walks to the grenade, picks it up, and throws it high into the air. It explodes, illuminating the darkness with a web of electricity.
Cassian puts his rifle to Vash’s head. “Boom,” he says.
Vash drops the revolver. “There. You win. Happy?”
Killian gives it up. He grabs for his children, sheltering them with his massive body. “It’s okay,” he keeps repeating. “It’s going to be okay.”
Cassian snaps a set of electro-lock bracelets around Vash’s wrists. He does the same to Killian and Rae. When he gets to the children, he cackles. “So these are your heirs. Have you taught them the way of alpha yet?”