Walker's response
Walker revealed himself behind a pillar, both hands in his pockets. His hood was pulled down, and the AV-8 drone was nowhere to be seen.
As he walked soundlessly down the stone steps, Jun turned around and began to stroll at a slow, leisurely pace along the pool, his back openly faced towards Walker. Whether as a sign of confidence in his abilities or trust in his opponent, Walker didn’t know.
A swift breeze passed by the two as Jun lifted his face upwards, gazing in the distance almost dreamily.
“The weather sure is beautiful, no? Clear, comfortable, and not a cloud in the sky.”
Next to him, Walker stared down at the pavement a few feet in front, for lack of interest in whatever he said. He wasn’t even paying attention, to begin with - except for the fact that there’s a fairly good amount of wind.
“Why side with the Empire?”
“I’m sorry?” Jun cast a side glance at the kid next to him. Walker’s gaze remained firmly planted to the ground.
“Why would you turn to them after having worked with the rebellion for so long? Were you always a spy, or are you just throwing away a perfectly good alliance just like that?”
“I have my reasons.” His nonchalant tone was barely lighter than the atmosphere around them.
“You were close enough to our leader. If your intention was that obvious, Apollo would’ve known.”
“I’m sure he will. Your question?”
Walker stopped in his tracks. “Something doesn’t add up. If you were that good at hiding things, you wouldn’t be so bold as to leak information to the Empire. You wouldn’t risk it.”
The prince, on the other hand, kept on walking as if nothing happened. There was silence before his next response.
“And if I am?”
“…You would betray the rebellion in no time after you joined, possibly causing collateral damage while you’re at it.” Walker guessed.
“Interesting.” The prince gave a polite smile, then turned his gaze again to the sky, this time deep in thought.
A series of mechanical clicks and whirrs sounded from afar, accompanied by the occasional noise of wings flapping as two strikingly different figures drew near from above. The AV-8 and white phoenix flew to their respective owners, then one perched on Jun’s shoulder as another hovered and flashed reports in front of Walker.
Walker’s heart sank. He was hoping the drone would find the documents by scanning the whole mansion - the closest discovery it had to offer instead was a few scattered papers lying at the bottom of a hastily opened briefcase.
Whoever took the documents, if they left these papers behind there’s no point for Walker to scavenge what’s left. He wondered if Viv would find an extremely detailed 3D holographic map of the mansion useful.
Probably not.
“Unfortunately, I can’t give you the answer you want.” Jun finally spoke. Walker turned his attention away from the drone. The prince continued.
“I’ll tell you this - I’m a leader of my nation. I never think or operate as one person as you would. Whatever I choose, it’s for the people of my land, and them only.”
He turned around. “The rebellion offered freedom. I wanted peace. I assume the next step would be to capture me and bring me in for questioning?”
“Yep.”
Jun’s eyes flickered between the tip of Walker’s hood and the ground before him, sizing him up before the fight.
“You can try…”
Right on cue, a gust of wind swept past the two of them, lifting Walker’s hood just enough to reveal a sharp glare; cautious, calculating, almost cold. Currents of air swirled around the prince, levitating him a few feet in the air as Walker’s sword and armor glowed bright cyan with energy.
Arms spread at waist level, Jun tensed his palms, as if about to perform a karate chop. Walker tightened his grip around the handle of a half-transformed katana, then, without warning, sprinted towards his target at full speed, leaping up at the last second with the blade high above his head.
Jun, on the other hand, was completely taken aback by the sheer inhuman speed and agility of his opponent; no guard, soldier, or elite force he had ever met can dash or even jump in what looked like a full set of armor - which is also the reason why he found his wind blades slicing through nothing the next moment after he aimed for Walker.
He looked up at his opponent high in the air, and for the first time in years, a fleeting trace of alarm struck through him. He had completely underestimated the kid, and a small part of him feared that he’s going to pay for that.
Walker saw Jun’s hands fly up by instinct, then willed the katana to grow heavier as he swung it violently clockwise instead of slicing straight down, using the momentum to spin in midair before landing. He darted to his opponent’s side, where Jun left an entire area exposed - and attacked.
Jun had barely spun around before the blade sliced up at his chest. It was only a couple inches away from his clothing when something pushed the weapon backward forcefully.
It wasn’t like hacking into a shield at all. The contact felt barely solid, which Walker guessed what only might be extremely dense air.
The momentum carried on, even intensified, as if the weapon was thrusting itself backward. Walker almost lost his grip then immediately tried to pull his weapon back, but no sooner than the thought registered had a blow swept him clean off his feet and sent him flying.
For half a second, everything became a blur as the ground hurtled towards him at the speed of a train.
He thought of tucking into a roll, but since the wind blade didn’t manage to cut through the armor, it launched him almost horizontally at high speed instead, there’s just not enough height - instinct urged him to stick an arm out in order to break the fall, in which Walker mentally yelled back that both hands are occupied with holding a weapon, and he would very likely stab himself if he tried.
It was quick thinking that saved Walker - the blade disappeared from the katana, leaving only a handle as a riot shield assembled itself just before the collision. Sure enough, the pavement came crashing with enough force to dislocate his shoulder, and the shield protected him from most of it.
Through the loud rumbling and scraping of metal against stone, Walker gripped the handle tightly as he half-slid the shield on the ground like a snowboard. He tumbled over, raising the shield up as another barrage of wind blades came flying at him.
A few dull and heavy clunks sounded as the wind blades brutally clashed against the shield, one after another. Walker’s arm immediately became numb from the impact. Still floating in midair, the prince advanced, which was another mistake.
Before Jun got the chance to speak, the faint cyan glow behind the shield suddenly erupted into a bloodred hue, then to his surprise, Walker threw the shield aside, his left hand holding a loaded Micro UZI aimed right at Jun’s face.
A glint of bright orange, a flash of blood, a jolt of panic, and a deafening three-second cacophony of gunfire sent a clear message to the crown prince: his life is at stake. The teenager standing before him was one to be feared by, and with good reason.
Blossoms of dark scarlet dotted the fabric somewhere at his midriff and began to grow. Somehow the pain didn’t even register, as though his whole body was delayed and numb to the attack.
From Walker’s point of view, the shield broke right after two bullets hit. As blood spattered on the grass under his opponent, Jun stumbled back and took flight in a short burst of wind as Walker continued to rain down the contents of an entire magazine at him. Then he summoned his drone, reloaded the gun, and immediately gave chase.
Both of them engaged in a dogfight of sharp turns and dives in the air, swerving and racing around the garden like fighter jets. Gunshots, clashes of metal, and more noises of pure destruction caused by stray blades and bullets broke out now and then throughout the chase.
Despite having to dodge a flurry of wind blades flying back at him, Walker’s experience at drone racing helped, and he proved unrelenting and almost impossible to shake off. The two continued until the prince had no choice but to disappear in a cloud of mist.
After turning back to normal, Jun glanced behind him while still flying at full speed - relief washed over him as Walker was finally nowhere to be seen. The feeling was short-lived, however, when he was ambushed from above right after he landed his first step on the grass. Tumbling on the ground, Jun tried to stab, punch and kick out of his way, but to no avail.
AV-8 deactivated Walker’s invisibility after he pinned down Jun in no time, revealing a dagger pointed at his neck.
“Just a heads-up, if you do escape there’s an army after you, and I’ll personally hunt you down without a mission if I have to. I say give up.”
Jun smiled bitterly, the corner of his mouth stained with blood.
“Well, that would be my choice to make, wouldn’t it?”
And then Walker collapsed rather awkwardly on the grass as Jun transformed into thin air for the second time.
After a few seconds, Walker spotted a white figure reappear on the other side of the garden, flying towards the roof of his mansion. Sitting on the grass, he realized it would be impossible to catch up on short notice - The drone will never be able to reach his target before he escapes, and even if he could teleport, Walker can’t run on air.
He thought of just sending AV-8 to track him before something flashed past his mind.
It’s an idea, sure, but it would be insane was the summary of it.
Without even thinking if he should, Walker already started setting up a sniper rifle on the spot - the one with the most firepower in his inventory. After aiming the rifle at the rooftop, he pulled the teleportation gadget loose from his wrist and held it in his left hand like a bomb detonator, then willed his digital sword to transform into an extremely long and thin chainwhip with a bullet attached to the end.
Walker took the bullet apart from the weapon, loaded it into the sniper rifle, and put the chains inside to fuse with the bullet. He took a deep breath - then pulled the trigger and activated teleportation at the same time.
Time slowed down drastically as the bullet shot out of the barrel in slow motion. Walker took a running start, then grasped the handle as it shot upwards along with the bullet, pulling Walker along.
Out of anything that Walker had done before, this had to be high up on the list of worst plans that worked impossibly well: Literally launching himself in the air using a bullet.
And right as Jun reached the rooftops, obliviously thinking he was safe again, Walker crashed into him and pinned him down on the spot.
“No.”
I was going to say that’s the quickest response I’ve gotten, in under 10 minutes too