Red cursed under his breath as his eyes met that of the pirate. His gun lay trapped beneath him, pinned to the earthen ground. Meanwhile, the pirate's own was trained on him. This was not the type of situation he wanted to find himself in. His body ached from the explosion, and one of his shockblasters was fried.
"Show your hands," the pirate said calmly. His hands tightened on the trigger of his gun.
From this range, Red didn't think the shot would be enough to kill him. He could never know for certain, but most shockblasters weren't strong enough to kill a person in one shot. That being said, getting hit once would doom him in his present situation. His body would freeze, preventing him from reacting.
All in all, his situation was looking quite hopeless. A bead of sweat dripped down his forehead, threatening to reach his eyes. Red liked being prepared, and this was in no way that. The chances of him getting out of this were slim to none. Still, he would not simply give in. He had run off to save their plan after all.
Gritting his teeth, Red rolled to his side. A shot fired from the man's blaster. Electrical energy ripped through the air with a loud zap as it struck the ground beside him. The earth steamed from the blast, but Red paid it no mind. As he rolled, his own gun flipped into his hand.
This was not the sort of situation he had ever trained for. Not even Zara could have anticipated him finding himself on the ground with a gun trained on him so soon. Still, the days of training they had done were not for nothing. His shockblaster spun on the pirate as he rolled. Red fired a shot. Energy streaked towards the man's head.
The blast spun, twirling in the air with mechanical precision. Energy flew fast when in motion. It wasn't instant, and a high-level fighter could potentially dodge a strike they knew was coming. This pirate had not expected a shot coming. Unfortunately, even catching the pirate off guard like this was not enough. Red's shot went wide even as the man leaped back in startlement.
With both of them having fired a blast, there was a brief moment of respite. They each had very nearly ended their short confrontation. Red rolled into a large pile of brush and leaped upright. The pirate stumbled backward and fired blindly after him, his blow careening off the fallen log.
Pressing his back to a tree, Red fired back. With so much plant-life in his way, his shot was bound to miss. The energy rippled through the branches and leaves as it flew past, dissipating before it even reached its target. Not exactly the outcome he had hoped for, but not an unexpected one either. Red spared a quick glance around the tree and saw the man vanishing into the jungle.
"Damn it!" he snarled and broke into a run through the brush.
It would have been very helpful to eliminate the pirate here and now. With the man on the loose, he couldn't risk heading for the cave. Disappearing inside was tantamount to surrendering the fort. What made his situation worse was his lack of knowledge about his surroundings. There could very well be numerous pirates waiting to ambush him.
Everything about their plan had been risky. They had accounted for that, but he had not planned for this, even if he should have. Red had hoped for him and Derrin to simply retreat back into the jungle and the safety of camp. Without much time to prepare, he only had a few unfinished gadgets stored in his coat. Red did not want a repeat of last time and had no intentions of chasing the pirate down blind.
Red dodged under a low-hanging branch and paused, panting with his back pressed against a tree. He felt blood racing in his ears. Taking a quick moment, Red glanced around the tree. A blast of energy exploded against the bark, barely missing his head. Cursing, Red fired a shot blindly into the jungle.
He wasn't sure how many shots were left in his gun, but at the moment, he didn't care. Releasing the mist he had been channeling throughout his body, Red forced it upwards into his ears. His limbs began to ache, and his body felt like it was ready to collapse.
However, his newly enhanced hearing picked up the crunch of branches from his left. Red brought himself closer to the ground and raised his weapon. He could just barely make out the form of the distant pirate.
Perfect.
Red released the enhancement in his ears and felt his mist retreat to his heart. Raising his gun, a shot lanced across the clearing, striking the pirate in the upper shoulder. The man staggered backward in surprise, and his own shot went wild. Red ducked backward to avoid any stray shots.
This quick fight against the pirate made Red understand the dangers posed by a shockblaster. Even if the shooter wasn't particularly skilled, one shot could very well throw you off enough to get yourself killed. Eliminating the two pirates with shockblasters during their last fight had been crucial to their success.
Being stuck in a gun battle was not something Red knew much about. Since he was constantly on the move, it became much harder to hit the opponent. That wasn't even mentioning that the target was also moving and shooting back at him. Red didn't know how powerful this pirate's gun was, but wasn't interested in finding out.
As he ducked into the brush, he fired another shot at the staggering pirate. The shot missed and ricocheted off into the jungle. It would have been nice to finish off the pirate immediately, but the pirate's gun arm was still functional. A shot blasted into the trees mere inches from where he ran.
Red didn't hesitate to break off into the jungle. He wanted to put some distance between himself and the recovering pirate. That would allow him to put the rest of his quickly formed plan into action. The jungle seemed to fall silent around him as he ran. Red didn't bother to worry about silence. Branches broke, and leaves crackled beneath him, leaving a clear trail to his destination.
He slid to a stop, nearly tumbling forward into a massive ravine. The side of the hill fell away into a steep drop. It wouldn't kill, but it was not the sort of terrain he wanted to climb with an enemy at his back. The problem was that the only other direction he could go would bring him directly to the cave. He continued onwards without stopping.