"This is the day the great Kade Lennox finally dies," Lennox said dramatically, finally managing to get on his feet but he leaned heavily on Aslan.
The men approached them slowly, with all guns pointed at them. Fifteen guns against two men? That was overkill. But it also meant Efe was not taking any chances and really wanted him dead.
Lennox turned to him, looking at him with his eyes clouded with pain. "If I die I'm going to come back as a sexy ghost with good hair and haunt you."
"This is not the time to be joking around, Lennox," Aslan snapped, struggling to hold Lennox up. His own injuries burn, a migraine pressed against his skull.
"Drop all weapons on you on the ground," one of the men—the leader, probably—stepped out of the circle they had formed around them and shouted.
Like hell he will. He wasn't going to be defenseless, even though they were outnumbered. He was going to go down fighting, not giving them all his weapons, and became helpless.
"I'm serious," Lennox continued, unfazed like their deaths weren't surrounding them. "If I die today, it's your fault. Because I came here to offer you alliance, not get killed."
"Drop them!" the man barked again. They stopped about a foot away from them, surrounding them with not even a single space to escape from.
"Do you by chance have a grenade in that suit of destruction you're wearing?" Lennox said, his voice low, serious.
"Yes," Aslan answered.
"Pass it."
Lennox grunted, feigning a stumble. Aslan slipped the grenade into his hand that was hidden inside his suit.
"I'm going to throw this grenade at the scary men right in front of us," Lennox informed him.
One of the men fired a shot, and it landed dangerously close to Aslan's feet. He tensed but didn't flinch, taking a step back. But he regained his balance and stood straight. Well as straight as he could when a man taller than him was leaning heavily on him.
"Was that meant to scare us?" Lennox scoff, his voice loud. Then he lowered his voice as he said, "We have an advantage here, pretty boy. These fuckers have been instructed to bring you alive. So they might try to take a limb or two, but they wouldn't kill you."
"That is so encouraging, Lennox," he deadpanned, but what Lennox said really made him less tense. Truly, these men would have shot them dead long ago if they hadn't been told to bring him alive.
"I am going to focus on the men facing us," Lennox informed, "and you face the ones behind us."
Aslan grunted to let him know he understood. He slipped his free hand into his 'suit of destruction,' and tightened his grip on his gun, clicking the gun off safety.
"On my count," Lennox muttered, shitting so he wasn't so heavily leaning on Aslan, his grip tightening on the grenade.
"One," he whispered.
The men moved closer, their grips tightening on their guns, their fingers flexing on the trigger.
"Two."
A bead of sweat rolled down Aslan's temple. Despite the chill that dawn brought, he was still sweating furiously. He blamed that on the fire still roaring behind them. His pulse pounded in his veins. The moment Lennox counted to three, it was going to chaos. The man continued shouting at them to drop their weapons, along with a threat or two.
Barely a week as capo and he was exhausted already.
"Three."
Lennox yanked the pin off the grenade and threw it.
The explosion tore through the air, the blast throwing almost half the men in front of them off their feet. Before the dust settled, Aslan was already moving. He turned, pulled his gun out, and fired. Two shots, clean and fast, dropped the nearest men before they could react.
His lips curled up on their own and twisted into a wicked grin. He shouldn't be enjoying this, but goddamn it, he was.
Barely a day with Lennox and he was already rubbing off on Aslan.
Kade shoved off Aslan, using the moment of shock to grab a gun from a fallen man and fire. His leg screamed in protest, but he gritted his teeth and continued firing.
He killed three men in a blink of an eye.
It was raining bullets.
Aslan spun, crouching low as he fired at the men behind them. Despite the men that had been taken out, the enemy was still much.
"Lennox, move!" Aslan barked, grabbing Lennox by the arm and dragging him to the nearest cover—an abandoned car.
"Don't fucking yell at me!" Lennox shouted back as they hurried to take cover. "You're not the one with a fucking hole in your leg!"
More bullets ripped through the air, barely missing them, sparks ricocheting off metal as they barely made it behind the vehicle.
Lennox exhaled sharply, gripping his bleeding leg, his face twisted in pain. "I'm still alive. What a miracle. I've always known I had luck."
"Not for long if we don't finish this, or get the fuck out of here," Aslan mumbled, reloading.
"Take your negativity away from me."
Aslan removed his jacket, tore it into pieces with his dagger, and looked over at Lennox. "Lift your hip," he ordered.
Lennox did so without question, lifting his injured leg. Aslan tied the pieces of his jacket around the wound and knotted it tight. Lennox cried out from the pain, his eyes closed, his head resting against the car.
Aslan bit his tongue to hold in the apology that wanted to find its way out. Lennox had told him to shoot him in the leg. There was absolutely no reason why he should be feeling guilty.
None.
Bullets kept hitting the car, the sounds echoing, the force hitting the car and making it shift. But at least none of the bullets has been able to penetrate the car. Yet.
The men were regrouping. They weren't going to give them another chance.
"How many left?" Lennox asked without opening his eyes, his voice tight.
Aslan gritted his teeth, pushing his hair out of his eyes. "Too many."
Lennox inhaled sharply. "I shouldn't have rejoiced so soon about being alive."
Aslan's chest squeezed. "Yeah. You shouldn't have."
The gunfire cut off suddenly. A brief, deadly silence. They were reloading.
This was their chance.
Lennox knew that too. He opened his eyes slowly and tightened his grip on his gun. He looked at Alsan, an unreadable look in his eyes.
"Okay," he exhaled, his breaths fast. "Let's go die."
Aslan shook his head at him. This wasn't his fight, yet Lennox didn't hesitate to fight for him. Efe wanted him, not Lennox. He had thought Kade Lennox was a selfish legend. But he wasn't. He was the type of soldier Aslan was looking to be in his army.
"You don't have to do this," Aslan told him, grunting as he once again pushed his hair away from his eyes. If they survived this, he was going to get a haircut.
Lennox grinned, his eyes gleaming. "Want to play a hero? Too late for that, pretty boy."
He clenched his jaw, planted his hands on the ground, and lifted himself off the ground. Aslan stood up and helped him.
Lennox took a moment to breathe in deeply before he nodded at Aslan. Aslan nodded back. And they both moved away from the car, their guns raised.
But the next shot wasn't theirs. It wasn't their bullet that rang through the air, sharp and deafening, making Aslan's ears ring.