The sky was dark, the stars providing mere twinkles of light across the expanse of space. Under this void was a large field, lightly grassy, with a scattering of rocks and boulders of various sizes that became slight ledges and small cliffs. A campsite had been established in its center, a glowing pylon at its core, a fusion cell that powered the camp with a bright blue glow. Outposts had been set up, with bird-like jackal snipers and hairy brute guards on post. The grass rustled as a breeze filled the air with the sound of a million dancing blades.
But some blades of grass did not conform to the simple wind that swept the field. Instead, they flattened in peculiar directions, jerked left and right, an arbitrary motion in the flora that moved with a purpose as these anomalies neared the camp. A pair of these movements stopped at a small hill that overlooked the temporary settlement.
As the motion stilled, two armored beings materialized, deactivating their active camouflage. Nonetheless, they were difficult to spot, as the dark hue of their armor blended beautifully with the night sky and black shadows.
One soldier held a shotgun, not at the ready, but at his side, as he surveyed the positions of his enemies. His comrade, wielding a sniper rifle, scanned the inner workings of site, espying the monotonous marches of brutes and grunts, the latter who were undoubtedly grumbling about the poor quality of food or some other non sequiturs.
“Eagle, see anything yet?” said the first person, his voice slightly distorted by the radio transmission.
“Standby, Viper.” replied the second.
A moment passed as an unsettling tension seemed to fill the air with an eerie calm.
“Got it. Goldie, near the central generator.” the sniper stated. Live feed was sent to the first person, revealing a large hulking brute clad in a reflective namesake armor.
“We got our target. Everyone ready?” said the CQC soldier.
Four green dots on his display winked in acknowledgement.
“Okay, then. Let’s move.”
With that, the sniper fired a shot at the nearest brute guard. It struck him in the neck, but the echo resounded through the whole camp, and suddenly it seemed like everybody jumped to their feet, weapons in hand. A few errant shots were fired into the night, illuminating the immediate field.
“Eagle! I thought I said we were going stealth on this one!” scolded the first soldier.
“Sorry! I thought I had my silencer on.” replied Eagle, grimacing.
“Damn.” muttered Viper as he slid down the slope, despite the ground becoming near vertical as he neared the base of the hill. “This is Viper. Bertha, Crackshot, Aura, our cover has been blown.”
“Again?” responded a female voice. A disgruntled sigh could be heard through the COM.
“Never mind that. We have our target. Move out!”
As Viper closed on on the site perimeters, Eagle took a few more shots at the ensuing chaos before following in Viper’s footsteps. No sooner had he taken his first step down the slope did the last brute he fired on stumbled and fell from his post.
Some jackals, sensing movement near their outpost, turned and fired their needle rifles and carbines at the intruders. A few of the glowing green and pink shots connected, but bounced uselessly off their shields as Viper fired in quick succession, pumping round after round, eliminating the immediate jackals.
A pair of brutes saw the commotion caused by the bright sparks of the shotgun, and readied their brute shots. They never had a chance to fire, however, as two rounds flew downrange, taking with them a large chunk of each brute’s skull. Eagle ejected his cartridge has he reloaded more rounds into the chamber.
Detecting the intruders, however, more jackals emerged from other parts of the camp. Viper could only get a few shots in, gunning down a pair of jackals, before they formed a phalanx with their shield gauntlets. They fired their plasma pistols, and green glowing blobs of energy splashed near Viper and Eagle.
“Bertha, we need some backup here!” yelled Viper.
“Already on it, sir.”
With that, a sudden explosion tore through the ranks of the phalanx. The jackals, surprised by the unexpected attacks, broke formation, as searing plasma and needles and lead peppered their position. When the dusty and searing haze lifted, only five beings stood, all clad in jet-black MJOLNIR armor.
“Just had to screw this one up, didn’t you?” quipped the center of the newcomer, a fuel rod gun resting on her shoulder.
“Well it’s not my fault I fired prematurely.” responded Eagle, a smirk seen behind his visor.
The new soldier on the left immediately struck the side of his helmet with the butt of her needle rifle. “Just shut up… it’s hard enough to do this mission without you,” she said disapprovingly.
“C’mon, Crackshot, let’s not fight over this now,” piped the third soldier, lowering her plasma rifles. “Can’t we just all get along?”
Eagle was just about to respond to that when a burning projectile passed mere millimeters from his visor, causing him to flinch and back away as they all turned to this new threat.
An octet of brute bodyguards stood in wait, while a ninth brute stood in the center of the group, clad in ceremonial gold and red armor. This brute was not armed.
“So, this is the intrusion?” growled the brute chieftain. He then produced a deep, earthly laugh. “Is this a joke? I would expect that the humans would sent something more… significant than a measly five soldiers.” He turned to one of his guards. “Kill them. Kill them all.” He walked away from the standoff while his soldiers readied their rifles as the group of five.
“Crap.” exclaimed Eagle.
“Bertha, lob three, now!” ordered Viper.
Bertha leveled her fuel rod gun at the nearest guard, and fired three orbs of green. The guard jumped, but not fast enough has he became engulfed in the sea of plasma. The two unfortunate guards next to him were also incinerated.
Crackshot took a carbine to complement her needle rifle, and fired at the guards. The remaining five brutes returned fire, and the new skirmish filled the air with fresh lead, needles and plasma. Aura fired ceaselessly into one guard who wandered too close to her, an unrelenting barrage of plasma rifle fire that toasted the brute.
As each soldier tried to take a potshot at another, Viper crept behind a piece of rubble, a section of the outpost that seemed to have fallen in the whole ado.
“Keep the guards at bay. I’ll take care of our target.” Viper said through the COM.
Viper turned on his active camouflage, and slid away from the firefight. One brute took exception to this action and fired a round, but stopped as a trio of needles stabbed into his abdomen, causing the trademark pink explosion that tore his body in half.
Viper took a wide berth around the fight, espying the chieftain reprimanding some poor grunts who hid under a pile of rubble, kicking them for their cowardice.
“Found you.” Viper muttered with a grin.
Tantalum was obviously pissed. His army, which was an arguable statement of his soldiers to start with, scattered at the face of this enemy. And there were only five of them. He picked up a grunt, who, in a bout of fear, squealed as it tried to pull itself free from the brute’s crushing grasp. The chieftain tossed the grunt like it was cardboard as the diminutive soldier landed a good several meters away.
As he was about to pick up his next unfortunate soul, a round sparked his shields. He immediately took a defensive stance, and turned, to see that one of the humans from before had followed him, shotgun in hand.
The chieftain roared back, “Do not think that you will find me easy prey.”
The human dropped his shotgun. “Do not think that you will find ME an easy target,” as he brandished an energy sword.
“So be it,” yelled Tantalum, unsheathing an energy sword of his own. “Your fate is as good as sealed.”
Viper charged at Tantalum, sword poised to strike, but was parried as the brute sliced back with his own sword. Tantalum struck back, a swath of burning energy, but was equally repelled by his human duelist. And so the exchange continued, as one being tried to lay a lethal blow on the other, only to be blocked by his opponent’s blade. After a few slices and clashes later, Tantalum took a few steps back, a slightly safe distance from Viper. He growled at his human opponent, and from his belt took out a second energy sword.
“OH crap,” cursed Viper under his breath, as Tantalum charged with full fury. Viper could barely keep up with the ferocious pace of the two hissing shards of heat and energy that bore down on him. Barely after one sword connected with his own, the second would enter the fray, and Viper had only milliseconds to respond to this new threat. Only when Tantalum decided to sweep Viper from the side did Viper jump to a more steady spot.
Then, he jumped back into the fray, as he too unleashed a second sword of his own. Surprised, the brute fell back a few steps, to give himself the leverage to block this new onslaught. His foot gave way, however, as he tripped on the shotgun that Viper had unceremoniously discarded earlier, which gave Viper a small enough opening to lay a lethal slice across Tantalum’s body. With a final roar, Tantalum dropped. As the chieftain’s lifeless body touched the floor, the frightened grunts yelped, and ran off away from this murderous human.
“It’s over.”
Viper rejoined his comrades at the skirmish site, noting with approval the corpses of the brute bodyguards lain around them.
“Did you set the charges, Bertha?” Viper questioned.
“No sooner said than done.” Bertha responded, a hint of excitement in her voice.
“Great. Then let’s get the hell out of here.” Viper responded.
“I second that!” Eagle yelled.
And so the five soldiers, battered but alive, walked out of the camp, now resembling more of a smoking crater than anything else. A few grunts tried to take some shots, but were easily dealt with by Crackshot’s unerring needles. As they exited the perimeter of the campsite, Bertha pressed the charges under her palm, and the reactor in the center of the camp suddenly flew into a million pieces. Any remaining jackals, brutes or grunts in the camp were completely obliterated by this rolling mass of heat and metal.
“Mission accomplished.”
~
This is just something to get some steam out. I may not write a fanfic to follow this up. But it’s still good stuff.