Abysmal Hope
"We are, when cause is sufficient, insane."
Death filled the battlefield. Not death of men but of his creations. The mad doctor looked on as the blue warrior had destroyed his machines—his children. He vowed revenge but a pang of doubt and a realization of the obvious hit him. He realized that whatever he did to that hedgehog whatever he tried to do to kill him, or his comrades, he failed at it. Yet the Blue Warrior dusted himself off and asked of him, another adventure like it was some sort of sick game to him. Like these robots were merely pieces of scrap toys that he played with and his friends adored him for it. The Doctor felt an unquenchable fury. He vowed he would make that damn creature pay. He vowed he would strike fear in his heart, he promised he would give the organization that ruined his father; the GUN, the greatest struggle of their lives. He vowed that he would choke the world and hold it as it slowly dies out then he would watch as he'd crush its throat and let it die. Most of all, he promised that this time, there won't be any games; there won't be any plans to foil. He will not fail.
Not anymore.
Darkness and silence shrouded the messy room, with several yellow, blinking lights on a massive yet sleek computer. Its CPU took up the entire room, emitting blinking lights and occasional beeps. Keystrokes on a keyboard were the dominant sound in the room as the man sitting behind a computer sneered. The screen was 52 inches with 4 inch images side by side for a total of 13 images. The keystrokes intensified as he wrote down "Initiate ping sequence." An image on one of the 13 screens popped up as the man pressed the enter key, soon the 13 screens glowed and merged into one whole screen.
Finally, a command sequence popped up on the screen. As the man kept typing while the room began humming slowly. The keystrokes intensified. The humming grew, and the collaboration between the humming and the keystrokes continued. Soon, the hum was an explicit sound of a fan whirring inside the CPU as its receptors got terabytes of data. The man took a deep breath as he typed "Initiate command. Command type B. Ping 3. Initiate Ping. Identify model unit. Identify location. Ping model Unit 14214 GUN. Initiate files _PASSWORD." The man sneered as he pressed enter. In mere seconds a window popped up on the screen replied. "Hack Successful. File ECLIPSE_ imported." Suddenly, the yellow blinking turned blue, and the screen shut off. The man quickly looked at the CPU as it begun re-booted. The man shook; not with fear but with ecstatic pleasure. The screen suddenly showed the words "CONFIDENTIAL ACCESS GRANTED: WELCOME PRESIDENT."
The Doctor sighed, as a maniacal smirk formed on his lips. He wore a red jump suit and had a bald head with a few brown hairs, as well as a maniacal moustache. His blue goggles reflected the glow of seven chaos emeralds powering the Quantum Computer.
A squad of three fighter jets careened in the sky, spitting out jet fuel leaving gaseous trails behind them while going at supersonic speeds. There were in a strict triangular formation. Each jet was an advanced version of an F-14 fighter jet named "The Hydra" packed with 50 caliber bullets and stinger missiles that packed a punch. It was a state-of the art soon-to be standard GUN air force jet fighter. The most resilient of its kind, it took everything the GUN artillery gave it and it still functioned properly. Unless it was shot down at an extremely close range or a barrage of machine guns came in its way, the Hydra would win any dog fight guaranteed.
The captain, Daz, was the most skilled of the squad. It was why he loved GUN so much, it was different from the world, GUN was a meritocracy; they rated people on how they performed not who played golf with the president. The squad weren't pushovers either, all ace pilots were doing a standard diagnostics on the plane by taking it for a ride or as they called it "Takin' the honey out for a walk."
"Command this is Hydra four-six Oh, the sky looks clear and the Hydra is functioning as expected, over" The Daz, the pilot of a zooming fighter jet spoke from his oxygen mask. The sky was clear with little clouds at the attitude of over 20,000 feet hanging just mere miles from the stratosphere.
"Copy, Hydra four-six oh this is Command, let us know when you're due for re-fuel then report back to base, over."
The static radio voice spoke as Daz nodded mentally and responded."Copy that command, over and out."
"Aww yeah! We are takin' this bitch out to ride!" Sergeant Mike spoke over the radio. Daz shook his head as he smirked a little. It was typical Mike, though a crack shot and one of the best of the squadron it was probably because he had a passion for the women and, if he didn't have a girl in the flesh, he'd either name his car, his jet or even his house, "Baby."
But there was also something Daz could never figure out; his sudden outbursts of reflective persona. When they were on the ground Mike would not stop talking about women, but in the air he was a whole different person. Mike saw the beauty of the sky, his lifelong dream of being an astronaut almost seemed like he could touch it with his very hands.
"Gimme the word commander, I'ma perform a 360 and show how it's done."
"Oh please, you're just gonna end up crashing." Lieutenant Bret teased the no-nonsense and head strong pilot that always thought of the situation in the manner where they'd always complete the mission. "Give us the word, let's get this over with." He said.
Daz looked around to measure the trajectory to make sure everything was safe to let them fly around as they pleased, he checked everything—and re-checked, a true perfectionist he was. He nodded to himself as he breathed a couple times to let him concentrate fully on the task at hand—recreation. "Alright Delta squad Four-Six Oh, disengage and break formation. Meet back at base at oh-three hundred." The captain spoke as the fighter jets behind him tilted left and right respectively and disappeared in the sky. Daz sighed, losing his oxygen mask as he took a nose dive—it was always exhilarating for him—as a pilot to do these kinds of things. It was like he was a beast and had to be let out from time to time to loosen up.
"Yo, Cap! Check this shit out! Look on your three o'clock!" Mike said out loud as Daz looked at his right and saw Mike perform a clean barrel roll as he took a nosedive and performed a revolution as well as rotation. "I call that a Double 360, baby!" he said out loud as Daz chuckled a bit and congratulated Mike. The sky rattled as Daz looked up on the transparent roof as he noticed thunder clouds coming in. It was odd; he didn't expect thunder to roll in at this time. Oh well, he thought, figuring it was a minor shower. It happened a lot, especially at this altitude. By the time they drop down to 10,000 feet the droplets would most likely evaporate. Daz shrugged as he contacted the team to wrap up their game and get back into formation. Suddenly, lightning flashed right next to his jet. Instinctively he jerked the jet to the left, and closing his eyes so that he wouldn't go blind.
Minutes later, he opened his eyes and saw his plane was in a free fall with the alarm beeping. He quickly turned on the backup switch as the power was instantly backed on. However, he felt something different like he wasn't in control. His screen turned black and the radar disappeared, the jet was working perfectly yet the electrical aspect was dead. Daz grimaced and tired to troubleshoot it and suddenly the plane jerked upward doing a 360 degree spin barely missing Mike's jet.
"Whoa, Captain what the hell?" Mike exclaimed.
"It wasn't me!" Daz said as he went into a nosedive, the gravity felt strong, as his nose began to bleed it was as if he was being crushed. The altimeter was dropping like crazy as it read 20,000 feet and dropped to 7,000 feet in several seconds. Daz frantically tried to regain control however he saw the ground. Dread washed over him as he closed his eyes preparing for the end. Suddenly, the jet jerked upwards-going straight towards Mike. What he saw next truly hit him harder than any other dogfight he'd ever been in—his weapons were engaged and pointed right at Mike. Daz instantly tried to abort and kept pressing it frantically. He even tried to press eject so that the plane would stop but nothing worked. He was truly helpless. Suddenly he looked to his left—as a missile launched toward Mike. Daz, realizing the situation screamed in his headset:
"OUT THE WAY MIKE!"
Mike quickly tiled left and turned left as he performed several twists and turns in order to shake off the missile. Mike took a straight nosedive, going as low as 1,000 feet and then taking his plane upwards in a curve. He felt some grazing—realizing he was dangerously close to the ground he turned on his afterburners and shot back up into the sky.
"Okay, let's see what you got." Mike mumbled as he pressed the super-sonic button and shot off into the stratosphere. The gravity crushed Mike and he felt he'd pop any second. Sweat soaked his face as he saw the blue sky getting darker and darker. He saw the stars—the constellations like he never did before. Even in this dangerous situation he was fixated—fixated on the beauty of outer space—they were like nymphs. Alluring and tempting but the journey towards them would only end in tragedy.
The jet kept on going as his after burners finally gave out and he was just riding his momentum. He looked at his radar and he saw the missile warning had disappeared. He took a great sigh of relief. He knew he'd have to eject but he needed to wait 'till he got in some safe distance to the ground. He waited for gravity to take its course. Soon the plane started falling—it was like a roller coaster. It went up and then shot down.
"CAPTAI—" Were the last words Daz heard as he saw the plummeting jet fall victim to the oldest trick in the book; waiting for the jet to fall and then shower them with missiles and bullets. He saw Mike's plane explode in a fiery ball and the kill was confirmed with the static in his headset. Daz shut his eyes, he swallowed up sadness. He couldn't live with such a thing. He didn't know what was happening.
"It's a hack." Bret calmly said in Daz's headset. Daz quickly held his headset, filed with hope as his eyes were watery.
"B...Bret? Bret…run! Get out of here now!" Daz said.
"And leave you with a hacked Hydra? You do realize how dangerous this plane is right? I leave, you go AWOL, and Hydra might end up in the wrong hands. They can mass produce it to a ridiculous amount to make our fleet miniscule. No. We end this now. I was hovering at a low altitude watching this. I recorded it, and sent it to base. They're running diagnostics. I'm sorry about Mike, but I can't reveal my position to you. Your plane will most likely try to look for me." Bret said, calmly explaining it to him. He was also filled with dread, sadness and anxiety but he kept it inside—he had to.
Daz nodded, he realized he was the captain and the best fighter pilot around. So he did what he'd never do. Daz punched the radar screen rendering it useless. He knew the hacker had the software but Daz had the hardware. Daz kept on making the jet immobile; trying to handicap it to ensure the Hacker would just give up.
"Captain Daz, this is Command." Base said extreme worry in their voice. "Listen…we couldn't find the hacker…we tried but this son of a bitch can't be found." There was a pause. "You understand what you must do?"
Daz nodded and swallowed his grief. Death in the battlefield. He always wanted to go that way. He pressed the "record" button in order to show command inside the jet whether they'd retrieve any clues. "I'm gonna stream this to you guys. Show it to Unholy Trinity…show it to Shadow." Daz said.
"Agreed." Command replied.
Instantly, the jet fighter, Hydra started shooting. Daz looked up to see Bret evading the machine gun. A disillusioned Daz spoke.
"How many more kills do you need to be promoted?"
"1." Bret replied.
"Well, it seems I'm attacking you. So, I just committed treason and I'm the enemy of the state."
"It'll be an honor blowing you to hell." Bret replied as he jerked his plane upwards as performed a clean loop—going right behind Daz and started shooting.
The Hydra instantly swerved around; doing plenty of flips to shake off Bret but Bret trailed him. He hit Hydra as Daz lost an after burner.
The computer screen in Daz's jet flashed warnings.
Suddenly, Daz's Hydra rotated its afterburners pointing them downwards in order for the plain to hover in mid air giving it instant maneuverability as it hovered in midair and turned around firing bullets of its own towards Bret who instantly jerked the plane to the right to evade the bullets. The Hydra was now on the chase.
The Hydra sprayed bullets at Bret who got hit several times on its wing. Bret clenched his jaw as he jerked upwards as Hydra followed him. Bret slowed down as Hydra got near him firing. Bret took several shots; he was already close enough, however, and he turned on his afterburners at just the right moment, burning Hydra's nose and rendering a lot of its operations useless. Bret launched into the stratosphere trying to escape and re-group.
Bret looked up as he saw blaring warnings on his screen. The sky got dark—a stinger missile was heading towards him. Bret grimaced, looked back at the missile as he dropped down setting out flares—it had no effect this one went after heartbeats. Bret went several thousand altitudes down as he flew through a dangerous mountain range trying to shake the stinger.
The stinger got close as Bret once again activated his after burners going extremely fast. He saw Hydra in front of him as his eyes widened. The Hydra fired as Bret tilted to the right. The Bullets hit the stinger and it exploded. Bret's wings suddenly came in contact with one of the mountains hitting it. The wing broke in two as Bret spun around—free falling. He looked saw a missile lock on him once more and in front of him he saw a mountain.
"Sorry Cap." Bret said in Daz's devastated ear as the missile hit Bret right when he crashed into the mountain.
Daz looked at the destroyed plane. A sense of defeat and helplessness washed over him. The screen made a noise as he looked at it. A sense of dread filled him, and a cold chill went up his spine as the screen read as the screen read:
"You all thought I was dead, giving up on life. You were wrong. This time no creature will stop me. This time it will be a war. Against Sonic, Against GUN, against the world. And this time, you will all fall. As far as you're concerned…you'll be the first casualty of this war."
Hydra titled on its left wing, turning a full 180 on the left to go through a small crack. The eject light flashed and the roof blew open and shattered as it hit the hard surface of the rock. Daz was also launched as he finally figured out who it was, but before it registered in his brain, before anything registered in his brain, before he could say goodbye to his teammates, his career, GUN, or his life. Before life could even flash right in front of him, his skull crushed against the rocks. In a split second of reflection Daz felt what death felt like. Nothingness.
PS: YES! The unvieling of a brand new sucessor of COTD! I know it took a while but slowly and steadily it will gain speed and momentum. Thank you to all who supported this story gave it its 100+ reviews. And to the new readers: Please, PLEASE stay. I promise, this will be one hell of a roller coaster ride!
