Unmei Force Solitary Legends: Steel Avenger
Chapter Demo: Vs. Sundowner
A/N: This will be the first of my preview of the unique arcs that will occur in Unmei Force Solitary Legends, the second volume of Unmei Force. Note, this is a preview that I was inspired to write, and so will or will not be altered in the actual story itself. Think of this chapter like a game demo in story form.
On the rooftops of the World Marshal HQ in Denver, Colorado...
Raiden was dashing across the rooftops of the facility, as Richard, Gus and Reisen were following after him. Richard was wearing a full-body light-weight exosuit, who was decorated with black and white strips on the sides of his torso, with his suit colour being a dark gold, with his hands covered by cybernetic gloves, and his feet protected by armoured boots, as a golden futuristic katana was resting on his side. Gus was in the same attire as Richard, with the exosuit on his body, but he was bare-handed, and his feet were merely worn with army boots. Reisen, who does not have her trademark rabbit ears, was clad in special ops team gear, with medkit and military utility sash on her waist, and a heavy assault rifle in her hands.
They soon dash onto the heli-pad, where it was raining heavily, and where they saw Sundowner, who has had his back turned against them, as he then faced them with a condescending smile.
"How's this, Jack?" Sundowned taunted, as he spread his arms out. "We can play up here without damaging the merchandise. And your friends are free to join in the fun as well."
"Merchandise you say..." Gus darkly replied with cold fury. "I won't forgive you, Sundowner. You are the worst type of scum, to use the innocence of children to mold your weapons of mass destruction. I will not let you and the other Desperados succeed in creating a world of eternal war."
"Well, kid, you haven't seen the bigger picture yet." Sundowner said. "To be honest, I kinda can't stand your type of preaching. It's just empty promises, while we can actually get something from our plans. Anyway, what happens in three hours then?"
"You..." Gus hissed.
"Heheheh... Don't matter. You're too late." Sundowner mocked them. "Even at Mach 2, you still wouldn't make it. And killing all of you is going to take some time: nice, slow and painful, just how I like it."
Suddenly, helis began to rise to the height of the helipad, as they aim their spotlights at the helipad, as the tinted-red metallic armor panels on his back immediately move in front of him, operated by mechanical motor joints connected to his body, before slotting themselves on his shoulders.
"Like I said, kids are cruel, Jack. And I'm very in touch with my inner child!" Sundowner cackled, as he pulled out his twin toothed scissors blades, before his mask immediately latched onto his mouth, as Raiden and Richard ready their weapons.
"Ayase, Alex. Take care of anyone who interferes.. Leave Sundowner to me and Raiden." Richard ordered his allies.
"Roger that." Reisen said, as she produces a anti-air homing rocket launcher, as she places it on her back with her assault rifle.
"I'll cover your back, Rei." Gus replied, as he pulled out his twin pistols, as he readies a stance to shoot down any covering soldiers on the hovering helis.
Richard and Raiden then ready their blades, as Raiden shifts into a samurai stance, while Richard whips his blade out to his side.
"You can be crueler than that, Jack." Sundowner said, before he then shifted his armor panels into a frontal barricade in front of him, before dashing at Raiden. "DIE!"
Raiden manages to catch the barrier, before he pries the top two panels away with his hands, rendering Sundowner vulnerable and the panels locked back in their original position on their shoulders, before Raiden slashed his katana down on Sundowner, only for the high-frequency blade to strike the metal, and cause a explosion that knocks Raiden back, as the armour was undented.
"What..!?" Raiden cried.
"Explosive armour! Both of you, keep your blades away from that shield." The Doktor shouted, stating the nature of the armour plates Sundowner is using. "Your body should analyse it for you, and show you where to attack so it does not detonate. If you can only hit the right spot with your blade, maybe you can drop his guard."
"Got that, Doktor." Richard said. "But there are only one of him and two of us. he can't protect himself properly if he only got enough armour plates for one full shield. If we flank him from either side, he will be forced to divert half of his plates to either of us. Sounds like a plan, Raiden?"
"Yeah. Let's do it." Raiden said, as he dashed forward, as Richard followed after him.
The two of them flanked Sundowner from the sides, as Sundowner was forced to split his armour plates into two half-shields, and defend himself on the spot. The two blade-wielders carefully slash at Sundowner so that they don't strike their blades against the armour plates, before Richard then concentrated to enter a pseudo-version of Zandatsu Mode, known as Focus Time, as time slowed around him, and manages to slash his swords through a miniscule gap between two armour plates. Instead of resulting in a explosion like when Raiden struck at the shield before, and caused the armour plates to split apart from the sheer vibration caused by the blade's velocity, as Sundowner grunts.
"Now!" Richard cried, as he reentered Focus Time, as he severed one of the topmost motor arms, which took out the armour plate that was attached to it, leaving Sundowner with one armour plate less.
"The fuck!?" Sundowner growled, before he then whirred his armour plates around in a arc to try and bludgeon the duo with them. "Not bad, Rei and Jack. Not bad at all."
He then shifted his armour panels to form a shield behind himself, as he began his attack, dashing at Raiden, with his blades out, lunging and dashing at him with a over-head swing of his blades, as Richard was forced to attack Sundowner from the side, which left him in the same amount of danger as Raiden did, as he was forced to block the bludgeoning strikes from the armour plates, and being cut to pieces by Sundowner's attacks.
"Beg for your life!" Sundowner yelled, as he slammed his blades down on Raiden, who managed to dead-lock his katana onto them, as they back away after a moment of struggling against each other.
While the duo were fighting Sundowner, several of the enemy helis approaching the helipad, as they fired their vulcans and missiles at Richard and Raiden, as they were forced to pull away from fighting Sundowner, as they sprinted around to evade the attacks. Reisen immediately proved herself useful, as she fired off homing anti-air missiles from her launcher that took out the helis, allowing the close-combat duo to continue their attack. However, this also got the attention of the other helis to her and Gus, as they fired upon them, forcing them to retreat from the helipad, while they fight the rest of the enemy forces.
"Sorry, Rei, got to bail!" Gus said. "I think you guys won't have anymore trouble, with the helis after us."
"It's fine. You're doing well, Alex." Richard replied, before he then turned to Sundowner, who was charging at him with his shield in front. "Motherfucking-!"
Richard managed to barely steady his body to catch Sundowner in his charge, as he was pushed onto the edge of the helipad, before he grinded Sundowner to a halt
"I wanna hear you scream, Rei. Scream in pain!" Sundowner sadistically exclaimed.
"Not a damn chance, baldy!" Richard retorted back, before then pried the shield open on the middle with his hands, causing the motor arms wielding the armoured panels to be exposed again. "Goddamn interrupt a chat with a friend, will you!? Fuck off!"
Richard then entered Focus Time, and cut off all but the middle two of the armour plates off Sundowner, before then planting a roundhouse kick that sent Sundowner back to the centre of the battlefield, before he then dashed forward and raised his blades, only to strike against the explosive armour plates at the last moment, causing him to be knocked flying from the reversal of velocity, causing him to skid across the slippery ground.
"I'm fucking invincible!" Sundowner laughed at Richard's failure, as the black-haired fighter managed to flip himself back onto his feet in a fluid motion.
"We'll see about that." Richard retorted back.
Raiden then attacked from a different angle, as he managed to attack Sundowner while he was getting up, before he dodged back to avoid another swing from Sundowner.
"Cry for mercy!" Sundowner roared, as he jumped into the air and slammed his blades down towards Raiden, who sidestepped away from the attack quickly enough, before he then uses Zandatsu Mode just when Sundowner merged the panels into a shield, and sliced the panels open, and cut away the motor arms supporting them, as Sundowner staggers back, as he seemed to be pressured by the loss of his defensive equipment.
"Not so tough without those shields of yours, huh!?" Richard roared, before he then drew his katana, and slashed Sundowner in a swift combo, before finishing off with a fist strike that disorients Sundowner, causing to limp backwards.
However, the moment of weakness was short-lived, as he immediately equipped the top-half of his mask, the visor, as it glowed eerily red, as he thrashed and shook while he roared at the heavens with rage. He then shifts his blades together, before he then used a device to clamp them together, turning them into the scissors they were.
"I'll split you in two!" Sundowner yelled with rage, before he charged at the duo, as he swung his scissored blades around, opening and shutting them in a attempt to cleave pieces off their bodies, as Raiden and Richard was forced to dodge rapidly to avoid his strikes.
Often, he would do a wide swing that would slice through a large area around himself with his blades, after detaching them for a follow-up strike, forcing them to either get higher or lower than the blade swing by sliding or jumping, as Richard and Raiden seem to be doing quite flawlessly against Sundowner, as they have already fully predicted his attack patterns, dodging them without much ease.
Suddenly, Sundowner jumped to one of the platforms that have the metallic poles with lights for guidance of the helicopters, as several Desperado cyborgs jumped from the remaining transport helis, in order to attack the partners. However, they were swiftly dispatched with a few dashes and blade strikes, as Raiden uses Zandatsu Mode to steal the electrolyte-filled spinal cords to replenish his energy and stamina, while Richard merely booted the diced enemies he cut within Focus Time.
"Ah, this looks useful!" Sundowner claimed, before he then detached the pole with a loud metallic shriek, and jumping back on the helipad. "Eat this!"
Sundowner then swung the pole like a bat in a clockwise manner, as Richard and Raiden were forced to use their blades to block the attack, as they were knocked side-to-side by the force of the repeated swings, before the pole broke after a few swings due to the strain caused by the metal hitting the much harder blades.
"Enough of this. I'm ending this." Richard said, before he then dashed at Sundowner, before activating his Overclock Drive, as his suit glowed much brighter, and his katana turned white from the attack, before he then slashed at Sundowner relentlessly, leaving little to no space between his attacks due to the heightened speed of his attacks, before he then slashed across Sundowner's chest, causing a hybird of blood and electrolyte to pour out of his chest, as he staggered back, shaking around disoriented.
"Son of a bitch... You... got me..." Sundowner wheezed, before he then tripped over the edge, falling towards the ground with his back facing it.
Raiden then placed his weapon to the side. "I guess that's the end of the bastard. I wonder if he will talk before he's going to die and shut down." Raiden commented.
"He may. Which makes it suspicious that he isn't saying anything yet..." Richard replied back, before he walked over to the edge, trying to see if Sundowner really fell, before one of the helicopters rose suddenly below him, causing Richard to suddenly jump shortly back, as Sundowner was hanging on the landing rails of the heli.
"Playtime's over, boys! Time to die!" Sundowner shouted, before he then threw his arm forward, commanding the heli to unload its missile payload onto the helipad, as Richard and Raiden immediately jump over the ledge with their own cries, as they were free-falling to the ground.
"Fuck! Any plans to get us out of this one, Raiden?" Richard asked frantically, as his voice was patched through comms to ensure the wind didn't garble his voice.
"Damnit... I don't see any..." Raiden cursed, before he then saw a lone bird-like flying drone, that was below them. "Hold still. I'll hack into the drone to get us back up."
"Hurry the fuck up if you are! Make sure I can grab it's gun or its wings!" Richard cried, before he then shifted his body up to try and momentarily slow down his fall, as the exo-suit spurted some air jets from the joints to assist with deceleration.
Raiden then attached himself to the window wall of the headquarters, before sprinting down it vertically, and then jumping off it to reach the drone, as he impaled the drone's control unit with his katana, as the penetration point threw up sparks, and the drone was wobbling in the air, before Raiden was able to get full control of it, before he then guided the drone down to Richard's level, as he grabbed the wings like a spread-out handlebar.
"About time!" Richard cried, before Raiden guided the drone through the building, breaking through the window, and flying up it, as he dodged falling debris and structural supports by minutely turning and twisting the bird drone out of the way, until they reached the top, where the room was still unbroken and in their way. "Let me!"
Richard then used what remained of his energy in Focus Mode, to take his katana in one hand, as he sliced a hole large enough for the two of them to pass through unharmed, as they flew through the helipad, as Raiden righted the course of the drone to Sundowner's heli.
"This is my stop! Go get him!" Richard said, as he let go of the drone, and dropped down on the unbroken part of the helipad.
The heli fired off its missile in a attempt to destroy the drone, only for Raiden to make it do a barrel-roll to let the missiles fly past it harmlessly, before he then used the katana to fling the drone towards the heli with high speed in its last moments on control, as Sundowner covered himself to try and protect himself.
"Christ!" He cried, before he was flung off the heli, towards the landing Raiden, and Richard, as Raiden first carved up Sundowner into many pieces, before Richard decapitated Sundowner's head from the mess that was formerly his body, as the pieces fall to the ground, and Sundowner's head rolled across the ground, before stopping upright.
Suddenly their comms buzzed, as they heard Sundowner's weak and fading voice.
"Attaboy, Jack, Rei..." Sundowner coughed through the comms.
"What happens in three hours!?" Raiden demanded.
"He'll... launch... Operation... Tecumseh..." Sundowner wheezed weakly.
"Who? The new Senator Armstrong?" Richard asked as well.
"I've already... said... too much..." Sundowner groaned, before his voice began to crack and echo. "I have a call to make..."
"Cut yourself shaving?" Jetstream Sam joked, intruding in the conversation with a chuckle.
"Heh heh. Asshole..." Sundowner wheezed with a strained laugh. "They're good... real good... You knew this would happen, didn't ya... Well, you'll get your wish... Up to you... Sammmmmmmm..."
Sundowner's voice trailed, as his body shut down, and he finally died, before another call to their comms came, this time from the Doktor.
"Raiden here. I've taken Marshal HQ." Raiden reported to the Doktor. "We're still fine."
"Ja, ja. I have just entered Denver airspace. I will be there soon." The Doktor impatiently responded back.
"Hurry. Things are about to hit the fan as it is, Doktor." Richard replied.
"Raiden... What Sundowner said..." Boris muttered.
"We know. Something as bad as this, far worse than 9-11... It would be a utter apocalypse to let happen..." Gus said, as he returned to the heli-pad with Reisen. "We're safe as well, Doktor, if you can still hear us. We will be making a safe return back without anyone in pursuit."
"He said something about being unable to get there even if we went Mach 2." Reisen added her opinion to the group. "By calculation, that would be more than 4500 km away. So it won't be located in American soil, or anywhere near North America in that matter."
"If it's going to spike demands for PMCs, it's gotta be a political hot-spot." Kevin chimed in. "A coup or civil war in a stable region wouldn't have a domino effect."
"And they want to draw in a superpower..." Raiden said. "Then... No..."
"What?" Boris asked. "What is it!?"
"We just figured out the plan. The president is going to be at Pakistan. Pakistan is within the range of Mach 2 at 3 hours from here." Richard explained. "If he is assassinated, it's a new war on terror, with renewed flames of conflict. Round 2, they would say. Boris, if you can, contact the military, anyone who could help us stop this."
"Official channels have been frozen since Mexico. Unofficial channels would take too long." Boris rebutted the order with a explanation.
"Besides, what's our proof? Who's going to believe us over World Marshal?" Kevin added his opinion.
"Then we don't have any other options. We will need to get there first." Reisen stated the only choice in the matter.
"Nevozmozhno! Impossible!" Boris rebuked, speaking in native Russian for the first half of his statement. "It is the other side of the planet! Even if we're in the world's fastest jet right now, it's not even close!"
"Hold up." Courtney said, as she entered the comms conversation. "It's not a jet we need. An RLV would make it there with time to spare."
"Hm... That's..." Kevin said.
"Mach 23, if we're talking one atmosphere." Courtney added. "17650 miles per hour."
"That would make Pakistan in under half an hour." Boris calculated the distance and the speed for the time.
"Right, then contact Solis." Raiden replied, before he then shut down the communications between the two teams.
"This isn't going to be a easy job, Raiden. I doubt that Desperado and the other forces responsible for all of this, will let us get a easy way to Solis." Richard clicked his tongue, as he sheathed his weapon, which was cleaned of Sundowner's blood by the falling rain. "But we can't give up when time is this scarce. Doktor said he's about to be here."
Raiden only remained silent, before a helicopter piloted by Doktor appeared, as the cargo hatch opened, allowing Raiden and the team to enter the heli, before it closed again.
"Cargo's all set to go, sir." One of the supporting crew of the heli reported back.
"Excellent. Commence takeoff in semi-auto mode." Doktor ordered the heli.
The heli then left the damaged HQ, as they took to the skies above Denver, flying towards Solis.