Marty Alencar took one last look at the dry landscape that was the UAC. The rocks surrounding him did not have anything to be looked upon though.
The mercenary recounted the events of the last few weeks.
He arrived at the top and saw crates of dynamite. He never predicted this outcome when he arrived here on a plane.
The mission to assassinate the Jackal was botched when he contracted malaria and soon he found himself in a hotel, with the the mentioned man standing above him.
That was also when the got caught in a crossfire between the two warring factions and shortly after passed out. Luckily one of the faction's lieutenants.
After that he went on a wild goose chase, trying to find the Jackal, but before he could get him he got betrayed by those fucks at the UFLL.
Soon he woke up to Jackal tending his wounds. They exchanged some word before the arms dealer left.
Then Nick Greaves came in and told him of the situation of the two factions, the UFLL gained ground while the APR got pushed to Bowa-Seko.
Once again some shit went down and Marty found himself working together with the Jackal, trying to end the civil war.
The Jackal sent him on a mission to get some diamonds and kill the two lieutenants that are still alive. After that was complete, Marty returned with the diamonds.
The Jackal then says that the diamonds are needed for bribing the guards, as that will allow the refugees to escape from the country. While one bribes the guards, the other will head to a canyon with a car battery and detonate it to stop the border guards from advancing on the refugees.
The one detonating the explosives will be killed in the blast since it will have to be manually triggered and the other one will put a bullet in their head when they bribe the guards.
Marty in the end chose the explosion rather than a bullet to the head. He only hoped the Jackal will uphold his end of the job.
And so he now stood here. On top of the canyon reminiscing about the past. The roaring of vehicle engines shook him out of it and he went to the dynamite.
He readied himself for the explosion, but before he blew himself up he noticed something sparkling beneath his feet.
Shaking his head and taking one last breath, he activate the explosions and then everything went black.
Azure Copperfield was not having a good day. First his working pants rip, then he spills his coffee and now the old sheriff just got a distress call from the nearby woods. This, however, was weird.
Just last day he called for a huntsman team to kill some of the Grimm. They huntsmen soon came and exterminated the Grimm. The old quiet town that was his home, was never really attacked by a Grimm horde. The town was located relatively close to the city of Vale.
And now it seems a caravan was attacked while trying to resupply the town he protected. The sheriff just shook his head and went to gather some of the local militia. After gathering them he explained the situation while walking towards the town gates.
Soon the group walked out of the town and went to the distress call. When they arrived there they saw the caravan, along with some bodies.
"You four check the bodies, the rest of you with me, we're going to check the truck." The sheriff gave out the orders quickly.
The inside of it was completely empty and the contents gone. The closer inspection of the vehicle, intrigued the sheriff. Bullet holes? Well who ever came and attacked them surely wasn't a Grimm.
And the bots that protected the were sliced to pieces. Only a sharp blade and good swordsmanship could have done this.
He hoped there will be some good news soon
"Hey sheriff! We got a live one out here!" A voice outside exclaimed, one of younger members of the militia.
Ask and you shall receive.
The sheriff turned around walked out of the truck, outside he saw the four standing in a circle around a body.
He walked up to them and crouched down to inspect it.
It was a man by the looks. He had a bandana wrapped around his head and another one around his neck, he sported a black jacket with no sleeves, meaning his arms were exposed and on the left one were two tattoos, one was on his shoulder, it was an X with a P on the top. The second was was a word 'Morte' it says.
The sheriff had no idea what that meant. Moving onto other things, he saw the man was armed to the teeth, he counted at least six weapons.
The sheriff realized that he neglected the state of the man, he had light burns across his face and the exposed arms, thankfully there won't be any scaring. It was like something exploded in his face.
"Bring him back to the town and to the clinic. Tell Peter I sent you." He motioned for the one that called him here. The young man nodded and lifted the unknown man in a fireman's carry.
Azure sighed as he looked around him.
It's going to be sometime for them to clean up.
Marty groaned as he woke up from unconsciousness
Wait... he wasn't supposed to be alive. The dynamite should have blown him to atomic pieces. Yet here he was alive and breathing.
Marty looked around the room he was in. It was white and overall it looked like a typical hospital room. He looked to his left and saw an IV.
Looking around more, he saw on one of the tables, his clothes. Just as he was about to move, the door opened and in came an older man.
"Ah, it seems that you're awake! Good, good." The man rambled out "Now that you're up, I can ask you some questions. First of, how do you feel?"
Marty came to a quick decision to answer the doctor "Sore as hell."
The old man wrote something down and nodded to himself "Do you feel anything is wrong?"
Marty cocked an eyebrow at that question "...No."
"I see, I see." At that moment, a man came through the door. He was dressed in one of those sheriff costumes from the wild west. Where the fuck was he?
"Doctor can I have a word with the man?" The slightly older man rapidly nodded and went out of the room, while rambling something to himself. Now that was creepy.
"Now young man, can I ask you your name?" The cosplay sheriff was much slower in his talking.
"Marty Alencar." The man raised an eyebrow when he said his name.
"You're not named after a color?" What is this some sort of fantasy where everyone is named after a color?
"Why the hell would I need to be named after a color?"
"It's been tradition to name your child after a color ever since the great war. For example my name is Azure Copperfield."
Now this! This is getting really weird! There wasn't a great war in 80 years and as far as Marty remembered the neither the Allies nor the Soviets told the world to name the children after colors.
"So Azure can you tell me where I am?" Marty asked the question on his mind
"I'll answer your question as long as you answer mine. Deal?" Marty nodded at his proposal.
"You are currently in Oakvale, a town close to the city of Vale."
…...Where?
Now by no means was Marty an intellectual, but what he was good at was geography. He remembered almost every country on earth along with their capitals and some of their other cities.
"Which country is this city located in?"
The man looked at him curiously "Why the Kingdom of Vale, my boy."
Marty was face was one of uncertainty. There wasn't any kingdoms on Earth.
Before Marty could do anything else, the man asked a question himself
"Why were you with the caravan? Were you protecting or attacking it?"
"...Caravan? I don't remember any caravan."
The man looked surprised at this "Really? Do you remember anything else or anything at all?"
Marty took this question and used it to his advantage "I don't remember much honestly. All I remember is my name and some moments of my childhood. Nothing else." Amnesia was the story he will go for.
Azure nodded his head "Doctor! Get in the room."
"Yes, yes what is it." The doctor came back still writing something on his clipboard.
"I believe our guest here has amnesia." He stopped writing now.
"You did have a concussion. From all the reasons that one is the most probable."
"Well, when will I be free to go?"
"In four or five days, depends if you listen to my instructions." The doctor rambled out with high speed and soon after left the room.
"I should get going too. Wouldn't want my wife to be angry with me." Azure turned and went to the door, but stopped in front of it "Oh, do you need anything? If it's within my power, I'll bring to you tomorrow."
Marty considered the question for a second "Can you bring me some books, since I have amnesia and don't really remember everything, I'd like to read something about the world to get to know it again."
"Very well, I'll bring some books from the library." The man closed the door as he went out.
Marty turned his head to the only window in the room and saw something that caused him to freeze. A moon that was broken.
He knew Earth definitely didn't have a broken moon. Did he somehow end up on a different planet?
He figured that those books Azure will bring him tomorrow will answer the questions in his mind. Marty closed his eyes and slowly drifted into sleep.
Over the course of the next few days Marty learned a lot of new things.
First of all, the planet's name is Remnant, a stupid name in his opinion. Two there are two sentient species on this planet, humans and something called faunus. The book didn't describe what they looked like, only that they existed. For all he knew they could be some kind of blobs that you see in alien movies.
Three, there is a substance called Dust that fuels literally everything, from vehicles, to electricity, to weapons and nothing else is used. They had oil, coal, wood and other fossil fuels, but they didn't use them. Marty knew the risks of pollution that came with using them, but the planet would be more safe because of them, he will get to why later.
He read that the vehicles don't go faster than 125 km/h using dust, and their airships, bullheads, don't go faster than 500 km/h. If this was Earth everyone would be laughing at them.
The fastest recorded speed on Earth for a car was around 400 km/h and the fastest aircraft was around 3500 km/h if we're not counting the spaceships. Laughable really. They didn't realize a better source of fuel was sitting right beneath their feet and in their storage houses.
But he had to give them credit in the weapons department, while the bullets of their guns were once again weak compared to Earth's they could use the properties of Dust in them. For example you could freeze a man solid with a enough power. It's like a HEIAP round but better.
Now the fourth thing kinda got him on edge, Grimm, they were called. Supposedly they are creatures of the night and are attracted to negative emotions. It would sound like a bad novel if it wasn't real. They came in multiple forms from the werewolf lookalike to a two headed snake.
And then came the hunters or huntsmen, whatever they want to be called. They are basically the same as him, mercenaries, except they were put on a pedestal and worshiped like they were heroes. They had something called Aura, it was apparently a manifestation of one's soul. He called bullshit on that, if science couldn't prove it, how could they.
The huntsmen are taught in one of the four academies Beacon located here in Vale, Shade located in Vacuo, Haven located in Mistral or Atlas located in a kingdom of the same name.
Ah, yes the kingdoms. Why they called themselves kingdoms when they had a council, he will never know. Politics wasn't something that interested him so he skipped that part.
Now he was debating what to do with his life, he was somewhat tired of the mercenary life. He could get a normal job in the city, but what could he apply for. The only thing Marty would be good at was the army but since only Atlas has it, he wont because if the book is accurate the country or kingdom is highly militaristic, plus he also read that they despised mercenaries. There was another reason he wouldn't want to go there it's has to do with the cold climate. He always hated the cold.
Another thing to note, his malaria was gone. Just like that it disappeared somewhere. While it was a weird phenomenon, he gladly took it's disappearance.
Today was also the day he got released from the hospital. Marty was already dressed and waiting for Azure to arrive to get him and lead him to the armory so he can get his weapons back. In the short time he got to talk to him, the two quickly became friends. Marty also told him that his memory is slowly coming back, but not of the caravan.
"Oi, Marty!" The old sheriff called out to him as he came close to him. "I see you're already waiting. Well then let's go." The two talked on the way there and soon they arrived to a building that looked like a storage house.
"Here it is. Come in." They entered and Marty saw uniforms and weapons, likely of the militia. The two walked further in and Marty saw a locked metal locker.
"Here's the key. Get your weapons and when you're done meet me on the other side of the street, at the mechanic, I have something for you."
When the sheriff left the building, Marty turned to the locker and opened it up.
The first weapon he took out was the MGL-140 grenade launcher. This little guy can obliterate groups of enemies instantly. He strapped it on his back.
Moving on he took out his sniper rifle the AS50. This gun can shoot through almost everything. He strapped it on his back beside the GL.
The next weapons was an assault rifle the AK-47. Even if this gun wasn't really accurate it made up for it in power and reliability. The gun was strapped at his right hip.
The fourth weapon was a Makarov 6P9 with a suppressor. He had this weapon for backup if his other weapons ran dry. He had it on his left thigh
The fifth one was his trusty machete. He couldn't even remember how many times this machete saved his life in the UAC. He put in in the place it belong to, his lower back.
The other weapons in the locker were his, but he didn't have them while he blew up. He could see how clean they were, they were practically shining. Now that he looked at his older weapons, they too were cleaned like he never used.
Well, no point in leaving them here.
He took out the next one, it was a M249 SAW, a light machine gun that he frequently used when the job was taking out a guard post. He found a discarded bag next to some crates and took it, they wouldn't need it.
The Desert Eagle that was the next weapon. One of the most powerful handguns on the planet, he strapped it to his right thigh.
The next one to be put in the bag was the AR-16. Marty didn't particularly like this gun, as it wasn't suited for close range combat and he didn't like the three-round-burst the gun was set in.
He took a look at the next two it was a MP5SD and an Uzi. He sighed as he threw it in the bag, why not.
Whoever gave him these guns was trying to say something, as the next thing he pulled out wasn't a weapon but a bag full of IEDs
Ah, why not! There's no kill like overkill.
He strapped the ammo bandolier that was with the guns, zipped up the bag of weapons and went outside. Those weapons are sure as hell heavy.
He arrived outside and went to the other side to the big garage that said The Mechanic. He entered to see Azure talking to a man in clothing fit for a mechanic.
"Ah, finally! Come here it's time for the surprise." The sheriff motioned him to get closer and he obliged "What is it?"
"Since I am a sheriff in this town I can't really go outside and explore Remnant as I used to and ever since the day I became a sheriff this beauty has been sitting here, gathering dust."
He gestured to the covered up car "Well, take it off." Marty pulled the white sheets covering the car and what stood there wasn't a normal vehicle. It was an armored car. It's color was black and it closely resembled a Humvee.
"It's yours now. I can't take it anywhere and nobody wanted to buy it since it runs on gasoline. I have some of it here, it's enough to take you to Vale three times over and when you run out of fuel you'll have to make a custom order for it since you can't get it normally."
Marty nodded in appreciation "Thanks. I'll put it to good use."
"I know you will." Azure then gave him the keys and patted him on the back "Bring her to the gates and I'll let you out of the town."
Marty sat in the car, depositing his bags on the passenger seat. He sighed in relief, he was glad they drove on the right side of the road not on the left. Why would anyone drive on the left side? Frankly it was ridiculous.
The engine barked as it came to life, the old car was definitely maintained by a professional since it ran so smoothly. Slowly he exited the garage and drove to the town gates.
Standing at the exit was Azure and a few militiamen that were guarding the walls "Well, I guess this is a goodbye, my boy. Before you go, here" The sheriff gave him some sort of device, scroll if he recalled correctly "It's one of the older military versions I had lying around but it'll do the job it was meant for."
"Once again, thank you."
"Don't think much of it. I did what I thought was right and helping you was the helped with my guilty consciousness."
"Well of you go then." The sheriff gave one last goodbye before walking inside the town with the gate closing after him.
The mercenary then stepped on the pedal and the car accelerated along the dirt road leading to Vale. The drive was quiet, so he took out his phone and set a random song.
It's gonna take a lot to drag me away from you
There's nothing that a hundred men or more could ever do
I bless the rains down in Africa
Marty smiled as he drove his car down the dirt road.
Well this was on my mind since last week and now i have finally written it.
Let's clear up a something first first.
He won't carry all those guns that i gave him so relax. I'm not making him into some kind of Deus Ex Machina that wields 4 guns at time. He will carry guns like he carries it in the game. So a total of three guns plus the machete and the backup Makarov.
I'm eating beans right now.