This is my first fanfic, so please leave comments so I can learn to write better:) criticism is welcome
I made up the city Cadivus because I didn't want to piss off any die hard Gears fans by getting the geography wrong if I chose an actual city in Sera. I hope everyone is okay with that.
I have an original character in this story, and when I was writing it I was trying my absolute hardest not to make her into a Mary Sue type, so if she is heading in that direction please tell me!
I don't own anything expect for my original character and original city, everything else belongs to Epic.
The armadillo came to a stop on the ashen road in the midst of the fallen city. The cold wind thrashed violently against the metal of the tank and disturbed the puddles on the ground from yesterdays rainfall. The door of the vehicle opened gently and four soldiers climbed out. Delta squad stood in the centre of what used to be the small city of Cadivus, a city that was near Anvegad. The once thriving area was silenced by the notorious hammer strikes and was now a ghost town. It was believed that there were no survivors of the strikes on Cadivus until days ago when Anvil Gate had picked up radio contact from someone in the area. Delta squad had been assisting Colonel Hoffman in Anvil Gate when the transmission from Cadivus came in. Hoffman ordered the squad to investigate the area in hopes of finding the person who had sent out transmission. Marcus Fenix, Dominic Santiago, Augustus Cole and Damon Baird departed for the forgotten city with hopes of finding survivors.
"Shit," said Cole as he eyed the ash remains of the once beautiful city. They had seen many cities before that had been reduced to dust after the strikes, but they never managed to adjust themselves to the tragic scenery. As they walked away from the centaur their footsteps echoed, disrupting the ghostly silence.
"Well, no survivors here, time to go," Baird said, looking around.
"We're not leaving until we find the source of the transmission," ordered Marcus before putting his finger to his ear, "Control this is Delta, we have reached the centre of Cadivus. We'll inform you if we find anything."
"Copy that Delta, watch your six. Control out."
The four men walked away from the armadillo and looked around the grey city. Each step they took echoed, making it impossible to be discreet. If any locust or lambent arrived, they would have to abandon the idea of hiding and engage the enemy. This was not a mission for the weak hearted, as no one could predict the outcome. No life forms of any sort has been spotted in this area for a long time, so the transmission they had received had shocked them all. The transmission had been nothing but static with the faint sound of a voice in the background that no one could understand. Back at control they debated whether it was worth investigating or not, and even considered the possibility that it was a trap set by locusts. It was eventually decided that the elite squad Delta Squad would have the burden of the mysterious mission.
Dom looked at the lifeless city and suggested, "Maybe we should split up?"
"Good idea. Cole, Baird, go search those buildings," Marcus said pointing toward the only buildings that weren't reduced to rubble, "Look for any signs of life. Me and Dom will cover the outside. Radio us if you find anything." The squad split up and Marcus and Dom walked slowly through the centre of the city, their fingers on the trigger of their lancers. They attempted to listen carefully, but the thrashing wind made it difficult.
"Marcus, do you actually think there are survivors here? I can't imagine even a locust surviving in a place like this."
"It wouldn't surprise me," the sergeant said in his grave voice. As he knelt down to observe some tracks on the ground, an ash statue caught Dom's attention. It was a man and a woman holding each other tightly, the man seemed to be protecting the woman. As he stared at the ash remains of the two people, he felt his jaw begin to ache.
He had been so lost in the ash faces of the two people, that he had jumped when he felt a hand on his shoulder, "Come on Dom," Marcus said a soft voice. Dom came back to reality and followed his friend to place he was kneeling.
"Did you find anything?"
Marcus stared at mark on the ground and said, "It's hard to tell. The wind has blown the ashes round so much I can't tell if it's a footprint of a human or locust. The only thing I do know is that it is fresh." A shiver went down Dom's back.
Both Marcus and Dom's head shot up the second the heard a noise. It was loud enough that the wind couldn't disguise it. Two lancers were raised in the direction of the Armadillo, who's door had been opened. Neither of them moved as the waited silently for something to exit the COG vehicle, the suspense was almost suffocating. Suddenly an small woman wearing layers of clothes emerged from the vehicle. She had short choppy black hair and a pale complexion. She looked sick and fragile, her hazel eyes full of fear as she saw the two gear staring back at her. Marcus looked at her hands and noticed she was holding the rations they had brought with them and a shot gun. They stared at each other for several seconds, before she darted off in the opposite direction light lightening.
"Hey! Come back!" Marcus yelled after the girl, but he was suddenly distracted by the the alarming sound of a familiar voice.
"BOOOOOOOOM!" yelled a Boomer as he happily shot a grenade toward the Armadillo. Upon contact, the dill exploded and the ground shook.
"Ahh fuck!" said Marcus as he began riddling the Boomer with bullets from his lancer. Cole and Baird had heard Marcus yelling and had come immediately to investigate. As they came to Marcus and Dom's side, a swarm grubs started firing their weapons at them. Delta ducked behind a slab of concrete that had fallen from a building and retaliated, firing their guns with intense fury. A ticker had crawled over to the men and was preparing to explode when Cole kicked it toward a group of grubs, killing three of them. Marcus had managed to take down the Boomer, only to discover that there were two of them.
Dom rolled away from the concrete slab and began running toward an unsuspecting grub, revving his chainsaw, and slicing it into two. The warm locust blood sprayed everywhere and Dom felt a sudden rush a adrenaline. He shot down two more grubs before he was knocked off his feet by a wretch. The wretch screamed in his face before biting his armour. As Dom grabbed his gun that had fallen out of his hands after the fall, the wretch was blown to pieces. Dom looked up and saw the same stranded woman that had stolen their rations, wielding a shotgun with a cold expression on her face. A sense of amazement washed over Dom as he realized she had come back to help finish off the locust. She looked him in the eyes, and then darted off again and firing the shot gun at oncoming hostiles. Dom watched in amazement at the skinny woman, firing with such accuracy and filled with rage. He grabbed his lancer and re joined the fight, staying fairly close to the woman.
Out of the corner of his eye, Dom saw a drone charging toward the woman with a retro lancer. Using all of his strength, he knocked the drone to the ground, but the woman still yelped in pain. The bayonet of the retro lancer had clipped the side of her ribcage, leaving her with a long, gash on her side. Dom took no mercy on the drone, and shot him multiple times in the face. Panting heavily, he looked up and was relieved to see that no more locust were surrounding them.
"Wooo! Now that's how Delta squad does it baby!" Cole cheered displaying his first smile since their arrival at the depressing graveyard of a city.
"Glad all it takes is blood and gore for you to be happy again Cole," Baird said patting his friend on the back.
Dom heard a groan and turned around to see that the stranded woman had collapsed. Rushing to her aid, he picked her up in his arms and brought her toward the rest of his squad who were staring at the wreckage that was once their armadillo.
Marcus raised his eyebrow upon seeing the girl in Dom's arms, before putting his finger to his ear and saying, "Control, This is Delta. Do you read?"
"Delta this is Hoffman, did you find the source of the transmission?"
"We think so, along with a shit load of grubs. The armadillo was destroyed by a Boomer and we need pickup," Marcus eyed the girl in Dom's arms and said, "We have also have a wounded stranded coming with us."
"Stand by Delta, King Raven on its way."