GEARS OF WAR:
BATTLESCARS
JUST A REMINDER...I DON'T OWN GoW OR ANYTHING ELSE BY EPIC GAMES...JUST A FANFIC. ENJOY.
Chapter One- Submergence Day
Marcus Fenix and his Delta Squad sunk Jacinto on that day. They flooded our Hollow and our glorious city of Nexus, killing legions of our race. They thought that they had ended the war with the Locust Horde. But they were wrong. Humanity's problem is that it never checks back on its seemingly laid to rest problems. But my children will return to the surface to take what is ours. The Humans think they have won. But the war has only just begun. Sera belongs to the Locust!
Hundreds of military helicopters were flying away from the newly sunken city of Jacinto, and in one helicopter, three Gears were resting after their ordeal. One bandanna-clad Gear put two fingers to his ear and began to speak.
"Cole! What's your status?" yelled Marcus Fenix. The roar of the King Ravens in the background made communication over the Tac/Com close to impossible. The giant carrier choppers soared high above the blue ocean, and the former inhabitants of Jacinto were making their way to the COG's fleet of naval ships, far from anywhere the Locust could sprout up from. From a nearby King Raven, the burly black Gear's voice boomed.
"What you think, fool? I'm in a damn helicopter over the ocean hangin' on for dear life! You know niggas don't swim!" replied Augustus "Cole Train" Cole. The former thrashball superstar looked uneasy as the helicopter banked to the left toward the shining sea.
The Puerto Rican Gear sitting next to Marcus looked up and said, "Didn't know you were afraid of water, Cole Train. Good thing you weren't there when Marcus and I fought that Leviathan in the Hollow. You would've shit yourself!" Dominic Santiago laughed.
Marcus thought back to the event that could have very easily killed them and chuckled to himself and said, "Yeah, and then he would've fucked up that Leviathan worse than we did…you know how people with phobias go berserk when they get cornered like that."
Damon Baird looked up from the Lancer assault rifle he was meticulously cleaning and shook his head. "Jackasses," he thought. Staring icily at the Cole Train, he said, "Quit prancing around like a biggity bitch and sit your ass down!"
Cole swiveled his head around to give Baird a dirty look. "That's fine, porcupine head…I'll do that right after I tell everybody just how sweet on Anya you've been lately." Baird showed a look of both shock and terror. Anya Stroud looked up from her notepad and gave Baird a quizzical look. The blonde Gear actually blushed and fell silent. "That's right, shut the hell up, motherfucker," Cole said triumphantly.
The old soldier sitting across from Marcus and Dom awoke from his slumber, looked around, and asked the pilot how much longer until they reached the drop zone.
"About 20 minutes more, Colonel," replied the Gear.
Victor Hoffman gave a sigh of relief. "It's finally over." Just then, a private call came into Marcus' Tac/Com.
"Marcus here."
"Hey, ya sumbitch! Reporting for duty, Sir! Thought I didn't make it, huh?" The southern drawl sounded familiar to Marcus, but he wasn't quite sure who it was.
"Dizzy…?"
"You're damn right, Sergeant, Sir!" answered Dizzy Wallin.
"Dizzy, where are you?" asked Marcus.
"On a beach about 50 miles northwest of the COG naval base. There's about 5 other Gears here, too. They say they're from Sigma Squad."
"Sigma?" Marcus breathed.
"Yeah, Sigma Squad. Somethin' wrong, Sir?"
"No, nothing. Colonel, permission to speak freely," said Marcus.
"Granted. What happened, soldier?" asked Colonel Hoffman.
"Dizzy Wallin just reported for duty, Sir. He says that he's rendezvoused with…ahem…Sigma Squad."
"SIGMA???" gasped Hoffman. "You've gotta be shittin' me! Those guys were supposed to be KIA on E-Day!"
"I know, Sir…" Marcus gasped.
"Hey man, wasn't your brother in Sigma?" asked Dom.
"Yeah…Colonel, permission to retrieve Dizzy and Sigma Squad."
"Permission granted, Fenix. Pilot, lock onto those coordinates and find those Gears! Anya, Baird, Cole: you're with us! Let's move out!" ordered the Colonel. The two King Ravens dipped and banked towards Dizzy's location, causing Cole loads of distress.
"Aw, SHIT!" exclaimed Cole.
"Baby," muttered Baird.
"Anya…" began Cole.
"Fuck you!" screamed Baird. Anya began to laugh.
"Too bad he doesn't already know I'm with Marcus…" Anya thought. "…but I think I'll let the poor man dream." She chuckled to herself. Several minutes later, the choppers landed at the drop zone established by Dizzy and Sigma. Marcus and the rest of Delta hopped out of the vehicles to meet with Sigma. These Gears weren't like all the other Gears, though. These Gears wore totally black armor reminiscent of General RAAM, but with red Crimson Omens on their chests. There was one with a helmet like Anthony Carmine, one with what appeared to be RAAM's serrated sword, one with spiked shoulder pads, one with a long blonde beard, and the last Gear shared a strong resemblance to Marcus, but with a flowing red scarf around his neck and lower half of his face, which had a long scar running down his left eye.
The Marcus look-alike stepped toward Delta Squad, and Marcus met him in the middle. "Well, well, little brother, we meet again."
"Dante…" Marcus growled. Dante Fenix tussled his younger brother's hair, to which Marcus reacted in a hostile manner.
"Step off, you son of a bitch!"
"Awful testy today, aren't we, brother?"
"Fuck you!"
"Do I need to give you another scar with my Lancer, Mark?"
"I could say the same to you, you dick." The two brothers began to laugh hysterically, much to everyone else's utter confusion. Delta Squad, who at that point in time was ready to open fire on the other side, stood at the ready. Cole said, "Hey man, what the fuck is goin' on here? Who are these guys?"
The helmet-headed Sigma member ran up to Cole and began to chatter rapidly. "Oh my God, it's Augustus Cole! Hey man, I'm a huge fan! Can I have your autograph? My kids would love to see it!"
"Umm…sure," said a very confused Cole Train. "Who's this bitch goin out to?"
"Jonathan Carmine," replied the Sigma Member.
Dom's eyes grew wide and he asked, "You wouldn't happen to be related to Anthony and Benjamin Carmine, would you?"
"Yeah, those are two of my four sons," said Carmine. "Why?"
"We served with both of them; and sir…they were killed in action."
"How'd they go?" asked Carmine.
"Tony got shot in the head by a sniper near Jacinto town hall, and Ben got shot in the chest during a firefight up in the mountains. He would've been alright but our KR got swallowed by that giant Riftworm and he got eaten alive. I'm sorry," reported Dom.
"Goddamned Locust…" growled Carmine. Suddenly, the blue eye lights in his helmet changed red. "I'll kill all those motherfuckers!" He yelled.
"We sunk Jacinto, asshole! The Locust are all dead," explained Baird.
"I don't like your attitude, son," said the bearded man. Now Baird's eyes grew wide.
"Dad…?"
"No, I'm your fuckin' mother. Who the hell do you think I am? Of course I'm your father! Craig Baird!"
"And now I know where he gets it from," Anya thought to herself.
"You're wrong, little Baird," said the sword-wielding Sigma.
"Who the hell are you?"
"They call me Reaper," replied the swordsman. "Craig, you better watch your son…his unruly nature may cause him to lose his head…like RAAM."
"Whoa whoa whoa…you guys fought RAAM? Marcus and I killed him when we sent the Lightmass Bomb into the Hollow," said Dom.
"Or so you think. What you fought was probably one of his clones. We got the real one. I personally sliced his head clean off…" Reaper mused about this as if it were a fond memory.
"Clones?"
"How else do you think the entire Locust Horde could function? Skorge isn't exactly a military leader…"
"How do you know about Skorge?" asked Baird.
"Oh we got him tied up in the corner."
"HUH? That crazy chainsaw staff fucker is tied up in the corner? Let me see him."
Reaper led Baird over to a nearby shrub. Meanwhile, Marcus and his brother were mock fighting each other while the Gear with spiked shoulders and Cole Train just kind of stood there. Cole got a good look at the dark-skinned Gear, and his eye grew to the size of frying pans.
"Spike? Is that you dawg?"
"Nigga, I was waitin' for you to recognize me!" The spiked Gear laughed.
"Spike Jackson, nigga god damn. It's been forever since I seen ya. I thought you said you'd never go commando. And when'd you join up with these turkeys?"
"Well you know what it is…the Chairman said he needed the best of the best for Sigma, so you know they picked me."
"Bullshit, nigga. Yeah, you were the best linebacker on our team and prolly in the league, but negro, please." said Cole.
"Bullshit? My dick. Hahaha" Spike laughed. "Naw, the only reason I joined up is cuz I'm lookin' for someone." He pulled a photo out of his pocket and showed it to his old teammate. Cole looked at the picture and immediately understood.
"Kaileigh…you know our officer in Control, Anya Stroud, can prolly find her for ya. But I can't guarantee you'll like what you find. Dom's wife Maria went missing, and…"
"And what? Spit it out, nigga!"
"The Locust tortured the shit out of her. And who knows what else. Dom had to put her down. She was so fucked up that she couldn't even recognize him."
Spike shuddered. "Let's hope that Kaileigh doesn't end up that way."
Anya and Hoffman walked into the midst of the congregation of Gears when Hoffman said, "What is this? A goddamn family reunion? Soldiers- FALL IN!"
Immediately eight Gears went into a single file line, saluting the Colonel. Hoffman counted the Gears, and noticed two missing. He looked around for a second and his eyes caught Baird and Reaper talking to…a Locust? He sprinted over to the scene to investigate. Reaper was slapping the thing around and Baird kept making strange growling noises.
"Son, what the HELL do you think you're doing?"
Baird quickly turned around and saluted the Colonel.
"This Locust is the Kantus leader, Skorge. I was interrogating him, Sir. The Locust aren't finished yet."
"You can communicate in their language, Son?"
"Sir, yes, Sir!"
"Hmm…bring this piece of shit with you. We're heading back to the naval base." Hoffman radioed for two more King Ravens to land at their drop zone, and then they began to wait. The Colonel walked toward the Fenix brothers, who started messing around again. Dante looked up into the Colonel's face and saw nothing but hatred. Hoffman opened his mouth to speak, then decided against it and kept walking. Anya walked over to the Fenix brothers in his place.
"So Anya…my brother here says the two of you are an item, huh?" inquired Dante. Anya's face flushed red, and she said, "Yes, that's true…"
"How did you know that…?" asked Marcus. "Because I sure as hell didn't tell you."
"How soon we do forget…" mused the elder Fenix brother. "Remember the accident we had while playing in Dad's lab as kids? Remember how I got my scar?"
Dante reached up and touched his scar. Marcus gave a look of confusion.
"You don't remember this because you were too young, but Dad used to use us as guinea pigs for some of his experiments. That's the first reason of why Mom left him. But anyway, one of the experiments was for a super-soldier serum. That's why you and I are so strong, so agile, and have slightly faster reaction times and higher pain thresholds than most people. But Dad wanted to know if he could improve even more upon the super-soldier serum. So he started work countless hours in his lab working to achieve a serum that would make us god-like…"
"Ok, cut to the chase Dante. You're pissing me off," said Marcus.
"Damn, just trying to add some atmosphere Mark. Chill. Ok so the day when we were playing in the lab, we knocked over some chemicals and I cut my face open on some glass. Whatever that chemical was, it caused me to have psychic abilities. The first was my personal favorite, mind reading. During the Pendulum Wars, I developed psychokinesis and the ability to cloak myself from sight with an invisible shield. That's why I'm in Sigma. We're an elite unit for stealth missions. And what's better than a Human with a mastery over psychokinesis to infiltrate the Hollow and retrieve a Locust Leader? You know we got Skorge over there in the bushes, right?"
"You guys caught Skorge?" gasped Marcus and Anya.
"I remember fighting him…that crazy fuck almost chainsawed me in half with that stupid staff thing," said Marcus.
"Yeah, he told us all about it. Said that he respects you for besting him in combat."
"You TALKED to him???"
"Well, not really…I read his mind. And luckily for me, thoughts don't have language barriers."
"Holy shit…you are THE shit!" Marcus hugged his older brother.
Two King Ravens landed down and the Colonel ordered all the troops to load up. Marcus Fenix looked out to the blue sky and for the first time in many years smiled. But his finally peaceful thoughts were suddenly interrupted when Dom shouted, "NEMACYST!!!"
That's all for now...chapter 2 coming soon!