-- Megaman X - Evolution --
-- Part 4 --
"MORTAR!"
Only a faint whistle could be heard amongst the gunfire before the object exploded in the middle of the city. Commander Godwin heard it before any of the others, freezing in place. Coming to his senses in a split second, he threw himself to the ground to avoid the blast, as he yelled out the warning cry.
Some of the troops shot down immediately; The others turned to him in confusion, and in that split second, the shell hit the dirt in front of them, causing a blizzard of shrapnel to rip through their bodies. The secondary explosions harmlessly bounced away and detonated on the ground around them.
Godwin looked to his fallen crew, counting the number of casualties caused by the explosion.
5 dead, 11 lucky...
"Time to move, marines!" He yelled, "Vega, Gomez, lead the way up to the gate. We'll be using the surrounding the area for cover fire."
He smiled, almost dastardly, "Boys, the word to day is Urban Warfare. Keep your head down, or you'll be leaving without it. MOVE!"
Vega moved towards the main gate entrance first, ducking behind a fallen pillar to provide cover fire. Gomez moved in right behind him, moving to the opposite side of the pillar, and took his position, motioning for Vega to move forward. Vega rushed in beside Gomez and began to progress towards the gate. He looked up as an enemy troop vessel passed by overhead with an escort. Godwin immediately turned on his radio, opening a channel to the incoming support they had requested.
"Come in Delta, this is Commander Godwin," He said, moving up behind Gomez as they approached the gate, "What's your 20, over,"
"We hear you, Charlie," Came the response, "ETA 30 minutes. Hope the LZ is clear by then, over,"
"Roger that, Delta," Godwin said, "We'll clear 'em out by then. Over and out."
Commander Godwin closed the channel, then looked beyond the gate and into the manufacturing plant. The Ghazarkhan had set up a base camp somewhere inside, hence explaining the number of guards on the outside. A couple dozen guards in the main courtyard, more inside for sure.
Well, only one thing left to do.
"Gomez, Vega, we need to blow the gate. We'll cover you from here while you move up. MOVE!"
One of the guards inside the gate heard Godwin cry out, and immediately began yelling at his comrades. They in turn looked towards the gate and began to scatter to defensive position. Godwin looked over at his crew and motioned for them to throw grenades. Simultaneously they all threw them beyond the gate and ducked behind their cover, preparing their weapons. The grenades in question were a little bit more beefy than an average grenade, but they were 20x more volatile than the average grenade as well.
3...2...1...
As the explosions tore up the ground and some troops, dust swirled around the entire complex as both sides seemed to stand still for a few seconds. Then the Ghazarkhan opened fire beyond the gate, and that was the cue. The dust had created a permeable wall between both forces, but Godwins team had the upper hand. He waved his hand at Gomez and Vega, and they both backed up from the gate as it blew completely off it's hinges. Thrown off guard by the volley of grenades, the enemy took cover positions.
"GO!" He cried out, motioning for his troops to follow as they rushed the gate. Vega and Gomez came in first, quickly dispersing of the immediate force and pushing them back.
Gomez heard a cry from above him, and as he looked up an enemy sniper fell from a tower right beside him.
"Got one, there's 2 more that I see..." Came the voice of their sniper, Cybil, "One close to you in the tower, Vega, the other pretty far back on the side of the building perched between the smoke stacks."
"Take em out, Cybil, we haven't got all day," Vega cried out, ducking to avoid one of their shots. He jumped up to shoot the one in the tower, but his corpse was already falling to the ground. Suddenly a shot ripped through his arm and he ducked behind the crate.
"Damnit, Cybil, made me go and get shot!" He yelled out, somewhat sarcastically. Taking a second to recouperate, he slowly looked for the shooter, but ducked again as fire came pouring out in his direction.
3's a crowd, boys, sorry.
Firing blindly first, he jumped out and picked them all off one by one. Meanwhile, Gomez had cleared out the right hand side of the courtyard, noticing the final sniper falling from the smokestacks. A smile on his face, he yelled in triumph as he wildly went about removing the rest of the troops from his sight.
As Godwin finally approached the gate, he noticed that Gomez and Vega were still taking out the majority of the enemy troops inside.
"Form a line where the gate used to be!" He screamed, "Shields up, weapons hot!"
Rushing the gate, his men quickly planted small beacons into the dirt to form an energy field to protect them. Planting the last one, Godwin pressed the activation trigger and the force field came alive, energy soaring from one beacon into another until it was complete. Now they could focus more of their fire into the remaining troops inside the courtyard.
A few minutes later, Cybil came on the radio, "Commander, that troop ship is coming back. Looks like the party isn't over yet."
"The only way to overcome this is to stick to the original plan," He said, "We need to clear out the inside and use it's defenses to our advantage. We've got our security passes thanks to Signas, so it's time we move inside and activate the security system."
Godwin began moving in first, not sure if another platoon would rush them as they came into the main door. He opened the door slowly, Gomez and Vega rushing in first and ducking behind some cover to take point. Godwin and the rest of his men moved into the lobby next, securing it. He walked over to the security desk, looking at the security camera's display.
Empty. Every single one showed no movement whatsoever. That was very strange, unless the men at the gate were a decoy...
"Sir, the lobby's clear, where do we go from here?" Gomez asked, kinda surprised.
"Take Vega and get to the security room and reset the security codes to ours. The rest of you make sure the complex is intact and empty." Gomez and Vega moved out while the rest of the men went in different directions. Just as they did so, Cybil ran through the door, gasping for air.
"We got company," She said, moving away from the door, "Cruiser just dropped off a small company carrying something outside the building walls...Wouldn't be a bomb, would it Commander?"
Godwin looked outside. The small enemy compliment was standing in a circle around the box, heads to the sky. They seemed to be mumbling something, then in unison they extended their right arms in front of them over the box.
"Wierd..." Godwin said, Cybil looking over his shoulder. Then Godwin noticed something in each of their hands, but as he did they pressed a button on the devices they were carrying and they all exploded at the same time, soaking the ground around them in blood and body parts. Cybil turned her head in disgust, but Godwin noticed one of them had not pressed the button. He stood there shaking, wanting to press the button but could not.
"Cybil, cover me, I'm going over there," He said, interest in his eyes.
"Uh...Are you sure that's a good idea, commander?" Cybil said in disbelief, "What if he blows you up with him?"
"You're a good sniper, Cybil...Just make sure his thumb doesn't twitch too much in the wrong direction,"
Godwin began to walk towards the man, no fear in his heart. The Acolyte saw him, and continued gasping for air in panic. Godwin finally approached him, and looked straight into his eyes.
"What is your name, Acolyte?" He said, his gaze linked to the enemy before him. The Acolyte made no effort to reply, but seemed to relax as intrigue began to pick at the corner of his mind.
"I'm Godwin, Commander of Charlie Squadron. This city is ours, and we're going to keep it in our name. But you do not have to die here today, my friend. You can stay here, and wait for my sniper to shoot you, or you can tell me whats in this box,"
He kicked the box as he said so, and the Acolyte screamed at him and lunged with blinding speed, tackling Godwin to the ground. His strength outmatched by the Acolyte, the commander found it all he could do to try and pry the hands from around his neck.
"Commander, you're going to have to try and get him standing, I can't get a clear shot with you behind that rubble there," Cybil said over the comm.
Godwin made one last ditch effort and thrust his legs into the Acolytes chest. The Acolyte flew into the air, pulling out a blade from it's sheath, but it was dead from Cybil's sniper shot before it even touched the ground again. The commander got up, dusting himself off. Walking towards the box, Vega came on the comm before he could get a good look.
"Commander, the facility is secure," Vega said, "We have negative contacts on screen, and we have a large number of human prisoners here unharmed,"
"Copy that, Vega," Godwin replied, "Get the rest of the squadron together and come outside the complex to move this package inside."
"Uh, what?"
"Just do it, Vega!"
"Yes sir! Vega out."
Godwin looked over at the mysterious Ark. It was very ornately done, made of what seemed to be gold, with dozens of different patterns engraved on the sides and top. There was some text written on top, but he couldn't read their language so he ignored it.
"Kinda wierd that they just left this here for us," Cybil said, tilting her head to the side slightly in confusion, "I mean, it looks like it's worth quite a bit..."
Godwin said nothing. Just then, his platoon began double timing it towards their position. Godwin turned to greet them, and saluted them as they made a formation in front of him.
"Put me through to Alia in HQ," He said to his communications grunt, Elysia, "Mission accomplished,"
"Yes sir!" she said, unpacking her radio station from her backpack and establishing the connection between them and base. A few minutes later, she got up and moved to Godwin, handing him a wire to plug into his communicator.
"Channel is open, sir, fire away," She said, backing up slightly from him. She looked up to the sky and saw Delta finally on approach, setting down in the courtyard.
"HQ, HQ, this is Charlie, over," He said into the comm, watching Delta unload into the courtyard, "Mission Success, over. We have human survivors here. Come in, HQ, over."
Static came on the speaker for a couple of moments, then finally the response came.
"Charlie squadron, this is Alia, report," Alia's voice came over the comm.
"Commander Godwin here, Ma'am," He replied, "Mission success. We have a firm stronghold on the facility and request an additional platoon on the double to reinforce us, as well as a medic to tend to the human survivors."
"Roger that, Commander, expect them to be there in 3 hours," Alia said, "Prepare the humans to be transported. Alia out."
"Roger that, indeed" He said, unplugging the wire from his comm and handing it back to Elysia, "Keep the channel open, just in case, Elysia,"
He looked over at the mysterious ark again. Couldn't stay outside in the open, and there was supposedly a fairly advanced lab inside the complex...
"Alright guys, we need to move this inside and get out of sight," He said, looking them all over, "It's fairly heavy, but four men should be able to carry it. There are gripping bars on the sides, so grab a corner and get hustling. We'll be moving it to the lab on the 3rd floor."
Vega and Gomez moved forward and took 2 rookies, Jade and Dusty, to accompany them. They were brother and sister, and had joined the resistance force at the same time, their home destroyed in the first wave.
"On three, guys," Said Vega, grabbing his corner, "3...2...1..."
As they lifted it, however, the handles seemed to snap into a final resting position, and the lid began to hiss and smoke. Immediately they backed away, grabbing for their weapons. Godwin backed away, doing the same as the rest of his men. For a few moments, nothing happened. Godwin and his men held their ground, shifting uneasily by this development.
Finally the lid fell to the gound, and smoke billowed out of the mysterious box, flowing to the ground and vanishing instantly. Then, they saw something begin to rise out of it, and they all raised their weapons, but Godwin froze. He knew that face, it was unmistakable. He'd seen it in countless advanced training video's, and although the armor was different and he had no helmet on, the hair gave it all away, long and flowing to the ground with a golden radiance.
"Zero..." Godwin murmured in disbelief. Everyone had told him Zero died before the first strike, during Lazarus's operation, that his fighter had been destroyed, leaving no trace of him behind. His squad seemed to be thinking the same thing, slightly lowering their weapons.
For a while, Zero just hovered there, eyes closed, floating upright. For a while, nobody moved or spoke, as Delta began to take fascination with Zero as well, and began moving towards them. Suddenly, Zero opened his eyes, glowing red like fire. Godwin instinctively took a step back, and Zero began floating down to the ground in front of him. Delta stopped in their tracks, not sure what to do.
Zero looked around him, apparently in confusion. It made the commander very uneasy, putting a new grip on his blaster. He couldn't be doing what he had shown them in advanced training, was he? In the video's, Zero had taught them that once surrounded to immediately take note of your surroundings.
At that time, he was counting the number of enemies around him.
"Commander..." Vega said, not moving, "His eyes are glowing red. What do we do?"
Zero's gaze finally rested on Godwin, as if awaiting his response as well. There was now no mistaking what Zero's intentions were, and there was only one chance to save themselves. Zero began to reach behind his back, and Godwin remembered exactly what he kept there.
"FIRE!" He cried, but those were the only words he was able to speak before Zero began moving on to the next target and Godwin fell to the ground in 2 halves, smoking from the cauterizing heat of the Z-Saber.
The flight to Antarctica had been long, but Axl and Bass had been silently flying the transport for most of it. They still had a fair distance to go, but it was only a couple of hours further. Axl looked over at Bass, this mysterious bounty hunter who apparently had been hunting down mavericks for the Maverick Hunters for a long time before Axl had joined up, working secretly in shadow. But what intrigued Axl was the tattoo on Bass's arm, in the shape of a wolf.
"So whats the deal with the wolf tattoo?" He asked, looking back out at the horizon. Bass looked over at him, then nodded and did the same.
"An old friend of mine from a long time ago," Bass replied, suddenly seeming very emotional, "He was destroyed ages ago, but friendship never dies...I immortalized him on my arm to never forget what he did for me..."
He looked over at Axl, and Axl returned his gaze. When he looked into Bass's eyes, he could see whisps of purple energy flowing through Bass's iris, but Bass turned his head back to the horizon, but suddenly swerved to the left, letting out a surprised yelp. Axl turned just in time to see 3 fighter's narrowly passing over their ship. He could hear some surprised gasps and crashing from in the transport area behind them.
"What the hell was that?!" Alia cried through the door, slight anger in her voice.
"Fighters, Ma'am," Axl said, flipping a few switches on the dash, "Almost hit us dead on. Hold on, we're going to take evasive maneuvers as they come back around."
"These guys are crazier than I thought," Bass said, taking the vessel into a slight nose dive, "That was a kamikaze run meant to disable us."
Axl looked over at him, and saw somewhat of a grin on his face. Bass, glanced over at Axl, then back out the window, letting out a small chuff of laughter. Axl held on to his seat, then began to relax as Bass put them back into a normal flight path. But much to his dismay, he got up from his seat and began moving to the back of the ship.
"Try to deak them out, I'm going to see what I can do about neutralizing them," He said, opening the door, "Just don't make any sudden movements that will throw me off guard,"
"Are you nuts?!"Axl cried, taking control of the ship, "What do you plan on using to take them out?"
Bass patted his arm, now configured as a buster cannon, "This baby's had some modificatons done to it since I got it. I can take them all out, just keep an eye out for other ships."
With that, he walked out of the cabin. Alia watched as he moved to the back of the ship towards the rear loading hatch with a sneer on his face.
"What are you going to do?" She said, worriedly. She was gripping her crash webbing like there was no tomorrow, plenty scared for her safety.
"Watch me."
He opened the hatch and a gust of frigid air swept through the ship instantly. The 3 ships were gaining speed fast, and Bass could see that they were charging their weapons as they approached. Taking close aim, he began to power up his buster, and 5 seconds later released an energy wave that rocked the ship.
"HUAH!" He yelled out as the energy left his arm and made contact with the first fighter, causing it to explode and making the others bank away. Immediately they began to fire, and Bass ducked behind the wall beside the hatch to avoid being hit. He looked at Alia, knowing there was a chance she might get hit by a stray shot.
"Alia, go into the cabin and seal the door," He said, charging up his buster again, "I'll take care of them,"
Bass moved back in front of the hatch, firing off another shot and destroying the second fighter with a massive blast of energy. The third fighter began to back off, trying to get a clear shot at Bass. Alia wasted no time in undoing her crash webbing, and bolted into the cabin, almost falling as she gripped the seat. Axl closed the door, and gave her a hand up.
"Where's Bass?" He asked her, making another sluggish deak to the left.
"He's busy," She responded, getting into her seat. She immediately turned on the ships communicator and attempted to dial in the Antarctica base, "General Sting, this is Alia, please respond! I repeat, this is Alia, we are under fire and request some assitance-"
She was cut off by a knock on the door. Startled, she looked back at the door and opened it. Bass stood there, clutching his arm.
"They got me once, but I took them out," He said, not even phazed by what just happened, "Axl, continue on to the base. I could use Alia's help in patching this up,"
Alia looked at the communicator screen. Sting really was in trouble down here, she thought.
"Well, no response on the comm..." She said, sighing, "Keep an ear open just in case, Axl."
"Roger that, Ma'am," Axl said, and continued flying as Alia pulled out a small repairs kit and took Bass into the loading area behind them.