Disclaimer: I don't own the Red vs. Blue IP nor any of the characters from the official show used here. Rooster Teeth and any other investing parties are the rightful owner to that. I however do own the story as well as any original characters in here.
For when Rooster Teeth releases the official Season 19, this fanfiction is not meant to be related to that in any shape or form. This is simply a sequel to my "Red vs Blue Season 18" fanfiction and the final entry to the "Cradle of Peace" trilogy.
Rated M for Mature as it contains language, and other mature content.
Prologue
The point in history at which we stand is full of promise and danger. The world will either move forward toward unity and widely shared prosperity - or it will move apart.
~ Franklin D. Roosevelt
On a cloudy morning, the streets were packed with the morning rush hour. Everyone hurried to get to work as fast as possible, and not a care in the world to stop and enjoy the fresh air around them. Society has raised its livestock well. A long line of workers went in and out from a transportation factory. Many checked in for their day shift, and few checked out from their night shift. Every worker carried a work bag, but one carried two abnormally large ones than the others. It was a curious and a suspicious sight. But the worker was known to have good standing with the company. There was no justified cause for concern in the eyes of the security. They allowed him through.
The worker greeted his co-workers and boss along the way with a cheery disposition, hoping to help brighten the days of others and in effect receive the satisfaction of being a positive impact. He stopped by the back of the factory and stored one bag behind lose metal plating. He walked some distance to the drop-off zone and talked his way into the loading and drop-off bay. "How are the kids Jim?"
"Same old, same old," one of the other workers replied with the shake of their head. The worker patted his co-worker on the back. "Hang in there, things will eventually improve. After all, everything has to change someday."
Jim gave a weak but agreeable look. "If only things went according to how you wanted them to in life."
"It won't be much of a surprise then would it?" the worker argued with a wide smirk. "Plus, those surprises are all a part of the fun."
"Says the guy who has yet to actually father some children," Jim stated crossing his arms. "Tell you what, raise some kids and then come back to me and say these things."
"Hey what can I say?" The worker shook his shoulder. "I just go with the flow."
"Then go with the flow and start helping instead of lugging that big bag around. Haven't you heard? They are prepping that special nuclear material for cargo transport today. We need all the hands to help that we can get."
"Hey, I'm assigned to the manufacturing department of the factory today," the worker answered stretching out his arms. "Sorry, but I can't help you today chief."
"And yet you are here because?"
"I thought to pay a visit to my bud," the worker joked tapping Jim's back. His friend finally smiled and nodded his head. "I see, well nice to see you to. But I have to get back to work now, else the boss will really chew me out this time."
"Right," the worker waved Jim away as he went to a secluded area and stored the bag out of sight, and out of mind. The rest is up to you guys. Here is hoping to your success.
On the road was a white van filled with individuals dressed neatly in delivery worker clothes. The man beside the driver turned to look at the crew in the back. "Everyone know the plan?"
"No need to worry boss, we got this one in the bag."
He turned to look at a quiet woman in the back right corner. "How about you, are you sure you will be okay?"
"I appreciate the concern, but you don't need to worry about me," she shot back in a matter-of-fact tone. She was not about to be babied by someone else, it never suited her. She tied back her black hair preparing herself for the operation. "I have done seven of these runs successfully already."
"I know it's just that yo-"
"I. Will. Be. Fine," she again answered finally silencing all those around her. He with defeat nodded his head and noticed the upcoming checkpoint. The van slowly pulled to a stop and a security guard walked up to the driver's side. As the driver retracted the window downwards, the guard looked at the scheduled vehicles. "You guys here for a drop-off?"
"That we are," the driver answered. The guard checked the inside of the van very briefly before granting them entry. Those in the back had made sure to act quickly in hiding their presence behind several dummy boxes. The van slowly pulled up to the garage door leading to the drop-off zone. The co-driver knocked the back of the van. "Get ready."
As soon as the van parked inside, the co-driver, their leader for the operation went to negotiate with the factory workers. This gave them time to exit the back and each carried a box for drop-off. One by one to avoid suspicion, they took any opportunity they could to access the secluded area where the bag was stored. One of them zipped it open and saw heaps of body armor and masks. They distributed the gear amongst themselves and took out lightweight weaponry. The leader looked at their tech expert and said. "The gear you need should be behind the factory, one person will go with you as planned."
The tech expert and an escort departed from the group rushing to the back of the factory building while avoiding the cameras and workers. The other group sat tight waiting for the tech expert to complete his task. Retrieving the second bag, he activated an add-on for his gear that allowed him to remotely hack any device as long as he placed a small access point on it. He went through the facility disabling various cameras and finally reached his destination. It was the master control for the various fire alarms and other security systems. "You are all good to go."
"Roger that," the leader confirmed motioning for the rest to move out. "Head for hanger bay D14. That's where they will be loading the nuclear material!"
Rushing through the halls with their weapons raised, they alerted every worker along the way into hysteria mode. They recited one line over and over again to do whatever they could for crowd control. "No one do anything stupid and you can all go home safe and sound tonight!"
The security guards pushed every button on their panel in the control room but to no success were the cameras able to come back online. The guards finally heard the panicked populace and decided to investigate. To their surprise came the invaders. They quickly drew their pistols and ordered for the invaders to stand down and surrender. The two sides opened fire waging war. But only the invaders came on top thanks to their superior training.
They all rushed to hanger D14 where their target stood in sight. Several security guards blocked their way with pistols raised. The leader looked to his comrades from left to right. "Remember, not one bullet should hit the pelican, we want to be able to fly the baby out of here in one piece."
The female warrior from the van scanned the inside of the pelican with her dark brown eyes. There was a large rectangular like metal box inside. There you are. She readied her gun and opened fire. The others followed suite and in this dance of bullets, blood splattered like spilled coffee on both sides. While the invaders had the superior training, the guards now had the numbers. But numbers dwindled and the tides of conflict continued to change. However, slowly the invaders managed to work their way up towards the ship, but with every step of advancement it seemed like they lost another valuable comrade.
The female warrior rushed inside the plane and quickly slashed the throats of those who stood in her way. As they struggled to keep their blood inside, she eyed them and shook her head. "You chose this. You people chose to protect when you could have run away with your lives in tact."
She bent down beside the box to study its status on a small interactive panel and radioed in. "Good, we have the package."
"You hear that guys?" One of the invaders exclaimed hoping to encourage his comrades and discourage the enemy from continuing the conflict. But before he could breath out another word, a sniper round went crushing the one side of his skull, splattering his brain and breaking out from the other side. He fell to the ground like a rag doll. The others traced the shot back to its origination and opened fire. The enemy sniper was down. The leader looked around in a panic at his numbers. They went down from a group of eight to three. "Shit, where is that backup?"
Another one was down and only two remained now. The female warrior hid behind the metal box knowing that they won't dare strike it. She stuck her head out and aimed the weapon, with extreme precision she gunned down her enemy. Only one soldier remained as the rest quickly began to retreat. From the front gates entered a hunch backed frail framed man who looked at the panicked populace around him. All of them pushed past one another to leave the factory grounds. The man smirked in joy. This panic, this discord was exactly the type of chaos he imagined. He brushed his dark grey shoulder length hair behind him and stared at the small open pathway with his black eyes. Behind him were several other soldiers all wearing the same gear as the invaders, slowly they all pushed through the crowd.
In the hanger, their backup finally arrived to find everyone dead. There was only one person who remained alive, the female warrior. She stood up to remove her mask and threw it to the side. "That could have gone far better."
"Aria," the hunch backed man noted in a very cold and emotionless tone as he looked at the bodies around them. She bent down by the leader and slowly closed his eyes. She held his hand thanking him and her other comrades for their sacrifice. "You could show a little more emotion Adrian. Especially show some sympathy for the sacrifice of our brave soldiers."
Adrian stared at his other comrades who let their heads fall low in respect and prayed for their safe journey to whatever lay in the afterlife if anything. He scoffed at her suggestion. "It seems there is already enough sympathy to go around as it is. No need to add anymore than necessary. I prefer to get things done rather than sit around and mourn."
Aria glared at him quickly shutting him down. She stood up and noticed one body squirming, as she neared she took note of the security guard uniform. He groaned in pain and turned to look at her. "You fucking thieves, you think you can get away with this?"
"We already have," Adrian walked close and stared him down. Aria bent down beside the dying guard and waved her pistol around. "There is nothing that can stop us. If a whole factory of armed guards could not stand in our way, what makes you think something else will?"
"The law won't forgive…"
"The law can eat shit and go to hell," Aria answered with anger in her voice. "If the law was actually serious, we would have been downed a long time ago. They are nothing but an organization of corruption and lazy slobs."
Adrian looked at his other comrades creating a safe perimeter around the pelican. "We need to go."
Aria stood up and aimed her pistol. He held up his hands to beg for his life, claiming he has a family. That he does not wish to die. But such cries affect her not. With the pull of the trigger, she put an end to his existence. Aria ordered for one of the soldier to get rid of the bodies from the pelican as she went to the pilot seat. Adrian followed after. "You do know how to fly this right?"
"Sure," she answered with some hesitance. "I mean, Creed taught me, at least in the simulator."
"That was years ago."
"I'm sure it will come back to me, it's like riding a bicycle right?" she smirked. "Strap in tight."
"Oh dear," Adrian whispered as he swung down seat restraint. The others got on board and Aria started up the launch procedure. She stretched her neck to the side and looked through the glass windows. "Here we go."
The pelican slowly took off and hovered forward. Out of the building's reach, the plane started to rise up into the air and propelled forward. As the plane was stabilized, Aria hit a few buttons to put it on auto-pilot for the time being. She looked back in the seating area where the metal box resided and with a satisfied grin, she turned back to the skies. They made a clean get away.
A/N: Welcome back old readers and welcome new readers! :)
So we are off to a start with a bang for the final entry now aren't we?
I hope you are looking forward to this one as it will take the things set up in Seasons 17 and 18 and resolve them while introducing some new things along the way. Updates for this story will happen whenever a chapter is written, edited and finished. I don't have a set schedule and I may take an announced break out of the blue as well at times just to ensure the passion for the story stays alive.
You may also see recommendations for music to help set the atmosphere when you read. This just means that I listened to that piece of music quite a lot while writing certain scenes or sequences. Some of them can be found on YouTube, while others may be found on sites like "Free Music Archive", location will always be specified. Having said that, we will have our first one here called "Crashing This Plane" by Hans Zimmer from The Dark Knight Rises. It can be found on YouTube. Start the song from when the van of delivery "workers" is introduced. The idea here is to have you pace out the scenes of the writing out accordingly and make it a cinematic experience as you imagine the scenes play out like a movie or machinima with the background music in effect.
As a means of feedback, I will also tend to ask questions at the end even if very general. So, what did you think about the prologue?
Was it something that gets you interested and curious to see where the story goes from this beginning?
Constructive criticism is always welcomed!
Looking forward to having you stick around! :)
~ Monty