"A Mathematician makes plans to travel backwards in time through a wormhole to a parallel universe when he can't even make it to Mars with the fastest rocket on hand today."
-Bill Gaede.
Chapter 2: Intelligent Life, Broken Laws of Physics
Personal ID: Pvt. Miles "Manslaughter" Monroe
"Do you have any idea how much of a shitstorm you've gotten yourself into, son? Not only did you disobey orders, not once, but three times from your commanding officer, you've also almost flushed this entire operation down the shitter for bringing back an unknown from another dimension. An unknown who just so happens to be a goddamn kid of all things." Tiberius gestured towards the nearby room, where on the other side of a one-way window, at least a half a dozen doctors were scrambling all over their workstations performing various tests on the child who was still currently asleep on a hospital bed with an oxygen mask placed over her mouth along with an IV syringe injected into her left wrist. "Insubordination is one thing, Private. Bringing back an unknown variable from another dimension we know absolutely nothing about is another matter entirely. You're lucky you have an angel looking after you in the form of Sergeant Franklyn Roberts, or I swear by Christ on His golden throne that I would've court marshaled your ass back to the Stone Age!"
"Sir, I know that I fucked myself hard by not following orders and bringing the kid back with me, but that's all she is, Sir. A Fucking kid. She was literally on the verge of collapsing right in front of me in the middle of an icy tundra cold enough to rival Antarctica. I know that we weren't supposed to make any form of contact but I wasn't just going to leave her there to die. For God's sake, we're Marines, General! We're supposed to be protecting people, not leaving them to die!"
Monroe's heart felt like a jackhammer inside his chest as he came within an inch close of screaming at the General of the entire New American Military. He knew that his ass would, at best, be thrown into the shark pit but no matter what happened to him he would stand firm on his decision. Marines always protected those who couldn't stand up for themselves, no matter who they were or where they were from.
His already rapid heartbeat only seemed to increase further as the American General shot him a glare that could melt through stainless steel. Not once did he say a single word, only keeping his posture straight with his hands cupped behind them. It wasn't until Miles was almost to the point of hyperventilating did the General then choose to speak.
"Private, I know that we Marines have always held the mantle of being the protectors of the innocent; World War 2, the wars in the Middle East against the radical ISIS group back in the 2010's, along with the Water Wars have attested to that, but this is completely different. We're not dealing with religious radicals or private military contractors, we're dealing with intelligent life from other dimensions. For all we know, this child," he gestured back towards the unconscious girl, "could very well be some sort of alien or creature in disguise. Hell, even if she were fully human, did you ever consider the fact that somebody on the other side might be looking for her? Family, relatives, friends? For all we know they could be searching for her this very instant! We cannot keep her here!"
Monroe momentarily gulped in realization. He had been so busy trying to get the girl to safety that he wasn't aware that she might have family potentially looking for her. But the question is, why would she be all alone in the first place if she had a family? Maybe a runaway from home? Or an abandoned orphan perhaps? Whatever the case may be, one thing was for certain; the General was right. With all that was currently going on, there was no way they would be able to conduct operations and keep an eye on her at the same time.
He sighed in resignation before looking back at Tiberius. "Understood, General. I take full responsibility for this entire mess and will gladly except any form of punishment-"
"I wouldn't sell yourself so short just yet, Private." Both of the Marines were jostled out of their conversation by the appearance of Cameron Newborn, who stepped through a nearby door that went into the room which held the girl. The scientist made his way over towards the two before speaking. "You really should give Mr. Monroe more credit, General Tiberius. Not only were he and his squad the first humans of this Earth to make first contact with interdimensional humans, but he was also the one who was able to bring us back a hypothetical diamond in the rough as you could say."
"What the hell are you talking about, Newborn?" Tiberius narrowed his eyes.
Newborn gave them one of his unsettling smirks before making his way back towards the door. "Follow me and find out for yourselves."
His anxiety now all but gone, Monroe made his way into the operating room along with Tiberius. The nearby doctors and scientists simply glanced at them before returning to their duties. Newborn placed himself on the opposite side of the hospital bed while Tiberius and Monroe took the other.
Monroe's eyes softened considerably as he gazed at the small girl on the bed. Her tiny chest was rising and falling in a slow but steady pace, indicating that she was simply sleeping. His hand unconsciously found itself on her small forehead as brushed some loose strands of purple hair out of her eyes. He noticed how soft and smooth her pale skin was. It was almost like rubbing his finger against a baby. Despite being in the freezing snow not one hour ago, her skin had already returned to a healthy temperature along with surprisingly no signs of frostbite. Not even a hint of red or blue could be found on her skin, which was amazing to say the rest considering she must have been out there for quite a while.
A quick cough from Newborn brought Monroe out of his thoughts as he retracted his hand to his side. Newborn then went on to address the two men.
"Now then, Ms. Wilkins," he gestured to one of the nearby scientists, a slim yet pretty brunet wearing a standard issue lab coat. "Would you please give us a rundown of the patient's status?"
"Certainly, Mr. Newborn." The woman identified as Wilkins said before turning to a monitor placed on a nearby table. Her fingers raced through the keys as she spoke. "As you can see, the subject is at a perfect level of health, both physically and so far, mentally. We've given her some doses of vitamins and liquids for her mild malnutrition and dehydration. We've found no traces of frostbite or any other physical injuries on her body aside from the mild muscle strain in her legs, probably due to an overextended period of running. However, that should heal up within the week. We've also haven't been able to locate any diseases, harmful bacteria, or internal injuries. However what we did manage to find was…well extremely shocking to put it mildly."
Monroe and Tiberius stared at the scientist with uncertainty along with mild trepidation on Monroe's part. Just what had they found that was so much cause for concern?
Noticing the looks being sent her way, Wilkins cleared her throat before continuing. "While we were running our scans to locate any possible internal injuries, the scanners were able to locate large amounts of an unknown foreign energy running throughout the subject's entire body. We ran additional scans to make sure we weren't seeing things, but the results ended up being the same. Whatever kind of energy is inside of the subject's body is literally all over every part of her body; skin, blood, bones, organs, we were even able to find faint traces of it in her hair of all places. To be absolutely sure, we took a sample of the subject's blood and analyzed it for further study. We even made a comparison towards all of our know energy sources on Earth, but what we found was…was…" she signed in frustration before looking back towards the two. "I believe it would be better if you saw for yourself, General."
Tiberius and Monroe gave each other uncertain glances before walking towards the monitor. On the screen were two very detailed bar graphs standing side by side each other. The bar on the left side of the screen was green in color while the other was a blank white. Below each respective bar was a label. The green had the word 'Nuclear'labeled under it while the white had the word 'Unknown'. Though what was even stranger was the fact that the white bar was almost a half times bigger than the green bar.
Tiberius' eyes widened immensely. He knew what those graphs meant yet he couldn't' bring himself to comprehend it. Monroe, however, simply looked at the screen in confusion, not at all understanding what he was seeing.
"Um…I don't get it. What exactly am I looking at here?"
"Those graphs…" Tiberius said slowly. "Represent the strengths of all of our known energy sources."
"Correct." Wilkins said while nodding. "We typically use these as starting points for most of our experiments. Mostly to conclude whatever type of energy source works the best with any kind of machine. How do you think we managed to switch to nuclear energy all these years?" she quickly shook her head. "But that's not important, look here…" She point towards the green bar. "This bar represents the energy strength of our Nuclear energy, which is currently the strongest energy source on the planet. This bar right here…" she pointed towards the white. "Is the energy source we found inside of the girl."
Monroe eyes widened in understanding. "So you mean to tell us that-"
"That girl's body is entire powerhouse of energy that's almost twice as strong as nuclear energy." Wilkins finished with a grim nod. "We hardly believed it ourselves, but it's impossible to deny. Her body is overflowing with the stuff. I'm honestly amazed that a girl of her size can even handle half of the amount. With as much energy as she has right now, I'm pretty sure would be able to power an entire Phoenix-Class Starship by herself if she wanted to."
Tiberius and Monroe dropped their mouths in shock. An entire Phoenix-Class by herself? Those were one of the largest starships in the entire Coalition Fleet!
Thankfully Tiberius was able to quickly regain his posture, though there was a slight shake to his voice as he looked back towards the sleeping child. "So what you're trying to tell me is that this kid is basically a walking starship generator?"
Wilkins rubbed the back of her neck. "That's pretty much the gist of it, but yes."
Pinching the bridge of his nose, the general quickly looked away before taking a few deep breaths in order to calm the raging storm of swears that nearly erupted from his throat. Wilkins, along with some of the other nearby doctors, taking precautionary measures by quickly stepping back lest she was caught up in the general's inevitable fit of anger.
Monroe, however, ignored the general's inner struggle and instead found himself once again standing by Ultear's bedside. He absentmindedly stroked her little head with gentle fingers while looking at her with sullen eyes. She hadn't even been here for an hour and already they were finding more and more things wrong with her. The poor girl had just gotten out of a hellish blizzard and was now in a completely different world. And the worst part was that she didn't even know it.
His other hand unconsciously went up and took the one of the girl's smaller ones in a gentle grip. With him still in his armor, he might as well have been a giant compared to her tiny form.
"This isn't as bad as you're making it out to be, General." Newborn's voice brought Monroe at of his thoughts as he looked up to see the scientist staring at Tiberius, who was now glaring back at Newborn in barely restrained anger. "In fact," Newborn continued, all but ignoring the general's leer. "I don't think we could've asked for an even greater opportunity than the one Private Monroe has so willingly bestowed upon us."
"Not bad? Greater opportunity? We're not here to kidnap random kids from other dimensions for your sick little science experiments, Newborn! Our mission out there is simple excavation and retrieval of raw materials and resources for our planet! We don't have the time to get sidetracked by any unnecessary variables! Whatever it is you're thinking of doing, Newborn, I'm warning you, don't."
Newborn sighed in mild frustration as he attempted to placate the angered general. "Now, now, no need to get all hostile, Tiberius. I was merely offering up a temporary proposition as the excavation goes underway. While your soldiers are in the midst of gathering raw materials on the other side, my team and I will remain here and continue to study further on the anonymous energy flowing within the girl. If possible, I would very much like to see if we could possibly extract a sample of the energy; to see if we can't get a better inquiry by observing down to the atomic level."
Monroe didn't like where the scientist was going with this. In fact, he huddled over Ultear's unconscious form in a semi-protective manner while glaring at Newborn.
"She's just a kid, doc," he growled menacingly. "Frankly, I don't give a rat's ass what's on the inside of her. There's no way in hell you're gonna cut her open like some science fair toad just so you can see what makes her tic. Especially after I just saved her from freezing to death."
Newborn wasn't the least bit perturbed at the Private's threatening manner. "Collecting samples hardly requires the use of a full-scale operation, Private Monroe. A simple sample of her blood should be more than enough to suffice. And I can personally guarantee you, Private, that no more harm will come to her. I may be a bit odd at time but I'm in no way, shape, or form a monster. That I swear to you as the head scientist of the Uranian Technology and Research Corporation."
Monroe still didn't look convinced but relaxed his posture nonetheless. Though he still made sure to remain close by Ultear's bedside.
"Alright, that's enough out of you two." Tiberius' voice one again regained the two other men's attention as he clasped his hands behind his back. "We still have a lot of work to do and little time to do it. Private Monroe, return to your squad and await further orders. Don't ever let me catch wind of you disobeying direct order from your superior officer ever again, because I can promise you that I won't be so nice next time. Newborn, keep monitoring the girl's health and make sure that she's kept on tight watch in case she wakes up." The general then proceeded to walk out of the room, not waiting for any of the men to reply.
Newborn gave a single nod of acknowledgement before turning to address one of the nearby doctors. Monroe, however, gave the general a questioning look as he followed him out the door. "Tight watch, sir? But she's just a kid! What possible reason could we have to treat her like she's a threat?"
He almost wilted under the hard glare the general gave him. "There are a lot of reasons, Private. In fact, there are so many that I can't be bothered to list even half of them right now. We're already busy enough as it is with gathering resources in a separate dimension and an unknown loose end is the last thing that we need in this entire clusterfuck of an operation. You also heard what Newborn said. If that girl is harboring some kind of energy output enough to rival a starship reactor then there's no telling what else she might be capable of. We also won't know how she'll react when she finds out she's woken up in a completely different dimension surrounded by a bunch of people she doesn't know. If she ever wakes up that is. Point is; we know absolutely nothing about her and with all that's going on right now, the last thing we can afford is something we don't know." Tiberius let out a tired and aggravated sigh before looking back at Monroe. "I know you were just trying to do the right thing, son, but that choice in thinking may have damn well compromised this entire operation. All we can do now is keep moving forward and pray that this won't end up fucking us all over in the end."
Monroe said nothing, instead opting to stare down at the ground with a myriad of emotions swimming around in his head. It was true. He may as well have jeopardized the mission all because of an act of kindness but even though he did feel some shame at disobeying Roberts' orders, he didn't regret saving the girl's life. After all he was a soldier. A Marine. Saving people's lives was what he did, regardless of whether or not he was going against orders while doing it. He may have been a soldier but he was not some mindless pacification unit that blindly followed orders down to the letter without question. Even if he ended up getting himself thrown into federal prison for the rest of his life, it would all be worth it if it meant letting someone as young as Ultear live. It was why he became a marine in the first place. To save those who couldn't fight back. To aide those who couldn't stand for themselves.
A good soldier follows orders, yes.
But an even greater soldier followed his heart if it meant doing the right thing.
And he would gladly face court martial with a smile on his face if it meant letting kids like Ultear live just a bit longer.
Personal ID: Cpl. David "Corpse" Cormac
While the rest of us waited for Miles to return from the possible clusterfuck he had gotten himself into, I took the time to survey the surrounding area. The Marines, along with dozens of Newborn's eggheads, were taking great time and effort at constructing what would soon be our Forward Operating Base for the duration of our mission here. A little while after we and the other Recon teams had confirmed that the surrounding area had been clear of any signs of life (besides Miles' little child abduction act), General Tiberius had ordered a base perimeter to be constructed within 50 meters of the portal. Marines would cut down any obstructing trees before using flamethrowers to melt the snow. After that multiple tarps would be set up in order to cover the surrounding area from the falling snow. Thankfully some of Newman's eggheads just so happened to be experts in Meteorology and said that the weather should be clearing up soon. Thank God for that or else we would be having dozens of gallons of melted snow raining over our heads in a few hours.
"Think the General threw Monroe's dumb ass into a cell yet?" Teague's gruff came from nearby as he smoked through his second Cuban cigar. When he wasn't murdering the shit out of Alliance soldiers or being an ass to the rest of the squad, Jackson usually spent his time drowning himself in whiskey or rotting his teeth out in ash with the amount of cigars he smoked. Though he somehow always managed to keep his teeth crystal clean despite the amount of smoke he inhaled. "I mean, there's no way in hell he'd put a gun back in his hand after he just kidnapped someone's kid."
"He didn't kidnap the kid, dumbass," Whales' sharp voice cut him off. "Honestly, is all that smoke clouding up your nonexistent brain or are you just that retarded?"
"Piss off, Whales," Teague sneered as he took another drag of his cigar. "If I wanted any of your fuckin' useless opinions I'd ask for them."
"Well, then why don't you do us all a favor and shut your cock sucker up for once, you damn pussycat?"
Jackson shot to his feet and closed in on Jennifer, his cigar all but forgotten on the ground. "What the fuck did you say you goddamn-"
"Enough!" Sergeant Roberts bulldozed his way between my rabid squad mates. "I'm sick and fucking tired of having to play the goddamn nanny between you two stupid fucks! Now I want this shit squared away right-the-fuck now or I swear to Sweet and Sunny Jesus that I'll demote the both of you down back to PFC so fast you'll have whiplash for the rest of your pathetic lives! Do I make myself clear, you damn grunts?!"
Jennifer and Jackson still looked about ready to throw down right then and there but the red hot glare from the Sarge was enough to get them both to settle down and return to ignoring each other's existence.
A Devil's grin split my face as the Sarge came towards me. I huffed my chest. "And once again the day is saved, thanks to Sergeant Franklyn Roberts of the USCN." I said in the most dramatic voice I could muster.
"Stow it, Cormac." Roberts snapped his gaze toward me, his fierce glare still persistent on his face. "How 'bout you be a little fuckin' useful for once and make sure they don't try to kill each other again?"
"But that defeats the whole purpose, Sarge." I said in a mock whine. "If they're both dead then there won't be any need for you to waste your breath on them anymore. You can't yell at a corpse, after all."
"Eat a dick, Cormac!" Jackson yelled. I flipped him the bird for good measure before narrowly avoiding a wad of snow that was thrown my way by Jennifer.
I was about to respond with another witty comment just for the thrill of pissing Teague off further, though I knew doing so would more than likely make my nickname become reality, however I never got the chance to do so due to spotting the all too familiar armored figure of our wayward squad mate emerging from the portal.
"Well whattya fucking know!" Teague shouted in mock joy as Monroe made his way towards us. He hooked his arm around Miles' shoulders and gave him condescending a smirk. "So? Spill it, Monroe! Did Tiberius shitcan your dumbass out of the Corps or did he just demote you down to PFC for the rest of your military career?"
Miles quickly shoved Teague back with the butt of his rifle. Obviously his little dressing down from the General had been more extreme than we thought. "Fuck off, Teague. I'm not in the mood to deal with your bullshit right now."
Teague shrugged, obviously not caring about Miles' sour mood, before going off to lean on a nearby tree and lighting another cigar. "Ain't nobody's fault but your own, Monroe." He blew out a puff of smoke. "After all, you're the one who decided to bring that little shit back with you in the first place. This is an army in case your dumbass forgot, not child protective services."
"What the fuck was I supposed to do? Leave her out to die in the cold?" Miles exclaimed to Teague, clearly offended with his uncaring attitude. "For fuck's sake, she was only wearing a thin hospital gown! A couple minutes too late and she would have frozen to death! She's lucky the scrubs back in the lab didn't have to amputate her feet from walking barefoot in the snow for God knows how long!"
Though Teague, being the uncaring asshole that he always is, simply took another drag from his cigar. "Well aren't you just a sweetheart? Saving a kid from inevitable peril? How touching. And it's because of that soft attitude of yours that you almost got your ass handed to you on a silver platter by Tiberius. Now the eggheads have look after some little shit on top of finding out a way to get this planet's recourses from here back home. I definitely don't envy them right now." Another drag. "And what the fuck kind of kid has purple hair of all things?"
"One that obviously has parents who don't care enough." I said sarcastically. "Or, and here's the crazy part, one that might actually be from another universe!"
Yeah, I know that was bad, but the couple seconds of silence along with the five pairs of deadpan looks was well worth it.
"Go fuck yourself, Cormac." Teague said as he discarded he cigar onto the snowy ground.
"Buy me some quality dinner first then we'll talk, Teague."
His glare look as though it could've melted the snow. However, he didn't get the chance to retort as a synthesized voice suddenly spoke up.
"Slaughter Boy Squad." Nine Oh Four addressed us through his mouthpiece. "New orders received from HIGHCOM. Redon helmets for further instructions."
That got a surprised reaction from all of us, though it quickly wore off as we did as instructed and readjusted our ear pieces.
"Attention all active combat duty personnel in the surrounding area; this is Commander Quentin. As of a few minutes ago, one of our HORNET drones detected unusual activity about a click northeast of the base along with massive amounts of unknown energy signatures. I'm sure you all realize just how important the success of this mission; not just to the USCN but to the rest of the world, as well, so you can bet your asses that HIGHCOM isn't taking any chances here. Therefore I am assigning both Polar and Slaughter Boy squads to recon and secure the area. Backup platoons will be on standby in case shit hits the fan. Go find out whatever the fuck is happening over there and report back ASAP. Remain undetected and avoid any local inhabitants you might come across. Remember that we're here to do a job, not make friends. In the event that you are spotted, do not engage unless the locals are proven to be hostile and even then return fire only if fired upon and get out of sight as quickly as possible. Quentin out."
Well, there goes my twenty minutes of rest and relaxation.
"Alright, fuckers, you heard the Commander! Get your asses in gear and move out!" As always, Sarge had to get in one last dose of verbal abuse before a mission no matter how small it was.
"Fucking finally! Some actual goddamn action for once!" Sadly, as always, Teague just had to keep opening his mouth. He threw his burnt out cigar on the ground. "Was getting sick and fucking tired of just sittin' around on my ass all day!"
"Calm the fuck down, Kitty Cat." Gorrey piped up as he loaded his rifle. "Unlike you some of us actually enjoy sitting on our asses and doing nothing."
"Call me 'Kitty Cat' again and I'll put your lazy ass in a fuckin' wheelchair." Teague growled as he donned his facemask and helmet."
"It would be a hell of a lot better if you both would just shut the duck up for once." Quipped Whales as she cocked a bullet into the chamber of her sniper rifle.
"Tell me about it." Miles mumbled as he gave his pack one last inspection.
"Both of you can go fuck yourselves. Nobody asked for your fuckin' opinions."
"Corporal Teague, please desist all hostilities at once."
"Fuck off, Tin Man!"
"All of you shut the fuck up right-goddamn-now!"
As funny as this was, sometimes I wondered why I couldn't have gotten a bunch of normal squad mates.
It took us all about fifteen minutes to hoof it to the recon point.
The first thing we noticed was the wide expanse of somewhat modernized buildings.
The second thing we noticed was that it looked as though we were all back on Phobos.
To put it simpler terms: the entire place was a goddamn warzone. The streets were littered with destroyed concrete along with chunks of cobblestone, wood, and shards of glass that no doubt originated from the hundreds of nearby homes that were either missing a few pieces or only had a few pieces left. Fires consumed some of the buildings and swept through the nearby roads in their unforgiving blaze. The white and cloudy sky was filled to the brim with black smoke as snow was soon replaced with ash and soot.
In short: it was Hell. A hell that reminded us all too much of Mars' largest moon.
The only difference was that there were no corpses, much to all of our surprise and shock. As far as we could tell, the inhabitants had either abandoned or evacuated the entire town long before it had been attacked. Or maybe everyone really was dead and there was simply nothing left to bury, though that seemed highly unlikely given the fact that there were no bloodstains body parts to be found.
With our camouflage activated both my squad along with Polar's silently made our way through the maze of burning ruins, sticking to the walls and dark alleyways while taking great care to avoid any of the main roads. No telling what kind of enemy forces we might've encountered and for all we knew they were still here, watching and waiting to bait and ambush some unfortunate soul unlucky enough to wander through these burning ruins in search of survivors. Luckily our motions sensors hadn't detected any movement and our sound absorbent boots made practically impossible for any human to detect us. Breathing in the surrounding smoke also wasn't an issue thanks to the filters in our Vacu-masks. Thank God for nearly 22nd century technology.
We emerged from the alley in a tight diamond formation before quickly and quietly making our way across the nearby street. Sarge was taking point down the middle while I covered the right and Teague covered left with Miles and Whales coming up on our six. Following close behind were six other soldiers that made up Polar squad, also taking up similar positions as they checked their three and nine o'clock before making their way across a minute later, rifles up and sweeping the nearby house windows for any signs of life, local inhabitant or otherwise. We all regrouped inside another nearby alleyway before the twelve of us once again continued to sweep through and in between the ruined buildings. Like a well-oiled machine we repeated this process for what felt like an hour despite the fact that we had only been here for about twenty or so minutes. It was one of the things that I really hated about combat. A single minute could end up feeling about a hundred times as long and you could never really tell if time even existed anymore. You don't tend to keep track while trying to avoid an enemy that wants you dead.
Though as morbid as it was, there was one concept of war that had always fascinated me; the fact that it could tear down years' worth of work and progress in such a short amount of time. A city that took a century to build could be completely destroyed in a matter of hours or a population made up of thousands to even a million could be decimated well within a day. Funny how there were so few ways to save the world yet over a million ways to destroy it. Even funnier was the fact that Earth was well on her way to running out of resources, which inadvertently caused a year-long war that resulted in the deaths of over 200,000 people. Aren't humans such a marvelous species?
"Command, this is Slaughter Actual," I heard Roberts' voice over the comms. "We've arrived at what appears to be some sort of city that's been completely burned to the ground. Looks as though it was recently attacked. We're scouting out what's left over but have yet to encounter any hostile forces. Over."
"Command copies all, Slaughter Boy. Your orders remains as follows; recon the entire area and report back to base as soon as possible. If you encounter any hostile activity do not engage unless fired upon. Over."
Roger that, Command, we'll continue to scout out the rest of the area and fall back to the FOB as soon as-"
That was when we heard it.
If I had to describe the sound that was currently rolling over the entire city like an ocean wave, it would've been loud and monstrous, like the kind of sounds you hear when watching a Godzilla movie on full blast with surround sound speakers. In fact I would've assumed that it was, indeed, the king of monsters, himself, if not for the fact that the inhuman roaring we were hearing was lighter than one that came out of walking, 350 ft. lizard, though that didn't mean that it was any less terrifying.
"Slaughter Boy, Polar, come in. Over. What's happening over there?"
Roberts looked back and signaled Polar squad to move ahead and take point before moving back to his comms. "Command, be advised, we're currently hearing what appears to be a large, unidentified creature of some kind just a click away from our position. Might be the cause of what attacked the city. Over"
"Say again, Slaughter Actual, did you say an 'unidentified creature?' As in only one? Not just a heard of smaller animals?"
"Affirmative, Command. Whatever the hell it is, it's huge. Maybe around 50 or so feet. Should we go and investigate or fall back to base? Over."
There was about a minute of radio silence before the comms picked up again.
"Roger that, Slaughter Actual, you and Polar squad have new orders; locate and determine the threat assessment of the creature, though keep your distance and continue to remain out of sight. We're prepping and sending in a swarm of WASP drones to your location in case things go FUBAR. Stay safe out there, Slaughter Boy, Polar. The last thing we need is losing more men in some godforsaken planet. Over."
Slaughter boy all, Command. We'll get it done. Slaughter Boy out."
Roberts took his hand off his helmet before turning to address us. "You heard the man, ladies and gents, time to do what we're made for. Jenkins!" he said to what I assumed to be the man in charge of Polar squad. "Your squad will take point while the rest of us cover your asses from the rear. We're on a thin schedule so let's move it people!"
Like a well-oiled machine the rest of us got into our original positions before falling into a half-jog, half-sprint towards the epicenter of the creature's wrath. With all of this going on at once I couldn't help but feel like we were running towards the mouth of Hell, itself. The surrounding fire and destruction, along with the roar of what sounded like a demon just added to the hellish theme that this city was projecting. Hopefully we would somehow be able to deal with whatever the hell it was that was making all of those demonic noises but deep down I already knew that any effort on our part would be futile until the swarm of WASP drones showed up. None of us were that well equipped to be taking on an invading army much less some huge monster. The most we had were some grenades, Whales' anti-material rifle, and a small rocket launcher that one of the boys in Polar squad carried. Definitely not the kind of equipment you want to use when taking on Godzilla. Too bad we didn't have any way of getting tanks or aircraft through that portal until we had a solid foothold in this outlandish world, otherwise would be more than enough prepared to deal with whatever threat that came our way.
I was more than prepared to go down fighting if need be, however that didn't stop me from hoping to all hope that we wouldn't have to fight at all.
About a mile away from Slaughter Boy and Polar squad's position, near the epicenter of the city.
Ur was, for all intents and purposes, on her last leg. Quite literally if she might add. Not only because she had recently lost her leg which had to be replaced with a crutch made of ice, but also because she was on the verge of draining what was left of her magical reserves.
She swore that if she somehow survived this, she was going to beat the ever-loving shit out of her troublesome student for getting himself into this mess.
Though she knew long before that she wasn't going to be leaving here alive.
That wasn't to say that she was simply going to give up on her student and leave him to die to this monster. True he may have been as stubborn as a mule, dramatically impatient, and a colossal-sized pain in the ass, but he was still her beloved student no matter how much trouble he got himself into, and she would gladly give her life with a smile on her face if it meant preventing any more harm from befalling onto him. Lord knows he'd already suffered enough.
However, those thoughts still didn't stop her from silently cursing her student for his stubborn nature. She had tried to warn him, tell him that he was nowhere near the demon's level of strength and that he was surely going to get himself killed if he tried to fight it. But no matter what she said or did, he vehemently refused her in favor of going off by himself in his pointless search of vengeance. She understood his anger, she truly did. He had lost everything when the demon attacked his hometown and killed his parents, forcing him to become a lonely orphan left alone in a harsh and cruel world.
She, too, had lost everything after her daughter had died.
But that all had changed when she decided to take in her two students in order to train them in the art of Ice Magic. Though she had vehemently stated that she never once thought of them as replacements for her daughter, that still didn't stop her from thinking of them as her own. She took them in, gave them food to eat, and warm beds to sleep in. And despite their tendency to get into arguments with each other and questioning almost everything she taught them, she had never once regretted it for even a second.
And she was more than willing to give her life for theirs.
Her chest rose and fell with ragged breaths as the rest of her body ached with pain. She clutched her arm with gritted teeth while glaring at the towering demon no more than fifty feet in front of her. Despite her body begging for rest, she stood protectively in front her two students, who had both been knocked unconscious and were laying behind her in a pile of rubble. As far as she could tell, none of them seemed to have sustained serious injuries which gave her a small amount of relief for the time being. However, the fact that there was still a hundred foot demon in front of her without so much as a scratch on it replaced that relief with dread. She knew she wouldn't be able to get her students out of here safely without at least finding some way to restrain it, and even then there was a very slim chance of them getting out alive.
She supposed that if push came to shove, she would be forced to use that spell as a last resort. But she didn't want to take that chance unless there were absolutely no other options. She may have been weakened but she was far from out of the game.
Another loud roar ripped across the sky and sent shockwaves through the ground, nearly catching her off balance and deafening her but she continued to stand her ground. Not once was she willing to show this demon any sort of weakness or satisfaction. She continued to glare back at the demon as she brought both her hands back, one forming into a fist while the other formed an open palm. She took one last deep breath before shouting.
"Ice Make: Arrows!"
As soon as the words left her mouth did a large and white circle made of strangle glyphs suddenly appear out of thin air directly in front of her. About a second later a swarm of arrows made out of ice launched out of the circle and towards the demon at surprisingly high speeds. The demon growled, more out of annoyance than pain as the arrows made contact with its armor-like skin. No matter how many arrows were fired or how fast they traveled, it was an utterly futile attempt as they shattered on impact like glass. Ur aimed up a bit, trying to see if she could maybe blind the demon with her arrows but like with the rest of its body, the arrows only seemed to shatter, which in turn, only seemed to irritate the demon further.
Knowing that her arrows weren't doing any damage, Ur canceled her attack in favor of a different strategy. She brought her hands down, palms facing upward, before casting another spell and lifting her arms into the air.
"Ice Make: Stalagmites!"
As with the arrows, dozens of magic circles appeared on the ground in front of her, completely surrounding the demon before hundreds of large spikes made of ice suddenly shot out of the circles and into the air. The demon roared as its body became entrapped in a wall made of sharp ice that nearly reached the same height as its body was. Its arms were caught like a piece of fish between chopsticks while its legs were completely covered from foot to waist in a sinkhole of icicles.
Ur didn't stop there. Using what little bit of magic she had, she poured into her attack until every part of the demon's body was completely engulfed in ice. Knowing that she would have little time to escape, she quickly limped her way back towards her two unconscious students before gently picking them up. Luckily they were both light enough for her to carry over each shoulder. With her two students tightly secured in her arms, she used the remaining strength she had to limp as fast as she could in the opposite direction. Hopefully she would at least be able to make it out of sight just in in time before the demon broke out of its icy coffin.
Her ears suddenly perked up at what sounded like shattering glass in the distance but before she even had a chance to register what it was, a beam of pure white energy suddenly shot out of the iced statue behind her before it impacted the ground no more than ten feet beside her.
The last thing she saw was a blinding white flash followed by an explosion that launched her into the air with the force of a cannon. All that was left was darkness.
Ten minutes earlier.
You know? I'm beginning to think that the air on this planet might be fucking up my mental health, because there is no way in holy hell that what I'm seeing in front of me is real.
We had all spent the last fifteen or so minutes running like hell towards the source of the ungodly noise that had nearly deafened us. Even though it sounded like some big ass Godzilla monster, I was hoping for the life of me that it wouldn't be the case. On top of trying to secure this planet's resources and Miles going against orders rescuing some kid, the absolutely last thing we needed was some giant fucking lizard going all apeshit on us when we didn't even the necessary equipment to deal with such a thing. And we sure as hell couldn't just abandon the planet either, considering the fact that Newborn, along with the Uranian Technology Corp. had apparently already spent millions on this project. Not only that, but this whole thing just might be humanities last resort at gaining new and valuable resources. Not like we were equipped to start terraforming distant worlds or anything along the line.
But there had to be a line somewhere between going on a quest for resources and sending more soldiers to die on some suicide mission that they knew little to nothing about. Christ knows we don't need another Water War anytime soon.
However, what we saw didn't even come close to what we were all expecting. At least, not entirely.
Sure enough, when we had finally reached our destination, the first thing we saw was, indeed, a giant ass Godzilla monster. Though it was nowhere near the height of Japan's famed lizard monster, it was still pretty huge and was equally as intimidating. If I had to compare it to something, I would say that it looked more like some huge demon rather than a walking lizard. The large horns jutting out of its head could certainly attest to that fact. The thing was also slightly tinted green and had armored scales that looked to be on par with a tank. What was even more strange was the fact that it had a slight human appearance to it. It was bipedal and had arms that indeed look as though it came from a human, despite the fact that its arms were also covered with armored scales. Its torso was also slightly human in appearance, which rippled with muscles that looked as big as a car along with being riddled with two drill-like scars that ran vertically down its shoulders. Its gaping maw, however, was lined with jagged fangs that looked as tall as spears while its soulless black eyes peered over the destroyed city. Behind its two horns was, strangely enough, a mane of long black hair that reached just below its neck.
Though as scary as this thing was, it wasn't the monster that had us all shocked.
About fifty or so feet in front of the monster was what looked to be a woman who was quite literally, shooting arrows out of circle that was floating in midair.
I wouldn't even know how to describe this even if I could. If I had told someone that I had just seen a woman magically shooting arrows out of a floating circle, they would either think I was high or that I needed to go see a doctor. Either way it was fucking ridiculous no matter how well you worded it.
"What the fuck," someone nearby said out loud. I was pretty sure it was one of the guys from Polar squad.
"My thoughts exactly, marine." Gorrey said with an equal amount of disbelief in his voice. He shook his head before turning to Roberts, "Hey Sarge, you seeing what we're seeing? Because I'm pretty sure that this planet's oxygen is toxic and we're starting to see some shit."
"For once, you actually have a point, Gorrey." Teague said. "If I wasn't so sure I was seeing shit, I'd shoot myself in the foot."
"I can do that if you want," replied Gorrey. "Though I might make it a headshot just to be sure."
"Go fuck yourself, Gorrey," growled Teague as he continued to watch the ensuing battle.
I shook my head. Even in the middle of a shit storm like this, those two will still continue to go at it like a bunch of fucking kids.
But even then I couldn't help but notice that Sarge hadn't even made an attempt to break up their banter. Probably too engrossed in the fight to have even noticed it.
I was about to address him before he suddenly put his hand up to his comms.
"Command, this is Slaughter Actual, come in. Over." We all heard his voice say over the line.
"Go ahead, Slaughter Actual."
"We've reached what appears to be the epicenter of the town's destruction and we're currently observing what appears to be a hundred foot creature of some unknown origin laying waste to whatever it can find. Over."
"Copy that, Slaughter Actual. Have you and your teams been compromised?"
"No, sir. We've managed to remain hidden amongst the ruins and are currently observing the creature from a safe distance. However, we've…also managed to find something else."
"We read you, Slaughter Actual, what did you find?"
"We found…well…sir, I'm not exactly sure how to say this without sounding like a complete lunatic but we found what appears to be a woman somehow fighting the creature with some unknown abilities."
We could all practically hear the disbelief on the other side of the comms. The silence that followed was almost as deafening as the monster's roar.
"…Repeat your last, Slaughter Actual; did you just say you saw a woman somehow fighting the creature with unknown abilities?"
"Yes, sir. As I said before, I don't know how to explain this in a way that will make sense, but from what we can tell, it appears as though she's somehow holding the creature back with some kind of abilities that appear to be ice based. Right now it looks as though she's shooting a volley of what looks like arrows at the creature, though from what we can tell it appears to be having little effect."
"You're saying the woman is fighting off the creature with ice powers?" Even through the comms I could plainly hear the heavy skepticism in his tone.
"That's putting it mildly, but it appears so, sir."
No more words came over the comms. I was starting to think that the Commander was about to rip the Sarge a new hole before we suddenly heard his voice once more.
"Sergeant Roberts, capture everything you're seeing over your helmet's battle cam and send it back to us ASAP for analysis."
I was pretty sure that I wasn't the only one who was blinking in confusion at that. It was true that our helmets also came equipped with hidden battle cameras that every soldier was able to use for strategic battlefield analysis during or after a firefight but it never once occurred to us that we could simply record all of our findings before sending it back to base.
Some fucking soldiers we were.
"Roger that, Command, sending video feed back to base now."
A couple minutes went by and not a single word was said over the comms. If I had to guess, I would've assumed that the techies back at base were watching the video feed right now and were just as equally stumped as were when we had first seen the woman in action. Despite how unbelievable as it was, I had to admit that seeing real life super powers outside of a movie was pretty damn amazing. It made me wonder if other people from this planet had the same abilities as the woman had.
"Hey, look over there!" I heard one of Polar squad's marines suddenly shout as we all turned our attention back towards the woman. As if realizing her attacks weren't doing shit against the hundred-foot tall armored monster, she ceased her attacks before making some kind of weird rising movement with her hands. Using my HUD's zoom optics, I was able to see her mouth move but couldn't tell when she was saying due to the distance between her and us.
"What the hell is she do-"
I didn't get a chance to finish my sentence before the ground beneath us started to shake. At first I thought that an earthquake was about to hit us before hundreds of large, thick spikes suddenly jutted out from beneath the concrete and completely encased the monster from head-to-toe in ice.
"What the hell?!" I heard Gorrey shout as we all ducked down into cover with our rifles raised, though we still made sure to keep our eyes on both the monster and the woman while doing so.
"D-Did she just completely freeze the thing in fucking ice?!" Miles yelled in slight fear as he gripped his rifle hard.
"T-This can't be real," I heard Polar's Sergeant, Jenkins, say. "There's no way this can be fucking real. There's absolutely no fucking way that that woman just froze a hundred foot monster into a fucking statue!"
"I'm either really drunk off my ass or not drunk enough," Teague said in disbelief. "Cause now I know that I'm seeing shit."
"All of you stick a fucking cork in it!" Sergeant Roberts yelled. "We're far enough away from both of them! Just keep your shit together and we'll all be-"
But I was no longer paying attention because something caught my eye.
Right after the monster had been frozen solid, the woman took that time turn around and duck behind a fallen building. I couldn't see what she was doing, but from what I was able to see, it looked as though the woman had lost a leg and was limping fast on some kind of crutch. She was heavily injured and was trying to outrun a demon? That definitely didn't bode well for her.
I was about to inform Roberts when I suddenly caught more movement. The woman was limping out from behind the destroyed building, but what she was carrying over her shoulders shocked me to my core.
She was carrying kids.
"Holy shit," I said under my breath. "SARGE! SHE'S GOT FUCKING KIDS WITH HER!"
That seemed to stop everyone from flipping their shit on the spot as they suddenly turned their heads to look at the retreating woman. I couldn't see their expressions but I knew they were just as shocked as I was.
"Kids?!" Miles screamed as he turned to Roberts. "Sarge, we need to go help them! They could be injured or dying!"
"Hey, numb nuts! Didn't you here what the C.O. said?!" yelled Teague. "We're only supposed to recon the area, not get involved with Civvies!"
"Are you out of your fucking mind, Teague?!" Miles yelled back, appalled by the marine's response. "We can't just leave them here to die! Especially since that fucking monster could break out of that ice at any second!"
"You already got into enough shit by playing babysitter once, now you wanna get shitcanned a second time?!" Teague asked, getting in Miles' face. "If anyone's outta their damned mind it's you, Monroe!"
I decided to not pay any more attention to their argument. Mostly because I noticed the cracks that were starting to form on the face of the ice statue.
"Sir, that woman is missing a leg," Whales informed Roberts as she peered through the scope of her sniper rifle. "And from what I can see, it looks like the kids have also suffered some injuries as well."
"What should we do, Sarge?" Gorrey asked Roberts after choosing to remain silent through Miles and Teague's argument.
The Sarge stayed silent for a few moments before turning to address the rest of the squad. "We continue with the mission! Fall in and get ready to pull out before-"
Suddenly there was a bright flash that came from the statue before it hit near the area the woman was running from.
And then, as if struck by an oncoming missile, the entire area erupted into chaos. Debris flew everywhere and more fire consumed the already burning town. Shockwaves from the explosion rippled through the area like a tsunami and the loud screech that followed nearly made our ears bleed. It was like being back on Phobos all over again
But what made it even more horrifying was the fact that the woman and her two kids were sent flying into the air.
"JESUS FUCKING CHRIST!" I faintly heard Gorrey scream, though the ringing in my ears made it hard for me to do so. We all ducked down onto our bellies and waited for the nearby catastrophe to reach its end. Minutes went by and I could still feel the ground rumbling beneath my stomach. The pain in my head felt like a jackhammer was going into overdrive on my brain while my ears felt as though they were about to pop. My vision turned to double and I could faintly make out the outlines of my other squad mates who were also on their stomachs and yelling back and forth at each other. It took a few minutes for my hearing to get adjusted but when it did I was able to make out the Commander's voice over the comms.
"…Boy, c-come in! Repeat, Slaughter Boy come in, damn it!"
I saw Roberts coughing into his fist before going to his comms.
"C-Command, this is Slaughter Actual! We read you, over! That fucking creature just lunched some kind of unknown explosive near that ice woman's position. Status remains unknown but she also had a pair of kids with her the time of the explosion. We don't know if either of them are alive or dead but it doesn't look good from over here! Requesting permission for search and rescue! Over!"
"Negative, Slaughter Actual, negative! That thing is still out there and presents huge threat to both you and Polar squad! You are ordered to regroup and retreat back to base effective immediately! Over!"
"Sir! With all due respect-"
"Wait a second, look!" One of the marines from Polar squad shouted as he pointed towards the monster, who was now free from his icy prison and was slowly stomping in the opposite direction and away from the destroyed city, seemingly satisfied with the damage it had caused.
"Command, it looks as though the creature moving away from the city and into the mountains. Requesting permission to continue with search and rescue."
"Absolutely not, Sergeant! Your orders still stand: return to base immediately or so help me God I will-"
The radio suddenly went silent, making us all blink in confusion as slowly got to our knees with our rifles pointed towards the retreating back of the creature who continued to walk further and further away from the city as each minute passed by.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the radio suddenly came back to life, "Slaughter Actual, this is Command. Disregard your last, I repeat: disregard your last. You have new orders: find and rescue the civvies if they're still alive and return back to base immediately. Newborn and his eggheads want to run some tests on them as soon as they're brought back. Seems your little video made quite the impression on them and are currently pulling their hair out in trying to figure out how that woman manipulated the ice. You have your orders, get back to base as soon as possible. Command out."
As soon as the radio went silent, Miles began sprinting towards the epicenter of the explosion, no doubt eager to get to the civvies and make sure that they weren't dead.
"Private Monroe!" Sarge yelled as he and everyone else began running after him. "Get the fuck back here and fall in!"
"No time, Sarge!" Monroe said over his shoulder. "They could be dying for all we know! You heard the Commander, we need to get them out alive!" And with that he continued to run, no longer paying any attention to any of us.
"Goddamn kid's gonna get himself killed one of these days!" I heard Teague shout as he and everyone else got further away.
But I wasn't paying any more attention. Right now I was looking towards the direction where that demon had disappeared to over the mountain range. Somewhere deep inside me I knew that wasn't the last time we would be seeing it. Not by a longshot.
Though I did know that when that time came, we would be ready. Of that there was no doubt.
Personal ID: Pvt. Miles "Manslaughter" Monroe
It was only thanks to his suit and the long years of training that he was able to run so fast, even with a full combat kit. Otherwise he would've been out of breath long before he even came close to their objective.
He didn't care though. When it came to saving people's lives, running out of breath was a small price to pay, especially when the people you're trying to save might be closer to death with every minute that passes by.
He soon found himself near the crater where the explosion had taken place but he didn't have time to gawk at the destruction nor did he pay attention to the large puddle of water he was currently standing in from all of the recently melted ice. That woman and her kids were still out here, somewhere, either laying in pile of broken glass and concrete or bleeding out somewhere on a nearby street. He checked his motion sensor and cursed when he could find any blips within its twenty-five meter radius. His legs stomped and skidded at the ground as he dodged and weaved between the numerous destroyed buildings. He could faintly hear the other cries of his squad mates but for now his mind was entirely on finding those civilians. Lord knows how many lethal injuries they must have suffered through that explosion, and though he didn't want it to happen, he wouldn't be surprised if one of them ended up losing an arm or a leg.
Such as the brutality when it comes to war.
He was about to turn and head into another direction when a faint blip suddenly appeared on his radar about ten meters to the east. Anxiety and combat instincts were kicked into overdrive as he made his way towards the blips location. Finally, after what seemed to be a year later he was able to hear the faint sound of coughing in the distance. He made a sharp left turn down a nearby street and gasped in horror as he saw the woman trapped under a large wooden support beam. Not even thinking twice, he ran to her and dropped his rifle on the ground before placing his hands under the beam and lifting it with every bit of strength he could muster. After a few seconds of struggling he was able to safely toss the beam aside without causing any more damage to the woman. He got down beside her on one knee before grabbing onto her shoulders and gently turning her onto her back. He breathed a sigh of relief as reviewed the woman's injuries. Luckily, apart from her torn clothes along with some cuts, scrapes and a nasty looking gash on her forehead, she seemed relatively okay. He winced when he caught sight of her right leg, which looked to have been cut off from below the knee but she didn't seem to be in any immediate danger of bleeding out.
With one last check to the woman's injuries, Miles put his hand up towards his ear and activated his comms, "This is Private Monroe, I've located the woman about thirty meters from the crater. She has a few cuts and is missing a leg but she seems okay for now. Though it would still help a lot if she got some medical attention as soon as possible."
"Private Monroe, this is Sergeant Jenkins," came the reply from Polar's squad leader. "Good to hear from you. We've also managed to locate the two kids she was with. Both of them also seem to be in stable conditions besides some scrapes and a two-inch gash on one of the boy's legs. Our medic will be on route to your position after he heals these two. Command is also sending in five more squads with stretchers along with swarm of WASP drones for emergency escort back to base. They should be here in about a half hour tops, until then stay with her and make sure she remains stable."
"Roger than, Sergeant. I'll hold here for your medic. Just make sure he gets here quick, the woman is missing a leg and I don't exactly have the tools with me to cauterize a wound this severe."
"Wilco, Private. Jenkins out."
Miles blew out another sigh of relief and got up to go fetch his rifle until a pained cough suddenly stopped him in his tracks.
"W-Who a-are you?" the woman asked as she stared through half-lidded eyes at his armored form.
Miles remained frozen for a second longer before he retracted his helmet into his armor, revealing his pale face along with his cropped blonde hair and sea-green eyes. With a careful smile he turned around and kneeled next to the woman's prone form.
"It's alright," he said softly. "We're here to help-"
His words suddenly died in his throat and his pale face got even paler as he finally got a good look at the woman's face.
Dark purple hair that reached just above her shoulders, purple eyes staring into his sea-green ones with pained confusion, small mouth, button nose, and slightly pale skin. All in all, this woman was an exact carbon copy of that little girl he had rescued not too long ago.
"U-Ultear?!" he asked in astonishment as he stared down at the injured woman, whose eyes went as wide as saucers at the mention of that name.
"W-What did you just s-say?!" she asked through pained gasps as she attempted to push herself up. "H-How do you know that name?! Where d-did you hear it?!"
"Ma'am, please!" Miles said urgently as he attempted to gently push the woman back down on the ground. "You're gravely injured and need immediate medical attention! Stay still!"
"N-No!" she yelled as she reach up and grasped Miles' arm with both of hers. "P-Please! I need to know! H-How do you know that name?!"
"Ma'am, please calm down! You're gonna injure yourself further if you keep moving around like that! Help is on the way but I need you to stay calm!"
"N-No! I can't! Y-You don't understand. I n-need to know! Where are my students?! Are they alive?! And h-how do you know my d-daughter's name?!"
"H-Hold on! Did you just say 'daughter'?! Ultear's your daughter?!" Miles was completely flabbergasted to say the least. What were the odds that he and his squad not only rescued girl but her mother, as well? He was beginning to think that this was no mere coincidence.
"P-Please…" the woman said as her grip lightened around Miles' arm before going limp. "M-My students…G-Gray, Lyon…"
"Hey, come on! Stay with my, damn it!"
But it was too late. His calls remained unheard as the woman fell into unconsciousness. Miles could only watch helplessly as Polar squad's medic finally arrived at the scene along with the rest of his squad.
The first thing she felt was warmth.
That was what first came into her mind the moment she had awoken. The second was the constant beeping of some sort of machine to her left. She didn't know when she had fallen asleep or where or when, but she did know how.
She had just escaped the evil place from all of the evil men who were torturing her, molding her into some kind of weapon or tool to be used whenever they saw fit. At first she had though that they were simple doctors trying to cure her of her sickness when in reality they were evil men who wanted to use her for evil things. They had said she was powerful, that she was unlike anything that they had ever seen before and they just had to have her. They didn't care that she was only a child who wanted to go back home. They didn't care that she didn't want to be there. They didn't care how much she begged, pleaded, or cried. All they cared about was what was inside of her. They said they would help her control it. They lied. They said they would make her feel better. They lied.
They said that after all of this was said and done, her mother would come back for her.
They lied.
They weren't the only ones. Shehad lied as well. She had said that she would be right back. She had said that they would cure her, make the pain go away.
She had told her she loved her.
And yet, after all of the hell she had been through. After she had finally escaped that prison and travelled for days on end just to get back to her, she had finally made it back.
Only for her to throw that love right back in her face by replacing her with two others.
That's all she was to her. That's all she ever was. A replacement.
Not being able to hold them back any longer, she finally willed the tears to flow freely from out of her closed eyes. It wasn't fair. How could she do that to her? Didn't she mean anything to her? Wasn't she her daughter?
How could her own mother do that to her?
"Ah, I see you've finally awoken."
Her tear-stained eyes snapped open and the first thing that greeted her was a smile that came from a nearby brown-haired man dressed in some kind of white coat, who was sitting cross-legged in a chair near the bead that she was currently lying on.
Now that she was able to get her bearings, she took a quick moment to glance around at the room she was in. The walls and ceiling were all dark blue in color except for the floor which was a clear marble white. The bed she was in was also white along with the chair the smiling man was sitting in as well as a nearby desk. She also noticed with a slight degree of fear the her left arm was currently hooked up to some sort of machine that was still continuing to make those strange beeping noises every few seconds.
All in all, it looked almost like the rooms that the evil men had kept her in.
"W-Who are you?" she asked with a small and timid voice that was laced with fear. For all she knew, she had been captured and brought back to the evil place.
The man simply continued to smile at her before slowly getting up off of his chair and folding his arms behind his back. "My name is Cameron Newborn, though you may simply call me Cameron if you wish."
Cameron Newborn? The name, indeed, sounded mysterious the more she thought about it. As far as she knew, she had never heard of anyone who had gone by such a strange name.
"W-Where am I?" If she was, indeed, back at the evil place, then she needed to find some other way to escape and fast.
"You are in a treatment facility. You were malnourished and almost contracted frostbite when we found you."
His words seemed to make her freeze up in terror. Treatment Center. That was exactly what the men in the evil place had said she was there for. Treatment.
Newborn's sharp eyes noticed her momentary lapse in fear but didn't comment on it. He couldn't exactly blame a child for being scared when waking up in a strange and unfamiliar place. "Luckily your health wasn't life threatening so were able to warm you up and feed your body all of the necessary nutrients it needed while you were unconscious."
Of course they would keep her alive, she thought. They needed her alive. A weapon can't function if it doesn't even work, after all.
"P-Please don't hurt me," she said as her lower lip trembled. "I-I didn't mean to run away. I promise I'll be good. Just p-please don't hurt me." Tears were now pouring out of her eyes as she sank further into the bed.
For a few moments, Newborn was stunned into silence. Wherever this girl had come from, she had obviously suffered a fair amount of abuse and attempted to escape. 'Must be the reason as to way she was wandering all alone in the snow. Now she thinks she's been captured again.'
He fought down a sudden wave of anger before calmly smiling back down at the trembling girl. "Hey now," he said as softly as he could. "I'm not going to hurt you. I would never even dream of hurting a child like you. I know you probably don't believe me, and that's completely understandable given your current situation, but we were only trying to save your life. You were very hurt and could've died had we not found you when we did. Do you really think we would've done all of that if we truly wanted to hurt you?"
No, she thought. But that didn't mean she had to believe him. The only reason he probably saved her life was so he could hurt her like all the others. No, she didn't believe him for even a second.
Seeing as how he wasn't getting through to her, Newborn sighed before heading towards the door. He grabbed the knob, but not before turning back to her once more. "If you won't listen to me, then perhaps you may listen to the man who rescued you. From what I've heard, he's on his way back here at this very moment with someone who he says knows you very well. I believe he said that she's your mother."
And with that said, he walked through the door before closing it behind him.
Back in the room, the girl known as Ultear was sitting straight up while staring at the door, her small, tear-stained eyes inconceivably wide with both shock disbelief, along with a hint of anger.
The future is ever-changing.
Nothing is ever set in stone.
"KEEP UP THE FIRE! KNOCK THOSE FUCKERS OUTTA THE SKY!"
Missiles, rockets, bullets, energy beams, every single projectile that was capable of traveling through the air was currently being aimed towards the sky. Dozens upon dozens of the winged beasts fell out of the air like the fallen angels of old after being cast out of heaven. Two to ten-thousand pound corpses riddled with holes plummeted into the ground like bloody meteorites, destroying anything that was unlucky enough to be caught in their path. Houses were collapsed, buildings were demolished, and the streets were filled to the brim with craters which acted as gravesites for the winged demons. Not only that, but debris from every destroyed building also littered the streets like a minefield of destruction while fire from the bowels of hell itself swept up and consumed every inch of the destroyed city, which caused plumes of pitch black smoke to rise up into the air in waves. This didn't once deter the monsters flying above, however, as they continued to lay waste to everything they could find.
The unholy explosions of the hundreds of guns and missiles completely drowned out the sound of anguished cries and screeches of terror from what remained of the city's populace. Thousands of innocents were being evacuated from the city as quickly as possible, though it was almost a futile effort considering the hundreds of dragons that were still raining hellfire down below. Those unfortunate enough to be caught in the blaze were slowly roasted and burned alive as, their agonizing screams fell on deaf ears as their skin was seared off their bones.
It was truly a scene straight out of hell itself.
"COME ON, COME ON!" yelled the soldier as he loaded another magazine into his machine gun. "WE NEED TO GET THESE FUCKING CIVVIES OUTTA HERE AS FAST AS WE CAN! WE'VE ALREADY LOST A SHIT TONE TO THESE FUCKING THINGS! WE CAN'T AFFORD TO LOSE ANYMORE!" He let loose a loud bellow as he fired his gun into the sky. "LET'S GO, YOU GODDAMN LIZARDS! IS THAT ALL YOU GOT?! I'VE SEEN MATCHSTICKS DO MORE DAMAGE THAN YOU!"
As if in response to his challenge, one of the dragons unleashed a large fireball onto a nearby Humvee, instantly destroying it and vaporizing all of the occupying marines inside of it.
"SON OF A FUCKING BITCH!" the soldier screamed in anger before running to cover in a nearby halfway destroyed house. "ANVIL 1, THIS IS OBSIDIAN 4-2, THE LZ IS HOT AS ALL FUCK, WE NEED AIR SUPPORT AND WE NEED IT RIGHT GODDAMN NOW!"
"Obsidian 4-2, this is Anvil 1, all available air support units are either shot down or assisting with the evacuation on the outskirts of the kingdom. We have no way of getting any available air units too you until the evacuation is complete."
"YOU GOTTA BE FUCKING SHITTING ME!" the soldier screamed in outrage. "WE'VE STILL GOT AROUND A THOUSAND OR SO CIVVIES TRAPPED IN THIS FUCKING HELLHOLE AND BARELY ENOUGH GROUND SUPPORT TO COVER THEM ALL! YOU HEAR THIS SHITSTORM THAT'S GOING ON BEHIND ME RIGHT NOW?! WE'RE ALL GONNA FUCKING DIE DOWN HERE UNLESS YOU GET YOUR ASSES IN GEAR AND SEND US SOME FUCKING SUPPORT ASAP!"
"Obsidian 4-2, there are still hundreds of those things flying all over the kingdom. If we send in any more air units they'll be wiped before they even have a chance to mount a proper counterattack."
"YOU MEAN TO TELL ME THAT YOU DON'T HAVE A SINGLE AIRCRAFT IN THAT STARSHIP UP THERE THAT CAN OUTFLY A FUCKING DRAGON?! WHAT THE FUCK IS OUR GOVERNMENT EVEN PAYING YOU RETARDS FOR, ANYWAY?!"
"All available Surface-to-Space aircraft are currently engaged with the remaining Alliance Fleet. Sorry Obsidian 4-2, you'll just have to wait it out until reinforcements arrive."
"ARE YOU SERIOUS RIGHT NOW?! ARE YOU COMPLETELY-FUCKING-GODDAMN-SERIOUS RIGHT NOW?! WE. ARE GOING. TO. DIE! FUCK!" the soldier through his arms up before running back outside, only to watch in horror as a straggling family of four were suddenly engulfed in flames. One of them had only been an infant.
All around the kingdom, people continued to die. Humvees, Tanks, Mechs, Anti-Air vehicles, it didn't matter how much firepower was put into the sky, more and more dragons seemingly appeared out of thin air and continued to rain death wherever they flew. All around the soldier, more and more people were dying and there wasn't a damn thing he or any other soldier could do about it.
"This is a nightmare," he said to himself as he sprinted towards the evacuation sight. "This is a fucking nightmare and I can't wake up."
A deep, monstrous bellow suddenly came from behind and the soldier spun around and saw that one of the dragons had spotted him and was in the process of bullet-diving towards him with its jaws wide open. Apparently the giant lizard was preparing to make him its next meal.
"Okay," the soldier said quietly before squaring his feet and glaring at the oncoming beast. "OKAY! I'M READY, MOTHERFUCKER! HOW 'BOUT YOU?!"
His pulled the trigger and his machine gun roared to life, all while letting out a roar that was equally as ferocious as the dragon's. The some bullets struck the dragon's hide while mostly simply whizzed past it. The bullets didn't seem to deter the dragon in the slightest, however, as it continues to dive towards the screaming marine. It seemed as though the marine's fate was sealed until a nearby voice cried out.
"ÂGE SCRATCH!"
Suddenly dozens of what appeared to be giant clock hands materialized out of thin air before shooting towards the dragon at a high velocity. Like the equivalent of spears through flesh, the clock hands pierced the dragon's scales as if they were made of paper. Blood seeped out of the dragon's wounds as it lost control of itself before plummeting straight towards the marine. With the speed at which it was falling and how dangerously close it was, there was no way for him to be able to move in time.
"ÂGE SEAL!"
Time, however, seemed to be on his side as everything around him suddenly came to a grinding halt as if someone had hit the pause button on a video game. Fires were frozen in place, falling building debris halted, and the dragons, including the one that was about to fall on him seemingly stopped in midair. By all accounts anyone in this situation would've been terrified or shocked beyond belief.
He, however, was simply annoyed. As he, himself, had more than enough experience with this type of magic.
Too much experience.
"Well, well," came a snarky feminine voice that he knew all too well. Turning around, he saw blonde woman slowly walking up to him with an arrogant smirk on her lips along with one of her arms, which was covered completely in gold armor, planted firmly on her hip. The smirk only increased as she came up to him before trailing her unarmored finger on his chest. "I'm only gone for an hour and already you almost managed to get yourself killed? I'm starting to think you'd be absolutely useless without my help."
The soldier growled before shoving her hand away. "What the fuck are you doing her, woman? I told you to hang back and assist with the evacuation!"
The woman frowned before sashaying her way around the soldier. "Geeze, and here I thought you'd actually be excited to see me. You know I don't do this for just anyone," her eyes narrowed. "And you're welcome by the way, you ungrateful ass."
"Tell you what, I'll start being grateful to you after this fucking war is over. But don't think for a fucking second that I'm owing you any favors for this. You still owe me one after that stunt you pulled in Alvarez."
"Oh, don't lie and say that you didn't enjoy it," she purred sensually before wrapping her arms around the soldier's neck. "After all, you saw a lot more skin than I was willing to show to anybody. And that's only because you're my favorite." The soldier shivered slightly as she reached up and gave his ear a little nibble before pulling back and began walking towards the partially destroyed castle in the distance. Despite not falling for any of her advances, he couldn't help but admire the way her voluptuous rear end swayed from side to side, especially in that skintight suit she was wearing. "Now, shall we deal with the rest of these pesky lizards so that I can finally have you all to myself, or are you just going to stand there and keep staring at my ass all day?"
The soldier blushed before shaking it off and holstering his gun. He quickly jogged his way towards the woman's side before falling into step with her, all while trying his very best to ignore the suggestive smirk and glances she was sending his way.
When worlds collide.
