Foreword
An empty Forewords section to start off a new series.
How lame...
Wish I get this problem fixed from my mind...
Chapter 1: Old Foes, New Countermeasures
Time: 0800 Hour; 30th of December, 2040.
Location: Boot Camp, Regular Army Command; Virginia, United States.
A Regular Soldier climbed up a watchtower, scanned the vicinity with a binocular, and then grabbed a nearby trumpet which he blows with. The notes of the trumpet are annoying for anyone listening to it, more so for those who were woken up from their sleep by it.
"Hey, you!" Yelled another soldier from the sole window of a nearby bunker. "SHUT UP!" Shouting, he aimed and fired a Super Grenade at the watchtower where the offending sound is coming from.
The Regular Soldier with the trumpet was spooked by this, and jumped off the watchtower just before the Super Grenade struck and blew it up in a spectacular fireball.
The soldier with the Super Grenade then laid back on his bunk bed, attempting to catch some more Z.
...
Location: Mess Hall, Regular Army Command.
"What a lame way to celebrate New Years Eve..." complained Marco Rossi, sitting next to a table, slowly stirring the bowl of cereal in front of him. "It's only yesterday that we ended the Martians for good, but Morden and his goons got away again!"
Tarma Roving leaned against the door. "But at least that's one enemy we won't be seeing ever again..." Said the Japanese commando.
However, Tarma didn't expect anyone to be able to open the door when he is leaning against it. He got squashed against the wall as a result. A familiar face came from the other side of the door.
"Besides, you do know that today isn't New Years Eve, tomorrow is..." Eri Kasamoto told Marco with a deadpan tone.
"How can you be so oblivious to what day it is, Marco?" Fiolina Germi barged in and complained.
Poor Tarma is still stuck behind that door, unable to move one bit. "Guys? Need some help here..."
"We better hurry..." Eri pointed a thumb behind her. "HQ called us all for emergency briefing..."
...
Location: Visitor Waiting Hall, Regular Army Command.
"And this year's Best K-Pop Band Award goes to..." Said the TV announcer from a TV in the Visitor Waiting Hall.
"Super Junior! Yeah!" Trevor Spacey announced on his own out of excitement.
Unfortunately, the true answer was something completely different than what the white-haired South Korean gave.
"Girls' Generation!" The TV announcer said.
"WHAT THE HECK?!" Trevor practically spat his heart out in surprise. "NOOOOOOO!" He screamed in massive disappointment, and head-butted the TV so hard that the screen shattered. Trevor didn't try to get up, as he continued crying so much that his tears are pouring out of his eyes like waterfalls.
"Not so suh-weet, non?" Nadia Cassel stood behind the South Korean while face-palming. "You East Asians kept forgetting that the biggest threat to you all is North Korea..."
"Ah leas ther nodin compar too deh Ish..." Trevor responded while continued crying in front of the broken TV. But he stopped and got up just for the last words in that sentence. "...Islamic State..."
"You better act like a grown-up, because we're being called for an emergency briefing!"
...
Location: Ikari Mercenaries' Private Training Hall, Regular Army Command.
Ralf Jones was focused on attacking a punching bag with his signature Vulcan Punch, followed by the Galactic Phantom. However, he punched the punching bag so hard that it was propelled with enough velocity to smash through a wall and collapse it. Ralf did not seem to notice, as he did the victory pose he was known for in the King Of Fighters Tournaments.
"Uh, that's coming out of your wallet again, friend..." Clark Still reminded him, as he did his Super Argentine Backbreaker on another punching bag that has the photo of Rugal Bergenstein taped to it. The punching bag went toward the ceiling, but stopped short of hitting a ceiling fan before coming back down.
Just then, the PA went live. "Attention, Ikari Mercenaries, please report to the Command Center for immediate emergency briefing."
Both Ralf and Clark turned toward the speaker where the PA announcement came from.
"I guess the wall can wait, Morden's up to something again..." Clark said.
"What about Leona?" Ralf wondered, since the woman in question is absent from the Training Hall.
"Said she's got a hunch this morning that we're all going to be called in for another mission, so she went to the Command Center first." Clark replied. "Let's go. Rugal can also wait..."
...
Five minutes later...
Location: Command Center, Regular Army Command.
"As you can see, Ladies and gentlemen..." The Regular Commandos were not surprised with suddenly meeting a new Commanding Officer, since the previous one retired after the previous mission. What surprised them that the new CO isn't a human, its an AI. "Satellite imagery got hold of a new Rebel facility being built in San Francisco, with what used to be the Alcatraz Prison serving as the entrance. We don't know what Morden and his goons are up to, but it is imperative that whatever it is down there be captured or destroyed"
"Typical for the Rebels..." Marco gave a simple comment.
"However, this mission, and perhaps those to follow, are no slouch on the couch. We've got good news and bad news for you..." The AI CO continued its briefing. "Good news are - Intelligence is able to confirm, with a hundred percent positivity that Donald Morden is definitely in that facility. The facility is also one-way-in one-way-out. Geographical scans indicates the complete lack of secret tunnels, which means that Morden won't be able to escape when cornered."
"Finally, that bastard has no way to escape! Catching him should be no problem. "Tarma said. "After we deal with whatever he's building down there, of course."
"But that's when the bad news come in..." The AI CO interrupted with no tone of annoyance in its recorded speech. "Aside from the aforementioned one-way-in one-way-out making your own returning outside difficult, Intelligence is also positive that the Rebels have pledged their allegiance with the Amadeus Syndicate and the Ptolemaic Army. The leaders of those two factions will want your heads after your first encounter with either."
"Why do I get the feeling that this mission is entirely luck-based?" Eri had her suspicion with the mission.
"To make matters worse, both Morden and Amadeus have specifically dared you all, and I mean you all to come and try to fight them." The AI CO continued, again with no tone of worriedness in its speech. "It's like they had this cooperative project just to deal with you guys..."
Upon hearing the last part, the whole group became tense. Fio tightened her grip on her teddy bear, whereas Trevor and Nadia bumped into each other while running around in panic. The Ikari Mercenaries, Ralf, Clark and Leona remained calm about the situation.
"I don't care what surprises he has for us!" Ralf boasted as he cracked his fists.
"We shall kick his ass!" Clark joined in with the boasting, as he kicked a nearby shelf to demonstrate his fearlessness. In doing so, the mercenary in blue had spilled the contents of that shelf, one of which is a (thankfully fake) Iron Lizard missile car.
Leona, the typical deadpan she is, let out a sigh in embarrassment of her teammates.
"But the Regular Army will respond to challenges with more than the challenger bargained for!" The AI CO announced. "Which is why you will be accompanied by the elites of the Regular Army."
"The elites?" Trevor and Nadia got up from bumping into each other, and asked in unison.
"Yes. The elite commandos are themselves Mercenaries, just like the Ikari Mercenaires, but better than all of you combined even while they have a smaller group."
Both Clark and Ralf are disappointed when they heard of a group of Mercenaries that are better than themselves.
Leona seems to look forward to meeting them. "What do they call themselves?"
"These elite Mercenaries, who will be accompanying you in bringing the Rebel-Amadeus-Ptolemaic Joint Forces down, are called..." The AI CO, reaching the end of its pre-programmed speech, spat out four last words. "...The Red Eagles Squad..."
...
Undisclosed Location...
"Jenny dear, you got the message from Regular Army Command?"
"Yes, Jason dear. They want the four of us to help the originals in fighting the Rebels..."
"Plus the Amadeus Syndicate and the Ptolemaic Army, all three at once! Right, Mina?"
"Just because I'm a Japanese doesn't mean I'm an otaku. So let's go, Ash~!"
Afterwords
Surprised? The Rebel Army, Amadeus Syndicate and Ptolemaic Army teamed up just to deal with the original commandos!
Okay, maybe not surprising to most of you, but you can just see how desperate those three factions were, after getting their arrogant ass kicked multiple times with a dose of Heavy Masheen Gun! or Rocket Lawnchair!.
Anyways, the original commandos are not the protagonists this time around, the Red Eagles are.
Do note that while the Red Eagles are Original Characters, they are not my creations. Credit goes to MadSoldiersProduction who, while doesn't have an account on this website, used the Red Eagles in a series of sprite-based Web Comics called Metal Slug History X in his own website. Thanks, MadSoldier!
Shout-out index:
"SHUT UP!" *Super Grenade!* - A random Regular Soldier getting almost blown up trying to wake up everyone came from MegaAuthor's lists of Running Gags in his stories. Thanks, mate!
"NOOOO!" - Trevor getting disappointed at Super Junior not getting any awards came from The Robot Conspiracy by AR Studios. Thank, mate!
That is all. "Dismissed!"