Chapter 4:Old foes return...New Threats?

Church stood up, scanning a large, barren plain-the odd rock formation jutting out of the ground like they had been placed their almost as an afterthought by whatever higher power had created this place. He took aim, caressing the trigger with his finger-waiting for that one, split second a sniper needed to make the shot. He sqeezed...

BAM!BAM!BAM!

Laughter abounded as all three shots-fired in rapid succession failed to hit their target-a big damn rock. "Dude-seriously." Tucker shook his head. "That rock's like 15 feet wide, and is as big as me." "Not to mention," Helen chimed in, an amused expression coloring her face as she leaned against a large boulder, folding her arms across her chest, "It was like five feet away." She guestured to the dozen or so bullet holes that surrounded the rock the Blue leader had been trying to hit.

"Maybe you should consider letting other people use the sniper rifle," Tucker suggested, his tone indicating exactly who should use the vaunted weapon that the AI held in his hands, "Seeing how your aim sucks any way." "Fuck you." Church snarled, making a few guestures.

"Perhaps you should consider using a diffrent weapon." Came Miria's voice. Stepping out from the shadow of one of the many buildings that had been hollowed out from the natural rock formations that surrouneded the town of Staff. The x-shaped scar on her face stood out in harsh sunlight, punctuated even more by her pale complextion. "If you continue using a weapon that you are not even trained with-you're liable to be a danger to friend and foe alike."

A smile crossed her lips. "Maybe a sword-or maybe a spear-it has a nice, long shaft with a large steel tip. Plenty of reach and isn't hard to use." Tucker couldn't help himself-"I got a nice long shaft for you to use captain-Bowchickabowwow!" Everyone just stared at him. Helen pressed her lips together as Miria approached the Teal soldier. She pressed against him, draping her arms alon her back -Tucker reached down, intent on clasping his hands on her nice, firm ass-and-

Wham "What the fuck!" He squealed in a high pitched voice as he collapsed, clutching his groin. Miria had appaerently hit him right in the tenderbox. Helen and Church both had a laugh as he lay on the ground, looking up at his attacker. "Perhaps now you'll keep your mouth shut and your hands to yourself." She said in an all too causal tone, turning with an extra swish in her hips, making her movements as sensual as possilbe...

xxxxx

"You bitch..." A large, white armored trooper stood in the distance, watching the whole exchange through his helmet-strange symbols that only he could comprihend along his HUD-he heard the voices in his head:

"Those are some of the ones who tried to kill you." A smooth, persuasive voice said, almost like used cars salesman trying to sell his shoddy wares to an unsuspecting figure growled his agreement-unable to do little to convey his thoughts and words-at least what was left of the original personality that remained-with little else due to an injury he received in battle.

"You must destroy them!" Another voice urged-this one was filled with rage and hate. "Kill them all, avenge yourself! KILL! KILL!" He agreed with that one-at least-he thought it was another voice. "Yes...we must destroy them to prevent our defeat a second time-they will not succeed. ha ha!" This voice was flat-emotionless like a machine's, artifical in nature. A cool male voice rplied: "Yes, if my calculations are correct-now would be a good time to strike, for they will prove more difficult once alerted to our presence."

The Meta growled his agreement-it was time for vengance-the Simulation Troopers had stood in his way once-had thought him dead.

The freelance was about to show them how very very wrong they were-and the first to go would be the Alpha...

xxxxxx

"Seriously-what the fuck is your problem you bitch." Tucker whined as he gathered himself up, the captain's smirk of triumph never leaving her face. Helen had never seen Miria act like this before-oh, she was going to have a field day with this...

Wait-what was that? There was a faint shimmer in the air, bits of dust being kicked up-was it the wind. No wait-it was defenatly something out of the ordinary-too deliberate to be the wind-it was moving right towards Church. She opened her mouth to call out a warning...

Then it struck.

"Hahah-I kind of enjoyed that-maybe you claymores aren't so bad after al-Hurghk!" Church was suddenly lifted into the air, grasping at whatever held him in its grip. "CHURCH!" They all cried simultainously, lunging for...whatever it was. Tucker staggered to his feet, his legs threatening to give out from under him as intense pain shot from his crotch to his skull. 'Damn it Maria...' He thought bitterly as his vision swam. He activated his energy sword-but knew he would be too late..

The shimmering, vagely humanoid shape raised its arm, preparing strike with something in its hands. Church struggleed in vain, trying to escape, kicking against it uslessly, his legs meeting some kind of armor. Time seem to slow down-it struck just as Tucker let out a cry of protest-this was it-he had finally bought it, after everything he'd been through...

CLANG!

A huge broadsward parried whatever it was, and struggled to keep it level. "D-Damn it!" Miria grunted, suddenly finding herself strggling to match the strength of her unknown foe-she couldn't sense a damned thing-what the hell was it "Helen! Now!" Take her captains cue, the rowdy warrior swung at it-and was met with the satifying sensation of metal meeting flesh-at least she thought it was flesh. Whatever it was forced back, dirt churned up as if though something extremely heavy had been forced back. A breif shimmering, and one of the biggest men she had run across appeared infront her. His visor was yellow, rounded, as if though the armor protection didn't matter. The armor was white in color, the armor was of simliar build to the blues, only some how diffrent-subtle differnences were apparent though...

"No...N-no." Fear had entered Church's voice, he took a step backwards-visably trembling, "We-we stopped him-he was-was dead." He raised the sniper rifle, and the warrior lept, his powerful legs propelling him through the air-bringing what looked like some kind of hand cannon with a long, curving blade sticking out it. He began firing, raining small rockets around the Blue Leader, attempting to corner him, then as he began his descent brought the blade down.

Church raised the rifle, knowing that he had no hope in hell of stopping this massive juggenaught, but he knew he couldn't out run him either. He fired his rifle wildly, the rounds going wild despite his(albiet lousy) aim. He closed his eyes, waiting for that final blow...

It didn't come-someone shoved him away as he heard the clang of metal on metal. "What the hell?" He heard Helen ask frantically, her sword flashing rapidly as Miria brought the AI out of range. Tucker swung his own blade, striking a searing blow across the soldier's abdomen-yet despite between Helen's frantic pounding and the power of Tucker's sword, their opponet didn't seem fazed. "It's clear he's after you," She stated matter-of-factly, bringing her sword to bear, "You need to run Church-get as far away from here as possible."

"Wait!" Church stammered, stumbling slightly as Miria shoved him back again, "Y-you can't fight him! He's too strong!" Miria shook her head, and a faint golden glow came into her eyes. "No human's a match for a claymore." And with blinding speed, she lept at her opponet, leaving nothing more than a phantom image behind. 'Shit! Shit! Shit!' Church thought as he stumbled away from the battlefield.

This could not be happening...it couldn't be...

xxxxx

A group had gathered around a sparing arena. "Yeah Carolina!" Grif cheered as she launched a punch, his extra chins moving as he jumped, "Kick her-" That's when he heard it-a sound that made a shiver go down his spine. There was no mistaking it-rapid gunfire followed by a series of explosions. "Did you guys hear that?" He asked, grabbing his helmet and battle rifle. "Did we hear what?" Simmions asked, a confused look on his face. "I thought I heard, well, what sounded like explosions."

"Grif, you sure you didn't just fall asleep again?" The other trooper retorted, drawn a chuckle from the group-the man's snores could put even the loudest of explosions to shame. That's when they saw Church go flying, his arms flailing through the air as his rifle landed just beyond his reach. "Church!" He heard Tex shout as the two freelancers stopped fighting and rushed over to him. "What the hell happened." She looked up at a purple armored trooper-"Doc, get the hell over here! He needs help!" "Okay." He brought his scanner and medical bag along with him.

They up as they saw Tucker, Miria, and Helen frantically dodging small rockets, explosions churing up dust and debries. "Hey-you missed!" Tucker taunted, and the dove for cover behind a large rock as more rockets rained around him. The two claymores were panting hard from their exertions. The figure that came out brought out a gasp out of the gather offworlders.

"S-Sarge!" Grif stammer/shouted, bringing his rifle to bear, "Y-you need to come over here!" Simmions brought his rocket launcher to bear. The two freelancers brought up their own weapons, readying to fight. "I thought you guys killed him!" Carolina snarled as she trained her weapon on their opponet. "So did we!" Simmions said frantically, doging a pair of rockets that should've hit him. The figure roared, running straight towards the pair. The two claymores moved to intercept but were swatted aside like flies-the figure swung his fist...

xxxxx

"For the last time Sarge," Wash said, shaking his head as Donut and Caboose looked on, "That is completely idiotic-why would you even consider doing that?" Sarge chuckled, shifitng his shotgun left and right. "No it ain't-strapping a cold fusion-slash-coffee maker to warthog as a power source is a great idea-It'll power it for centuries!" He replied, obviously pleased with himself, "Plus you can get a nice hot cup of joe while on the road so you don't have to stop at roadside diners and possibly get killed by an derranged axe-wielding lunatic."

Washington growled at him. "Dear god I hate you." He muttered, and then glared at him, the scar on his forehead twitching, "The warthog's engine is desinged to run on any semi-combustable substance-besides-cold fusion reactors are highly radio active, and anyone who drank the coffee would most likely end up with radiation poisoning."

"I like coffee-it smells really nice, and it makes you go to the bathroom alot after you drink a lot of it." Caboose stated. This drew looks from everyone. "Wow." Was all that Wash could say to that. Donut chuckled, the pink trooper clapping a hand on his friend's shoulder. "Caboose," He said in a somewhat...femine voice. "You would you like to play the quiet game with me?"

"The quiet game!" He exlaimed enthusiastically. Caboose was like an enthusiastic three year old-"I love playing games..." Their helm-comms pinged, then each of them opened them-execept for maybe Caboose, who was looking around to try and find the source of the noise.

"S-Sarge!" Came the radio transmission, "Y-you need to come over here!" Sarge toggled his helmet. "What do you want dirtbag!" He heard the explosions-good; maybe whatever it was would kill him. "It's him! He's back!" They all paused a moment. "Wash here-who's back?" Washington was trying to get more info. "Ah leave him," Sarge grunted, checking his shotgun, "He can handle whatever it is." he toggled his radio off, indicating that the other two should do the same.

"Shut up sarge-who is it? Who's attacking you?"

An icy dagger plunged into his stomach as he received the reply

"All of you, let's go-now." Wash didn't give any of them time to protest as he grabbed his rifle and charged off. "Man, so agressive." Donut said, following after him. Sarge simply grunted and followed the pair. "Yay! We're going on a trip!" Caboose shouted.

xxxxx

A second figure watched in the distance-they had beaten her into submission-forced her to crawl like a maggot in the dirt-she had barely enough strength to pull herself together after what that bitch did to her. And now-it seemed a new foe and a golden opportunity had appeared.

It was time.

The awkened being spread her wings, and took flight.

xxxxx

"Why you-!?" Rachel brought her sword, dragging it along the ground as she prepped her strong sword-and abruptly had it parried, her oppenet giving a little ground. "Waa-!" Her oppenet suddenly forced her back, knocking her off her feet through sheer brute force. The remaining simulation troopers arrived with Wash. "Agent Maine?" The man turned towards them, and then began firing, scattering them.

"Damnit!" Miria snarled, signaling to others, "Spread out-don't give him a clear line of attack!" The claymores rushed him from all sides, their swords flashing...and were repelled. Maine dropped a large, rapidly expanding bubble of light-the claymore's slamming against it. Yet was a good sign in Miria's opinion-he had been forced on the defenesive. It meant they were gaining ground against their new opponet. "That's it everyone-keep the pressure on him!" She signaled to Helen indicating that she should hit him from a distance, and hard.

"OH YEAH!" Helen relased her yoki, extending her sword arm like a giant spear, aimed right for his heart...and felt the sensation of metal sinking into flesh. Her blade had passed clean through her target-hope surged through them-until..

A wave of yoki slammed into them, threatening to overwhelm them all-even the normal people there felt it. "What the-?" Confusion abounded-even the giant of a man they were fighting was given pause...

"No way." Someone said-Miria could've sworn it was her own voice. Something slammed into the ground, knocking Helen's extended arm away from the soldier and forcing her back.

"Now what!?" Wash growled as the sqaud pointed their weapons uncertainly in the direction of the dust cloud that had appeared in their midst. "Well, well, well," Said a cool, arrogant female voice, "What do we have here." It was humanoid in shape, clearly feminene-with tousled hair and wings sticking out of its back. Some kind of yellowed, hard plating, organic in nature, covered her body, forming a moving suit of armor for her.

A single, small horn stuck out of the top of her head. Her baleful yellow eyes darted alertly arround, taking stock of the situation. "My my," She said, seeing the human that her former comrades had being fighting, "How far my former sisters have fallen, if a mere human can overpower them." A smile crossed her lips. "Perhaps this will be even easier than I thought."

She raised her sword-one similar to those wielded by the claymores. "I think I'll start with you." The monster rushed Miria, bringing her sword down in a vicious chop-she knew she wouldn't be able to stop it in time-she tapped her yoki, releasing a burst of speed that had saved her many times in the past.

It wasn't enough. Pain lanced through her as blood blossomed across her chest from where the sword hit her. "Sis!" Helen shouted, making a move to attack-and was suddenly repelled as the white soldier recover from her attack and began firing on her. "Shit!"

"Open fire!" Wash ordered, rasing his own weapon-the assembled troopers began fring at both the one horned monster and Maine...

xxxxx

"It would seem that additional factors have come into play here we did not expect." The cool voice said, making rapid calculations and adjusting algorithms, "The appearance of the monster has decreased the odds of survival by 50%-for it seems hostile to both the simulation troopers and the native warriors alike. I would suggest a withdrawl for now-if it terminates the soldiers and native warrior, then retrieving the AI will be that much easier."

Maine hissed-he wanted it, wanted to increase his power-he needed more power, but for once, the voices inside his head were all urging him to run. He activated his opticamo unit, and fled.

xxxxx

The monster made a note of the soldier withdrawing. 'Interesting,' She thought, dancing around as series of small yet powerful projectiles hammered her, 'He must be hoping I'll do his dirty work for him.' She looked back to the humans, and smiled. "Perhaps I'll have meal on a later date-ta ta for now."

The she vanished.

"Dude-who the fuck was that?" Tucker asked, deactivating his energy sword, "And what did she mean-a meal on a later date." Wash shook his head, "I don't know, but she made Maine back off, which can't be good."

"She's an awakened being." Miria responded, sheathing her sword and grimaced at the movement, "She's known as Priscilla, the one-horned monster." She approached them, eyeing each and every red and blue there.

"And now-you have some explaining of you own to do." She glared specifically at Washington, "You seemed to know that man-so who was he." It was not a question, but a demand. Wash took a deep breath, and then replied.

"The Meta."

xxxx

Okay...yes I brought both the Meta and Prissy into play-so sue me...though it may seem a bit of an asspull.