Opener of the Way Chapter 4: First Contact, a godzilla fanfic

Chapter 4: First Contact

Though the Jackal Guards were far from Monster Island at this point there was still one vestige thing that Anubis sent out towards the island. From out at sea, a small avian like object was seen flapping its wings towards the island's interior as its pristine white chrome marked it a particularly stand out object of interest.

The bird itself appeared to be a robot eagle with LED light for eyes on its visor, the bird's wings flapped with a rhythmic 3 flaps move before gliding on the winds heading towards Godzilla Jr's den. The avian robot then landed on its feet hopping some meters towards the den's entry and peck on the stone to call out the residents.

As it pecked on the outside of the cave it eventually heard a loud rather guttural gurgle coming from within the darker space from within the cave. The next sound that came out of it sounded like large thunderous banging that came in a series of loud rumbling earth shaking thumps. Out of the cave came the kaiju known as Heisei Gojira Jr. Though much older, and now for some reason rather injured looking.

The scar he received from Kiryu a long time ago was normal by now. A signature mark on his chest that arched from the center of his sternum branching out across his rather muscular reptile pecs. Both covered in sharp spiky looking scales.

Though Across his chest a much more recent looking wound seems to be present. A still red and pink arch going from the top of the right side of his chest moving down to the bottom left. Almost like a lighting strike it seems deep and rather recent.

Not just that but the frill he was known from that made up his neck seems to be damaged. The spikes on both sides of the frill seems to be split, or out of alignment. Even across his neck some recently made scratch were seen.

On his head though he normally had a health looking appearance. Uniform scales and barely any damages. Though his long snout possessed some deep scrapes and cuts randomly etched into his charcoal black skin. His prominent smooth bows had some deep cuts in them with one cutting from the top of one brow slicing downwards on his face. Worse though it seemed to be over a red colored bloodshot eye while the other eye seems nice and clear with his regular light amber colored irises.

He looked at the robotic bird and frowned in a stern cautious manner. His lips rising upwards in a way to show his teeth more. The short fangs on front of his mouth becoming more clear while it appeared some of the teeth in his mouth had been bent or completely knocked out. He didn't seem to recognize the robot though, and he spoke in a rather average voice. Not too deep, an oddly young sounding. "The hell now?...What are you?" he said in a grumpy tone.

The bird hopped over towards Jr, as a small cylindrical tube appeared to come out of its chest and from within the tube, a scroll was popped out on the ground. The tube itself retracted into the robot bird's torso before it rolled out the scroll before Jr's face with its head. On the scroll's surface were Egyptian hieroglyphs in Hieratic writing of Anubis, the writings were a collection of confusing symbols and pictograms that Jr couldn't read until suddenly they glew bright as the star.

The writing began to morph into a holographic footage of Anubis speaking to Jr. "Greetings Jr. I must break my promise of leaving you be for I have something of concerns I thought best to warn you of. There is a foe of mine, a supernatural one that is able to manipulate humans against one another in Total Wars. I have chased them to my home land and the neighboring countries but I require your assistance should things go wrong. Follow this bird and he will lead you to me." Said the hologram as it dissipated leaving only the hieroglyphic pictograms on the scroll.

Jr stepped out of the comfort of his cave more seeing it was Anubis. He didn't have anyone to represent his currently mangled up body to. Thankfully his dorsal plates, sharp and trident looking with a jagged look pointing upwards behind him. Though the rest of his body seems to be wounded from some battle. Gravely almost. His thighs had some deep cuts in them. His arms damaged, and the sides of his body sliced up and still healing.

He huffed out to himself and shook his head. "Believe me. They will go so wrong for a lot of things. Dammit i'm still in bad shape. But he hasn't led me the wrong way. Yet." je said to himself pondering. He stepped out of his cave and shook himself out stretching his body.

"Ogra I have a thing I have to do… Just stay safe. Keep everyone in check. Do not go out at night…" Jr said. Though instead of walking into the forest he had other things on his mind. Or rather other kaiju. He turned right towards a forest of palms that led deeper into a thick jungle of green lush trees.

As Jr made his way into the interior of the island, the robot avian took off from the ground as it flapped its wings flying overhead of Jr following his footsteps. Soon enough, the bird was hovering over his shoulder as it landed on his shoulder, the place they were at was now at a stone den, one entrance on ground level and the other high up on the rock formation for avian type Kaiju.

Jr saw the bird following him and tried his best to keep it well in sight for the other two. Ground level on a rather flat mesa like mountain was another cave dug into the foot of the mountain. To the left was the avian type of roost with oddly enough a path leading upwards and a patio. Jr clear his throat out and shouted some words to get the other kaijus' attentions. "Rodan! Anguirus! Wake up! We'll all sore right now, but we got some trouble we need to take care of." Jr shouted before he turned his voice into a lower grumble under his breath. "Because we are the best at it…"

Out of the avian roost came the kaiju Rodan. A red colored pteranodon kaiju with green emerald eyes, drape like wings with yellow highlights at the bottoms of the wings and black highlights on the tops of his wings near his arms. His armored plated chest was an off dark yellow coloration. Though even he seemed to be injured. His armor plates breastplates and ab muscles seemed to have a deep lighting like cut down in them as well. Recent in fact. But nowhere near as bad as Jr's injuries.

Out of the ground based cave though came the brownish colored kaiju Anguirus. A rather short normally quadropedic kaiju with boeny colored spikes on a an armadillo like shell that pointed in random directions, some boney forward curved horns, and a nasal horn on his snout curved backward. A snout rather long in shape ending with some large nostrils and a mouth that had some fanged canines sticking out form the upper jaw.

Both of them looked down at Jr sighing with displeasure hearing something else was apparently brewing. Trouble that they did not start nor did they want to deal with yet as they all seemed to be licking deep wounds still etched into them very recently.

"Aw god dammit what's the big issue now? Undead stuff again? Oh god i hope not. Not yet. Godzuko's… Not ready. For that again." Anguirus said in a gruff voice.

"Not again! Get the god guys to do it! They are… well fucked as well, but I don't wanna be hot out of the sky again! Poor Rody can't take another beating! I'll be a good boy!" rodan pleaded.

The bird on Jr's shoulder continued pecking randomly on Jr's shoulder before zooming its optics at Rodan before zoom out to look at Anguirus. It fed information back to Anubis onboard the Tartarus as the bird recorded the conversation of the kaiju trio.

The bird then projected a holographic map of the globe showing them their current location in the Pacific Ocean, a blinking signal of the Tartarus showing how far it had gone. To their surprise the Tartarus was now approaching Port Said of Egypt next to the Suez Canal.

Jr looked to the map partly confused at first, but apparently understood it in some way. "I don't know what it's asking me guys. It's just showing where we are and a bunch of dots. Past India there and dried up desert." Jr said.

"Wait kid. What does it want from us. First of all. Second of all it looks like its pecking' at your dead scales. In with the new out with the old. And third those look like directions. A map you know. Uh. We goin' somewhere?" Anguirus asked.

Jr nodded though begrudgingly so as he looked to Rodan with displeasure on his face. "Yep. The jackal guy, Anubis, needs our help with something. Paranormal. He didn't say, but if it's the Undead already back we are going to bury them. Unfortunately i guess the gods can't do this themselves Rodan." jr stated.

To this though Rodan flapped his wings around both frightened and annoyed at the same time. "What!? Then what chance do we have?! We got blasted the last time when Teowulf came back! I'm still friggign sore mayn! H- he said paranormal. It not undead we don't have to go!" Rodan argued.

Jr though turned himself around and began walking disregarding Rodan's gripes already. "We are leaving. No one else but us. Not taking the risk. If something really hard comes then Rodan fly back here get some help." Jr ordered.

The robot bird would then extend its wings as it began to fly away from Jr's shoulder, heading west out towards the Pacific Ocean as it head Westward. Jr, Rodan and Anguirus would be prompted to follow it back to its master cross the Pacific and Indian Ocean in the process.

[hr]

Far from the Asian Pacific region and the Indian Subcontinent, on the shores of Egypt the night was still long as the young prowl the streets of Port Said as the mist of early morning haunt the place with the cold breeze of the desert. By the 2nd Mast of Port Said's Suez Canal, an anthropomorphic robot falcon was seen pacing back and forth on the pier.

He was sporting jet black chrome color with a white silo like crown on his head with a red hook on its front. On his side, he had a sword slung in its scabbard waiting for the Tartarus to arrive. Soon enough the cruise ship was arriving at the 2nd Mast of Port Said's industrial port.

Once the ship came to a stop by the pier with its causeway, extended out for disembarking the troops, Horus saw that Anubis was the first to come off the ship followed by his troops and Charlie following closely. "How did it go with your shopping spree?" Horus asked jubilantly as he leaned against a lampost. "Fine enough, got a number of hardware but don't expect them to be in large quantity." Anubis replied tersely as he came towards Horus.

"I wouldn't dream of it just yet, good news for us though, the Egyptian authorities of this realm still recognize their Gods though they may worship the Abrahamic Lord. They'll let us through since what choice do they have?" Horus stated to Anubis as the two brothers share their accomplishments, of course it didn't take long for Horus's words to take effect as they saw Humvees of Egyptian Army heading into the port. "Well well well, the welcoming committee has arrived." Said Anubis sarcastically as he crossed his arms. The humvees lined up and the passengers of the vehicles disembarked from their vehicles and came up to Anubis and Horus.

One of them was a slightly porky Egyptian army officer wearing a red beret on his head and Desert Camouflage uniform. He was seen with a green combat vest over his uniform to protect him from incoming fire with a name tag on his chest that said "Lt. Abdullah Faisal". "Are you in command of this particular Platoon?" Anubis asked him, to which the officer nodded.

"Yes sir, I am in command of these men, I must inform you that I don't take Gods in general seriously but the situation require me to accept it regardless." Said Lt Abdullah Faisal as he shook Anubis's hands. "Very well, I can't force the population of Egypt to worship me and my pantheon like 5000 years ago. But at the very least I can protect them." Anubis stated sternly to the Lieutenant who nodded to him and showed him to the Humvees waiting for him.

The convoy would soon drive the Jackal Guards Machimaoi off towards the Sinai namely towards a town named Arsinoe by the coast, following the humvees in the lead were trucks hauling the Egyptian troops under GDI command and Stryker transports ferrying the robots. Other trucks were seen hauling the massive hulking four arms robot jackals in a long convoy heading towards Arsinoe.

Belisarius and Arminius were inside one of the Stryker ICVs as the former Roman emperor turned robot warrior sat next to Charlie, who glanced around taking in the silent and oddly statuesque robots around him. He felt oddly out of place knowing that he was the minority of talkative individuals in Anubis's personal army. "So… anybody here a veteran?" He asked sheepishly expecting an answer.

"Negative, no combat units here have participated in any prior operations." Said a robot wolf sitting across Belisarius as it held its weapon in hands with both hands holding the barrel and weapons muzzle, resting the buttstock on the floor of the Stryker as the vehicle rumble across the desert road.

Belisarius turned to Charlie though and nodded his head. "More than a veteran actually. I served in the Roman military around 2000 years ago before being inducted as Rome's imperator. It was by popular demand. I really only cared for the welfare of the empire while the people were the ones who glorified me. Just a mortal and just a soldier. I feel the battlefield has been calling for me though. If not then why am I here right now?" Belisarius quipped dryly as he was rocked around by the vehicle as it traversed over desert.

"Well I guess I am the greenhorn then. The only greenhorn here." Said Charlie in a grim realization as the Stryker came to a stop by the town of Arsinoe, the rear ramp dropped down allowing the troops to disembark. He followed Belisarius and Arminius out of the Stryker ICV seeing the robots were moving into the ancient Egyptian settlement to make themselves at home by the abandoned Roman encampment.

"Set up our HQ in the Temple of Thoth there, and get some patrols out to survey the area as well." Anubis ordered the robots, sending his mechanical warriors into a flurry of activities as they unpack their communication equipment and satellite dishes on the roof of the temple of Thoth.

The inner courtyard where a large Banyan tree stood with its roots burrow deep into the ground was soon transformed into a makeshift Field HQ for Anubis while Charlie was busy helping Belisarius and Arminius dusting off the old beddings of the Roman fort. "I doubt these can stand our weights anymore." Said Charlie as the dust flew off of the wooden beds.

Belisarius seems to nod in agreement as he helped Arminius lift away some of the broken and worn out bedding around the temple. Each time he lifted away even a sheet a pack of spiders would scurry away while form the bedding themselves thick stringing mound of cobwebs hung from the floor and the sheets themes.

"Disgusting. I just assume this realm has less influence still form the gods. If they have forgotten about them. No we'd need to uplift this setting to make it even Ergonomic for the soldiers." Belisarius stated.

"Indeed, the mortals here need us just as Rome would." Said Arminius as he was removing some of the dirty furniture out of the temple with the other robots as they put together a military encampment with some basic communication and observation posts.

[hr]

Yet, not far from Arsinoe, out in the vast expanses of the Sinai trackless desert, vehicles were seen skirting across the desert sand, kicking up a trail of dust as they raced across the desert towards their objectives. "Maintain formation going into radio silence mode now. Jasper Section, break off and launch diversionary raid against enemy patrol." Said a raspy male voice on the radio.

"Affirmative command, Jasper section detaching now." As the order was heeded, about four buggies split off from the main group heading out into the desert close to the highway between Arsinoe and the Northeastern border between Israel and Egypt. They raced across the sand dunes in a wedge formation before fanning out along the road letting their passengers disembarked.

[hr]

Back at Arsinoe, the Jackal Guards have settled into the town with Belisarius and Arminius were resting with the other robots. They were not expecting much actions for the time being as the downtime made Charlie a bit anxious and nervous.

He sat down with the others polishing and cleaning his weapon. Disassembling and reassembling the weapon over and over again to kill time. The Lieutenant of the Egyptian Army was seen talking to Anubis as he was apparently heading towards the nearby Humvee.

"I've reported to my COs and higher ups, it would seem that you will be staying here until you deem fit to leave. We're told not to disturb you unless it's necessary for the time being." Said Lieutenant Faisal as he came to the door of the Humvee and entered the vehicle. "I wish you a safe trip to where your duty require. I'll be in touch." Anubis stood back and waved off the Lieutenant as his humvee was driving away from Arsinoe heading out towards the desert.

As the gathered Jackal Guards took a break for some R&R for themselves Belisarius watched as Charlie reassembled and disassembled his gun over and over repeatedly again and again noting his anxious behavior. "Worried about a possible ambush? It doesn't hurt to keep yourself relaxed once. It builds a more ready sharper mind. Keep your mind though prepared. Right now outside I wager our watchmen and defences should spot anything of suspicion. For now we have orders for R&R." Belisarius said as laid next to Arminius.

Arminius who was sitting on the ground crossed legs next to Belisarius too let out a sigh feeling an emptiness coming over him, a feeling of anxious desires for combat and actions so he wouldn't be driven insane by the inactions.

"If only we were first on watch, I'm sure we would see more of those assailants like the ones attacked us in Rome." Said Arminius but his wish was soon granted in a sudden when the radio they were guarding began to sound static and grainy before followed by the voice of the Egyptian Army soldiers calling for help.

"To anybody out there! This is Griffin 3-1, we've been ambushed- C-casualties! *Zzzzz* Need relief force now!" The voice of Lieutenant Faisal called out from the radio. "I need someone to get out there and rescue them now! Belisarius, Arminius, take a squad with you two and see to it!" Anubis ordered them on the coms as he dispatched a Stryker ICV transport to carry Belisarius, Arminius and Charlie with an attached squad of six other Robot Wolves.

Belisarius and the others quickly got to their feet. Of course Belisarius made a less than pleased look at Arminus feeling he just jinxed them. It didn't matter though now as Belisarisu got himself weaponed up and loaded onto the transport vehicles. "There's our trouble Arminius… it would have come sooner or later. But this is a lot sooner than expected. They don't seem to be waiting, or willing to wait." Belisarius spoke.

"Oh great here we go again." Charlie grumbled as he sat inside the cramped passenger compartment of the Stryker as the vehicle went out of Arsinoe heading north along the same highway as the Egyptian Humvee.

Along the way the squad members kept their calm composure, the robot ones only. Charlie was a bit anxious as the vehicle came close to the last known location of the Humvee, "Sighted transport vehicle of Egyptian Army Griffin 3-1 unit. Disembark infantry force."

"Affirmative, moving out now." One of the robot stated as they disembarked from the Stryker with the rear ramp lowered letting them out. Charlie ran out to the right hand side and immediately went prone with his bullpup assault rifle in hand aiming at the sand dunes scanning for targets. "The Humvee is but a wreck, I think I see the Lieutenant on the ground." Said Arminius as he pointed to the person lying on the ground with red beret on his head, clearly Faisal didn't have the best of luck.

"Damn." Belisarius grunted. He got himself up, but in a low crouch as he led the team of guards towards the wreckage. He stopped though suddenly and rose the back of his fist to his squad. He swirled his head back and forth scanning the desert and humming. "I sense an ambush. They expect us to come help the wounded. One we get close we could be swarmed ourselves. They are ruthle using the dead as a trap. I feel they are trying to use our will to help the wounded against us…" Belisarius warned.

His suspicion wasn't too far off as he would find, muzzle flashes were soon sighted along a sand dune ridgeline with a pair of light machine guns raining down on them from higher elevation.

The bullets pelted at the robots sending off sparks and ricochets while leaving them mostly unscathed from the incoming rain of lead. "Contact, hostile machine gunners, 300 meters 11 o'clock." Said one of the robot designated CLU-01192 as the robot dived to the ground and return fire with its assault rifle firing on full auto. Bursts were returned at the two machine gunners, kicking off sands to obscure their sights while the others move up.

"Contact, 12 o'clock enemy rifleman 150 meters." The robot wolf designation CLU-01189 called out targets as it crouched down open firing at the Viper Operatives hiding behind nearby bushes and palm trees.

The enemies would then return fire at the robots firing their A-91M rifles at them pelting bullets off of their armor. A grenadier of the Vipers fired off a grenade landing a direct hit on the chest of a robot wolf, the grenade exploded and leaving a large dent on its chest and a gaping hole that left the robot unit crippled.

The Viper forces clearly weren't ones to relent from a fight. Their ambush seems to be doing well for them as the Jackals were held to the ground trudging along through the desert slowly.

Belisarius though being more armored up and tankier got out of his own cover and immediately hurled himself towards the enemy Vipers using his agility and more well crafted body as a way to get closer to them.

His weapon of choice though for now was his own palm implanted laser which fired a singing hot beam of blue energy at the dunes creating a large enough explosive plume of dust to blind the Vipers temporarily as he moved in closer.

Once in optimal range he lept uwpards into the air. His thigh compartment to his right popped open before firing the hilt of his plasma sword out, and in mid air his right hand caught the sword causing a flame of cyan to shoot out form the hilt before solidifying into a sharp laser gladius.

He managed to land on one of the Vipers on the ground burying his heavy feet into the soldier's chest while his gladius stabbed into the soldier's chest. Even Belisarius seems stunned by his own ability to perform. Ut remarks seemed to be saved for later as he got up as quick as he could setting his eyes on the other Viper troops ahead of him. "Have at it! I'll see to it your entrance to the underworld will be quick. It's your choice if you want this apiless or not." Beliarius boasted in a stern almost angry battle fueled voice.

His troops would then make a sprint forward trying to catch up to him and protect their squad leader, the limping crippled robot made its last ditch effort to get inside the Stryker and resume opened the rear top hatch coming out of the passenger area to spot target. "Affirmative, target confirmed, engaging now." The Stryker gunner controlled the turret looking at the sight of an enemy AT Gunner carrying a large RPG-30 launcher on their back. The target was lit up by Charlie's laser designator mounted on the side rail of his rifle as the gunner opened fire on him immediately.

"Contact, 2 o'clock, enemy Machine gunners, target 200." One of their robots shouted as Arminius ducked down, crouching by the wrecked humvee and opened fire on the incoming enemies that were moving across the sand dunes.

His electronic eyes and combat HUD allowed him to zoom in on the target getting a better view at him as he opened fire. His HUD showed a series of arching trajectories of his bullets as they flew out of his weapon's barrel. "I've got him!" Arminius shouted as he reloaded his weapon, he discharge the expended ammo drum and placed it on his utility belt mount and grabbed the next drum to reload his weapon.

"Heads up I'm seeing more of them coming our way, aww man, there's 4 buggies and I think they got miniguns mounted!" Charlie stated out as he dived to the ground to take some potshots at the buggies, targeting the drivers first.

The fast moving angular buggies with hexagonal digital camo patterns swiveled and made dodging maneuvers to confuse his aims however as they rolled onto the dunes and around bushes and palm trees before opening fire on Belisarius with their Miniguns.

Some of the minigun shots hit Belisarius on his chassis barely doing anything. Scratching the paint work on his body, but as he was fired upon he made off running to cover. Or at least attempting to since the coverage of the area was limited. It seemed to him he needed to tank it out. His body seemed well capable of doing so already. "What else do i have in this arsenal? What's useful to me?" he quickly asked to himself as his HUD display a list of weapons to him.

An important one being the should missile packs built into shoulders. Instantly after selecting them his shoulder panels opened up and fired a large barrage of missiles that hisses flinging through the air almost like a swarm of angered bees heading towards the convoy of buggies. Belisarius stood and watched at his body's power still getting himself used to what it held for him.

The missile swarms found their targets after gaining altitude in the air and slamming down on the fragile buggies, blowing them apart sending the vehicles flying into the air before falling to the ground burning husks and the crew crawling out writhing in pain.

Other Viper troopers were seen firing their weapons recklessly at Arminius and Charlie as the rest of the squad and the Stryker moved up flushing out the ambush forces. "They're suicidal, they didn't even plan an escape route for themselves." Said Arminius in a suspicious tone, noticing how the enemies stubbornly held their ground and fought to the bitter end. "Do you think they're here to just to piss us off for the lulz?" Charlie asked confusedly.

One of the Viper troopers ran up to a robot wolf designated CLU-01188 and detonated a large packs of explosives he was carrying, the blast sent the robot lupine falling on its back rolling on the sand dune with severe charred sections and damages on its chassis.

"CLU-01188 combat diagnostic, suffered severe damages to combat chassis. Request immediate salvage and evacuation." The robot transmitted its request verbally as it struggled to pick itself up crawling slowly towards the Stryker ICV.

Belisarius took note of the injuries, and fell back after seeing CLU-01188 fallen. He pounded his feet across the desert sands as he ran over to help the robot wolf. He reached his arms out and wrapped a massive hand around one side of the robot on one of the sides before hoisting it upwards. All of that without stopping his momentum in his dashing bilites.

"Do we have any medical personnel on site with us currently? We have some fallen with us right now! Keep them suppressed! They'll more than likely run into battle if they are truly suicidal. Let them come into the fire of bullets!" Belisarius ordered as he darted his vision around looking for any medical utilities.

As he looked around he saw the Stryker vehicle that was fighting alongside them dropped the rear ramp down allowing him to place the wounded inside the vehicle for safeties.

The other wounded robot with a hole on its chest was inside the Stryker firing out of the vehicle's top hatch to ward off the enemies. "Deposit damaged combat unit inside, we will conduct MEDEVAC back to base." The robot wolf on the top hatch stated to Belisarius as he used his rifle to cover the tankier robot.

Belisarius acknowledged, and set down the partly beaten up robot down while grumbling to himself. "We should probably call a tactical retreat while we still have a chance to do so. I don't think these soldiers are ones to let their enemies run off with mercy. They'll butcher us." Belisarius said with a mouthful of disgust in his voice. He turned around and saw how the battle was.

He saw that the robots of his squad were retreating to him as they fan out to form a diamond formation to keep the enemies off. Charlie the robot arctic wolf, the one stood out the most from the group was seen dragging the deceased human Lieutenant away from the wrecked humvee towards the Stryker. Once he was near enough, he picked the Lieutenant up in his hands and brought him inside the Stryker and laid him down on his back respectfully. The robot wolves would then embark on the transport one by one with Arminius covering their entry before getting onboard himself with Belisarius.

"Phalanx, this is Hoplite we've encountered hostile forces ambushing Griffin 3-1 patrol. They're all dead, we managed to retrieved Lt. Faisal in the process but we've sustained two wounded, Over." Charlie reported to Anubis as the Stryker ICV rolled its wheels back away from the ambush site heading home to Arsinoe.

On the communication network, Anubis's voice was heard calling to them apparently acknowledging the urgency of the situation. "Hoplite-6 Romeo, understood loud and clear. RTB immediately for refit. We'll launch a second combat recon patrol within the hour to hunt down the rest. Stay sharp out." Anubis's voice was rather grainy and static like over the radio but was still carrying the vigor and flare of leadership he had from his youth commanding the earlier incarnation of the Jackal Guards.

"Roger. You heard him. Pull back. Well get them next time." Belisarius stated in a less than pleased voice as he stayed inside of the Stryker. He placed a couple of fingers between his eyes and let out a deep sigh feeling the intensity of the last battle weigh him down. "I wasn't expecting their soldiers to be so careless yet so ruthless without a sign of mercy within them. For those they fight or even themselves. My abilities were not enough." Beliarius said.

"Neither do I, but that's war. Like the time when we were in training for the Legion. We could afford our own equipment, trained amongst our peers but until we face real combat, we are but greenhorns." Said Arminius as he let out a sigh sound, his mechanical lungs expand and contract as he inhale and exhale, his HUD showed various informations on the air, chemical make ups that he wouldn't be familiar with until now. It was odd but one insight that he would welcome.

[hr]

Once the Stryker was back to base in Arsinoe and parked alongside other Strykers, Anubis saw the vehicle's rear ramp dropped down letting the Robots offload. Two of them were seen carrying the battered unit out to the nearest designated repair station.

Another was carrying Lt. Faisal off the vehicle to be buried while Arminius, Belisarius and Charlie were getting off of the Stryker vehicle with ammo casings expended the floor of the vehicle being filled with shell cases of expended cartridges. But nowhere was the sight of discarded ammo drums showing cautious economics from the robots.

As Belisarius stepped off he bowed his head respectfully to Anubis and cleared out his throat upon reporting to him. "We did what we could. It turns out Viper are insane. Each soldier I encountered were not in the slightest deterred by my own abilities or even with me charging right into their comfort zones. We need a new strategy." Belisarius said.

Anubis nodded to Belisarius as he glanced over seeing Faisal being hauled off on a stretcher and a blanket over his body. "May the Hidden One walked you to the Afterlife. The Lord of the Duat awaits." the Jackal Deity conduct a funerary rite on the deceased mortal as he was being brought away before looking back at Belisarius.

"No doubt that they wouldn't mind blowing up monuments and commit war crimes for the fun of it. Don't take prisoners the next time." Said Anubis with a sigh while Charlie gulped thickly hearing his "Father" in a more grim tone on the battlefield.

Even Belisarius felt the words coming from Anubis's mouth were much more foreboding to these adversaries in particular. Though he nodded taking these words for truth. "Noted. I doubt they want mercy regardless. In any case we should set up a defensive barrier here if they have indeed followed us. But we need a serious change in strategy." Belisarius said.

"I'll see what can we do to whittle them down. For now you three are to head for Refit. It's to the West wing of the Temple." Said Anubis as he ushered the trio off to their refit place, leaving him to contemplate in the Courtyard of the Temple as he knelt down before the large Banyan tree of the Temple of Thoth.

The Tree of Life as it would be called due to its age and greenery in the arid land. He closed his eyes and exhaled a deep breath as the desert wind of the evening blew over him, rustling the leaves and branches. His meditation continued as he soon felt something odd, something gnawing at him like a hungry lion picking on its meal.

He opened his eyes and felt that something passed through him, a transparent apparition made from countless particles of sunlight, an anthro canine warrior looking identical to Anubis in appearance and proportion, the only difference he could tell was the bow and arrow quiver on its back.

The apparition placed his hands on the Tree's bark before disappearing instantly without a word. "What in the name of…? Who was that?" Anubis pondered feeling perplexed by the sight of the apparition.

[hr]

For Arminius and Belisarius, the most luxurious thing they had in their lives were palaces and country villa earned from services in the Legion. But here, back to basics, the most they can ask for was a fairly spacious tent. The place was staffed by two or three jackals who have yet to be augmented, the rest were automated robot arms working on damaged robots repairing their chassis, replacing damaged components and synchronize their data caches.

Belisarius and Arminius were standing next to one another with robot arms prying out bullets lodged into their bodies and muscles, others reform dented portions of their armor and welded new plates on them and repaint their chassis. At the end of the process they were having their bodies waxed and polished sparkling shiny like a new car.

Inspecting himself Belisarius nodded his appreciation to those who had fixed him up. He felt a lot more healthy mentally despite many of the damages being armor or surface damage. No real damages of serious one were taken by him.

"This is better. I was looking much worse for wear from Viper's relentless actions. Some of you however have not undergone the transformation into a mechanized form though. I find this strange, but I respect the decision regardless. If you are specifically medical staff." Belisarius said as he helped himself up. He then turned himself around to face Arminius to hoist him up with the grip of his hand.

"My thanks old friend, I'm starting to like this mechanical body a lot already and the treatment here no doubt earns Anubis's army their reputation." Said Arminius as he got up with Belisarius's hands helping him. He was now a sparkling shiny robot with purple coat of pain.

In fact Belisarius could see his own reflection on Arminius's body due to how well polished he was. "Shame that we'll get dirty again soon but then again it makes the treatment here much more desirable." Arminius commented as he got out of the tent with Belisarius.

As they did, high up in the sky, a Chimera drone was loitering around the Suez Canal area and it was zooming it's camera on the Arsinoe Temple of Thoth. The IR night vision camera mode of the drone picked up Belisarius and Arminius walking about in the temple's ground with the robots working on each other, tending to their wounded, building up defensive, setting up traps, sensors and maintenance for their vehicles as more and more of them soon arrived from the Suez Canal Port Said area.

The lone drone being controlled by the GDI had Joe watching the surveillance footage behind an operator almost micromanaging his work. Though with how large and bulky the man was it wasn't easy to maintain a sense of calmness with him literally over his shoulder. "Okay those two I think they're higher in command than the rest of em. We get any word about the situation there?" Joe asked.

However, the UNKCC portion of the operation were also in on this. Though not the military counter terror portion. Rather the kaiju countermeasures force were monitoring something else with the head person of the operation busy.

The person being Scot Osborn. Wearing an Atlanta hawks hat, a pair of aviator shades, a grey mustache rather darker skin tone for a caucasian, and a well pocketed vest over some navy blue fatigues. He seems to be busy taking a call from someone else.

"Tokyo base is calling. Can't really give you a status update on the human situation there, but I can give you this. We got three kaiju on the move to that exact location you're currently monitoring. And boy is Jr in that group moving fast. He must have been set off by the incursion a few weeks ago by our devil Rex enemy. Keep an eye on how your robotic army will react to about a 100,000 tons and added weight of kaiju muscle coming in from the sea. They look to be arriving to the Red Sea going for the Gulf of Aden. Arabian Sea probably feels really nervous right now with them in the waters." Osborn said in a calm voice.

Joe looked back to the monitor squinting in confusion by the turn of events. "Maybe they know something we don't. They could be aftering Diablosaurus. Unless this is something new. Part of me wants this to be a new issue..." Joe said watching the jackal Guards activities still.

As they watch and monitor the Jackal Guards going about their activities, gearing up their weapons and equipment, he noticed something odd coming up to the camp, a convoy of HEMTT Oshkosh trucks, 6 of them with an additional convoy of Stryker vehicles were heading towards the area of Arsinoe in the Sinai.

From the cold sterile green tinted screen he saw from one of the trucks, various Robot jackals and wolves were disembarking from the vehicles and began their occupation of the town, setting up their motor pool and vehicle maintenance depot.

However, one thing caught his eyes, one of the truck seems to have a robot Jackal that was oddly… cartoonish in appearance, the robot hopped off and was escorted by two taller bots to meet with Anubis who was seen talking to his son Charlie by some buggies.

"My lord, the prototype has arrived as ordered." One of the robot jackal escorting the "Prototype" stated to Anubis, catching his attention and Charlie's own. "Ah excellent, leave us. Are you ready to serve?" Anubis asked the robot that was being presented to him.

The robot knelt down before Anubis and Charlie, bowing his head obediently and replied in a robotic baritone. "Affirmative my lord it would be an honored. LU-C4510 Field Command unit at your disposal." The robot stated to Anubis, before the eyes of anyone who was watching, the robot appeared to be a blue chrome Jackal like machine with four dreadlock hanging on the back of its head.

Its eyes were red LED optics, much to the bizarre realization of some personnel in Mother Base who were operating the drone, it was a robot Lucario, a mechanical Pokemon in Anubis's service. "Rise, I shall have you lead our forces in the Fields of battles. Do not fail them, for you are their shepherd in the thick of fire and steel." Said Anubis in a rather religious oration as LU-C4510 raised his head and nodded.

Anubis however was stroking his chin thinking about something before stating his thoughts. "Come to think of it you need a name. Leandros then, seeing that it's easy to remember." Hearing this the robot stare blankly at Anubis and Charlie for a moment as its red HUD registered his name verbally and saved it to the hard drive. "Affirmative, Unit Leandros received and registered designation. Thank you for your blessings." Said the robot.

Walking by the surveillance area, Nicolas Williams of the UNKCC Rangers currently had his eyes caught by the sight of the robot designated as Leandros. In his right hand was a soap holder with a white straw.

Even after seeing the odd sight of a franchise character roboticized and place onto a serious battlefield he kept sucking his drink through the straw thinking of what to say by the bizarre thing.

"Uh. Is that a Pokemon? Is it? Is that a- what the fuck- is that a fucking pokemon he's using to fight now? What is he doing and why is he doing it?" Nicolas said after finishing his sip of soda. "He's watching too many cartoons. Look it looks like he has one next to him now!" Nicolas said.

The others in the room passed this off as one of his quips though she gave off at times when dealing with anything he deemed odd. "Yes Nick we see the robot too. Don't you think the whole situation here is bizarre? An actual god using a robot army to his work?" Joe asked in a dry voice causing Nick to take another sip of his soda before answering. "I remember when he was using souls and stuff still with ancient armor on. Yeah those were good times."

"I wish he stick to it too sir. Just saying, since it was weird enough but fits his hallmark." Said one of the operator with a nervous sheepish tone as he saw the robot being led by Anubis and Charlie to meet up with some other squads.

They saw that the robots there gearing up with about two squads arming their bullpup assault rifles, some other robots were seen packing M240Bs LMGs picked up from GDI Armory along with ammo belts fitted into ammo boxes tucked on their belts.

Arminius was present there sporting one of the FAMAS like Bullpup Assault Rifle that was standard issued to the Jackal Guards, his version however had a grenade launcher attached under the barrel, the grenade launcher itself was similar to the M230 40mm grenade launcher in appearance and operational mechanism.

The others around him carry mostly identical weapons, only one carried an M21 Marksman Rifle while another appeared to have a metal backpack on its back, Belisarius and Arminius's HUD would denote this one as the Field Mechanic to repair damaged bots to an extend.

Belisarius noted some of the new hardware on the field would help with the medical needs and damages of the robots. "What is the status of the one I pulled out myself? I think it was CLU-01188. How fast can they each get repaired here compared to, well, the more biological ones such as me and Arminius?" Belisarius asked.

"Estimated repair time, 4 hours sharp. CLU-01188 combat damages and experiences will have him promoted to lead small elements." The robot mechanic stated dryly to Belisarius as it was holding its rifle. Unlike other bots, the mechanic seems to have a dark navy blue chrome color armor with white panel lines on its body and highlights.

"Belisarius, Arminius, I need to introduce you to our new Field Commander. He'll delegate orders and objectives to you in the thick of battles." Anubis stated to Belisarius and Arminius as he gestured their attention towards the robot Lucario named Leandros. "Most peculiar design you've made thus far." Said Arminius.

Belisarius nodded in agreement to this looking over Leandros. Namely the canine snout seems to be a lot rounder and needed off ant a router head. Larger red eyes and the round and yet larger dreadlocks behind his head. "Indeed. He is not like canines I have seen before, and he seems to deviate much from what I have seen so far. Especially that… hairstyle?" Belisarius asked confused looking at the dreadlocks.

"I'll explain later when we have time. For now you two get going with the others, our SIGINT caught the Vipers holding out by a town nearby they're using its mosque and tower as an observation point to call in airstrikes on the Egyptian army in the region." Said Anubis as he gestured for them to board a Stryker ICV with Charlie following them.

Leandros in turn was seen sitting inside a Humvee with a Stryker CV (Command Vehicle) with slat armor on it and a remote control turret. Inside the Stryker CV, Leandros was apparently equipped with computer terminals, Hubs for the robots LAN and Internet connections.

There Leandros sat down and grabbed the nearby USB wire and jacked its port into the outlet on the back of his head, he leaned back against his seat as the Stryker CV rolled out with two more Stryker vehicles, one ICV and an MGS. Charlie and Arminius felt that Leandros was tapping into them as their HUDs flashed with an announcement box stating "Command Unit delegated. LU-C4510 Leandros Authenticated, Battlefield Control Online." The box stated, as they felt Leandros was connected to them via wireless communication network and a shared 3D topographical map display of the region.

"Hmm. interesting. It looks like we'll all be seeing the same data with this system. No information left out between anyone on the battlefield." Belisarius said sitting within the CV. Though less anxious now knowing the forces would be more connected. Even better for him seeing less pressure was sitting on his shoulders now for command. Though he still felt the mission success was in his hands. His words were still critical.

"All combat units, dismount and assume combat positions, enemy forces sighted dug into the town, be on alert for civilians being held hostage." Said Leandros as the Stryker vehicles stopped in their tracks and fanned out.

The rear ramps dropped down letting the squads dismount from the vehicles, Arminius was seen hopping off with Belisarius and Charlie, the other vehicle dismounted an additional 9 robot jackals as they fanned out protecting each others.

"Alpha Squad, take up offensive formation, Bravo Squad assume overwatch position on the dune nearby." Leandros stated mechanically lacking any vigors of Anubis but the robots heeded and execute their general orders nonetheless.

Charlie and Arminius followed Belisarius and their fellow robot wolves into a wedge formation as they came up on the sand berms looking at the sleepy Egyptian town in front of them. The settlement appeared to be a more modern one with paved highway, convenient stores on the outskirts and open air market in the middle of town along with a gas station.

Seeing the rather normal town ahead of them the quietness of the place sent a rather cautious shudder down Belisarius spine. A bad feeling sat in the pit of his mechanical stomach knowing something was off. "Okay move up. Stick to cover, and mind the fueling station. If that's what that it indeed is. Its seems this place has come a long way since horse and chariots." Belisarius stated as he moved up from the sand going to the nearest gap to find a way into the town. Though his eyes were locked on the ground for any type of defensive traps. "Mind for land mines or any trap. They'll hunt us if we pull anything." Belisarius warned.

"Surprise motherfuckers!" came the voice of a slightly high pitched male operator with an insane tone to himself, no doubt that this was one of Vipers own. In front of their electronic optics, the Viper troops sprung up from the sand that they buried themselves in with their bullpup A-91M rifles in hand, two of the Vipers were seen carrying 6P41 PKP Pecheneg LMGs. They fired on the robots furiously only to have their bullets bounce off or ricochet off elsewhere.

Arminius seeing this fired his grenade launcher on the enemies, blowing them off of the dune that they were occupying. "Veni, Vidi, Vici." Arminius stated as he reloaded his grenade launcher. Once they were on the dune seeing the gas station and various apartment blocks in front of them, the enemies who were dug in and hidden from them were now opening fire on the incoming robot wolves and jackals.

"Well at least we didn't technically blow our covers." Charlie sarcastically stated as he dolphin dived down to the ground and crawl on his stomach, he return fired at distant enemies trying to pop them off from a distant but finding his weapon lacking in range. The Stryker MGS vehicle came up next to them on the highway and began to open fire on the apartment block with its HE shell, blowing up the 4th floor of the first apartment block.

Belisarius then got up and began to return fire though frustrated the cover had been made null so quickly by the Viper's advanced deamors and tech. After the 4th floor's dust had settled he began to open fire on any straggling enemies keeping Anubis's words in his mind about no prisoners. Likely the Vipers would not given him or the other any type of mercy. Possibly even worse.

His gun rattled loud cackling bullets fligning into the floor dropping several vipers as he began to move up again. Though with the possible civilian presence his shoulder rockets were less of an option. Rather he took his other weaponry to account selecting his plasma firing palm and immediately fired a beam of hot laser energy to anything in front of him. "What else am i permitted to use here. I've already phased out use of the rocket shoulders for reason. The Strykers will provide enough destruction here as is." Belisarius commented.

True to his assessment, the Stryker MGS was firing off another round into the next apartment block, blowing through the enemies hiding on the 5th floor of the second apartment. The MGS vehicle then began to roll its wheels heading closer to the town while Charlie and Arminius were following Belisarius as they work through the town.

It soon dawned on them that the town was too large for a small squad like them and Bravo Squad to handle. Although they were robots, their lack of number may leave them vulnerable to the enemy ambushes or let them slip through their fingers.

Charlie tapped on his right ear and called up Leandros while crouching down behind Arminius for security. "Thorax this is Hoplite, we need immediate reinforcements, the town is too large for us to take on our own." Leandros on the network replied to him with a mechanical tone acknowledging his concerns and request.

"Affirmative Hoplite. Reinforcements dispatched to your AO, callsign Leonidas and Themistocles, they will block off enemy escape routes to the East." the robot Lucario stated to them as the robot squad began to make their way down the streets of the town, they saw additional Vipers were firing on them from the Police Department and Mosque of the town as the Stryker ICV and MGS were lurching up to assist them in urban combat.

Seeing the police department over run with viper troops already signaled to Belisarius the mortal police and combat forces were helpless on their own. Or only the playing for time. Thinking the worst for the officers of the department, but not wanting to cause any more unnecessary destruction he pulled out his laser gladius again and dashed towards the building. Only using car and his bulk as well as his speed to avoid the hail of bullets.

His bulk however caused many car roofs to become caved in if indeed he did hop over them. However, after getting closer to the police station he used the gladius to chop and slash through many of the vipers standing in his way.

His agility, combined with sturdy construction of his robot body managed to throw the Vipers out of their defensive works, on the ground, any foes unlucky enough to come up against him got themselves disemboweled while their other comrades were quickly picked off by Charlie's marksmanship.

Arminius seeing Belisarius in the thick of the action quickly drew his own laser gladius and dashed towards the enemies. His feet cratered the road as he flung forward and decapitated the head of a Viper Grenadier. He kicked the headless corpse flying into the nearby pack of foes and fired his palm mounted laser cannon at them, killing them in a single shot.

As they were pushing the enemies back from their defensive works, the Vipers ran back to the Mosque, detonating various explosives rigged around the town, leveling most of the place to block their axis of attacks. "Hoplite, this is Leonidas, we're set up on the Eastern side of town. Providing sniper support and overwatch to you now." The robots of Leonidas Detachment informed them over the radio as they were heard firing their long range sniper rifles piercing concrete blocks and blowing enemies to bloody gory bits.

Charlie himself was now leading the charge with other robot wolves heading towards the Mosque, firing off potshots at any Vipers that popped their heads up. "They haven't blown up the Mosque, let's hope they won't have the time to do that." Said Charlie as he crept forward with the other robots as they came up to the entrance of the Mosque.

Belisarius at the door held the back of his hand up to the other robots behind him before pointing two hands forwards. "Let's finish this. Expect them to have tear the place to shreds, and expect the worst of each of them." Belisarius stated before kicking down the door of the mosque.

With that moment he stunned the rest of the Vipers using the rockets from his shoulders to fire barrage at anything remaining to the best to his ability filling the mosque full of scattered missiles that filled the air full of smoke.

The Vipers inside the place began to dash around, ducking behind pillars and overturned furniture to return fire at Belisarius and Arminius as they were the most stood out of the pack. The other Jackal and Wolves began to flank around the grand assembly hall and opened fire, popping headshots one after another as they pushed deeper in and deeper into the Mosque.

As they engaged the enemies, the Vipers apparently weren't giving up as expected, they fought to the bitter end, hurling grenades and even improvised weapons at the attackers, in the process, some robots were damaged and had to be taken out of the Mosque while Charlie continue the charge with Belisarius and Arminius. By the time the clock struck 3 in the morning, the gunfire fell silent, the town was secured but at a heavy cost. The place was destroyed by rigged explosives, the Mosque was back in the Egyptian Army hands. But for Belisarius and Arminius, this was but a taste of the brutality and swiftness of Mechanized modern warfare.