I don't own these characters; Disney does. I do own Trin and Shin. Ryujin and Mirage belongs to YogurthFrost; this story is also based on a concept and several pictures by YogurthFrost.
9: Berserkers
Ryujin was sitting with Kim when he was contacted about the situation involving Junior's forces making moves toward one of the refugee islands. Thankfully, the call came to an earpiece that he wore instead of to his open kimmunicator. When the communication ended, he noticed a pair of intense olive eyes on him and for a brief moment he could believe that he was in the presence of a true legend.
The look in her eyes was like those of an invincible demi-god. He actually felt slight shiver of fear, as if she could see the truth without him having to speak a word of it. Making things more incredible was the fact that Kim did not look away when he met her eyes. She continued staring, like his own intensity was nothing compared to her own.
"Something going on?" Kim asked.
"Nothing too serious. Just a normal day at the office around here. Come, we have to be going," Ryujin replied, doing his best to act as if everything was as calm as they had been in the past few days.
"Where are we going?" Kim inquired.
"I'm going to take you some place safe. Aunt Trin and Shego should be there just to make sure you're secure," he explained quickly.
Kim was not sure what he meant, but she followed him out of the room anyway. Of course, she followed him with a slightly suspicious glint in her eye, which he ignored as best he could. He had to assure himself that she could not read minds.
Walking down the hallway, she noted that everyone seemed to be moving a little brisker than they usually did. Obviously something was up, but she could not figure out what. She decided to hold her questions, knowing how Ryujin felt when she started getting specific in her curiosity. She would ask Trin what was going on.
"What's the sitch?" Kim asked as soon as they arrived at the small, comfortable sitting room. Trin, Wade, and Shego were already there and waiting.
Shego glanced at Trin, figuring it was safer if the blond did the talking when it came to Kim. Trin nodded and stepped over to her sister. Kim tensed a bit, especially when Trin put a hand on her shoulder. She was still getting used to the touchy-feely Trin.
"Something wrong?" Kim inquired.
"We have to go to battle right now and we all think it's in your best interest to stay behind," Trin stated bluntly. She did not see the point and did not have the time to sugar coat the message, which was essentially, "Kim, you can't come and help."
"Stay behind? Why would I want to do that?" Kim asked with an expression of twisted confusion.
"It's not about what you want to do. It's about what's in your best interest. You're still far from top shape and you've never been to war, Kim. It isn't pretty," Trin replied in a grim tone.
"You're saying I can't handle it?" Kim demanded. The affronted frown that conquered her features was something quite new to everyone in the room.
"Yes," Trin said, completely composed and almost cold. She did not care how she was coming across. She just wanted Kim to know that she needed to stay behind. "We're going to have someone escort you back to your room. Stay there until one of us comes and gets you," the blond ordered.
"Don't move," Shego added in a menacing tone with a heated glare. Blue eyes looked back at her, silently scolding her for opening her mouth, before turning back to Kim. The redhead bristled and stood just a little sharper than before.
"Don't challenge Shego right now by trying to prove her or me wrong. You won't be able to handle the battle," Trin tried to assure her sister.
"You don't know that," Kim argued in a heated tone. She glared at both the blond Possible and Shego.
"I do know that. I've seen the medical examine results, after all. So, stay here and don't try to be a hero just yet," Trin commanded, pointing down at the floor.
"Or again," Shego grumbled, earning glares from both Possible women now.
Trin decided to cut the conversation short before Shego challenged Kim any further. Pointing to the ground again, she silently reinforced her command of where her sister needed to remain. After that, farewells were said to Kim and the group made hasty exits.
"What the hell was that about?" Trin demanded from their leader. She slapped Shego in the shoulder.
"What?" Shego asked in an almost frivolous manner.
"Do you want her to follow us? Is that it? You want her sneaking out onto that battlefield and seeing just what's going on?"
"No, which is why I told her to stay behind," Shego argued.
"Shego, Kim is not one of your subjects nor is she a part of your inner circle. She still thinks of you as Shego, Drakken's sidekick. She isn't going to take kindly to being ordered around by you. We'll be lucky if she doesn't find someway to see what's going on and then blame us for all of this," Trin pointed out.
"She wouldn't dare! Wade and Ryu have been making sure she's up to date on who did what in the War," Shego motioned to the two aforementioned men.
"Honestly, she still seems a bit confused on what's going on. Her mind really hasn't completely wrapped around the whole idea of the world being totally different and devastated. She might not see this as we'd like her to see it," Wade informed the green-skinned woman.
"You mean to tell me that Kim would side with Junior over us in this shit?" Shego asked incredulously.
"No, but she might not be as willing to believe that we're trying to do the right thing. That you're trying to do the right thing," he answered.
Shego sucked her teeth. "Damn it all. Battle stations!" she called, if only to end the discussion. The group quickly broke apart on that note.
-8-8-8-8-
Kim could hear all of the clangor outside of the room, figuring that everyone was rushing off to fight. The sound of heavy boots marching by the door gave her what she felt was a brilliant idea. Going to the door and watching as uniformed soldiers marched by, she slipped out and began swiftly lifting pieces from soldiers as they went by. By the time each soldier realized a piece of the uniform, Kim had already vanished from their line of sight.
"Who's not in top shape?" Kim remarked with a proud smile, hiding behind a corner and dressing in the soldier uniform of tan fatigues. Now, all she had to do was find a line of troops to hide in and she would be on her way. It was not hard to do and she found that claiming that she was new stopped any and all questions about why they had never seen her before. She guessed that they had a lot of new soldiers coming in.
Kim ended up transport on a plane that flew out moments after she found a unit to hide in. The trip was mostly quiet with many of the soldiers checking their gear. Guns and rifles were everywhere with huge clips and Kim could only wonder the caliber of the bullets.
"Something like that could tear through a truck, forget about a human," Kim muttered to herself, taking in sight of the largest hand-held firearm she had ever seen.
"Damn, Terwin, is that the newest model?" a soldier inquired, nodding toward the weapon.
"It is. I just got assigned it yesterday. Load told me that if I break it, he'll break my skull." The statement was made with a laugh.
"You're testing it?"
"Glad to be a guinea pig, especially if this shit does what Load said it would do. Put those damn Legions in their place. Fucking hive of bitches."
"Let's just hope the Bebes haven't been updated."
"Shit, we're screwed then."
That thought halted any further conversation and more efforts went into checking equipment. Kim was sure that one of the soldiers actually turned white. Glancing around, she noticed how much they were sweating already and she knew it had nothing to do with the amount of equipment they were carrying around or the heat of the packed aircraft.
"Get ready for the drop!" With that, Kim was sure several others went pale and a couple of guys even threw up. One man even started to cry. Kim felt like it was D-day.
-8-8-8-8-
"Wade, give us a visual and update us all on the situation," Shego commanded through her communication device. She was having a conference call with all of her major generals; Wade, DNAmy, Trin, and Shadow Hand. They were flying into the situation on separate aircrafts with their own specialized units.
"Shadow Hand ninjas should be arriving first. They're handling the western block, where most of the Bebes appeared and where we've been housing the sick and injured refugees. It seems that they're burning the medical buildings, as always," Wade reported. It took a lot to not sneer because of Junior's cowardly tactics.
"Give me new news then, Wade," Shego ordered, biting back her own sneer. Even at her lowest, she had never gone after sick or injured people.
"The Bebes are rampaging through the new arrivals also instead of taking them captive. The eastern part of the island looks like a fog of poison gas," Wade informed her.
"Trin," Shego said.
"I'm on it."
"Amy, take the Rhinos and hit the western part of the island. I want the Ninjas to have a way to get any survivors out of there!" Shego barked. "Northern end of the island?"
"Bebes are pushing through there, destroying the villages and rounding up prisoners. Anyone in no shape to move, it looks like they're being killed right away. Most of the people seem to have already been wiped out," Wade answered, sending the latest images to every general.
"Shit, what the fuck is Junior playing at, killing almost everyone?" Shego wondered aloud. "I'll dive-bomb the north with Shadow Hand. Try to save as many as we can and we'll force the Bebes to middle and converge on them there. Axillary troops are on the way?"
"Of course. The plane should be landing in less than two minutes. Do I have the south then?"
"Yes, and make sure you use the communications tower to try to cut off the Bebes contact with the East's electronics."
"I know how to do my job, Shego."
"Then do it!"
"You want me to use the Axillary?"
"I want you to take as many as you need and then send the rest to the fucking sick bay. It's a bunch of kids over there for God sakes! What the hell is Junior thinking?"
"Maybe he just wants to rattle us and you have to admit, it's working."
"He's a goddamn monster," Shego snarled.
Wade did not argue that point and the communication was ended. Everyone went to their tasks. Shego turned her attention to Shadow Hand.
"Ready to waste some Bebes?" Shego inquired with a smirk.
"I take no pleasure in killing anything, Shego," Shadow Hand replied.
"And yet I don't see you taking it easy on any Bebe we've ever come across."
"The greater good always keeps me going. And how do you sleep at night?" he countered.
"Dreams of a lovely redhead and I don't consider Bebes alive," she answered almost smugly.
Shadow Hand snorted before he and Shego leaped carefree from the hovercraft that they had been sitting in. Shego ignited her hands while her bodyguard vanished from her sight. The sounds and smell of the battle hit Shego before anything else. It always smelled like blood, sweat, and tears to her. Those things ate away at her insides worse than anything a Bebe could do to her.
Spotting a large group of her targets, Shego purposely landed in the center of the carnage and the Bebes. The explosion that Shego caused on impact blew the machines away. Dust and smoke covered the air, but as it cleared, Shego stood without a mark on her, poised and ready for war.
"I think you ladies are at the wrong address," Shego remarked with a confident smirk.
The one thing that Shego disliked about battling Bebes was that there was no witty banter exchange. The lack of chitchat pushed her belief that Bebes were not alive, despite the fact that some on her own side, like Shadow Hand, might argue otherwise. She was not sure why some thought Bebes were alive and she did not care to hear the argument.
"Target: Shego," one Bebe noted.
"Objective—" another started, but Shego finished it.
"Destroy. I know the story. Come and get it," the Western ruler dared them, waving them on. She would take them apart piece by piece for the destruction they wrought on the small village of mostly infirmed. The scent of burning medication seared her nose and fires that were feet away tore at her mind.
The Bebes took her up on her offer, trying to converge on her. Shego crossed her arms and then flung her limbs down, throwing huge, plasma crescents from her forearms. The beams were like solar blades, cutting through several Bebes like a laser through milk. The resulting explosions kicked up more dust, which did not seem to bother Shego, even as she inhaled it. All of her focus was on the Bebes and she flung more plasma crescents, taking down more robots. Of course, those who were not touched, kept on coming.
"Oh, come on, ladies, I know you don't think it'll be that easy," Shego said, leaping into the air just as Shadow Hand tossed eight small, explosive devices at the Bebes. As the dust settled, Shego stood back to back with her bodyguard. "Come on, you have to admit that this is just a little exhilarating."
"I'm not here for you to goad, Shego. You're a little more playful than usual," he commented. "I wonder why that is."
"Don't start with me if you don't want me to start with you."
"Then how about we focus on the problem at hand and get these fucking things out of here before any more innocent lives are lost?" he proposed.
Shego silently agreed with that and turned her wrath completely on the Bebes. Talking was done and various-sized shrapnel burned through the air. Shadow Hand avoided what he could while Shego did not bother. By the time they turned back to each other, Shego had gashes all along her face. The odor of her blood covered up the scent that came from the innocents for her.
As the Bebes continued on, the battle became more intense and hotter. The field was covered in smoke and dust. Every element seemed to hammer against Shego and her bodyguard, but it only made them fight harder.
"They don't seem to be stopping," Shadow Hand noted.
"Then time to step it up a notch," Shego remarked, spinning sharply and taking the head off of a Bebe. She held the disembodied head in her hands and gazed into the glowing eyes of the robot. "You listening, Junior? Yeah, of course, you are. I don't know what your game is this time, bitch, but you're not going to win. You're not winning, not now, not ever." She proceeded to crush the head with her bare hands. "I refuse to ever let things end like they did before," she declared.
Shadow Hand watched as Shego took to the battle with new vigor. He made sure to have her back covered … and her front when she was too busy shredding the enemy. It seemed that the pressure had reversed and the pair seemed to repeal any and everything against them.
-8-8-8-8-
"Poison gas. It just had to be poison gas on some of the most fertile land I was able to produce," Trin sighed, calmly assessing the situation from a distance. She held a kimmunicator in her hand, watching the data that rapidly shot by.
She could feel the burn of the chemicals, even from what she deemed a "safe" distance. She knew that her men could feel it, too, but they ignored it just as she did. The poison scratched at her throat and sinuses.
"Sir, what do you want us to do?" a soldier asked.
"Watch my back as always, Captain. What else do I ever want you to do?" she countered. Honestly, she was not sure why Shego even gave her a unit considering how "well" she worked with others. "As always, I'll signal when it's time for you to move in," she added. She did need to teach them to handle chemical messes in case something happened to her, after all.
"Sir!" He saluted.
Trin put a pair of streamlined goggles over her eyes and a sleek yellow mask over the lower half of her face, covering her nose and mouth. As she started walking off, a ninja appeared next to her. They both strolled into the maelstrom of deadly gas. The burn intensified with each step that they took and it almost felt like sharp pins and knives were licking at their flesh.
"I didn't think Shadow Hand Ninjas were assigned to chemical messes," Trin commented dully. Her voice sounded scratchy to her own ears thanks to the chemicals. She could only imagine how she sounded something through the comm line.
"Oh, come on! We all know I'm really like co-General of the Chemical Corps!" Shin declared and she could tell that he was grinning from the sound of his voice, even though he was covered in black from head to toe. She also noted that he was already holding in a cough.
"Co-general? If there were such a thing, I assure you, you'd be the last person considered for the position," Trin stated.
"Uh-huh. You know you love me. So, what's the plan here?"
"Same as always. Find the chemical makeup of the gas, put together a quick counter mix, slice Bebes in half, try not to die in the process, and then lecture my crew step by step on what to do if next time we fail at the not dying part."
"I love how simple it always is! I really need to get on this clean up committee!"
"You call my squad the clean up anything again and I swear I will leave you here to the Bebes."
"Touchy!"
Trin ignored her best friend and took out her kimmunicator again, getting a more accurate reading of the gas cloud's complete chemical makeup. Unfortunately for her, the reading was never instantaneous and a Bebe decided to make its presence known. Trin barely got out of the way as the robot charged by her, nearly taking her head off.
"Shit, that was closer than I like," Trin admitted as several strands of her hair floated to the ground. The blond locks actually dissolved seconds after they touched down.
"Join the club!" Shin commented while ducking a Bebe and removing his sword from the sheath. The next Bebe that went by him was quickly bisected at the waist. The sparks from the metals colliding actually caught fire in the air. " Whoa! That was awesome! So, anyway, how are those reading going?" he inquired casually. The whole atmosphere felt thicker now that the Bebes were around and the chemical cloud was already crushing.
"If you were so worried about your own hide, you should've stayed with your own squad instead of bothering me," Trin replied, slipping by one Bebe and ducking another. She made sure to keep an eye on the monitor for the chemicals while pulling her own sword.
"It's so much more fun going out with your clean up crew!" He was grinning again as the sound of their weapons against the Bebes shredded their ears.
Trin growled, but did not say anything more to him in reference to her command's name. In an ideal world, her squad would be nothing more than a group of science nerds, like herself, who looked microscopes, read charts all day, dropped liquids into test tubes, and be respected for their scientific advancements. But, it was not an ideal world and even though science was what kept most people alive, her squad did not get much respect and were looked at as the "clean up crew" for chemical, biological, and other messy types of warfare that Junior every now and then decided to whimsically use.
"So, what's turning our lungs to goo?" Shin asked again. He was unable to keep the cough at bay that time.
"Our lungs would be lucky if they come out as goo. We're going to have to be self-contained for a month after we get out of here," Trin replied with a snort. The chemicals that she and Shin, as well as a good portion of the island, were covered in were just the type of thing that she expected from Junior. The land was ruined for months now more than likely and it was needed to grow food for the refugees that stayed on the island as well as food for any nearby villages on the mainland.
"Always with the messy jobs. Got a solution yet?"
"I do. While the chemicals are extremely toxic, it's also something we could put together in our sleep. Buy me a moment and then run like hell. It's going to be an inferno here."
Shin nodded, expecting as much. It was never a dull moment with the "clean up crew," after all. He kept the Bebes away from Trin as she dug into her bag of tricks, which was basically a portable chemistry lab. He did not wait for her to do anything more than that, cutting through Bebes in order to get the hell away from the area. As much he acted like he was suicidal, he was far from ready to die.
"Trin!" he called when he noticed that she was not fleeing beside him. He did not dare turn around, though. She would never stop nagging him if he went back for her after she told him to run like hell.
-8-8-8-8-
Bebes were swarming the sick bay as far as Ryujin could tell. It was like a plague of locusts feeding on the area, complete with a buzzing noise that the robots seemed to give off like other electronic devices. The Shadow Hand Ninjas were tearing through the robots like they were insects, though. It was just that they never seemed to stop coming.
The air quickly filled with dust, choking the ninjas as they tried to beat back the throng. Immense heat added to that as the ninjas bodies worked up sweats and pressed into each other whenever a Bebe managed to knock them back. In the back of their minds, some wondered if they had entered Hell and if the air itself would be their downfall.
"Is there like a point of origin or something that we might be able to locate?" Ryujin asked, speaking to Wade through his kimmunicator while dispatching a Bebe by hitting it with a small magnetic device that disrupted its circuitry. The device only paused the Bebe, though, and Ryujin guessed that meant the weak point had been moved yet again. He would have to locate what part of the Bebe to hit with his magnets if he wanted to avoid destroying them.
"Never mind point of origin! Just keep taking them down!" a ninja ordered, darting passed Ryujin. It was amazing that Ryujin heard him, even if they were speaking through kimmunicator links. The screams of the innocent, the explosions, the torturing grind of metal twisting, and, of course, the blaring wails of soldiers taken too soon from the Earth should have drowned out everything, but they did for Shego's forces, especially the Shadow Hand ninjas.
"I can't locate the source that they're coming from. They have their stealth modes on until the last moment. Our priority isn't to stop the Bebes yet. Right now, it's just about getting everyone alive to safety," Wade informed the young man.
"Well, that would be a lot easier if we could stop the flood of Bebes. This is an uphill climb otherwise," Ryujin argued while fighting off another Bebe and hitting it with a magnet. He easily found the new weak point and made sure to aim any of his other magnets there.
"Agreed, but I'm working on cutting off their orders now and keeping them out of contact with the Hive. I'll get to the source after that."
Ryujin did not bother to object; everyone had their orders to follow and there was a reason they all had the orders. It was the best way to finish the battle and hopefully weaken Junior just a little more. So, he followed his orders.
Running off, Ryujin went to find any survivors of the onslaught, cutting down Bebes as he moved. While most of the Ninjas, and soldiers in general, went for overkill when they fought against the Bebes, Ryujin was not one of those. His sword took off limbs, disabling the robots. Sometimes, he would use devices that short-circuited the Bebes, but that was the extent of how far he would go. He had never in his life ruined the head or torso of an enemy, even a Bebe.
"How are we supposed to get out of here with any of the injured if we can't stop the Bebes from hitting us like freaking tidal waves!" Ryujin wondered aloud. The Bebes were crashing against them like tsunamis on a cliff face.
"Amy's coming in with the rhinophants. They'll make a hole for us!" a ninja informed him.
"Even still."
"We have backup on the way. We'll just hand over the injured to the grunts and then go back to ripping these Bebes a new one!"
Ryujin did not argue with that and merely went on to dismantle Bebes while keeping an eye out for the injured or sick. His sword cried out as it cut through metal of more and more Bebes. He was almost certain that he was going to be buried in them and smothered by them until their backup arrived; the "grunts" as the auxiliary forces were teasingly called. Wade used to refer to them as the "red shirts," which Ryujin did not understand, but he knew that Wade stopped using the name when Shego and Amy got on his case about it.
The "grunts" were all about their big guns and using them to utterly destroy their enemies. Bullets and lasers were flying everywhere and Ryujin changed his focus from the Bebe problem to finding survivors and getting them out alive. The last thing they needed was a refugee actually killed by friendly fire.
Chaos reigned over the whole island and the area seemed to be engulfed in fury. Sensory information for most was overloaded and many people that were not accustomed to full battle shut down. It seemed like because of the battle, there were no senses because there was too much going on. Most of the soldiers could only bring their attention to their orders and most average people could only focus on trying to get away from the carnage.
Locating all of the people that he could, Ryujin rushed to find the Rhinos, so that they could get the people to safety. He was joined in search by the other ninja on the planet that wore pink and black—his aunt. She had her own large group of survivors.
"Shadow Eyes, have you see or heard the Rhinos yet?" Ryujin inquired.
"They're up ahead. As long as we get this group about a hundred more yards, they'll be on the backs of those Rhinos and heading some place a lot safer than here," his aunt replied.
"The sad thing is that this was supposed to be one of the safest places on the planet," he sighed, shaking his head. It now looked like any other wretched island on their damned planet.
"We can't do anything about Junior being a psycho, other than stop him when he tries to kill and enslave the world."
It was true and for all of their security measures, they could not prevent a Bebe attack whenever the whim overtook their enemy. They did not have the manpower or technology to do such a thing. It just pissed Ryujin off.
"There are the Rhinos," Shadow Eyes pointed ahead of them as monster-sized rhinos, or rhinophants as Amy had dubbed them when she created them. They were the size of elephants with rhino horns, elephant tusks, and rhino shape. There were large baskets on their backs to hold people and thick armor to protect the animals from Bebe attacks.
"Now, we have to get everyone up there," he said.
"That's always the fun part," she replied, her onyx eyes sparkling.
He could not help chuckling as his aunt took off with a survivor in each arm and one of her back. He did the same and they leaped to the top of the Rhino, securing the refugees in the riding basket. Gently tapping the Rhino on the head, Ryujin ordered the creature to go to safety. The ninja then departed, having to repeat the task several times, even with the help of their fellow ninjas. They also had to fend off Bebes, which kept on coming.
Without exchanging any words, the ninjas moved to set up the most effective method of getting people to safety. A group of the stealthy warriors stood against the Bebes while the fastest amongst them carried the innocents to the rhinos. The noise was more than enough to make even the strongest soul falter, but the smell of heat, animals, and fear was even worse. Watching comrades fall as they stood against unfeeling foes was the worst, but none of the ninjas backed down, meeting their challenge with proud smiles on their faces.
With the rescue almost complete, Ryujin focused on the grunts. He was about to call for a retreat, but Wade contacted him first and told him where the Bebes were originating. The Shadow Hand Ninjas and the Auxiliary forces decided that they would head to the southern coastline as soon as they done there.
As they were battling back the Bebes, a familiar flash of red hair caught Ryujin's attention. He probably would not have thought much of it if only the body that hair belonged to was not trapped under a fallen tree right after he noticed. Turning his attention, he saw a Bebe closing in on the Legend and sprang into action.
-8-8-8-8-
Kim could not believe the level of carnage around her as soon as she joined the battle, which was fairly late considering she did not know what to make of what the troops had stepped into. She could not identify anything and her mind did not know where to start. Broken bodies, shattered dreams, and bleeding earth filled her eyes and all she could do was move forward.
She doubted that she had been in the battle for a full minute before shrapnel tore into her leg and a tree was downed almost completely on top of her. Her protective helmet was knocked off and she got a gash on her forehead from when she hit the hot, smoldering ground. Looking up, she noticed a flash of silver coming toward her and knew that it was a Bebe. I'm done for before I've even been awake for a week!
Fighting the urge to close her eyes, Kim tried to get up, but found the pain in her leg too great. Well, now she knew where most of the shrapnel had hit her. Just as she was certain that she was done for, a figure in all white dashed in and sliced right through the Bebe. The figured then landed in front of her.
"You okay, Aunt Kim?" Ryujin inquired, turning to look at her.
"Fine. My leg … I was hit …" Kim replied, wanting to justify why she was down while everyone else was up and fighting.
"We've got to get you out of here before something worse happens," he said, leaning down to gently help Kim up. He could see that it was more than her leg, trying to assess the number and nature of her wounds. He failed to notice two familiar onyx eyes watching him. If he had, he would have known that the twinkle in those eyes only meant trouble.
-8-8-8-8-
Next time: the consequences of Kim's actions.