Metal Head

I hope you've been enjoying the story so far, in this chapter I think the name is pretty self-explanatory but I also wanted to advance my envisionment of the world as I have hinted at the names of the stars, now I've moved onto the moons, if you're really interested you can research them they are all real celestial bodies. I digress I hope you enjoy the chapter and please tell me what you thought and how the story can be improved but for now enjoy.

As Ortz stood on the rooftops above Haven thinking about his time in the guard and more importantly how he can't have questions about what happened to Tork, Hutch and Dugan, they were his friends, his comrades through thick or thin they had each other that's how the guard was supposed to work. His cigarette burned bright in the moon lit night, the planet along with its two celestial suns had three moons, Haumea, Hiiaka and Namaka. Namaka, the smallest, came so close to the planet that the ancients thought it could be touched by the precursors or that it was their celestial vehicle. Even with the little that is known of the bodies that floated around the planet like wolves around prey, people still dream of what they envision the surface to be.

The ash fell from the end of the cylinder and tumbled to the floor; Ortz then stubbed out the cigarette and went to walk back inside but as he turned a small green figure blocked the door. "Sorry about Panacea," Ortz first told the man as he came into the moon light exposing himself as the Shadow.

"Don't worry my boy, she'll come to her senses when the alcohol wears off, with a headache too no doubt," He coughed in sarcasm and hope as he walked forwards grasping onto his walking stick like he depended on it for everything, "So what else is bothering you?"

"Nothing, I'm just overthinking life," Ortz told the Shadow as he walked up next to Ortz and looked him straight in the eye.

"Hmmm if you say so my boy," The Shadow simply replied sounding uninterested but as he did Ortz could feel a force almost compelling him to talk to the man like something was pushing him off the cliff into the abyssal of conversation.

"It's just how can I continue to live on and fight for you people when I know that you killed my former friends and expect me to be okay with that?" Ortz outburst, in a fit of almost rage.

"Interesting my boy, you harbour so much anger why do you build it up?" The Shadow asked him completely skipping over the question.

"Why don't you ever give me answers?" Ortz yelled at the man.

"Because you haven't earned them you ungrateful child," The Shadow replied calmly, Ortz couldn't understand it but there was a force willing him along in this argument like gravity on a falling raindrop.

"Then tell me how I can earn them?" Ortz asked calmer knowing that he was never going to win against the old man.

"With time, you will learn there are more powerful forces in this world than that of man, but if it is knowledge you seek head to the Old town there you will find everything you need," The Shadow told him simply as he walked back inside. Ortz remained on the roof, in the cold air, watching the steam rise from his mouth like smoke from a fire.

"What the fuck does that mean?" He asked himself as he sat down on the roof. As he sat admiring the corrugated iron roof that was the same as every other roof in the slums, shitty and rusted, he heard a familiar bark, followed by the scuttling of claws along the roof like something was thundering towards him. As he climbed to his feet a small greenish grey hound wrestled him to the floor and started licking his face, "Hey buddy, where you been?" He asked as he managed to get the thing off him and onto the floor, but the excitable pup still pranced around like a lunatic.

"He's missed you," Panacea's voice whispered across the roof. Ortz's head shot up to meet her eye as she walked across the rooftop towards him, "Sorry about earlier," She told him with a straight face cradling the mug of water in her hands.

"Yeah well we all make mistakes," He replied with a slight chuckle.

"I think mine was a biggy," she told him with a smile on her face; "I hope you don't think anything of it?" She asked him as he sat back down on the roof to pet the hound.

"Nah, nothing's changed," he told her as he looked up at her and smiled, although on the way up he couldn't help but notice she onto had a tank top and shorts on, "You must be cold?" He suggested.

"Not really," She shook her head and smiled at him.

"I can see your goose pimples," He told her as he took of his black KG jumped and threw it at her, "Put it on," He then ordered as she sat down next to him.

She slid the jumper over her body and stopped shivering almost instantly. "So I saw the Shadow on the way past, what did he tell you?" She asked sounding curious.

"That I don't fully understand the powers of this world and that I'm stupid essentially," He answered with a slight snigger.

"Well he has a point, about the not fully understanding I mean, there are great powers to be possessed in this world but only to those select few, I'd say you were more innocent than stupid," She explained to him as she sat drawing in the dust on the roof as the hound laid down beside Ortz as he stroked the length of its back.

"And you're not innocent?" Ortz asked sarcastically.

"Oh I'm far from that kind of innocence," She replied while turning her head towards him. He could feel the same essence as when the Shadow was around like something was pushing him deeper into the conversation like a hammer to a nail, it was indescribable. "So what did he actually tell you?"

"That if I was seeking knowledge I should go to Old Town and there I would find what I needed?" He replied feeling even more confused than when the Shadow first told him about it.

"That's good advice," She told him as if she knew what he meant.

"So what will I find there?" He then asked her.

"Hard to say life or death, safety or danger, there are many possibilities but there will be one for you," She told him mysteriously.

"What the fuck does that mean?" He then asked her as she got up and walked off as the hound still sat curled up next to him.

"Just go and find out," She shouted back to him as she went back inside the HQ without giving him back his jumper.

He then got up and walked down into the courtyard with the hound following him like the lost puppy it was, "Go to Old Town?" He asked the hound as if it was going to give him a conversation back but it just sat there and looked up at him with adoring eyes like the saviour had risen. "You coming?" he then asked it as he walked over to where Torn parked his hover car and got in, the pup hopped in alongside him and curled up making itself comfortable. As Ortz activated the thrusters and the vehicle leapt into the air he recalled what the guard had told him about Old Town. Years ago it was the sight of the first underground uprising that they killed hundreds of civilians to pave way for their radical ideas. That is what the guard told him but the guard lied about a lot so far so why would this be any different.

As the car flew towards the entrance to Old Town the civilian vehicles became thinner and thinner in number until he was the lone car in the sky so he decided to land and carry on, on foot. As he and the hound ran silently through the streets they came across a KG patrol of two men, they both had the long rifles of the KG used to subdue any violence towards a KG member the new rifles could be used just to stun or to kill, needless to say stun wasn't used. Ortz and the hound hide around a corner as the two men passed, their plastic armour slightly gleaming in the moon light, as the two guards disappeared around the next corner Ortz made a break towards the entrance to Old Town.

When he turned the corner he was met by a massive guard post like a full KG compound but it only had about twenty guardsmen in it, only a platoon so they couldn't have been guarding much. As Ortz ducked and weaved closer to the Old town he could hear heavy machines like a drill. 'What the hell is going on here?' he thought as he snuck past the patrols on the post, but as he did he kept track of the hound who had decided that hitching a ride on his back was the best means of getting around. As they passed into Old Town the guard patrols suddenly stopped and the sound of heavy machinery became louder, he followed some three inch thick cables which lead around the outskirt of Old Town, eventually it led him to a huge hole in one of the walls leading to the exterior of the old city wall. As he snuck down it monstrous creatures began appearing like ants from a mound, their exoskeleton seemed to be made entirely of metal and their head was jewelled with a large yellow glowing crystal. The roaming guards had the old KG pole arms used to shock people but some massive bear like creatures seemed to just be able to destroy things with sheer strength, as he went deeper into the pit the sounds of the machinery became unbearable as the creatures were manning some massive drills with a green liquid pouring from the walls like magma from a volcano.

Ortz filled his canteen with the liquid hoping the Shadow would know what it was but as he did a small creature noticed him and scuttled over it looked like a large scorpion with no pincers just a tail. Ortz tackled the creature knocking it over and placing it inside the bag which still had the KG armour from the mission at the Depot in it, as he sealed the creature in the bag it let out a terrible screech, causing the sound of the machinery to fall silent. "Shit time to go!" Ortz shouted as he sprinted back up the tunnel as a hail of gunfire headed his was. As the creatures kept coming from every orifice that the tunnel had to offer he just kept running and hoping for the best. As he approached the exit he was met by the KG platoon that had been guarding the front post but before they could tell him to halt a massive rhino like creature smashed through their lines and the whole area erupted in gunfire. Ortz just ran for the post with the hound still clutched to his back and the bag knocking into his ass. As they ran through the unguarded post he could see hellcats all over head firing their guns into Old Town like what had happened on the day he left but as he made it back to the hover car he just decided to get the hell out of the kill zone and fly off.

"Well that was fucking close!" He told the hound as they flew off back to HQ, "Now let's see if the Shadow can identify this stuff." He said to himself as he turned the green liquid inside his canteen.

I hope you enjoyed the chapter as I said at the start you can look up the stars and moons if you're trying to piece together my own little back story into the whole franchise but please feel free to review and tell me what you liked and how I can improve the story but until next time …. PEACE!