ALTERNATE REVOLUTION

Chapter X: The Battle of Pompadoria

Can't you hear us coming?
People marching all around
Can't you see we're coming?
Close your eyes it's over now
Can't you hear us coming?
The fight has only just begun
Can't you see we're coming…?

—Creed, "Freedom Fighter"

As the first rays of moonshine fell upon the Bloodlust's sails, Buzz was awakened by shouts below. Groggily opening one eye, for a moment wondering where in cyberspace he was, he shook his head to clear himself and, taking care not to lose his balance and drop to the floor, looked down below him. The ship's deck was coated in a dark shadow; the lamps that had been positioned near the ship's quarters hadn't even been lit. On the blackness he saw several of the soldiers running to and fro, yelling things that he couldn't exactly make out—it was as if they were shouting from the other side of the water.

He groaned and rubbed the side of his head, then looked over toward the mast just in time to see another soldier clinging to it; apparently Machinos or someone else had sent him up here to retrieve him. Buzz, still curious by what was going on, looked over at the soldier and began to slowly shimmy over toward the mast, as the soldier said, "Suh, we need you to come down heah. At once."

Buzz recognized that accented tone; it was clearly the same soldier who had picked him up at the ambush. "What's going on?" he asked, as he allowed the soldier to reach out and toss him onto his back.

"Pompadoria has been sighted, suh," the soldier replied, beginning to effortlessly climb back down the mast. "Machinos wants to anchor the ships in their loading dock, then attack from there. He said that if we get on land too soon, or put the ships near the dock, it'll be a giveaway."

"But…" Buzz took a brief glance out at the darkened strip of land in front of them before looking back at the soldier. "Doesn't anchoring in 'da loading dock place us farther out in 'da water 'dan we should be?"

"Yes, suh, but it's our only choice. If we go too close to the water, or so Machinos said, there's a bettah chance that we may be attacked befoah we can even make one move toward them."

"So, what are we going to do in order to get 'dere? Swim to shore?"

"Yes, suh." The soldier swiveled his head to one side as so to look at him. "You do know how to swim, right?"

"Not very well."

"That'll be a problem, then," the soldier replied, as he finally reached the floor of the deck and, plucking Buzz off of his shoulders, set him down onto the wood. "Unless you want to ride on someone's back, that is."

"I suppose 'dat's 'da only choice I have…other 'dan to just stay here and guard 'da ship while youse guys go out to fight."

"That's not an option, suh," the soldier replied, looking over at the darkened shape of Pompadoria, which was getting closer by the moment. "It's either fight or run, one of the two. Either way, you have a strong risk of getting killed in the process."

Buzz looked down at the dock and nodded, then looked back up at the soldier. "How much time do we have before we approach Pompadoria, do you think?"

"Judging by the speed we're going at, I'd say about fifteen minutes, suh." He looked down at Buzz and crossed his broad arms. "Why do you ask?"

"Oh, I just need some…time to think about 'dis, is all," Buzz replied, shrugging a shoulder. "Lately I've been thinking a lot about what exactly my purpose is here. It's kind of a deep, time-hogging process, if you know what I mean."

"What do you mean by that?" the soldier asked. "You know what your purpose is, suh. Your purpose is to serve and fight alongside Machinos, just like us soldiers do. Nothing else. When you're the general, everything seconds to fighting for your master."

Buzz was taken aback when he heard this, then fell into a stunned silence. Once again, the nagging doubt that had been in the back of his head surfaced, as fresh as it had ever been: You're only a piece of property to Machinos. You're not an equal, and you never will be. He shuddered at this, then looked back up at the soldier to make a response, only to find out that he had left.

As the soldier had predicted, the ship was anchored in the center of the loading dock's waters shortly after this. As the Bloodlust bobbed silently in the waters, with the Misery, Unpeaceful, and Infernal positioned in a row behind it, the soldiers, as ordered, immediately armed themselves, then ran to the edge of the ship and leapt headfirst into the dark sea below. Delete stood at the edge, unable to even think of diving from such a high place, as the soldier, now with Buzz on his shoulders, leapt off into the water, shouting "Hold yuh breath!" before submerging into the blackness. Delete shuddered, then turned around—only to find himself face to face with Machinos.

"Don't like to swim, do you?" the tyrant asked him coldly, his eyes burning directly into the robot's. Delete shivered in fear for a moment, then, thinking of the only thing he could do at the time, straightened himself up and saluted.

"N-no, sir!" he exclaimed, rather nervously. "I-I just don't want to dive in there, is all—I mean, I'd be happy to if you want me to, but you see, I'm kind of—"

"Then go in," Machinos snapped at him, baring his back molars like some kind of threat. Delete, knowing from experience that it would be bad to start an argument with him, quickly nodded, then turned around, looked down, shivered, then closed his eyes, leaned forward, and finally leapt off the dock. He fell down the monstrous side of the ship, screeching at the top of his lungs, before finally hitting the water and submerging underneath.

He was gone from view for a few moments before finally surfacing, gasping for breath and trying to get the pressured feeling off of his body. He paused to look up at the top of the ship, wondering if in truth that was really how far he had fallen, then shook his head and began swimming after the group of soldiers, toward the Pompadorian loading dock.

He caught up with a soldier that he recognized to be Revel later on, just as they were approaching the area underneath the dock's boards. Revel, who had sensed his presence, looked over at him, then grinned, showing a few of his teeth. That's a lovely grin, Delete thought, smiling warmly, but he quickly shook it off and approached him as he got out of the water and began climbing up the crumbling stone wall that led up to Pompadoria itself.

"Nice to see you again," Revel told him, reaching his hand down as so to help the robot up. Tossing his head back as so to get the excess water off of it, he looked at Delete again, then said, "So, are you up for it?"

"Well, not really," Delete replied, scraping the toe of his boot along the ground, almost shyly. "To be honest…I-I'm kinda scared about this whole thing."

"Well, you shouldn't be," Revel replied, putting his hand around the robot's shoulder. "Machinos doesn't exactly approve of cowards, if you know what I mean. Besides, if anything happens…" He smiled and removed his hand from his shoulder. "Just remember, I've got your back."

"Sure, thanks," Delete replied, still a bit uneasy, even after Revel's encouragement scene.

"Right, then," Revel sighed, looking out toward the rows of houses past the loading dock itself. "Machinos told us to go to the stone arch near the field…he said that's the best possible way to get at them without anything else getting in our way."

"Where's the field, though?" Delete asked.

Revel smirked. "Well, that's an easy one," he replied, gesturing toward the massive number of soldiers that were climbing out of the waters from all angles of the loading dock. "All we need to do is follow the others. They'll take us right to 'em."

"But, who's leading them? Machinos is still on the ship."

"He won't be for long." Revel shook his head. "Do you actually think that Machinos would pass by on trying to fight these people? I think not. He just doesn't like getting himself wet, is all, and thus he's waiting for the rest of us to come to shore before he comes over himself."

"How does he do that?" Delete asked, still a bit confused by what Revel was trying to tell him.

"He's got a single lifeboat on the deck," Revel replied, shrugging a shoulder. "He'll catch up to us later. He figures that we already know the way to the field as is; quite a few of us were here before when we battled for Pompadoria the first time." He then shook his head and abruptly turned around. "I wasn't one of them…well, come on, let's go."

He then ran off and, within a few minutes, had blended into the line of soldiers. Delete blinked, then whimpered, clasped his hands together, muttered a few prayers under his breath, then adjusted his sword and quickly jogged over to where they were located, joining the line. Buzz, who apparently was Machinos's second-in-command, was rather reluctantly leading, every now and then nervously glancing at the serious faces of the soldiers behind him. Every part of him felt tense. If he screwed this up…

Luckily, the soldiers seemed to know where they were going. Marching in-between the line of houses, and at the same time arousing several citizens (the lights in their houses were slowly beginning to click on one by one), the soldiers had only one thing on their mind: to fight the enemy and win. Looking up at the vast array of lit and unlit windows, Delete could now see several of the Pompadorian citizens looking out the window, most of them women and children. He swallowed hard and continued walking, trying his best to keep his eyes on the dirt path in front of him.

Much to his (and Buzz's) surprise, Machinos had caught up with them in a heartbeat and was now patiently waiting for them where the road ended, atop his muscular black-and-silver horse, his eyes narrowed and a cold grin upon his face. For a moment Buzz couldn't help but feel relieved; now that he knew Machinos was to take over he wouldn't have to worry about messing things up.

The humid night air was silent for a few more moments, until Machinos finally barked "Forward!", then turned his horse around and rose it to a trot into the grassy fields. The soldiers followed upon command, like an army of tin dolls, their faces expressionless except for Delete's, which bore a look of great fear, and Buzz's, which bore a look of great uneasiness. They knew that they were getting closer to the arch—namely, the battlefield—with every step they took, and something at the back of their heads was screaming for them to run away. Delete shut his eyes and gritted his teeth, trying his best to stay calm in this situation.

He remained this way, trying to tell himself that it would be fine, he wouldn't get hurt, Buzz wouldn't get hurt, nothing would be too horrible, until he sensed that they had stopped…he opened his eyes and looked up in time to see Machinos say something to one of the soldiers, then fixated his gaze on the soldier as it nodded, then turned around and broke off into a light sprint toward the arch (which, he now saw, was a large, massive, stone structure that towered over the field) and what lay beyond it. The robot only caught a brief glimpse of the thing that had been clutched in his hand.

Swallowing hard, he got down low into the tall grass to think for a few moments. He was still terribly frightened, he knew, and all the convincing in the world wouldn't put a stop to it. He had a great chance of getting killed, so he had every right to be frightened, he thought…he just hoped that he wouldn't screw this up like he had always done in his previous missions with his old boss. Sighing, he finally dragged himself to his feet just as the soldier came sprinting back down along the field, stopping in front of the tyrant and panting harshly.

"Did you do it?" Machinos asked, his voice dead serious.

"Yes, Sire," the soldier panted, looking up at his master and nodding. "I placed it in one of the cracks in the arch. It should go off any second now…"

"Good." The tyrant looked out toward the arch, unsmiling. "Then it'll all begin in just a few more seconds…"

Delete and Buzz exchanged glances, confused, then finally looked out at the arch, along with most of the other soldiers. The robot could see that every one of them were tense; some were licking their lips and others were reaching for their swords. Feeling a bit nervous, now, Delete began to turn his head to look back at the arch—

And jumped backward as with a loud THOOOOOOMMM, the entire side of the arch was blasted apart in a cloud of smoke and fire. A red-orange light engulfed the field as the arch disappeared in a cloud of black and gold, then the debris began to rain down across the field, scattering it in all directions. When the smoke finally cleared, Delete could see that there was nothing more left of the arch but a smoldering stone frame. In the background, he heard surprised yells from what undoubtedly were the Pompadorians.

Machinos drew his sword. "That should drive them right into the fields…right where we want them," he growled. "Apparently they think that they may be under attack, which is just as true. The army should come out and fight…and that's when we do our job. Do I make myself clear?"

The other soldiers nodded in response, then drew their swords as well and waited for the signal. Machinos stared out at the area beyond the arch as more yells ensued, then a large group of dark shapes began to run out toward their current location. Baring his teeth, Machinos raised his sword and shouted, "Attack!"

At this command, the other soldiers gave loud shouts and began to run down the field toward where the Pompadorians currently were. Delete and Buzz were at first reluctant to do so, but there seemed to be no other choice. Drawing their swords as well, the two joined in the line, trying to keep up with the others as they ran.

When the Pompadorian soldiers came into view, the Dark Rider soldiers immediately leapt upon them, and thus the real fighting began. Buzz and Delete slowed to a stop as they watched their soldiers tousle with the Pompadorian soldiers, every now and then emerging in victory. But one soldier didn't make much of a difference; they knew that there were still about three hundred more of them to take down afterward.

Buzz was the one to react first. Scanning the landscape, he finally sought out an open target and, with a yell, leapt at it, his sword brandished. The soldier he had chosen sensed his presence and brought his own sword up, causing the two to clash. Buzz landed on the ground, still keeping the sword in a defensive position, as the Pompadorian soldier looked down at him, then scoffed.

"You're daring for such a little shrimp," it teased, before bringing up the sword and swinging it down, in a cutting motion. Buzz, furious for being called that, ducked the blow by inches and swung his sword toward the soldier's lower body. It connected successfully and, with a loud SPAAACKK, inflicted a deep cut in the right leg. The soldier gave a cry of pain, then dropped to the ground, apparently unable to walk on it any further.

Now that the soldier was defenseless, Buzz was ready to deliver the final blow. He ran over, then easily leapt upon the soldier's back and, raising his sword upward, plunged it down into the spine. He heard a loud snapping sound as the bone came loose, and the soldier let out a final cry of pain before falling limp. Buzz looked down at it to make sure that it was entirely dead, then nodded, twisted the blade around to snap the bone some more, then finally pulled it out, the tip now stained bright red.

"That's the way to go, General!" Machinos called to him as he rode past on his horse, pausing to stab another one of the soldiers through the forehead. Buzz smiled weakly as he disappeared into the line of fighting again, then bit his lip and looked down at the dead soldier for a few moments, wondering if what he did was right for him…

That was when he felt a force connect with his side, sending him off the soldier's back and onto the dusty ground a few feet away. Gasping, he then felt a searing hot pain in the area where the force had connected…it was terrible…it felt as if it were eating him from the inside-out…wondering what it was, he reached down toward the area where it had struck and felt around, then groaned and lay on his side for a few more moments.

He'd been shot.

Knowing that he'd be killed if he remained here, however, he struggled to pull himself to his feet, but was knocked down into the dirt by a group of two other soldiers, now towering over him. Looking up at them helplessly, he knew that he wasn't about to get any medical help from these two anytime soon; they were Pompadorians. One of them had now placed its foot on top of his wounded side, driving him further into the dirt. The second one snatched up the sword from the dust, then looked over it a few more moments before snorting and tossing it over near their dead comrade's body.

"Bastard," the first one growled, bringing more force onto his wound. Buzz made a pained noise, but refused to scream; it would only give them more pleasure, he knew. "You were that son-of-a-whore over at the ambush, were you not?"

Buzz made no response. The soldier sneered, then brought up his weapon; Buzz could see the glint of the barrel in the moonlight. Lowering it to the side of his head, the soldier said, rather coldly, "You're gonna pay for what you did. You're really gonna pay…"

The robot could do nothing but whimper, then close his eyes and wait for the bullet to deactivate his mind chip. The Pompadorian grinned at this little show of mercy, then reached his finger toward the trigger and slowly began to squeeze it…

"Get away from him!"

Buzz opened his eyes, then looked up as another dark figure collided with the soldier, sending him tripping over his victim and sprawling him out on the ground. The figure then leapt over him and, raising his sword, swung it sideways, inflicting a diagonal cut in the soldier's back, sending a spray of blood out onto the grass. The first soldier screamed, the second one looked over at the scene in awe.

The stout robot, despite the pain in his side, slowly staggered to his feet, but fell back down again. Deciding it was hopeless, he instead turned his attention to the scene and looked up in time to see that his savior had turned out to be none other than Delete. He was now standing in front of the fallen soldier, his sword brandished, his eyes narrowed, and his teeth bared. He was furious, Buzz knew, and that surprised him.

The first soldier looked up at him, then growled and got to his feet, drawing his sword on doing so. Delete responded by getting low, then diving under him and swinging upward, severing the hand that bore the weapon with one easy blow. The soldier gasped in pain as the sword—with the bleeding hand still clutching it—fell to the ground, and Delete responded by easily picking it up. Shaking the hand loose, he leapt at the first soldier, then plunged the swords in two different places—the first one went through the forehead, the second one went through the chest. This destroyed the soldier instantly; he dropped to the ground the moment Delete pulled the swords loose. Snarling in fury, he then whipped around to face the second soldier.

The second soldier stared at him, dumbfounded, then finally screamed and ran for it. Delete made no attempt to run after him, and the moment that he was gone from view, his sense of gentility automatically returned. Dropping one sword and sheathing the other, he ran over to where Buzz lay, kneeling down next to him. "Are you alright, Buzzy?" he asked, worriedly.

Buzz was still a little shocked by Delete's show of fury on the two soldiers, and thus, despite the pain he was currently in, could only reply, "Yeah…yeah, I'm…just fine."

"You sure?" Delete asked, looking over at the bleeding wound in Buzz's side. "That looks pretty bad to me. I think that we should maybe try and see if we can close the wound up or somethin' before you go back out there."

"Delete, I said I'm—" He then remembered what had happened to him during the ambush, and had decided that it was best to take his little brother's word for it at the time. "Okay, okay, just find a way to patch it up before I bleed to death."

"But I don't wanna leave you," Delete replied, shaking his head.

"You don't have to," Buzz replied, trying his hardest to keep his breathing state normal. "Just patch it up with the dirt, okay?" He gestured toward the dust on the ground, which had turned dark brown from his blood and was beginning to moisten. Delete looked down at it, then nodded, took some up, and applied the temporary gauze to his brother's side.

Buzz tried to stagger to his feet yet again, then sighed and dropped to one knee. Delete, worried, helped him to his feet, then said, "Don't work too hard, okay? I really don't want you to die." He seemed desperate for his safety. "Please?"

"Fine, fine, I won't," Buzz sighed; Delete smiled, then turned around and sprinted off back into the battle. Buzz sighed and looked after him, his vision still slightly clouded over, then looked over in time to see a few more of the soldiers advancing on him. Growling, he brandished his sword and stood his ground at them, his eyes narrowed dangerously.

"Bring it on, bastards…" he muttered to himself…

Delete ran back into the main battle and sprinted past several fighting soldiers, trying not to kill anyone unless he had to, until he sought out Revel in the crowd. Revel was battling another one of the soldiers, and the two seemed to be equally matched. Revel, he found, was a very agile fighter, but the Pompadorians appeared to be as well. Revel appeared to know every move that the soldier did, however, and the Pompadorian was beginning to tire. Finally fed up with dodging, he swung the sword at a different angle, connecting it with Revel's chest and raking the blade across it, leaving a bright red mark.

Delete whimpered at the sight of this, but Revel appeared to know what he was doing. The robot yelled in pain, then looked down at his side, then at the soldier, then with a loud scream plunged his sword forward, sending it directly into the stomach. The soldier gasped, blood began to leak out the corners of his mouth, and Revel responded by bringing the sword upward, slicing the soldier open in one blow. Delete covered his eyes as the soldier's entrails began to fall from the gash, then reopened them in time to see it fall to the ground, apparently dead. Revel sheathed his sword, then turned to face Delete.

"Sorry you had to see that," he sighed. "These things just have to happen, you know."

"I know, I know, I'm not sorry I did," Delete replied, although in truth he had been horrified at the sight. He looked down at Revel's chest wound. "You gonna be okay?"

Revel cocked his head to one side, apparently confused, then his gaze traveled down to the cut; apparently he had been too occupied with the soldier to even notice the pain. He looked back up at Delete, then shook his head. "I'll be fine. Even if I drop after a while, I'll still be able to mark a few soldiers up on the death count."

"I've already killed one," Delete replied, rather reluctantly as he looked down at the bloodstained ground. "I wasn't very happy with it…but he was gonna hurt Buzz, I'll bet, and there was no one else around…I had to do something…"

"It's not your fault," Revel replied, shaking his head. "The main point of war is blood and killing. That's basically everything that's involved with being part of the Machinos army." He looked out toward the scene in front of him. "Now, if you don't mind, I think I'm going to sever the heads of a few more of 'em…"

"Okay—" Delete replied, but he was cut short by something entering his back. His sentence ended with a frightened gasp, as he looked down at his chest. Much to his horror, he could see the silver tip of an enemy blade emerge from the front, near his left side. Blood began to cascade from the cut and stain the dark green of his uniform an ugly brown.

So this is what being stabbed feels like, he thought to himself, as his head began to swim. It feels like fire…oh God, how it hurts…make it stop…make it stop…I don't care if you kill me, just make it stop…

He began to sway uneasily, and the bearer of the blade slowly removed the sword from his chest, allowing him to drop to the ground, sprawling out onto his side. His breathing became irregular—the blade had punched a good-sized hole in one of his lungs—and he closed his eyes tightly, bringing both hands to the wound. The pain became even worse as time passed…he could feel tears stinging his eyes, threatening to pour through his closed eyelids…and the blood, oh God, the blood…

His thinking became nonsense, his motor skills slowed, and he was beginning to slowly slip into unconsciousness. He heard the ground move as the bearer of the blade came closer; further off, he heard Revel's angry screaming:

"You damned son of a—"

He then heard the sound of metal against metal, and then he became deaf to the world. His head was swimming too much to even make out the profanities and sounds of the fight above him. All that mattered now to his system was the pain…the pain…the unspeakable pain…

He couldn't move. He could barely breathe. He couldn't even stay awake…soon enough he felt himself slipping…slipping…