Iron and Cobalt
"I'll be back." Arnold Schwarzenegger, Governor of California
xxXxx
When the PWCD was first encountering the spirit world, they were terrified at the daunting idea of routinely fighting such beings. For the ordinance they would have to bring in, it would have been more efficient to commission the United Nations to wage an all out war on the hollow world, rather than try to fight such creatures piecemeal. The equipment required to see the creatures wasn't all that much of an issue. What was however, was the fact that nothing could be done to strike back at them or attack them preemptively.
That was before they had encountered Kisuke Urahara.
The man had been an enigma to the PWCD president. He had effortless infiltrated one of the PWCD's most secure and well guarded bases across the world, which happened to be in Japan. He then began offering working technology that used some sort of energy detection frequency to determine the locations of hollows, which he called 'reiatsu radars'. This alone made the PWCD eager to do business, seeing as they were now in contact with a scientist with valuable knowledge on their enemy. It was almost too good a deal for the black ops organization. All they had to do was cover any and all of the man's purchases, as well as have him and his list of associates protected by the Paranormal Warfare Contingency and Defense's full resources. In return, the PWCD not only gained valuable detection technology, which enabled them to have a swift response to any sort of spirit based threat, but a plethora of other useful inventions. Once artificial reiatsu manipulation was enabled, the PWCD began to swiftly pump out new weapons and equipment based solely on the purpose of fighting hollows and other dangerous non-humans.
Terminator suits were one example. Scaling down and greatly altering the design of the Bunker suit, the terminator suits were born. They essentially took a full sized exoskeleton system and started welding tank grade armor all around it. While the armor greatly reduced mobility and reaction, it offered a virtual invulnerability to small arms and even to a degree against anti-armor weapons. The suits were designed to be gluttons for punishment. They could take hits that would rattle a battle tank, and keep on pressing. Unlike the rest of the PWCD, Terminator suits didn't have any stealth applications whatsoever. They were designed purely for attrition and warfare, nothing more and nothing less.
But the real reason they became feared was their weapons.
Of the many ground weapons that the PWCD had access to, the terminators had the most destructive ones as far as being infantry portable went. The RPSMG or 'Rocket Propelled Sub Machine Gun', was a massive sub machine gun-type weapon with every single round being a mini rocket in its own right. It was designed to punch through armor, or thick skin in the case of hollows, and detonate. The result was as messy as it was effective. The companion weapon to the RPSMG was the massive gauntlet that terminators called their free hand. The gauntlets in the terminator suit's free hand had built in thermal plates that briefly released microwaves on impact so that it could serve as close-combat weapon if need be. Then there was the most infamous weapon that the PWCD had ever produced: the thunder hammer. The hammerhead was built around a reiatsu battery that gathered reishi and particles of electrons and protons from the air, and abruptly discharged it all out at once on impact. The result on a living target was... disturbing to say the least.
Due to various technical issues, a terminator suit had to be specifically designed to use thunder hammers or RPSMGs and gauntlets, but not both. Suits with the RPSMG and gauntlet load out were conventional terminators. They were designed to be the tanks and bulwarks of the PWCD against heavy hitting attackers. Terminator suits with thunder hammers were coined as assault terminators, due to the fact that they were mainly useful in situations where they were attacking a threat, and almost never valuable when ordered to defend from one.
Of course, Urahara Kisuke's technology had further enhanced the assault terminators. He had seen the effectiveness of the suits, but addressed that while they were highly destructive, they were also very slow and static. Against anything stronger or faster than the common hollow or Gillian level hollow, and the terminator suits would be butchered. So he began to find ways to transfer the shinigami shunpo technique over to Terminator suits. Eventually, he found a way to do so by attaching a massive reiastu battery to backs of assault terminators, which would do the job of harnessing and focusing the reiatsu for the operators of the terminator suits. All the man inside had to do was set a desired location, and the reiatsu battery would accelerate the entire suit over to the location at a fraction of a second. Whiplash wasn't an issue, as the suit operators were always augments, and thus very capable of keeping track of their movements, even at high speeds.
Assault Terminators served a very different role from their more conventional counterparts. You sent terminators into a battle to be metaphoric immovable objects that couldn't be broken through. You sent assault terminators into battle to be an unstoppable force that broke everything in its path. Terminator units often served as the support for any sizable PWCD force. Assault terminator units often served as the spearheads of such a force.
After the battle of Karakura however, the number terminator and bunker suits were in extremely short supply. The number of still functional ones were in even shorter supply. Almost all of them had been damaged or destroyed in the fighting in Karakura to evict the massive hollow incursion. The loss of these assets had deeply hurt the PWCD's capacity to sustain another conflict against such powerful enemies like the arrancar again. As such, the PWCD higher ups were working hard to repair and replace all the damaged suits and find replacements to fill in the gaps of various terminator and assault terminator units, assuming the entire unit didn't need to be replaced entirely.
As of now, there was only a single assault terminator unit that had come back from the fighting in Karakura town without any casualties across the entire squad; Cobalt team.
xxXxx
Hollows were plagues on the world.
Hollow incursions across the world had decreased very significantly overtime. Areas that usually saw frequent hollow activity year round, were now almost completely unlikely to see the soul eaters for years to come. Without Aizen commanding Huecco Mundo, it was generally assumed by the PWCD and the United Nations that his presence was the main driving force for hollows to attack humans. After all, what else would cause the sudden drop in hollow attacks? It wasn't like the fighting in Karakura had put a dent in the hollow population. However decreased the attacks were, that didn't mean they never happened. They were just rare.
"SOOOOOOUULS!"
It was even rarer that abnormally large hollow incursions happened almost next door to a minor PWCD base.
Nearly 3 dozen hollows, 30 of them of the normal variety, and the other 5 of the adjuchas level, started going on a frenzy when they were released from Hueco Mundo. Since they appeared through a Gargantua over the ocean, they immediately dove into the water and started attacking fish. They had very dim levels of reiatsu in them, but it was still somewhat nourishing for the corrupted human souls. So to help sate their endless hunger, they started off by attacking fish, and working their way towards the nearest island, Hawaii. This gave the PWCD a good 2 or so hours to react before the hollows reached a human settlement. All things considered, this was plenty of time.
The local populace along the beaches were evacuated by the nearby national guard stations, doing so under the pretense of an encroaching flood that would devastate the area. Following that procedure, once every civilian was ushered off to a nearby town, the augments of the local PWCD base immediately showed up, bringing with them every type of heavy weapon they could carry. The very weakest of hollows were only barely vulnerable to bullets. Even the armor piercing variety of bullets were to hollows, as a high powered BB gun was to a human. In response, augments were carrying heavy machine guns, semi-automatic grenade launchers, and rocket launchers to the fight.
There were only three squads of augments and a pair of Apache helicopters on hand for aerial support. In addition were a few unarmed transport helicopters to move the augments to and from locations. Minor PWCD bases were only meant to monitor local areas within a set distance. It was up to the major PWCD bases to launch any offensives or counterattacks against threats to the human populace. Minor bases were simply there to defend from such threats.
But the defenders were heavily outmatched here.
"More of them pushing through! Light those fuckers up!"
The augments were being pushed to the breaking point trying to fight off the hollows. There were just too many, and it took way more than they had to adequately deal with them. Heavy machine guns rounds could only cut into the skin of tougher of the normally classed hollows, leaving only superficial damage. Missile launchers and semi-automatic grenade launchers could kill such targets fairly easily, assuming that they stood still long enough to get struck. The adjuchas hollows however, were all but invulnerable to any type of firepower that the augments could bring to bear.
"Terra squad, regroup and fall back! Hatchet squad will provide overwatch."
Ceros and ballistic rounds tore through the streets of the city, as corrupted human souls and augmented humans battled for supremacy. The augments of Terra squad made a fast paced jog down the streets, fleeing from the hollows as they had pressed the attack. The 5 man squad was doing well enough before. They had killed two of the creatures with focused fire on its skull head, and chased away another after a round from a grenade launcher blasted off a chunk of its mask. In return, a cero from the sky had vaporized one of the men with the missiles launcher. Another hollow had managed to use some sort of strange attack that allowed it to fire its fingernails as machine gun rounds. Most of the squad had been able to evade being hit by the incoming projectiles, except for one unlucky soul who took a nail right through his thigh. His leg had only been hanging on by a few strands of muscle before the squad leader made the decision to cut the leg completely off with one good chop with a knife.
Now four men, one of which was maimed with the loss of his leg, were on the retreat.
"ROOOOOAAAAR!"
Terra 1, squad leader of Terra team, looked up to the sky and grimaced. An adjuchas was flying overhead. It looked like a giant black bird with white bone armor adorning its form. It had been circling the skies for over an hour, and was the sole reason that there were no Apache helicopters helping them out. That single hollow had destroyed both the vehicles by hitting them dead center with ceros. The unarmed helicopters were forced to retreat when the hollow started coming after them as well. The only saving grace was that those Apache helicopters had taken down 2 adjuchas hollows and 5 regulars before biting the dust, making the situation somewhat survivable.
The augment squad leader of Terra team wasn't sure how many hollows were left. His squad had killed 2 and wounded another. He had seen Hatchet team drop two or three on their end, though he wasn't sure if one of those had been the very same one his team had scared off. Mallet team had completely stopped reporting in. He didn't know if they were all dead, or their was something preventing them from making contact. Either way, he was forced to assume the worst and think that it was just Terra and Hatchet left against at least 2 dozen hollows, 4 or 5 of which they didn't have any means to kill.
"Hatchet team, hold your fire and relocate somewhere to hide. We're outmatched here. Wait for reinforcements."
A symphony of monstrous bellows and barking gunfire and explosions filled the other side of the COM link.
"Easier said than done Terra! We got an adjuchas level hollow bearing down on our asses, and the best things we can hit it with our only slowing it down!" Hatchet 1 growled from his end, the sound of heavy machine gun fire barking once more.
"We've already called for reinforcements! Hang on till we get there! Then we'll stick it ought until reinforcements come!" Terra 1. Then he turned to his squad.
They looked miserable. Two of his men had their weapons slung over their shoulders while they helped carry around Terra 2, whose entire leg was gone from thigh down. Despite wrapping the stump as tightly as they possibly could, he likely wouldn't make it. There was nothing they could use to cauterize the wound except get a hollow to shoot a cero at his leg. He'd just bleed until he finally died, unless they could evacuate him somewhere to be treated within the next few hours.
BOOOOOOM!
Four heads whipped toward the hill at which hatchet squad had been occupying. A large smoke cloud rose up from the area, meaning that either the hollows they were fighting had just blown something up, or Hatchet squad was getting desperate and jury rigging larger explosives somehow. Either way, it showed that the fighting was quickly getting desperate.
"Hatchet squad, come in!" Terra 1 barked. He waited a full ten seconds. "Hatchet Actual, respond immediately!" No response came. The line was silent on the other end.
Damn hollows.
xxXxx
A single Njal carrier flew to Hawaii. In the bowels of the great war machine, four massive forms stood in wait, armed with massive hammers that glowed neon blue at the tip. Their helmets were somewhat similar to that of a rhino's head, only without the horn. Their eyes were opaque slits that one could only barely notice. Their armor was all black, with the letters P.W.C.D. across their right shoulder pads. Their entire appearance would intimidate even the most fearless beings on the planet. They were assault terminators. One of the greatest anti-hollow specialist units in the PWCD.
"This is Cobalt Actual to all PWCD personnel currently on the Island of Hawaii. Cobalt team has arrived to neutralize the hollow threat."
"..."
"Repeat to all PWCD personnel on the island, we've come to reinforce you." The assault terminator stated.
"...Damn, you're late to the party." A tired voice said.
"Who am I speaking to?"
"This is Terra actual. As far as I know, my squad are the only ones left. The hollows smashed us pretty badly. We're camped out in an abandoned marketplace, trying to save one of my men from bleeding out."
"We copy Terra actual. Don't worry, we'll pay them back."
"You said you're the leader of Cobalt squad? What kind of support did you bring with you?"
"Just us."
"Are you kidding me? Get outta here and bring back a full battalion! They ran through three squads of us, never mind the two Apache helicopters we had for support!"
"These hollows never dealt with assault terminators before. We have additional air support trailing behind us, but don't expect them to get here before we're done."
"Didn't you hear me dammit!?" Terra 1 barked, confused as how foolhardy this guy was being. Didn't he just hear that three squads with air support had failed to do what they were going to try to do? And not only that, but they weren't even going to fully acknowledge what they were getting into?
"We'll be dropping in under 10 minutes. Sit tight and wait for the all clear. We'll draw the hollows away from your vicinity." The COM link closed.
'The hell is wrong with those people?' Terra 1 thought incredulously.
xxXxx
A quartet of massive black frames fell from the sky, dropping from the underbelly of a passing Njal carrier. With so many hollows infesting the area, the pilot couldn't risk landing the plane. So instead, the terminator suits put those expensive shock absorbers in their leg armor to good use. At 50 meters in the air, it certainly wasn't a risky drop by any stretch. It was simply a matter of not falling the wrong way. The hollows barely even noticed the passing Njal carrier. They didn't acknowledge that 4 large black objects were falling from the sky, and coming in their general direction. What the hollows DID notice, was a potent amount reiatsu coming from the direction of four dots. The reiatsu energy seemed a little off to them, as if it was tasteless and artificial, but they didn't seem to care. Food was food, and an entire buffet had just showed up.
Cobalt team hit the ground hard, announcing their presence to all the hollows in the area.
"Cobalt squad, we've been dealing with these bastards for years. You know all the tactics and maneuvers. Stay in formation, keep your guard up, and watch your squad mates' back." The leader barked.
"Yes sir, Cobalt actual." The squad responded.
"ROOOOOAAAAR!"
A bestial below filled the air, followed by a slight rubble in the ground, as if the very earth was shaking rhythmically. The four armor-clad superhuman men tensed and formed a circle. Their legs were bent, their hammers were already cocked back for a swing, and the men themselves were scanning the area for any immediate attacks.
Cobalt squad was present when the PWCD had first engaged the hollows. They were present during the first encounter with the Shinigami, which officially introduced the PWCD to the Gotei 13. They were there during the worst of the fighting in the Japan massacre; killing youkai, monstrous plants, hollows, and arrancar alike. Not once had their squad ever suffered a single loss throughout their entire history, whereas entire squads of their peers had been obliterated in the very same conflicts. They were combat veterans of the highest caliber.
They welcomed any hollows to try and stop them where everything else in this universe had failed.
"Are they coming or what? We don't have all day." Cobalt 3 spat, adjusting his grip on the hammer and twisting it around in his hands.
"Things are about to get hectic in a minute. Just enjoy the quite while it lasts." Cobalt 2 responded, standing directly behind his squad mate with his back turned. Cobalt 1 and 4 both silently stood, waiting for the hollows to finally reach their position.
This was common tactic that assault terminator units employed. They simply formed a tight formation, and let their enemies crash against them. Individually, a single assault terminator was lucky if he could fight off any more than 2 or 3 normal hollows on his own. No matter how hard they could hit with their hammers, it wasn't all that hard to outmaneuver and overwhelm them when confined to such movement restricting armor. To compensate, assault terminators never allowed themselves to get separated or divided. They defended as a unit, or they attacked as a unit, but they never tried to multi-task. Sure it made their fighting style predictable, but just because you could predict your opponents moves didn't mean you could stop it. It was appropriate that they used hammers, as their tactics were every bit as blunt and straightforward as their weapons.
A large and armored snake-like hollow slammed into the earth in front of the terminator squad, causing all of Cobalt team to pivot and face the threat. Behind that hollow, a good 7 or 8 more of its weaker kin landed directly behind it, murmuring in excitement and hunger. The terminators peered even harder at the snake looking hollow, taking note of the pure black and white color, as well as its obvious sneer. It seemed to be mocking the superhumans. Definitely an adjuchas level.
"Well would you look at thissssss? More humansssssss trying to put up a fight."
The snake was talking to Cobalt team now, no doubt to try and mock them. It seemed like a common trait that ran in non-humans. Even hollows who were mostly made up of human souls, with a few youkai souls sprinkled in here and there, tended to fall into this weird practice. It was always curious to the augments how anyone could see a group of ten feet tall super soldiers in heavy armor, wielding electric hammers, and see it fit to try and brag about species superiority. Of course, the augments didn't mind the odd practice of their enemies monologuing during a battle. It was essentially a nice opportunity to take a free shot at the enemy while they were distracting themselves, and it was one that the PWCD veterans never failed to take.
"Engage." Cobalt 1 muttered, saying it over the COM link for only his squad to here.
POP!
POP!
POP!
POP!
The assault terminators kicked in their accelerators, briefly imitating a shinigami shunpo for a split second. One moment, the entirety of Cobalt team was at a standoff with a group of hollows, receiving a demotivational speech from the hollows' leader. The very next second, they were only a few feet away from their target, savoring the expressions of shock and surprise on their enemies faces.
BZZZZZZZZZT!
Right before they started caving their skulls in.
The adjuchas cried out in pain as a thunder hammer drove into its stomach, shattering the bone armor that protected it while simultaneously electrocuting it. Adjuchas hollows were some of the toughest hollows around, second only to vasto lorde level hollows. Considering Cobalt squad had killed one or two of those during the fighting in Karakura, they weren't all that threatened at the idea of fighting an adjuchas with some backup. The adjuchas hastily got airborne, escaping the reach of the humans' weapons.
The high level hollow's underlings weren't so lucky.
The low level hollows didn't have anywhere near the endurance or thick skin of adjuchas hollows. Nor did they have the strength or speed to dodge or parry such a blow. So when the terminators came swinging into the hollows, the creatures felt their insides being pulverized, their skin being charred, their bones being powdered, and entire limbs getting blow off by the concussive force that the thunder hammers brought with them. Those hollows that didn't take a direct hit were caught in the resulting electric discharge and temporarily disoriented, feeling their muscles spasm, and a shock of pain erupt across their bodies.
The terminators didn't stop with one swing. Quite the opposite, they followed the momentum that their original swings generated, taking their hammer into the next hollow in line, regardless of whether or not one of their squad mates were already swinging down on that particular target.
BZZZZZZZZZT!
The hollows were cleared out in scant moments. The terminators didn't stay idle, making another imitation shunpo to the nearest exposed target.
The airborne adjuchas.
POP!
POP!
POP!
POP!
The hollow in question had just been building a cero to fire down on the humans, hopefully to kill them all in a single shot. What he hadn't counted on was that the humans weren't limited to horizontal teleportation. Of course, when they accelerated into the air, they'd just fall back down, but the pause was just long enough for them get a single swing in. The entirety of Cobalt team appeared all around the airborne hollow, their hammers already in motion. Cobalt 2 had missed his swing, appearing just a little bit out of reach when he finally stopped. His allies were in no such situation. The other 3 all ended up close enough to get a single swing in. Cobalt 1 struck the hollow at its back, Cobalt 3 in its jaw, and Cobalt 4 at its side.
BZZZZZZT!
The four man team of augments plummeted to the ground, gravity reasserting itself on the augments. They landed on the ground with a light rumble of the dirt. The corpse of the snake hollow smashed into the ground head first immediately after, its armor completely shattered at four places, and charred flesh showing at the places that its natural armor was absent. If the bits of bone protruding out its back wasn't a clear indication, it was certainly dead.
"Good work Cobalt team. That's not all of them, but that's a good chunk. The PWCD UAV's report several more adjuchas level hollows and a whole mess of weaker ones." Cobalt 1 stated.
"More hollows in bound." Cobalt 3 dryly stated, pointing in the sky with the hand not currently holding his hammer.
In the sky, a single large, hawk-like hollow was flying high in the air, heading straight for them. The very tip of its beak had a bright red orb building up in size. Finally, the creature released its beak and roared, which was apparently the triggering mechanism for its attack. The lance of energy struck the dirt directly to the side of Cobalt squad, and began to rake over to towards them quite quickly.
"Cero! Ger clear!" Cobalt 1 ordered.
POP!
POP!
POP!
POP!
The assault terminator unit accelerated out of the path of the attack, all of them accelerating forward. The augments glared upward at the creature as it closed its mouth and started flying downward toward the augments. Its wings went back, and its claws extended outward to either claw or grab. Given its strength, it'd probably crush a semi-truck in its grip quite easily.
"SOOOOOOUL!"
A bear-like hollow jumped from the roof of a building, aiming to pounce on Cobalt 3's back, as he was the farthest out from the rest of the group. The augment in question pivoted on one foot and planted his other firmly behind him. At the same time, he turned swung his hammer in a horizontal arc, imitating the form of a professional baseball player. The hammerhead connected with the cheekbone of the hollow's mask. The monster's skull would've been caved in by the contact alone. The addition of the reiatsu concussion completely smashed its head in. The following electric discharge insured that only a charred and headless carcass remained of the hollow, while the actual body went tumbling backward in a heep.
Cobalt 3 hauled up his hammer back into a two handed grip, immensely satisfied with his kill.
"Who's next?"
"ROOOOAAR!"
Hollows started coming from everywhere.
Cobalt squad quickly backed into a tight formation, keeping a nervous attention on both the diving hawk hollow, and many smaller hollows running in to take their own shot at the assault terminators. If they remained how they were, they'd be caught between an adjuchas dive bomb and a hollow assault all at once. There wasn't any time to react at all. Cobalt actual decided to take control of the situation, rather than try to compensate for it instead.
"Cobalt team, clip the adjuchas on my signal." Cobalt actual demanded.
"Yes sir, Cobalt actual." The squad replied.
More and more of the hollows started getting closer, but the main threat wasn't close enough yet. That adjuchas needed to be quickly grounded and killed if progress was going to be made. The assault terminators were forced to turn their attention to the charging hollows and kill the ones that got within striking range. The few hollows that fired off ceros were disappointed to see their attacks simply burn off the paint and slightly disorient the assault terminators, but they charged anyway. They were hollows after all, and their sense of hunger overpowered their sense of self-preservation. Regardless, the hollows that got too close all ended up with the same result; death by bludgeoning.
The adjuchas finally started getting low to the ground, bending its body so that it had all its mass and power going straight forward into the augmented suit heavy suit operators.
POP!
POP!
POP!
POP!
There was an error in translation when Cobalt used the phrase 'clip'. The order obviously meant to hit the creature with a hammer. All assault terminator orders were something to that affect. However, the issue arose in that some of the squad didn't know whether they were suppose to take a swing at its outstretched claws or its wings. To solve the issue, they all sorta just winged it.
Cobalt 1, 3, and 4 appeared at either side of the creature's legs, hammers in motion. Cobalt 2 appeared at its shoulder, swinging the hammer down on the point where its wing met the torso.
BZZZZZZZZZT!
"ROAAAARGGH!"
The creature felt both of its feet suddenly get broken and electrocuted while a wing broke at the joint, messing up the creatures flight pattern entirely. The adjuchas collapsed to the dirt, smashing through whatever obstacles and objects happened to be in the way. The underling hollows were forced to get out of the way, less they be plowed over by one of their own leaders.
"It's down. Now put it out." Cobalt 1 ordered.
POP!
POP!
POP!
POP!
Four assault terminators appeared on either side of adjuchas' head, hammers raised to strike. As a unit, they either brought their hammers down on the creature's skull or neck. Successfully breaking either would mark the hollows death, but just to be safe they went to break both.
BZZZZZZZZZT!
And they succeeded.
"One less bastard to deal with." Cobalt 3 announced, pulling his hammer free from the caved-in skull of the adjuchas class hollow and banging it against the ground the get off all the brain matter surrounding the hammerhead.
"Incoming hollows." Cobalt 4 noted, moving into a guarded stance and bringing his hammer into cocked back position.
Cobalt team didn't linger on the kill or even acknowledge it. With hollows, it was a simple matter of consistency. Assault terminators were practically designed to be fighters of attrition. With hardy armor, powerful weapons, and well established combat tactics, they would outlast even the most determined attackers in a large melee. Hollows would steadily come in, and the assault terminator units would throw them back again and again, reeking horrific casualties with every failed attack. That was how the augments fought, and it had worked out pretty well so far.
Cobalt 1 made an overhead swing at a charging hollow. The creature brought up a giant claw to try and block to blow, feeling confident that its strength was equal to that of its enemy.
BZZZT!
The Cobalt team squad leader turned and drove the other end of the hammer into a humanoid hollow's stomach as hard as he could. The creature bent over and vomited a bit, struggling for breath. Cobalt 1 made an underhand swing on the creature, catching it in the face while it was still emptying its stomach.
BZZZT!
Cobalt 1 felt no need to worry about his squad, as they were all within 10 feet of him, or each other. Every time a thunder hammer discharged, it also caused a brief electric field that had an agonizing and debilitating effect on the hollows. Electricity sparked into their eyes and blinded them, caused their muscles to spasm, placed them in agonizing pain, and a list of other things. When you considered that the hollows were feeling these effects in the middle of a melee with combatants that could kill you with a single good swing, and it was no wonder why terminators units could cause so much damage.
Cobalt 3 was only five feet away from his squad leader, and doing horrific damage on hollows. He swung left and right at any creature that came within his field of vision. Hollows that were on ground from constant electrocution were put out of their misery. Hollows that stood tall in the face of the lightning field, were simply laid back down with a good hammer swing to either the legs or the chest. One rat-like hollow had managed to wrap its paws around the shaft of Cobalt 3's hammer to avoid getting struck. Cobalt 3 responded by taking his free hand and punching the thing in the windpipe. The moment the creature made a pained noise, Cobalt 3 yanked his hammer back, and smashed the hammerhead into the ground, causing it to release another field of electricity. The hollow howled in agony and collapsed to the ground in a spasm of muscles. Cobalt brought down his foot on the creature's head, feeling its bones creek underneath the force of his stomp. To put it away for good, he kept it down with his foot and swung his hammer down at the creature's head as if it were a golf ball.
The hollows were dying left and right, but the terminators of Cobalt team had forgotten a crucial detail. There was still a single adjuchas they hadn't accounted for.
Cobalt 2 was only barely able to get his hammer up to block from the massive punch that came his way, the concussion blast from the hammer canceling out most of the power from the punch. Even still, the blow sent the terminator stumbling backward. Another fist came his way, but Cobalt 2 was ready this time. Rather than take the blow head-on, he swatted it the side with his hammer. For a moment, he got a clear look at what exactly he was fighting.
It was a giant gorilla with two unevenly large fists, who stood a full head and chest over him. It was an adjuchas to be sure, if the white and black armor wasn't a blatant indicator. Cobalt 2 didn't pay all that much attention to how it looked, except to get a basic idea of where to hit it. The creature tried to cock back its other fist for a swing, but Cobalt 2 was faster. He brought his hammer around and struck the evolved hollow in the shoulder of the arm it intended to swing with, causing it to stumble backward.
BZZZT!
Cobalt 2 took another step forward and swung his hammer across the monster's head.
BZZZT!
The gorilla hollow stumbled two steps backward. Cobalt 2 took two steps forward, his hammer coming back around.
BZZZT!
The adjuchas was beyond muddled. It was taking all of its concentration to not trip up and fall over its own feet. No matter how hard it try to right itself or prepare a defense, that accursed hammer struck him again and caused the hollow to stumble back even further. Cobalt 2 for his part was quite frustrated. He was swinging his hammer at the hollow like a baseball bat repeatedly. After every blow, he'd bring the hammer right back for another blow. Every time the hollow stumbled backward, he shuffled forward to ensure the hollow didn't escape his swinging range. The adjuchas' bone armor was steadily flying off with every blow, but it still managed to stay upright.
Finally fed up, right when the hollow turned to the left from a hammer blow to the shoulder, Cobalt 2 made a full 360 shuffle-turn, his hammer fully extended in one hand. The hollow was still turned to the side, so the hammer struck the creature right behind its shoulder, dislocating the bone entirely. The creature fell to one knee in agony, trying to bare the spike of pain.
Cobalt took a single step forward, both his hands gripping the shaft of his thunder hammer. The hollow made a pathetic attempt to push itself away, roaring in desperation as Cobalt 2 made a hard underhand swing, putting so much force into the swing that he nearly jumped off the ground when he followed through with the attack.
BZZZT!
Blood splattered across Cobalt 2's helmet. The last blow caved the adjuchas' entire face in, leaving nothing but a bloody cavity in its place.
xxXxx
Cobalt Actual surveyed the battle field, looking out at all the hollows who had been messily brained, stomped, and crushed by his squad. There were a few here and there that sported wounds from ballistic weapons and explosives, showing that the augmented special operatives had racked up a few kills before going down. However, the vast majority were clearly the handiwork of his squad. Only an assault terminator unit would leave all their enemies looking like they were roadkill, rather than combatants who had died in battle.
The rest of his squad were walking among the dead hollows, looking for anything that still seemed to be alive. Some of the hollows had actually passed out from the result of the constant electric fields, so they may wake back up among the dead, right when their bodies were in the process of being disposed of. The PWCD certainly didn't want that. So they provided a simple solution to finding out if a hollow was dead or not. They looked for bodies that didn't seem to have been bludgeoned to death, and taped the ground near those bodies with their hammers. If the resulting electric discharge didn't jolt them into consciousness, then they were dead. If they actually woke up, they had a thunder hammer speared into their skull. Simple.
"This is Cobalt Actual to Terra Actual. All hollows have been neutralized. You can come out." Cobalt 1 stated, feeling quite satisfied with his squad's work..
"..." There was a pause on the other end. "I don't believe it. We got our asses whooped by those things, and your saying you and cleared them out in less than an hour!?" Cobalt 1 could understand why he was angry. He had just seen his men die and get wounded fighting seemingly unstoppable creatures. Despite all the support and help he had, they failed to win. Then suddenly 4 guys with hammers completely triumphed where all of them had failed, all without taking a single casualty. It was unfair in a way, but that was simply how things were. All the assault terminator squad leader could do was keep professional.
"PWCD command wouldn't have sent us if we couldn't get the job done. A Njal carrier is on route for us, but I ordered it to grab your squad first."
Cobalt 1 paused, watching as lizard hollow started to spasm and scream when Cobalt 4 gave it a light tap with the head of the hammer. Immediately after finding that it was still alive, Cobalt 4 stomped on its back and drove the pole end of the hammer into the creature's forehead, going straight through its skull and out its jaw. Needless to say, the hollow stopped moving.
"We have to make sure these things are all down for good." There was a pause on the other end of the COM link.
"I don't care if most of these things were human. Kill every last one of them and let them rot where they drop." Terra 1 spat out. Cobalt 1 smirked underneath his helmet. The world needed more soldiers like these.
"Don't worry, that's our job." 'And we do our job pretty damn good.' Cobalt 1 mentally added.
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