Have you recovered from the last chapter yet? No? Too bad, another has arrived for you all to read! X3 Ready for some more intense action? Thank you to everyone who's read so far and for your support. Please enjoy! :D
Rafael sighed lightly as he and Rayne sat by me, Calhoun peeking in every once in a while.
"What exactly is going on here?" Calhoun asked. "Is this the ponies' doing?"
"No, it isn't." Rayne replied. "This is something far greater that I thought was impossible. But it seems... that as I am being cleansed of its force... she is being tainted by it."
"What is 'it,' now?" Rafael asked.
Rayne took a moment to answer. "It does not have a name." She started. "It is a force that existed long before we were a mere thought, and still exists now." She stood. "The two of you must keep watch of camp. I will fight to remedy this. I alone stand a chance."
Calhoun sighed, not exactly trusting Rayne, but her words seemed genuine and they needed all the help they could get... now was not the time for anything more to go wrong. "Do what you have to do." She replied.
Rayne nodded, and she took a deep breath, lying down on the floor before closing her eyes, passing out as she astral projected into my mind. It was there that she would meet the very being that had sealed our fate for our paths to cross decades ago.
Rayne's eyes snapped open, inhaling sharply. She looked around, narrowing her eyes as she noticed that the forest of my mind had been cleared, leaving nothing but whiteness. She walked forward until she reached a hospital bed, furrowing a brow. A hairless, faceless person with a mouth laid there, turning its head to "look" at Rayne.
"Show me your true form." Rayne commanded.
You cannot comprehend my true form... It spoke, and it sounded like several voices speaking as one. Regardless of who wins and who loses, I win. You see... you are all players on the chessboard... but I am the one who sits back and watches you all kill each other... The creature grinned, drooling from razor sharp teeth. After all... I am the reason any living thing fights... in the end, it is my whispers they listen to... it is my desires that drive their desires... all leading them to destroy one another... and those they destroy... only provide me more power.
Rayne grit her teeth. "You think you can corrupt the mind you are inhabiting? You've tried many times... and failed. We both have."
Because she has far greater power than you could ever dream of containing! It snapped. You have rejected my ways... it is why she will always defeat you, again and again. You've allowed my power to flow through you for so ling, it is deeply etched into your roots... why reject me now... you have always had the potential... you have always had me with you, one way or another... it is who you are. You were meant to dominate. Why now... do you give it all up?
"I will be controlled by no one or no thing." Rayne replied.
You could have everything in the universe... we could rule whatever we want... we could absorb all the power... just help me corrupt this mind, and it will all be yours. Just help me eliminate the one thing that seeks to destroy me... and nothing will stop us.
Rayne's lip twitched a bit, before she emitted a cry, screaming as she grabbed onto the freakish creature as it screeched. She pulled with all her might, squeezing her eyes shut as black ooze began to spew and jut from where its body met the bed. It had no legs, its torso melded with the mattress as if that too, was alive and part of its body.
"GET UP!" Rayne screamed on the top of her lungs. "Get up, Kara! Get up NOW!"
With one final tug, the sound of a huge tear was heard, and the creature was limply thrown aside. Through the hole in the mattress, Rayne grit her teeth as like objects in an airplane would fly out of a hole, the forest that inhibited my mind began to jut out, trees, Earth and other forest materials rearranging itself as it should be, until there was no sign of the barren emptiness that was there before. Rayne got to her feet, gasping for air as she leaned up against one of the trees to balance herself.
Meanwhile, Calhoun was walking around camp when she heard some voices, taking out her firearm as she moved towards the sound. Markowski and some of his buddies that survived were dragging someone along, a Transformer they had caught on the outskirts of camp.
"Sarge! We caught this guy wandering around near camp! What are your orders?" Markowski asked.
Calhoun narrowed her eyes for a moment. "Why is he so much smaller than the others? Hang on tight to him... I have a few questions to ask short stack here." Markowski and the other guys dragged the Transformer into a small, temporary building on site that was built in case they managed to get their hands on someone from the opposing side for questioning and interrogation. Though he was a smaller Transformer, he was at least twice the height of a standard human being, so what was confusing was how he was almost simply letting them drag him along. They restrained him, and Calhoun sat across from the robot, still in full armor, her men standing back a few feet with their firearms out to cover her and the exits. "What do they call you, stud?" She asked.
The Transformer looked up at her. "I'm not here as a spy, or to try to get any unfair advantage. Actually, I am not here to help the ponies at all, but to help you."
Calhoun scoffed. "And give me one reason why I should even for a second believe your little sob story? What's in it for you?"
"Look... I've already lost some of my brothers... we... we don't even really want to fight you guys. But we don't have a choice. The ponies made a bargain with Optimus Prime and G.I Joe that because we're all original citizens of HasbroHub, they would spare us if we helped in their fight. But... I wasn't shut down, and I overheard them talking... the ponies. The pink one... she said to the others that when this war is all over, she's going to wipe us and the G.I Joe team out, and go against their promise! Please, you have to believe me! You have to save us!" Frenzy begged. "You are our only hope... you are all of our hope."
Calhoun thought for a moment. "If you provide me with valuable information on the ponies... then maybe I will consider if your words are true."
"I don't know much... but I'll tell you what I can." Frenzy said. "The ponies... they're very secretive." He added. "But... while they were talking, I heard that they weren't satisfied with how today went, that many more toons should have died." He glanced to the side. "They have back up plans ready to fight with tomorrow, they're going to bring out their stronger warfare artillery and... and something that will ensure you all lose this fight."
"And what would that be?" Calhoun asked.
"A serum that they've been working on. You guys aren't the only ones working on stuff to help your cause. They tested it at a lab in this human city, on the pony with the weird eyes. I saw it myself when I was sneaking about, they had video footage... everyone knows that even though the ponies have high numbers they're not very strong, and only the ones with the horns have really any significant attacks. But this serum changes all that. It makes them so strong that they're like killing machines. If you don't stop the production of that serum by morning... it will be administered to every pony in their ranks and you'll all be done for." Frenzy said.
Calhoun's eyes widened, nodding. "My codes..." She looked back up at him. "I am going to bring in our mission team leader. You will tell him everything you just told me, down to the punctuation mark. If you expect me to do one thing for you, you will cooperate without question, understood?"
"Yes, m'am." Frenzy gave a nod.
Calhoun stormed out of the building, getting Rafael to come inside and Frenzy retold what he had said to her; the more Frenzy explained, the more Rafael's face fell.
"Damn..." He breathed. "This is bad."
"Yeah... we've only got about five more hours until the break of dawn. If we're going to do something, we need to get our rears in gear, and now." Calhoun said.
"Fine. I'll get a small team together and we'll see what we can do." Rafael said.
"They already have a supply with them... but if you destroy the storage facility at the lab, it will wipe out enough to where they can't administer it to every pony in their ranks." Frenzy said.
Rafael nodded, setting out to get to work. He re-recruited S.H.O.D.A.N, Alex, Raiden and Adam, updating them on what was happening and what they had to do. Before he set off, he stopped in by me, Rayne now slumbering in a bed next to mine. He quietly approached me as I slept, gently taking my hand and patting it.
"I'm going to make sure you win this, Kara. I'm going to make sure we all win this. We're in this together... so you have to fight, too. You have to recover and come back." He placed my hand down before heading out of the tent, and Calhoun authorized the use of one of the smaller aircraft to fly to the location of the lab.
"Okay... according to this... really high tech GPS system... the place has no manpower guarding the premises." Alex noted.
"Doesn't mean they don't have UAVs." Raiden replied. "We need to land far away enough so we don't have too much distance to go on foot but still stay undetected."
They landed in an abandoned parking lot, hopping off and proceeding on foot towards the lab. They took time to try to get readings on the premises security, before moving forward. S.H.O.D.A.N deactivated the pin pad once they reached the main doors, and the four entered, remaining vigilant as they scanned the area.
"Okay, Alex... I'm getting three changelings over there and two more there." Rafael said.
"On it." Alex replied.
First, he stealthily moved toward the group of three, absorbing them before they could even fight back. The other two changelings heard the commotion, running towards Alex as the rest of the team proceeded to the blast doors, where through there was access to the lab and storage area. S.H.O.D.A.N once again deactivated the pin pad, and Rafael entered first. As soon as the door opened, a sensor of a non-pony life form triggered jammers to activate, which were small antennae located throughout the room. Before Rafael could do anything, the small devices emitted an electromagnetic signal that caused S.H.O.D.A.N to start to sputter and malfunction, her eyes dimming as she collapsed to the ground in a heap.
"Damn!" Rafael exclaimed.
"Thank codes for EMP shielding..." Adam muttered.
Alex rejoined the group, raising a brow at S.H.O.D.A.N. "Jeez... what happened to her?"
Raiden scoffed. "It seems she isn't as flawless as she perceived herself to be."
"Come on, we have to keep moving. We're running out of moonlight hours." Rafael said as they proceeded on.
The team had to do everything manually now, so it took a bit longer to gain access to certain areas and kill any changelings that were keeping guard. Raiden stayed behind by the blast doors to disable the jammers so S.H.O.D.A.N could recover. Oddly enough, they had not been administered with any of the serum. When they finally reached the core of the lab area, Adam placed half of the C4s there, before they went to the storage facility and placed the other half there. Just when they thought they had finished the mission like a piece of cake, they heard a long, sustained grunt from down one of the corridors, and Alex started to laugh a bit.
"Ah... I was just waiting for the moment when some abomination was going to pop out and try to murder us in cold blood." Alex sighed. "Better high tail out of this joint."
They started to move towards the door, when the sound of something bounding towards them echoed through the corridor. When their predator finally revealed itself, Rafael groaned.
"You have got to be kidding me." He said flatly.
Derpy, who had been the ponies' guinea pig for the serum, had been given a bit too much, making her- him- it a hulking mass. What was even odder, was that it seemed like paint was constantly chipping away, as if being stretched in size was exhausting the placement of the paint, and even when the grey paint was somehow overly colorful, underneath it, Rafael could barely see sickly, paper thin skin. He told Adam and Alex to move as he whips out any firearm he can, trying to shoot up Derpy as it emitted a deep grunt, moving swiftly to try to crush Rafael. Objects and debris were tossed about everywhere and Rafael had to make an extra effort to dodge that as well as avoid tripping or stumbling; if he did, it was game over. He could barely keep ahead of it, his firearms not doing much to stop it from pursuing him. Alex and Adam made it through the blast doors, but as they did so, the sensor activated, slamming them shut.
"Crap!" Alex exclaimed. "Rafael's still inside there!"
Rafael had exhausted the ammo of every firearm, his last resort being his two pistols, Derpy now within one long stretch of hallway of its goal. Rafael shouted on the top of his lungs to the others to open the doors, but the jammers had resealed them and the others were working as quickly as possible to reopen it.
"Guys! I'm a sitting duck here, get the doors open before this thing flattens me!" Rafael shouted. In the meantime, Derpy was charging down the hall, and Rafael shot his last two firearms on him, giving it his all. Derpy began to slow down as it bled profusely, and when it finally crashed down, dying from bleeding out, Rafael released the breath he was holding.
Derpy had fallen only a mere inch from him.
The team made their way out of the building, getting far enough away before Adam pressed the button on the detonator. The team watched as glass blew out of all the windows and the building came crashing down, destroying everything inside.
"Interesting that there was so little security." Adam noted.
"Well... I guess the ponies figured we wouldn't have found out about this place if Frenzy hadn't ratted on them." Rafael replied. "We would've been in for a real rude awakening."
I gasped lightly as I opened my eyes, looking around a bit as I sat up. I glanced to the side to see Rayne sleeping, smiling a bit. "Thank you... Rayne." I gave a nod, before lying back down and turning on my side. I heard some shuffling outside, sitting back up to see Calhoun enter.
"Are you alright?" She asked.
"I think so..." I replied. I was still deeply hurt, but at least I felt more like myself. "Any updates?"
"Yes." Calhoun told me what had occurred while I was unconscious.
"Oh, crud..." I looked up at her. "Have you received any word from him?"
"Yeah... Rafael just radioed and said the mission was a success. He's on his way back now with the team. One was injured a bit, but everyone survived."
I nodded. "Good, good..." I sighed. "That boy is always making me worry."
"You should get some rest. You had a rough day yesterday and you need all your strength for today." Calhoun said as she walked out of the tent. I lied back down, closing my eyes as I quickly took her advice.
When morning arrived, I opened my eyes, getting up and preparing for the final show down. Yesterday had been somewhat of a stalemate, but there would be none of that today; only a winner and a loser. I turned when I heard someone call my name, smiling lightly as I approached Rafael.
"Glad to see you look better." Rafael smiled.
"Thanks... glad to see you're alive." I replied. "But according to what Calhoun said, the ponies still have a limited supply with them of the serum."
"Yeah... that's going to cause us a bit of trouble, but at least we destroyed the majority of their supply. We never know what else they have planned." Rafael looked up at me. "Are... are you feeling okay?"
I nodded. "I think I'll be alright. It's... it's hard to think about... not having him with me. But... I know he'd want me to keep fighting, and I still have a lot of people to fight for, so I'm going to do just that."
We gave each other a short hug, before joining the other surviving toons in preparing for another day of battle. I spoke to Calhoun and Frenzy, who was no longer restrained but was still being kept in the small interrogation building for safety measures.
"Okay... so according to Frenzy, this is some of the heavy duty weaponry they plan to use today. We need to send out Team Blue Storm to freeze up any nukes and hydrogen bombs they try to drop on us." I started.
"That won't be enough to stop them from going off, Kara." Rafael said as he approached us. "If even one of those bombs goes off, we're toast. Every one of us. They could have dozens of warheads alone. Your team to combat them has what, three toons?"
I sighed lightly. "Rafael, we don't have many other options. I'm trying... we lost so many yesterday."
"Well... as for the AC-130 gunships... we should have enough to fight them between the remaining anime air ships, dragons, and airborne pokemon. Ash and Hiccup did a really good job leading the way yesterday." Rafael noted. "Also, as for their drones, we'll just have to use our ground forces until, or unless, we can find a way to deactivate their control source."
I nodded. "Okay..." I exhaled deeply. "Let's get everyone together and tell them the plan."
Pinkie Pie was pacing around the room, becoming more irritated by the second. "Rainbowdash!" She shouted. "Where are the pegusi you sent to bring the supply of serum? I've already started administering what we have here but we need more!"
Rainbowdash came into the room, hesitating at first. "Uh... Pinkie... we have a problem."
Pinkie Pie turned, her eye twitching a bit. "Did you say... problem? You know I don't like negative words like that, Rainbowdash... when it comes to my plans!"
"It looks like... I don't know how they could have found out Pinkie, really! But... the place was destroyed! There was nothing left, even Derpy didn't survive! All of the extra serum we have... is gone." Rainbowdash replied.
Pinkie Pie began to tremble all over, shaking her head as her pupils shrunk. "Bring Twilight to me, now. NOOOOOW!" She shrieked, gasping deeply as small cracks appeared for a moment around her mouth, before sealing up.
Twilight cautiously approached Pinkie Pie. "Pinkie... I'm so sorry... I... I don't know how they could have found out, I took every precaution possible to-"
"If we don't kill every last one of those toons and their human friends, our magic is going to FAIL us!" Pinkie screeched. "There is a price to pay to be what we have become, and if we don't pay it we will lose EVERYTHING!" She narrowed her eyes. "If there is even one toon standing by sunset tonight, you will regret it." Pinkie stormed off, scowling. "Get the ranks ready!"
Oh boy! Things are leading up to the next phase of the showdown! Who will succeed and who will fall? Stay "tooned" for more soon! Thank you everyone for your patience and for your support. :)