I see Jacy across from me with a soldier next to her, and the twins sitting to my right, but I don't see the to other members of my little group. They all look sad, and I feel sad, but I don't know why, everything feels kinda... fuzzy. I can feel Toby's body, but it feels kinda distant... like a drone.
I see two people to my left, Simon on the drivers seat infront of me and... mullet man... Eugene! Thats his fucking name! God damn I feel weird. They're talking, but I can't understand what they're saying.
"They're discussing what's going to happen to us." A voice rings out in my head, Toby's voice. "They're also retreating. Whatever you ran off to do obviously worked."
Does he know I took over his body?
Wait what?!
I try to move, but simply can't, but I can feel somethings, like Toby's heartbeat and the zip tie around his wrists, restraining his hands behind his back.
Alma move his finger!
I put no effort int any movement, but I can feel his fingertips tapping on the seat under us. Son Of a bitch!
"What are you saying?" Toby's voice rings out again. "And why can't I move?"
Almas take- "I mean Almas taken over your body, and Im riding passenger."
"Well give it back please! I already have sleep paralysis I don't want that shit when I'm awake too!" He whines. If I had eyes right now I'd roll them.
Alma, please transfer control back to Toby.
"Ahhh, That's better." He groans in his head, rolling his shoulders. "Why are you here right now?"
"Fuck If I know. You tell me why you're in a truck?" I say. And he takes a audible inhale, his eyes on the floor of the vehicle.
"After you left, we were ambushed in the forest. We tried to hold them off, but there were just too many of them. So they took the four of us and loaded us into this truck. Im sorry, but Mike and Connor are dead... Im sorry." He says again, mentally repeating himself to the point his body began to shake. "Im so sorry Dindu... I just couldn't do anything."
Im taking back control. Alma says, and the boys shaking immediately stops. Can't have him getting hysterical.
"Wha-what's she saying?"
"She's saying it's not your fault Toby, you kept four people alive and thats more then anyone else could do. But I need you to calm down while we discuss a plan." I say, letting a calm voice prevail over my usual, accented one. What? I can be calm when I need to be!
Alma, how's your English?
Perfect, why?
"Ohh I can understand her now!" Toby's voice rings out again.
"Thats why."
That makes sense.
"Communication is key." I say with a giggle. "Alma, what's the status on my body?"
Its in repairs, but it'll be a while until you can control it again.
"Has this happened before Dindu?"
"No, never." I answer. "You sure you don't want me to use your body? I'm a better fighter then you."
"Im sure. Why don't you use Maggies body instead?" He retorts. If I didn't know better id say he was jelou... wait.
"Alma... is that.."
Im checking... got it. Looks like she's a viable option. But we'll lose communication, so you'll have to stay with her on your own.
"I can do that."
"Wait, what are you guys talking about?" Toby's voice rings out again.
"Nigga we're speaking fucking English! Imma go see Hall and you're gonna do whatever Alma says to!" I yell, feeling my consciousness get dragged out of Toby's body. "Goodness me."
—————————————————
"Gah what the fuck!" Maggie screams when she sees the mass of distortion next the the refueling helicopter. I hadn't told her about this little thing I do. "Im losing my shit aren't I."
"Nah you're good Maggie." I say "But you're the only one that can see me.
"Alien boy!? Why are you a... what ever that is?" She asks in a hushed whisper. I can see her, and she can see me. But I need to be inside her head, can I move? Yep!
She screams as the body of distortion charges forward into her, sticking to her body and my vision faultier for a second before I can see through her eyes.
"Success!"
"What the fuck did you just do!?" She screams making the pilot lean out the Blackhawks door and yell something I couldn't understand. "Some weird shit is happening dad!"
"Just think of me as a silent observer... minus the silence."
"What are you observing!"
"First off use a mother fucking inside voice please! Don't talk aloud, mouth the words and I can hear you just fine. Second I can see everything you see, I feel everything you feel."
She lets out a annoyed groan. "What do you want alien! I already let you probe me!"
"Yeah... That explains why you're so loose down there. We're getting off track, I need you to stage a rescue op."
"What? How?" She asks, climbing into the gunner seat of the helicopter. "Communications are down, isn't fixing that step one?"
"We're skipping steps, Were on the clock for this Maggie... please?"
She rolls her eyes before signaling for her father to start up the engines, prompting the rest of the helicopter team to climb aboard and take their designated positions. She fastens her helmet while silently asking "Wait, cant you fly?"
"My body is catatonic, I can't go back to it till it repairs itself."
"Well that sucks." She groans "Where we going? Who we saving?"
"Squad one was ambushed and is being transported via truck convoy. And If I know alma she'll show me where right about... there it is!" I say as a little blue blip makes itself visible on my hud, Maggie also sees it.
"Oh its just like a video game!" She giggles allowed. "Alright dad! Takes us up and rotate seventy degrees left, Were staging a rescue op!"
I heard what sounds like could be some argument amongst the crew before Maggie silences them. "Shut the fuck up and do it! You wanna let squad one get skullfucked? I don't think so."
I feel a mild pull of gravity as the helicopter quickly ascends, rotating in the direction of the blip and speeding forward. "This feels weird!" I say, earning a giggle from Maggie.
"So, what are we flying into?"
"Truck convoy, I already told you that."
"Can't you do anything?"
"Maybe!" I scream. I've never done this before, but I think this could be a good learning moment for me. "Pull along side them, but keep your distance."
She relays my orders and the helicopter pursuits the colony of trucks, keeping our distance out of the line of fire. Muzzle flashes are seen as some of the soldiers in trucks fire at us, not taking into account the movement of the trucks or the Helicopter.
"Careful with your fire mags, you don't wanna hit the wrong truck." I remind her, Hmmm lets see. "Good news Maggie! I can call down archer missiles! Look to the front of the truck colony so I can stop the trucks."
"Alright, You mean to- wait! They're moving!" Maggie points out, prompting me to abort the missile strike as the truck carrying my team makes a left turn, confusing the trucks behind it. Muzzle flashes appear out the back windows of the armored truck, but directed at the trucks around them. "Your team must've hijacked the truck! Dad, follow that runaway!"
The helicopter banks sharply as Maggie fires at the pursuing trucks with her mounted mini gun, tactically disabling the trucks by firing into their engines. I help her out but summoning my archer missiles, cutting off a few trucks and disabling two of them. Out truck speeds off through the remains of a ruined town, ducking under a canopy of trees and hiding from our site. If I know alma, She already has a route mapped out for them.
"Keep going forward dad, wait for them to re-emerge!" Maggie yells into her headset, the signal unaffected by the jammer. (Im not actually sure if the radio jammer would ignore this kinda signal, just go with it.)
"Gain some altit..." I say before a uncomfortable feeling overtakes me, a feeling of weightlessness. "Tude."
Suddenly my vision blurs and Im sucked down into a dark abyss, a intense feeling in the pit of my stomach and I plunge head first into nothingness. "Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck!" I scream as I fall into the abyss, the energy around me vibrating to the point my ears hurt.
"Whoah!" I scream as I feel my body hit the ground, the feeling of weightlessness slowly dissipating as my eyesight comes back into focus. I get to my feet and start jumping around, shaking my arms to make the ache go away. "Ouchie!"
"You alright kiddo?" A voice sas behind me. I swing around to see a familiar face.
"Morgan? I heard your team got wiped out?"
"Most of us did." The man says, leaning on his staff. "I survived."
"Were are you going? Kingdoms in the other direction." I say. The man nods at me, telling me he wasn't heading to the Kingdom. "One sec." I say before turning and blasting the radio jammer apart using my thunderclap.
Alma, can you hear me?
It's about time you woke up! we're being pursued but our friends in the black hawk should be able to hold them off for now. You destroyed the jammer? Im getting a lot of comms traffic. Can you get here?
I can't transform, i'll have to get a ride. Keep me posted.
"Morgan, I need your help."
"Really? what do you need from me?" The man asks, perking up a bit.
"I can't transform, and squad one is being pursued by hostile forces, we need to show up and fuck em up!" I explain, looking around me and realizing I'm in the middle of fucking nowhere. "You walked all the way out here?" I ask and the man nods, why is he acting weird? Whatever, I don't have time to deal with him.
Alma no go on the ride any ideas?
I don't know, ride Fenrir?
"Genius!" I scream aloud, eliciting a startled jump from the taller man beside me. "Morgan, have you seen Fenrir?" The man shakes his head and i let out a frustred groan. Wait, Fenrirs a wolf right? I'll just howl!
"Aahhhhooooooo!" I howl, placing my hands by my lips and throwing my head back. Okay, I know its a little desperate, but its a idea imma go with. "Morgan! Howl with me!" The man rolls his eyes, but complies, putting his hands up to his lips and howling like a wolf along side me. "There he is!" I scream, pointing at the sky.
The Haast's Eagle circles a hundred feet above us, it's massive wingspan casting a shadow onto us as it descends at a ravenous pace, disappearing into a cloud of distortion and transforming into the massive wolf known as Fenrir. The canine's tail wags as it gallops up to us, letting us pet it.
"Oh my boy hi!" I squeal and rub the dog behind both ears. "I need your help boy." I say to the wolf and climb on his back, grabbing onto his fur. "Find Toby boy!"
The dog sniffs the air before taking off into the woods, leaving Morgan perplexed in his dust. I keeps my head low to avoid any tree branches or brush that could knock me off the wolf, but I still take a few hits to my leg and side, the armor absorbing the impacts. We race through the forest and eventually happen upon a road, the one I saw when I was still in Maggies head. The dog sniffs the air and makes his way down through the forest on the opposite side of the road.
Im directing him to me directly, which means you'll bypass that convoy.
Why? I can hit them from behind! They'll have to fight on two fronts!
Maggie seems very insistent on not letting you do that, she was stationed with these people after all.
I choke down a growl, but I understand the emotion behind it. I DONT LIKE IT! But I get it. It might bite her in the ass later, and I won't be around to help her, but hey, not my problem.
Understood, take us in quietly. And patch me into that chopper.
I hear a quick cry of radio static before the sound of radio chatter comes through into my head. Sounds to me like arguing between a bunch of people I don't know. And then I hear Maggies voice ring out.
"Cmon General! You already lost! Give up! You can't win this!" Maggie says through the radio waves, sounds more like pleading then anything else to me. "Carmines and the rest of the Re-Ans are dead! Go home! We won't come after you!"
"You know I can't do that Sergeant Hall, not until I get what I need. Give him to me."
"He's just a kid, General Hart! He just let him leave this place! He'll be out of your hair and you'll get to live!"
General Hart wants to capture you and Maggie doesn't want him to.
Yeah thanks Alma I kinda pieced that together. Why does he want me? I don't even know the guy.
You didn't but apparently the Leviathan did, shot down a few of his Apaches and killed alot of his men. Not to mention destroying a major city.
That makes sense.
"General please! I'm sorry about your men, but you can't seriously expect him to just turn himself over to you! And you can't force him! You don't have the firepower! Huh- General!" Maggie screams into the radio before the static takes over again, General Hart must have cut off communications. I hear the sounds of the helicopter blades echo off of the forest around me and the wolf makes a slight course adjustment.
You're about eight hundred feet out Djimon, try to keep a low profile.
Oh they're not gonna see a damn thing.
I can see the convoy through the trees and hear the Helicopter through the canopy overhead. We do our best to stay out of site, and were successful until we hit a clearing and the lead humvee notices us. However, the gunner didn't see us, and instead focused his fire up and at the tail rotor of the helicopter, causing the vehicle to spin and smashing into the forest a few hundred yards away.
"Oh what the fuck!" I scream as the crew scrambles from the helicopter. "Fuck peace! Smash that humvee Fenrir!" I order the dog as he changes directions to face the side of the humvee. I jump off the wolf before he takes action, putting his head down and sprinting into the side of the humvee. The armored vehicle crumples at the impact point, between the driver door and the back door directly next to it. However, the vehicle managed to stay upright, but the gunner falls out do to the sudden impact.
I sprint forward behind the wolf, using him to camouflage my approach as I creep around the humvee, stalking the gunner on the ground. "I am but a sneaky snake." I whisper to myself as I slither around the side of the humvee and spot my prey sprawled out on the dirt road. Before I have the chance to charge in, the passenger side door swings open and a man with a M-4 emerges. I rush forward and grab the weapon with both hands, head butting the man in the nose before yanking the gun out of his grip and jumping front kicking the man, sending him and myself to our backs. I sit up and place the rifle butt to my shoulder, pulling the trigger...click!
"Who the fuck carries around a empty rifle!" I scream and throw the weapon at the man, buying myself a second to get to my feet before he does. I charge over yo the man, dodging his punch and whirling around him, squeezing his neck with my bicep and forearm while taking his pistol out of his waist holster, pulling the man back with me as a hostage.
"Easy.." I growl out as a warning, the rest of the convoy pulling up.
"Drop it!" A soldier screams at me, a rifle aimed at me. I ain't dropping shit! They'll shoot me the second I do.
"I think the fuck not!" I scream back at the crowd, inching my way towards the helicopter wreckage with my hostage in hand. "Maggie!?"
I breath a sigh of relief when I hear coughing coming from the wreckage. "We're alright!" Maggie says, pushing debris out of he way as she crawls from the overturned helicopter. "Dad,you alright?"
"Yeah, Maggie Im fine..." The Helicopter pilot says while struggling to untangle himself from his straps. "Brians unconscious though, give him a hand?"
I notice a older soldier with a white beard, he looks out of place in the field. "Maggie! Some cap'n crunch looking mother fucker is out her staring at me."
"Thats Hart! Dont shoot him!" Maggie yells, crawling her way under the wreck and pushing herself to her feet behind me. "Just relax Alien boy, this doesn't need to end in a fight."
"It's a bit late for that don't you think?" I retort, gripping my hostage tighter and focusing my sights on General Hart. "How many of your friends did I kill?"
It was bait, I wanted the fight, if they shot at me I could justify wiping them out, then my friends would be safe when I leave. But they didn't shoot, didn't even react to my taunting, even when I held my arm around a soldiers throat and threatened to kill a General. But hart? He didn't even flinch.
"General!.." Maggie screams, moving in front of me and setting herself up in a potential crossfire, I take my finger off the trigger while she talks. "Please, lets talk about this! Lets... lets make a deal!"
"You know what we want sergeant..." General Hart replies in a monotone voice, unaffected by the heavy tension in the air. "Give him to us."
"I ain't doing shit." I whisper to Maggie, her breath speeding up noticeably, looks like she could be having a anxiety attack. She's overthinking... maybe Im overthinking? Maybe Hart has no intention of killing my friends. I mean he could've been intimidated by Carmine right? And that's why he wants me?
"Carmines dead." I whisper to
Maggie and she looks back at me in confusion. "Say it."
"Carmine is dead!" Maggie Maggie screams, keeping her hands up. Hart remains stoic, but a couple of the soldiers falter, a sudden relaxation of the shoulders and faces, their weapons would sway slightly before steadying on Maggie and I once again.
"Dead?" The General questions and Maggie nods. He turns his attention towards me our eyes locking as if in a battle for dominants. "Is that true? You beat him?"
"It took a minute, but yeah, he's dead... permanently this time."
"... and the other four?"
"I got one hanging from a metal tree and ate the rest... mostly."
Maggie puts het hands down and let's her shoulders relax. "They're KIA General. You can go home."
The man thinks to himself for a moment, as if weighing his options. "I wanna talk to the man in charge."
"For fucks sake." My hostage groans, catching us all off guard. "Let me go! I don't like being touched!"
"Aight man, chill." I giggle letting the man go. The man snatches the gun out of my hand before reholstering it and walking away. Maggie and I share a glance before a truck comes rolling to our position, the truck that contained my friends. The truck rolls to a stop before a badly beaten Simon is thrown out of the back, landing face first on the dirt ground,then the twins, Jacy, Toby, and...
"Eugene!" I growl, my eyes flashing in rage as the man crawls out of the drivers side of the truck. "Imma kick that mullet right off your skull!" I charge forward and grab the man by the throat, raising my fist.
"Wait!" Toby screams and grabs my arm with both hands before I can rearrange Eugenes face. "He helped us! We couldn't have escaped without him!"
I keep my eyes fixed on Eugene as he whimpers like a startled puppy, my eyes starring daggers into him. "He was gonna use me to make fucking vaccines! They wanted to keep me alive and farm my blood!" I growl, keeping my gaze on the scared man. "One punch."
"Sure."
A wicked smile crosses my face as I push the man harder against the truck keeping him in place. I throw a massive, brutal, probably Illegal right cross, connecting right on the mans ear, I didn't wanna risk knocking him out by connecting to the temple. A sickening snap rings out on contact, and the group behind me, including some of the soldiers, let out a shocked gasp. I let the mans neck go and he collapses onto the ground, clutching his left ear and writhing in pain.
"Holy shit!" Liam cries out in a mix of astonishment and horror. "You just punched that man, and his entire lineage!"
"Ya it was pretty good." I say, admiring my work as the man squirms, blood pouring from his ear. I think his ear drum bursts.
The boy ignores my comment and continues. "Everyone who was ever related to the man just felt a overwhelming sense of pain!" He says and I giggle, walking away from the crying man on the ground and making my way to the General, his men still on edge.
"You wanna meet the leader huh?" I ask, the adrenaline of the punch shook off the bulk of nerves I had just a few minutes ago. The man confirms his wishes, and I figure why not.
"You can bring ten men, Im sure it's obvious why." I say, laying down my terms.
"We keep our weapons." The man says and I agree. "We'll follow you." I nod and walk back to my friends as they put the injured man in the back and I realize... Simon.
"Did this one help you too?" I ask Toby and he shakes his head. "I figured." I say as I reach down and grab the mans chin, pulling it tightly and earning a choir of singing vertebrae. Tobys eyes widen as he gives me a startled look, his hazel eyes burning into my cyan ones as my tendrils come out of my lower back and attach to the corpse, gobbling him up. "I was hungry."
"Yo-you couldn't ge-get a sandwich?"
"He was the sandwich."