Date: XXXX – Entry: 1
I don't know what to make of what I saw. I was sitting at the bar. Scout and the rest of the crew were there too. We were having drinks, music played in the background. The smell of tobacco and the taste of strong booze were around me. Then someone came in. I turned to look but all I could saw was a dark figure. He was tall and for some strange reason, I couldn't make out his features.
That was the first of my dreams. At first, I didn't think much of them. But they were coming in more frequently and were starting to unsettle me. Eventually, I took it to Kal'tsit and she recommend that I start writing down these experiences in a journal. A sort of self-therapy, I suppose.
Well, here's hoping this'll work out. Hell, I don't even know if I'm doing this right. I need a smoke.
Her eyes scanned the worn pages of the journal she was reading. It was one of the last few items left behind by a now deceased Rhodes Island operative under the codename, Ace. As a former shrine maiden, she was aware of the more spiritual aspects of the world. And during her many rounds on the Rhodes Island flagship she could sense a "force" – for lack of a better term – in one of the empty rooms.
It was neither malevolent nor benign but the energy coming from the room was something she could not ignore. So, after gaining permission from Kal'tsit and the Doctor, she was allowed access to the room with the promise to return things to how she found it.
It was a spartan room. The former occupant's possessions neatly placed in boxes at the corner. But what she sought was not there. Some rummaging allowed her to find a secret compartment behind a desk. Inside she found this journal, a few bottles of alcohol, and a carton of cigarettes.
She examined the journal once more, trying to discern why the item was holding such power for something so mundane.
Date: XXXX – Entry: 13
Same dream, same place. Except this time, some of the others weren't there in the bar anymore. The people who didn't appear were the people who lost on missions. I'm beginning to think that my subconscious is just tormenting me. Reminding me of the people we lost even when I'm asleep. This time though, I managed to get a better look at the figure who kept entering the bar.
Have to say, this fella was tall. Over six feet, muscles all over him. He wore a black trench coat and a hat. Normally, he'd walk in and the dream would end. But this time he came over to the bar counter and sit next to me.
Taking off his hat and ordering a drink. He'd sit silently next to me. Then only after getting the first swig of his booze he'd say to me, "Time's running out, Ace."
He kept saying the same line every time I had this dream. It took a couple of day, but I figured it out. This was it, my own angel of death was warning me. Have to admit, I'm not the religious type but if I'm going do die then I better get some things in order. Going to have to get Kal'tsit to push the rescue faster than originally planned.
Just hope I don't kick the bucket before then.
An "Angel of Death". A Shinigami. That was what Ace had described the being that was visiting him in his dreams. Yet that begged more questions than answer them. Why? Why was he being visited by a spirit of the divine. Flipping another page, she continued her reading.
Date: XXXX – Entry: 21
"It's time, Ace." Those were what I was told. It was only me, Scout and a handful of others at the bar now. But this time, instead of the piano jazz music being played, there was an organ dirge. Didn't know spirits had a sense of humor.
"Yeah, I know." I told him before I stood up from the bar. "But not just yet." I still had one more mission to do; this time in Ursus, to Chernabog.
If this is going to be my last entry, and anyone reads this, then I hope things in Rhodes Island are going well.
This is Ace, signing out. One last time.
That marked the last entry in the journal. And as she read the final words that Ace had left behind, the energy in the journal's pages faded from her mind. It was now nothing more than ink written on paper. The final thoughts of a casualty of war that Rhodes Islands continued to fight to this day.
Upholding her promise, she returned the journal to the secret compartment. Placing back everything as she had found it, she had closed the lights, and left. The room sat quietly but its emptiness still touched her.
Sleep did not come easily to her on this night. Her body was awake, she could feel it. But in her minds eye she saw it. The same bar, the same tabaco smoke, the taste of liquor, and the same organ dirge as Ace had described in his journal. The lack of color in this dream only amplified the room's melancholy.
She could see the tall man Ace had described standing in the middle of the bar looking at another figure who's back was turned to him. From her own investigations, she recognized Ace from pictures she had found.
Why? Why was she seeing this?
"What do you hope to accomplish, Ace?" Gruff, a tone that would brook no argument.
"Me? Not much." Ace replied. "I'm just a meathead." He laughed. "It's the others, Kal'tsit, Amiya, the Doctor and everyone else at Rhodes Island, who'll make all the difference in the world."
"Death will come for them. It will come for everyone." The Shinigami said.
"Yeah, I know." And Ace took a step into the light that shined through the entrance of the bar. His profile beginning to disappear. "But not just yet. I've still got a job to do. And if I do it right, then they won't be seeing you anytime soon."
With those parting words, Ace disappeared from the bar, leaving the Shinigami and her alone as the organ dirge slowly ended.
The silence that followed did not last long. A somber but lively tune began to play and color began to seep into the bar. From the aged wood to the cobblestone walls. Voices began to gather and people began to enter the bar. People she recognized.
Amiya, Kal'tsit, the Doctor, Blaze, Leondhardt, and so many more. Taking seats, ordering drinks and food, the members of Rhodes Island populated the bar. However, they ignored the stoic figure of the Shinigami who stood stock still at its center.
"Well said, Ace, well said." The Shinigami turned and looked at her. And she could see the ghost of a smile on its stern features. "Heed me, Priestess. I'll make sure, when the time comes, that Ace's legacy lives on." Turning on his heel, the spirit began to leave.
"Wait!" She called to it but she was ignored. And with that, her dream ended.
The battle to the city core was fierce. Members of the famed Guerilla Unit and their special orginium altars had forced them to continuously change their tactics. But that was the least of the problems at the moment.
"Mont3r, get back!" Kal'tsit ordered, her dragon-like entity roared before backpedaling away from the hulking form it was trying to fight.
Patriot is his moniker.
"Give 'em some pepper!" Unloading round after round, Raynor continued his fire support against Patriot's accompanying soldiers.
A mountain made flesh.
"O exalted brilliance, separate us from harm!" She called to the spirits as she weaved her orginium arts around her allies.
His shield, an immovable object.
"Mabufudyne!" The shattering of glass, a figure emerged from behind her. FrostNova's reluctant call heralded a storm of ice and snow.
His spear, an unstoppable force.
Against this catastrophe of nature made flesh, what could they do?
"Rosmontis, Amiya, pull back! Red, get ready to intercept anyone who gets by Broca and Skadi!"
Even with their strongest of fighters and the tactical prowess of the Doctor and Ka'tsit combined, they could little to slow the march of the ancient Wendigo.
And that's when they heard it.
Despite the battle raging throughout the streets of Chernabog, the sound of a gong reverberated around them. A familiar organ dirge began to play. The sky darkened. Thunder pealed in the distance. And for those moments her hair stood on end whilst the fighting stopped.
The cold mists created earlier swirled into a mass as a familiar figure began to step out into view from within.
"What, what is this?" She heard Amiya whisper as she looked at the black clothed Shinigami, its hat obscuring its face as it walked towards Patriot.
"Mihkail, what do you mean 'stand aside'?" FrostNova looked equal parts confused and concerned as she conversed with her summon.
"This don't look good." Raynor surmised, the hands of his power armor gripping his rifle tightly his eyes shifting between Patriot, the Shinigami, and the rest of the field of battle.
Physically shorter than the Wendigo, the Shinigami still commanded a presence that stood taller than anyone else. Coming to a halt in front of the Reunion leader, the Shinigami raised his hands. The mists parted as if they were never there. The clouds disappeared and the sun began to shine through once more. The dirge faded into the silence of distant battles.
Slow and deliberate hands removed the hat. Eternal power flooded the whites of the Shinigami's eyes for a brief moment before disguising itself under this thin facade of a physical body.
"YOU…." The deep voice of the Wendigo had a dawning sense of her, it seems that Patriot was no stranger to the spiritual realm and understood what stood before him.
Tossing its hat aside, shrugging off its trench coat, the Shinigami's muscled form and simple black attire stood in stark contrast against Patriot's well-worn equipment.
"I WILL NOT STOP, I'VE FOUGHT, TOO LONG, FOR DEATH ITSELF, TO STOP ME, I REJECT IT!"
Even before the personification of the greatest equalizer of the world. Patriot stood in defiance.
"Warrior, your fight will come to its end. And when it does, then your soul, shall Rest. In. Peace." The Shinigami only whispered these words in contrast to Patriot's own booming voice but they rang out loud and true as the gong from earlier.
Signaling his forces to stand back, Patriot stood tall and proud. His shield and spear were at-the-ready.
"Doctor, Kal'tsit," She called out, garnering their attention. "We mustn't interfere."
Both doctors looked at her before taking a glance at the fight to come. The Doctor nodded before turning on a communicator.
"All operators, fall back for now. Red, secure us an alternative route to the city core in the meantime. Raynor, you and Rosmontis take position and get ready to give covering fire. FrostNova, Broca, Skadi, get behind cover but get ready to take to the field at any moment."
Kal'tsit furrowed her eyes. "Tsukinogi, with me." An explanation, undoubtedly, was in order.
She glanced back briefly towards the center of this brewing storm. She didn't know what Ace had done. But for this moment, the world's last, primordial, outlaw has come to aid them.
Notes:
Crossover with the W.W.E. universe. Character in question, The Undertaker.
Operator P.O.V.: Tsukinogi
Author's Notes:
Hi, readers. Wishing you folks a prosperous 2021.