"So," Mangle asked from beside him as he watched them below at the building, "What was the point in coming here?"
He looked over at her for a second with a small smirk on his face before looking back down.
"Well, this is the command post for the eastern district. We'd essentially take the head off the snake and leave the rest for the people. Then," He looked over at the vixen once more, this time with a grin, "We'd be able to sleep at night again."
She stared at him blankly for a second before a smile crawled up her face and she shook her head.
"All of this for sleep, huh?"
"Could be worse," He replied while looking down at the building again.
His eyes scanned across the roof, seeing it was rather empty looking, and that there weren't many entrances. They probably had communications gear inside it, so it would be important to move quickly when clearing the building, but that was the issue he was finding, there weren't many ways to go inside and most likely avoid a lot of conflict. Throughout the day, no one came and left either, solidifying his reasoning for them to have communications gear, and that they were probably extremely defensive at the moment, like a wild animal that's being cornered.
"Alright, I think this is as good as it's going to get, let's head on down there," He told the vixen, getting up before the vixen pulled his arm as the sounds of gunshots rang out from down the street. A squad of androids were running away as they were chased by a mob of other androids, one of the soldiers, a raccoon, fell as a shot landed near his foot, and he rolled over, attempting to cover his face with his arm as he got shot from everywhere.
Foxy grit his teeth as he watched each round pierce through the poor soul's body and hit the road below him. An ear fell off, an eye popped out of its socket, and bits of black and white fur with synthetic flesh ripped out of his body and scattered across the ground. The once gray road was now stained black, from curb to curb, as the now deceased body bled out, occasionally being shot again in a sickening display of dominance.
What was once a raccoon android, now looked like nothing more than roadkill that got hit by an 18-wheeler on the highway, as the horde of androids stumbled over it and ran by towards the rest of the squad which retreated to the command-post. It was bleak for the soldiers, now, but Foxy knew that once pushed into a corner like that, you'll care less about if you die, but instead how many people you'd take with you when you do.
They rushed the yard, funneling through the gateway as soldiers ran out into positions and fired into the crowd, some of them set up a large machine gun like from the roof of the compound in a window and once it started firing…
The sounds of heavy thumps sounded off, a hollow thump, much like someone knocking on a hollow block of wood – except with a much more bombastic tone – filled the air. Screaming followed it, as some androids were hit in the chest as collateral damage, one of the fell to his knees as his arm was blown off by the machine gun, shock clearing his thoughts as he stared blankly at the ground before the gun once again shot the unlucky one in the chest, leaving a large hole and throwing him harshly into the now-growing pile of bodies behind him.
He watched as they got into their own positions, granted, a lot less effectively, and returned fire. However, with the training and experience of the soldiers, what little experience they truly had was questionable. The sheer numbers would overwhelm their supplies and a battle of attrition would ruin them easily.
Personally, the vulpine would rather avoid being thinned with the rest.
"Come on, we have the perfect opportunity."
He threw his feet out and slid down the hill, dropping into a roll as he landed on his feet and brought his ASR up to his shoulder, quickly scanning his surroundings as he saw he was now in the street with the mob.
In the few seconds he stood on the ground, it felt like time slowed down intensely, energy coursing through him as he instead stood proud. It was short lived, as a round whizzed by his head and he shot back down. He heard the vixen land beside him as she grunted and followed him. He promptly ran to the right side, passing over into a neighboring house's yard until he reached the beginning of the fence.
Some of the mob took notice, following them and crouching while firing towards the soldiers from the side, drawing MG fire towards them as shots penetrated the concrete foundation for the fence.
Mangle would have vomited if she could, but she carried forward; following the red vulpine who quickly crawled towards the end of the fence. Stray rounds would hit the concrete, showering them in dust and pebbles, some even getting in her shirt which was uncomfortable, but she couldn't get out due to being pinned down.
From Foxy's point of view; he was fine.
He listened for the MG to stop firing, and for the debris to stop pelting his coat, until he got up and peered over the concrete to see that they were out of sight of the soldiers. Holding his hand out to the vixen, he pulled her up somewhat and then promptly climbed over the fence.
Granted, he started climbing first, he landed last. Whether it was his aging frame (though, he'd technically only be around 34-36 in android years), or the vixen naturally being more flexible, he couldn't climb fast enough to beat her. As he looked over at her, his gaze steeled.
"Okay, let's get this done..."
At another location, shouting was heard from a room as people ran to and from with paperwork, folders, and tablets. All of them had important information and they were all trying to get it reported. And while the chaos was heard from the room, just in the area beside it some heads were discussing the situation on the island.
"Listen, we can't afford to scrap the project. We've invested so many resources that if we did, we would never be able to get it back up and running again. The solution is not an E-"
The researcher was cut off by another one who ran in with a laptop, hooking up cords to a projector and the laptop, linking them both. Everyone watched in slight shock at the lack of interest showed into other people there, especially considering it was mostly supervisors wondering what had gone wrong and where. Then, when they thought he'd finally speak, he simply cut on the projector and pulled up images which showed the island, riddled with red and green dots, some small and large blues scattered as well with a single large black one. Pulling out a laser pointer, he pointed at a group of dots on the map.
"These red and green dots are engagements between company forces and local androids, red is what we've lost, green is what we've kept. Blue dots are our current compounds on the island, small being platoon positions and large being command post and proper compounds, and the black dot is the compound we've lost in the northern sector. We're unsure on any compounds within it as it was mostly demolished and scorched, but I think it's safe to say they're gone."
"Okay," One supervisor said, soon gaining a harsh tone, "And what are we supposed to do with this? This doesn't explain what happened."
"We're currently working on that, but this gives us insight onto what exactly is happening at this moment-" As he continued speaking, the supposed image had updated, now featuring another large black dot in the southern sector.
"Hey, hold on, another large one just went black," Another supervisor pointed out, also silencing the others in the room in the meantime. "What was that dot?"
"I think it was the southern sector's command post, but I'm unsure…" He mumbled, scanning the map to try and connect it.
"Well, can we get some actual proof? Audio, footage, anything?"
"Uh, that may be difficult," He tried to explain, the supervisors quickly starting to harass him with questions as he continued working on the laptop, attempting to figure something out.
As soon as he started working, however, he soon grabbed a feed from the communications line on the island, hearing the sounds of combat through the speakers as shouting came, gunshots ensued, and more shouting erupted.
"Close, let me focus on the command post's comms," He shouted over the sounds of the fighting, soon having it cut out for the most part until he could hear less shouting, though, not less intense.
"They've infiltrated the building, fall back-" They could hear something slice through the synthetic flesh of whoever it was speaking, a masculine grunt following as something was smashed.
"Zuck's down," Another one shouted, gunshots following as more followed up behind it, though, a different sounding caliber.
"I have sights on The Captain. He's is in the building, we need reinforcements up here! ASAP!"
"Holy shit, he's a fucking monster," Another shouted, but he quickly shouted in fear, his voice running ragged as they heard a signature click, the sounds of him fumbling the rifle in his hands as they heard another grunt, the sound of something being sliced through metal being heard over the speaker as they could hear choking sounds.
"Okay, who's the captain," A supervisor asked, some others mumbling their own questions as he looked over and thought of an answer.
"He's the android that arrived with the prototype. He was also listed as 'Do not approach' before the incident due to being extremely hostile," The man told them as he looked at them all. "Supposedly… Well, he has an extreme kill count, even indirectly," He finished in deadpan, unable to even attempt a joke about the situation to ease everyone's minds.
"I thought that you all had said that you handled it," One of them mentioned, an aggravated appearance on her face.
"We believed we did, but the recaller we sent was destroyed-"
"You're saying that you took one of our recallers and it couldn't finish the job? Seriously!?"
"By all means, it shouldn't be possible, however, it happened. We're trying to figure out why, but it's not coming along. We aren't even sure which generation he is."
No one else spoke as he finished. Thick tension filling the air, both towards him and themselves as they realized the severity of the situation, soon looking back at the map and seeing that a few of the platoon's positions had gone dark. Red dots also covered the eastern section of the map, they were losing the fight there and that much was obvious...
The project was going down, down in thick, blazing, vengeful flames.
A large, heavy object covered the vulpine as he laid on the ground, coughing up some gunk from his chest as he pushed against whatever was crushing him. It took a few solid shoves for something to give way, a portion of the roof from the building had fallen on him after it slid down the hill. Little did they know, the building was on stilts on the incline, and there was a room full of ammunition and supplies.
Least to say, the room exploded. Maybe not your Hollywood explosion which levels a block, but a small explosion which destroyed the stilt the room stood on, forcing the others to give-way without the added support. He was okay for the most part, fortunately. He stood up after pushing some more debris off and looked around at the hillside. Thick smog from the debris filled the air, once again seeming like the night before, however, not near as intense.
Though, one thought filled his mind in the few seconds he looked around.
'Mangle?'
He quickly felt his chest stiffen as he looked around, going into a protective mindset as he ran through the debris and hopped to a higher point in the pile. Calling out her name, he saw some bodies from the soldiers that had been crushed. All around was debris, and it wasn't a pretty sight. About 20 yards from the edge of the debris was another house, and he saw other androids running out to see what happened, but he wasn't concerned about that.
Foxy jumped down, looking for her as he began to pull up random debris, throwing it around, and looking some more.
As he did that, a couple yards away, Mangle slowly came to and tried to get to her feet, having to balance herself as she looked around and walked forward. Thankfully, she hadn't been crushed by anything, however, she could feel that an arm was stiff.
It was at that moment that Foxy looked over and saw her walking towards the edge of the debris, he dropped the piece he was holding and quickly sprinted over towards her, making the jokes from years ago about him being the fast one of the group a swift reality. He called out her name as he closed the distance between them, quickly stopping, though, a little too fast. As he stopped, the loose debris under his foot gave way and he slid in front of her like a baseball player running to a base, but he got up and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into a quick embrace as she looked at him a bit stunned.
"Thank goodness, you're okay," He muttered as he pulled back and looked at her. Dust was trapped in her fur, blackening her white coat, and he could see a few scratches, but nothing too bad.
"What happened up there- Where are we," She quickly asked, looking around at the hillside.
"The house fell, but we need go, now! More will be here soon and we don't want to be caught in the crossfire again, especially since they know we're here," He told her, pulling her along as she winced a bit, him taking immediate notice and turning back towards her. "Are you alright? Did something happen to your arm?"
"I'm fine- just… It's just my arm is a bit sore, I think I pulled it." She numbly rubbed at her left shoulder, a constant expression of pain prevalent on her face as he wanted to help her, but they needed to get out of here first before worrying about comfort.
"Alright, we'll get Goldy to check it when we get back. Come on," he stressed, wrapping his arm around her waist to pull her without hurting her shoulder, the two moving towards the house that the others androids had ran out of, but it seemed they were paying no mind to them.
The pair rushed to the house and attempted to enter, but as they got to the backdoor the front was breached by a group of soldiers who began running into it.
"Shit," Foxy mumbled to himself as he crouched down with her, getting behind a bar that was in the kitchen of the house, soon moving to the left to get to a hallway he could see. A soldier was coming down it, so he pressed himself against the wall, waiting for him, and soon enough the soldier stepped out and he quickly jumped-to. He switched to his blade and rushed the android, swiftly stabbing through his throat and pulling him to the right, using the body like a shield as another soldier attempted to shoot at him, but he pulled up his ASR and shot him with his left hand.
Behind him he could hear the Mangle using the PPK she stole from him that morning to shoot at some more soldiers, however, he also knew that she wasn't as good of a shot. He kicked the body that hung from his blade in it's back and pulled his blade out, swinging it downwards, slinging the black liquid to the floor, staining it, and rushed forward using the quick burst of speed to lean out and spray his ASR towards the other soldiers.
It was an effective tactic, disorienting the soldiers as they too tried to find cover, but as he hit the floor he took a proper aim, striking them directly in their chests, the pair that he hit were struck every which way, taking around five shots per. He released the magazine and slung it outward, the mag hitting the wall as he withdrew another and inserted it, racking the bolt again as he rolled to his feet and scanned the room for more enemies.
"Mags, you good over there," He called out to her as she stood up and examined the room with him, still holding her shoulder, though, now with the added pressure of the handgun in her hand.
"Yeah, I'm good."
He stood up, still pointing towards the doorway that the other soldiers were walking towards, and moved back to her before grabbing her and running out the front door into the chaos that was the streets. He could see several dead androids lying on the ground, some of them androids from the squad running towards the command post, some of them the androids that were rushing up the hill in chase, and some of them just bystanders from a second ago. Usually the streets were gray from stone, or a brownish color from dirt, now, however, they were stained pure black from the spilt synthetic blood.
Mangle felt an odd feeling well up inside her at the sight; it was disgust, but… Also fear… Defensiveness... It was grotesque, the sight alone would traumatize most people, maybe not an actual person, but an android of course. She walked with Foxy past all of the carnage, him just limping her along as he seemed indifferent to the depravity of their surroundings. She realized why he didn't want her to follow along with him all this time, but she also could see why she needed to…
Ahead of her, he walked with his 'humanity' withdrawn from the situation.
Maybe it was his insanity, maybe it was him coming to terms with it all, or maybe he simply saw worse the night of the fire… But she wanted to be able to break him back out of this shell he's once again created.
Though, inside, she also knew she selfishly wanted to be beside him as well, but was it really selfish when she wanted to protect him?
Yo, it's me, ya boy- Kidding, I'm not about to do that shit. I'm sorry about how long it took to make this, it just took me a lot of time to figure out how to take this chapter since I had poor planning skills beforehand. I'm also sorry for it being rather short.
Anyways, I'd also like to shoutout CydonianHunter for both making the cover for Lost Memories and for being a cool person to remake Foxy's Evolution and Steel Vendetta. If you didn't know, he made the covers for the originals and I had hit him up to make a cover for LM, I had got him into a Discord server and we talked for a while until he decided to just remake it. His story is called Foxy's Evolution: Augmented Steel and he just dropped the first chapter the other day. Please check it out.
I'd also like to mention that me, Cat, and Cydonian did make a Discord server. The link is on my profile page and here (4vKHtqRpxH). Feel free to join up and shit on us or talk with us, we enjoy talking about random stuff. Also, please leave reviews, even if it's a little thing. We greatly enjoy it and it boosts our day a ton (Even the hateful ones)!