(1 year before E-Day)
A toy sword laid in a pile of toy COG gears. Posters of prewar life, military pride, and the local Thrashball players. Soccer trophies for little league players adorned the walls, opposite to a window presenting the morning shine to the eastern horizon.
"Hey my little Link, momma brought you breakfast." Link's mother welcomed him with a tray of delicious food.
"Thanks mom."
"I have something else for you too." She took a seat at the edge of the bed and pulled out a small box.
"This engagement ring has been in our family for seven generations. I wanted to give this to you when you were old enough, but after what happened with the car crash, and your sister…" She took a moment to swallow her tears for just a moment, "When you meet someone special you'll give this to her. Here, take it."
Link took the little ring. The design was rather unique: The gold band was in the shape of two birds surrounding a gleaming green emerald. One bird had a hint of red in its eye and the other had a shade of blue.
"It looks great, mom. I promise, I'll find someone you'll be proud of."
"Sweetheart, you don't have to prove anything to me. Whoever you find for this ring, she'll be worth everything to you. And a little advice from your smart mother. Any woman can make a man climb a mountain for her, but a woman who's inspired by her man to climb the mountain together, Those two are meant for eachother."
"Thank's mom. I love you."
"I love you too." Link's mother gave her boy a peck on the forehead.
(Tomb of the Unknowns: Today)
"Control, this is Private Takahashi." Link paused for a moment to explain the upcoming bad news, "Lieutenant Groose is dead. So we've fallen back inside the tomb and we need another way out."
Link backed away to let Daruk and Brandon drop a few heavy blocks for the barricades.
"Say again Link, Groose is dead?" On the other end of the line was the princess herself.
"Affirmative Zelda, kill confirmed."
"Okay… Ugh. Alright, there's a courtyard on the other side of the tomb. That's your best bet to exfil."
"Roger that, Control." Link took his attention off the comms to help barricade the door.
"Well we sure as shit can't stay here." Revali spoke out the obvious.
"We're not dead yet, lieutenant." Devin walked over.
"It's Private now, Blondie. After Halvo Bay I've been demoted." Revali responded with a nickname for Aaron.
As if right on cue the whole room shook with debris and rubble. Finishing off the fracas with a loud inhuman roar.
"Shh don't move." Revali angled his lancer at the corner hallway.
Link was rather rusty on his time as a Gear, but the roar sounded familiar to him, "Was that-"
"A Berserker. She can hear us. She can smell us."
Two lone grubs heaved over a heavy haul of brawny ordinance. A tall bloodthirsty berserker struggles out of her restraints.
A third grub in full black menacing elite armor from head to toe stood behind as supervision. His armor was adorned with a prestigious helmet of honor to the Locust rank. The leggings were covered with a long leather-like material from the waist down. His only skin in show was his mouth, biceps and abs in full strong view. The markings across his gauntlets resemble runes of his faction. The Locust emblem is etched across his left chest plate in bright red. These two drones are in the company of a truly distinguished Locust.
The two lessar grubs pulled over the chained up, tall, brooding broad that caught the scent of filthy man flesh.
Sniff. Sniff. Sniff.
The Berserker threw over her handlers and crushed them on the pillars. Their spines crunched loudly before they could wail in death.
Sniff… Sniff. Aaaahhhhhh!
The Berserker jerked behind her to see the last Locust drone adorned in black. She was prepared to charge at him and pound his chest to bloody chunks and boned bits.
Alas, the one grub growled low and calmly. The corner of his lip rumbled with his row of fangs held still. The power in his stance he gave remained steadfast at the big bad bitch. The Berserker stepped back and when the one grub pointed in hard silence with his authority speaking in loud volumes. She looked back at the tomb and charged further inside.
The one gear shook in his osmium coated armor. "Oh man, oh man we're fucked. We're fucked! I'm getting outta here. Oh shit!" His helmet covered his wide eyed shock, but the rest of his team could tell by the fear in his voice. Pure adrenaline bolted the Gear to fight or flight mode. The Gear fled to the other corner of the room.
"Mario." Revali whispered to the Gear but was too late
The rumble of debris crashed around the corner in front of Mario. A tall muscular figure overshadowed Mario as it grabbed him and slammed him on the ground. The spray of blood splashed in front of the rest of the Gears. His muffled wails of mutilating limbs and organs was as loud as the pounding of the berserkers fists on Mario. She hauled the dying Gear in the air and ripped his torso in half. Before leaving she threw his upper half back at the corner for the rest of the Gears to witness his remains. The Berserker took his lower half further down the hall away from the rest of the group.
"Oh my God." Brandon stuttered as he began taking a few steps back away from the carnage.
"Control, we have a Berserker in the vicinity, please advise." Link whispered as he did his best to conceal the shaking fear under his armor.
"Hold your fire, standard weapons won't be enough to kill her. Do you still have the hammer of dawn?"
"Negative."
"Uhh, dammit. Then you'll need to find a way to light her on fire. In extreme heat, her skin will be vulnerable. That's the only way you can kill her."
"Roger that Control, Delta out." Link cut off the comms and hauled up his old officer tone.
"Alright guys like Devin said, we're not dead yet, and we're gonna keep it that way. Devin, you and I are gonna get that bitch outside to the courtyard. Brandon, when we find the Berserker you and the rest get to the cremation chambers. With any luck they'll have some flamers in there."
"Got it." Brandon whispered.
"Alright, Devin, let's move out." Devin spoke to Link a little louder, but not enough to rumble their big problem.
Link and Devin went further down the eerie hallways. The ghosts of warriors befuddled of the COG weep with the halls of defiled warfare and destruction. The hollow moans of air carries the weight of their cries. The two move up through the decorative halls while trying to find the Berserker. Given what little power inside, the setting sunlight gives comfort to the Gears. And yet it feels like the Grim Reaper is stalking them just as much as the Berserker.
"So what's the plan, Link?" Devin asked.
"Well unfortunately we need to get her to follow us. If we can lure her to the courtyard we'll have more leg room to keep her busy."
"And if the others don't find any flamers?"
"We can always go AWOL. I could use another bunkmate back in the Slab."
"I'm serious, Link."
"Heh, don't worry. Maybe we can find some cars and blow them up next to her."
"That works-"
Kabam!
The door in front of them burst open in flames and debris to reveal the Berserker honing in on their conversation. Her roaring up close was an awful shriek of bloodied fangs.
"Right! Right! Right!" Link whispered with as much strain he could muster.
The Berserker charged straight for the two Gears.
"Devin, straight to the exit. C'mon!" Link rushed with Devin behind.
A pair of tall decorative doors stood firmly locked from the other side. Link and Devin pushed their weight against the door with no effect. Link quickly yanked his friend away from the door and kept him silent for a moment. He held his finger over his mouth, and turned over to the opposite side of the hallway. Devin nodded briefly as he started to understand what he's thinking.
Link shouted "Hey Bitch-for-Brains!" followed with a loud whistle.
Devin followed suit, "You're momma got laid by a group of Wretches!"
Link looked over at Devin for a moment with a small glint of humor on his face. The moment finished abruptly with the roaring of their female grub.
She ran straight for the two Gears at full speed. The rush of energy spiked up through their spines as they stood firm. Devin kept a hard grip on Link's shoulder to keep himself still. He remained calm as well as he could muster for his friend. Right up at the last moment, Link tackled Devin to the nearby corner and the Berserker rammed straight through the tall door. Aaron found a piece of debris from the wall and threw it to the other side of the room. The sound was convincing enough for the Berserker to investigate.
Daruk, Brandon, and Revali sneak their way to the tombs cremation room. Despite their lack of discretion, the group is doing pretty well at keeping their distance. Even Daruk is being real quiet and that's even with the resonator strapped on his back. Revali on the other hand is breathing rather fast, and they can hear him. The amount of effort to keep quiet from his consistent bitching was torture enough, but this is something else.
"Alright, the cremation room isn't far from here, just around the corner." Brandon whispered barely within earshot. The threat of the Berserker is not an easy obstacle.
"So that tall Locust earlier, you've seen him?" Daruk whispered
"Can it, Daruk! Keep quiet." Revali snapped. A miracle he kept the response under his breath.
Brandon held his fist up to halt the group. Sneaking a peek down the hall the room was empty with a flickering light on the ceiling. Turning back to the two Gears of Alpha he signaled the following message in sign language.
"Eyes open. Single file. Stay low."
Daruk and Revali nodded in response which gave Brandon his que to advance.
Lancer's at the ready and the group went down the hall to find the cremation room empty of grubs.
"Daruk, close the door behind you." Brandon whispered.
Daruk followed Brandon's order, and assisted him and Revali on finding a flamethrower.
"Found some canisters for a flamethrower. And… holy shit there's some molotovs in here too." Revali held out the ammo he found in the crates.
"How many?" Brandon asked.
"Just three."
"Hey fellas, I got two flamethrowers over here. Get'em while they're hot boys." Daruk held them out in the air.
"Alright let's go catch up with Link and Devin. Daruk, you and I will pepper the bitch with these flamers. Revali you're a better long shot so you keep those molotovs handy. In case we run out of flamer ammo."
"I'll do my part down to the letter. I expect you and the other two Gears you're with to do the same."
"Oh c'mon Ravioli we're all in this together. Let's go find those two." Daruk patted his shoulder.
Debris of concrete pillars and heavy metal doors marked the path of one Berserker chasing down a couple of Gears. It was a stressful predicament but Link and Devin managed to get the Berserker outside.
"Brandon, we got her outside the courtyard, got those fireworks?" Link asked over the comms while keeping an eye on the big Grub. No doubt she's hearing him.
"And with molotovs! We're on our way out brotha."
Link shut the comms and resumed dodging the Berserker's big bone crushing hands.
"Hey, big tons o'fun!" Devin whistled over to himself.
The raging broad roared loud and dashed straight over to Devin.
Crash!
Daruk and Brandon burst out the other side of the courtyard with all the weapons they need for their big problem.
"Burn baby BURN!" Daruk yelled as he unleashed propane induced hell from the nozzle.
The Berserker's skin started to erupt into a crispy layer of oozing hotspots.
"Fire! Fire on her now!" Brandon yelled as he dived over for cover.
"Open fire." Link yelled.
"Don't fuck this up!" Revali shouted as he slung a Molotov over to the Berserker. Giving her an extra coat of painful burns.
Link and Devin unleashed their full lancer clips. Revali followed suit with his Markza rifle. Brandon pulled out his snub pistol to give them an edge. Daruk remained down to reload both of their flamers.
"I'm out!" Link shouted.
"Same!" Devin responded.
The Berserker started fighting through her searing pain and went back to finding the Gears.
"Oh no you don't, Bitch!" Daruk jumped over cover with both Flamers in both hands.
The Berserker began screaming in pain again and this time it was a fatal act of death. Her body succumbed to the burns and she fell on the burning grassy ground.
"Holy shit Daruk." Revali breathed.
"That's how Da'Rock makes his barbecue. Woo! Mmm, crispy, who brought the barbecue sauce?" Daruk cheered.
"Control this is Delta. Come in… Zelda?"
"I read you, Link, Colonel Impa is coming online." Zelda responded to Link's call.
"Report." Impa's was heard on the line.
"We're here with Alpha. And we have the Resonator."
"Hmm, ugh, well good work. Stand by for new orders."
Link turned over to Daruk with Revali checking on the Resinator's condition.
"You guys alright?"
Daruk just gave a thumbs up with Revali giving a simple gruff for his response.
"Hey Link it's gonna get dark soon. The Kyrll's gonna be out by then." Devin walked over to him.
"Delta, we now have a secondary target. You will deploy your Resonator in the Lethia Imulsion Facility, due west of your position. And you're in charge of this operation. As of now, Sergeant Takanashi."
"Copy that…" link paused to glimpse up at the skies. Night is definitely rolling in, "We're clear for Ravens."
"The area's too hot for pickup, you'll need to find another way."
"Copy that." Link shit off the signal.
"Sergeant Takanashi? Of course. Give the convict a promotion, but leave no thought for the genius? Typical."
Brandon was about to give Revali a good smack for talking shit about Link, but Daruk held him off with an obvious question.
"So what's the plan? We're gonna haul this thing to the mines on foot, or what?" Daruk asked.
"Nah screw that, I got an idea." Devin redirected his attention on the mission where it belongs.
"Alright let's get going. Lead the way Devin." Link motioned for Delta down to the exit.
Outside the Tomb of the Unknowns. The same detachment of Locust began making their way down the tunnels to the inner hollow. The one Locust in black walked his way down the stairs of the tomb's exit to see the leader of the Locust army.
"Raam." He spoke with one knee to the ground, head down.
"They killed the Berserker. They're moving forward with their lightmass plan."
Raam remained still staring down at this mysterious Locust.
"Hmmmm." Raam growled, exhaling from his nose.
"Then proceed as planned. Find out where they're going, and we'll send a detachment of Theron Guards."
"Already done, sir." The black armored locust stood, "They're going to the Imulsion mine just west of here."
"Good, see to the operation."
Raam moved further down the tunnels.
"Sir?"
"You know your role in our plan. Remember, keep your eyes open, remain silent and strike hard."
"By your will, Uzil Raam." The one locust saluted.
"I trained you well, Sha'Vorah. You will not disappoint me."
"I won't."
Raam vanished further down into the dark tunnels. The night sky slowly envelops the setting sun. The one Locust by the name of Sha'Vorah stares far above the clouds. The view of the fading light from the devouring night sky brings a sense of relief to his sights. Yet the pain found itself in the feeling of his skin. Like boiling chemicals searing into his mind. An old feeling he could never understand or remember stuck with him as if it was his whole life.
A memory.
(The Hollow of Sera, 10 years before E-Day)
The Nexus Palace, the stronghold of the Locust horde, remains hanging above a vast river of Imulsion. Like a hive of bees, guarded by bats in a cave.
The stories held beneath the soil of Sera are as bloody and tragic as the ones above. Destruction is above as below. Violence incarnates in all forms of existence.
The progress of science has been the only key to both starting and ending all major conflicts of Sera, and that was believed exceptionally by the locust geneticist, Ukkon.
Inside his laboratory are rows of human sized canisters filled with active stasis chemicals. One tube of interest to Ukkon was bigger and concealed a menacing Berserker inside.
Ukkon began to run his current experiments on the Berserker.
The study of Imulsion enhancements has always been an obsession for Ukkon. He's worked on male Drones, but to have a Berserker enhanced with Imulsion augmentations could prove to be a true stepping stone on the war effort.
Progress was going smooth, her vital signs have been running smooth as he predicted, but then an alert of another heartbeat source started flashing. The reaction was putting the subject in critical condition. Ukkon had to abort the operation and drain out the pod.
"Oh shit!" Ukkon growled as he turned his back to prepare the sanitizing procedure.
Then all of a sudden another alert sprung in his ears from the monitor. Only one vital sign was fighting it's way back to life. The Berserker's stomach started wobbling from the inside. Something is breaking out from the Berserker's chest.
Ukkon summoned two of his Disciples armed with Hammerburst rifles and aimed straight for the anomaly.
From the shadows of the front door of Ukkon's lab a tall figure entered to witness the event.
The dead Berserker's stomach starts to bleed with a sign of tiny claws protruding out to break free of its prison.
"Eeeaaahhhhhh!"
A screeching juvenile grub broke free of it's imprisoned berserker corpse. The moment he stood out fully escaped. Ukkon held his men to aim at the little grub, but before he could allow his troops to open fire, a swarm of Kryll disarmed all three of them.
"Don't Ukkon. I want it alive."
"Raam? Erugh-" Ukkon spoke before getting his head yanked from behind.
"I like this one." Raam held Ukkon in his grip tightly.
Ukkon just responded with a nod, yes. Raam let go of him and looked over to the two Disciples.
"I'll send him to the rest of the juveniles. Let him be judged like the rest." Raam took a handful of the small grub's neck. His response was just clawing, screeching and gnawing annoyance to his whole arm.
"A natural survivor… One who will claw and bleed their way out of the impossible. There's no doubt, you will be the answer. Sha'Vorah… The devouring shadow."