Instead of giving some crazy excuse I'll just say that summer vacation makes me want to tunnel vision on my main goals. If you're reading this right now, I thank you for sticking around after the supposed death of this fanfiction.
Comments on Chapter Seven:
BlyeSkYes: Amazing chapter! I'm really happy you found time to update this fanfic; the whole plot has great suspense and I love how at the end of most chapters, they are a little cliffy. You give every one of your characters their own personality, like DJ for example (He makes me laugh so much :'D ), and WhiteStar, who seems to be quick-minded and seems to try to see a way around things without causing too much damage.
I REALLLLYYYYY love how you write Black Rock Shooter! I love how you can give her that cold and deadly appearance, and how you are able to write anything she does say (Cause like, y'know, she's kinda always mute cause she's that badass) in a way the Black Rock Shooter would actually speak to a person.
I really look forward to the next chapter, that little cliff hanger has put me on edge! Keep up the good work and I look forward o reviewing in the next chapter! ;)
Thanks for the review! Hopefully I could capture the characters again after three months!
Guest: Omg Such a cliff hanger, please don't leave me hanging! Perfection so far, keep it up!
This review is totally why I waited three months (JK)
Guest (2): Omg, the New and detailed plot of this is so cool! Almost cooler than the anime...
You know, this sounds weird, but I started to cry by the end of the second chapter.
Well I hate tooting my own horn here but BRSO definitely has a better plot than the anime did.
Not to slam the BRS anime either but its plot was kinda weak in my eyes. Might be because it was only eight episodes but…
Don't get me wrong, I 3 the BRS anime. ;)
Chapter Eight: Cannon and Soul
Day 2
Date: Saturday, January 22nd 2015
Location: Kheawuton: Khua, near Firebase Zina
Time: Roughly 11:43pm P.E.T. (Pacific Earth Time)
White watched in shock as Black Rock Shooter's left leg gave out and her head slammed against the ground with an echoing thud. Winston had dived forward in an attempt to stop her fall but hadn't quite made it in time, instead stopping himself before he ended up crashing on top of the Keeper. For a brief moment time seemed to freeze. Just why had Black collapsed like that, was she sick? Was she about to die on them?
Time sped up again as the White noticed the wound on the back of Black's leg and how exhausted the Keeper looked. It seemed like she had been fighting constantly for the last two days. Holstering his rock cannon and leaping over the counter, he checked the fallen Keeper for signs of life, and let out a sigh of relief when he discovered that she was still breathing. Thank goodness for that, DJ would kill me if he found out that I let his favorite die on him.
The plan had been to knock Black out cold, then get her to calm down and try talking to her again. Even though it was unexpected, the first part of the plan was complete. White and the gang (especially Rose) wanted to ally themselves with the Keeper, and more than that White wanted to prove that he was worthy to use the equipment that had once belonged to White Rock Shooter. He realized that he didn't know exactly what happened to Black's sister. They didn't see her in the arena on the first night, and all they knew is that something happened, but even that was more inferred than actually said. Don't tell me that White Rock Shooter is dead. The possibility saddened White, and it explained why Black would be working so hard to get her sisters equipment back.
"Well?" Winston asked with a note of strain in his voice. White gave his friend a thumbs-up while keeping his eyes on Black Rock Shooter.
"Just hit her head." White replied with a sigh of relief. "Probably has a concussion though. We should take her back to the TAT and treat her, that leg especially. It looks bad."
"I'm not a doctor but are you sure it's safe to move her?" Winston asked before giving a sigh. "Then again we can't stay here without the Thilan locating our position."
"Hang on for a moment." White hit the F1 button on his keyboard. "Yo DJ, is there a stretcher in the rear compartment?"
"What do you think this thing is an ambulance?" DJ retorted sharply. "Wait, a stretcher? What the fuck did you idiots do to my girlfriend?" White slapped himself out of annoyance.
"Oh my god DJ please shut your mouth." Rose groaned. "So what happened down there? You guys weren't out of my sight for more than a minute."
"Black's injured. She has a gun wound on her leg that looks like it's gone untreated for a few hours. Her leg gave out and she banged her head pretty hard." White explained quickly. "We're not sure if it's safe to move her."
"Well don't ask me!" Rose said quickly. "I fell asleep in health remember?" DJ groaned, clearly getting impatient.
"What are you all talking about? It's just a damn concussion! Pick her up and carry here over here before I come over and do it myself!"
"Alright, alright!" White shouted back. "Just give us a few minutes. DJ, make sure we're ready to roll the second Winston and I get on board." White looked down at Black's limp body.
"So how do you want to play this?" Winston asked. White scratched the side of his head for a moment. In addition to bringing Black on board they also had to grab her rock cannon and katana. They just didn't have enough hands.
"Rose do you think you could swing by the building we're in and grab Black's weapons?" White asked.
"Yeah sure just give me a moment to put my sniper rifle away. It doesn't exactly fold you know." White nodded to himself.
"Alright, Winston you grab her legs and I'll grab her shoulders." Kneeling down, White grabbed Black's small shoulders, surprised that so much power and strength was packed into a small body. "Alright, on three. One, two, three!" The moment White said 'three' the pair slowly lifted, working on going up until both of them stood up straight.
"How do you plan on getting over the counter?" Winston asked. White turned his head around and mentally slapped himself. The counter they were standing behind had to be climbed over for the most direct route back to the TAT. Not wanting to try and climb over and risk dropping Black, White looked around for an alternate route.
"Ah, there, on your right." Winston followed White's directions and spotted what the Shooter had seen, an open doorway leading to an office that was a total mess. "Can you see a way we can get out from in there?"
Winston nodded. "Yes the office leads to that hallway behind you. We can get out that way." Slowly and cautiously, the pair began maneuvering themselves through the office and then out into the hallway. They were very careful to keep Black parallel to the ground and not drop her. A single mistake would cause further injury, or worse wake her up.
Rose passed them about halfway to the TAT, carrying the Black Rock Cannon and Black Blade, shouting for them to hurry up as the first echo's of battle began to erupt nearby. The Thilan had worked their way through the city and were attacking firebase Zina. Dammit, we need to get over there! White thought to himself as he entered the TAT, waddling backwards with his grip firm on the Keepers shoulders.
"Careful please!" DJ cautioned as he motioned White and Winston backwards toward a bed that had been lowered from a hidden compartment in the roof. Huh. This thing really is meant to be a massive movable fort. The bed was lowered to about White's waist level, meaning that it wasn't going to be impossible to set Black down without causing further injury. Carefully, White raised Black's shoulders up while Winston placed her legs on the end of the bed. Slowly, the pair slid Black into place, making sure she was stable before everyone let out a sigh of relief.
"You do realize that she's going to try and kill us the second she wakes up right?" Rose gave White a hard stare, but he ignored it. Right now his only focus was on Black's bleeding leg and the sounds of battle nearby.
"Get the medical kit, you and Winston need to treat that leg ASAP." White turned away from Black and headed for the rungs that led to the TAT's command tower.
"Wait, what are you going to do?" Rose asked in confusion.
"The Thilans have started attacking Firebase Zina, we need to get over there and take out those other TAT's before the Sanctuary army get's obliterated. DJ," The Trooper who was staring goo-goo eyed at Black turned his gaze towards White. "Obsess over your crush later, we have Thilans to kill and a broken city to save." The fire of battle returned to DJ's eyes and he gave White a thumbs-up and a wide grin.
"Let's show them whose boss." The pair of them ran in opposite directions. White climbed up the rung wall as fast as he could, sprinting for the flat projection screen as soon as he reached the top. White tapped a few buttons on the control panel and brought up the radar. Firebase Zina was less than a half mile away to the west, and the Thilan army was coming in hard from the south. White couldn't see a better opportunity to flank them. With an evil grin, White realized that the situation was going to end in a highlight reel staring Squad Keeper.
Assuming that the massive rock cannon was as powerful as he was meant to believe, there was the chance to kill multiple enemy TAT's in a single blast. What was great about this plan was that every single Thilan TAT was in a straight line formation going horizontally so they could all shoot their cannons at the base. A sound plan though, with this you can see if an enemy is trying to flank you. Sadly it doesn't work if the guy flanking you is one of your own.
"Alright DJ, go left at the next intersection and straight for six blocks, then turn right." White ordered.
"Isn't that where the Thilan army is coming from?" DJ asked as the TAT lurched forward.
"Yes, but we're about to launch the laser brigade on their asses." White heard DJ laugh wildly as he realized what White had planned.
"Geez, this is why you're the White Mastermind! Your plans are crazy!" DJ managed to say while continuing to laugh.
"Wait you're not trying for one of your flank plays again are you White?" Rose cried out in protest. "Don't you remember how that worked out last time?"
"Stop worrying about how we're going to kick Thilan ass and start worrying about Black!" DJ retorted sharply. "Besides the last plan White came up with made us the most famous players in Wizardcraft!
"No, it almost got us and the rest of the guild killed in the process!" Rose shouted back, but White ignored Rose's protests. With any luck the Thilan would have no idea that they had stolen the TAT. That put them in the unique position to cause collateral damage and turn the battle in favor of the Sanctuary army and the teams of Guardians that were no doubt already engaged in combat. If they could line up their cannon correctly, there was the possibility of opening up a hole in the Thilan line that could lead to their defeat.
Yet despite how good the plan sounded on paper, there was no way it was going to be a walk in the park. Rose was right, the plan was insane and full of risks. White knew that they were only going to get one clean shot before their enemies figured out that they weren't one of them, so if White didn't aim the cannon perfectly, they'd end up with multiple enemy TAT's turning their own primary cannon's on them and be nothing but a pile of smoking ash – if even that - few seconds later.
Slowly, it dawned on White that he had failed to tune the TAT's radio to Sanctuary Army frequencies. Working quickly, White managed to get the TAT's communications tuned into the armies channel, and from what he was hearing, things sounded really bad.
"Holy shit another round of blasts incoming!"
"Stay calm and hold the line! Don't let a single Thilan trooper get through!" The voice sounded deep and rough, like it belonged to someone in their late fifties. White guessed that the voice belonged to General Caelus. The sound of a massive explosion and the whistle of a massive laser echoed in the room. White wanted to mute his sound to stop the screaming from coming through, but he needed to hear any information he could to keep up with what the army, and the other Guardians, were doing.
"Those Thilan tanks are ripping us apart!" A soldier screamed. Damn, if only we had been able to destroy the factory a day earlier. But White knew that was impossible. He and the rest of Squad Keeper had been sent out to destroy that tank factory right away, there was no way for them to know that most of the tanks had already been sent out to take out firebase Zina.
"Base shield is down to thirty percent! We can't take another wave of those TAT's!"
"Dammit, why aren't those Guardians dealing with them yet?" White sighed. It seemed that the General didn't realize that Guardians weren't gods. Their bodies, armor, and even shields were many times stronger than the average trooper, but even a decent amount of fire would be more than enough to kill them. Besides, only the most foolhardy of gamers would run right at a massive tank.
"They can't seem to get out of the park and into the city sir! When they try to cross the highway they're being cut down!" A similar situation to what happened back at the factory. White realized. The Thilan's have the both the Guardians and the army pinned down.
"Yo DJ can we pick up the pace?" White asked with a worried tone. "It doesn't sound like the sanctuary army can hold out much longer."
DJ quickly huffed in annoyance. "I'm going as fast as I can man! Don't rush me unless you want to end up crashing into a skyscraper!"
"I thought you said you knew how to drive this thing?" Rose said with a note of frustration.
"I said my Guardian knew how to drive this thing! As far as I'm concerned, I might as well have just started driving lessons!" DJ shouted in annoyance. "Hang on everyone, Thilan army next right!"
White quickly switched the radio from the Blue Rift channel back to the Thilan's frequency just in case they were contacted before they were in position to fire their cannon. They were going in late to the fight after all. White kept an eye on a bar of energy on the right side of his holo-projection as DJ slowly made the turn. It sat at ninety percent and was slowly climbing. As expected for a weapon of mass destruction, the rock cannon on the TAT took a while to build up energy.
White let out a deep breath as they finished rounding the corner and came to a stop. For the first time White got a clear view of his enemy as the main cannon lifted out of the top part of the TAT's hull. The view was astonishing. Seven TAT's, all lined up on the same street and emitting a bright red light as they charged their rock cannons for another barrage. Near the massive tanks were countless armored infantry. Much more heavily armored and well equipped than the Guards he was taking out before. Several large trucks were letting out strange four-legged dog-like creatures that sprinted northward towards the Sanctuary base. He couldn't have hoped for an easier target.
Slowly moving his finger across a window, White aimed the rock cannon at the line of TATs, more specifically at their own rock cannons. Since the TAT's command tower was supposedly heavily shielded, it made more sense to instead take out the heavy weapons hammering on the base. Off to the right side of White's control pannel was a large holographic button that began flashing red and white. White checked the energy levels of the TAT's rock cannon and grinned when he noticed that it was fully charged. Cowabunga! White thought as he brought his fist down on the button.
"MAF six-one-nine please identify, you are not scheduled to be active." The sound of the unfamiliar voice stopped White a second before his closed fist sent the Thilan troops to hell. He grin widened as he realized that not only were the Thilan's clueless to the idea that the tank wasn't under their control, but that he had the perfect opportunity to mess with them. Clearing his throat, White pressed a button and began speaking in a loud, joyous voice.
"This is the Liberator. Confirming that we are here to kick some ass." White said with a large smile, loving the thought of messing with the enemy.
"MAF six-one-nine please send your identification code or prepare to be destroyed." White sighed in disappointment at the no-nonsense tone of the operator. Guess the Thilan have been through this once before.
"Alright fine be that way. You wanna know what my ID is? Well here's my ID, suuuuuuuck eeeeeeeeeet!" White slammed his fist on the flashing red button.
The TAT rocked backwards as the cannon fired, launching a massive beam of red energy right at the line of Thilan tanks. In under a second, every single enemy TAT had lost their rock cannon and had suffered a few secondary explosions. The enemy TAT closest to them must have overloaded because it exploded outright, sending chunks of flaming metal everywhere.
"Did you have to insult them? Isn't blowing them up enough?" Rose asked with a growl.
"No." White replied simply while laughing.
"When blowing stuff up, it's always go big or go home!" DJ declared while laughing just as hard. "That was awesome bro!" The TAT, which White had just named the Liberator, shook violently as an explosion impacted against the front of the tank. White's mind snapped back to reality, and the joyous atmosphere evaporated.
"Hey DJ, I'm starting to get the feeling that we've overstayed our welcome." White said in a more serious tone.
"Yeah, I'm starting to get that feeling too." DJ agreed and the Liberator lurched backwards and started hovering away from the laser and rocket fire. The tank shook violently every time a rocket or a heavy weapon impacted them, and White watched on the projection as the armor of the mobile fortress slowly weakened. The massive vehicle may have been designed to take a lot of punishment, but it couldn't take on an army single-handed. We're not moving fast enough. White thought in frustration as the armor became more and more strained as it took hit after hit.
"White I don't think we're going to last long like this!" Winston commented with a half panicked half annoyed tone. Tell me about it. White thought bitterly to himself.
"You two just keep focusing on patching up Black, DJ and I will get us out of here!" White replied firmly.
"You don't even have a way to shoot back right now!" Rose shouted.
"We'll make it." White assured, but even he was beginning to have doubts. They weren't going to last much longer. White did however have to stop himself from correcting Rose, they did have a way to shoot back, but he doubted the two non-automatic turrets on the sides of the control tower were going to have any real impact on their escape. On top of that both possible users of said towers were currently acting as doctors.
An explosion on the opposite end of the Thilan battle line caught White's attention. Checking the battle map, he realized that their little stunt created an opening for the other Guardians to break through the Thilan formation and charge right down the middle of the enemies battle formation. White quickly re-tuned the radio to Sanctuary frequencies in time to catch the tail end of a set of orders from the General.
"…forces forward! Someone please assist that rouge TAT before the Thilan blow it away!" White pushed a button on his console and activated his microphone.
"General Caelus this is Squad Keeper, Designation Fallen Swag Star Business. Hope our little distraction created a big enough opening for you guys!"
"Squad Keeper? The team I had Beals send to take out the Zana factory complex? Hah! You're timing is impeccable. Are your TAT's autocannons are disabled?"
"Yes sir, no way we're going shoot at our own people. We've disabled the Thilan's mega rock cannons but we seem to be in a bit of a spot."
"Noob Crushers and Team Blue Rift move in and keep Squad Keeper's TAT alive." As soon as the General gave the order White knew that there wasn't any real need to send two more teams to help them. The sudden charge by the other Guardian teams had distracted the Thilan long enough for DJ to get the Liberator around the street corner.
But even though they were out of the obvious line of fire, there wasn't any doubt in White's mind that there were more heavy troops coming. On top of that the Liberator's armor was at its limit. Turning off the microphone with a quick reply to the general, White signed and attempted to retract the Mega Rock Cannon, only to hear a clunking sound and have an alert pop up saying that the cannon was unable to retract or fire. Great, so not only is the armor so beat up we could explode at the first rocket but we can't even shoot our best weapon. White turned around and started descending the rung ladder. He knew he needed to shake things up if the team was going to keep its new toy.
"Alright everyone I'm changing the plan. Rose how is Black doing?" There was a brief sigh before Rose answered.
"Her leg's going to be fine. Winston just finished patching it up. She's going to need rest though."
"Good. We can't take her out of here on a stretcher without being an easy target, so our first priority is to escort the Liberator somewhere safe and hold out until the Sanctuary army can clean out the Thilan troops."
"Wait, hang on a second." DJ said in confusion. There was a brief pause as White reached the rear compartment. The trooper turned around to look at White. "You named this thing the Liberator? What is wrong with you! This thing should obviously be called the Black Star!" In the blink of an eye, Rose took off the sniper rife that was strapped over her shoulder and aimed it right at DJ's head. His hands went up so fast one nearly slammed against the control console.
"Another word regarding your perverted fetish for Keeper girls and I'm blowing a hole in your pea sized brain. Got it?" DJ nodded quickly and Rose slowly lowered the rifle.
"So where do you plan on hiding a monstrosity like this?" Winston asked.
"No idea and we don't have time to shop for good retail prices. DJ will turn this thing around at the next intersection while the three of us kill any Thilan troops that get too close. Hopefully we meet up with one of the two squads that General Caelus sent to help us out." White looked down at Black, who was laid out flat on her back on the retractable bed. He felt himself growing increasingly sad at what the Keeper had to go through up until this point, and he didn't even know the whole story yet. At the same time however, he felt a thrill. In all his years of online gaming never before had he cared so much about an event or a quest. Even the best NPC's in other games hadn't made him care this much before. It honestly felt like everything about this world was real.
Of course none of the hype he was feeling mattered if they failed right here.
"So our plan is to run around until the enemy is all dead?" Rose asked raising an eyebrow.
"Yup." White nodded with a shrug.
"What! We're going to turn tail and run like cowards?" DJ protested.
"Do you WANT to watch Black die?" White fired back.
"Running's good." DJ said quickly and turned around in his chair.
"So how do you want to play this?" Winston asked.
"Nothing special," White shrugged. "The three of us escort the Liberator around the city and keep an eye out for trouble for the next hour or so. With the Thilan line as broken as it looked when we ran I doubt it'll long for everyone to finish the job."
"What about the command tower?" Rose asked. "Shouldn't someone be up there to watch for enemies or operate the turrets?" White shook his head.
"The command tower's radar can track motorized vehicles or radio signals, but if a small squad turns their radio's off they can easily ambush us. If we had one or two more people with us I'd say sure but with just us four it isn't worth spending the man power."
"And the turrets?" Rose pressed.
"If we're attacked, it's probably not going to be a squad of grunts. In every movie or anime series we've watched together it's always the gunner that goes down first."
"This is real life White." Winston pointed out dully.
"No he has a point." Rose admitted reluctantly. "If one of those Thilan goons has a sniper rifle and takes a shot at a turret before I can spot them whoever is in there dies. Best to keep going on foot."
With everyone in agreement, White took one last look at Black and let out a sharp breath of air before leaving the TAT. Winston and Rose followed him out, both holding their guns up and scouting the nearby buildings for any sign of an enemy ambush.
"Alright DJ we're out, close it up and get moving."
"Try to not get me killed okay?" DJ replied as the hatch slowly closed up. White ran around the right side of the massive vehicle to stand closer to the front of the tank to keep an eye out for enemies from the northwest. Everything was quiet except for the hum of the Liberator and the sounds of battle behind them. The giant tank lurched forward and started slowly crawling forward as four simultaneous bangs rang out from the other side of the tank, quickly catching White's attention. He turned his body and prepared to rush to the aid of his friend, but stopped when Rose explained.
"A couple of Thilan's decided that it would be a good idea to chase us." Rose reported. They won't be making that mistake again."
"It's a surprise we haven't seen more Thilan's come after us. They seemed quite determined on killing us five minutes ago." Winston commented.
"Stay sharp, it means they've set a trap for us here pretty soon." White ordered and scanned the nearby building again.
The four of them slowly worked their way down the broken streets of Khua. Most of the road was already clear thanks to their previous rush to get in position, and whatever rubble they had pushed aside hadn't been much of a concern to White. But now that he was on the ground taking in the scenery, he wondered how long the former capital had been a battleground. Rubble coated the sidewalks, large chunks of buildings that had fallen from the tops of the surrounding skyscrapers now blocked most of the entrances and windows. It was hard for White to even get a look inside.
Even so the buildings that he could look into seemed empty and lifeless. It was worse than a ghost town, it was more like a skeleton city. The atmosphere was one of loneliness mixed with the fear of being shot at any moment, and the echoes of battle mixed with the silence of the group didn't help much. White felt his emotions nibbling at him, eating away at any happy feeling he had left.
"I wonder how many died when the Thilan first attacked." Rose wondered, making White jump at the sudden break in silence.
"Considering this is a game, I'd have to go with tragic backstory and nearly the entire city." DJ replied, sounding way to amused in White's opinion.
"DJ?" Winston sighed.
"Yes?"
"Shut up." White sighed to himself. DJ was a good friend and a great asset in battle, but he didn't know when to keep his fat mouth shut. Out of everyone in the group he was the one who got himself banned the most. One of these days he's going to say something he'll regret, that or something that will end our BRSO adventure for good.
"Anyone else notice that it's gotten a little too quiet?" White snapped back to attention and listened closely. While it wasn't totally silent Rose made a good point. They'd gotten themselves turned around and were a good three blocks from the battle, but even so the sound of gunfire and explosions were too far away.
"You think the Sanctuary army is pushing the Thilans out?" DJ asked.
"No." Winston replied right away. "The orders were clear, either the Thilans take absolute control of Khua or they die trying.
"So what you think they're out there lurking somewhere?" DJ let out a small chuckle. "Well bring it on! I'm getting bored just sitting here."
"How easily you forget about why we're running in the first place." White muttered under his breath, seriously considering going back inside and slapping DJ in the back of the head before hearing Rose inhale sharply.
"I thought I just saw something."
"An enemy?" White asked, looking to his left, trying to find whatever the sniper saw.
"I don't know, but I know it wasn't my imagination." White's eyes narrowed as he weighed his options. There was no real strategic reason for the Thilan to keep perusing them at this point, unless they valued the technology behind the TAT's so highly that they were willing to give up manpower hunting them down. White didn't know the Thilans well enough to accurately anticipate their next move, therefore there was only one option.
Wing it.
"Alright Winston, you and I will head into the buildings on our left and look for whatever might be in there. Rose, you'll stay out here and keep DJ safe while we're gone. If the Thilan show up, don't hesitate to call for help."
"Just don't get yourselves killed in there." Rose warned.
"What about me?" DJ asked.
"Keep moving forward." White ordered. "Pick up the pace if you can, I'm getting a bad feeling that we need to get the Liberator hidden quickly."
"You want speed?" DJ seemed to take the order as a challenge, and White had to stop himself from telling of DJ any further. The one advantage to him being infatuated with Black, White reminded himself, is that he won't do anything that might get her killed.
Circling around the rear of the Liberator, White quickly turned himself around and ran to circle around the rear of the tank just as its engines roared and began to pick up its pace. As he ran around the rear he spotted Rose sitting on top of the right rear rectangle box that helped keep the TAT in the air. Her rifle was firmly grasped in her hands as she watched the surrounding area for any sign of movement, not evening giving White a glance as he ran by.
He found Winston looking over a chunk of concrete into a broken window of an abandoned antique store, probably checking to make sure it was a safe point of entry.
"Well?" White asked.
"I'm amazed so many building are still standing after all this destruction." Winston said in amazement. "You'd think battles with these weapons of war would cause this whole place to be nothing but a flat wasteland."
"There isn't any point of the Thilan conquering this place if they raze it to dust." White pointed out. "So I doubt their using TAT's in every battle." White let out a long sigh and looked inside the darkened shop. "Spot anything?"
"No, but there are holes in almost every wall. I get the feeling someone meant for this place to be some kind of base."
"Looters using the buildings as some kind of base camp?" White asked.
"Possible, but it also means that there is a high potential for traps."
"Fantastic." White muttered. "Well we don't gain anything by standing here." Not waiting for Winston, he stowed his cannon and hopped over the concrete rubble and entered the building, his entry causing loose bits of rubble to follow him down. This repeated a moment later when Winston followed him.
"So if you were the Thilans, how would you ambush us?" White asked. There was a pause as Winston considered his answer, during which both Guardians redrew their weapons.
"I'd want to get somewhere high and hidden, probably pick off the sniper first." Winston finally answered.
"So we go up." White decided, heading through a large hole in the wall on the right, taking him to a room filled with so much debris he couldn't tell what it had been before, The one thing he did take note of was the hole in the ceiling. He doubted there was any way for the pair of them to use it to use it to go up another floor though.
White kept glancing toward the hole as he looked around and considered which way to go next. From here there was a door leading deeper into the building and a door with a faded employee's only sign. The decision was obvious, but something kept nagging at White.
"Hey Winston, head towards the back and see if there's a staircase in the next room." Winston narrowed his eyes but nodded, leaving White to stare up at the hole. As the assassin moved past him he leveled his rock cannon at the hole. The feeling inside of him was strange, like his whole body was trying to warn him that he was about to be ambushed at any moment. Considering that he had a track record of being right when he got this feeling combined with the fact that Rose saw something clued White into thinking that his enemies weren't too far away.
White was so focused on the hole that he nearly shot his cannon when he heard the rattle of concrete behind him, only calming himself when he glanced backward and spotted Winston coming back towards him.
"I found a staircase that seems to go all the way up to the roof. I didn't go up but it looks like there's a way to get to every floor from there."
"Sounds promising." White admitted.
"What are you staring at?" Winston asked.
"I've just got a funny feeling that's all, like someone is watching us." Unlike a lot of people, Winston didn't dismiss these kinds of feelings. If someone had a strange feeling they couldn't explain, Winston was usually the first to believe the person or convince them to follow the feeling.
"If that's true then I doubt it's anyone trying to kill us." White gave Winston a questioning glance.
"You were all alone just now, and the rubble in front if this part of the building prevents Rose from doing anything."
"Any theories then?" White asked.
"Looters or some civilians trying to stay hidden, either way we should keep our eyes open."
"Agreed, come on we have a lot of building to check."
It would have taken a whole day to check the entire building, so White had Rose direct them to any location ahead of DJ with a potential ability to launch a surprise attack on them. The problem was the number of possible places where an ambush could start from, and for every one spot that he and Winston checked, there were two more that they couldn't get to without falling behind. This is ridiculous. White eventually realized. The chances are better than the Thilan attack us while we're searching the building than if we just stuck with the TAT.
After checking a massive opening in the wall with a fantastic defensive position White decided to stop wasting any more time. He let out a sigh and looked down at the Liberator as it caught up to them at the same speed that had moved them into position to take out the Thilan TAT's about an hour ago. Maybe DJ was right and the Thilans we're too busy dealing with the Sanctuary army and other Guardian teams to worry about them.
White opened his mouth to tell Winston to start heading back to the TAT when he heard the clacking of a moving rock coming from the opposite side of where Winton was, around the corner of the doorway to his left. It caught both Guardian's attention right away. Winston gave him an nod and the pair began slowly moving towards the sound, slowly raising their cannons and being careful to avoid making any sounds, then in a flash rounded the corner and raised his cannon.
"Oh shit!" Came the startled voice of a startled young man dressed in dark green heavy armor holding an oversized pistol, a massive axe equipped to the mans back. White relaxed when he realized that he wasn't pointing his cannon at a Thilan, but one of the Guardians sent by the General to keep his team safe.
"You know you should probably come out and say hello instead of lurking around." White commented in relief.
"Oh geez your that kid who rolled a rock cannon at the start of the game. I thought we were being sent of some kind of a special quest or something." The man replied.
"I'm afraid that we're not NPC's." Winston said with a chuckle. "Winston of Squad Keeper."
"Burnlash of Team Blue Rift."
"Whitestar, Squad Keeper. So why are you lurking around, and where's the rest of your team?"
"We're right here." White was surprised to find the deep voice of an older man coming from right behind him. White turned around to find a black man with slightly less bulk than DJ accompanied by a boy who looked to be ten years old. The older man was carrying two large shotguns with a large machete on his belt while the boy was armed with who large knifes. It seems that we weren't as sneaky as we thought, but having another pair of Shooters and an Assassin around should make things easier. But why do they have melee weapons and a ten year old boy with them?
"I see you've noticed the strangeness of our team." Burnlash observed.
"I'll admit it wasn't quite what I was expecting." White replied honestly. Burnlash laughed.
"We've heard that before. Let me introduce you to Masta Blasta and Shrimp."
"Yo." Masta Blasta greeted with a wave.
"Lucky dog, getting that Keeper weapon." Shrimp grumbled. White got the impression that Shrimp was a lot older and taller IRL. "I hope you know that only one Keeper weapon was given out. You'd better not die with that on you." White raised an eyebrow.
"I'll give it my best shot."
"So I have one question before we continue." Winston said looking at Burnlash. "Why do you and Masta Blasta have a machete and a battle axe?" Burnlash shrugged.
"A lot of the Guardians got stuck with melee weapons. Apparently they have the ability to deflect bullets, but anyone who's tried so far has ended up dead. I had a friend of mine look online, so far thirty percent of the players in BRSO have died, more than half of those kicked out of the game." White whistled.
"That many already? Geez the Thilans really did a number on us."
"Tsk, noobs." Shrimp muttered.
"Have you spotted Noob Crushers?" Winston asked. Burnlash shook his head.
"Nope, but I know a bit about the leader. I doubt they followed the order. If anything they're out there killing Thilan on the front lines."
"We can worry about the other Guardians later." Masta Blasta pointed out firmly. "We need to work on getting that TAT to safety." White nodded in agreement.
"So where are you guys headed?" Burnlash asked. White shrugged.
"No idea, we're just staying on the move until the Thilans are driven out."
"Seriously?" Shrimp said in disbelief. "You amateurs don't even have a plan? Makes me wonder how you even managed to steal that monster." White resisted the urge to shoot the small assassin.
"If you have any suggestions let's hear it." White retorted sharply. "And make it quick, I'm not having our Trooper stop the TAT while we come up with a plan."
"I spotted what looked like a parking garage about a mile up the road. It's mostly intact and looks like it has subterranean floors. Might be our best option."
"You sure the thing was safe?" White asked with a note of concern. "We don't want the ceiling coming down on us." Burnlash shrugged.
"I can confirm once I get a better look, but it sounds like our best option right now."
"We can always keep moving if the building isn't safe." Winston pointed out. White nodded.
"Alright the parking garage it is. Rose, DJ you still there?"
"Yeah we're here." Rose answered. "What's up?"
"We found one of the squads send by General Caelus, we're coming back. DJ, keep going forward. There's some kind of parking garage about a mile down the road, we'll park it there."
"You got it boss. Full speed ahead!"
The five Guardians worked their way down, having to drop through holes in the floor when they couldn't find or get to a staircase. The whole time White managed to catch Shrimp muttering complaints about his cannon or the Liberator, and even about the Generals order. To White, Shrimp seemed like one of those guys who would get mad at anyone as soon as he found a reason to get mad. It made him wonder how the other members of his squad put up with him.
"So Whitestar, can I ask you something?" Burnlash asked as he followed White through a hole down to the second floor.
"Sure, and just call me White, rolls of the tongue better."
"Well no arguments there" Burnlash said with a laugh. "What did you think of the Keeper Battle last night?"
White let out a sigh. "From a game standpoint, it does provide a kind of spectator sport, and does make some sense. But at the same time I felt like something was off about it, like the Keepers hadn't signed up to kill each other like they did."
"I know what you mean." Burnlash replied as they started down a staircase towards the first floor. "I actually managed to spot something unusual about the whole thing." White glanced back at Burnlash with a raised eyebrow.
"And that would be?"
"Just before the fighting started the eyes of every Keeper turned red. It was like someone flipped a switch and they all turned into psycho killers, except for one."
"Let me guess, Black Rock Shooter." Burnlash gave White a look of confustion.
"Yes, but how did you guess?"
"She shot at me before the fighting started." White explained, trying to hide the rising feeling of panic that he almost gave away that they were hiding the Keeper in the TAT. "Once at the wall and then once right at me. If anyone wasn't going to be affected she would be my first guess."
"Yeah. I get the feeling that something's up with those battles though. It wouldn't surprise me if we end up with the option of rebelling against Blue Rift and have the option of saving the Keepers."
White stopped just before the exit of the building to ask Burnlash a question, the other three Guardians walking past them. "So which would you choose?" Burnlash shrugged.
"It would depend, but if the council was allowing the Keepers to have mind control used on them to have them kill each other for a spectator sport, hell yeah I'd go with the Keepers." White turned and exited the building behind Winston without another word. He was sure he'd just gained a potential ally. He didn't trust Brunlash to tell him the truth about Black just yet, but he had potential.
"Another few minutes and we're there White." DJ reported as the TAT roared by him. White realized that DJ had picked up the pace and started sprinting just to keep up with him.
"Could you slow down a bit dammit!" White complained just as a bang erupted from behind them, causing the ground just behind the TAT to explode.
"Wish I could, but it seems those pesky Thilans did send some kind of elite squad after all." DJ replied.
"What the hell!" White heard Shrimp roar in anger, and the Liberator's engines flared as it hit the brakes. "Three Shooter and a pair of Troopers in front!"
"At least two Snipers as well White." Rose reported. "One in front and one behind us, they've boxed us in." A shimmer of something next to Rose caught White's eye, and without hesitation he shot just in front of Rose, and a flash of light in a large oval shape appeared in front of the distortion, absorbing the blast from White's cannon. At the same time, a figure in dark red armor replaced the distorted Shimmer.
"Holy shit!" Rose exclaimed as she rapidly backed away from the assassin. White fired another few shots at the newest Thilan elite. This time however, the assassin jumped off the TAT, landing on White's right about ten feet away. He was impressed at the jumping power of the assassin, but the time to be impressed was later. The sounds of battle quickly erupted as the six Guardians engaged with the eight Thilan elites.
The assassin rushed at white with a long energy blade in his hand. White raised is cannon and began firing at the assassin, who dodged to the left and began running in a circle while slowly closing the distance between them. White adjusted his aim and fired again, and this time there was a loud BANG at the same moment, and before he knew it White was on the ground, and he saw stars as a throbbing pain echoed in his head. He had been so focused on the movements of the assassin that he had totally forgotten about the sniper behind him.
A few more bangs echoed out, these sounding like they were coming from Rose's sniper rifle. White looked up to find a black visor and the tip of an energy blade descending towards his head. Instead of rolling to the side, which he figured would be blocked by the leg of his attacker, he shifted his body to the left and threw his head to one side, causing the sword to embed itself in the concrete. White angled his right arm and pulled the trigger on his cannon, expecting to blow the head off of the Thilan assassin, but instead his opponent had predicted the move and leaped over him. Quickly leaping to his feet, White realized that Rose was missing.
"White, it's Rose." Rose said before White had a chance to panic. White began shooting at the assassin again, but this time running back towards the building he had just exited from. If he could get there, he would have a harder time dealing with the assassin but wouldn't be at risk of getting sniped.
"I've dealt with the sniper behind us. I've escaped to one of the buildings on our right to try and find a place for me to pick off the other sniper."
"Alright Rose, good luck." White replied while continuing backwards. Even with the rear sniper dead, there was no guarantee the other one wouldn't just shoot him as well. His first priority was getting himself into a position to properly organize the fight and set the tempo in their favor. But to do that, he had to give himself the breathing room to scan the battlefield, and that meant killing off the assassin.
White kept shooting as he ran backwards, forcing the assassin to run in a zigzag pattern to dodge the spheres of energy. If I can get to the building and then use the cover to regroup with the others, I should be able to get this guy off my back. As long as I keep shooting at him like this I can keep on the pressure long enough to- White's thought was cut off as there was a deep boom sound along with a flash of red light, and before he knew it the assassin was right in front of White. Oh shit that just isn't fair.
Day 3
Date: Sunday, 1st Month, 23rd day, 1017th year D.A. (Dark Ages)
Location: Khua, The Liberator
Time: Roughly 3:41 S.S.T. (Standard Sanctuary Time)
Black's eyes snapped open, and her first reaction was to bolt upright and reach behind her for her rock cannon, but it wasn't there. She looked around for it and realized that she had no idea where she was. For a moment she couldn't remember what happened, then it slowly came back to her. She had found Whitestar, the man who had wrongfully taken her sisters cannon, and then her leg injury gave out. Black hung her head in shame. Forgive me White, I was too weak. There was no getting around it, she had been captured and she was probably on her way back to Obroseon.
No, no there was no giving up here. She had to find Whitestar. She wasn't letting herself be defeating without achieving her goal. She needed to escape. Black looked around and realized that the vehicle she was in was Thilan design, which meant that she was in the TAT that Squad Keeper had stolen. To her left light was emanating from what must have been the control console. From the sounds of humming coming from there, she knew that whoever was driving hadn't realized that Black had woken up.
Blacks foot hit something hard, and when she looked down she realized that her rock cannon was sitting right there on the floor. What imbeciles. Black thought as she slowly slid off the bed and onto her feet, wincing at the pain in her left leg. With the injury, there was a very low chance of escape, but she didn't need to escape. All she needed was to see Whitestar dead.
Black picked up her rock cannon and slowly approached the figure sitting in the chair, pulling Black Blade out of her jacket as she did so. Once she was close enough she lunged forward and pressed the blade at the neck of the driver.
"Scream or notify the rest of your squad and your dead." Black said, her voice stone cold. There was a moment of silence before the man spoke.
"Well, glad to see my princess is still full of spunk after her little tumble. Though I envisioned our first conversation over a candlelight dinner instead of you having that sword at my neck."
"Quiet." Black ordered. "Where is Whitestar?"
"Our glorious commander? He's out making sure we don't encounter any unexpected surprises."
"Order him to come back." Black demanded.
"That's no way to treat someone who saved your life." The man replied. Black's eyes narrowed.
"What are you talking about?" The man sighed.
"You don't remember? You were fighting White and Winston when you collapsed. Gave me quite the scare. We brought you inside and our sniper treated your wounds." The man glanced down, trying to spot something behind the chair. "Speaking of which I'm not sure you should be on that leg. I wouldn't want you to reinjure it. Why don't I carry you back to your bed?" The man tried to get up but Black pressed the blade closer, stopping him.
"Saving me is a mistake I'll make sure you regret." Black felt her anger rising. This man had no idea how close he was to dying and he was treating the whole thing like it was no big deal! If Black didn't know better, the man was trying to flirt with her! "Call. Whitestar." She repeated with a growl.
"Aww come on, wouldn't you rather sit down and talk with me? I'm sure there's a good restraunt somewhere in this rubble." Black was about to kill this man out of anger, only her many years of discipline stopped her.
"Unless you want me to kill you too, you'll call Whitestar." Black pressed her blade into the man's neck, starting to cut the skin.
"You know killing him won't bring your sister back." Black was so shocked that she lost her grip on her katana and stumbled backwards. She pointed her cannon at the man's head.
"How do you know about her." The man didn't even bother answering the question, instead he asked one of his own.
"So do you hate White so much just because he has the White Rock Cannon? You looked quite mad in the arena last night when you saw that he had it."
"He isn't worthy of using that weapon." Black didn't even know why she was bothering to answer the man's questions. She should just kill him and call Whitestar back herself, but something deep inside her stopped Black from pulling the trigger. Whether it was her training or something else she didn't know. All she knew is that despite how much she wanted to, she couldn't kill this man.
"Is it because it belonged to your sister?" Black didn't answer right away. She didn't want to admit it but her sister was the reason she hated Whitestar. She hated him because he was a Guardian, a person who had stolen her reason for existence and was taunting her by using a Keeper weapon at the same time. It was a stain on the memory of her sister, and she couldn't bear it.
"Why didn't you kill me?" Black asked with a hoarse voice. The man brought his hand up to his chin.
"Other than the fact that your cute, badass, and have a hot body?" Black wanted to shoot him on the spot out of sheer annoyance of his now obvious pervertedness. "We don't hate you, in fact, we feel sorry for you." Black didn't have a reply, she didn't know how to take the man's answer.
"Look, we got our weapons at a random drawing this morning. White got your sisters cannon by chance. Any of us could have gotten it. Later we learned from the woman who made the weapon its history. We want to rescue the Keepers from whatever mind control their under." Black was speechless, her emotions running wild. She didn't know what to think. Once the shock started to wear off she wondered how it actually changed anything. Whitestar was still unworthy of the cannon. He had still taken the role of the Keepers. He still deserved to die.
The TAT suddenly rocked with a loud bang.
"What was that?" Black demanded, struggling to suppress her emotions as the threat of battle erupted.
"Sniper shot to one of the rear engines, damn it looks like the Thilan caught up to us." The low hum of the engines suddenly roared. Black watched as they picked up speed.
"Another few minutes and we're there White." The man reported into his console.
"I said no communication." Black said coldly.
"Would you rather I let us get shot?" the man retorted.
"Could you slow down a bit dammit?" A voice replied, Black recognized it as Whitestar's.
"Wish I could, but it seems those pesky Thilans did send some kind of elite squad after all." Black didn't know what to do. On one hand, this was the perfect chance for her to kill Whitestar in the heat of battle, on the other hand, was what the man driving the TAT said true? Could Squad Keeper be honestly looking for a way to free the other Keepers? She hadn't dare hope, but then again he could be lying, her head was filled with doubts and the pain in her leg didn't help. For the first time ever, Black was at a loss. She didn't know what to do.
Before she could keep fighting. It was all she knew and the answer to every problem. Fight, but now she wasn't sure. If she fought the wrong enemy she could lose her possibly best chance at freeing her family. Her mind told her that the man was lying, but her instincts told her to believe the man. Black suddenly remembered a quote from the first book Sy had given her. Sometimes you just need to take a leap of faith.
"Why should I believe you?" Black demanded. The man turned around in his chair and gave Black a hard stare.
"Because I believe you." Black stared blankly at the man. What? The man facepalmed. "Oh man that sounded so much better in my head! Dammit DJ way to go and screw up your chances with a cheesy line!" The man, called DJ, sighed.
"Look, just get out there and help out White. He's the one you need to talk to, and if you still think he's not worthy of that cannon, he'll give it back to you, that's just the person he is." Black lowered her cannon. She still wasn't sure she trusted DJ, but one thing was clear. If she wanted the answers she was looking for, she needed to talk with Whitestar herself, and that meant killing the Thilan soldiers.
It meant doing what she was meant to do.
I'll try not to take three months this time. The next chapter should actually be easier to write. (this one was bruuuuutal.)