Alright only took me a month this time!
Everyone: …
…Well it's getting better. I won't lie it's actually easier to write during the school year. Normally I get my writing done on the bus ride to and from school, during my lunch break, and the study period I have three days a week. I rarely do any writing at home (thus the three month long wait when I didn't have any school.)
Still we're back with yet another BRSO chapter, and I have to say that I think I'm getting better at writing fighting scenes. It's way far off from being where I'd like it but at least it isn't 1,000 words and then a copout. (Looking at Black's leg incident a few chapters ago…)
The update speed may or may not pick up. I'm looking to finish The Story of Kevin (one chapter left like how lazy can you get?) and then pick it back up in its second book. (wait oops I wasn't supposed to reveal that…)
One last thing, if you want to chat with me outside of the reviews, either PM me or message me on twitter WillTheYordle
BlueSkYes – Take your time, I could wait for centuries for another chapter to be uploaded, but still squeal every time I am alerted when a new chapter is posted! If there was an The Best Cliff Hanger Writer of the Year award, it would go straight to you. God I can't waittttttttttttttttttttttttt for the next chapter. All in good time thought! Great work!
You know it's funny, I actually get the same reaction when someone I'm following updates! And I also feel the pain of waiting for months on end for one. I'll try to keep things moving so we can have more squeals and less silence!
As for that award, I'm really workin for it! (Don't hate me at the end pls.)
Unkown Soul – Thank you for nat letting this story die! And yes, it would be nice if you would not take three months againe. I take it that I can look forward to a nice asskicking from Black right? RIGHT?
(See below for the ass kicking.)
In regard to the three month wait, at least you're not a TSOK fan, those guys have been waiting for eight for the LAST CHAPTER. (thank the stars none of them say anything, otherwise my bacon would be FRIED!)
Chapter Nine: Alliance
Day 3
Date: Sunday, January 23rd 2015
Location: Khua, Northern Districts
Time: Roughly 12:50 P.E.T. (Pacific Earth Time)
Whitestar
With less than a second to react, White threw himself backward out of instinct. His Guardian body responded immediately, throwing himself into a backwards roll as the assassins blade came within inches of cutting his innards out. Popping back onto his feet, White attempted to raise his cannon to shoot at the assassin again but found himself in the exact same position as he had been in a moment ago, with his enemy up close and personal. Is there any way to get this guy away from me? White wondered, trying to suppress panic and come up with a plan.
Out of the corner of his eye White spotted a red energy blade rapidly approaching the right side of his midsection. The extra thought had cost him the time needed to dodge the pressed attack, and he was about to pay for it with his life. Time seemed to slow down for White. This time, there would be no miracle, no last second plan, no revival items. He would have to hope that the rest of the team could make up for his error.
That's when the entire right arm of the Thilan Assassin vaporized along with his head. White could feel the blood and building debre splash on his face as whatever projectiles that had taken the man out crashed into the wall behind him. Blinking away the dust from his eyes, White was shocked beyond belief to find Black Rock Shooter standing in the open hatch of the Liberator, cannon raised with a fading blue glow.
White let out a sigh of relief but remained tense. Even if Black had killed the Thilan elite it was highly likely that she would take the opportunity to attack him while he didn't have any help. Even with her injured leg she was a much more experienced shooter than White was. In the back of his mind White was also aware that if Black was outside, then there was a good chance that DJ was out.
What happened next was probably the most confusing event of the night. Instead of turning to White with a flaming eye and shooting him, Black lowered her cannon just enough to signal that she had no intention of shooting him, and then hobbled over into the broken down building.
"Are you injured?" At first White didn't register Blacks question, mostly out of confusion.
"No no, I'm fine." White managed to answer after a moment. "Thanks."
"How many are there?" Black asked monotonously. WTF is going on?
"Uhh, well now there's one sniper and a handful of troopers and shooters." Black glanced over her shoulder at the battle happening in front of the Liberator. After the shock with the assassin, the energy seemed to have drained from White. Glancing at timestamp at the corner of his vision, White realized that it was past midnight in the real world. Crap, I've been playing too long. I can't formulate a good strategy this late!
"Judging from your face I can tell that you're confused." Black observed, bringing White's attention back to the Keeper. "However the time for questions will have to wait until we are in a safer location." Despite being too exhausted to properly process what the consequences would be, White's instincts told him that he could trust Black for this fight. At the sme time it didn't free White from the million questions and the confusion that plagued him. After one injury and a few hours, the girl who had been trying to kill him was now offering to help.
But Black was right, the time for questions was later. For the moment White needed to dig deep, slap himself awake, and come up with a plan. The rear sniper and the assassin were both dead, meaning that DJ now had a way to back out of the fight if he needed to run. He, Black, Winston, Rose, and the rest of Team Blue Rift just had to deal with the six remaining enemies, giving them a one man advantage thanks to Black entering the fight. Right now everything was an all out melee, which gave the Thilans an advantage thanks to the lack of experience from his companions as well as the other sniper which was no doubt limiting their movements. White needed to get a better view of the battlefield. He doubted there was any need to worry about the sniper, the lack of radio chatter and Winston's sudden disappearance from the battlefield told White that the assassin had it covered.
"Black, go ahead and help out the three Guardians in front while two of my people handle the second sniper." White ordered. "Once he's dead try and take out the Troopers so we can get the TAT out of here." White noticed from a small twitch in Black's eyes that she wasn't too pleased about taking orders from a Guardian, but he was the one in charge of the self-given objective of keeping the Liberator as intact as possible.
"What are you going to do?" Black asked.
"Give them the old Whitestar special." White replied with a grin, stowing his cannon and running towards the back of the building, where he had spotted what appeared to be an old fire escape that lead up to at least the tenth floor.
He climbed the stairs at a hurried pace, knowing that his positioning was going to be everything. White needed to place himself in such a way as to avoid being seen by the sniper as well as being able to observe and shoot down on the whole battlefield. Timing was everything. He couldn't start shooting without giving away where he was to the Thilan sniper, and he doubted that Black and Team Blue Rift could hold out long enough for him to look for a second location.
White considered what he wanted to do with the Liberator. Right now it was just a giant target with its shields and armor so damaged, and the automated cannons couldn't be used because they would attack them instead of the Thilans. There wasn't time to change their targeting code and he doubted that any of them could try in the heat of battle on such short notice. It was almost smarter to have DJ back out and use the opening from earlier to try and escape, but at the same time White didn't want the Thilan Elites to stop fighting them and go after DJ instead. As much as he hated leaving such a critical objective in the open, there was no way for the Liberator to exit the battle without attracting attention. In the back of his mind, White guessed that the Thilans also seemed perfectly happy taking down the Guardians first before getting their tank back, which gave White the upper hand.
Upon reaching the tenth floor, White discovered that the northern wall had collapsed, giving him a perfect spot to kneel down and scan the battlefield. Taking out his cannon, he rested it on a large chunk of rubble a foot away from the ledge, which if it collapsed would mean an over twenty foot drop onto the hard streets below.
The location was perfect, White could see everything going on below while still staying safe. However what he saw was much further from ideal. Burnlash, Shrimp, and Masta Blasta were all working together in an attempt to hold the attention of the two troopers. They were managing to hold their attention for the moment, but it was obvious that the two shooters and assassin were having problems with the massive Gatling guns and heavy armor that both were equipped with.
Black however, was in a much different position. Despite being outnumbered three shooters to one, she was having no problem holding her own. Two of the shooters were armed with some kind of assault rifles shooting red laser bolts rapid fire, while the third was armed with a rock cannon of his own, but his was slightly bigger in size and fired explosive shots. Unfazed by her opponents, Black was dancing around each shot like she could see where each one was coming from. However White knew she was going to need help eventually. Even though she was doing alright for the moment there was no way she could pull off anything that would let her turn the tables on the shooters without risking her leg giving out on her again.
"Alright Winston, we can't keep this up forever. What's your ETA on that sniper?" White's HUD displayed Winston's microphone coming on for a second before disappearing, code for one minute. White was now glad that Winston had convinced them to come up with ways to communicate with each other without talking while playing a few weeks ago.
"Rose, are you in position yet?" White asked, watching as Black attempted to get the Thilan with the rock cannon to shoot one of his allies, unfortunately the Thilan seemed to catch onto the ploy and didn't fire.
"Yeah, but it looks like the other sniper changed positions on me." Rose reported with a note of frustration. "I'm stuck until Winston does something about it."
"Alright hold tight, that sniper will be out of play in just a moment." White assured.
"Great, now explain to me why Black Rock Shooter is out fighting Thilan Elites with that leg?"
"Well she is a Keeper you know." DJ chimed in with his typical that's my girl voice. "They're programmed to be cute and immune to pain."
"So why'd she collapse before you perv?" Rose asked holding back her anger at DJ acting like a lovesick fanboy.
"All part of the event!" DJ replied enthusiastically. "Fulldrive wanted to make sure we'd take care of her."
"She seems to be perfectly fine taking care of herself." Rose observed, changing the subject back to the fight. "But Team Blue Rift doesn't seem to be doing so hot."
"They're holding machetes, axes, shotguns, and knives. That's like trying to break a rock with a toothpick." DJ replied with an amused snort. "No way are they going to punch through that armor."
"I can take one of them out right now White." Rose offered. DJ laughed.
"Nah you sit there princess, I'll handle this!"
"You can't just leave the TAT unguarded!" Rose quickly protested.
"Relax, I found a way to place a lock on the system." DJ explained. "I rewrote all the passwords so the Thilan can't take over."
"Since when did you learn to rewrite code?" Rose muttered, barely loud enough to hear.
"I didn't, but I wanted to do it and my Guardian took over." Like how he suddenly know how to drive the Liberator in the first place. White realized.
"Alright, then you can help out Team Blue Rift with those Troopers. Just watch for the sniper."
"You got it!" DJ replied eagerly.
There was a sudden boom that echoed, snapping Whites attention over to Shrimp, whose head was now in a bloody mess on the ground. The sudden sight almost made White vomit on the spot. The sudden drop in teammate distracted Burnlash for a moment, and his left arm was immediately torn apart by a spray of lasers. White fought to get himself back under control, there would be time to worry about the realism of Shrimp's death later, for the moment he had to do something about those two Thilan Troopers before he ran out of time.
The echo of another shot rang out from the opposite direction as White started looking for an opening in the Troopers movements. It wasn't easy, normally in gunfights you aren't shooting while standing in the middle of a street without cover. No game White had ever played featured that kind of shootout. In BRSO however, you either had the reaction time to dodge incoming shots or had the ability to resist taking a direct hit. The only exception to the rule seemed to be rock cannons and heavy weapons. So in the case of the Troopers versus Burnlash and Masta Blasta, there was a lot of quick movements, rolling, running, and relying on shields and armor to block non-lethal hits.
Before the second shot, which had come from Rose now that the second Thilan sniper had revealed his location, the enemy Troopers hadn't been moving around all that much. They'd stuck to one spot and relied on offensive pressure and the disadvantage of their opponents weapons, a silly tactic in White's opinion. But now that Rose had revealed herself, the Troopers were moving around in a similar fashion to the Shooters currently fighting Black, quick, short movements and long rolls or short sprints to reposition themselves. To White, there was no pattern to the Troopers movements, making it extremely hard to find an opening. Part of him wanted to just open fire and hope for the best, but he held himself back. Doing so would be a bad idea for multiple reasons. First of all with a random spray and pray there was an equally likely chance that he would hit one of the two remaining members of Team Blue Rift as well as the Troopers. Secondly he was the last trump card they had left, and that kind of surprise they couldn't just throw away.
But most importantly, DJ was about to open up on their sorry Thilan butts anyway.
"BONZAIIIIIIII BITCHEEEEEES!"
When the first spray of bullets showed up it caught everyone down on the street by surprise. One of the Troopers that was just about to finish off Burnlash suddenly had lasers piercing his armor and ripping holes in his body. The second trooper paused briefly to try and assess what had just happened, and Masta Blasta used that moment to roll in and jam his shotgun against the Troopers chest before pulling the trigger. White could see bits of metal flying from the impact as the man dropped dead. The whole thing happened in less than fifteen seconds, and White couldn't stop laughing.
And the chaos didn't stop there, the three Shooters that had previously been taking on Black took notice to their comrades going down. The two Thilans with the assault rifles turned away from Black and began shooting at Burnlash. Black tried to turn around and plant a few flaming rock in their backsides but the third shooter leveled his cannon and fired a shot aimed at Blacks head, forcing her to dodge and keep her attention away from the others.
At this point White figured it was the best time to make his move. Adjusting his aim, White fired two shots at each Thilan Shooter. But to his surprise, both opponents dodged to the side and started firing at him, forcing him to duck behind the pile of rubble. He silently cursed himself for acting so rashly. It was on him to be patient and spring the trap at the right moment.
Hearing the sound of a chain gun starting to fire, White moved to his right about five feet and popped up again, finding that DJ had managed to take out one of the attacking Shooters. Burnlash and Masta Blasta were dragging Shrimps body back inside the Liberator, Black was locked in a shoot-out, and DJ was trying to gun down the last rifle Shooter with the help of some well placed sniper shots. White guessed that Winston was locked in hand-to-hand with the Thilan sniper somewhere in one of the buildings to the north. At this point, it was unlikely that the Thilan were going to accomplish their goal, and it was cleanup time. Resting his cannon on the rubble, he waited for an opening.
Black Rock Shooter
If there was something Black picked up on right away, it was that this team of Thilan soldiers was not one of their elite squads.
She had always been taught that Thilan Elites never carried standard issue weaponry. The rock cannon had been a bit of a surprise, but the way the Shooter moved during their fight told Black that he was just a well trained soldier. Compared to her practice fights during her training and later the all out brawl in the arena, this was like shooting a still target from ten feet away. If her leg wasn't in such an injured state, she probably could have killed the entire Thilan squad by herself. Quietly she was cursing herself for her small focus slip on the hoverbike and letting herself take an injury and jeopardized the mission.
Black was also very unimpressed with the other team of Guardians that had joined Squad Keeper while she was asleep on the TAT. Not only was their fighting style undisciplined but their weapons were very poorly chosen. Shotguns and battle axes weren't going to deal with high powered Gatling guns or rock cannons, and as a result it left them with a very limited ability to adapt to different situations. Black had no doubt that if she hadn't jumped in when she did they would all be dead.
As soon as White ran into the abandoned building saying something about "giving them the Whitestar special," Black jumped right into the middle of the battle, finding the three new Guardians surrounded by the Three Shooters and the pair of Troopers that were on the ground. She had attempted to draw the attention of the two Troopers, but the man with the rock cannon had quickly figured out her goal and blocked her right away, leaving the three Guardians at a disadvantage against the heavily armored Troopers.
Her leg had quickly become a hindrance. Thanks to her injury it was all she could do to try and hold the three Shooters off and hope for some kind of opening. Her brain had been in survival mode, simply trying to dodge enemy fire and stay alive. There had been one point where Black had attempted to get the Shooters killed in their own crossfire, but she had made the plan too obvious.
Then she heard something that she had never expected to hear in her time on the battlefield.
"BONZAIIIIIIII BITCHEEEEEES!"
Black had to stop and briefly glance over her shoulder to see who was stupid enough to give away his position. Out of the corner of her eye she managed to spot DJ letting his chain gun spray wildly just before a flaming rock forced her attention back to the shooters. That idiot is going to get himself killed. Black growled inwardly.
However for as much as Black wanted to call her ally stupid, she couldn't deny that the results of his three century old style of attack had generated some very positive results. It had drawn the two Thilan Shooters with assault rifles away from her, now focused on covering for their fallen soldiers. Black raised her cannon and aimed at their backsides as their attention completely left Black. But before she could start shooting, she heard the sound of a rock cannon firing behind her, forcing Black to slide to one side and let the other two Shooters go, for now.
During the her slide to the right Black whipped herself around to a solid stance before shooting back at the rock cannon Thilan. With agility that would best any normal Sanctuary soldier, the Shooter ducked and dodge bread around the stream of flaming rocks before firing a single shot towards Black's feet. Placing most of her weight on her right leg, Black jumped backwards. The red-flamed rock from the Thilan impacted the ground where she had been standing a second before, creating a small explosion, sending small bits of asphalt in all directions.
Black brought up her right arm over her face to shield her from the flying debris, landing shortly afterward and springing to the left to avoid a follow up shot. Black felt a sting of pain course through her left leg as she skidded to a stop. I can't keep this up much longer without risking permanent injury. I must wrap this up quickly.
Normally Black would have considered diving forward and taking out the Thilan at close range with Black Blade, but she doubted she could get close enough for the katana to be effective much less survive close ranged combat. Not only that but if she didn't keep moving she was a prime target for the sniper, and she wasn't about to end up like the small Guardian who had made that mistake a few moments ago. Black needed a way out.
That's when something occurred to Black. Despite the fact that the battle was being fought in two groups, they were both happening less than twenty feet of each other. The Thilans were subtlety controlling the battle by creating a target rich environment for their remaining sniper. Meaning if she could somehow break their control and create a chaotic situation, she could wrap the battle up quickly. The only risk involved getting the members of Squad Keeper killed.
There wasn't time to assess the risk, her leg wouldn't hold out much longer and she had no intention of dying before getting an explanation out of Whitestar. Trying to keep most of the weight on her right leg, Black began circling back to her right, trading shots with the Thilan rock Shooter the whole time. She moved in small amounts, only jumping or rolling just far enough to minimize the stress on her body from the explosions. Her goal was to place herself inbetween the second small battle and her opponent, but it was a task easier said than done. The Thilan kept forcing Black backwards away from the second battle.
After endless minutes of this dance, Black began to see a pattern in the Thilans moves. Every time she rolled closer to the second battle, the Thilan got in front of her and shot in a way that forced her backward, and every time she tried to stop him by shooting he would either duck or jump out of her line of fire long enough to get a shot off and force her to change positions.
One thing that Black had also figured out was the Thilan was becoming increasingly more aggressive with his attacks, which told her that something had happened to the last Thilan sniper. It would only be minutes before the Squad Keeper Sniper and Assassin would be in position to flank and overpower the three Shooters. Blacks opponent was desperate, and desperate opponents made mistakes.
Black stood with her back almost touching the broken building on the eastern end of the street. Her increasingly limited mobility had forced her into a corner, thankfully that also provided her with the best opportunity to turn the battle in her favor. Through the solid red visor of the Thilans helmet Black thought she sensed a smile coming from her opponent. While it wasn't definitive, she was positive that he thought she was in a corner. He fired his cannon, sending waves of explosive rocks at her.
Without a seconds hesitation, Black fired a single shot at the line of explosions before jumping forward. Her rock hit the Thilans, creating a midair explosion that covered the pair of them in a small dust cloud. Disregarding the pain in her leg, Black sprinted past the Thilan and skidded to a stop in the middle of the second battle, less than three feet away from one of the assault rifle users. Before the Shooter had a chance to react, Black's left eye lit up with blue fire and she leveled her cannon, pulling the trigger and blowing off the head of the man.
What happened next caught Black by surprise. The instant the first assault rifle user was dead there was the crack of a sniper rifle, and the second assault rifle Thilan dropped, followed by a set of plasma spheres erupting from one of the buildings on the west, gunning down the third Thilan as he began taking aim. After the loud cracks of a last massive burst of fire, the whole street fell silent, a sound, or lack of it, that Black hadn't expected. It took a few minutes of processing for Black to realize what had happened. Squad Keeper had Whitestar and their Sniper waiting for a chance to simultaneously take out all three remaining Shooters. Blacks first thought was impress.
The second was pain. Searing, burning, like her very own left leg was trying to kill her. Black tried to not show it but was forced to use her rock cannon as a crutch, her eye flame extinguishing at the same time. Her training sessions had been full contact and she had been shot before, but she had always gotten injuries treated quickly and was able to block out the pain for long enough. Today however, she had been forced to stress an injury that normally would keep her off her feet for a day while her body healed.
"White that was fucking awesome!" DJ shouted, jumping into the air out of excitement. "They didn't see it coming!" Black slowly limped past the distracted Trooper and headed back for the TAT. She needed to get the bandages on her leg replaced and stay off it for the next two days or so, and then there were the questions she needed to ask Whitestar.
"And just where do you think you're going?" Black stopped when she heard the young womans voice. She didn't recognize it but assumed it had to belong to the last member of Squad Keeper Black hadn't met yet. "I have some words for you missy." The girl marched around Black and stopped in front of her, crossing her arms and staring at her with narrowed eyes, her green hair messy with dirt and small chunks of rock.
"I did not spend ten minutes trying to patch you up while our cowboys were racing around like idiots only to watch you die on me! What the hell were you thinking?" Black realized quickly that this girl must have been the one to treat her wound after she had passed out.
"You needed assistance." Black replied simply.
"So that means you can come out and risk your life?" The girl retorted.
"Going into battle is always a risk." Black reasoned.
"Not with that leg, that's called suicide. How can we explain to you that we can be your friends if you're dead?"
"And how can you explain anything to me if you're dead." Black shot back, the pain from her leg weakening her mental barriers. There was a brief pause before the girl let out a sharp breath and smiled.
"Fine, you got me. You saved White, now let's get inside and get you patched up." The girl offered to let Black use her for support but she shrugged the girl off. She didn't need herself showing weakness in front of potential enemies. Nonetheless the remaining three member from Squad Keeper soon caught up and had gathered around, but it didn't seem like they were escorting her.
"So, did you guys see that last move Black pulled off?" DJ opened up with a grin. The girl whipped her head around and gave DJ a hard stare.
"What did I tell you an hour ago?" The girls voice had quickly dropped to an aggressive growl, and Black expected her to start attacking her teammate at any moment.
"I know I know but it was so cool!"
Whitestar sighed. "DJ, we know it was great, we all saw it, but please shut up. Black's right there."
"I can offer my knife Rose." The third man offered. Black recognized him from her first conflict with Squad Keeper.
"Thanks Winston but I'll settle for giving him a bruise at school on Monday." Blacks confusion returned. Guardians shouldn't have to attend any school. They were supposed to be created with all the training they'd need to fight the Thilans.
"So did the sniper really get away?" Whitestar asked, looking back at Winston.
"I'm sorry to say that yes, he got away from me. But he seemed like he wanted to retreat. I watched the man run two blocks before returning." Winston answered with a grim honesty.
"Well there goes any chance of our TAT staying a secret." Rose muttered.
"That's alright, it's not like they can stop us anyway." DJ replied.
"Don't jinx us you moron." White bumped DJ in amusement.
"What happened to Team Blue Rift?" Winston asked.
"Shrimp got blown apart by the second sniper." White explained. "And Burnlash lost an arm. They're in the Liberator getting themselves patched up."
"Then we can't bring Black inside." Rose pointed out. The group stopped walking.
"I hope you're not suggesting we leave her behind." DJ glared at Rose, who walked over and smacked him in the back of the head.
"Of course not you idiot. But TBR probably didn't get a good look at Black during the fight, best to keep it that way. We don't want word getting around that we have a Keeper hanging out with us."
"I agree with Rose. If I am discovered I will be captured and you will be killed." There was a moment of silence as the four members of Squad Keepers stared at Black with shock and surprise.
"Well that's a thrilling thought." DJ said sarcastically.
"There's clearly a story to tell." Rose put in.
"Alright, Rose go on and grab what medical supplies you need from inside and then climb on top. Once DJ and Team Blue Rift are settled in Winston and I will join you, then we can have that talk Black. Sound good?" Black nodded. "Alright, then wait here. We'll be out in a bit."
Whitestar
Before Black basically revealed that she had managed to escape from whatever prison or lab she had been locked in as a slave to the Keeper battles, White had theorized that Black had been allowed time to track him down, or that she actually had escaped. In a way, White was glad that it was the latter. It meant that the Keepers really hadn't been created to fight each other in a massive arena for the pleasure of a massive audience.
On the other hand it meant that if the council or the army caught onto the fact that they were with Black there would be some serious repercussions. Normally a failure in a quest or event like this led to nothing more than a scolding of the player by one of the NPC's and you went on your way. But this was BRSO, where your whole party dying let to you getting banned. Probably smart to just avoid getting caught.
It was hard for White to remember that he was playing a game. Everything looked and felt real to him. Nothing seemed to work like it should. He knew that BRSO was supposed to be more realistic, but everything felt too real, like Fulldrive somehow had created the first true A.I. in existence. Maybe it was the graphics combined with the headset, but if White didn't know any better he would have assumed that he was talking and interacting with real people.
White slapped himself mentally, he had to stay focused. He had done well coordinating with Rose and Winston in the last few minutes of the battle between them and that squad of Thilan Elites, but White had a feeling that he was stepping into a whole new mess. There was no certainty that Black wouldn't turn on White again if his explanation didn't convince her that… that…
Hell what was he even supposed to tell her? White had almost no knowledge of Blacks sister or of how the Keepers were raised. According to Black he was dishonoring her sister by using the cannon and wearing the jacket that belonged to her. On one hand White had only a vague idea of who the cannon belonged to when he got it, but on the other hand it was pretty obvious the whole time. The only thing he could do was ask how he could correct whatever mistake he had made, hopefully without losing his only weapon.
White and the test of the team entered the opened hatch of the Liberator and found Masta Blasta and Burnlash sitting on the lowered bed. Burnlash had a bunch of bandages covering his left shoulder and M.B. looked like he had taken a few minor hits to his right side. Shrimps body sat outside the TAT, covered by an old plastic tarp that they probably found somewhere inside.
"How are you guys holding up?" White asked.
"Alright, we'll take a minute before heading back to the base to get Shrimp's revival process started."
"Hang on, revival process? I thought there were no second chances in BRSO?" Rose commented in confusion. Burnlash raised an eyebrow.
"Don't you remember the orientation? The councilor said that we only get banned if they entire squad goes down. They've got some kind of lab down at the base where they can quickly re-grow a Guardian's body, they just can't replace the weapons or armor."
"Sounds like you'll need to grab Shrimps equipment before heading back then." Winston observed. Burnlash smiled and patted a bulging pack.
"Already done. How about you guys?" DJ gave a thumbs up before walking into his chair and tapping on his control panels.
"Well we didn't receive any serious injuries," White said in embarrassment, "although we honestly have you to thank for that."
"Yeah I got the impression that you guys don't like to rush anything. You like to play it slow and controlled." Burnlash observed.
"I guess so. We've learned that rushing in without a plan can be fun, but it's the best way to get us killed. Not the smartest way to play with a game where you only get one shot." Rose walked past White with a box of what he guessed were the medical supplies she'd need to treat Blacks injuries.
"I gotta say you may play things slow but you've got quite a team. If that girl hadn't jumped in when she did we would have been toast. By the way where is she?"
White stuck his thumb over his shoulder. "On top of the TAT getting medical treatment, took a shot in the back of the leg during the fight. Seems like she's going to have a hard time walking for a day or so."
"Ouch well give her my thanks and best wishes." With a look at Masta Blasta, Burnlash grabbed his oversized pack and stood up. "Well we'd better get moving, It's nearly four here and we'd better get back to the base before we fall asleep from exhaustion." White nodded and smiled, offering his hand.
"Thanks for the help, without you we'd probably have been toast." Burnlash shook White's hand.
"Anytime." The pair from Team Blue Rift left the TAT and disappeared to the right. White imagined it would be at least a fifteen minute walk from here, not too long which he was both glad and envious for. Like Burnlash, he was getting tired from the long hours of nonstop gaming, but he had to make sure the TAT was secure before going to sleep.
"With those two gone we could move the girls inside." Winston pointed out. White folded his arms and considered it.
"Let's go topside and keep an eye out for another ambush. Black can tell the story once we've reached the parking garage. Hear that DJ?" White called.
"Loud and clear, but I recommend sitting with our princess and Keeper buddies, I'm gonna gun it the rest of the way." Nodding mostly to himself, White walked out and around to the ladder that sat between the two engines on the left side of the TAT. Once he was up he was surprised to find that the Liberator's rock cannon was badly damaged. It wasn't sparking or on fire, but it was very badly banged up with a few pieces missing. He hoped that the army could repair it for them.
They found the girls sitting on the opposite end of the Liberator, waiting patiently for White and Winston. Rose had her legs hanging over the side, while Black sat with legs crossed. Both of them looked back when they heard White and Winston approaching.
"We all set?" Rose asked.
"We're going to wait until we get to the parking garage, just in case there are more Thilans waiting ahead." Rose narrowed her eyes.
"DJ asked you to wait didn't he?"
White shook his head. "As much as I hate the idea, it's safer. I don't want one of us getting shot at while our guard is down. Shouldn't be more than five minutes, DJ said he was gonna gun it." As soon as White finished his sentence he and Winston were knocked off their feet as the Liberator started moving, probably at top speed. Thankfully, the pair were knocked diagonally into the access tube of the command tower.
"What the hell DJ! Give us a little warning!" White shouted.
"Why? It's more fun when it's a surprise!" The laughter that followed pissed White off. Normally White could laugh off DJ's stupidity, but this was over the line.
"When we get to that parking garage, I'm going to let Rose kill you with that knife!" White shouted, which only seemed to cause DJ to laugh harder as they sped forward.
Day 3
Date: Sunday, January 23rd 2015
Location: Khua, Northern Districts
Time: Roughly 1:22 P.E.T. (Pacific Earth Time)
When the Liberator arrived at the parking garage, White's mouth dropped. The building was only two stories high, made out of solid steel from the top down, and was the only building for miles that seemed intact. The place was a damn fortress. But when White asked Black about it, she only replied with a simple "It's a bunker, not a place to park Hovercars."
It made sense, after all no parking garage would be able to fit a vehicle that stood over twenty feet tall. The entrance was a tall tunnel that descended deep underground, illuminated by bright blue lights that turned on after they entered. The tunnel spiraled downward until they came across a massive room, so large that they could barely see the wall at the opposite end. White figured that it must be at least the size of all the center districts. The Liberator slowed to a stop and the engines slowly died down until the only thing White could hear were echoes. The silence felt wrong, like they were going to get jumped on at any moment.
White walked back across the Liberator and slid down the ladder, followed by DJ and Rose. Black came last, climbing down with only one leg, showing that despite being small, she was probably physically stronger than White's Guardian. As soon as Black stepped off the ladder White heard a familiar humming sound as the rear hatch opened and DJ leaned out to wave at us.
"Got some more of the beds lowered in here, unless my lady would prefer to stand." There was a chorus of groans following DJ's sad attempt to flatter Black once again. But setting aside yet another excuse to tear the Troopers mouth off, White hadn't realized that sitting down inside the TAT would have been an option. Part of it was being to occupied with fighting Thilan and getting the Liberator to the bunker that he hadn't thought too much about the conversation he was about to have. White had to admit, it made him a little nervous. Of course if you walked into a room where there was a chance someone might shoot your head off with a rock cannon that's normal, but still not something you can get used to.
Waving the group forward with a sigh, White made sure to slug DJ in the shoulder fairly hard on his way inside the TAT, something Rose did herself on her way in. Once inside, White found that DJ had indeed dropped another three of the five remaining retractable beds. Within a few moments everyone with the exception of Winston, who leaned against the back wall, had sat down. White sat across from Black, who naturally had chosen one of the two beds closest to the exit.
"So, I assume you have a lot of questions for me." White began, breaking the silence. "What would you like to know?"
"Everything." Black replied monotonously. "Explain how the White Rock Cannon came into your possession, why you were created, and why you deem it appropriate to pity us when it was you who put us in this position." White narrowed his eyes and glared at DJ in his tradition did you really look.
"Well to start with I don't think I pity you. We noticed that you didn't want to kill each other in the arena the other night and felt like we should try and do something about it."
"Why do you care?" Black pressed.
"Because it isn't right." Rose chimed in. "Being forced to kill friends and family is the cruelest thing I can think of. No one should be forced to do that.."
"Plus who wouldn't want to- WAH!" DJ's incoming flirtation with Black was cut short by Winston, who threw his knife right past DJ's face, the blade's tip creating a small incision in the wall before falling to the floor. DJ opened his mouth to protest but saw something in Winston's eyes and thought better of it.
"As for what's happened over the last two days, well it's been somewhat exciting." White started from the beginning, first the orientation from councilor Jude. The mention of the name lit a fire in Blacks eyes, thankfully her left eye didn't actually ignite like it had earlier. Black tried and failed to hide her anger as White moved on to their distribution of equipment, which was how he received the White Rock Cannon. It was obvious that she didn't approve that they treated one of the last possessions her sister owned as some weapon to pawn off to the new recruits.
White quickly passed over the night in the arena, guessing that Black wouldn't want to relive that moment. Thankfully DJ had taken the hint and stayed silent, not making any remarks about how 'cool' Black was during the fight. Then he got to the part about Riho, and that got Black's attention. White explained that her shop was the place where he got the harness for the White Rock Cannon and learned about this history of the Keepers, and how they were the ones who were supposed to be the ones saving Blue Rift.
"From there not much to tell really, you were there for most of it. We took off on the train, formed Squad Keeper, raided a Thilan TAT factory and blew it up while stealing our new toy." For a few moments Black just sat there, taking it all in. White had to admit he was nervous. It would only take a second for her to kill him, and he didn't want the end of their first conversation to end with a gunshot to the head.
"So what makes you think you have the right to use that weapon?" Black asked, staring White right in the eye. This was the question that had given Black the drive to hunt them down and even try to kill the whole team. But White knew that it wasn't just about honor, it was more likely about Black not having the chance to grieve for her sister until the memories were shoved back in her face.
"Honestly? I don't have any reasoning. I got the weapon, and I'd be stupid not to use the only weapon in my possession." Blacks left arm started twitching, bad sign. "But is killing me really the best way to honor your sisters memory? Would she want you to do this?"
"She'd want the two of us out there doing what we were born to do, kill Thilan." Black answered, her controlled state shattered. "Don't talk like you knew her Guardian, all you did was steal our future from us."
"Black we had no idea that you were going to be forced to do this." Rose reasoned. "We didn't know anything when we first came here."
"I think we all know that there's only one way to fix this." DJ put in with a note of excitement.
White shook his head. "No, that won't do it." Taking off the white jacket he was wearing, White undid the straps on the White Rock Cannon, slid off the harness, and handed the whole thing along with the jacket to Black. He was aware of his friends staring at him as he handed his only weapon and defensive power away.
"What are you doing bro?" DJ asked in bewilderment. "Are you seriously giving away the coolest weapon in the game?"
"It's Black's weapon, it belonged to her sister so it should belong to Black. We can always just head for Obroseon tomorrow to get me some new equipment. I imagine stealing a TAT will get us a lot of money from the general." Rose and Winston's faces showed concern but they didn't say anything. White guessed that they knew that White was doing the same thing but still had doubts about the decision.
Black took the cannon and the jacket and stared at them for a few moments in silence. White wondered what was going through her head. She had just heard the whole story of Squad Keeper from start to finish, how the Guardians had little to no knowledge about the Keepers, and how White had gotten her sisters cannon by chance. To make it more complicated the man she had tried to kill was now willingly giving back the equipment and saying he understood her situation at least a little bit.
Yeah that's totally not going to mess with your mind, even if your emotionless eighty percent of the time.
Black handed back her sisters things to White, blinked twice before giving her a look of confusion.
"You're right, it would have been stupid for you not to use these. That is why I will let you keep them on one condition. You will help me find and rescue the other Keepers from the council." In an instant, the atmosphere of the room changed from dark and heavy to light and friendly. Everyone in Squad Keeper was smiling. White took the jacket and cannon from Black.
"You've got a deal."
"Alright! Operation save the Keepers is officially go! This is gonna be epic!" DJ shouted while jumping from the bed and pumping a fist in the air.
"Don't start getting ahead of yourself." Winston warned. "Don't forget that we cannot let the council or the Sanctuary Army become aware of our plans."
"Ah that won't be an issue. It's going to be like a field of grass against a lawn mower!" DJ laughed.
"If we mess this up I'm blaming you." Rose sighed. DJ whipped his gaze around to stare at Rose.
"Why are you always blaming me?"
"Because you're a reckless, hopeless pervert who can't even have one good date." Rose answered.
"What the hell! Not all of my dates have been a disaster!"
"Name one." White shook his head while containing his laugher and caught Black looking at the pair of them with interest. The sight of the two of them fighting over something so relatively pointless must have been a foreign sight to Black. Winston coughed loudly, causing all heads in the TAT to turn to him.
"While we could all stand here and enjoy the show you two are putting on may I remind you that it's past midnight? We should get this thing back to the base and get some sleep."
"What! We can't bring this thing to the army! They'll take my new toy away!" DJ protested.
"And what about Black?" Rose pointed out. "She can't exactly walk in the front door." White gave it a few moments thought before coming up with an idea.
"What if we left the Liberator here? Black would have a safe place to sleep while we went back to the base. That way we won't be punished for inactivity and we can keep things hidden until we know what we want to do."
"I don't understand, can't the four of you sleep here?" Black asked. White shook his head.
"No, if we don't sleep in special Guardian houses and are inactive for more than two hours we get banned."
"'Banned?'" Black repeated with a note of confusion.
"Yeah you know, banned. Like we can no longer help you. We get offed." DJ motioned a throat slit with his finger, tilting his head to one side and sticking out his tongue.
"I don't understand, that does not explain why you must sleep in these Guardian houses." Black replied. Rose and DJ exchanged a glance, like they weren't sure how to explain it.
"We don't actually live in these bodies Black, we just control them." White explained.
"You control the bodies?" Black repeated.
"Yeah you know, as avatars. It's how we're able to play the game!" DJ exclaimed. Black's expression darkened.
"You think this is a game?" Rose gave DJ a glare. White mentally face palmed. You never told an intelligent NPC that she wasn't real. "I'll ask again, where do you live?" Since lying would probably bite them all in the ass later, White decided to follow up with the truth.
"Black, we're controlling these Guardian bodies from another world. In our world, controlling these bodies is for nothing more than enjoyment. It's a game." Black's eyes widened in horror, like she'd just figured out something big.
That's then the door to the room blew open.
"Rick Brighton you step away from that computer right now!"
Going to start working on a book cover as well as art for the OC's… wait that's pretty much everyone isn't it?
(Warning: Art may not come out for another two years while I work on my skills.)