The 99th Platoon – WWW's Dream: Uniting the Tediz

(A/N Having nothing else to write here let me just list some good war films – Full Metal Jacket, All Quiet on the Western Front, Saving Private Ryan, The Thin Red Line, Behind Enemy Lines, Black Hawk Down, Enemy at the Gates, The Nuremberg Trials, The Deer Hunter, Rules of Engagement, Fifty-Five Days in Beijing  [not war, but lots of fighting], the legendary Apocalypse Now: Redux, The 99th Platoon…Gotcha! I know there are heaps more but those are off the top of my head.)

Chapter 13: It's War

The Guards stood tense, watching to see who will make the first move. Sarge tapped Flamer on the shoulder. The Flamer turned round to smack into Sarge's fist. Hard.
"Attack!"

The Flamer Komiz got back on his feet and randomly shot flames. Pyst got caught in the tail. It started spreading rapidly.
"YAAAAHAHAHAAAAA!!!!"
He ran around and his tail brushed Cherry's tail. She ran around but she was close to ILZ and he caught aflame. Mon ran for the nearest fire extinguisher. In his rush he didn't notice the tiny label in Tediz – Fire Starter. He squeezed hard on the pump.

DISO INFERNOOOOOOOO!!!!

The Flamer's fire burst backwards and into his face, scorching it beyond all recognition. But he still lived. Mon quickly found the real extinguisher and put his friends out. Oreos brushed scorched fur off his arms. He looked down at what was once a white shirt.

"Dammit, and I just got that from the dry cleaners!" The Flamer screamed at Oreos in his own language clutching one side of his face. Oreos shook with fury. Vibrated with it. He leapt onto the assailant.
"Don't!"
*WHAM*
"Ever!"
*WHAM*
"Touch!"
*WHAM*
"My!"
*WHAM*
"SHIRT!"

As the rest of the Platoon jumped The Flamer, Snickers squared off with the Rifle Komiz and pulled out his standard 9mm pistol...slowly loading it with one eye on the Rifle. He armed the weapon. He chewed on what once was a piece of gum. He set his sights on the Rifle.

"Do you feel lucky? Punk," he whispered, "I said, do you feel lucky, punk?" He fired. The bullet tore into the Rifle's arm causing his grip on the weapon to lessen.
The Komiz lined up the electronic sighs in the visor's LCD screen. Directly between Snicker's eyes.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you."

Rifle turned a split second too late. A black-soled combat boot had smashed him backwards into the wall. Dark smirked. The smile faded as the limp Komiz fell to the ground revealing the alarm switch he had landed on.

*bl-EEET bl-EEET*

Tediz. Tediz everywhere. They began to accumulate in the dark passage. It was as if they wouldn't stop coming. Dark pulled out a combat knife and quickly whipped it into Rifle's forehead. The green, blood-like liquid oozed off the blade and the assault rifle dropped with a clang.

The panther snatched up the rifle, ramming it into a nearby Tediz head. The stuffed body went limp and collapsed helplessly. Dark pulled up the assault rifle, pulling the trigger. Bullets sprayed from the steel barrel, embedding themselves in the stuffed bodies of Tediz.

The hard floor began to get slippery from all the blood. Or was it from the blood? The panther quirked his head up to see water leaking. He grinned and brought his gaze back down to the brigade of Tediz. Dark pulled the trigger, missing the Tediz, but the round hit its mark. Water sprayed uncontrollably onto the floor. The hallway split into two others at the end. That's why there was so many Tediz.

As the water flooded onto the floor, it made it hard to stand. Dark threw aside his M16 and picked up two Uzis from the body of a Tediz. He dropped to the ground on his back, everyone looked at him in wonder. Suddenly, he kicked off the wall and slid across the path with ease. As he reached the end, Dark extended both arms to his sides. He was firing madly. Tediz in both hallways dropped like flies, and he just kept on firing.
"C'mon! Don't just stand there!"

The rest of the Platoon ran south, using Dark's cover fire. Pipes ran all along the ceiling and ended in a tight knot of bronze and copper pipelines. Sarge made a mental note.
"Sarge!" yelled Twisted, "We can't get through the pipes!"
"Get ready to hold ground soldiers!"
Loud Tediz voices could be heard echoing down the corridor. Dark skidded in.
"Here they come!"

ILZ hung back from the main group, providing long-range assistance for the melee fighters. He saw Squeaky and Twisted kidney punching Tediz, preferring to double team than go alone. He saw Stealth and RedStorm slicing Tediz into little chunks. ILZ pushed his wet dreadlocks out of his eyes. He saw it just in time.

Ricy had taken to the air and was lashing out with his clawed hands, aiming for the Tediz vulnerable black, beady eyes. But he was having trouble flying in such a tight space. A Tediz threw a large spanner directly at the flying Hawk. It struck him hard in the gut. The spanner flew off into the distance. The Tediz came in for the kill. He loomed over the downed bird that flapped pitifully on the wet floor.

*piff piff*

The Tediz was down. ILZ smiled.

"Ha! C'mon get some of this you sons-of-a-bitch!!!" Pyst shrieked over the roar of double machine gun fire. Tediz were falling dead before they even entered the room, seeing a stream of hot lead streaking towards their soft fluff bodies then disintegrating into tiny pieces.
Sarge was looking desperately for an answer. They were loosing ground – fast. And then things turned to the worse.

The leader of the Tediz assault walked in. All fighting stopped. WWW waltzed in, sliding through the water, stepping over dead bodies. He walked right up to Sarge and stared directly into his face. WWW spat fiercely.

But Sarge wasn't paying attention. He was looking at Dark, who was pointing at the wire that fed electricity to the lights. Then he pointed up to the pipes. Sarge nodded ever so slightly. WWW's eyes wavered.
"UP!"

The Platoon leapt into the air and caught onto the pipes above. Dark acted quickly. He leapt sideways and jammed his body lengthways between the walls. Then he fired two shots. The first hit the water pipes. The second hit the cables.

Blue-white sparks spat from the edge of the cord that landed straight into the water. WWW clambered up as the blue-white current raced across the water. Tediz screamed and burned, exploding in a violent green mess. The smell of burned flesh stank out the narrow corridor. The electricity short circuited and soon they were in the dark.

"You…you have only…only a few minutes…I'm sorry…" Then gurgling noises replaced WWW's voice. "None of that sentimental crap now. Sorry Buffoons. But we have to leave."
The lights flickered back on, some secondary generator somewhere kicking back into life. WWW was gone.

Deja was the first to notice the next danger. She quickly armed her last grenade and blew up the entrance to the corridor. Debris blocked the way making the water level rise in the now-smaller container.
"What is it?" asked Sarge.
"Him!" Deja yelled outstretching a finger. Pointing directly at FlatFeet. It took Sarge two seconds to put the pieces together.
"CLONES!"

As they stood knee deep in water the first *BANG* was heard against the rubble. The Platoon stood in three rows. Row one lay flat on their stomachs, row two kneeled and row three stood. Sarge was at the back.
"Wait for it..." he whispered. The rubble pile began to shift.

"Wait for it...." Boulders fell into the water. A hole appeared. FlatFeet's face was there but terribly twisted and contorted. The Platoon tensed up.

"Ready." All those with weapons armed themselves. The debris began falling apart.

"Aim..." The hole widened. Hands could be seen scrabbling at the bare rock. The clones were nowhere near perfect. They were inhuman. They were demented. They were possessed. They gave out low, savage cries of satisfaction as they saw the blockade falling apart. Some gave out a shrill cry and licked their lips greedily.

"Aaaaannd...." The clones shrieked with barbaric delight as the rocks fell apart completely.
"FIRE!!!"

Sarge swore he saw time slow down. Individual drops of water could be seen raining down. As the hundreds of clones charged into the room the first line of fire was shot. Ripples of "disturbance" followed the bullets as they lodged into the different clones, killing them on impact. Sarge raised his hand a second time and let it drop.
"FFFFFFFIIIIIIRRRRRREEEEEE!!!!!"
The water continued to rise, now a sickly red. The unarmed clones continued to attempt to make a difference by throwing themselves in front of the flashing rifles. No difference was noticed.

*bbbbbb-ZWING*
*babababab-ZWING ZWING ZWING*

Water dripping into his eyes and soaking his fur, Sarge raised his hand for one last time.
"FFFFFFFIIIIIIRRRRRREEEEEE!!!!!"
More clones flipped backwards, dead, as they tried to assault through the all-too-small opening. Various "clicks" of no ammo were heard.
"GGGGGEEEETTT 'EEEEEMMMM!!!"
They threw down their weapons and ran at the clones, armed with fists and sharp objects alone.

Using the other's counter attack as cover Sarge went back, with the real FlatFeet close at hand, to carry out the plan. He sloshed over to the main tangle of pipes. Sarge places his hand in the water and began his search. Chael ran past, glad to be in battle again.
"Goin' fishin' Sarge? Bit early ain't it?"
"Got it!" He lifted the giant spanner triumphantly. Flatfeet was scratching a sign on his arm with his knife. Sarge looked puzzled.
"So you can recognise me!"
"Oh right."
Sarge turned to look down the hallway where the rest of the boys (and girl) were punching, kicking and slicing. Suddenly he whistled twice. That was the signal.
"Hold yer breath Flatfeet!"

He aimed at the medium sized hole in the row of pipes. He placed the spanner so that it will hit most of them.
"One..." Deja drew a deep breath.
"Two..." Mon inhaled sharply thrice then took one long breath.
"And..." The rest followed suit.
"Three!" he yelled before taking a breath of his own.

He brought the spanner down in a small arc and the steel smashed into the relatively soft pipe iron. Water gushed forth, the pressure shooting Sarge and Flatfeet towards the opening. The rest were swept along as the water quickly started to flood the hall. The clones were caught off guard and the pressure of the rushing water killed many on impact. Others drowned right away, not having learned to swim in their few hours of life. It worked. But soon they noticed how very, very wrong they were.