Disclaimer: Wow, I'm actually using one of these. It's given that I don't have any ownership of Advance Wars or the characters of Final Fantasy... Duh. But the characters Glenn, Brad, Aldrea, Ashley, and Cecil, are used from "Bahamut & the Guardian Forces" by the permission of Gregory Stephen/nightdragon0. So you know, you should go read it, you would enjoy it.
-Advance Wars 2
--Project Black Portal
---Chapter 7: Starting Up the Storm
It was a clear night over the Green Earth continent. The only source of light on the ground was due to the multiple black structures that dotted a mountain area. Large pipes encircled a certain round building with a huge satellite dish on top of it. It was pointed up into the air and was heavily guarded by plenty of anti-air.
Lash skipped into the large central control room with a grin. In the dead center of the room was a large machine with two sets of large lenses, one on the floor and one the ceiling, but was more interesting between it all was two GFs, who were currently trapped in glass cages. They were held down by metallic clamps which constantly put pressure on them to keep them down and their powers restrained.
"Tee hee hee. How is everyone feeling this morning? I hope moving you to Green Earth wasn't too sudden. But you're other friends got a little too close for comfort!"
A large blue sea serpent to Lash's left struggled to move under the metal clamps and let out a weak growl. His wings were bent uncomfortably to make him fit in the glass cage as was his long snaking body. The other cage contained a unicorn whose mane and tail were both sky blue in color. Her golden spiraled horn however was the highlight and was pressed up against the glass showing how compact it was.
"Oh-kay!, I wanted to tell you what fun we're going to have! We're gonna attack Green Earth using your magic!"
"You're awfully optimistic." Leviathan growled angrily. "I'd rather swim in a desert."
"We'll never use any of our powers for your benefit." Unicorn added in a clear female voice.
"Hey! I think Mr. Flippers just volunteered for a demonstration of our new facility!" Lash exclaimed with an annoyed tone.
She cracked her knuckles and walked over to a wall of screens and computer consoles and sat down. A Black Hole technical officer was already there typing away and turned to her as she sat down. The restraints and wires made it so that Leviathan and Unicorn were both forced to watch the screen ahead of them. It began to flash and centered around a large bay with several green ships in it.
"This neat little machine sucks up your powers into the antenna array. All the technical specs would break your little brains. So don't sweat the small stuff! In the end result, we're going to broadcast your power into any area we want, causing total chaos!"
The click click click of Lash's blazing typing speed drowned out the computer voice that was presently announcing the procedures going on. Eventually, the glass cage with Leviathan in it moved into the center of the room where the two lenses sat on top and bottom. The sea serpent struggled relentlessly until a large beam shot through his cage. His body began to jolt, but he didn't make any sound to show he was in pain.
"Leviathan!" Unicorn cried out, then turned to Lash. "What are you doing to him? Stop it!"
Lash spun around in her swivel chair and grinned.
"Oh he's ok! It's those big green ships you should be worried about! I'm about to tear them up like paper with Leviathan's Typhoon power! You just watch!"
Then she turned back to the computer as external monitors began to show the array. Blue energy began to collect around the edges of the dish before slowly sliding into the middle. The blue energy soon pooled into one large spot before getting shot into the sky until there was none left. The cameras soon switched to the Green Earth harbor, where the seas had begun to heave... Lash began to spin in her chair laughing all the while.
-----------------------
The seas surrounding Green Earth rolled like never before. Even the hardened sailors on the ships in the harbor could feel something well up inside their stomachs. There was something terribly wrong about the storm that had descended upon them. Ships would almost literally climb up a wave, and drop for what seemed like an eternity back into the water. The submarines were the only ones really safe out on the waves, the cruisers, battleships and landers all faced the possibility of getting washed away in the storm.
The sailors patrolling the decks held onto the rail, something they had never done in their entire military careers. They could weather storms like no other... why did this storm feel so different? Then it came, a hideous crash and the twisting of metal on the horizon. A wave had gone and capsized one of the massive battleships, and that wasn't the end. The wave kept coming... The monstrous wave almost ten stories high... tumbling every ship it came across like logs in a river...
A rather large man watched from the shore in a military base. He held a radio at his ear and stared rather dumbfounded at the huge waves. He had never seen anything like it. With his blue sailors uniform and cap on, he was Captain Drake of the Green Earth navy... and this storm was currently tearing apart what navy he did have. Then he could see it, the monstrous wave that was creeping slowly across the bay, heading right toward him.
"Eagle, it's Drake... Barnacles! There's something going on! There's waves as high as mountains out here! It's capsizing my fleet! We need all the help you can send!"
The wave began to shrink as it neared shore, but it was still huge. It climbed the concrete barriers and sandbags piled up on the shore and spilled onto the already soaked land. Water flipped vehicles parked outside the fence of the base and proceeded to rip trees and other objects out of the ground. Luckily for the ones on land, the wave soon died out upon reaching the fence, and only drenched the land instead of crushing it.
"I don't understand it. It's like nothing I've ever seen..." Drake muttered. "Black Hole? Since when could they control the seven seas? It's not right Eagle..."
Before Drake could say much more about what he thought of the storm. There was another wave, and it looked bigger than ever. He silently cursed to himself and walked closer to the window. Yes, this one was definitely bigger than the others... most likely the biggest... and the last one had been close...
"What did you say? Sonja says we should be expecting creatures? What did she mean by that?" Drake began to back away from the window. "I gotta go Eagle! There's a big one coming in! We gotta get moving on a rescue mission, we can use any help you can send!"
With that, Drake ended the transmission and left the room heading to attend to his drowning fleet out in the harbor...
-----------------------
"Tee hee hee! That was so cool! Let's do that again sometime!" Lash exclaimed watching the massive ships capsize.
The beam finally stopped and Leviathan's cage was returned to it's original position. He was breathing heavily and looked around in a rather groggy way. He began to mutter, but none of his words made any sense.
"Oh yeah, you might experience some disorientation during our downloading process. Now who wants to try next? Oh! The pretty horsy wants to! I know she does!"
Unicorn neighed in anger, but could do little else as her cage slid into position. Lash began typing away as Leviathan came around from his last session.
"Unicorn... no..."
But suddenly Lash stopped and turned around slowly. Something about the data on Unicorn had caught her eye, and it had produced a grin from ear to ear.
"Hey... You have a neat power... What's it called? Holy? Sounds powerful!"
Now the officer turned around as Unicorn's eyes widened as she began to shake her head.
"Please... You can't..." Unicorn demanded. "You don't understand how powerful that spell is!"
"Oh I don't do I?" Lash asked with a smirk. "Then let me find out first hand. Tee hee hee! Let's do it!"
Leviathan managed to knock one side of his cage to get her attention.
"You're crazy! Do you know what kind of damage you'll cause!?"
"Well, I won't know if I don't try now will I?" Lash laughed back.
"What is the target Mistress?" The officer asked as he flipped through their database.
"Let's find a big place to blow up! Cause it sound soooooo dangerous... Hey wait! Right there! Go back!"
The soldier clicked a couple keys until the screen centered around an image. It was a city, a large city with several suburban areas sitting around it.
"You're going to attack a city? Why!" Leviathan demanded.
"Hey! It's occupied by the enemy!" Lash defended. "Besides... It won't be fun if a lot of people aren't involved! It's called scare tactics. I'll teach Green Earth to play dead!"
The beam soon activated and shot through Unicorn causing her to freeze in her position. Leviathan watched as the external cameras showed a white light begin to collect on the edges of the dish. But something happened as it never moved toward the center. Instead the lights of the base began to dim and sparks shot out from the lenses.
"Hey! What's going on! What's going on here?!" Lash demanded.
"Mistress... Unicorn's Holy spell is overloading the computer! We can't handle the input!"
"No way! This machine can handle anything! I built it myself! You did something wrong!"
Lash stood up from her seat and shoved the officer aside and began to type away at the console. Her eyes widened as she looked back to Unicorn.
"You can't possibly be THAT powerful... You're just a stupid pony! You can't do this to my machine!"
Suddenly the dish shut down, the white energy faded away into nothingness. Soon the rest of the facility blacked out and the surrounding power grid toppled like dominoes. Bases within a ten mile radius felt the blackout. The lights running along the pipes to outline them in the dark soon began to go off in procession until the entire area was a dark blob from the sky. The room where Lash and the officer where was now pitch black.
"Hey! Turn on the reserve power already!" Lash demanded.
"Mistress... every system in the area is fried! We have to reboot everything!"
"Don't back talk to me! I'm angry! Activate the lights on your suit right now!"
"Yes... yes Mistress..." The officer stuttered.
Finally the area was lit up by the two lights that sat on each side of the Black Hole officers suit. It swung around the area until centering on Lash who had her hands on her hips and an angry expression on her face.
"Bout time! Wait till I get my tool box! I'm gonna fix this... hey!"
She pointed as the officer spun around, to see the two cages busted an the GFs missing. Lash let out a scream.
"No!!! How come all my pets are running away!? Sound the alarm! I don't care how!"
-----------------------
The dark hallways were filled with the frantic pace of footsteps. Mere shadows moved along the steel corridors while the lights were off. But it didn't last long when red lights popped on illuminating the two figures. The bonded of Leviathan and Unicorn continued to run trying every door for a way out. Finally they burst out into the open where the moonlight had begun to provide the only light for the area.
Brad was first out of the dish complex and was African American and his bald head reflected the moonlight nicely. His black shirt, with a green vest and jeans made good night time camouflage as they continued to run. Aldrea was second out and was Chinese and dressed completely in blue, consisting of a long sleeve shirt and jeans. Her black hair danced in the wind as they made a break for it. They sprinted across a road before coming across a hill and tumbled down it not being able to see it clearly in the darkness. Eventually they stopped at the bottom at another road which went on into a tunnel.
Brad was off the ground first and helped Aldrea up. They dusted off their clothes and began to look around quickly.
"Man... So we're out of the building... What happened back there?" Brad asked pointing a thumb back towards the looming complex.
Hm... We're lucky Lash underestimated Unicorn's abilities. Leviathan commented.
"Serves her right." Aldrea cut in. "She was about to destroy a city, and she called it 'fun'?"
We shouldn't waste time standing around, we have to get out of here. Unicorn urged.
I think I remember a tunnel when they were bringing us out of unconsciousness... Try that way.
"Alright, sounds good to me. Let's go Aldrea."
The two of them began to run towards the what seemed like a dark abyss, ready to swallow them up. Brad led the way as they put a hand on the wall and went as fast as they could without losing track of where they were. However, they barely started down when red lights in the tunnel lit up. Upon losing their cover of darkness, they began to run down the tunnel. Eventually they could spot the end of the tunnel.
"I hope we're going the right way." Brad thought aloud.
"Oh, you are... But you won't like where it takes you." A cold voice answered.
This caused them to come to a dead stop. The end of the tunnel lie before them, only a couple feet away. They wanted to move again, but they couldn't see the voice that had called out.
"Who said that?" Aldrea asked finally.
The ground began to shake as shadows covered the tunnel exit. It wasn't long until they could make out two odd walking tanks stomp their way towards them and then stop a little ways off. A man stepped forward, wearing a long green trench coat and gray gloves. He had dark skin, and there was a little tuft of hair on the top of his head which was white, the rest was buzzed. There was no glare or frown upon his face, just a cold and calm expression.
The four legged tanks shuttered forward one more step and let out a whirr sound as the mounted guns above their main cannons shifted to target Brad and Aldrea. The main body of the tank was round with several holes on the bottom that looked to decrease the weight and increase speed. There was odd looking red wheels where the legs touched the ground but they didn't seem to be rolling at the moment, just locked in place.
"There are only two choices." The man explained in the same tone. "There is the way where you return to the laboratory. Or I will order the Neotanks to open fire."
"Who are you?" Aldrea asked.
She was obviously shaken by the tone the man spoke with.
"Hawke, second in command of the Black Hole Army. And you are our prisoners."
A squealing from behind made Brad and Aldrea spin around to look down the way they came. There was two shadows in the distance, too far to make out, but enough to tell them something had begun to come up behind them.
"There is no escape." Hawke told them with chilling confidence. "Either way, you will come out into a field of our soldiers. And I might add, troops carrying weapons powerful enough to pierce Leviathan's armored scales."
Brad stepped forward and gave a hard stare at Hawke.
"What I told you I thought you were bluffing?"
"Bluffing?" Hawke made a disappointed face. "Bluffing is for the weak. If you assumed that, you would be sadly mistaken."
Even if he's telling the truth. Leviathan began. I'm sure Lash is already fixing the problem with her dish weapon...
We can't go back. Unicorn vowed.
Aldrea looked toward Brad with the same conclusion. Hawke seemed to notice this and gave a sigh.
"Tsk tsk... Only mere children. But I meant what I said and you cannot be allowed to escape."
With that Hawke moved back behind the two Neotanks and eventually left the tunnel. The tanks hissed with new activity and the wheels on their legs spun making a squeal. They began to roll backwards as the shadows at the other end began to come closer. Aldrea and Brad went back to back.
"Which side you want Leviathan?" Brad asked.
I'll take the walking scrap buckets.
"You got it. Aldrea?"
"We got the other side..." She answered.
In a heartbeat, a burst of light revealed Leviathan and Unicorn, both looking off in the directions they wanted to take. They wasted no time approaching their targets. Leviathan shot out high pressured water, enough to split steel in two at one of the tanks and tore off one of the legs. The two Neotanks retaliated opening fire with their main guns and instantly turned the area surrounding Leviathan into a mess of dirt and fire.
Unicorn had soon caught a glimpse of her targets, two car like vehicles, except there was no windows or doors. Just a solid body with a turret sticking out of the top, recon vehicles.
Here they come! Aldrea warned.
"I see them..."
They were incredibly fast and came up upon her instantly opening fire. She cast a barrier as one charged making it hit her invisible barrier like a brick wall. The impact bent it's turret forward and making it inoperable. However, the second one swerved out of the way just in time.
The Neotanks scanned the rubble left from their main gun strike to see that their target was nowhere to be seen. Leviathan soon emerged from behind them.
"You missed!" Leviathan roared.
The wheels on the legs soon peeled out and the tanks did a 180 to now face in Leviathan's direction.
Whoa! Look out!
This move made Leviathan duck as they emptied another round from their main gun, nearly collapsing the end of the tunnel with the blasts. Even with one missing a leg, they were still highly mobile and began to spray the area with their mounted guns. The sea serpent snaked between them and soon spun around on the other side.
"Typhoon!"
A torrential flood erupted from where Leviathan stood and began to push the Neotanks back and forth down the tunnel. The wheels tried to keep up with the overpowering rush of water, but couldn't and the two tanks were soon pushed out of the tunnel. Leviathan made a quick glance to Unicorn to see she had stuck her horn through the other recon and flipped it over. But just as she did, the tunnel began to shake as more tanks moved up form behind them. Too many for them to take in the cramped space.
"We need to get out of here!!" Unicorn yelled.
The two GFs moved toward the end of the tunnel and came out to see the two tanks sitting at the bottom of the canyon on their right side. A little further down the road was more Neotanks pointing their main guns directly at them with a line of soldiers carrying the Nutcrackers. Neither Leviathan, Unicorn, or their partners knew what to do with the amount of weaponry pointed at them.
"Fire." Hawke ordered calmly.
It was a chorus of explosions and sounds of guns going off. The tunnel opening and the rock around it literally burst into debris and dust flying everywhere. The ferocious screams of Leviathan and the angry shrieks of Unicorn could barely be heard as the Neotanks emptied their main guns and the soldiers plastered the area with the Nutcracker rounds. Eventually they stopped firing and the dust began to clear.
The tunnel was done for. Rocks and all sorts of debris had caved in over it. At the bottom of the heap, Leviathan sat pinned under rocks, but had also been hit by the volley of shots from Hawke's line up. His scales were dotted with red stains as he struggled to lift his head and his wings. But there was too much on him, and he was too weak from getting shot. One of the soldiers moved up to Leviathan and pointed his gun down at his head.
"Permission to fire sir." The soldier asked in a vile tone.
"Denied." Hawke answered firmly. "Dig the GF out of the debris and send him back to Lash. Meanwhile, the rest of your men will sweep the area for the unicorn."
The soldiers paused to look about the area, they had just noticed that the white creature was nowhere to be seen.
"Do you think it avoided the attack sir?" One soldier asked.
"It hardly matters whether we hit it or not. Lord Sturm wants Green Earth conquered now, and I can't get it done having to attend to these internal matters. Tell Lash that she either puts her pets under control, or I will see to it she never experiments again."
The soldier gave a firm salute and turned to help with the digging operation going on around the large sea serpent. Hawke glanced off into the canyon and simply shook his head before walking off.
-End Chapter
--Next Chapter: Lightning
-Advance Wars 2
--Project Black Portal
---Chapter 7: Starting Up the Storm
It was a clear night over the Green Earth continent. The only source of light on the ground was due to the multiple black structures that dotted a mountain area. Large pipes encircled a certain round building with a huge satellite dish on top of it. It was pointed up into the air and was heavily guarded by plenty of anti-air.
Lash skipped into the large central control room with a grin. In the dead center of the room was a large machine with two sets of large lenses, one on the floor and one the ceiling, but was more interesting between it all was two GFs, who were currently trapped in glass cages. They were held down by metallic clamps which constantly put pressure on them to keep them down and their powers restrained.
"Tee hee hee. How is everyone feeling this morning? I hope moving you to Green Earth wasn't too sudden. But you're other friends got a little too close for comfort!"
A large blue sea serpent to Lash's left struggled to move under the metal clamps and let out a weak growl. His wings were bent uncomfortably to make him fit in the glass cage as was his long snaking body. The other cage contained a unicorn whose mane and tail were both sky blue in color. Her golden spiraled horn however was the highlight and was pressed up against the glass showing how compact it was.
"Oh-kay!, I wanted to tell you what fun we're going to have! We're gonna attack Green Earth using your magic!"
"You're awfully optimistic." Leviathan growled angrily. "I'd rather swim in a desert."
"We'll never use any of our powers for your benefit." Unicorn added in a clear female voice.
"Hey! I think Mr. Flippers just volunteered for a demonstration of our new facility!" Lash exclaimed with an annoyed tone.
She cracked her knuckles and walked over to a wall of screens and computer consoles and sat down. A Black Hole technical officer was already there typing away and turned to her as she sat down. The restraints and wires made it so that Leviathan and Unicorn were both forced to watch the screen ahead of them. It began to flash and centered around a large bay with several green ships in it.
"This neat little machine sucks up your powers into the antenna array. All the technical specs would break your little brains. So don't sweat the small stuff! In the end result, we're going to broadcast your power into any area we want, causing total chaos!"
The click click click of Lash's blazing typing speed drowned out the computer voice that was presently announcing the procedures going on. Eventually, the glass cage with Leviathan in it moved into the center of the room where the two lenses sat on top and bottom. The sea serpent struggled relentlessly until a large beam shot through his cage. His body began to jolt, but he didn't make any sound to show he was in pain.
"Leviathan!" Unicorn cried out, then turned to Lash. "What are you doing to him? Stop it!"
Lash spun around in her swivel chair and grinned.
"Oh he's ok! It's those big green ships you should be worried about! I'm about to tear them up like paper with Leviathan's Typhoon power! You just watch!"
Then she turned back to the computer as external monitors began to show the array. Blue energy began to collect around the edges of the dish before slowly sliding into the middle. The blue energy soon pooled into one large spot before getting shot into the sky until there was none left. The cameras soon switched to the Green Earth harbor, where the seas had begun to heave... Lash began to spin in her chair laughing all the while.
-----------------------
The seas surrounding Green Earth rolled like never before. Even the hardened sailors on the ships in the harbor could feel something well up inside their stomachs. There was something terribly wrong about the storm that had descended upon them. Ships would almost literally climb up a wave, and drop for what seemed like an eternity back into the water. The submarines were the only ones really safe out on the waves, the cruisers, battleships and landers all faced the possibility of getting washed away in the storm.
The sailors patrolling the decks held onto the rail, something they had never done in their entire military careers. They could weather storms like no other... why did this storm feel so different? Then it came, a hideous crash and the twisting of metal on the horizon. A wave had gone and capsized one of the massive battleships, and that wasn't the end. The wave kept coming... The monstrous wave almost ten stories high... tumbling every ship it came across like logs in a river...
A rather large man watched from the shore in a military base. He held a radio at his ear and stared rather dumbfounded at the huge waves. He had never seen anything like it. With his blue sailors uniform and cap on, he was Captain Drake of the Green Earth navy... and this storm was currently tearing apart what navy he did have. Then he could see it, the monstrous wave that was creeping slowly across the bay, heading right toward him.
"Eagle, it's Drake... Barnacles! There's something going on! There's waves as high as mountains out here! It's capsizing my fleet! We need all the help you can send!"
The wave began to shrink as it neared shore, but it was still huge. It climbed the concrete barriers and sandbags piled up on the shore and spilled onto the already soaked land. Water flipped vehicles parked outside the fence of the base and proceeded to rip trees and other objects out of the ground. Luckily for the ones on land, the wave soon died out upon reaching the fence, and only drenched the land instead of crushing it.
"I don't understand it. It's like nothing I've ever seen..." Drake muttered. "Black Hole? Since when could they control the seven seas? It's not right Eagle..."
Before Drake could say much more about what he thought of the storm. There was another wave, and it looked bigger than ever. He silently cursed to himself and walked closer to the window. Yes, this one was definitely bigger than the others... most likely the biggest... and the last one had been close...
"What did you say? Sonja says we should be expecting creatures? What did she mean by that?" Drake began to back away from the window. "I gotta go Eagle! There's a big one coming in! We gotta get moving on a rescue mission, we can use any help you can send!"
With that, Drake ended the transmission and left the room heading to attend to his drowning fleet out in the harbor...
-----------------------
"Tee hee hee! That was so cool! Let's do that again sometime!" Lash exclaimed watching the massive ships capsize.
The beam finally stopped and Leviathan's cage was returned to it's original position. He was breathing heavily and looked around in a rather groggy way. He began to mutter, but none of his words made any sense.
"Oh yeah, you might experience some disorientation during our downloading process. Now who wants to try next? Oh! The pretty horsy wants to! I know she does!"
Unicorn neighed in anger, but could do little else as her cage slid into position. Lash began typing away as Leviathan came around from his last session.
"Unicorn... no..."
But suddenly Lash stopped and turned around slowly. Something about the data on Unicorn had caught her eye, and it had produced a grin from ear to ear.
"Hey... You have a neat power... What's it called? Holy? Sounds powerful!"
Now the officer turned around as Unicorn's eyes widened as she began to shake her head.
"Please... You can't..." Unicorn demanded. "You don't understand how powerful that spell is!"
"Oh I don't do I?" Lash asked with a smirk. "Then let me find out first hand. Tee hee hee! Let's do it!"
Leviathan managed to knock one side of his cage to get her attention.
"You're crazy! Do you know what kind of damage you'll cause!?"
"Well, I won't know if I don't try now will I?" Lash laughed back.
"What is the target Mistress?" The officer asked as he flipped through their database.
"Let's find a big place to blow up! Cause it sound soooooo dangerous... Hey wait! Right there! Go back!"
The soldier clicked a couple keys until the screen centered around an image. It was a city, a large city with several suburban areas sitting around it.
"You're going to attack a city? Why!" Leviathan demanded.
"Hey! It's occupied by the enemy!" Lash defended. "Besides... It won't be fun if a lot of people aren't involved! It's called scare tactics. I'll teach Green Earth to play dead!"
The beam soon activated and shot through Unicorn causing her to freeze in her position. Leviathan watched as the external cameras showed a white light begin to collect on the edges of the dish. But something happened as it never moved toward the center. Instead the lights of the base began to dim and sparks shot out from the lenses.
"Hey! What's going on! What's going on here?!" Lash demanded.
"Mistress... Unicorn's Holy spell is overloading the computer! We can't handle the input!"
"No way! This machine can handle anything! I built it myself! You did something wrong!"
Lash stood up from her seat and shoved the officer aside and began to type away at the console. Her eyes widened as she looked back to Unicorn.
"You can't possibly be THAT powerful... You're just a stupid pony! You can't do this to my machine!"
Suddenly the dish shut down, the white energy faded away into nothingness. Soon the rest of the facility blacked out and the surrounding power grid toppled like dominoes. Bases within a ten mile radius felt the blackout. The lights running along the pipes to outline them in the dark soon began to go off in procession until the entire area was a dark blob from the sky. The room where Lash and the officer where was now pitch black.
"Hey! Turn on the reserve power already!" Lash demanded.
"Mistress... every system in the area is fried! We have to reboot everything!"
"Don't back talk to me! I'm angry! Activate the lights on your suit right now!"
"Yes... yes Mistress..." The officer stuttered.
Finally the area was lit up by the two lights that sat on each side of the Black Hole officers suit. It swung around the area until centering on Lash who had her hands on her hips and an angry expression on her face.
"Bout time! Wait till I get my tool box! I'm gonna fix this... hey!"
She pointed as the officer spun around, to see the two cages busted an the GFs missing. Lash let out a scream.
"No!!! How come all my pets are running away!? Sound the alarm! I don't care how!"
-----------------------
The dark hallways were filled with the frantic pace of footsteps. Mere shadows moved along the steel corridors while the lights were off. But it didn't last long when red lights popped on illuminating the two figures. The bonded of Leviathan and Unicorn continued to run trying every door for a way out. Finally they burst out into the open where the moonlight had begun to provide the only light for the area.
Brad was first out of the dish complex and was African American and his bald head reflected the moonlight nicely. His black shirt, with a green vest and jeans made good night time camouflage as they continued to run. Aldrea was second out and was Chinese and dressed completely in blue, consisting of a long sleeve shirt and jeans. Her black hair danced in the wind as they made a break for it. They sprinted across a road before coming across a hill and tumbled down it not being able to see it clearly in the darkness. Eventually they stopped at the bottom at another road which went on into a tunnel.
Brad was off the ground first and helped Aldrea up. They dusted off their clothes and began to look around quickly.
"Man... So we're out of the building... What happened back there?" Brad asked pointing a thumb back towards the looming complex.
Hm... We're lucky Lash underestimated Unicorn's abilities. Leviathan commented.
"Serves her right." Aldrea cut in. "She was about to destroy a city, and she called it 'fun'?"
We shouldn't waste time standing around, we have to get out of here. Unicorn urged.
I think I remember a tunnel when they were bringing us out of unconsciousness... Try that way.
"Alright, sounds good to me. Let's go Aldrea."
The two of them began to run towards the what seemed like a dark abyss, ready to swallow them up. Brad led the way as they put a hand on the wall and went as fast as they could without losing track of where they were. However, they barely started down when red lights in the tunnel lit up. Upon losing their cover of darkness, they began to run down the tunnel. Eventually they could spot the end of the tunnel.
"I hope we're going the right way." Brad thought aloud.
"Oh, you are... But you won't like where it takes you." A cold voice answered.
This caused them to come to a dead stop. The end of the tunnel lie before them, only a couple feet away. They wanted to move again, but they couldn't see the voice that had called out.
"Who said that?" Aldrea asked finally.
The ground began to shake as shadows covered the tunnel exit. It wasn't long until they could make out two odd walking tanks stomp their way towards them and then stop a little ways off. A man stepped forward, wearing a long green trench coat and gray gloves. He had dark skin, and there was a little tuft of hair on the top of his head which was white, the rest was buzzed. There was no glare or frown upon his face, just a cold and calm expression.
The four legged tanks shuttered forward one more step and let out a whirr sound as the mounted guns above their main cannons shifted to target Brad and Aldrea. The main body of the tank was round with several holes on the bottom that looked to decrease the weight and increase speed. There was odd looking red wheels where the legs touched the ground but they didn't seem to be rolling at the moment, just locked in place.
"There are only two choices." The man explained in the same tone. "There is the way where you return to the laboratory. Or I will order the Neotanks to open fire."
"Who are you?" Aldrea asked.
She was obviously shaken by the tone the man spoke with.
"Hawke, second in command of the Black Hole Army. And you are our prisoners."
A squealing from behind made Brad and Aldrea spin around to look down the way they came. There was two shadows in the distance, too far to make out, but enough to tell them something had begun to come up behind them.
"There is no escape." Hawke told them with chilling confidence. "Either way, you will come out into a field of our soldiers. And I might add, troops carrying weapons powerful enough to pierce Leviathan's armored scales."
Brad stepped forward and gave a hard stare at Hawke.
"What I told you I thought you were bluffing?"
"Bluffing?" Hawke made a disappointed face. "Bluffing is for the weak. If you assumed that, you would be sadly mistaken."
Even if he's telling the truth. Leviathan began. I'm sure Lash is already fixing the problem with her dish weapon...
We can't go back. Unicorn vowed.
Aldrea looked toward Brad with the same conclusion. Hawke seemed to notice this and gave a sigh.
"Tsk tsk... Only mere children. But I meant what I said and you cannot be allowed to escape."
With that Hawke moved back behind the two Neotanks and eventually left the tunnel. The tanks hissed with new activity and the wheels on their legs spun making a squeal. They began to roll backwards as the shadows at the other end began to come closer. Aldrea and Brad went back to back.
"Which side you want Leviathan?" Brad asked.
I'll take the walking scrap buckets.
"You got it. Aldrea?"
"We got the other side..." She answered.
In a heartbeat, a burst of light revealed Leviathan and Unicorn, both looking off in the directions they wanted to take. They wasted no time approaching their targets. Leviathan shot out high pressured water, enough to split steel in two at one of the tanks and tore off one of the legs. The two Neotanks retaliated opening fire with their main guns and instantly turned the area surrounding Leviathan into a mess of dirt and fire.
Unicorn had soon caught a glimpse of her targets, two car like vehicles, except there was no windows or doors. Just a solid body with a turret sticking out of the top, recon vehicles.
Here they come! Aldrea warned.
"I see them..."
They were incredibly fast and came up upon her instantly opening fire. She cast a barrier as one charged making it hit her invisible barrier like a brick wall. The impact bent it's turret forward and making it inoperable. However, the second one swerved out of the way just in time.
The Neotanks scanned the rubble left from their main gun strike to see that their target was nowhere to be seen. Leviathan soon emerged from behind them.
"You missed!" Leviathan roared.
The wheels on the legs soon peeled out and the tanks did a 180 to now face in Leviathan's direction.
Whoa! Look out!
This move made Leviathan duck as they emptied another round from their main gun, nearly collapsing the end of the tunnel with the blasts. Even with one missing a leg, they were still highly mobile and began to spray the area with their mounted guns. The sea serpent snaked between them and soon spun around on the other side.
"Typhoon!"
A torrential flood erupted from where Leviathan stood and began to push the Neotanks back and forth down the tunnel. The wheels tried to keep up with the overpowering rush of water, but couldn't and the two tanks were soon pushed out of the tunnel. Leviathan made a quick glance to Unicorn to see she had stuck her horn through the other recon and flipped it over. But just as she did, the tunnel began to shake as more tanks moved up form behind them. Too many for them to take in the cramped space.
"We need to get out of here!!" Unicorn yelled.
The two GFs moved toward the end of the tunnel and came out to see the two tanks sitting at the bottom of the canyon on their right side. A little further down the road was more Neotanks pointing their main guns directly at them with a line of soldiers carrying the Nutcrackers. Neither Leviathan, Unicorn, or their partners knew what to do with the amount of weaponry pointed at them.
"Fire." Hawke ordered calmly.
It was a chorus of explosions and sounds of guns going off. The tunnel opening and the rock around it literally burst into debris and dust flying everywhere. The ferocious screams of Leviathan and the angry shrieks of Unicorn could barely be heard as the Neotanks emptied their main guns and the soldiers plastered the area with the Nutcracker rounds. Eventually they stopped firing and the dust began to clear.
The tunnel was done for. Rocks and all sorts of debris had caved in over it. At the bottom of the heap, Leviathan sat pinned under rocks, but had also been hit by the volley of shots from Hawke's line up. His scales were dotted with red stains as he struggled to lift his head and his wings. But there was too much on him, and he was too weak from getting shot. One of the soldiers moved up to Leviathan and pointed his gun down at his head.
"Permission to fire sir." The soldier asked in a vile tone.
"Denied." Hawke answered firmly. "Dig the GF out of the debris and send him back to Lash. Meanwhile, the rest of your men will sweep the area for the unicorn."
The soldiers paused to look about the area, they had just noticed that the white creature was nowhere to be seen.
"Do you think it avoided the attack sir?" One soldier asked.
"It hardly matters whether we hit it or not. Lord Sturm wants Green Earth conquered now, and I can't get it done having to attend to these internal matters. Tell Lash that she either puts her pets under control, or I will see to it she never experiments again."
The soldier gave a firm salute and turned to help with the digging operation going on around the large sea serpent. Hawke glanced off into the canyon and simply shook his head before walking off.
-End Chapter
--Next Chapter: Lightning