Part 10: Brittle Foundations
Clover leaned against the console in the Dämon-Mörder Military Base security center, watching the monitor that showed Mandy... or whatever its name really was... sitting huddled against the wall like a child. She was cold and shivering, since Sam hadn't seen fit to give her any clothing and the pen was out in the freezing open air. The pen itself was fifteen feet deep into the ground, built from two-foot thick concrete like a massive pot. It was designed to hold entire squads of soldiers, but it also made a good Zardexian holding cell.
"I don't know Sam..." Clover commented, staring at the image of Mandy huddled up in a little freezing ball. "She just doesn't seem dangerous to me... she didn't actually try to hurt us. Maybe she just wants to help."
"IT is a Zardexian, Clover." Sam retorted. "These things are trying to feast on us, we can't give them any ground. There are over three-hundred officers at this base, and I'm not putting them in danger because you have a soft spot for a dead girl." Clover glared at her as her fists clenched, but she decided to ignore the comment and shook her head.
"We have no evidence that she ever intended to hurt any of us." Clover pointed out. "All she was when I talked to her, was confused. You saw how she reacted... it's like even SHE didn't know she was a Zardexian."
"It's called acting. Something you should know a lot about." Sam countered. "Even if it wasn't going to hurt us, chances are it was gonna call its pals here to do it."
"You don't KNOW that! She hasn't even tried to escape again in the last four days!" Clover sighed in resignation. "Look, at LEAST let me give her some clothes or a blanket or something. I mean look at her. She's freezing! It's only forty-seven degrees out there! Forcing her to sit out there naked in this kind of weather is just cruel no matter how tough and weather-resistant Zardexians are."
"We have more important things to worry about than keeping a Zardexian comfortable." Sam told her. "Like figuring out where it came from, and why it was here in the first place."
"I don't think even SHE knows that, so what's the point in keeping her locked up?" Clover asked. "She seems to want to help us."
"Does the word 'spy' mean anything to you?" Sam asked.
"Does the word 'paranoid' mean anything to YOU?" Clover shot back. "Maybe she's a good Zardexian."
"The only good Zardexian is a..." Sam stopped herself right there so suddenly that her mouth continued to hang open. Clover smirked as Sam slowly closed her mouth and gulped with the unspoken two words hanging in the air between them. Her face had gone pale, as though just now realizing what it was she'd been thinking all this time.
"What's wrong, Sam? Why don't you finish it?" Clover taunted. "Go ahead, make the same blanket declaration that's been made so many times before. The one that drowned this stinking planet in war after war long before these aliens showed up." Sam stared at her with a strangely morose expression, then looked down at the console.
"Okay... I'll give you access to the pen. Give it whatever you think it'll need. But I can't let it wander around the base freely. It'd be too great a security risk, and could cause a riot among the troops." Sam said. Clover smiled slightly and nodded.
"Thanks, Sam." Clover saluted before turning to leave the security center. She stopped by the barracks on her way to the holding pen to grab one of the spare blankets, a full set of thick army-fatigues, thick wool socks and one of the spare pillows. She carried it all cradled under her arms the rest of the way to the pen, where she found the guards staring down at Mandy with almost bloodthirsty looks on their faces.
"I'm going in, now." Clover told them. The guards shot her dark glares, as though she was about to stab them both in the back.
"Yes, sir." The guard spat acidly. He pushed the small key into a console a few feet away from the lip of the pit. One of the cement walls inside the pit began to fragment and slide forward piece by piece, forming a set of cold hard steps down to the floor. Mandy was watching them from the far wall, though she didn't seem overtly interested in the proceedings.
Clover made her way down the steps and approached her. She heard the cement withdraw back into the wall when she reached the bottom, trapping her inside the pen with Mandy. Suddenly she wasn't so sure about trusting the Zardexian... but it was too late to back out now.
"Hey." Clover knelt down in front of her. Mandy looked up, looking just like Clover remembered from a little over three months ago. It was like looking into the past or something. Pretty disorienting. "I brought you some things to make you more comfortable. They're not the warmest in the world, but they're better than nothing." Clover held out the clothing and blankets.
"Th... thanks..." Mandy grabbed the fatigues from her and hurriedly slid them on. Her limbs were shaking pretty violently from the cold, so Clover moved forward to help her. When they were on Clover found herself barely a foot away from Mandy, staring into her deep violet eyes. "Here I thought you were trying to kill me out here..." She said.
"Nah... Sam just had a small lapse in judgment for a while." Clover replied. Mandy nodded, grabbing the blanket and pulling it tightly around herself in addition to the thick fatigues that now covered her body. Clover gulped, wishing she could take her up to the barracks where it was actually warm, but Sam was right about one thing. Even if Mandy was trustworthy, seeing a known Zardexian wandering around the base could have disastrous effects with the other soldiers.
"So you really don't know your real name or anything?" Clover asked. Mandy looked up at her.
"My name is Amanda Victoria Delaroyale." She replied simply. "That's all it needs to be as far as I'm concerned... I don't know what happened to me, but I don't care. I still FEEL like Mandy..." She lifted her hand and stared down at it. "I remember everything I've been through, every time I've loved someone, every time I've been hurt, every wish I ever made."
"But are you sure YOU were the one who felt all those things?" Clover asked.
"No... but they're the only feelings I have aside from feeling 'cold'." Mandy replied. Clover nodded. "Why did you tell me you loved me if you knew that my test would reveal Zardexian blood?"
"Because... I guess I wanted to see you as Mandy long enough to tell her that... because after everything I helped put her through, I didn't get a chance to really make her feel better." Clover replied. "I guess I sorta used you to vent my guilt over the way she died."
"The way I died you mean..." Mandy replied. Clover didn't respond, just knelt down on the cement floor in front of the woman who'd given her life for them over three months ago.
They were both startled when Clover's communicator started to beep from her hip. "Sheesh Sam..." Clover grabbed it and held it up to her lips. "Clover here, what's going on?"
"Clover, we got an emergency distress call from a Chinese military base. Something about a giant ship... I think this may be the main fleet the Argathins warned us about." Sam said. "The communication was cut a minute ago, so I don't know if anybody's left, but we can't just abandon them if there are any survivors."
"Alright, I'm coming." Clover tucked the communicator away and stood up, looking down at Mandy. "I'll try to come back later some time. I still have things I want to talk to you about."
"Not like I'm going anywhere." Mandy quipped. Clover smirked and signaled up to the guards that she was ready to leave. They extended the cement staircase to let her out of the pit and pulled it back into the wall once she was up. She rushed toward the helipad, where the helicopters were gearing up to transport them all to the Chinese base.
Sam met her there. "You take command of units 3 and 4. I'll lead units 1 and 2." She stated quickly.
"Got it." Clover nodded and jumped into the helicopter carrying unit 3. She sat down while Sam gave the order to move out, and within fifteen minutes of receiving the distress call they were on their way. The resistance cells were small, so that meant they had to be ready to help each other at the drop of a hat. And Sam's cell was no different.
They crossed the land at a quick pace, as the copters were made for fast travel over long distances. After an hour and a half they made it to the military base from which the distress call had come. They circled over the base, looking for any sign of movement, but none appeared. There were no signs of life at all, either human or alien.
"Take us down." Sam ordered over the copters' intercom systems. The vehicles floated gently down toward the ground, landing easily in the dead center of the base. And 'dead' was really the only word one could use to describe the sight that met them when they emerged from the vehicles. What had looked like an abandoned base from the air was littered with bodies.
"What the Hell...?" Clover ran up to one soldier and knelt down beside him. She felt for a pulse, but felt none. "Sam... they're dead. But I don't see any wounds on this one... or most of the others."
"And if the Zardexians had done this, there wouldn't be any bodies left." Sam confirmed Clover's suspicion... this hadn't been done by any alien force. "But who would do it...?" She asked. Clover touched the guard's cheek and moved his head to the side curiously. Blood had leaked out of his ears and stained the Earth under his head.
"Sam..." Clover said softly and gave her friend a worried glance. Sam didn't respond for a moment, kneeling down beside Clover to examine the body.
"The Ear Bleeder..." Sam grumbled darkly. She pushed herself up to her feet, looking around at the dead base. "Someone must've retrieved it from Moscow... I knew we should've destroyed it when we had the chance." She stated. She had tried to have it destroyed the moment she took power over WOOHP, but her generals had decided that the alien technology was too valuable to throw away like that.
"What do we do?" Clover asked.
"We get our butts over to Moscow and investigate. Maybe there's some clue about who did this." Sam turned to look at the soldiers, who were examining the remains, and some of whom had begun trying to bury them. "Everyone pack up, we're leaving NOW."
"Yes sir!" The soldiers all dropped what they were doing and made for the helicopters again.
Clover walked up to Sam and put a hand on her shoulder, but was shrugged off. "I'm fine, we need to move quickly." Sam marched toward the helicopter that contained unit 1. Clover watched her go, then sighed and boarded her own ride before Sam could order them to leave without her. They took off across the sky, toward the north to Russia.
On the way, Clover couldn't help but wonder if Sam was okay. She'd been there the first time the Ear Bleeder was used, and seemed to go nuts any time someone so much as mentioned it around her. To see it back in action had to be hard for her redheaded friend. She would have to talk to her when they got back to the Dämon-Mörder Military Base.
"Oh my God..." Sam's voice came over the radio in the cockpit of the helicopter Clover was in. Clover snapped back to reality. "No... God no..." Sam muttered.
"What's wrong Sam?" Clover asked worriedly.
"Look down." Sam replied grimly. Clover leaned over to the window and pressed her forehead against the glass so she could get a clear view of the ground below. Her blood ran cold and her face paled when she saw the massive steel form of a WOOHP Leviathan trudging toward the north away from the slaughtered military base. Attached to its back just behind the demon head was the Ear Bleeder. A massive walking fortress/tank with the ability to incapacitate entire armies at a time. Worse yet, if Clover's count was correct, that was the last working Leviathan WOOHP had built.
"Who the Hell would be piloting that thing...?" Clover mused. Suddenly a voice came over the radio.
"Back off!" Pam shouted through the speaker systems.
"Pam!?" Sam exclaimed through the same radio frequency. "Pam, what the Hell do you think you're doing!? Are YOU the one who slaughtered everyone in the Chinese base!?" She demanded.
"You Zardexian bastards won't get the best of me. I know what you're doing... and this is OUR planet!" Pam replied forcefully. "Now back off, if you know what's good for you!" The Ear Bleeder attached to the back of the Leviathan turned its massive dish toward them.
"Okay Pam, calm down. We're leaving." Sam said in a placating voice. "All units, leave the area."
"You know what... forget that. This'll just save me the trouble of hunting you bastards down later. This planet is OURS!" Pam screamed through the radio.
"PULL BACK! NOW!" Sam screamed just before the noise started. An unbearable screech tore through the air, drowning out everything else, every other sense Clover possessed. She was lost in a sea of sound, clutching desperately at her ears in a desperate bid to stop it. Her sight seemed to have gone white. She couldn't even hear herself screaming over the horrible, overwhelming sound that threatened to tear her mind apart. Finally, after what felt like an eternal torment straight from the bowels of Hell, Clover fell thankfully into unconsciousness.
Slowly her eyes began to open again. It was dark... but she could see Mandy sitting over her, staring down her. Her deep violet eyes bore into Clover's. Of course... she must have been dreaming. There was no other way Mandy could be sitting over her like this unless someone put Clover down in the containment pit. Or they'd let her run loose in the base...
"Clover, are you okay?" Mandy's voice sounded soft and distant, despite being right in front of her. Clover could barely make out her words... but she could definitely feel the soft hand touching her cheek. Wait... if this was a dream, how could she feel Mandy's hand?
"M... Mandy...?" Clover replied. She could barely hear her own voice... there was definitely something wrong with her ears. A massive migraine didn't help matters any, but she forced her eyes all the way open anyway. She saw two guards with rifles sitting on the seats behind Mandy, watching her with suspicious gazes. Mandy didn't seem to care though, focusing solely on Clover.
"I'm so glad to see you awake." Mandy told her. "I was really afraid that you weren't going to make it... we didn't have time to get you to a doctor." She said. Clover blinked in confusion.
"We...? Why not?" Clover took a deep breath. "Okay, just start from the beginning. What is going on?"
"You passed out... along with almost everyone in the helicopters when the Ear Bleeder was activated. Sam's chopper got out of range and waited for Pam to move on before going back to look for survivors. They found you and a few others in the wreckage of the crashed helicopters and brought them back to the Dämon-Mörder base, but Sam decided that there weren't enough troops to make keeping the base occupied worthwhile. So we're moving to a new one in the remains of a small African country called Lyrobia." Mandy explained.
"Damn that's a lot of stuff..." Clover muttered. "How long was I out?"
"Almost thirty hours." Mandy replied. "We would've thought you were gone if you didn't still have a pulse..." She trailed off and coughed into her hand. For a heartless Zardexian, she sure looked relieved to see Clover awake again.
"So what... have you been sitting here beside me the entire time I was out?" Clover asked curiously.
"I... guess so." Mandy blushed slightly. "I was worried about you and it just seemed like the right thing to do." She said. Clover smiled up at her good but suspicious friend. The rest of the helicopter flight was taken in silence, with Clover slowly becoming more conscious and realizing the gravity of their situation. Just a few helicopters were carrying all that remained of the personnel stationed at the Dämon-Mörder Military Base. A handful of troops, a fraction of whom were awake and in fighting condition.
In time they reached what remained of the Lyrobian Palace, now little more than a husk of a landmark. Half of it had collapsed in on itself since Lyrobia was one of the first countries the Imperium of Christ had gone after. They started small and worked their way up toward the bigger fish. So that the smaller countries couldn't unite and stand against them while they were busy with powerful opponents.
They landed in the courtyard and Mandy cradled Clover in her arms to carry her out of the helicopter. "Take them to the bedrooms in the east wing of the palace." Sam instructed those who carried unconscious or wounded comrades. Mandy turned to carry Clover along with them, but Clover put up a hand to stop her.
"Hold on, I need to talk to Sam." Clover stated.
"But you're wounded, you need to rest." Mandy complained.
"I'll be fine, just put me down." Clover demanded. Mandy shrugged and set her on her feet, helping her stay up despite the sudden rocking of the Earth like ocean waves. Mandy grabbed her shoulders and held her steady, helping to guide her toward Sam, who was busy talking with the makeshift base's Commander in the throne room.
"Sam." Clover stated as they entered the room. Sam and the Commander turned toward them. "We need to talk."
"You can't just barge in here." The Commander complained haughtily. "We're in the middle of an important meeting."
"It's alright Commander. What do you need Clover?" Sam asked. The Commander seemed put off by the distraction, but apparently decided that pissing off his boss wasn't in his best interests.
"Look Sam..." Clover looked at Mandy out of the corner of her eye. "About..."
"Victoria?" Sam cut her off. Both Clover and Mandy looked at her in surprise, blinking. "Of course she can stick around, I'm not going to turn her away just because she's a new recruit or something." Sam's eyes bore into Clover's conveying a crystal clear message.
"R... right... how stupid of me." Clover replied. Of course, everyone in WOOHP knew Mandy's name, but very few people had seen her before. A simple change of name would avoid the barrage of questions that they would get if they continued to call her Mandy. Of course, there were still officers who knew who she was from Dämon-Mörder, but Clover guessed Sam had a plan to deal with them.
"Now if you'll excuse us." The Commander insisted irritably.
"Right. Sorry." Clover saluted quickly. Mandy followed suit and they both turned to leave, with Mandy still helping Clover move so that she didn't collapse to the hard stone floor.
"So... I'm free?" Mandy asked.
"Looks that way Vicky." Clover smirked. "You're free to wander around to your heart's content."
"Vicky huh? I guess I'd better get used to that." Mandy nodded.
"If you don't wanna be lynched by pissed off soldiers." Clover told her. Suddenly she tripped and fell against the wall with a heavy thud. She gasped and clutched her elbow in pain as she plopped to the floor. "Damnit... I feel like Alex... so damn clumsy..." She growled.
"You're still hurt." Mandy reminded her. She leaned down to wrap Clover up in her arms and lift her up, cradling her like a baby as she continued down the hall. Clover didn't seem to weigh anything to her, even though they were about the same size. It made Clover feel like she was being carried by a superhero, but she knew it was the Zardexian muscles hiding underneath Mandy's human frame.
"Well, they're good for something at least." She quipped as they moved down the hall toward the bedrooms. Mandy didn't respond. Well, at least something good had finally happened. Mandy was free... free to help them fight a two-front war against both the Zardexians and a nutcase band of humans with two of the most fearsome weapons in history.
Honestly, being a prisoner sounded more appealing.
TO BE CONTINUED
Clover leaned against the console in the Dämon-Mörder Military Base security center, watching the monitor that showed Mandy... or whatever its name really was... sitting huddled against the wall like a child. She was cold and shivering, since Sam hadn't seen fit to give her any clothing and the pen was out in the freezing open air. The pen itself was fifteen feet deep into the ground, built from two-foot thick concrete like a massive pot. It was designed to hold entire squads of soldiers, but it also made a good Zardexian holding cell.
"I don't know Sam..." Clover commented, staring at the image of Mandy huddled up in a little freezing ball. "She just doesn't seem dangerous to me... she didn't actually try to hurt us. Maybe she just wants to help."
"IT is a Zardexian, Clover." Sam retorted. "These things are trying to feast on us, we can't give them any ground. There are over three-hundred officers at this base, and I'm not putting them in danger because you have a soft spot for a dead girl." Clover glared at her as her fists clenched, but she decided to ignore the comment and shook her head.
"We have no evidence that she ever intended to hurt any of us." Clover pointed out. "All she was when I talked to her, was confused. You saw how she reacted... it's like even SHE didn't know she was a Zardexian."
"It's called acting. Something you should know a lot about." Sam countered. "Even if it wasn't going to hurt us, chances are it was gonna call its pals here to do it."
"You don't KNOW that! She hasn't even tried to escape again in the last four days!" Clover sighed in resignation. "Look, at LEAST let me give her some clothes or a blanket or something. I mean look at her. She's freezing! It's only forty-seven degrees out there! Forcing her to sit out there naked in this kind of weather is just cruel no matter how tough and weather-resistant Zardexians are."
"We have more important things to worry about than keeping a Zardexian comfortable." Sam told her. "Like figuring out where it came from, and why it was here in the first place."
"I don't think even SHE knows that, so what's the point in keeping her locked up?" Clover asked. "She seems to want to help us."
"Does the word 'spy' mean anything to you?" Sam asked.
"Does the word 'paranoid' mean anything to YOU?" Clover shot back. "Maybe she's a good Zardexian."
"The only good Zardexian is a..." Sam stopped herself right there so suddenly that her mouth continued to hang open. Clover smirked as Sam slowly closed her mouth and gulped with the unspoken two words hanging in the air between them. Her face had gone pale, as though just now realizing what it was she'd been thinking all this time.
"What's wrong, Sam? Why don't you finish it?" Clover taunted. "Go ahead, make the same blanket declaration that's been made so many times before. The one that drowned this stinking planet in war after war long before these aliens showed up." Sam stared at her with a strangely morose expression, then looked down at the console.
"Okay... I'll give you access to the pen. Give it whatever you think it'll need. But I can't let it wander around the base freely. It'd be too great a security risk, and could cause a riot among the troops." Sam said. Clover smiled slightly and nodded.
"Thanks, Sam." Clover saluted before turning to leave the security center. She stopped by the barracks on her way to the holding pen to grab one of the spare blankets, a full set of thick army-fatigues, thick wool socks and one of the spare pillows. She carried it all cradled under her arms the rest of the way to the pen, where she found the guards staring down at Mandy with almost bloodthirsty looks on their faces.
"I'm going in, now." Clover told them. The guards shot her dark glares, as though she was about to stab them both in the back.
"Yes, sir." The guard spat acidly. He pushed the small key into a console a few feet away from the lip of the pit. One of the cement walls inside the pit began to fragment and slide forward piece by piece, forming a set of cold hard steps down to the floor. Mandy was watching them from the far wall, though she didn't seem overtly interested in the proceedings.
Clover made her way down the steps and approached her. She heard the cement withdraw back into the wall when she reached the bottom, trapping her inside the pen with Mandy. Suddenly she wasn't so sure about trusting the Zardexian... but it was too late to back out now.
"Hey." Clover knelt down in front of her. Mandy looked up, looking just like Clover remembered from a little over three months ago. It was like looking into the past or something. Pretty disorienting. "I brought you some things to make you more comfortable. They're not the warmest in the world, but they're better than nothing." Clover held out the clothing and blankets.
"Th... thanks..." Mandy grabbed the fatigues from her and hurriedly slid them on. Her limbs were shaking pretty violently from the cold, so Clover moved forward to help her. When they were on Clover found herself barely a foot away from Mandy, staring into her deep violet eyes. "Here I thought you were trying to kill me out here..." She said.
"Nah... Sam just had a small lapse in judgment for a while." Clover replied. Mandy nodded, grabbing the blanket and pulling it tightly around herself in addition to the thick fatigues that now covered her body. Clover gulped, wishing she could take her up to the barracks where it was actually warm, but Sam was right about one thing. Even if Mandy was trustworthy, seeing a known Zardexian wandering around the base could have disastrous effects with the other soldiers.
"So you really don't know your real name or anything?" Clover asked. Mandy looked up at her.
"My name is Amanda Victoria Delaroyale." She replied simply. "That's all it needs to be as far as I'm concerned... I don't know what happened to me, but I don't care. I still FEEL like Mandy..." She lifted her hand and stared down at it. "I remember everything I've been through, every time I've loved someone, every time I've been hurt, every wish I ever made."
"But are you sure YOU were the one who felt all those things?" Clover asked.
"No... but they're the only feelings I have aside from feeling 'cold'." Mandy replied. Clover nodded. "Why did you tell me you loved me if you knew that my test would reveal Zardexian blood?"
"Because... I guess I wanted to see you as Mandy long enough to tell her that... because after everything I helped put her through, I didn't get a chance to really make her feel better." Clover replied. "I guess I sorta used you to vent my guilt over the way she died."
"The way I died you mean..." Mandy replied. Clover didn't respond, just knelt down on the cement floor in front of the woman who'd given her life for them over three months ago.
They were both startled when Clover's communicator started to beep from her hip. "Sheesh Sam..." Clover grabbed it and held it up to her lips. "Clover here, what's going on?"
"Clover, we got an emergency distress call from a Chinese military base. Something about a giant ship... I think this may be the main fleet the Argathins warned us about." Sam said. "The communication was cut a minute ago, so I don't know if anybody's left, but we can't just abandon them if there are any survivors."
"Alright, I'm coming." Clover tucked the communicator away and stood up, looking down at Mandy. "I'll try to come back later some time. I still have things I want to talk to you about."
"Not like I'm going anywhere." Mandy quipped. Clover smirked and signaled up to the guards that she was ready to leave. They extended the cement staircase to let her out of the pit and pulled it back into the wall once she was up. She rushed toward the helipad, where the helicopters were gearing up to transport them all to the Chinese base.
Sam met her there. "You take command of units 3 and 4. I'll lead units 1 and 2." She stated quickly.
"Got it." Clover nodded and jumped into the helicopter carrying unit 3. She sat down while Sam gave the order to move out, and within fifteen minutes of receiving the distress call they were on their way. The resistance cells were small, so that meant they had to be ready to help each other at the drop of a hat. And Sam's cell was no different.
They crossed the land at a quick pace, as the copters were made for fast travel over long distances. After an hour and a half they made it to the military base from which the distress call had come. They circled over the base, looking for any sign of movement, but none appeared. There were no signs of life at all, either human or alien.
"Take us down." Sam ordered over the copters' intercom systems. The vehicles floated gently down toward the ground, landing easily in the dead center of the base. And 'dead' was really the only word one could use to describe the sight that met them when they emerged from the vehicles. What had looked like an abandoned base from the air was littered with bodies.
"What the Hell...?" Clover ran up to one soldier and knelt down beside him. She felt for a pulse, but felt none. "Sam... they're dead. But I don't see any wounds on this one... or most of the others."
"And if the Zardexians had done this, there wouldn't be any bodies left." Sam confirmed Clover's suspicion... this hadn't been done by any alien force. "But who would do it...?" She asked. Clover touched the guard's cheek and moved his head to the side curiously. Blood had leaked out of his ears and stained the Earth under his head.
"Sam..." Clover said softly and gave her friend a worried glance. Sam didn't respond for a moment, kneeling down beside Clover to examine the body.
"The Ear Bleeder..." Sam grumbled darkly. She pushed herself up to her feet, looking around at the dead base. "Someone must've retrieved it from Moscow... I knew we should've destroyed it when we had the chance." She stated. She had tried to have it destroyed the moment she took power over WOOHP, but her generals had decided that the alien technology was too valuable to throw away like that.
"What do we do?" Clover asked.
"We get our butts over to Moscow and investigate. Maybe there's some clue about who did this." Sam turned to look at the soldiers, who were examining the remains, and some of whom had begun trying to bury them. "Everyone pack up, we're leaving NOW."
"Yes sir!" The soldiers all dropped what they were doing and made for the helicopters again.
Clover walked up to Sam and put a hand on her shoulder, but was shrugged off. "I'm fine, we need to move quickly." Sam marched toward the helicopter that contained unit 1. Clover watched her go, then sighed and boarded her own ride before Sam could order them to leave without her. They took off across the sky, toward the north to Russia.
On the way, Clover couldn't help but wonder if Sam was okay. She'd been there the first time the Ear Bleeder was used, and seemed to go nuts any time someone so much as mentioned it around her. To see it back in action had to be hard for her redheaded friend. She would have to talk to her when they got back to the Dämon-Mörder Military Base.
"Oh my God..." Sam's voice came over the radio in the cockpit of the helicopter Clover was in. Clover snapped back to reality. "No... God no..." Sam muttered.
"What's wrong Sam?" Clover asked worriedly.
"Look down." Sam replied grimly. Clover leaned over to the window and pressed her forehead against the glass so she could get a clear view of the ground below. Her blood ran cold and her face paled when she saw the massive steel form of a WOOHP Leviathan trudging toward the north away from the slaughtered military base. Attached to its back just behind the demon head was the Ear Bleeder. A massive walking fortress/tank with the ability to incapacitate entire armies at a time. Worse yet, if Clover's count was correct, that was the last working Leviathan WOOHP had built.
"Who the Hell would be piloting that thing...?" Clover mused. Suddenly a voice came over the radio.
"Back off!" Pam shouted through the speaker systems.
"Pam!?" Sam exclaimed through the same radio frequency. "Pam, what the Hell do you think you're doing!? Are YOU the one who slaughtered everyone in the Chinese base!?" She demanded.
"You Zardexian bastards won't get the best of me. I know what you're doing... and this is OUR planet!" Pam replied forcefully. "Now back off, if you know what's good for you!" The Ear Bleeder attached to the back of the Leviathan turned its massive dish toward them.
"Okay Pam, calm down. We're leaving." Sam said in a placating voice. "All units, leave the area."
"You know what... forget that. This'll just save me the trouble of hunting you bastards down later. This planet is OURS!" Pam screamed through the radio.
"PULL BACK! NOW!" Sam screamed just before the noise started. An unbearable screech tore through the air, drowning out everything else, every other sense Clover possessed. She was lost in a sea of sound, clutching desperately at her ears in a desperate bid to stop it. Her sight seemed to have gone white. She couldn't even hear herself screaming over the horrible, overwhelming sound that threatened to tear her mind apart. Finally, after what felt like an eternal torment straight from the bowels of Hell, Clover fell thankfully into unconsciousness.
Slowly her eyes began to open again. It was dark... but she could see Mandy sitting over her, staring down her. Her deep violet eyes bore into Clover's. Of course... she must have been dreaming. There was no other way Mandy could be sitting over her like this unless someone put Clover down in the containment pit. Or they'd let her run loose in the base...
"Clover, are you okay?" Mandy's voice sounded soft and distant, despite being right in front of her. Clover could barely make out her words... but she could definitely feel the soft hand touching her cheek. Wait... if this was a dream, how could she feel Mandy's hand?
"M... Mandy...?" Clover replied. She could barely hear her own voice... there was definitely something wrong with her ears. A massive migraine didn't help matters any, but she forced her eyes all the way open anyway. She saw two guards with rifles sitting on the seats behind Mandy, watching her with suspicious gazes. Mandy didn't seem to care though, focusing solely on Clover.
"I'm so glad to see you awake." Mandy told her. "I was really afraid that you weren't going to make it... we didn't have time to get you to a doctor." She said. Clover blinked in confusion.
"We...? Why not?" Clover took a deep breath. "Okay, just start from the beginning. What is going on?"
"You passed out... along with almost everyone in the helicopters when the Ear Bleeder was activated. Sam's chopper got out of range and waited for Pam to move on before going back to look for survivors. They found you and a few others in the wreckage of the crashed helicopters and brought them back to the Dämon-Mörder base, but Sam decided that there weren't enough troops to make keeping the base occupied worthwhile. So we're moving to a new one in the remains of a small African country called Lyrobia." Mandy explained.
"Damn that's a lot of stuff..." Clover muttered. "How long was I out?"
"Almost thirty hours." Mandy replied. "We would've thought you were gone if you didn't still have a pulse..." She trailed off and coughed into her hand. For a heartless Zardexian, she sure looked relieved to see Clover awake again.
"So what... have you been sitting here beside me the entire time I was out?" Clover asked curiously.
"I... guess so." Mandy blushed slightly. "I was worried about you and it just seemed like the right thing to do." She said. Clover smiled up at her good but suspicious friend. The rest of the helicopter flight was taken in silence, with Clover slowly becoming more conscious and realizing the gravity of their situation. Just a few helicopters were carrying all that remained of the personnel stationed at the Dämon-Mörder Military Base. A handful of troops, a fraction of whom were awake and in fighting condition.
In time they reached what remained of the Lyrobian Palace, now little more than a husk of a landmark. Half of it had collapsed in on itself since Lyrobia was one of the first countries the Imperium of Christ had gone after. They started small and worked their way up toward the bigger fish. So that the smaller countries couldn't unite and stand against them while they were busy with powerful opponents.
They landed in the courtyard and Mandy cradled Clover in her arms to carry her out of the helicopter. "Take them to the bedrooms in the east wing of the palace." Sam instructed those who carried unconscious or wounded comrades. Mandy turned to carry Clover along with them, but Clover put up a hand to stop her.
"Hold on, I need to talk to Sam." Clover stated.
"But you're wounded, you need to rest." Mandy complained.
"I'll be fine, just put me down." Clover demanded. Mandy shrugged and set her on her feet, helping her stay up despite the sudden rocking of the Earth like ocean waves. Mandy grabbed her shoulders and held her steady, helping to guide her toward Sam, who was busy talking with the makeshift base's Commander in the throne room.
"Sam." Clover stated as they entered the room. Sam and the Commander turned toward them. "We need to talk."
"You can't just barge in here." The Commander complained haughtily. "We're in the middle of an important meeting."
"It's alright Commander. What do you need Clover?" Sam asked. The Commander seemed put off by the distraction, but apparently decided that pissing off his boss wasn't in his best interests.
"Look Sam..." Clover looked at Mandy out of the corner of her eye. "About..."
"Victoria?" Sam cut her off. Both Clover and Mandy looked at her in surprise, blinking. "Of course she can stick around, I'm not going to turn her away just because she's a new recruit or something." Sam's eyes bore into Clover's conveying a crystal clear message.
"R... right... how stupid of me." Clover replied. Of course, everyone in WOOHP knew Mandy's name, but very few people had seen her before. A simple change of name would avoid the barrage of questions that they would get if they continued to call her Mandy. Of course, there were still officers who knew who she was from Dämon-Mörder, but Clover guessed Sam had a plan to deal with them.
"Now if you'll excuse us." The Commander insisted irritably.
"Right. Sorry." Clover saluted quickly. Mandy followed suit and they both turned to leave, with Mandy still helping Clover move so that she didn't collapse to the hard stone floor.
"So... I'm free?" Mandy asked.
"Looks that way Vicky." Clover smirked. "You're free to wander around to your heart's content."
"Vicky huh? I guess I'd better get used to that." Mandy nodded.
"If you don't wanna be lynched by pissed off soldiers." Clover told her. Suddenly she tripped and fell against the wall with a heavy thud. She gasped and clutched her elbow in pain as she plopped to the floor. "Damnit... I feel like Alex... so damn clumsy..." She growled.
"You're still hurt." Mandy reminded her. She leaned down to wrap Clover up in her arms and lift her up, cradling her like a baby as she continued down the hall. Clover didn't seem to weigh anything to her, even though they were about the same size. It made Clover feel like she was being carried by a superhero, but she knew it was the Zardexian muscles hiding underneath Mandy's human frame.
"Well, they're good for something at least." She quipped as they moved down the hall toward the bedrooms. Mandy didn't respond. Well, at least something good had finally happened. Mandy was free... free to help them fight a two-front war against both the Zardexians and a nutcase band of humans with two of the most fearsome weapons in history.
Honestly, being a prisoner sounded more appealing.
TO BE CONTINUED