Disclaimer: The usual. I don't own any of this.
Rating: K+
Timeline: Takes place around "Messenger". Flashbacks to "Perspective".
Note: This one-shot was done for the "I Never Thought My Life Would Turn Out Like This" July challenge in the spdrangers community at LiveJournal. Figured I'd put it up for the few people that hadn't seen it and are impatient for me to finish up SL ch. 3.
It hurts.
It always hurts. It's always painful and it's always tedious. I'm constantly doing it, along with a huge number of comrades. We're stuck in a never ending hunt. Sometimes I'm content, but other times I can't stand it.
It seems simple. We have this task, and we're ordered to do it. I've trained for this. In less than a day, I'm ready for action, and my skills are completely augmented. Humans run at the sight of me.
But it's not simple. Not all humans run, and some are brutal towards me. They hate me with a vengeance, and they want to take me out. They have weapons and friends that are even stronger than I am, and I pay the consequences.
It's not always so bad though. A lot of times, we have other responsibilities. We don't always have to fight them. Like the one time several weeks ago where I was part of a crew that had to steal something. It was actually sort of fun. And I managed to leave with my acquisition in tow before the enemies showed up. My friends behind me... they were gone in minutes. So was our taskmaster. At least I got out okay.
Sometimes, I try to think of what my life would be like if I weren't bred for this solitary purpose. If I were like some of the people we go after. Born in a family, raised for several years, grown to become a person designed to do various things in life totally different from the things I do. Sometimes I like the thought, but most of the time, it feels totally alien. My goal in life has been drilled in to me from the start so completely that it takes pure effort to imagine myself anywhere else.
Urgh. Looks like I've just been ordered out. And we're up against our usual foes too. Maybe I'll get lucky this time and not get killed.
We've been sent to assist two of our leaders in battle. One of the leaders is a woman I'm used to, but the other one seems to be new, though our general apparently knows of him. He seems trustworthy enough. Big. Strong. Maybe we will win this time, if he's backing us.
So we're sent out to an abandoned area. Abandoned because the humans have already run for it, it seems. But wait... someone new? And he's dressed like the ones we usually fight too. Great, another one. Wasn't six of them more than enough? At this rate, we might end up with ten of them before the year is over.
This one is brutal too. One of my friends just got sent into the air, twirling several times, before landing hard on his back, just from one little sweep!
And he's taunting us too. He called us rusty! And said we're not even a challenge!
Oh shoot, he's right. We're not a challenge. He's taking us out one by one... and he just took out two of my allies at the same time with a backwards double kick! And here he goes, backflipping over the entire group... oh crap, he's coming at me. Oh crap. OH CRAP -shzzt-