-Fall Of The Falcon-
People flooded in and out of Atlas plaza, the occasional tourist looking up in awe of the magnificent statue that stood there, then only to look upon the strange congregation of men and women that stood beneath it. Hank liked to watched the plaza, spotting the newbies who had only just become acquainted with their various talents and abilities. "Broken? You there?" Hank heard over his com, breaking him from the mystified stare over Atlas Plaza, "Yeah, What is it Weibe?", Hank responded in his monotonous way. Hank, not possessing a voice-box due to an accident in his past, was only able to speak by a special device implanted in his throat and directly connected to his brain. "Well, I am in need of your help my friend..."
Over on the opposite side on the city, a gunfight had erupted, stray bullets flying everywhere and standing right in the middle of the conflict were two lone heroes. "BACK OFF, DON'T MAKE ME USE ZE GRENADE!" yelled the smaller of the two as he hurled two small objects into the crowd of outcasts. The second of the two stood significantly taller than his human counterpart, a hellish vision that had been known to send even the most stoic Gardvord running for cover, the demonic Usurpo Morticus roaring in confusion as the outcasts moved to flank them.
Hank rose to his feet and headed towards his friend Weibe's homing signal, five hundred pounds of metal and flesh moving faster than humanly possible. He had met Weibe only a few months before but had built a strong friendship with the German soldier, Hank had no intention of letting him get hurt. Hank weaved in and out of traffic, jumping over the occasional truck and calculating the odds of Weibe surviving a conflict by himself. The odds didn't come up good. "Divert all available power to oscillation units, deactivate shields, streamline chassis" Hank commanded his metallic form, attempting to gain as much speed as possible.
"ME CRUSH" roared and angered Usurpo as he rushed towards the outcasts that had foolishly tried to sneak up on him and Weibe, grabbing the first by his throat and lobbing him towards a group of his friends with one hand and drawing a monolithic iron great sword his back with the other.
Hank's speed increased as he jumped the barriers separating Park from The Hollows, the robotic part of his mind searching maps of the sector for a path to his friend.
Weibe dropped to the ground moaning as he watched his camouflaged camouflaged a scarlet hue and an outcast Brick approach him.
" Powercells low Discontinue movement " Hank's robotic body complained as his speed increased again, "Divert power from battle cells".
The Brick lurched backwards in pain as the electricity shot from Weibe's finger tips, his body convulsing as Weibe hit him with ten thousand volts of justice. Weibe collected himself and crawled behind a crate to tend to his wounds. "ganz gut..." he said under his breath. One of the terrified outcasts dropped back on his haunches and crab crawled away from the rampaging demon, only to be pinned to the ground by a flying broadsword. "USURPO KILL LITTLE FIRE MAN!" Usurpo cried as he advance on the immobilized and terrified Heater.
Hank could hear the gunshots now, the unmistakable cacophony of gun and mutant combat. He watched as yet another powercell depleted and continued speeding towards the gunfight.
"GET THE DEMON YOU IDIOTS!" yelled a man on the edge of the battleground, a barrage of "YES SIR!" following shortly after. Weibe's English wasn't exactly great, but he knew the outcast were ignoring him now, focusing rather on his more destructive counterpart. "Tis never very good to ignore an injured blaster" He sneered, clearing the crate he hid behind and throwing several small devices into the group surrounding Usurpo. Weibe smiled widely as he unleashed a torrent of electrical energy onto the closer outcasts that remained un-affected by his smoke bombs, then turning his attention to those that had (And hadn't been disemboweled by Usurpo). Weibe shot two twin streams of lightning at his targets and downed three outcasts, only to then drop back and groan as two more bullets penetrated his Armour. Usurpo swung his sword widely, hewing several unsuspecting outcasts, then slamming the one in front of him with a vicious left hook. The fanatical demon turned towards new, more conscious targets, and drove his head towards that of a surprised Cooler. The Cooler fell backwards but then sprang forward, a feint that easily fooled the slow witted demon, and drove his two ice coated hands into the surprised scrappers face.
"Remaining Power to shields and intro-scan combat system" Hank said as he rushed towards the back line of outcast initiates, activating his combat systems and pumping a strange green drug through his veins. Needless to say the first initiate was rather surprised to see a six foot tall Cy-Borg throttle his friend and him at the same time.
Usurpo stumbled backwards into two nearby Bricks, only to be flung forward by two rocky jabs. Weibe stood defiantly as five Shockers descended on him, each with a sadistic smile on his face. Drawing every last ounce of strength in his numb body and flinging it at the blue skinned outcasts. The bolt struck the first Shocker and jumped between the other four like a sick game of pinball, but none seemed too phased by the attack and instead drew on its power and hurled it back at the wounded Weibe. The soldier was thrown from the wooden crate he lay upon and landed in the shadows of three other Outcast Coolers, he watched weakly as the trio smiled and moved in.
One of the outcasts, with fresh stitches in his head, yelled over the dissonance "IT'S HIM! THE BROKEN SENTINEL!" with a genuine tone of fear in his voice. Hank had kicked the proverbial ass of too many outcasts to remember specific faces, but this one appeared to remember him, Hank moved in-humanly fast towards the outcast and punched him square in the chest, sending him hurtling towards his friends and Allys. He then omitted a deep prerecording of his own mechanical voice "HEY YOU, LEAVE THEM ALONE!", a favored taunt of his that almost always got his opponents attention.
Weibe closed his eyes and waited for the inevitable clutches of agony, but to his surprise, nothing happened. Weibe slowly opened one eye to see that the outcasts had turned their attention to a blurry figure of in the distance, he smiled and drifted into unconsciousness "Ich werde es gut". Usurpo grabbed his sword out of the Heaters body and swung predictably at the rock commanding duo, only to have both evade his attack and counter with two uppercuts. He half roared, half moaned as he brought his sword back to cut into the one Brick's back, downing the surprised outcast. His partner responded by swinging his own, newly created, granite sword at the demon only to have it explode off of Usurpo's rock hard flesh.
Hank feinted, parried and dodge most of the outcasts incoming attacks, and the ones he failed to avoid simply impacted a shield surrounding Hank's entire body. The outcasts slowly met and fell to the unyielding blows of The Valiant Broken Sentinel, one by one being knocked down and out by the Herculean hero. He made his way through the group of outcasts, dodging and absorbing everything the flustered mutants could throw at him. Hank scanned the area in hope of locating Weibe. The ground was slathered in a soup of bodily fluids, powdered rock, and recently melted water, too brutal and too much for Weibe to inflict alone. A roar of unbridled rage shook the alley and rattled Hanks sensors. Usurpo!" Hank muttered with surprise.
Usurpo grew increasingly frustrated with the rather hardy Bricks, who as well as taking a lot of punishment, refused to beg for mercy, Usurpo's favorte part of the job. "Where Shocky-man?" Usurpo moaned, in reaction to the numerous energy blasts that were beginning to pummel him from all angles. His acutely sensitive nose picked up Weibe's scent just a few feet to his left, just behind a few initiates, no problem. The pavement split as Usurpo swung his sword with all his might in the initiates direction. Too slow to dodge the titanic blow the unfortunate outcast was eye-level with the ground momentarily, as well as a few inches shorter.
Webe's body lay motionless in Usurpo's vision, like a beacon of defeat. The control chip at the base of Usurpos nerve center screamed, a banshee wailing of death to come. Usurpo was compelled into a fit of raw anger, hatred and fear, all mixed together into a cauldron of bubbling destruction. An eruption of dark energy exploded through the ranks, searing the skin of those nearby, and blowing those near and far alike off their feet. The wall of sanity crumbled in Usurpo's mind, leaving scarce little left of his sanity. Usurpo dropped his sword and charged the nearest outcast with all the furry of the nine hells licking at his bootstraps. The outcast felt nothing as Usurpo tore into him like a train entering the side of a mountain. A shower of warm juices splattered those nearby. A brick who had righted himself charged the demon, who looked more like death incarnate than anything else, in a hope to end Usurpo's rampage before it could begin. Not sane enough to dodge the blows Usurpo roared with masochistic glee as blow after granite blow connected. His attacks for the most part ineffective, the Brick attempted to flee. His neck constricted as Usurpo's tainted grasp caught his jugular. A listless gleam fell across the brick's eyes, and he fell like a rag doll to the pavement.
Hanks eyes widened as the satanic energy forced him back, and amidst the the fog of dust, pavement and incapacitated outcasts he realized, there's only one reason Usurpo would release the raw power of his diabolical heritage "Weibe?". Hank broke into a full sprint, ducking the flying outcasts and searching for life forms amongst the carnage the Demon Morticus had dealt. Hank stumbled upon a crumpled form, the only humanoid with camo on. Forgetting that Weibe would be fine regardless, forgetting about first aid, forgetting about the grid... Hank snapped. Hank dropped down and shoulder-tackled the nearest standing outcast, driving a steel covered shoulder into the Cooler's back, trampling over the injured mutant and drilling his fist into the next nearest target, a hovering shocker. Usurpo's swings and jabs became more wild, direct and feral, the thin film of restraint ripped from him at the sight of his downed comrade. The demon drove his hand deep into a dying heater's chest and squeezed the mutants insides, twisting them and then ripping them out. Usurpo then threw the remnants of his previous opponent at a nearby shocker with such force that the shocker dropped out of the air almost immediately. Usurpo savored nothing from his victories and continued onto his next victim, a terrified and retreating initiate, picking the running enemy up by his neck and hurling him at a brick on his left. The brick fell to the ground on the impact of his flying ally and watched helplessly as the monstrous Usurpo advanced on him.
"LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT, RIGHT, SLAM, SLAM, SLAM!" Hank's thoughts echoed as he trampled the remaining outcasts before him, using his titanic power to down single opponents effortlessly. What was left of his humanity stopped him from killing the outcasts, but he still took great pleasure in mangling their bodies and thrusting them into retreating targets. His H.U.D. flashing signs and warnings that he either ignored or, in his angered state, didn't understand. Outcast after outcast met their fate at the end of Hank's fists, until Hank had worked his way back to the initiates on the opposite end of the battleground. The now simple task of dispatching the outcasts became easier as Hank worked against the weaker, less experience Outcast Initiates. Hanks eyes widened as he saw Usurpo pummeling a down Brick, regaining his lost heroism and composure, he shot towards the demon.
Being the last breathing target he had, Usurpo repeatedly jammed the Brick's now bloody head into the ground, not even noticing that the mutants terrified cries had long since ended. "HAHA, USURPO SMASH AND CRUSH AND BREAK STUPID ROCKMAN!" he roared in glorious satisfaction, his blood lust ebbing as he continually beat the dying mutant. Hank tried to move his maximum speed but found that all but his last powercell were depleted, and emergency protocal preventing him from using anymore excess power. He gathered his strength and lance himself into the demon, throwing both him and Usurpo over about five feet. Usurpo gasped as the air escaped his lungs and lay panting on the ground his wounds preventing his movement, his rage subsiding. Hank looked around and surveyed the damage, about fifty injured or dead outcasts. "Baulder, Sentinel to Baulder" Hank spoke into his com. "Baulder here, watcha need, hey this is Hank aint it?"-"None of that right now, why hasn't the grid transported Weibe to a hospital?"-"What you mean? One sec I'll check his grid stats... What the?"-"What?"-"Weibe isn't on the grid... When was he assigned?". Hank didn't respond, he rushed towards his downed friend picking up Weibe and rushing towards the nearest exit. "Hank? HANK? Whats happening, whats wrong with Weibe?" Hank didn't listen...
Thanks for reading this, and if you have any comments, feel free to present it.
