Unmei Force Solitary Legends: Steel Avengers
Chapter 1: Big Team in Little City
Down in a large city in Africa…
The group reappeared at their destination inside of the city, as they were within the dark alleys of the city, where no-one could detect their sudden arrival, as the teleportation left a energy signature that no tech in this world could detect, meaning that their arrival was unknown to all.
"Well, we made it here safe." Richard answered back, before he then tapped his ear-piece communicator. "Erika, you still there?"
"I'm right here." Erika conveyed to the rest of the team, as whatever communicator device they had, display a screen with Erika's face on it, not too different to the Codex comms system invented in this world. "Don't worry about me. Worry about the fact that there is a certain individual blocking the path of President N'mani and his escort. I suppose that most of you know what's going to happen next. It's just a few turns ahead."
"Well then, Raiden." Richard stated, using Jack's formal designation, turning to him with a smirk. "You want a piece of Jetstream Sam bad? Then go get him. Just make sure that you don't try to go overboard trying to slam his ass across the pavement. You've got the superior blade after all."
"Heh, you kidding? I was gonna save that for later. I'll hold him off. You guys run ahead and make sure Sundowner doesn't get the President this time." Raiden said, going off to find Jetstream Sam.
"Alright, you know the drill, eradicate the Desperado forces around the area, and ensure that the president gets out safely." Siege informed the rest of the group.
"Right then, you heard him! Let's rock!" Richard shouted, before he then sped up and rushed through the streets, as Reisen and Gus quickly followed him.
Siege, Lif and Thrasir was not too far behind them, as the group managed to make the final turn, as they just came in time to see that one of the escort trucks beside the black limo with the African president inside of it was halted by a direct rocket strike. The moment the soldiers inside tried to exit the vehicle, the cyborg Desperado units were on them, as they were masked men in guerilla suits with mass-produced HF blades, which they cut through the African soldiers with. A truck with a large metal barrier drove through the path that the limo was heading through, blocking its path.
"That's our cue!" Líf shouted to Siege.
"You got it, go, go, go!" Siege said, as they rushed up to the cyborgs, Thrasir getting their attention with gunshots, as her shots, empowered with hidden magic and technological power, made quick work of the cyborgs, tearing holes through their bodies, which scared the African president inside the limo, as the presidential guard driving the vehicle looked at the group with caution.
The African soldiers were confused when they saw Siege's group attacking the Desperado soldiers, as they didn't know whether they were friend or foe. However, when Richard rushed over, and joined the fray, as he sliced through the head of one of the cyborg terrorists while coming to a halt, before then slicing through the soldiers, as Gus providing support with his rifle, scoring head-shots that blew the cyborg's heads off, and Reisen leaping onto the building where the RPG-wielding soldier was, and slicing his arms and legs off, before crushing his neck mercilessly with a well-aimed stomp, it was clear to the African military forces, and the president inside, that the six of them came to help. This was further proven when a cyborg was about to stab the president through the window, when Líf got in some slashes, and used a bit of Zandaitsu to cut open the cyborg and rip his spine out.
"Dead-on!" Líf said, crushing the spine as his armor absorbed the nanites in the spine to enhance Líf/heal his damage if he had taken any.
As soon as all of the troops inside of the area were eradicated, Richard then walked over to the limo, before banging his hand against the side which the president was next to.
"Hey, President N'mani here?" Richard asked back with a casual tone, unbefitting of his intimidating presence.
"I-In here! S-so good of you to come!" The President said in his panic, as Siege soon looked at him with a reassuring smile.
"Don't worry, we'll get you to safety. Hey Erick, Therese, think you can get that truck out of the way?" Siege asked.
"Thank you, but who are you people…? I never heard of a PMC like you." N'mani asked back with concern.
"Why, if you know us, then we ain't doing a good job." Richard smirked back, before he then leaned back from the side of the car. "We're sort of what you could black-ops, except in PMC form. Since you're just our contracted individual, you deserve to know us. We're part of Valhalla Company, a PMC that is infamous for being the shadow that protects figures known to the world. You can rest in peace, we're the best because any PMC who was our opponent...Well, you saw how skilled we are."
"I got it." Líf answered back, before he then walked over, and sliced through the truck, and the metal walls that were connected to it, until there was nothing but metal scraps on the ground, which astonished N'mani…
"A-Amazing…" N'mani remarked back. "Who ordered your contract to protect me…?"
"Sorry, but that's client confidentiality to you." Siege answered back firmly. "We can't exactly leak information about who hired us. However, we can assure you, the price paid for you, is worth your life and all the influence you can bring."
Richard then leapt onto the top of the limo, as the presidential guard driver looked up with an irritated look.
"Get moving, we'll follow after your car." Richard told the driver of the limo.
The driver of the limo didn't have any reason to argue, as he continued to move, while Richard maintained perfect balance on the top of the moving vehicle, while the others seemed to run at the same pace as the driving car. Seeing that he was in good hand, N'mani took the moment to let out a sigh of indescribable relief.
After a moment, the car managed to drive by one of the docks, as something suddenly appeared out of the surface of the water, being a large bipedal mecha unit, with large stumped legs, a beak-like head, and long cylindrical back-thrusters, all painted in black and red.
At that moment, N'mani's panic returned, as he exclaimed in horror, before the group turned to face it.
"Well, is that all they can throw at us. Hah! This will be child's play-" Richard mocked.
Before Richard could finish his sentence, 2 more of the same unit breached the water surface, before they let out a synchronised cry. At this change of the situation, Richard silenced himself, with a intrigued expression.
"Huh, looks like someone REALLY wants you dead, Mr President." Richard remarked, before he then flipped off the top of the limo. "Right then, time to get serious. Alex, Ayase, please take care of our target, will you? I've been itching for a moment to re-enact David and Goliath in the modern ages."
Gus and Reisen immediately moved beside the limo, as they covered both flanks, while Siege raised an intrigued eyebrow at Richard's naming of his companion, although he left those questions for a later time, and also decided to play along,and moved to take care of one of the mecha units.
"Erick, Therese, I'm sure that you can take care of the last one." Siege ordered his teammates, who nodded at their name change.
"I'll take it down." Líf said. "Therese, you don't mind helping take care of our target?"
"Of course, Erick." Thrasir said, taking position with Reisen and Gus.
N'mani was shocked again at this development, as he saw that it was a ideal 1 vs 1 scenario for each member, against these mecha units. The fact that they choose to duel them individually, despite the size difference, and the weaponry inside those mechs, meant that N'mani felt very fortunate that they weren't in the same category as Desperado Inc, otherwise he would certainly be dead the first time they met.
The three immediately engaged their mechas, as they forced them into different areas, luring them away from the president. On Richard's end of the battle, he was swiftly moving around the mech's legs, as he hacked away with blinding speed, cutting through the armour protecting it within mere moments, exposing the vulnerable inner armour-plating of the mechanical limbs.
When both legs were stripped of their armour, he then engaged his own form of Zandaitsu, as his perception sped up to slow things to a crawl with aid from his magic, as he sliced through the legs of the mech without any trouble, leaving it unable to move at all. With the opponent immobile, he didn't waste any time rushing up its back, from its swaying tail, before he then jumped up and drove the entire blade right through the central unit inside the mech's head, as it let out a staticky death-screech, before falling still, before parts of it began to explode.
On Siege's hand, the hardened soldier took a much more brutal approach, as he dodged every attack aimed at him with superhuman speed, as the plasma cannon beams from the mech's head didn't even graze him at all. He then jumped up right toward the central mass of the mech, before he then bisected it with a wide cleaving strike that cleanly split it in two. While he was in the air, he entered his own form of Zandaitsu, as he cut the upper half of the mech to pieces, before the lower half toppled backwards, smoking black and erratically sparking from the damage caused.
For Líf, his way of dealing with the mech was quite humiliating, as he made it so that the armour of the mech was completely in pieces by the end of his battle, as he rendered the mecha without any protection for whatever attack he had planned. With a powerful leap, he then sliced through the mech from the centre, as the two halves fell apart. HF Sokkvakebr sparked as Líf smiled behind the mouth guard he had on.
"Didn't even stand a chance." Líf chuckled, before turning to head back.
As for the other three, while N'mani waited for the coast to be clear, Reisen suddenly noticed something coming down towards them from a skyscraper, as she fired a few shots at the falling individual, although the shot didn't do much at all. She then braced, quickly using her combat knife, while Thrasir rushed forward, as she had her blade at the ready. Their blades were suddenly clashed down by scissor-like blades, their force empowered by gravity itself, although the two female operatives braced well, before they then knocked them and their user away.
Gus then prepared his rifle, before aiming at the individual, who was a man clad in a black exoskeleton, with a bald head that had a barcode on the centre of it, and a facial mask that covered his lower face. He then chuckled maliciously, before he then twirled his scissors blade around.
"I'll admit, you kids impress me." The man said, who's only known name was Sundowner. "But not enough." He added with a smirk, as he kicked Thrasir in her ribcage, sending her crashing into the limo.
Reisen growled, before she then fired her hand-gun at him several times, although Sundowner used his blades to block the shots, and dodge the rest, before he then rushed at Reisen, before then attacking her with his blades. Reisen countered with her combat knife, as she moved so that one blade's swing would always miss her, while parrying the other with her knife. However, Sundowner quickly got used to her pattern of dodging, as he managed to tag her against the side with his blade, making her flinch enough from pain, as he slammed her with an overhead swing that slammed her down to the ground.
With Reisen dazed, and Thrasir still recovering, as she backed away, with a increasingly more fearful N'mani watching the 'Valhalla Company' operators get overpowered by Sundowner, Sundowner himself decided to click his two blades into place, creating a proper battle scissors. Gus tried to stop him, as he used his rifle to fire several shots at him, although it was blocked, and Gus was forced to reload, long enough for Reisen to be scooped up between the blades, as he slowly applied pressure on them, as they dug into her neck, as she groaned in pain.
"Such a beautiful woman… Shame I have to kill ya!" Sundowner mocked, before Thrasir finished her recovery, as she tackled Sundowner at the right spot, knocking them both back, before she then swung down at Sundowner, as he rolled to the side. Thrasir wasn't done there however, as she fired at him, grazing his neck good with a bullet.
"AGH! Bitch!" Sundowner yelled, charging at Thrasir, who jumped over his attack… and kicked him straight in the back of the head to stun him momentarily.
"Alex, now!" Thrasir yelled at Gus to take advantage.
Gus immediately slammed the magazine in, before letting his rifle rip into Sundowner, as the bullets dug into his own flesh, penetrating through his armoured suit, as he growled in pain. However, Sundowner had something else planned, as he pulled out a flashbang he hidden on himself, before throwing it in the middle of the group, right below him, and activating the proper polarising processes for his eyes to negate its effects.
"Oh no… FLASHBANG!" Thrasir warned Reisen and Gus, closing her eyes and covering her ears as best she could.
They did the same, before the flashbang detonated in a flash of light and white noise, although Reisen did it briefly enough, as she readied her side-arm, expecting Sundowner to charge at them.
However, when the light subsided, Sundowner already punched through the limo doors, and kidnapped N'mani, who was struggling in his grip, slung over the Desperado mercenary's shoulder.
At that time, Richard, Siege and Lif returned back, to see that N'mani was in Sundowner's hands.
"Oh shit! Sundowner got him!" Siege cried in concern.
"So then, more of you here…" Sundowner stated, addressing all six of them.
"Huh, and you're the one leading those mercenaries that are after him. What do you want, his life or what he possesses?" Richard asked back, raising his blade at him.
"I want him… dead… Nothing personal, of course." Sundowner answered back. "Afraid just getting a bit too peaceful around here."
"So, you expect us to cry for you?" Richard taunted back with a sneer. "You know the rule about PMCs, we don't give a shit about our competitors. So you're going to end up dead when we're done with you, unless you decide to drop this shit here."
"Hah! You got balls, kid!" Sundowner barked back, before he then turned away. "Then ya ought to know, even since they shut down SOP. 'A clean break from the war economy', they say. Well, some of us liked that economy. How's an honest warmonger supposed to make a living?"
"We could care less. Hand over the president." Reisen threatened back, with her hand-gun raised to shoot.
"Heh, don't worry, I ain't going to kill him yet. Not while he's useful." Sundowner answered back, before he then turned around and leapt on top of one of the buildings. "So long…"
He then laughed, before he disappeared over the ledge.
"I'll chase him down!" Líf soon said. "You guys check on the others!"
"Who else? That president is our sole concern!" Gus shouted back. "And Jack only needs two people at most to handle Jetstream Sam at the worst!"
With a nod, Líf began to chase Sundowner to try and get the President back, while Gus sighed with frustration. "Screw it… I'm following after Erick." Gus stated, making sure not to call Lif's name out. "You guys check on Raiden."
"Alright. Take care." Richard responded back, before the other four immediately made their way, turning back towards where Sam and Jack were potentially fighting over.
Lif was chasing Sundowner through the rubble, as he navigated quite quickly through it. However, he was surprised to see Gus keeping pace with him, as he was chasing both Lif and Sundowner as well.
"What are you doing here, I told you to-" Lif tried to tell Gus.
"Rei has it handled with Siege, Ayase, and Therese." Gus answered back. "This guy can't be tackled alone. He's not as weak as he seems."
"I have this under control Alex!" Líf said back in a slightly angered tone as he avoided more rubble, nearly to the point of catching Sundowner. "I don't need you getting hurt!"
"Code of honour for us, we don't let our teammates work alone in dangerous situations like this." Gus answered back firmly. "The others got it handled. I may as well lend a helping hand to all of this."
They soon managed to corner Sundowner at one of the railway crossings, as there was a large number of African troops and vehicles behind them, and Lif and Gus on the other. Sundowner eyed both sides, before he then heard the sound of a train approaching, before he smirked viciously, before he then leapt onto the moving train.
"After him! He can't get away with the President!" Gus shouted, before the two of them start sprinting after the train, managing to keep pace with it long enough for them to make a powered jump onto the back of the train just as it left the city, and into the rocky outskirts.
It just so happened that Jack was on the train as well, having followed Sam on to the train during their sword battle. They were still going at it when Sam noticed Líf and Gus, smirking at Raiden slyly.
"Really? So even you need someone to help you?" Sam chuckled at Jack as Jack looked to see Líf and Gus.
"What the hell are you two doing here!?" Jack asked Gus and Líf.
"Sundowner got the President, we're here to make sure he doesn't kill him." Líf said.
"I'll hold off this guy then. Get to that prick before it's too late!" Raiden roared, before he then charged Sam, as the two of them were in a dead-lock with their blades.
Gus and Lif immediately rushed to Sundowner, as he already had N'mani chained against the back of the carriage, as he tauntingly slid his blade under the president's neck, as the African groaned in pain. He then noticed them drop down, before facing them.
"Hah! Too little, too late, heroes! I won't be needing my little shield here any longer!" Sundowner mocked them, before he then raised his blade right at N'mani's neck.
"He shall not die as long we are protecting him!" Gus roared, as Lif charged at Sundowner, while Gus fired his rifle at the Desperado operative.
Sundowner reacted instinctively to counter the bullets with his blade, although he was then forced to block Lif's attacks, as they pushed him back, before he was grappled by Lif, and thrown on top of the carriage, while Gus moved over, and shot the chains off the African president, allowing him to drop down, groaning in pain from the cauterised wound on his neck from Sundowner.
"President N'mani. Are you alright?" Gus asked the president softly and gently, so as to not make the president panic any further.
"Yes… Yes, I'm fine…" He answered back after a bit of hesitation.
Meanwhile, Sundowner looked at Líf with a glare. "So you kids do have some tricks up your sleeve. It doesn't matter though! I still don't need my little shield here!" Sundowner said, looking to see an airship come in to pick him up. "See you all later! Government's still going to shit, even if ya save the president!"
Lif growled, before the same airship moved over to where Sam and Jack were fighting, as the two of them were quite even, neither yielding to the other, as there was several minor wounds on both of their bodies. Sam then noticed the rappel line danging before him, before he then faced Jack and smirked.
"Not bad, pretty boy. You got a good blade to bring to a swordfight, and you got the skill to use it as it is purposed for." Sam remarked, before he grabbed the rappel line and rose towards the air-ship. "If we meet again, we'll have our fated duel!"
Raiden then watched as the Desperado air-ship disappeared over the horizon. A few moments after that, the group's own dropship arrived, as it was a standard transport carrier from Siege's army.
"How did things go?" Siege asked, poking his head out from the side door of the vehicle.
"President N'mani is alive and accounted for. Although…" Gus answered back.
"The government is already in ruins, since they might have taken out the other members of the government." Lif stated. "It's a small victory in the fact of a great loss."
"Looks like we have our priority task then. Come on, let's get out of here, and send the president back where he belongs." Siege stated, as he gestured for Lif, Gus and Jack to enter the airship, as they did so, one by one, while Gus carried the African president over his shoulder, before it then left the country.