AN: Ugh, sorry for taking so long. I messed my sleeping schedule up last week somehow... right now I'm going to bed at 8-10 AM and not getting up till 4 or 6 PM.
Anyhow...
Just a few things to address first regarding some reviews I got, since I figure I should be responding to these more often. I know for a bit I was but then for some reason stopped... well, might as well start up again.
Thunderstruck170: Thank you for your kind words, glad to see people from back before I took those 2 massive hiatus coming back for more. I can assure you, I won't be abandoning this fic, because this is a story I want to tell. Thankfully I've managed to stick pretty good to my update schedule since then. If anything I would like to update more but... sadly, life.
Linkonpark100: That's actually part of the reason why there are no characters tagged in this fic... even though some clearly get more attention then others. I like keeping the whole romance thing open an ambiguous.
TheBloodyNightmare: Ugh... Riot... always sticking wrenches in my plans since day one. Honestly, the jury is still out on that one... I'm either going to keep Eve's old lore and appearance, go back and edit it to make her appearance and personality fit her new lore, or take that entire part out. Unfortunately, I HATE retconing stuff... hence why this story still uses the League of Legends and other older lore elements. Eve will still appear in this story... I'm just not 100% sure on how yet.
Guest: Yes, sorry about the wait.
Anyhow, enjoy the new chapter... shit is about to go down.
Guardian's Sea, near Western Ionia
The waters of the enormous Guardian's Sea, that separated Ionia from mainland Valoran, parted ways for the massive metal vessels that cut through the waves at a steady pace under the gaze of Runeterra's moon. The Ascension's 2nd Flotilla, consisting of two supercarriers, three smaller aircraft carriers, and several escort cruisers and destroyers, had arrived at it's destination.
The engines of the VTOLs docked aboard the aircraft carriers roared to life. Hundreds of Ascension soldiers, from regular infantry to shock troopers, to banshees, all scrambled to get aboard dropships and larger transports.
In the bridge of one of the two supercarriers, various operators and COMs officers scrambled about, getting everything organized as the inevitable chaos broke out as Operation Attila began; all the while the fleet's admiral and captain of said supercarrier stood and watched the controlled chaos on the deck below.
"Op is a go." One of the operators spoke into her mic, "I repeat, op is a go."
The fleet's admiral nodded to himself as he watched dozens upon dozens of dropships take off from his ship's flight deck. Those same dropships then grouped up with the others that took off from the nearby ships. The admiral watched with a pleased face as he eyed a heavy lander take off, with a pair of tanks hooked underneath.
The admiral turned from the viewing port and went over to his chair, taking a seat and tapping a button on his armrest, causing a holo-screen to appear in front of him. The screen was filled with status charts, showing him the progress of the deployment. Upon seeing that he already had 15% of the force in the air, he nodded to himself, but frowned when he saw the number of available Avenger gunships read zero.
He disliked being reminded that his fleet's sole Avenger had been lost at Bilgewater. Oh well, he still had a dozen Revenants. They were smaller attack VTOLs, but they would get the job done.
His eyes fell upon the button with the words META-HUMANS on it. After staring at it for a few seconds his finger tapped it, causing a new screen to appear which listed the meta-humans being sent on the operation.
Knowing that he should make sure the unpredictable yet incredibly powerful superhumans were where they should be, he started from the top of the list and COM's them all.
"This is Admiral Cole, all metas report in." He spoke in a commanding tone.
Six new screens appeared in front of him, showing the various profile pictures of each meta-human.
The first one to light up was Flammenschwert's, face hidden behind his helmet.
"This is Flammenschwert. I'm doing quite well, thank you for asking Admiral." The admiral rolled his eyes at Flammenschwert's response, annoyingly reminded that just because Flammenschwert liked to quip.
"Thiiiiiiiiiiis is Mania!" The second picture lit up as a new, energetic female voice spoke up along with it. "I'm in the air annnnnnnnd ready to have some fun!"
The admiral looked at Mania's profile picture, as her profile picture was the only one that actually showed her face. It displayed a young female face with toothy smirk and long blood red hair that flowed down out of the picture, yet Cole felt uneasy at Mania's picture. It had something to do with her mismatched eyes of yellow and red and clear look of insanity on her face.
That, and the fact that her teeth were like that of a shark's.
Moving on from one of the Ascension's craziest meta-humans, the next image that lit up belonged to Starscream.
"This is Starscream. I'm aboard." He called in, short and sweet, just how admiral Cole liked it.
At least… he would have, if Flammenschwert didn't chime in.
"Don't fuck it up this time." Flammenschwert's voice was slightly hostile.
Cole cut them both off the channel before an argument could break out. Seeing how he had laid all the ground work for the last operation, Flammenschwert was still understandably upset with Starscream for his failure in capturing Syndra.
Moving on from the two of them, the next meta-human reported in.
"Vindicator here." A chilling voice echoed in Cole's ears, and said no more. Instead, Vindicator's icon flashed green, giving the admiral his status.
Seeing how that was all he had to say, the next meta-human on the list spoke up.
"Valkyrie here, I'm boarding my dropship now." A woman with a Swedish accent said.
The last meta-human to speak up was the one Cole had been the most concerned about taking on this mission…
"This is Siren, I'm ready for take off."
Cole stood up from his seat and looked back out the viewing port. Off to the rear of the flight deck were ten Stormhawk Multi-role fighters, ready for take-off. The lead aircraft had white markings on the wings which were in bright contrast to the usual navy blue that graced all the Ascension's forces. The white was not meant to signify which aircraft belonged to the wing leader, but instead to signify which aircraft belonged to Siren and Siren alone.
Cole sighed. To be perfectly honest, he was relieved to have the operation underway… if only because it got wildcards like Siren and Mania off his ship.
He sat back in his seat and made to kill the channel, now that all the meta-humans had reported in. However, before he could and new seventh screen popped up, showing a new face and accompanied by a hyperactive female voice.
"Oh! Oh! Is this when I get to report in!? Do I?!" The voice was nothing shy of excited, but suddenly paused before continuing. "Hey… does the red light mean on? Does it? I thought red meant stop?"
Cole groaned. He wanted to scream back at this woman so badly, but he held his tongue. He only wanted to groan louder when Mania's voice joined in.
"I KNOW RIGHT!? Why aren't they green?!"
That was all Cole could take, and he cut those two off the channel too.
"Ugh…" Valkyrie sighed. "I can't believe we're bringing them BOTH along…"
Cole couldn't agree more with her complaint. Although it wasn't his place to question Lord Enzo.
Instead, Cole cut the entire channel off and simply took in the sight of the engines of a hundred Ascension aircraft lighting up the night sky as they zoomed off to their destination.
Ionia
Isaac held his left hand in front of his face… looking it over carefully in the darkness.
They said nerve damage… a little bit… but I've still yet to really notice anything…
Isaac frowned. Then again, he hadn't been in any life or death battles since Bilgewater… if you didn't include the part where Shyvana had tried to roast him alive for breakfast.
Guess I won't know until I push myself… maybe its related to my usage in dark matter?
Hmm… that's a thought…
"Hmm, what are you thinking about?" He heard Ahri ask, bringing him out of his thoughts.
He lowered his hand and looked down, and was greeted with the sight of two fluffy ears and a mop of black hair, curiosity the top of Ahri's head.
Of course, that's all he saw… seeing how she was using his chest as a pillow.
"Nothing important." Isaac sighed. "It's probably time I should go huh?"
Ahri groaned. "Yeah… but I wasn't going to say anything."
Isaac gave her a small grin, even though she couldn't see it.
It was already the third night since he and Ahri first had sex. Shortly after they were done he had snuck back out to sleep in his own tent to avoid causing any issues for Ahri. They WERE in the middle of an army that hated him, AND most soldiers were men after all. Isaac was cynical enough to guess what could happen if they learned Ahri was sleeping with the outworlder they hated so much.
Now that I think about it… I'm not sure how common women are in Runeterran armies… I've sure seen a hell of a lot more females serving in military roles here so far then I have on Earth at all.
Not including the Ascension of course…
Ahri didn't complain… if anything she was surprised a bit when he came back the next night. Mind you, he didn't barge in demanding anything, it started off as a conversation, albeit slightly awkward, but eventually it was pretty clear to them both that they wanted.
She didn't complain about that either… in fact she was clearly pleased… if her moaning was anything to go by.
Tonight, when he showed up in her tent, she had been expecting him.
Isaac lowered a hand down onto Ahri's head and gently played with one of her animal ears, causing her to give out a small sigh of pleasure. Unlike the sighs and moans she had been making less then an hour ago, this one was more of a sigh of content.
"Alright…" Ahri sighed again, although this one was more of a resigned sigh, "You're right, time for you to go."
Isaac fought the frown that wanted to grow on his face. As much as he had come up with the idea, and knew it was the better option, he really didn't want to leave.
Not to mention things with Syndra are already as awkward as it is…
When he had told Ahri about that, had a laugh at his expense. He couldn't blame her.
Honestly, I'm sure Syndra figured it out by now that I'm NOT training…
Whatever.
Ahri rolled off him, allowing him to get up. He made his way over to his suit and started to re-dress.
After a few seconds of silence, he looked over at Ahri, and saw that she was looking at him with a conflicted face. When she saw that he had noticed her stare, she quickly looked away with a blush.
Isaac raised an eye. "What is it? Not like it's the first time you've seen me naked."
Ahri giggled, a pleasant sound. "Oh… and I have a feeling it won't be the last either."
Isaac returned his attention back to the task at hand. "As long as you're willing, I'm willing. The moment you say stop, I'll back right off."
"Oh, how… chivalrous of you…" He heard her giggle again, "Or shall I say… heroic?"
Isaac sighed and rolled his eyes, earning another giggle from Ahri. She sure knew he hated being called that.
While a lot of the barriers between them had broken down in the last three nights… they weren't all gone. Enough though… that Ahri had no problem teasing him at every chance she got.
Still… she was compassionate enough not to bring up his past again… and he was thankful for that.
It was his past, it should stay there…
As much as you refuse to let it…
Isaac sighed as he strapped the last of his suit on, reaching over and grabbing his helmet. Although he was starting to trust Ahri more, he still had some issues on his own end.
Can you blame me…? Mind reading is hard to get past…
Isaac placed his helmet on his head. He was about to close the visor down when he heard Ahri get up and approach him in her nude-glory.
"Hey." She whispered, getting him to turn around. Before he could say anything, she gave him a small peak on the lips. "Have a good night's rest, alright?"
Isaac just stood there and nodded like an idiot… earning a giggle from Ahri as she turned around and went back to bed, clearly putting in a little extra effort in swaying her hips around.
"Oh for…" He heard Mute's voice in his earpiece, his AI being able to speak again with his helmet on. "Bleeegh."
Isaac slammed his visor down in place before rolling his eyes and disabling his speaker.
"Don't Blegh me!" He fired back at his sassy partner as he poked his head out of Ahri's tent, making sure the coast was clear. When he was satisfied it was, he emerged and made his way back to his own tent. "Weren't you pushing me to get some action?"
Mute rolled her eyes, appearing in her usual spot. "Oh, of course. But I didn't mean get lovey-dovey with her."
"I'm not getting… lovey-dovey…" Isaac almost had to force the last two words out. "Seriously, who says shit like that? Out of date software?"
"Oh, don't YOU even start!"
Look at em… Luka sighed as he watched Archangel's retreating form, taking a quick sip from his flask. Good to see he's found something… err, someone to enjoy.
Archangel was always a perceptive one… spying on him wasn't easy. But thankfully Luka was smart enough to keep a pretty big distance from him and Archangel as he watched his teammate make his way back to his tent.
Of course, Luka knew what Archangel was up to, he knew he was sleeping with that Ahri chick. He had supected it for obvious reasons after the fox-girl had talked to him a few days prior, and he had followed Archangel last night to confirm it. He hadn't been following him with malicious intent, no. He had been following him to find out where Ahri slept, so that if she did something to him… like wipe his mind clean or something, he knew where to find her.
However, it was the second shadow he saw stalking Archangel the night before that warranted him to make a second stalking session.
Annnnd on that note…
Luka grinned as he noticed something moving between tents. It was very hard to see, in fact with the naked eye Luka wasn't sure if he would have noticed the movement. Only his HUD was able to pick up any movement at all.
"Goth."
"Tracking now, mon amie."
Luka put his flask away and sealed his visor, just as Goth finished highlighting his prey for the night.
I think I've got a pretty good idea who's been following the kid… gotta be one of those ninjas.
Hopefully it would be that Sub-Zero wannabe. Luka had some words for him, and he wanted to speak to him with his fists.
Luka took a different path, he weaved around a few tents, before emerging out behind another.
Right in the path of Archangel's real stalker.
The petite green clad ninja froze up immediately upon realizing she was caught. How could she not? Blitzkrieg was standing right in front of her and he towered over her. Not to mention, he had just caught her between a tent and a large tree, with no where to run.
"Hey there." Luka grinned, trying to sound friendly. "Nice night for a stroll."
The green ninja, Akali as he recalled, slowly eased her hands down to her weapons hanging by her waist.
"… Blitzkrieg…" She greeted him, although her voice was anything but friendly.
"I suggest NOT starting a fight in the middle of the camp, mon amie." Goth advised him.
Thinking the same thing… but ball's in her court here.
Still, best to defuse the situation.
He slowly raised his hands and gave Akali a motion that said, "down boy".
"Not here for a fight… take it easy kid." He tried reasoning with the ninja.
Akali glared at him, she didn't make any more hostile moves, but she didn't relax either.
Now that he had her attention, and the imminent threat of a fight gone, he pushed forward with his question. "So… why the stalking?"
Akali didn't at first, she took a small step back, still in a fighting stance.
The two stared at one another for several long seconds, which only worked in Luka's favor… because the longer he kept her here, the farther away Archangel got.
Eventually Akali blinked first.
"Its for his own safety." She stated, finally dropping her fighting stance and relaxing… at least a bit.
Luka titled his head to the side. "Oh really? Is that what your boss is going to claim too?"
He hit the nail on the head there, and Akali knew it. She tensed up at his casual mentioning of how he knew Shen had it out for Archangel.
"I'm…" Akali began before sighing. "I'm not sure what Shen's been thinking. He hasn't been himself since-"
"I don't give a rats arsch about how your boss feels." Luka interrupted her.
Akali glared at him. "I… also don't trust Ahri."
Luka rolled his eyes. Kid, you ain't the only one…
"Look," Luka sighed, he clearly wasn't going to get anything useful from the ninja girl, so it was best to wrap this up. "I ain't gonna tell you how to live your life, but if you or your boss try to pull anymore scheisse on either me OR Archangel, and you're gonna learn the hard way. Ok?"
Akali narrowed her eyes and slowly fell back into a fighting stance. Not that Luka blamed her… he kind of DID just threaten her.
"Are you threatening me?" She asked, causing Luka to roll his eyes again.
No… I'm inviting you and your asshole of a boss to a gangbang… for fucks sake! OF COURSE I'm threatening you!
Luka turned away from Akali and started to walk away.
"Take it as you will." He muttered with a sigh, reaching down to his utility belt and grabbing his flask.
Akali did not follow him.
"Goth." Luka spoke between sips. "Let's keep this meeting between us."
"Of course, but… mon amie…" Goth's voice was a little more solemn then usual. "As much as I can only partially understand you egging our companion Archangel to seek to end his… dry spell… as you organics call it. I must voice my own objection to this."
"Why?"
"Because of the dangers it posses, and I'm not referring to the physical ones." Goth's avatar shook its head. "I'm referring to the possibility of him impregnating a female."
"He's not stupid Goth. He's young, but he's definitely not stupid."
"I'm well aware. But should the possible occur… well you know how TRANS-Ops will react to such a thing."
Luka sighed. He knew what Goth was referring to. It was something only a handful of people in TRANS-Ops were aware of, himself being one of them due to… circumstances.
No one had ever figured out if it was something Halcyon planned, or if it was some kind of overlooked accident, but the meta-human genes were hereditary.
A child of a meta-human (or meta-humans) would one day awaken to having their own meta-human powers. They would gain at least one power of their parent (or parents) and later in their teenage years develop new ones.
This was discovered after some Alphas had children of their own, and every single child found with at least one meta-human parent displayed the traits and powers of a meta-human.
In other words, it was possible to breed superhumans naturally.
When TRANS-Ops had found out about this they had moved quickly to locate any and all offspring, going through extensive loopholes and even breaking the law in order to gather the personal data on said children… and that was on top of going to very odd lengths to keep track of the meta-humans in their employ when it came to bed-room antics.
It was a very hush-hush ordeal, since TRANS-Ops was worried that if the knowledge became public, some people would panic, since it created the possibility that one day there could be meta-humans living in every city.
So TRANS-Ops kept tabs on all of them. It was a massive use of resources, but it had to be done. Once upon a time, there was even talk of sterilizing all meta-humans, but it was quickly tossed out since most meta-humans (if not all of them) would be against the idea… maybe even violently.
TRANS-Ops didn't need its own meta-humans turning against them.
As for the Ascension… well… anyone could guess as to they handled this unforeseen problem.
As far as Luka knew, he was the only one in Shadow Squad aside from Oracle who was privy to that information. Of course, that wasn't including all the AIs, but they had a subroutine in them that prevented them from being aware of that knowledge.
Except for Goth.
"We'll keep an eye on it." He finally answered his partner. "And no, I don't plan on telling him. He's got enough on his mind as it is."
"Very well mon amie…" Goth sighed. "Although, I fear to what the Ascension might do to a child that possesses the abilities of a meta-human AND the ability to use magic. Even TRANS-Ops would take immediate note of such an offspring."
Luka sighed. "We don't need to worry about this right now… but I suggest we keep that between us too."
He looked down at his flask and swished it around… his own thoughts starting to get the better of him.
All the thinking and talking about meta-human children got him remembering how shitty of a father he is…
…. Screw it, I'm getting drunk.
The Placidium, Ionia
The air was calm… only a cool breeze disturbed the sound of silence throughout the Placidium.
Inside one of the watchtowers located on one of the upper nexus, stood a pair of guards watching the night sky. They had been standing watch for hours, and the only comfort they had was that it was nearly dawn and their shift would be up.
Nearly their entire shift had been in silence, when finally, one of the guards decided to speak up and start a conversation.
"Hey?"
"Yeah?"
"You ever wonder why we're here?"
"It's one of life's great mysteries, isn't it?" The other soldier sighed, closed his eyes for a moment, then looked back up at the stars. "Why are we here? I mean, I mean, are we the product of some cosmic coincidence, a mistake of Aurelion Sol? Or are there really gods up there, watching everything? You know, with a plan for us and stuff. I don't know, man, but it keeps me up at night."
"…"
"…"
"…"
"…"
"What?!" The first guard threw his hands out, exasperated. "I mean why are we here?! In this watchtower?!"
The other soldier blinked once, then gave an awkward smile. "Oh… uh… yeah."
"What was that stuff about gods and all?"
"Uh… hm? Nothing."
"You wanna talk about it?"
"No."
"You sure?"
"Yeah."
The first soldier sighed. "Seriously though, why are we here? This is one of like… three dozen watchtowers here. The Placidium's located in the center of Ionia. Half of it's built up a mountain, the top is hanging off the side of the mountain, and anyone who attacks it has to come out of a massive forest and charge across and open field to the one entrance. THEN! They have to climb up the thousands of flights of stairs just to get to the top."
The second guard gave a mm-hmm in response.
"On top of that, there's the School of Transcendentalism, the Shojin Monastery, and who fucking knows how many other mage schools are all located here. And that's not including the two thousand full time soldiers like us here. Only an idiot would attack here!"
"Well… yeah, but the Noxians did back in the war… and what about those Ascension guys we keep hearing about?"
The first soldier was about to retort when he noticed some small flickers in the night sky.
"Hey, you see that?"
"Huh?"
The two watched carefully, and were about to shake it off when one of them picked up a spyglass took a peek.
His mouth dropped when he saw what looked like hundreds of flying objects heading for them.
Then he saw small fires ignite from underneath a few of them, sending smaller objects forwards.
He lowered the spyglass and saw those objects heading in the direction of the Placidium… and one of them was heading right for their watchtower!
The other guard scoffed. "What are those?"
The first guard tried to rack his brain for where he had seen similar objects as those smaller ones before…
Then it hit him… he had seen them in League matches.
"Missiles…" The soldier whispered.
The other guard's eyes went wide, his head darting from his partner then back to the objects heading for them. He let out another sigh as one of the missiles rapidly approached them.
"Son of a bitch…"
It was the last words he ever said as one of the missiles slammed into their tower and exploded.
"Fire fire!"
"Release the rockets!"
The Ascension COM's chatter went from silent to crazy as the assault force arrived at the Placidium. The Revenant gunships lowered their speeds to hover over the city-temple hybrid, and opened fired with everything they had.
"Avoid hitting those crystals."
"Firing, firing!"
The dropships opened their hatches as they flew overhead, some flying low enough for their soldiers to leap out, while others stayed high enough in the air for their shock troopers to jet out. As soon as the soldiers they were carrying leapt out of their ships, some of the dropships flew off back to the Flotilla to pick up the next wave, while others moved to hover over the temples to give eyes in the sky.
"First wave landing."
"Go! Go! Everyone out!"
Some of them remained overhead, hovering over the Placidium as chaos broke out. Ionian soldiers scrambled out of their barracks and guard-posts, only to be met by hails of bullets.
Flammenschwert leaned against the latch of his dropship as it hovered over the battle as it broke out. He grinned as he watched several squads of regular Ascension infantry charge out of a heavy-lander as it hit the ground in a courtyard, only to be met by a charging force of Ionian soldiers.
The Ascension soldiers opened fired at the charging Ionians, cutting several down before batlemages in the Ionian ranks raised barriers to give them just enough time to reach the invaders, causing a melee to break out just as a squad of shock troopers flew overhead and lobbed grenades into the Ionian soldiers.
"Well then…" Flammenschwert muttered to himself as he flicked his wrist, causing his many obsidian blades to float into position behind him. "Guess I better join in…"
He looked over his shoulder to the cockpit. "Hey! Pilot! Play the music!"
"Yes sir!"
Several of the dropships, Revenant, and heavy landers had loudspeakers attached to the bottoms of their craft, and they synced together to play the song Flammenschwert had requested.
Among the sounds of gunfire and explosions, music started to blare out over the Placidium, drowning the city in noise.
Flammenschwert grinned for a second as the music echoed across the city, before he suddenly frowned. He looked back over at the pilot.
"HEY!" He screamed over the sound. "I thought I requested Hell March Three! This is Hell March Two!"
"S-sorry sir! It's all I could find!"
Flammenschwert rolled his eyes as his COM link activated.
"Are we SERIOUSLY going to be listening to THIS?!" Mania groaned into his earpiece.
"Keep the COMs clear!" Vindicator shouted at them.
"Humph… whatever…" Flammenschwert sighed and leapt out of the dropship, free falling to the ground. His suit hardened just as he slammed into the cobbled stone road in the midst of a group of Ionian spearmen, who jumped away from him in surprise.
With a flick of his wrist, the blades hovering behind Flammenschwert darted around him, cutting down the Ionians in a flurry of metal and blood… all the while the meta-human laughed at finally being able to cut loose.
And he wasn't the only one…
Ionian soldiers ran out of their barracks and into the battle that raged all around them. One particular group had to turn tail and run back inside as Starscream and a squad of shock troopers strafed their position, gunning several down.
Starscream came to a halt mid air, and jerked his shoulders back. Two small missile pods emerged from the top of his shoulders, taking aim at the building the Ionians had run back in.
"Fire shoulders." He muttered the voice command. Two tiny missiles burst forwards, hitting the sides of the doorway and causing the entrance to collapse, trapping the soldiers inside.
Elsewhere a group of soldiers heard something land behind them, and turned around only to see a female Ascension soldier without a helmet on lying on her side in a seductive pose, with her red hair flowing in the wind caused by a nearby explosion.
"Heyya boys." She winked and flashed them a toothy grin, her shark teeth causing the soldiers to immediately take up fighting stances.
Two of the changed at her and she kicked off from her position and landed between them, grabbing both by the neck. Her hair suddenly spilt in two different directions, wrapping around both of their heads. She whipped her head backwards, and her hair ripped back away from the soldier's head, causing both men to scream, then go limp in her hands. The remaining soldiers backed away as soon as they saw the disfigured and dead faces of their comrades, their faces ripped to shreds by the woman's crimson hair.
Throwing her victims off to the side, Mania let out a laugh as she jerked her arms forward, causing the armor on her forearms to fall off, revealing her cybernetics. A pair of snake-blades sprouted forwards from her arms and she flailed them around, slashing at the terrified soldiers.
Higher up on the Placidium, Vindicator stepped down on a building, unslinging his sniper rifle. He took aim at the entrance to the Shojin Monastery, and as if on que the door burst open and some sagely looking man came out, a staff in hand with a bewildered look on his face.
Vindicator squeezed the trigger on his MARKS rifle, the sub-sonic round slamming into the target's chest, the kinetic impact sending his target flying back whence he came.
"Three thousand, nine hundred and forty-one." Vindicator muttered to himself and shifted his aim to a lower level of the nexus, where a summoner was watching the battle around him from a balcony. He adjusted for the difference in elevation and distance, and fired again, awarded less then a second later with the summoner's head exploding. "Three thousand, nine hundred and forty-two…"
He made to aim at another high-priority target… he and the Ghosts had to assassinate as many powerful magic-users before they snapped out of whatever stupor they were in from the surprise assault. They posed a danger to their dropships.
He made to fire again, but an arrow hit his shoulder and bounced off, causing him to miss his target. Vindicator glared down with nothing shy of total malice at the group of Ionian soldiers below him, four of whom were archers.
He leaned to the side to dodge the next arrow, and threw his sniper back over his shoulder, grabbing the pair of submachine guns that were strapped to his legs.
"ONE OR A THOUSAND, I WILL KILL THEM ALL!" He screamed as he leapt off the building, guns blazing.
On the other side of the Placidium an Ionian captain was barking orders.
"Get everyone up! Contact the summoners! Tell them we're under Ascension att-" The captain was cut off as an armored angel smashed through the window next to him. Before anyone could react, the angel, clearly armored in Ascension fashion, lunged at the captain, slashing his head off with a longsword in one fell swoop.
At the sight of their commanding officer being murdered in front of them, the soldiers panicked for a second, before their panic turned to rage.
"For Ionia!" The soldiers shouted as the charged the angel in front of them.
Valkyrie couldn't help but smile as the soldiers closed in on her… she needed a good fight.
Outside the city, the Ascension's heavy landers set down, opening their hatches and allowing their soldiers to run out.
"Let's go let's go!" A captain shouted as the Ascension regulars sprinted out of the ship, surrounding the outer reaches of Placidium. "No one gets in! No one gets out!"
The ground shook slightly as the heavy landers dropped two squadrons of Predator tanks on the ground, which roared to life, forming up a line, facing the Placidium.
"I need fire support on Section five! Let's go!" Someone shouted over a COM.
The Predator class tanks came to a halt, and the sounds of creaking metal and shifting gears filled the nearby soundwaves as the tanks transformed into a secondary artillery form. The tank's cannons grew in size, with a supporting structure appearing around the main gun as it lifted to fire at distant targets.
"FIRE!"
The eight tanks shook as the let loose a deafening volley of artillery fire at the targeted area, annihilating an Ionian barrack on an upper level of the Placidium.
"Check fire! Remember why we're here!"
"Kill the defenders! Loot the place!"
Above the now flaming Placidium, the Ascension aircraft buzzed about like a swarm of angry bees, similar as to how the Ionian defenders below swarmed out of their beloved Placidium like a disturbed colony of ants, charging into the battle with a host of battle cries of "Ionia!", only to be met with gunfire and the Ascension battle cries of "Terra Invicta!"
Standing on the lowered ramp of one of the dropships, a skinny woman clad in a custom thinner suit of the Ascension's mark three battle armor, watched the carnage below. Her pink eyes glanced around the flaming temple-city, her long twin blue braids flowing in the wind as the other occupants of her dropship leapt out and grappled down to the earth below.
She stood the for a few moments, just watching, when her earpiece crackled to life.
"Hey!" Mania's voice came in, "Jinx! Come on! Bet I can kill more!"
A grin quickly made its way across woman's face as she leapt out and grabbed the cord dangling from the rear of the dropship.
"You're on!"
Jinx descended onto the battlefield, her mini-gun blazing with a crazy grin on her face.
The second battle for the Placidium had begun.
"Ugh…" Ahri groaned. "I've had bad food before… heck, I've had nothing but bad food for years. But nothing is worse then army rations."
You can say that again… Ezreal thought as he spooned out the last bit of his own ration.
"You two complain too much." Shyvana mumbled… but it was noticeably half-assed, since she was in the middle of scowling at her own breakfast.
The three of them huddled around a campfire. The sun was just starting to crack through the trees that stood over them.
Ezreal looked around, most of the soldiers were still rousing themselves from their sleep, and most of the League champions had yet to awaken.
It had been like this nearly every morning… him, Ahri, and Shyvana being the first to awaken, with Shyvana and Ezreal the first. The two would make a campfire then break out the rations, which is generally when Ahri would emerge from her tent.
Somehow, it had turned into a ritual between the three of them… a very unlikely thing.
We must look so weird to the others… Ezreal had thought at first. A skinny blonde human, a fox vastaya, and a half-dragon crowd around a campfire... it was like the beginning to a bad joke.
"Good morning my comrades." Galio's voice greeted them as he approached. Behind him was an obviously still half-asleep Sona.
Various mummers of "morning" greeted him back, as he and Ahri scooted to the side to give Sona room to sit down. They were soon joined by Lee Sin and Soraka. Varus was no where to be found, as usual.
"Morning sleeping beauty." Ezreal smirked as he handed Sona a ration. She glared at him for a moment with heavy lidden eyes before looking down at the ration, which caused her shoulders to sink. She took it without protest though.
Must be rough… going from fine dinning like a noble to this crap…
Ezreal sighed. He couldn't blame her… these rations were shit.
At least we'll arrive at the Placidium today… we should be there before noon.
As Sona tore into her ration without any enthusiasm, Ahri let out a yawn, earning a frown from Soraka.
"Ahri dear, you look tired." She spoke softly, "have you not been sleeping well."
Ahri shook her head. "No, I'm sleeping fine… just been up late for the past few nights."
Shyvana gave her a snort. "What could YOU possibly be doing?" She asked just before she tilted her head back to take a sip from her canteen.
Ezreal felt Sona nudge him, getting his attention. He glanced at her with an eye raised and saw the half-asleep noble motioning towards a different canteen on the ground next to him.
Oh.
He handed her the water and she gave him a small smile in thanks before taking a drink.
Ezreal's eyes wandered to Ahri, where he noticed her eyes darting back and forth between Shyvana and Sona as they drank from their canteens. He did NOT like the devious smile that broke out on her face.
"Archangel." Ahri stated in a matter of fact way.
"PFFFFFFFFFFFFFT!"
"PFFFFFT!"
"Oh, what the FUCK!"
"SERIOUSLY!?"
"Ok, whose spit did I get?"
"If this is an attempt at humor, I for one am not amused."
"YOU WHAT?!"
Any further argument was halted when Galio slammed his fist into the ground.
"QUUUUIET!" He bellowed, getting everyone to stop to turn to face him… even as everyone was wiping water off their faces.
Galio however, was not paying them any attention. Instead, he was looking upwards at the sky. Ezreal followed his gaze and saw a large cloud of smoke in the distance… barely visible in the sunrise.
…. Uh oh…
Soraka gasped. "That's… that's in the direction of the Placidium!"
The sounds of war-horns broke out, and Ezreal looked back around them. The soldiers must have noticed the smoke too, because everyone was suddenly scrambling.
A lone soldier on a horse rode through the camp shouting orders.
"To arms! Get to your positions!"
"W-what?" Ezreal managed to get out. "We're under attack?"
There was a loud scuffing a few feet from him, and he turned just in time to see Shyvana racing back to her tent.
Then it hit Ezreal for real.
The smoke in the distance, the soldiers scrambling… Shyvana running to get her weapons…
They were going into battle. A REAL battle...
The Placidium, Ionia
"They're falling back deeper inside!"
"Push forwards!"
"FIGHT! FIGHT!"
"Watch out!"
At the top of the Placidium, a hundred some Ionian soldiers and students from the mage schools formed up a battle-line as the gates to their upper level smashed open. With the floodgates open, Ascension infantry sprinted through, taking up positions with their assault rifles opening up on the Ionians.
"Barriers won't hold much longer!" A mage shouted as she and her colleges, all students, channeled everything they had into holding the barrier. None of the bullets made it through, but it was only a matter of time.
"Look out!"
The warning came too late. One of the Revenant gunships flew overhead, launching a pair of missiles into the Ionian battle-line and over the barrier, killing and wounding who knows how many defenders.
"Enough of this!" An Ionian officer shouted. "Everyone charge!"
The Ionian soldiers sprinted forwards at the Ascension soldiers as they spilled out of the destroyed gates and into the courtyard of the top level of the Placidium. The students tried to hold the barrier, but it quickly began to crack under the sheer number of bullets slamming into it.
Sensing the end, the students and battlemages dropped the barrier, throwing every kind of combat spell they knew into the Ascension soldiers… only for several Ascension shock troopers to rush forwards and form a shield wall of anti-magic shields, blocking most of the spells. Those that made it through though did so with fatal effect.
Flammenschwert pushed his way between two of the shock troopers, stepping out in front of the line as the Ionians closed the gap.
He grinned.
"Ladies and gentlemen…" He stretched his back out as his swords floated out in front of him. "Enjoy yourselves."
On that note, fifty of the nearby Ascension soldiers, mainly shock troopers put their rifles away and drew various close combat weapons of their own.
Screams of "Terra Invicta" broke out from the Ascension lines, as they sprinted forward to meet the Ionian charge head on. Even those still carrying their assault rifles out joined in, while only the remainders of a few squads ran and climbed to elevated positions to provide covering fire.
The barrier came down just as the Ionians reached the Ascension soldiers, causing only a handful of Ionian troops to be gunned down in a hail of lead.
However, at the last moment ten Ascension banshees broke free of the front line, leaping over the Ionain front ranks and letting loose terrifying screams that caused a good number of the Ionians to drop their weapons and cover their ears in pain.
Metal slammed against metal, and blood soaked the courtyard as the two armies tried to slaughter each other. The Ascension's clear technological superiority was prevalent even in a melee, and most of the Ionian weapons bounced off the body armor of the shock troopers, although they had a little more effectiveness against the regulars. Banshees danced around the Ionian ranks, their blades slashing and sending limbs and blood flying everywhere, accompanied by the horrified screams of those who were too close whenever they let loose another screech.
Still, even with that advantage Ascension bodies soon dropped onto the Ionian ones. An Ionian swords-master plunged his blade through a shock trooper's neck, before yanking it out in time to parry a blow then decapitate his attacker. An Ascension infantry woman found herself pinned to the ground by a pair of Ionian soldiers, who stabbed her helmet over and over, eventually breaking through to her screaming face.
However, the difference in equipment quickly proved to be the deciding factor, as the Ionians started to get pushed back by the navy blue outworlders.
Flammenschwert laughed at as he stepped on the corpse of a female Ionian soldier. He curled his fingers around the hilt of one of his obsidian blades and yanked it out of her cold dead chest, twirling it around to get the blood off.
A brave Ionian soldier tried to slash at him with his spear from the side, but Flammenschwert simply turned to face the young man and grabbed the spear mid-slash.
"No, no…" Flammenschwert chuckled, just as he stepped forward and thrust his massive name-sake into the soldier's gut, easily penetrating the soldier's armor through pure strength. "You have to stick them with the pointy end!"
He dropped the spear and grabbed the blade with both hands, wrenching it upwards and cleaving the man's head in half through his gut.
He was about to saviour the kill, when his gaze fell upon a heavy lander in the distance, hovering above one of the massive floating crystals with several steel cables dangling from underneath. Several shock troopers were flying nearby, helping latch the cables to the crystal.
Other ships were performing similar tasks, with dropships ferrying back and forth to and from the battle with cargos full of loot.
"Oh right…" Flammenschwert chuckled to himself as he remembered the real reason for the assault. He looked about face and pointed at the School of Transcendentalism, where the surviving Ionian soldiers and students hastily ran inside, likely to make a final stand. "Storm it! Grab anything you can find! Even the shit that doesn't look important!"
The Ascension soldiers complied with his order, as he knew they would, and they quickly finished off the remaining Ionians and charged into the School, the sounds of battle quickly emerging from it.
"They're putting up a better fight then I thought they would." Flammenschwert turned his head to the new voice, spotting Starscream as he touched down next to him.
Flammenschwert motioned to all the dead around him. "You see Scream? This is how you led an operation… successfully!" He spat at his fellow meta-human. "There's got to be thousands of Ionian defenders here, not the handful of defenders you had to contend with when you were supposed to grab that single fucking mage!"
Starscream tensed up, clearly ready for blows should it come to it. "You act like we've already won! There's still plenty of defenders left! Besides, I went with only two squads, we're attacking with hundreds!" He scoffed. "Besides, these were mere humans! Not the meta-humans and champions I had to deal with!"
Flammenschwert snapped his fingers and his blades flew to him. Starscream must have sense the threat because his arms transformed into machine guns, aiming them at Flammenschwert.
"Don't you try it…"
Their argument was ruefully interrupted when their COM's pinged them.
"Commanders, we got a problem." The COM identified it as one of their spy planes that was flying around the battlefield.
Flammenschwert rolled his eyes. Every. Damn. Time.
"What is it?" He asked, twirling his hand around as his blades resumed their default position behind his back. Starscream's arms returned to their normal state.
"I'm seeing up lots of movement in the forest. I think we're about to have company."
"Well…" Flammenschwert rolled his eyes again. "That's why we've got another wave of soldiers back at the Flotilla. How many are we talking?"
"Can't get a visual from here, but its got to be in the hundreds. Maybe thousands, its hard to tell with all the trees in the way."
Flammenschwert tilted his head to Starscream and motioned upwards. The cyborg got the hint and quickly took off, flying high up into the air.
Hovering above the battle for a moment, he cursed and had to shift position due to all the smoke blocking his sight. Finally, he managed to look out over the open field and saw what their spy plane had meant.
"He's not joking." Starscream called back over the COM. "I'm seeing hundreds of mounted soldiers emerging from the forest. They've got reinforcements…" His voice trailed off.
"What is it?"
Starscream's cybernetic eyes zoomed in on the emerging Ionian forces, and he scowled at what he saw. Among the Ionian cavalry, siting atop a horse, was a black armored soldier… the armor of a Trans-Ops meta-human.
"… They've got a Trans-Ops meta-human with them." Starscream reported, but his scowl turned into a full-on teeth-baring snarl when he saw someone float in behind the meta-human in question. "And that BITCH Syndra!"
"Hah!" Flammenschwert laughed, "Guess you'll get another chance then. Who's the meta?"
He was too far away to get a proper scan of the meta-human with the Ionians… but he didn't need a scan to tell who it was. It was obvious.
"Who do you think?" Starscream scoffed.
"… Archangel's here eh?" Flammenschwert said after a pause. "I'll bet Blitzkrieg is here too then."
As soon as he said those names, Flammenschwert realized his mistake.
"Oh no…" He signed as he turned away from the School and began to walk back to the lower levels of the Placidium, where the battle was still ongoing. "I just said the A-word over the COM didn't I…?"
"Yes…" Starscream sighed. "Yes, you did…"
Just as he said that their COM channel was interrupted by the other meta-humans.
"Isaac's here?!" Mania gasped, her voice full of excitement. "For real!?"
"He's mine." Siren muttered coldly, "the kill is mine."
"Hah!" Vindicator joined in. "One shot is all I need Siren. Think you can beat me to it even in that fighter jet of yours?"
"Get in the way of my vengeance Vindicator, and I'll end you."
"You had your chance! The kill is MINE!"
"But guuuuuuuuys!"
"Focus on the battle you idiots!" Valkyrie finally joined in. "Those mages can still kill you."
Flammenschwert rolled his eyes, he knew this was coming. He would disable the COM but there was always the slight chance someone had something important to say….
VERY… slight…
"Oh! Oh! Archi's here?! I wanna show him my new suit!" The newcomer to their group, Jinx, joined in too.
"Nope." Was the only word Flammenschwert added to the conversation before he shut his COM down. "Nope, we're not getting anything more useful out of THAT channel."
Starscream landed next to him and shook his head. "Ugh…. Why did you have to say it?"
"Slip of the tongue. Forgot we're the only two sane ones here." Flammenschwert stopped to look at his fellow meta-human… even if he was less biological then he was metal. "Take several squads of shock troopers and reinforce out forces outside the city, temple, nexus what the fuck ever this place is. Just keep them back long enough for us to finish looting this place!"
"Understood." Starscream nodded and quickly took off to the air. "Squads one-one to one-ten with me!"
After he took off to the skies, Flammenschwert pinged Vindicator for a private channel. He answered in less then a second, saying nothing.
"Keep an eye on that Jinx girl." Flammenschwert ordered, "I don't trust that our REHREC worked on her a hundred percent. If she looks like she's going to break, put a bullet in her head."
His COM status blinked green and Vindicator shut the channel.
"Glad he doesn't argue at all when orders are involved." Flammenschwert shrugged as he descended a staircase, paying no heed to the waterfall next to him that now ran red with blood, even as a body of a dead shock trooper slid down it. As he reached the end he spotted a trio of Ionian spearmen round a nearby street corner. When they saw him, they scowled and charged at him.
"Die outworlder!"
Flammenschwert rolled his eyes and motioned with his hands, his swords answering his call…
Isaac grit his teeth as he looked out over the open field and at the Placidium a short distance away. Smoke clouds spouting forth from several locations, and several small fires had broken out… on top of that he saw two explosions erupt from within the temple-city.
Mute's avatar appeared in it's usual spot, her expression grim.
"This… this is bad." She sighed. "Isaac, I'm picking up a LOT of Ascension COM activity."
"How many are we talking?"
Mute shook her head. "Not counting all those dropships, there must be hundreds of Ascension troops in the Placidium, and that's not counting that force outside."
Isaac snarled, tightening the grip on his cavalry spear and the reigns of his horse, who gave a whimy in response. His eye's darted around the morning sky, trying to count the aircraft.
Christ… there has to be at least fifty of them! He thought, noticing how the dropships and the Ascension's larger heavy landers seemed to be flying over the city, landing, then flying off out of sight.
What are they doing…?
He felt his pulse drop slightly. Of course….
They've moved up from abducting people from villages…. Now their hitting major population centers!
Isaac shook his head, clearing the thoughts. No, no he needed to focus on the here and now.
And that meant this battle.
I've got all my gear… all of it. I'm ready.
He felt someone tap his shoulder, and looked to see who it was. The soldier next to him looked back at him and shrugged. Isaac opened his mouth to say something when he saw a bare foot come down from above and kick him lightly in the shoulder.
"Up here."
Isaac followed the instructions and looked up, and was rewarded with the sight of Syndra hovering above him.
… Oh right…
As soon as the army had kicked into action, Isaac went right to Syndra and undid her bindings, which had earned no small protest from the soldiers who had seen him.
There was no time. If we're going into battle, I'll need Syndra at her fullest… or else there was no reason to go through all that effort.
Irelia, who had also seen, had said nothing. She clearly didn't approve, but given the situation, she likely had the same thought process as Isaac.
Syndra on the other hand… had been completely surprised, shocked even, to have been released so suddenly. Thankfully, she didn't just make a run for it… she probably knew it had something to do with the upcoming battle.
The fact that it's the Ascension we're fighting likely had something to do with it.
Pushing his inner monologue away, Isaac raised an eyebrow. "Yes?"
Syndra looked down at him for a moment before she turned to look ahead. "That's them, isn't it?" She asked.
"Yeah, that's the Ascension." Isaac replied, looking back down at the battlefield.
Syndra didn't reply, so Isaac looked back up at her and saw that she was just staring out at the battlefield.
"You scared?" He asked.
She looked back down at him with a confused expression. "Why would I be? I've been in plenty of fights."
"Yeah… fights." Isaac shook his head. "This is war. Not a fight."
Syndra stared at him for a good long five seconds before she looked away, not saying a word.
Yeah… that's an answer too you know…
He looked out at the field again, this time looking at the force outside the city. They had been encircling the city's entrance when they had first emerged from the forest, but now that Isaac and the army he was accompanying had been spotted, they were quickly forming up a battle line.
He used the zoom feature in his HUD, getting a better look at the soldiers. They appeared to be Ascension regular infantry, not shock troopers, so that was a plus. But not by much, they were still fully covered head to toe in dark blue armor. A lighter variant of the shock-trooper's armor, but still armor was armor.
Most of them seemed to be just riflemen, but he did spot a few grenade launchers, but he was surprised to see that nearly every single one had a sword strapped to their waists.
"Mute, why do they have swords?" Isaac asked. There was zero place for a sword on the modern-day battlefield. Unless you were a meta-human, no one had carried swords on a battlefield since the second world war, and even then, it was only very rarely.
"Hmm, probably because the Ascension realize that close-combat fights are inevitable in this world?" She shrugged.
"What about bayonets?"
"Now isn't the time Isaac…" Mute rolled her eyes before getting serious. "Shouldn't you be more worried about… THOSE?!"
To put emphasis on what she meant, Mute highlighted the eight Predator Siege Tanks, whose turrets were starting to rotate towards them.
… Oh shit.
"Captain!" Isaac shouted at Ren, who was a few soldiers over to his right, interrupting his conversation with a messenger. "Incoming artillery fire!"
The mounted soldiers within ear shot noticeable and very understandably became uneasy, but thankfully Ren was the calm and collected sort of captain. He turned back to his soldiers.
"Mages! Barriers!" He shouted.
The mounted combat mages that had come with them quickly began casting some sort of spell, and a few seconds later a partially see through yellow energy shield appeared in front of them all.
"Huh… that's sure convenient." Mute said, as Isaac appraised their work. "You really think that's going to protect us?"
Isaac lower his gaze down to the siege tanks, which were now aiming at them.
Isaac couldn't help but gulp.
"I think we're about to find out…"
The siege tanks fired, their cannons flashing as they unleashed a salvo of shells at them.
The barrier in front of them flashed as eight explosions impacted off the front of them with enormously loud bangs.
Isaac couldn't help but to flinch, and he was sure as shit glad that he wasn't the only one, as nearly every soldier joined him.
Mute snorted. "Wow! Looks like NO ONE had faith in that thing."
Well can you fucking blame us?! Those are god-damn siege tanks out there!
Isaac turned to look at Ren, just in time to see him send a runner back down their ranks back to Irelia and the main force.
They better get here soon... its going to take more then six hundred mounted soldiers to break THIS siege…
"Well, this is sure as shit looks great…" Blitzkrieg mumbled, causing Isaac to turn to his right and see his teammate standing next to him with his visor up.
"What are you doing up here?" Isaac asked.
"Please, I can run faster then most of these damn horses anyways." He replied, staring out at the at the open field. "So… we gotta cross that field huh? Think this barrier can protect us that long?"
They heard another salvo get fired off by the siege tanks, hammering into the barrier again, although this time only a few flinched… quite a few, but not everyone like last time.
"Honestly…" Isaac mumbled, looking up at the barrier, cautiously eying the crack that had formed following that last hit. "I don't think so."
"Fine..." He heard Syndra grumble. "I've got to do everything I guess…"
I feel like I've used that line already…
He looked up to Syndra, and saw her float a little higher in the air and throw her arms out, palms open. Suddenly, the barrier flashed and changed from a yellow color to a purple one. Isaac looked around and saw all the soldiers having mixed reactions, and many of them were looking up at Syndra with caution.
Isaac looked back up at the barrier, and saw the crack he had seen earlier had disappeared.
Huh…
Isaac looked over to Ren and saw that he too had looked up at Syndra, giving her a nod.
"Thank you for your assistance Miss Syndra." The captain called up to her. Several other soldiers nodded up at her too.
Syndra replied with a snort.
Isaac rolled his eyes.
Oh for… she just got more appreciation from the Ionians in THIS moment then I have with all the shit I've done. Biased bastards.
Mute must have seen his reaction because she laughed at him.
"Aww, look who's jealous."
"Shut up Mute."
"What the hell are we just standing around for anyways? We're just sitting ducks here." Blitzkrieg joined in as he took a sip from his flask.
"Because old style army communications were done by courtier, not radio." Mute pointed out.
Isaac rolled his eyes, then looked down at Blitzkrieg.
… Shit… if he was back with Irelia, we could've acted as instant messengers for them.
Blitzkrieg looked back up as Isaac, and sighed.
"I have a feeling we just thought of the same thing."
"Yeah… probably."
"I told you mon amie."
"Not now Goth. I'm drunk."
Isaac blinked twice before groaning. "Seriously?!"
Blitzkrieg shrugged. "Whatever… its not like they can hurt me."
"We're meta-humans! It takes nearly three times more alcohol then it normally takes someone to get us trashed. How much have you had?!"
Blitzkrieg let out a large blech before he gave Isaac a shit-eating grin. "About three times the three times."
Oh for….
"It's not even nine in the fucking morning! How did you drink that much that quick?!"
"Who said I went to bed?"
It took all Isaac's will-power not to facepalm. Instead he looked back out at the city, noticing that more airships had suddenly taken off, leaving the skies partly cleared.
This wait is killing me… right now were just a bunch of targets chilling here…
Isaac looked about him, glancing at the faces of the Ionian soldiers that were with him. Each one had a determined or grim look.
None of them looked like they were about to make a run for it.
… Well, this is supposed to be their scared city or something… Isaac thought with a frown as he looked out at the Placidium. He had a feeling that if Irelia's messenger didn't return fast enough, then the Ionian soldiers were just going to charge anyways.
Isaac heard someone galloping behind him and looked over his shoulder, seeing said messenger returning. But he had to resist a groan when he saw who he had brought back with him.
Shyvana and Galio joined the messenger in speaking to Ren, and after a few short words, the two of them took up positions with the rest of the cavalry.
And Isaac had to resist another groan when he realized that Red had assigned them to be NEXT to him.
The soldier who had occupied Isaac's left gave up his spot without a single protest, galloping off to the rear of the group. Shyvana took his place, with Galio next to her.
Shyvana looked over at Isaac and gave him a small nod. Isaac paused for a moment, stunned, then returned it.
Good to see she can at least put animosity behind her for this.
"I assume everyone else is with the main force?" Isaac asked, going against his better judgement of not striking of a conversation with the half-dragon.
Shyvana nodded again, turning her head to look out at the sight before them. "They're on their way. We've been ordered to charge and clear the way for the main force."
Isaac followed her gaze, just in time to see another barrage from the siege tanks slam into their purple barrier. He quickly looked up at Syndra and saw her give an annoyed huff.
Looks like she can hold this for a bit… although I hope she can hold it when we get in range of those soldiers…
Isaac would be fine… his armor could take some hits, and if he hardened his suit he could take even more. He just sure as hell didn't want to be the only one to make it.
"Soldiers of Ionia!" He turned his attention to Ren, who had turned around to face his troops. "Brave men and woman!"
"Ohhhh here comes a speech!" Mute grinned. "I've always wanted to hear one of these."
Blitzkrieg sighed, taking a massive swig from his flask before attaching it to his waist and slammed his visor down in place. "He's got six seconds."
"Look out before you! The Placidium! Our beloved Placidium in flames!" Red shouted, "We held it against Noxus and their legions! Now, these outworlders by the name of the Ascension, think they can do better! I say…"
"Ok, times up! Lets do this." Blitzkrieg shook, and broke rank.
Isaac could only stare in disbelief along with all the other soldiers as Blitzkrieg ran out of the barrier full sprint, zooming off across the field. Even Ren stopped mid-speech to stare.
"Leeeeeeerrrrrroooooooy….." His voice was drowned out as another salvo slammed into their barrier.
One second passed.
Two seconds passed.
Three seconds…
"He… he didn't…" Mute seemed to be trying to convince herself more then anything. "Did he just go… what?"
Isaac felt everyone's stares drift from Blitzkrieg… to him. He hoped it was just him being paranoid as usual… but when he turned to look around him, he saw that he was sure as shit not.
….
"I hate that man…" Isaac grumbled darkly. "If we survive this… I'm going to kill him… slowly."
His COM pinged him. "I'm sorry, mon amie."
"Shut up Goth…"
He heard Shyvana mumble something, mentioning the words "Garen" and "would not believe this shit".
Ren simply sighed. "Well!?" He shouted at his soldiers, grabbing a banner from the nearest flag-bearer and waving it in the air, bringing all the attention back onto him. "Are we going to let the outworlder be the first to rush to our rescue? Are we that helpless?!"
A shout of defiance burst out from the soldiers.
"Then with me!" Ren bellowed turning his horse around and breaking off. "For Ionia!"
"FOR IONIA!" The soldiers echoed, mixed with a pair of shouts from Galio and Shyvana screaming "Demacia" as the reinforcements launched their assault.
The second battle for the Placidium was not over yet!
AN: Yeah... yeah I couldn't resist.
Sorry, not sorry.
While flipping through the last few chapters, I don't know how I missed it, but I for some reason stopped putting in the location at the beginning of POV changes when locations changed. I had to go back and add that in all the previous chapters... whoops.
Due to what's happening in the story, I'm going to try and update part two of the battle next week. If that doesn't work, then it'll be the usual.
Next update will be either Halloween or November 7th.