Forewords
From this chapter on, each chapter will contain the events of an entire level from the starting point to the main boss.
There will be mini-bosses in each and every mission...
...And the bosses of the original games will be powered up.
Chapter 2: The Red Eagles Squad
Time: 0930 Hour; 30th of December, 2040.
Location: San Francisco, United States.
The Regular Commandos arrived in the city of San Francisco in a modified Chinook transport helicopter, which was often nicknamed "Regular Hi-Do" due to its uncanny resemblance to Donald Morden's personal helicopter.
The Regular Commandos looked down on the streets of San Francisco, which was crawling with Rebel Soldiers and their vehicles.
"No signs of the Amadeus Syndicate, or the Ptolemaic Army." Marco said, while loading a full magazine into his handgun.
"But then again, they started this joint campaign just to deal with us..." Tarma reminded his partner.
The Regular Chinook is suddenly disturbed by turbulence, indicating that another aircraft is flying close to it.
The Peregrine Falcons took a look at the newly arrived aircraft. They knew what it was, for they have seen it before.
"That's... the Tetsuyuki!" Eri acknowledged.
"But the report indicates that it was destroyed in the First Morden War!" Fio added to the exclamation.
Without warnings, the Tetsuyuki deployed its starboard guns, and opened fire on the Regular Commandos. The energy shells fired by the Rebel gunship mostly missed the Chinook, but one lucky shot had struck the side of the helicopter, causing it to release smoke.
"If we don't kill that thing first, it will kill us!" Marco said, as he got hold of a Rocket Launcher.
With precision aiming, Marco fired the Rocket Launcher at the Tetsuyuki. The projectile hits, and inflamed the starboard wing of the gunship, forcing it to crash land.
Seeing the Tetsuyuki crash-landing made the Regular Commandos breathe a sigh of relief.
"This is suh-weet, non." Nadia said in excitement, wanting to get back into action.
"Careful, you might just get what you asked for..." Trevor warned the French girl, knowing what she's thinking.
Yet another disturbance, this time by a Hairbuster Riberts. The Rebel heavy bomber opened its rear hatch, and standing over it was Donald Morden...
...Or rather, a robotic facsimile of the Devil Rebirth, which Marco, Fio, Trevor and Nadia have also seen before.
"I'm guessing that's one of those Morden Robots that this Amadeus guy used for his own agenda years ago..." Ralf noted.
"I have a bad feeling about this..." Clark also noted, having a frown on his face.
Before another word could be spoken, the Morden Robot on the Hairbuster Riberts fired its bazooka at the Chinook. This time the helicopter is damaged enough to force a crash land.
...
The Red Eagles Squad have their own transport too: a modified Rebel Landseek with a tarp covering its back, and drawn on the tarp was the Red Eagles' emblem.
Even while on the streets of the city, the Red Eagles can still see the Regular Commandos' Chinook being shot down, and crash landing in another section of the city.
"The Regular Commandos needs us!" Said Jason Wayne.
"Floor it, girls!" Ash Kingslayer told the female members of the Red Eagles who are driving the Landseek.
"You might want to tighten your seatbelts, or hold on to something, boys!" Jenny Wakeman responded, before she floored the pedals, sending the Landseek on a high speed drive.
"Ah, slow down! This is too fast!" Mina Kabuto panicked with the sudden burst of speed, and held on to her purple cap as tight as she could.
...
Mission Briefing
Good Day, Red Eagles. I believe you've known about the Regular Army's war with the Rebel Army for the past decades. Well, their leader, Donald Morden has just started another campaign, but this one wasn't to take over the world, capture a piece of advanced technology, create weapons of mass destruction, or pick a bone with the Regular Army. This time, the Rebels are specifically targeting the Peregrine Falcons, SPARROWS Operatives and Ikari Mercenaries, and to make matter harder, they have allied themselves with two other factions respectively known as the Amadeus Syndicate and the Ptolemaic Army.
So here's your mission: you will be sent to San Francisco alongside the Regular Commandos, to assist them in clearing the waves of Rebel-Amadeus-Ptolemaic Joint Forces from San Francisco, and then make your way to Alcatraz Island and destroy whatever machinery that the enemies have made specifically to deal with the Regular Commandos, and then apprehend Morden. Take note, that since their various defeats in the past, the enemies have wised up, and are using better strategies. So expect to fall into a situation where you are given no room to dodge enemy fires.
Side note, for all future references, the Rebel-Amadeus-Ptolemaic Joint Forces will be now referred to as the RAP Army.
...
Change of plans. The RAP Army were expecting the Regular Commandos, and their transport helicopter was shot down in an ambush. Find them before the RAP Army gets to them, and take out the Hairbuster Riberts if you have the opportunity.
That is all. Godspeed...
...
MISSION ONE START!
The Landseek came to an abrupt halt that almost launched its occupants forward with momentum.
"Next time, I'll rather take it easy..." Said Jason, trying to withhold the urge to puke.
"Agreed, buddy." Ash said in response, also resisting the urge to puke.
Up ahead, a Rebel Soldier who was in the middle of playing Doom on a PSP freaked out upon seeing the Red Eagles' Landseek, and ran off leaving the portable game console behind.
"Looks like the party's about to start!" Jenny noted the situation.
"Here they come!" Mina told the other Red Eagles.
Several Rebel Soldiers arrived, some carrying rifles.
The Red Eagles effortlessly gunned down the Rebel Soldiers with their handguns, despite being outnumbered.
"Ha! Who ever said strength comes in numbers?" Jason boasted, raising his silver revolver in the air.
The mercenary in red was still oblivious to a lone Rebel Fanatic that has snuck up behind him, and the Fanatic was about to backstab him...
...Only for Ash Kingslayer to suddenly turn around and rip the Rebel Fanatic to shreds with his chainsaw. Strangely enough, the resulting blood splatter completely missed the gray-clad chainsaw-totting mercenary. "Laugh at my chainsaw, idiot!" He boasted.
"..." The other Red Eagles said nothing about it, as they took off, leaving Ash behind.
"Hey, wait for me!" Ash noticed, and went after them.
It was only a few steps before the mercenaries came across more Rebel forces. This time, a Rebel Mortar and Rebel Rifleman behind a pile of Sandbags, followed by a lone MH-6J Masknell.
Jason rushed toward the Sandbag and did a Vulcan Punch (his version includes a machete held on one hand), destroying the Sandbag in seconds. The Rebels behind it panicked for a second, and then was swiftly gunned down by the same mercenary before they can shoot back or run away.
The Masknell only got to fire three shots before it was gunned down by Jenny, dropping a Heavy Machine Gun in the process.
"I'll be taking this~" Mina said cheerfully, picking up the Heavy Machine Gun.
A few seconds later, two more Masknells appeared, followed by a T-2B Melty Honey on parachutes landing on the road behind them.
"Never a moment's rest, eh?" Jason commented on the situation.
Both Masknells are gunned down by Mina's Heavy Machine gun, whereas the Melty Honey has its frontal shield ripped apart by Ash's chainsaw. The single missile fired by the Melty Honey was quickly shot out of the air, and then the vehicle was promptly shot at until it explodes. The Rebel manning the vehicle jumped out in time and tried to lunge at the Red Eagles Squad with his knife raised, but finds himself flying into the business end of Jenny's Taser.
"Is this all the Rebels got?" Jenny hung a lamp on the Rebels' poor choice of tactics at the moment.
The Hairbuster Riberts suddenly flew past the Red Eagles, real close to the ground. At the same time, the mercenaries could take a good look at the Morden Robot, which was able to imitate the real Morden's signature annoying laugh.
"Gosh, even if its not the real guy, I find that laugh very annoying!" Ash gave a negative comment about it.
"You can punch him in the face later, Ash-kun." Mina told the grey-clad mercenary. "Right now, we have to find the Regular Commandos."
The Red Eagles continued with their mission, heading toward where the Regular Commandos are last seen.
...
The Red Eagles took a tight turn into another street, only to come face to face with a Girida-O. A second one appeared behind the mercenaries around the same time.
"Okay, I take that back..." Jenny regretted about the lampshading earlier, as the blue-clad female mercenary starts shooting the front Girida-O with her handgun.
Jason did his Vulcan Punch again, ripping the rear Girida-O apart in seconds. The same mini-tank exploded with its turret jumping up when the chassis is already disintegrated. "No armor can stop my fists! Much less so if I have a machete!" Jason boasted, before doing the same to the other one.
But this time, four Girida-Os pulled up and surrounded the Red Eagles.
"Four? I've got a bad feeling about this..." Mina shudders, thinking of the number that is considered unlucky in her mother language.
Two Girida-Os fired upon the mercenaries, whereas two attempted to run them over.
Mina unloaded her Heavy Machine Gun into the Girida-Os, but only have enough ammo to destroy two of them before it went dry. The Japanese girl threw the empty weapon away, and used her handgun to continue firing at the enemies.
The remaining two Girida-Os fired another volley of shells at the mercenaries, whom manages to avoid being hit.
"Eat this!" Ash, instead of using his chainsaw, decided to throw a grenade at one of the enemy tanks, blowing it up. He immediately turns around to blow up the other one with another grenade.
Noting that the vicinity is clear, the Red Eagles continued with their trek through the city.
"Some ambush they've got there..." Jason said. "I've read from the reports that the Rebel Girida-Os attacks alone or in pairs, but never before in packs of four."
"So they really did become smarter..." Jenny said in response.
It wasn't very long before they came across a pile of rubble.
"Now climbing over this mess can be messy in itself." Ash commented about the rubble.
"It's probably just me, but does this pile of rubble seems unlikely to be caused by an explosion?" Mina wondered, feeling suspicious about the obstruction ahead.
Suddenly, the rubble exploded, sending debris flying into every direction.
When the dust cleared, two Rebel Soldiers are seen, one standing next to a plunger detonator. Both Rebels freaked out and ran past the structure that was once buried under the rubble.
"Is that..." Jason started an exclamation.
"...The..." Ash continued.
"...TETSUYUKI?!" Both Jenny and Mina ended the exclamation in unison.
Boss battle: Tetsuyuki
There was no doubt about it. The Tetsuyuki from the First Morden War is back. This time, it has a Missile Turret replacing the Rebel Mortar. Both of its wings are broken this time.
And when the crashed gunship fires its side cannons, it seems to be using the energy mortar and the laser cannon at the same time, as opposed to using them in two separate phases.
"Yeah, they did become smarter." Jason said, while evading the laser cannon by crouching. Having to avoid the energy shells at the same time made things harder.
The Red Eagles fired at the Tetsuyuki with their handguns, while the wrecked gunship continues to fire its energy mortar and laser cannon.
Eventually, the Tetsuyuki took enough damage that it started firing its energy mortar non-stop and its laser cannon at shorter intervals. The Missile Turret is still idling, as none of the Red Eagles are close enough to be targeted. At this point, the Red Eagles are throwing as many grenades as they can at the Tetsuyuki, for its attack pattern has become too difficult to predict.
Several grenades later, the Tetsuyuki completely falls apart with several explosions occurring over its hull. The side cannon went off with a rather huge fireball that launched the Rebel Soldier manning the Missile Turret several miles into the air.
Tetsuyuki defeated
"Anyone okay?" Jason asked the others.
"We're okay!" Ash responded. "That was a close one, though..."
"They've upgraded the Tetsuyuki so that it shoots faster." Jenny notes. "That means the Hairbuster Riberts may have been upgraded as well."
"Some challenge the Rebels threw at us!" Mina sulked, as she sat on the ground. "Now I know why Morden and his new friends dared the Regular Commandos specifically..."
...
As the Red Eagles continued their trek, they came across more Rebel Soldiers, along with Rebel Mortars and Rebel Riflemen behind Sandbags.
"Another day, another dead Rebel..."
Just as the mercenaries starts firing at the Sandbags, a Di-Cokka appeared behind the group of Rebels, and starts firing shells.
All it takes to avoid the shots of the Di-Cokka was to crouch. The Red Eagles did not cease firing at the Sandbags.
It takes a while until the Sandbags are destroyed, and the Rebel Mortars and Rebel Riflemen, whom haven't been able to hit the mercenaries, are quickly gunned down.
The Di-Cokka continues to fire shells even though it is rather obvious that it can't hit the crouching mercenaries.
"What an idiot..." Ash commented about the stupidity of whoever's in the tank.
One grenade toss later, the Di-Cokka exploded once, and then immediately explodes again before the driver can escape, leaving behind a Rocket Launcher in its wake.
"I'll be taking this." Ash said as he picked up the Rocket Launcher.
Taking another few steps, the group soon encountered Rebel Fanatics. Lots of Rebel Fanatics, who proceeds to swarm the Red Eagles from all directions.
The Rocket Launcher Ash picked up earlier proves beneficial for it blows up several Rebel Fanatics in one shot, from one direction at a time. Having to turn around for each shot is rather troublesome.
Fortunately, there's four mercenaries here, which means they can cover multiple directions at a time.
One of the Rebel Fanatics jumped down from the rooftops in an attempt to slash his knife at Mina. Unfortunately for him, the Japanese girl whips out her katana and sliced him in half.
"Just stop coming, okay?" Jenny shouted while she continues to gun down Rebel Fanatics, and any one that does gets close to her are introduced to her Taser the hard way.
After several minutes of gunning, the Rebel Fanatics stopped coming. Ash's Rocket Launcher is also empty by then.
"Come on, we're almost at the Regular Commandos' crash site!" Jason signaled to the others to go ahead.
As they're nearing a suspended highway with seemingly no enemies in it, the Red Eagles saw where the Regular Army Chinook has crashed, and the Hairbuster Riberts is going there too, with several minutes of headstart.
"We have to hurry!" Ash exclaimed. "The Hairbuster Riberts' about to get to them!"
"We could use those motorcycles!" Mina said, pointing a finger at two bikes conveniently parked there.
"Come on! If that plane gets to them first, they're done for!"
...
Jenny and Mina each took the driver seats of the bikes, with Jason and Ash in the passenger compartment, and gave chase to the Hairbuster Riberts.
Boss Battle: Hairbuster Riberts
The prototype heavy bomber have decided to engage the Red Eagles in combat, as it got close to them. The same Morden Robot emerged from the rear hatch, this time armed with a bazooka.
Annoyingly enough, the robotic facsimile decided to start off the battle with the Devil Rebirth's infamous laugh.
"Shut up!" Ash shouted at the Morden Robot, and starts firing at the Hairbuster Riberts together with Jason.
The Morden Robot took potshots with its bazooka, while the heavy bomber itself deploys and launches a missile at Jason and Jenny.
Jason quickly guns down the missile, but finds that the missile now frags into several shrapnel as opposed to just exploding.
"That's its upgrade?" Jenny said, while having to avoid the shrapnel.
The Hairbuster Riberts then starts dropping bouncing bombs on the Red Eagles. While Marco and Tarma's first encounter with the heavy bomber has these bombs bounce around in a predictable manner, this version has them completely random.
"Whoa!" Mina screamed while struggling to avoid the unpredictable bouncing bombs. So did Jenny.
The heavy bomber proceeds to deploy not one, but two missiles, and launches each of them at the two motorcycles. The missiles, luckily, flew off the bridge and exploded elsewhere.
"I prefer to fight the original!" Jason complained about this version of the Hairbuster Riberts being stronger, as he continues to pump it full of handgun bullets.
Eventually, the Hairbuster Riberts took enough damage that small explosions occurred around it. The Morden Robot's bazooka, at the same time blew up in its face after it bloated in a comical way, leaving it in its true robotic shell with a zombie-like gait. The malfunctioning robot doesn't do anything aside from doing the real Morden's infamous laugh endlessly.
"Dammit!" Ash finally had it enough with the annoying laugh, and decided to throw every grenade he has at the heavy bomber.
The Hairbuster Riberts only got to launch two more missiles before the volley of grenades damages it enough to make it crash land. The Morden Robot's head detaches just before the aircraft crashed, the head falls into Ash's hands.
"Gyah!" The grey-clad mercenary tossed the laughing head off the suspended highway, and then guns it down from midair with his handgun.
Hairbuster Riberts defeated.
"I guess that's what you get for telling the Devil Rebirth to shut up, even if its not the real one..." Mina told Ash in a deadpan manner.
Jason and Jenny couldn't help but chuckle at the funny scene.
"When I get back from this mission, Imma be a one man cheeseburger apocalypse..."
MISSION ONE COMPLETE!
Afterwords
Took a while, but I'm finally done with this chapter.
Here, the Tetsuyuki uses its energy mortar and laser cannon in conjunction in its first phase, and then the second phase has it fire the energy mortar non-stop. The Hairbuster Riberts fires frag missles, two of them, and its bouncing bombs have completely unpredictable bounce directions, that and Donald Morden/ Allen O'Neil replaced with a Morden Robot.
And that's it: the next chapter of Metal Slug: Mercenaries won't start until I finish the entirety of Fantasy Blitzkrieg: Mission Two. So stay tuned for the next update!
Shout-out index:
*That Rebel Soldier with the PSP, playing Doom* - No explanations should be needed...
"...Imma be a one man cheeseburger apocalypse..." - No, Jason, don't try to be like Coach from Left 4 Dead 2, or else you'll become fat, what's with the gameplay mechanics of Metal Slug...
That is all. "Dismissed!"
