Chapter 6: Bridge Crossing
Location: Hanover, on the Centennial Bridge Timeline: 16 A.E.
After that whole fight and made it on to the higher level road, we then crawled through barb wire and saw that our path is blocked.
Cole then pointed out to the side walk and said, "Let's see if we can get around this way."
As we went to the side walk area, Carmine began, "Dammit! That ship's gonna be twenty klicks away by the time we get across this bridge!"
Sam responded, "Oh, Carmine, you're glass-half-empty man, aren't ya?"
Carmine replied, "Heh, buy me a beer, and I'll show ya."
Baird commented, "Oh, she won't buy you anything. Your name's not Dom."
Sam replied, "Shut your hole, Baird!"
I asked out, "Uh... who's Dom that you just mentioned?"
Sam answered, "Dom is a friend of ours and a close friend to Marcus. He's a good guy, but he lost his wife and kids on E-Day, so we're worried about him."
Ruby gasped and put her hand over her mouth and I froze after hearing that Dom lost everything dear to him.
I replied, "Damn... I feel sorry for him. Me and Ruby know what it's like to lose someone you love and care so much for."
Cole asked, "Really?"
Me and Ruby nodded and I said, "My mother died when I was born and my dad died, sacrificing himself for me and the project he was working on."
Ruby then said, "And I lost my mother during one of her missions. She... she was k-killed by the Grimm."
All of them were silent, then Carmine spoke up, "I lost two of my brothers, Anthony and Benjamin. Anthony... he was killed by a sniper bullet to the head and Ben..."
He sighed and continued, "Ben was killed by being eaten alive by a giant worm that was sinking cities."
I laid my hand on Carmine's shoulder and said, "Well, let's make sure they didn't die for nothing. One day, though, you will meet them again, someday. But right now, I know for sure they are cheering you on from Heaven."
Carmine nodded and responded, "That means a lot to me, thanks."
Then I turned towards the others and said, "So, what are we waiting for? We have ship to save, right?"
They all nodded and Cole said, "Right, let's go!"
Then we came around the corner and saw a cargo container slightly sliding off, destroying our path. Then Cole said, "Shit! We're gotta try another route."
Then he turned to a doorway and said, "Come on, in here."
As we entered the room, we then climbed the ladder, but I just merely jumped off, since I'm in power armor.
Then we stopped and Baird asked, "Okay, lower deck or the catwalk?"
After a few seconds of silence, Cole replied, "Baird, you go take the catwalk with Carmine and Ruby. Sam, Edward, and Ralphie-shit, we're takin' the lower deck."
Then Baird commented, "Yeah, Sam definitely hasn't got that catwalk look."
Sam overheard and replies, "When this is over, Baird, I'm gonna raise your voice an octave."
I cringed at what she just said, since I knew what she meant. Then I pulled out my 'AER14 Prototype' and then we engaged the enemy.
XXXXXX
'Ruby's POV...'
I was following Baird and Carmine on the catwalk and then Sam asked on the comms, "Carmine, can you see anything yet?"
Carmine replies, "Wait one."
Then we finally caught view of the ship, but I was horrified by it. The entire ship itself was on fire! It even has hull breaches and it was taking in water.
I muttered out in horror, "Oh no..."
Then Carmine got back on his comms and said, "Sam, we see the ship! She's on fire!"
I was still staring at the sight until Carmine broke my trance, "Ruby, c'mon! Let's go!"
I nodded and proceeded to follow them as I thought to myself, 'I hope those people are going to be okay.'
XXXXXX
'Edward's POV...'
I took out the gunner on the turret and proceeded to kill off the remaining Locust, turning them into ash piles. Ralphie was doing the same while Cole and Sam shredding them with their guns. Then Ruby, Carmine, and Baird finally joined us and we finished off the rest of the Locust.
But then I saw Ruby's expression was in horror, and figured it was the sight of the ship. She really cares for other people's safty, after all.
I then tried to comfort her and said, "Don't worry, Ruby. I'm sure those people on that ship will make it. Just have faith."
Ruby's expression soften up, nodded, and replied, "Y-you're right. I bet those people on the ship are trained to fight. Thank you, Edward."
I nodded and then we approached a locked gate, and then Baird chainsawed through the chains and kicked it open and we spotted the turrets, but then we started to hear monstrous roars and we came to the edge of the bridge to see what it was.
It was a gigantic, Lambent fish... a goddamn fish! First, it was a giant scorpion called a Death Stalker, then a giant bird that can shoot its feathers at you like bullets called a Nevermore, now a giant fish?!
I yelled, "Are you kidding me?! A giant-ass fish!? Bullshit!"
Ruby replied, "I think I rather fight a Nevermore than that."
I then added, "And I rather fight a Death Stalker."
Then Cole got on the comms, "Marcus, whoo, that's one big ugly motherfucker!"
"Cole, can you see this shit?" Marcus replied on the comms.
"Baby, we got a grandstand view-we're crossing the bridge, right above the ship." cole replied.
"Any way you can kill this thing from where you are?"
Cole looked towards Baird, who mimic a 'mind-blown' theme, then Cole responded to Marcus on the comms, "Uh, puttin' it scientifically? We need to blow his brains out his ass."
"Well, get Baird to come up with an idea. Also, what's the status on those people that offered to help you?" Marcus asked.
"Heh, still alive and kickin'. These two, along with a robot of theirs, are more than they appear. In short, they make perfect Gears. Hell, even one of them, an Onyx Guard." Cole replied.
"Wow... Alright then, Fenix out." Marcus ended.
As Cole got off the comms, Baird began, "No problem. I've killed glowie Leviathans before, remember? At Vectes dockyard. Saved your asses."
Sam interjected, "You killed one. A baby. And you wrecked the harbor doing it. That one's twice the size!"
Baird replied, "So what's your plan? Nag it to death? Wait a minute-you actually could!"
Sam was about to punch him until Carmine stepped up and shouted, "Look, ladies-one way or another, we gotta help Sovereign. Or she's screwed, and so are we!"
But then the bridge shook and the tentacles of the Leviathans ripped off the balcony where the turrets were on, and Baird shouted, "Ah, shit! There go the guns!"
Cole shouted, "Anyone got a Plan B? 'Cause now would be a good time!"
Baird replies, "Okay. The grubs must have plenty of ordnance here. You find it, I'll make it go bang."
As we then began to search around, I asked Cole, "Uh, Cole. You mentioned something called the Onyx Guard. Who are they?"
Cole responded, "The Onyx Guard is the elite special operations unit in the COG army that operate at the sole discretion of the Chairman. These soldiers are specifically picked from the range of the bravest, skillful, and the veterans at most."
I grinned and replied, "Hmm, interesting..."
But then I noticed multiple clicking sounds and then a metal container fell off the high road and came out a bunch of weird creatures with tanks on their backs.
Baird shouted, "Tickers!"
Then one of the Tickers crawled up to me and... exploded?!
"Holy shit!" I yelled as the explosion stagger me a little, since... you know, power armor.
Quickly, all of us killed off those Tickers and I turned to Baird and asked, "Baird, what were those things, and why did they exploded?!"
Baird replied, "Tickers. The Locust uses them as living land mines."
"Okay, that's just fucked up." I replied.
Ruby agreed, "Yeah, that's just horrible!"
But then Baird thought of something, "Wait, that's it! Let's find more Tickers! Drop, splat, bang, end of story!"
Sam replied, "Yeah-if they don't kill us first."
Then we proceeded, after killing more Tickers, and came to the opening on the ramp up, but then Cole shouted, "Mortars! Get down!"
Sure enough, a few mortars dropped down and destroyed a car. I thought to myself, 'Gotta get me one of those.'
Then Sam suggested, "Hey, Baird-we could use one of those!"
Baird replied, "No, a mortar would just piss off a Leviathan that size."
Then Cole said, "Okay, let's just kill the mortar crew and find that stash of Tickers!"
Then Carmine pointed out, "Hey! Take cover in the containers!"
I shrugged and merely charged forward while the mortars were blasting me. Hey, if I survived a few missiles and such while in power armor, then I can easily survive a few mortars.
I overheard Baird shouting, "What is that idiot doing!?"
I ignored him and continued to charge on through. Then when I spotted the mortar crew, I quickly blasted them to ashes with my laser rifle. Then I came down to them and picked up a Mortar and stored it in my Pipboy.
Then I heard the others coming and Baird yelled, "Dude! What were you thinking?!
I replied, "Hey, if I could survive a bunch of missiles while in power armor, then I can handle a few mortars."
Ruby followed up, "Yeah, it's true. He's almost unkillable in there." as she pointed to me, referring to my power armor.
Cole replied, "Well, just make sure you tell us about those kinds of things, alright? We don't want you guys to get yourselves killed."
I chuckled and replied, "Trust me, I'm unkillable. Even without power armor. I can survive bullets to the head, being blown up multiple times, being burned by flamethrowers, and the like."
Ruby added, "Yeah! Edward's also keeping me safe while we're here, so I'm good!"
Cole nodded and replied, "Alright, I trust your statements."
But then we started to hear some weird noises, like from a creature of sort, and saw... what the fuck?
Carmine said, "Hey, what the fuck is that? A floating Locust barge?"
Then Baird said, "Ooooh, big slow target full of gas. Is it my birthday?"
I sighed and replied, "This is so fucked up on so many levels, it's ridiculous!"
Ruby, who was showing the expression of 'WTF' and in disgust at the same time, followed up, "Yeah..."
I then pulled up my Red Glare and shot it down. But instead of it blowing up into chunks, thankfully, it went speeding towards somewhere off into the distance, then saw a flash of an explosion.
Baird sighed and asked, "Alright, now can I have my Tickers, please?"
Carmine replied, "Hello, Baird, we're looking. We're looking?!"
Then we proceeded to the lower area and then a tentacle of the Leviathan smashed the van that was in our way, and Cole shouted, "Ha-ha, thanks, ugly-ass!"
We continued our way until another tentacle crashes through, releasing more Polyps.
Cole shouted, "Shit, we got glowies joinin' the party again! Any more of you puppies want some?"
After taking care of those, we the proceeded forward until another tentacle popped up and more Polyps showed up. Then a few more Locust showed up and joined in the fight.
Cole shouted, "Whoo-hoo! The Cole Train's on a roll, baby!"
After we killed the three Locusts, we then proceeded to the ladders and climbed up. Then we came out through the doorway and I immediately closed on us. And then we finally spotted the container of Tickers.
Carmine said, "Oh, yeah! There's your Tickers!"
Cole said, "Okay, Baird, time to impress us!"
Baird replied, "Yeah, great, no pressure. Okay, if we hit the sweet spot, it'll be good night, Leviathan. Can they get it to move right beneath us?"
Cole nodded and got on the comms, "Marcus, while you were taking a break-the blonde genius had an idea."
Baird said, "You so need me."
Cole continued, "Can you lure that bitch to the front end so we can give it a headache?"
Marcus replied back on the comms, "Animals just love me. Stand by, Cole."
As Cole got off the comms, the bridge itself shook violently and Sam responded, "Oh! The bridge feels like it's on its last legs!"
Carmine agreed and added, "Yeah, that Leviathan isn't helping!"
Then as we approached, I saw a gun turret and I proceeded to sneak around to attack the gunner from behind. After that, I used the gun turret against the grubs.
During our gun fight, I overheard Marcus on the comms, "Cole, you got one pissed Leviathan in position! You ready?"
Cole got on the comms and replies, "Give us a minute!"
Marcus yelled, "Aah, tell Baird he's just blowin' shit up, not writin' a goddamn symphony!"
Baird overheard this and said, "You know what-tell him I'm being a genius as fast as I can!"
Cole nodded at Baird, then said on the comms, "Yeah, but we got our own problems up here."
Then after quickly dispatching the enemies, we immeidietly ran over to the container and I heard Marcus' voice shout out from the comms, "Cole, you're gonna be scrapin' us up in a bucket if you don't get a move on!"
Cole responded, "Find some cover fast, or your ass gonna be swimmin' in some glowies gravy!"
Me and Ruby gagged at the last part that Cole said. Then Cole shouted to me, "Hey, guys, help us out, will you?"
Me and Ruby nodded and proceeded to help out. Then we pushed the container off the bridge, while Baird shouted, "Yo! Bombs away!... and all that shit."
and then the container flew open the Tickers started to fall out and blow up on impact on the Leviathan, making it roar in pain.
Then Baird got on the comms and said, "Hey, I thought you'd enjoy the witty irony of Grub-on-Glowie violence!"
Then the tentacles started to grab hold on to the bridge, making it crumble as Marcus replied, "Yeah, it's fucking hilarious! You're gonna blow the whole ship, genius!"
The the bridge started to collapse and we started to slide off. Ruby screamed and I grabbed on to her and fell off with her, then nothingness.
To be Continued...
