Chapter 1
"Everyone take cover!"
Amid all the chaos that was going on in the remains of the large industrial warehouse the sudden warning still managed to reach all of the individuals the message was meant for. They all responded by taking cover behind anything that was currently around them. Some of them took refuge behind several of the large wooden boxes that were scattered around the open space of the storage facility while others ducked behind the corners of the walls that made up the offices or utility rooms of the dilapidating building located along the outside walls. As they all dove for cover the unmistakable sound of automatic gunfire ripped through the open air with loud thundering blasts. All around them, the bullets struck the wooden boxes and rusted steel frames and kicked up tiny wood splinters, sparks and other forms of debris that flew up and through the air temporarily obstructing the vision of everyone present.
"Where did they find machine guns?"
Carnage turned to look at the young army officer that had taken up a position beside him behind a row of wooden crates. He didn't respond to the question as another short burst of gunfire struck the top of the boxes and sent a shower of wood particles down onto them. When the bullet barrage stopped he took a breath and looked back at the soldier.
"We are in the former country of America after all. Those guns must be American made. Guaranteed to keep working even after nine hundred years!"
The young soldier did not laugh or even smile at Carnage's lame joke. He only continued to look at him with a serious expression on his face. Mercifully, the awkward moment between them was broken when another soldier dove to a position beside them as another hail of bullets passed overhead. He quickly righted himself and straightened up his helmet, which had fallen down over his eyes during his dive to the concrete floor. He griped his combat knife tightly in his hands as he tried to focus his senses and thought process in the aftermath of his extremely dangerous run through the open space of the warehouse. He pressed his back up against the crates just as Carnage and the other soldier were doing and took a couple short breaths before turning to look at them.
"Sir! Hicks and Apone are pinned down by another torpedo about twenty yards towards to the left of the warehouse's middle. Dorrin and Mac can't get close enough to properly distract the enemy's fire and are taking heavy fire from another pair of hostiles on the other side. We need to do something now or we are all sitting ducks!"
Carnage was quiet and he held his hand up to indicate that he wanted silence for a minute as he thought about their options. A small, pencil-thin pseudopod appeared from the top of his left shoulder and wiggled upwards so that it could peak over the top of the wooden box that was currently shielding him.
His symbiote had the ability to relay visual information from any part of his body which allowed him to see what was going on around him without having to turn his head or body. It was similar in function to an insect's compound eyes. Surprisingly; the sight of the thin tendril appearing from an uncommon area of his body did not faze the two soldiers at all as they had seen him use the technique many times before.
From what the symbiote could see their opponents were situated in the very centre of what remained of the warehouse. They had a ring of rusted steel crates surrounding them which formed a makeshift fort. This would make a frontal assault from his team far too dangerous. He couldn't see any ammo boxes from his current vantage point but he was sure that there had to be some in there with them. He could tell from the way the gunmen were handling themselves and their automatic weapons that they had some sort of military or combat training. This further complicated things to some degree as that meant that they could possibly read and interpret his team's movements and thus have a chance of countering any offensive they attempted.
The pseudopod panned to the left and right like a periscope to give him a more detailed view of the battle area around their enemy's improvised stronghold. He saw that there was a series of boxes, thick steel columns and other suitable obstructions that could provide possible sufficient cover to the left and right of their current position. Tilting its head, the tendril then panned upwards where he saw the thick steel girders that made up the rafters of what was left of the warehouse's ceiling. Based on the direction they were running, the steel beams had at one time run the entire length of the warehouse. From what he could see they looked to be still in fairly good condition which was remarkable considering the amount of time this building has been standing without anyone to take care of it. As he followed the beam directly above them a plan began to quickly form inside his head.
His stoic expression never changed as he retracted the pseudopod and turned to face the two soldiers who were anxiously awaiting his orders. As all this had been going on the continued sound of short bursts of gunfire had continued on behind them. It was clear that their opponents were shooting at their team mates who were still pinned down.
"Winters go right! Get as close to the enemy stronghold as you can. Nixon you go left and join up with Hicks and Apone. Both of you be smart and use the terrain to keep you safe! Do not openly expose yourselves for any reason."
The soldiers nodded their heads and moved to the two ends of the row of boxes that were currently keeping them safe. They made sure that their bodies were low enough to avoid providing a target for their enemies just as their leader had ordered. When Winters and Nixon were at the far edges of the line of wooden boxes, Carnage got their attention again by lightly tapping the boxes with his finger claw during a lull in the gunfire. Both soldiers turned their heads to look back at him over their shoulders. When their gazes were firmly on him he addressed them again.
"When you are in position wait for my signal and then charge the stronghold. Not a second before understand?"
"What's the signal sir?"
"You will know soldier. Trust me. Now get moving!"
They acknowledged his orders with a jerk of their heads and turned back towards the direction of their enemies. When they were confident they had an opening they both moved quickly to the nearest obstacle. When no gunfire sounded they moved onto the next obstacle and then the next. In a matter of seconds they were out of Carnage's sight as they repeated the same stop wait and move pattern.
Carnage produced another tendril from the top of his head to get an updated visual of where the shooters were currently facing. Two of the gunmen were facing in his direction which meant that he couldn't move from his spot. His plan was solely based on the element of surprise so with the killers looking directly at his current position all he could do was be patient and wait for them to look somewhere else. There were no new sounds of gunfire, which told him that Winters and Nixon were following his orders and keeping out of their enemy's field of vision as they moved towards their destinations.
He had complete faith in them because of the type of men he knew they were and his past years of experiences working with them. He calmly sat back against the wooden crate as he waited for his symbiote to give him the signal that it was safe to move. As he lay in wait his mind mentally recalled when he had first met the small band of commandos currently under his command, as a means to pass the time.
It had been about two years ago when this small band of former United States Army Rangers first appeared in the city of Crystal Tokyo. At this point in time, the Kingdom was still in its early infancy but was growing at an incredibly rapid rate. At the city's center, the Crystal Palace stood proudly with its five points jutting out across the green landscape like a sparkling beacon of hope. All around the towering gleaming formation large groups of white buildings were scattered all around. The way the structures were positioned along the terrain gave them the appearance of residential neighbourhoods and made it look like the old city layouts of centuries past. Huge green spaces were placed in between the different sections which enhanced the overall natural beauty of the kingdom.
Upon their entrance into the kingdom's territory the group of infantrymen were met by the Inner Sailor Soldiers. When asked who they were and what they wanted the soldiers had been able to convince them that they only sought an audience with the ruler of this realm. They willingly surrendered themselves to the Sailors as further proof that they were not one of the several bands of marauders that had become common nuisance in this new world.
The young female warriors escorted them to the Crystal Palace with two of the four warriors standing behind the group of soldiers while the other two remained in front. This was a textbook military formation for escort missions and it showed the infantrymen that these were not just young women playing make-believe.
As they walked through the city the soldiers saw how breath-taking Crystal Tokyo actually was first-hand. White cobblestone pathways zigzagged through the city's blocks. Large white marble columns lined each side of the smaller footpaths and made them recall the images of ancient Rome or Greece. There were no cars or other vehicles and there was no evidence that there ever had been any as the telltale signs such as skid marks, traffic lights or oil stains on the ground were all absent.
They approached the immense geological formation that served as the central point of the ever expanding kingdom and the soldiers were taken aback by its physical presence and the indescribable feeling they all felt as they looked at it. By physical appearance, the Crystal Palace consisted of dozens of vertically standing rock towers. There were two square shaped sections nestled among the spires of the north face of the Palace which they knew they were looking at judging from the compasses they had on them. In the tallest and thickest rock spire which was located in the centre of the Palace the soldiers could just make out the sight of a large waterfall and flowering garden at the very top of it.
When they reached the base of the Crystal Palace an elaborate and intricate looking pair of large doors and staircase suddenly appeared in the outer surface of the beautiful white crystal rock. As they drew nearer, the sailors stopped at the base of the stairs and the soldiers took that to mean that they were to wait there with them until clearance into the Palace was granted. They waited for about a minute or two before the twin doors opened inwards and two figures appeared from inside. They walked hand-in-hand to the top of the staircase before slowly walking down them. One was a tall young man with short black hair. He was dressed in an elegant lavender coloured tuxedo with shiny white boots and white silk gloves. He wore a thin white mask over the top of his face but the eye slits were open which allowed his brown eyes to be clearly seen. He wore a long cape that was dark purple on the outside and white inside. He had a couple of military-style looking medals pinned on the left side of his jacket and two medallions draped around his neck. He griped a thin cane with a decorative handle in his right hand that the soldiers knew housed a rapier or similar type of sword judging by the handle.
The other person on the staircase was a young female. She wore a long white dress that extended beyond her body hiding her feet and dragging along the ground behind her. Her dress was strapless and had a rim of gold circles that ran along the top of the grown and underneath her arms. On the back of the gown she had a large pair of synthetic angelic-looking wings that spread out to the sides and two long strands of semi-transparent fabric that were attached to the dress at the location of her lower back. On her head she wore a golden crown with a large ruby heart in its centre and two smaller rubies on either side of it. By far the most noticeable thing about this beautiful young woman was the pair of long pigtails of blonde hair that hung down from the two spherical buns on the top of her head.
They introduced themselves as King Endyimon and Neo-Queen Serenity before politely inquiring as to the nature of soldiers' presence in Crystal Tokyo. In response, the group of military officers responded by informing them that they had heard of this realm from several people that they had encountered during their travels and had come seeking sanctuary within its borders. They went on to explain that they were former army soldiers for the lost country of the United Sates of America. They had lost their homes and previous lives during the Great Cataclysm and were now trying to find a new place to start over. When they had heard about this kingdom it sounded like the perfect place to do that and had come in search of it.
In exchange for allowing them to live in the kingdom the soldiers volunteered to lend their various skills and military expertise towards the overall protection of the realm and solemnly pledge their allegiance to the Royal Family and Crystal Tokyo.
The King and Queen agreed to their terms but informed them that in order to become citizens of their kingdom they first had to hand over all of their weapons and explosive devices as they were expressly forbidden. Surprisingly, the soldiers had complied with the Queen's edict with little hesitation as the peaceful aura surrounding the Queen touched something warm deep inside them which caused them to completely trust her.
The other term of their citizenship was that they had to be cleansed of all the negative energy by the Silver Moon Crystal so that their souls would become nearly pure and devoid of the feelings of jealousy and greed that had in the genes of humans since the arrival of Metalia almost eleven millennia ago. One at a time, the soldiers agreed to that term as well without any hesitation.
After their cleansing they had been assigned to be under the command of Carnage the person in charge of Crystal Tokyo's global peace-keeping efforts. It had been something of a surprise for them to see a 'monster' running such an operation given the peaceful appearance of the kingdom and its rulers but they trusted their new queen's judgment. Carnage explained to them that their primary mission was to travel around the world to areas of turmoil or where crimes had been or were being committed and stop them.
He went on to explain that the Earth was now free of the national borders and individual countries that it had once had and it was now their responsibility to protect everyone regardless of race, religion or creed. Their mandate by order of the King and Queen was that no one was to die in any of their operations under any circumstances if it could be avoided. They were to capture any and all enemy combatants by any means necessary and bring them before Neo-Queen Serenity so that they could be cleansed by the Silver Moon Crystal just as the soldiers all had been. Once the captured prisoners were purified they were to be released. From there they could decide whether they wanted to stay and live in Crystal Tokyo or go back home and live as they wanted. This was the Queen's way of completely eliminating the negative energy from Earth one person at a time.
For the next two years that had followed, Carnage's team had done exactly that. Together they had travelled to six out of the seven former continents dozens of times and engaged in battles that ranged from minor scuffles to full out melees. The Queen's rules for engagement were clear and simple: capture any hostile individuals and collect any and all weapons of any sort that they came across so that Sailor Mars could destroy them with her fire-based powers. So far they had been able to follow those orders to the letter every single time and their numerous efforts had finally started to show some real long term progress in the overall promotion of peace on the Earth.
The Queen and King were very pleased with them and that in turn was more than enough reward for each member of the team. Their current mission right now was to apprehend a small ring of people that were trying to traffic a large cache of heroin that they had been cultivating and was now ready to distribute to any junkie or potential buyer they could find. This was something that Neo-Queen Serenity could not tolerate and why she had sent Carnage and his team to intercept them and destroy all of the manufactured and un-manufactured drugs as well as the tools needed to make them.
"It's time!"
Carnage snapped his focus back and pushed his memories back deep down inside his head as his symbiote broke through his current train of thought to inform him that they now finally had a window of opportunity to make their move. He quickly retracted the pseudopod sprouting from the crown of his head and elongated his arms straight up above him. Using another mental command, the strands of symbiote material shot upwards at a lightning quick speed and wrapped around the thick rusted steel girder above him like the end of a whip. When the organic filaments were tightly secure he began to reel the material back into the main body of his living costume which pulled his body upwards to the ceiling like a fisherman retracting his line. Once he got to within arms' reach of the rafter he pulled himself up onto the beam and got into a crouched position. He paused for a minute as he waited quietly to make sure that he had not been spotted by any of the armed drug dealers during his ascension to the roof. When nothing occurred he let a single thought pass through his brain.
Looks like I am clear to proceed to Phase three
He quickly and swiftly moved along the metal beam. He weaved through and ducked under the thin diagonal metal rods that crisscrossed along the girder and connected it to what remained of the flat sheet metal above that served as the underside of the ceiling. He was very careful to check out the area in front of him before he took each step so that he did not accidently knock anything over like a rock or a piece of loose metal over the edge that would give away his position to his targets below. His symbiote also used its sensitive skin to feel for any upcoming structural weakness in the steel as a result of the centuries of exposure and moisture. In a matter of minutes he found himself directly over the criminals that they had been tasked with apprehending.
From his current vantage point he could see where Hicks, Apone and Nixon were situated. When he looked in the other direction he saw that Winters had successfully rendezvoused with Dorrin and Mac and were now maintaining their cover as they awaited his signal.
Carnage took a deep breath as he prepared himself for what he was about to do. His plan was simple in its nature but there was still a large element of danger that still warranted him to proceed with caution. He looked down at his targets one final time before bending his knees and gripping the edge of the thick steel beam underneath him with his left hand.
The drug dealers were still keeping their focus on where they had last seen his comrades in their tan coloured camouflage uniforms. Their automatic rifles were poised as they trained them back and forth ready to open fire the second a target presented itself to them. As Carnage continued to watch from above one of the dealers was beginning to get very antsy at being surrounded by a squad of military officers and a man in a tacky Halloween costume. His body language was indicating this by the way he had become very restless and the way he physically flinched every time a shadow moved somewhere outside the makeshift fort's boundaries. Carnage began to wonder if this person was the leader of the drug ring and that the realization that his operation was about to get shut down before it even fully got started was starting to take its mental toll on him. As he continued to watch and wait for the right moment to pounce the suspected leader's patience finally reached its end.
"Enough of this crap!"
He stormed over to a small box located in the centre of their makeshift stronghold. From his position directly above him Carnage could still see him clearly without having to lean out too much. Below him, the man reached into the box and pulled out two small hand-held grenades. Carnage's large white eyes enlarged as he quickly understood what was about to happen. By the looks of it, the amateur drug lord was going to throw a grenade to the left and right which would force Winters and the rest of his team to move from their current positions in order to avoid the ensuing blasts and shrapnel. This would almost certainly leave them wide open to be picked off by the other members of the drug ring if they weren't killed by the initial explosions. Carnage knew he had to act now before the man had a chance to pull either of the grenade's pins.
Without wasting another second Carnage dropped down to the floor and landed just off of the centre of the fortified garrison. He had been careful to avoid touching down onto the pile of weapons and ammunition in the central area as this would have almost certainly caused him to stumble.
As he had descended to the floor he had morphed his hands into a pair of blunt instruments. One of his limbs changed into a flat board that was similar in appearance to a cricket bat. His other arm became long and cylindrical like a baseball bat. His symbiote had also produced several long pseudopods that whipped around his body in a series of defensive patterns.
Upon landing on the concrete floor he wrapped two of those tendrils around the leader's wrists to prevent him from pulling the pins out with his teeth. He followed up that move by pulling the wannabe drug pusher closer to him. When he was right up against him, Carnage landed a bone-shattering head-butt to the bridge of his nose. A second later, the leader of the small drug ring crumpled to the ground in a heap unconscious. He was bleeding profusely from his newly broken nose. Both of the grenades rolled harmlessly from his hands as his grip around them loosened and came to a stop a couple of feet away on either side of him.
The sudden and abrupt neutralization of their leader caught the attention of a couple of the other men. They spun around and were ready to cut the intruder in half with their bullets. When their eyes fell upon the unholy looking monster that they had only seen from a distance and was now standing over their boss the internal fear they felt temporarily overruled their military training. This caused them all to hesitate for a split second. Fortunately, a second is all Carnage needed.
He leaped forward and tackled one gunman to the ground before driving the back of his head into the hard concrete of the floor. This did not knock him out but only dazed him. Carnage remained on top of him as he sent a razor-sharp blade attached to a thick pseudopod out from the middle of his upper back behind him. At the end of strand, the blade flicked in an upwards arch that sliced through the other drug dealer's gun barrel which rendered the weapon useless.
By this point the remaining three members of the gang were now fully aware of Carnage's presence inside their stronghold. They all turned in unison to engage him all at once. They were all confident that between the three of them there was no way he could dodge all of their bullets. As soon as the gunmen's backs were turned away from them the rest of Carnage's team moved from their hiding places and charged forward. With their high degree of physical shape they were able to reach the perimeter of the garrison in less than five seconds. They expertly jumped over the large steel crates and took the men by surprise as they tightened their index fingers on the triggers of their automatic weapons. Using their superior krav maga fighting techniques the former Army Rangers were able to quickly neutralize the remaining members of the gang in less than forty-five seconds.
When the last of the drug dealers was successfully knocked out Carnage and Apone propped them up against the internal side of the garrison's wall and placed them in an upright sitting position. When the last of them was securely restrained Carnage stood up and turned his head to look around at his men as they began the cleanup portion of their operation.
Hicks and Winters were busy collecting the weapons that had been tossed or dropped during the short battle. Dorrin was looking over the captured drug dealers and attending to any injuries they had suffered during the scuffle while Mac assisted him in that task. Apone began to the tedious task of cataloging the contents of the weapons cache the gang had stockpiled. He was also looking for any leads or clues as to where these men had acquired such a large and deadly arsenal in this new world. Any information they could gather would be extremely useful to the other global defence division headed by Sailor Uranus and Neptune.
Sailor Neptune and Uranus were in charge of the global disarmament division. They were charged with seeking out any former military bases, gun shops or army surplus stores and destroy any weapons that they found so that they would not fall into the hands of individuals such as these drug pushers. Their mission was similar to one that Carnage's team was tasked with in that if they encountered any enemy combatants they were to apprehend them and bring them to Neo-Queen Serenity for purification. However their primary focus was still to find any surviving weapons or armament-making factories and shut them down permanently. Like Carnage, they had a platoon of former soldiers under their command to assist them in that principal mission. These former military men ranged from ex-Navy Seals, Russian Spetsnazs and a couple of other assorted military or counterterrorist factions that had come to Crystal Tokyo to start their new lives just as the members of Carnage's team had.
"Good job men! Another successful mission completed."
His soldiers all looked towards their leader and nodded their heads in appreciation for his positive acknowledgement. Nixon came up to Carnage and waited patiently for him to turn his head and acknowledge his presence.
"Sir! Request permission to begin the collection of all contraband and drug paraphernalia."
"At ease soldier. I told you that you don't need that level of formality with me. Request granted by the way. Take Winters and Hicks with you but stay frosty, there could still be more hostiles in the area or other hazards that we don't know about. Do I make myself clear?"
"Crystal, sir!"
Nixon, Hicks and Winters proceeded to quickly leave the garrison and move around the warehouse. They cracked open all the wooden and steel crates as well as any other containers that they found using a pair of crowbars that they had found near the remains of a plastic table. They marked the vessels that contained forbidden materials such as weapons or drugs with black camouflage paint. Inside the other containers were found to be filled with large amounts of clothing non-perishable food and other items that might be useful to the populace of Crystal Tokyo.
King Endyimon and Neo-Queen Serenity had said that any such items were welcome to come back so that they could be put to proper use rather than destroying them or leaving them to rot. In these instances where such items were located, the citizens with sewing or seamstress experience would repair any damage to the clothing and provide them to the various shops around the city. It was the last of Carnage's team's mission's objectives. After Dorrin and Mac had finished their physical assessments of each of the captured criminals they joined the others in the search and seizure of the crumbling facility's contents.
Several hours later they were finally close to being done. All that was left to do was to alert the Crystal Palace so that they could transport the marked boxes of useful items back to the kingdom and then inform Sailor Mars that her services were needed at their location.
Carnage was out on the warehouse floor waking around as he continued to supervise Hicks and Mac as they used a pair of dollies they had come across during their search, to group the crates together. Surprisingly the dollies were working fairly well considering they hadn't been used in over nine centuries they had just needed a generous amount of oil for the wheels and hydraulics. This had made the transportation procedure much easier for them as they collected the crates together in small groups. As Carnage continued to watch his men a vertical slit in the symbiotic skin slowly appeared along his right thigh. He reached into the tear and pulled out a small communication device. He lifted the small machine and put microphone that was built into it close to his mouth.
"Red Diamond to Crystal Palace, come in."
"Crystal Palace here."
"Stand by for transport of serviceable items for city's populace."
"Copy that! Activate transport markers and await transporter initiation."
"Understood. Over."
Carnage lowered the communicator and lifted his head so that he was looking towards Mac who was currently assisting Hicks as they brought over another series of boxes that were full of clothing and blankets that appeared to have been looted from the ruins of a GAP store. He waited until the cartons were safely put back onto the ground before calling out to him to get his attention.
"Mac, turn on the transportation markers and wait for the Palace to take that load."
Mac nodded his head to let Carnage know that he had heard his order. He signalled to Hicks to stop bringing any more crates to this particular group. Hicks in turn gave him a 'thumbs up' with his right hand before turning around to get the attention of Winters and Dorrin to inform them of the same thing. Carnage watched as the three of them set out to work on setting up the next pile of crates to be transported as Mac flicked on the transmission indicators situated around the pile of crates.
Suddenly his symbiote screamed inside his head that something was occurring behind him. He spun around quickly and looked for the reason for his partner's abrupt and urgent warning. His large white eyes speedily scanned the scene behind him and instinctively focused in on the unconscious row of captured drug dealers. He felt his heart rate pick up as the hybrid blood in his veins noticeably dropped in temperature.
One of amateur criminals had regained conscious and had managed to cut through the rope that they had used to bind them. He had found a small pistol that had been hidden inside a secret compartment in one of the steel boxes that made up the wall of the crude fort.
He currently had the gun raised and was aiming at Sgt. Apone who had his back to the criminal as he continued to collect the weapons and explosives inside the garrison for Sailor Mars to destroy. Carnage began to rush forward as he sent out several pseudopods in the direction of the attacker. He hoped to deflect the gun or at least render it unusable before he could get a shot off. As he ran towards him he screamed out a warning to his team mate.
"Apone! Incoming!"
Apone heard his warning and started to lift his head to look up at Carnage in an effort to determine which direction he should move. He then heard the unmistakable 'click' behind him as the hammer of the gun was pulled back and became ready to fire. He reacted instinctively by diving to the ground to get out of the target area he was presently in.
The sound of the gun going off echoed throughout the open space of the decaying warehouse. It was followed by a yell of pain that Carnage and the others recognized as coming from their team mate and friend.
Carnage reached the scene first. He knocked the gun out of the shooter's hand and caused it to land outside the circular area of the improvised stronghold before following it up with a strong left hook across the criminal's face which temporarily stunned him. He then turned to where Apone had fallen and hurried over to him. He knelt down beside him as Dorrin and Winters where the next to arrive. They proceeded to quickly pin and re-secure the shooter who was starting to recover from their leader's punch.
Carnage looked at where Apone had been hit ad saw the wound in his side, just below his rib cage. He was still conscious but his breathing was noticeably much more laboured and there was a thin stream of blood that was oozing down from the corner of his mouth. Hicks crouched down on the other side of him. A grim look appeared on his face as he looked at the wound for himself.
"The bullet may have hit his liver or spleen judging from its entrance point. We need to get him back to Sailor Mercury now or he is not going to make it."
Carnage didn't answer and his monstrous face remained devoid of any readable expression. He instead stood up and stormed over to where the still conscious drug dealer was. He was once again tied up with a stronger rope and the sharpened edge that he had used to cut the first set of restraints had been taken away. Dorrin and Winters were standing on either side of him but quickly moved out of the way when they saw their leader's rapid approach. Without saying a word Carnage reached down and grabbed the man by the front of his neck. He roughly lifted him off the ground using the augmented strength from his symbiote to pick the man up with ease. Underneath him, the man's legs loosely dangled and kicked uselessly in the air as he desperately tried to escape the angry red creature that was holding him.
The grip from Carnage's hand around his neck was restricting his airway which was causing him to roughly cough and choke. Hicks, Winters, Mac and Dorrin all gathered around him but kept a safe distance away from him as they watched what was happening in front of them with worried looks in their eyes. They had seen their leader act this way several times over the past year but lately these occurrences were becoming more and more frequent.
"Hey, what are you doing man?"
"You dare attack one of my men?"
"I'm… sorry… ok… I don't… know… what I… was thinking!"
"That is no excuse!"
Carnage pulled back his other arm to a position behind him. He tightly clenched his fist before morphing it into the head of a spiked medieval mace. Their leader's snarling mouth and the intensity in the white eyes made the rage that was threatening to completely consume him unmistakeable to the soldiers around him. Where once they might have joined in with the treatment of the person that had critically wounded one of their own they were now feeling beyond uncomfortable with the sight of another human being who was no longer a threat on the brink of being brutally murdered in cold blood.
Winters stepped forward and bravely put his hand on Carnage's shoulder. Almost the symbiote wrapped around his hand which prevented him from letting go or taking his hand off it. Carnage turned his head to look over his shoulder at the man who had dared to interfere with the punishment he was about to inflict on young criminal.
"Do not try to stop me Winters. I don't want to hurt you."
"Sir! You can't do this."
"Can't I? This scum manages to survive the nuclear fire and is given a second chance to re-start his life and he decides to make money off a substance that brings nothing but death and misery to anyone it comes into contact with? He then has the audacity to shoot one of our own and think he will not suffer the consequences!"
Winters and the other soldiers all gasped at the intense tone in Carnage's voice. He sounded like a completely different person. To be completely honest, he actually sounded more monster than human. They all had no doubt that he was about to kill the captured man without hesitation if they didn't do anything to stop him. With his superhuman abilities they would have no way of stopping him physically. That meant that their only chance was to try to appeal to the good nature that hopefully still remained inside him and reach the part of his soul that had been strengthened by his cleansing from the Silver Moon Crystal. Winters who was still being firmly held by the symbiote took that desperate initiative.
"Sir! You can't kill him."
"Why not? He would have surely killed each and every one of us if given the chance. I must show him what happens when he attempts such an act!"
"But sir, you must not kill him! Our Queen has forbidden it and you cannot defy her wishes."
"The Queen?"
His voice and noticeably softened slightly and the strands holding Winters to his shoulder loosened as well. Slowly, the arm holding the drug dealer lost some of its stiffness as if some of the strength running through it suddenly disappeared with the mention of Neo-Queen Serenity. Winters pulled his hand free and began to rub it with the other one to ease some of the discomfort he was feeling after having his hand pressed down with tremendous force. Staff Sergeant Dorrin jumped in as he was determined to keep the ball rolling and peacefully defuse the situation.
"Yes our queen. Neo-Queen Serenity! She has expressly decreed that no one is to die during any of our missions and you are about to fail in upholding that order!"
Dorrin's comment seemed to do the trick as Carnage's white eyes flashed again and visually lost much of the intensity that they had just been filled with. His grip on the man's throat also noticeably loosened and a second later he let go of it completely. With a loud thud, the man dropped down to his knees as he coughed hoarsely and rubbed the sides of his neck which were dark red and bruised from the pressure of Carnage's fingers pressing against it. Hicks and Mac moved in quickly and moved the man back to where the other captured prisoners were and to get him a safe distance away from Carnage. Dorrin came up behind Carnage and mirrored Winters earlier gesture by putting his hand on top of his shoulder.
Unlike before Carnage didn't respond in a hostile manner. He instead simply turned to look at Dorrin over his shoulder. His wide mouth remained closed and the look in his large eyes could almost be described as remorseful. Any trace of the rage that had nearly consumed him appeared to be completely gone and all that was left in its place was the feelings of intense guilt at what he had almost done.
Dorrin and the others breathed a sigh of relief as they saw that they had successfully avoided a very ugly and potential tragic situation. He removed his hand from Carnage's shoulder and walked around him so that he was standing directly in front of him.
"Let's hurry up and complete this mission so that we can get back home for some much needed R & R. I think we could all use some downtime right about now!"
"Yes, that does sound good!"
"Yeah I am sure your wife is anxious for you to get back as well!" Mac added with a friendly wink.
End of Chapter 1…