Humanity's Finest: Part 2
Chapter 3
Cynder followed the prototypes of undead dragons carrying apes through the sky to a location that Samantha said would "be advantageous to them." As far as she knew of this location; it used to be a research facility of Group 935, a long extinct organisation of humans that were researching advanced technology. An organisation Samantha's father had headed thousands of years ago apparently. But this particular device is what got Samantha worried. According to the girl this thing she was sent to search for was capable of reverting zombies back to their living selves. If that was the case then it was very likely it could be reversed to make more zombies.
Samantha sent her to get this device and bring it to her before her nemesis's' discover its existence. She didn't even know what the thing looked like for her Ancestor's sake! The only description Samantha gave her was, "The object will most likely be camouflaged and it will have two drills like shapes on the front."
It wasn't even a good enough description! She was basically wondering in the dark. And she didn't like wondering in the dark, with half-assed info to back her up. When she was known as 'Cynder the Terror of the Skies' she had ruled with an iron fist! She had kept tabs on every going on's in her realm and crushed any resistance before they could happen. She regretted all the killings, regretting how she enjoyed listening to her victims plead to her to let them live before killing them in cold blood. Shaking her head away of such negative thoughts Cynder gave a curious glance to the decaying zombified dragons in front of her Cynder began to wonder what they were truly capable of. She had heard from Grim that Samantha had sent one of the prototypes she recently created against Tank Dempsey, as a test to see wither or not if it was combat ready. Suffice to say the test Samantha had set for the undead dragon was somewhat successful but the original reason -from what she had overheard from an overly chatty ape and a musing Samantha- was why the zombified dragon was sent out had failed; Dempsey remained healthy but they discovered something important.
Tank Dempsey had new abilities; he was able to pull advanced weapons out of thin air, walk through fire unscathed and was able to wrestle the undead dragon to the ground with his strength alone. That should've been impossible because from what Samantha said the zombified dragons were physically altered, giving them enhanced strength, speed and durability. And it was because of these new abilities Dempsey had recently received that he was able to keep up with the zombified dragon.
'Still...it must've been quite a fight,' Cynder mused inwardly.
After several hours of flying, Cynder had seen something from the corner of her eye. When she turned she saw something gleaming in the distance. The black scaled, light blue eyed dragoness squint her eyes to get a better view at what she was seeing but it was proving to be difficult; as she was fairly far away from the object. When she was about to announce to the others of what she is seeing, imagine her surprise' and to her glee, that the zombified dragons had noticed it too and were moving to find out what it was.
Cynder rolled her eyes in amusement when the apes looked like they were about to yell at their mounts. Even Cynder could see how stupid that would be. Their mounts were fricking dead for crying out loud. Didn't they realise they wouldn't stand a ghost of chance against them if the undead dragons found them to be annoying enough to dispose of?
But then she remembered; apes were stupid creatures. Cynder was in fact so bored with nothing to do but fly, that she was eagerly looking forward to the upcoming slaughter. Sometimes she loved being sadistic when the situation calls for it.
Several minutes later Cynder and the zombified dragons landed on solid ground in a clearing, a fairly short distance away from the glimmer of light they saw in the sky. The apes slid off the backs of their undead mounts and began to spread out, their weapons unsheathed and at the ready. A few undead dragons sniffed the air to pick up the scent of any possible spies watching them. Unfortunately for them, they never picked anything up apart from the disgusting smell of under bathed apes surrounding them which caused them to growl darkly. Before they could do anything against the furry animals however, Cynder sent them a sharp look. As if she was begging them to act out of line. Now the dragons may be dead, but they were far from stupid. They could pick up some stubble hits, could speak a few sentences, and they understood orders. They were under Cynder's command and they had to follow and listen to her orders as if she was Samantha herself.
The apes remembered what Cynder was like during her reign of terror. And even though she is smaller than they remembered, they do know that the dragoness still retained some of the power that she had when she was under Malefor's control. They remember her abilities Poison, Fear, Shadow and Wind on them when they were skeletons underground, before Samantha found and put them back to their original state. So when Cynder with authority in her voice, ordered everyone to spread out in pairs; they bloody well did it. It wasn't long until an ape relayed to everyone in an awed yet gruff tone that it had found something nearby. The awed voice the ape had spoken in had gotten Cynder's curiosity piqued. When she along with the others reached the ape, her eyes glanced behind the furry animal and her eyes slowly widened. There was an old crumbled tower on top of a hill and there were some rusty remains of a ship that was deeply embedded in the earth and less than a quarter of it were poking out.
In front of them however were the ruined remains of an encampment?
From what Cynder recalled in her short reign as Malefor's general, there was a large group of Cheetah rebels that was stationed here. They were taken care of rather easily, in spite of the fact that they held their own against the Dark Forces. How she knew this? Because she was the one who led the raid on them with a small battalion of apes. She didn't bother to take a look at the architecture then because it didn't hold any value to her old master. If she did, she would've discovered that this place was made by someone else's hands. And from what she knew, the ruined tower on the hill or the ship didn't look like anything the Moles had constructed.
She would've rediscovered one of the many facilities owned by Group 935.
"I wonder…" Cynder trailed off as she surveyed the landscape. She trudged through the long abandoned camp with wary eyes glancing at the tower on the hill. "Is this one of the outposts that the humans made long ago?"
It made sense. The humans of old did have hundreds of old castles and fortresses in their countries, and some of them were built to last. So it wouldn't be farfetched for this place to be the remains of an outpost. The place they found Tank Dempsey was the remains of a factory. The fact that it was still operational, after countless centuries of being underground and still standing is nothing short of amazing. Most things built nowadays usually last for ten to fifteen years. If there wasn't a war with the Dark Master and his armies then may be the cities housing dragons, moles, cheetahs and other anthro-type animals dotted through the land would be standing.
Cynder turned around to face her subordinates. She cleared her throat and spoke to them with an authoritative tone. "Alright, I have a feeling that this place used to be an old human outpost. I want some of you…" She looked pointedly at the apes. "…too scout around the surrounding area in pairs, but remain close to the bulk of the group in case we run into any unexpected surprises. The rest can stay here to make camp." She paused to catch her breath before turning to the undead dragons; they were surprisingly quiet and standing upright with their chests puffed out. It was similar to what she saw Terrador do when he was proud of her and Spyro doing something.
"I want at least half of you to be our eyes in the sky. Look for something out of the ordinary and keep an eye for any enemies, preferably the humans. Next I want a quarter of you to stay here and guard the area; from my past experiences the apes will need extra guards since they can get their red asses handed to them easily." She ignored the growls of protests from her ape subordinates. "The other quarter can go with the apes on the ground, the same rules I gave them will also apply to you."
Her subordinates nodded and split up into pairs. Cynder shook her head and looked back at the tower. She began to wonder just what made Samantha send her out here for.
X.X.X.X
Mason and Woods had M-16 assault rifles respectively. The bandana wearing marine had a revolver as his secondary weapon in its holster strapped to his waist; and Mason had the standard military issue M1911A1 .Colt, the holster was carried on his chest instead of his waist.
Hudson and Weaver had the Dragunov, a semi-automatic sniper rifle. Hudson had two CZ75s and Weaver oddly enough had a Luger P08 pistol.
The four also restocked themselves on food, water, ammunition and equipment' because when they first got there they barely had anything to defend themselves with. Now they had Bowie knives, pineapple grenades, sticky grenades and magazines for their weapons. Mason and Woods both also have a machete sheathed on their waist.
"Now I like our odds." Mason said, as he slipped a fresh magazine into his M-16. He slung the assault rifle over his shoulder and took out his sidearm out of its holster and checked the mag before nodding in satisfaction and putting the pistol back into the gun holder.
"I wouldn't mind having the Commando or the Gali - but the M-16 suits me just fine." Woods said as he shouldered said assault rifle with one hand and held his revolver side ways.
Hudson shook his head in disbelief. Apes. That is what their facing. They were using their highly advanced weaponry against butt scratching, flea ridden apes. Sure the two –Mason and Woods- explained the whole situation to them, while making them look insane, but still… using fully automatic rifles and semi-automatic pistols' against animals that wear armour that hardly protects them and use medieval weapons.
He had two words to describe this: Pure overkill.
The apes were going to get slaughtered before they knew what'd hit them. There was no doubt about that. But there was one or two advantages the apes have that they don't. And that is the numbers and the knowledge of the terrain. The humans are heavily outnumbered and the landscape is unknown to them. The apes however are used to the forest and they know the place better than they do, and since the monkeys have huge numbers they can make a thorough search for them if they wanted to.
It was obvious that both sides were going to collide soon; and when they do blood is gonna be spilt.
For now it was all they can do to try avoid the main bulk of the apes in the forest. The cabin was safe (the voice had confirmed that to them earlier.) and there was little to no chance that the apes are going to come across it. But both Mason and Woods weren't going to take any chances, because a little chance was still a chance. So when they outfitted themselves and stocked on ammunition, food and flasks filled to the brim with drinking water the two former U.S.M.C marines grabbed a few chairs and positioned themselves near the window and door and sat down with their assault rifles resting on their legs.
Hudson and Weaver slowly looked at one another in silence, shrugged and went back to outfitting themselves. They never did know how a crate filled with weapons and body armour got into the room in the first place, but then they stopped asking questions a long time ago and decided to roll with it. They would get fewer headaches that way.
'I wonder where Reznov went.' Mason thought. His brow furrowed when he heard a disturbance in the distance. He looked at Woods and from the grave expression on his face; he knew Woods had heard the commotion too.
"You hear that?" Woods said in a low quiet tone.
Mason nodded as he and Woods got off their chairs. "Yeah, I heard it alright. You think it's the monkeys?" He asked as he and Woods peeked out of the window.
"It's possible. But I don't wanna take any chances." The bandana wearing marine replied gravely as he took off the safety on his M-16. He turned to the snipers of the team and told them that he and Mason were going to go outside to check on something, and gave them instructions to take positions at the windows and cover them in case they were attacked.
The two reluctantly agreed. While Woods wasn't a larger rank in the military he was and still is the leader of his S.O.G group, which happened to consist of Frank Woods, Alex Mason and Joseph Bowman. Weaver and Hudson sometimes got folded into their unit –mostly to keep an eye on Mason- and they would then be under Frank's command.
"Consider it done." James Hudson said as he gave Weaver a look that said 'Deal with it' and effectively cut off any response the Russian had.
With a one eyed glare Weaver silently took position in front of the window, knelt in front of it and looked through the scope with Hudson doing the same. Meanwhile both Frank and Alex slowly walked out in the open with their M-16's held up and ready to fire. The two men were completely vulnerable like this; walking in the open with no cover spelled disaster to many men in war. But hell! Frank Woods and Alex Mason were professionals! If they were ambushed they had two snipers –who currently had their crosshairs fixed on them instead of the surroundings- backing them up in the cabin.
And while they picked off any enemies trying to ambush them then Frank and Mason can unleash hell upon the poor bastards with their fully automatic rifles!
It's a shame there are trees in front of them though. Because if there wasn't they would have seen several crossbows following their every move.
X.X.X.X
This was probably the most terror Dempsey had felt in years. He was actually almostscared! He felt the fear tear at his nerves after not seeing a Hellhound search its way through the fog for some time, despite the fact that it was letting up. No matter though. He was just feeling a little peevish that at any moment a Hellhound could walk right in front of him and he would only have a split second to pull the trigger before it could react. That's just for the reflexes involved. Weather the bullets could hit the dog or not was an entirely different story.
But hell, Tank Dempsey is a legendary soldier! He actually isn't afraid at all, and his reflexes were as sharp as ever, despite him missing one or several hounds. Whenever that happened, he simply wrestled it to the floor and finished to off with his knife.
"Thanks for saying that, narrator." Tank replied in a dull tone. "It almost made up for the previous paragraph where you made me sound weak."
Anytime!
Polonsky stared oddly at Dempsey momentarily when he spoke. Sometimes he wondered if his lookalike was ok in that place that was his mind. He was acting like he was talking to someone, and heaven forbid he was saying he and everyone else was in a story! The previous sentence was proof of that.
"Polonsky would 'ya please stop talkin' about me." Tank said. "I can't concentrate with all this fog and the fourth-wall breaking I did a minute ago."
Said marine stopped and openly stared Dempsey with his jaw hanging open. "I-I... Wha-What!" He stammered. "Dempsey, what the hell are you talking about? I wasn't talking or anything that would involve talking!"
Tank paused in his step and looked at the teenager with a strict expression. "Don't lie to me kid." He said seriously. He reached behind him and unexpectedly pulled out a script and that had the title 'Humanity's Finest' printed on the front in bold letters. He opened the manuscript to a certain page and pointed at a dialogue with familiar words on it. "The paragraph above my response here clearly showed your thoughts about me."
Polonsky had nothing to say. He really, really didn't.
Too Polonsky's dismay, he saw that in the script too.
"And the moment this sentence in finished, a hellhound will jump out of nowhere and pounce you." Dempsey said cheerfully as he put the script back to… wherever the hell it came from.
Then true to Dempsey's words, a hellhound pounced on Polonsky and bit down on the back of his bandolier and began shaking him around like a ragdoll, making Polonsky gargle incoherently in agitation. Tank cocked his head to the side as he tried to make out what his lookalike was saying; not to mention that the entire scene was just plain hilarious to watch. But unfortunately, all good things must come to an end. Grabbing the hilt of his knife Dempsey spun the five inch knife in his palm before holding it in a reverse grip.
He slowly stalked toward the occupied hellhound; who never noticed the marine slowly approaching until it was far too late. When he reached the dog Tank's eyes suddenly hardened. He positioned the combat knife above the dog's neck' before latching onto it with one hand and used his other to bring the knife down on the mutt before it had a chance to react. One stab to the brain later and the hellhound fell on its full weight on Polonsky, who had the air pushed out of his lungs with a grunt but was unable to move thanks to the useless weight on his front.
"Hey Tank, ya' think you can help me get this smelly mutt off of me?" Polonsky asked gesturing to the dead weight that was the hellhound with his head.
Said marine shrugged. "Sure. We need to get back to the others anyway." Tank replied. "The fog may be letting up but those hellhounds are the masters of hiding and skulking around." He grunted as he and Polonsky began to shift the corpse.
Polonsky stopped whatever he was doing and gave Dempsey a perplexed look. "But… isn't skulking and hiding the exact same thing?" He asked.
Tank stared blankly at his lookalike. "…Polonsky…shut the hell up."
Roebuck and Miller slowly made their way through the fog almost blindingly. The mist, while fading away, was still dense enough to impede their vision; which affected their sense of direction. But it made them more alert in case they were unfortunate enough to come across a hellhound or two. They had a close call where they stumbled upon a large group of hellhounds, but it was nothing they couldn't handle. After all, both Miller and Roebuck had fully automatic weapons and with them they were capable of decimating the hellhounds before they could get close to injure them.
Miller wanting to pass the time started up a conversation with his superior.
"So Roebuck I have a question for you."
"Really?"
"Yep. I want to know who you would rather kill the most. The Nazi or the Asian?"
"Miller, I don't think it's polite to talk about that, they could be nearby." Roebuck reprimanded.
"Hey, the Asians dragged us into the war when they attacked Pearl Harbour. The Kraut's attacked Poland and the British and French went to war with Germany in retaliation." Miller fiercely replied. "Not to mention, Germany killed thousands of civilians and did a bunch of other unspeakable things because of Hitler." Roebuck couldn't deny that, his friend did have a point after all. And truth be told, he wanted to shove his boot up their asses' for all the trouble they've put them through. And he could not forget that Miller and his recon team had spent an entire week with the Japanese on Makin Island, and endured the torture they put them through.
"I can't disagree with you there."
"Hey! Guy's look! There's a bunch of green looking guys walking towards us!" The familiar Russian accented voice they all knew exclaimed with relief. Both Roebuck and Miller stopped and looked around for the person who spoke. "Look up." A German accented voice said with irritation. They both did as they were asked and were not at all surprised to see Nikolai, Takeo and Richtofen looking down at them from a roof.
They were surprised to see they were on a roof. Because they couldn't see anything that could get them up there in the first place.
Nikolai uncorked a bottle of his vodka and raised it to the Americans. "Now that they are here we can get to drinking!" He brought the tip to his mouth, but stopped, lowered it and put the cork in the tip with an annoyed look on his face. "…Once Dempsey and his lookalike gets here." He said, before muttering darkly about dogs and their obsession with biting groins and pelvises.
Everyone wisely ignored the drunk. Takeo sighed and retreated to the back of the roof. Miller and Roebuck quickly glanced at one another before looking back. Not a moment later Takeo reappeared in their view of sight and was standing at the edge of the roof with a rolled up portable ladder. He safely secured it on the edge of the building, and tugging on it a few times Takeo nodded to himself in satisfaction before unceremoniously kicking the rest of the ladder off the roof.
"Get up here, quickry" Takeo told them urgently. "The dogs might stirr be wondering around!"
Both Miller and Roebuck didn't need to be told twice. The moment Takeo said 'demons' they instantly started sprinting toward the ladder as if their lives depended on it. Roebuck was the first to get to the ladder and after he slung his browning automatic rifle over his shoulder he begun climbing it with Miller watching his flank. Takeo and Richtofen were doing their job of being lookout, while Nikolai lay down in the middle of the roof with his eyes closed in peaceful slumber.
When the marines finally got to the rooftop they quickly pulled the ladder up, and with a relieved sigh the two leaned back on their arms as their exhaustion finally caught up with them. They were finally able to get a break. But with Dempsey and Polonsky still missing their break might be short lived. However nothing – except for the undead – was going to stop them from having their well deserved break.
X.X.X.X
Dempsey and Polonsky stopped when a humanized sphere of electricity suddenly appeared in front of them. Dempsey having seen a sphere of electricity before in the past quickly took out his .Colt from his gun holder, and reloaded his currently equipped CZ75 with a fresh magazine. Dempsey duel wielded both pistols as he regarded the electrical sphere with an unflinching gaze. He knew all sphere's contained a hellhound, and that they were the size of a child, however this was the first time he had seen one that was adult sized. He daringly spared a glance at Polonsky and saw his lookalike was knelling, with his Browning light machine gun levelled at his shoulder.
That was a good thing. Because of how heavy that gun was, firing it while standing up would make the gun shake in your hands; and the bullets would fly everywhere. However now that Polonsky was knelling down' all the teen had to do is shoot is small short bursts. Or if the hellhounds were very close to tearing off a chunk of skin; then he'd have to go full out.
"Interesting, isn't it American?" Samantha said stoically while walking out from behind the sphere of electricity. She pressed her hand up against it and looked at the marines with child-like eyes. Only that they were glowing a faint yellow. "Did you know zhat every time a hellhound or zombie dies; their souls return to me?"
Dempsey didn't like what she was implying. "What about it?"
She grin a dark grin that somehow made her look demented. "Vell, take into account zhat you've murdered thousands upon thousands of my minions; their souls are harvested for… nourishment… for fluffy."
Polonsky's eyes went impossibly wide in realisation as they turned from her to the sphere. His throat went dry as sweet ran down the side of his head. "That thing beside you, Fluffy is inside it."
Samantha clapped her hands together with an unimpressed look on her face. "Curses. You discovered one of my master plans." She cried out in mocking disbelief before glaring hard at the blondes. "Yes Fluffy is inside zhis. And just a little warning you'll need everything you have in you're possession if you want to stand a chance against her."
"Samantha what the hell is your game." Dempsey demanded fiercely. "What the hell are you trying to achieve by doing all of this!"
"What I vant is none of your concern, swine." Samantha stated coldly with an insane looking look on her eyes. "But I shall indulge you nonetheless. My 'game' here, is to kill Uncle Edward and all those who help him."
"And you're willing to commit genocide to do it!" Polonsky shouted with disbelief clearly visible in his eyes.
"She's the whole mastermind behind this whole thing kid." Dempsey reminded Polonsky. He glared dangerously at the little girl in front of him. "You're the reason the zombified dragon came after me aren't you?" He said as he slowly lowered his hands to his side as he stalked towards her with unflinching eyes. "And I'm also guessing you're the reason why the allies of Warfang were going missing too."
"I'm willing to do anything to achieve my goals." She said not denying the accusation. She chuckled darkly as a bullet, courtesy of Dempsey, passed harmlessly through her head. "My plans for zhe future are almost complete. Not even zhe combined forces vith zhe newest arrivals to zhis vorld can help you. Zhe black lizard, Cynder, is indivertibly helping me in zhis task. And when her mission is complete I shall have the means to turn every living thing into my undead servant!" She finished this off with an inhumane laugh that could be heard for miles on end.
"This is bad." Polonsky said in distress.
Dempsey growled at the teenager's lack of optimism but knew he was right. It wasn't every day you realised that the fate of the world was now resting on your shoulders.
"Have fun with Fluffy!" Samantha said to them with glee in her voice before it took a much deeper tone. "FETCH ME THEIR SOULS!"