"It's such a beautiful sight".
The three female associates who were also staring at the magnificent sight silently agreed. The rather large tower made out of ice was a beautiful sight especially in the early morning. They were sure the courtyard that was currently being blocked by the 15 meter walls was also breathtaking. All in all this place was near perfect.
There was just one problem of course.
"I do intend to make this one my main base of operations. First I need it to be cleansed of the filth."
"Yes master".
The man they were referring to smiled a little. He could definitely get used to the title of master, especially when it came from his gorgeous committee. Knowing well the ways they would service him caused a slight day dream. Unfortunately now was not the time for such thoughts, now was the time to strike.
With one last look at the building he turned. His white skin was perfect, his eyes were the perfect blue color, he was definitely the most handsome man and his presence alone put fear into his enemies. A much shorter description that he loved to use on himself was one word. Perfect.
People had called him self-centered before and in the end he knew that they were just jealous. That and they obviously wanted their heads cut off, which he was glad to oblige.
"Bring our guests forward please". He asked one of the girls on his committee nicely. She bowed and with a bark of an order two separate chains were brought forward. Two people were attached, one a female and the other a male. Both of them were wearing standard issue Ranger winter clothes. The woman was shaking more violently and was holding her stomach tenderly. The man felt no fear at all, the only thing he truly felt was pure fury and anger at the man standing in front of him.
"Well, well, well it's so good to see you two again". The master eagerly hugged the woman and then started to walk to hug the man when a wad of spit just missed him by a few inches. The master stared at the male Ranger.
"You psychotic fuck. Don't even think about it."
'tsk tsk tsk' the master was not pleased at all. The emotions on his face betrayed what he was really feeling. In fact he really wanted to just gut this piece of shit Ranger, but he knew that it would interfere with his plan. So he sported a big smile and even laughed.
The male Ranger felt all the air in his lungs exit as an extremely powerful punch was delivered to his stomach. "I told you to behave Private". The master withdrew his fist and yet again hit the defenseless man in the face. The delicious sound of crunching gave the master some more pleasure in knowing the man's nose was broken.
"Haruka!" The women Ranger tried to break free from the chains and help Haruka.
"Don't worry about me Sergeant. He punches like my 3 year old niece."
That earned him another one right in the chest and boy did that fucking hurt! Haruka started to gasp for air and after a few silent seconds the master nodded in approval. "You see?" he asked rhetorically as his smug smile returned. "Look how obedient you can be around your ruler."
"Get real you piece of scum" Haruka shot back. "The only ruler the loyal snow people follow is the snow priestess. You'll never rule these lands as long as the Ranger core is still alive."
"That is true Private" The master waved his hands to his followers. The chains fell from the two captive's ankles and hands, giving them the ability to get the circulation in their appendages back. "Which is why I'm giving you two your first and most likely last orders. I want you to run back to that Ranger outpost over there and tell them of our coming and to be prepared for a fight".
Haruka fixed his wrists and then ran for his superior who was having trouble getting off the ground. He put her arm around his shoulder and helped her up to her feet. "Are you alright Sergeant?"
She nodded. "I'm fine but I don't think I can walk the whole way." In fact she was surprised that she was actually able to stand up, even with Haruka's help. She had taken an ice shard to the stomach and was extremely lucky that her intestines didn't fall out of her. The only reason she survived was because of Haruka.
He was the medic of the 77th Ranger outpost where she was stationed. He saw the pain she was in and despite knowing he was an easy target he ran out and saved her life. Then they were taken prisoner by these bastards.
She blamed herself. If she wasn't so carless then she would have seen that ice coming right at her. Then both of them would have died with their comrades in battle. Instead of being at this psychos mercy.
"I'm giving you and your Rangers an hour before my forces attack. Do not think about running, you won't get very far." The master smiled and shooed them away with his hand. Haruka growled at his opponent and then in a blink of an eye 6 of his other followers appeared next to him.
Haruka had noticed that every occupant in this psycho's army were wearing the same thing. Every single one of them wore armor that covered every part of their body except for the hands and feet which were covered by black gloves and industrial boots. On their large chest piece was a symbol. A red fist to be more accurate and it seemed to that it was being thrusted upwards into the air. Finally they capped it off by wearing helmets and separate cloth over their face which covered everything except for their eyes. Which were currently boring down on Haruka while they had their Weapons trained on him.
The weapons were also a big problem. He knew the armory back at the outpost was impossible to open without the code from the base's leader. Unfortunately like everyone else the Captain had met the same fate as everyone else and those guns were likely to never be used again unless a Captain from another base came to open it.
Yet all of the men in 'the Masters' army were carrying rifles used by Rangers. They weren't exactly the same in fact they were better. Haruka had noticed during the battle that the rifles had exceptionally better firing rate along with firepower and not to forget the reload speed these so called 'followers' had was stunning.
"Good luck to you Private and Sergeant". With that Haruka turned around and started to walk forward to the base about 50 meters away. With his free hand he pulled out two items that were stashed in his secret front pocket. So secret the bone heads over there didn't see.
"Here ya go Sergeant" she looked at the item and smiled.
"I see you've been sneaking ration bars again Private Haruka". She teased as she gladly accepted the bar. He rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment and laughed nervously. "Well I mean it was just lying there and all and I uh-"
The Sergeant started to laugh and Haruka knew just to drop it for now. "I also got this".
The Master watched with amusement as the two wastes of life walked towards the tainted outpost full of his enemy. He had an incredible idea that might speed up this upcoming battle. He was so excited for the death of hundreds it was making him feel all warm and happy.
"I just got an amazing idea" the Master started to laugh.
"What is it my master?" one of the female committee members asked in an emotionless tone, which represented the '0' emotion on her face.
"I had an epiphany" he stared with hatred at the two walking Rangers. "You only need one Ranger to deliver the message I had in mind". With a pleasant smile he turned and looked at the three females. "Tell Suzume he can have either one".
They were so close now. He saw one of the Rangers on the wall making his rounds and was disappointed to see the bastard not even bother to look out at his surroundings. Sometimes people were so ignorant and Haruka knew deep down that he shouldn't be judging that man at all. Just a few hours ago he was carefree as him, never having to worry about a Yeti attack because the patrols were easily able to control those beasts.
Well now there was a new type of beast on the board and it didn't play around at all. Haruka brought his second item, which was a retreat horn. Used only by explorers and Rangers in trouble. It was for emergencies only of course but in this case it was definitely an emergency.
He was about to blow into it but the sound of a gunshot filled the air. Haruka felt some sort of liquid splash onto his face and he slowly turned his head left. He felt his insides burn as he saw something was in fact missing from the Sergeant. Her head was gone. It was blown clean off her shoulders and pieces of both her skull and brain covered the snow and on himself. The blood was seeping through his shirt and he noticed several pieces of her brain covering the left half of his face.
He felt his breath hitch in his throat and without realizing it he continued to walk forwards, still dragging the corpse with him. Haruka blew the horn this time and almost immediately got a reaction as the 10 meter tall blue wooden gate opened.
Haruka continued to walk. That was the only thing he could think of right now. Walk and get the Sergeant to safety. She would be fine once they got into the 81st Ranger outpost. The doctors were good, they would be able to fix up the small blemish she had obtained and then she would be up and about giving him more orders. She would be fine. Right?
Haruka felt a hand on his free shoulder and he was slightly snapped out of his trance. He saw the female Ranger in front of him. Her lips were moving but no sound was coming from them and then she pointed her fingers at the Sergeant.
He didn't know what was just said but he inspected her uniform and saw the patches on her right arm. She had the rank of Captain. Then the weight that was taking up his left shoulder was loosened as the Sergeants body was being carried away. Haruka smiled, he would check up on her later and everything would go back to normal.
Hands started to guide him to an outer wall of the central tower. He was slowly led down until his back was leaning against the structure and until his back side hit the ground. The Captain yet again tried to speak to him but there was still no sound. Haruka watched her look to the side and wave someone over to him.
In a few seconds another Ranger entered his vision. He shined a sort of light into Haruka's eyes and then he started to snap his fingers right next to Haruka's ears. After a little amount of time Haruka started to hear the slight snaps and then with a large buildup of emotion his whole body started to shake. "Hey son" the female Captain spoke in an easy tone. "I need you to tell me who you are and what happened".
Haruka couldn't get the words out of his mouth. His body was shaking too violently and his mouth was chattering. The captain noticed his condition and started to rub both of his arms. "Hey, hey it's alright you're safe now I won't let anything happen to you". Haruka might in fact be a Ranger but he was still scared out of his mind.
"My name is- p-pri-vate Har-Haruka and now I'm the only survivor of the attack on outpost 77". Haruka felt the stares of confusion from the two Rangers kneeling in front of him.
"Captain!" one of the sentries on top of the wall interrupted. "I have unknown personnel about 100 meters to the North they're numbers are of thousands. They have not tried to contact us in any way. What are your orders?"
The Captain started to rub her temples, "Haruka you have to tell me here Private. Are these people hostile?" The Captain watched the man intently as he continued to bite his nails and mumble incoherent things to himself.
She shook her head. This man was just out of her reach. She couldn't blame this man, he had witnessed something no one wanted to see. The Captain turned and was about to give her order when she felt hands tug feverously at her arm sleeve. "They killed everyone!" the courtyard was silent as now everyone else was able to hear the confession.
"They showed no mercy to anyone. They destroyed the 77th outpost, there were too many we didn't stand a chance. I-" Haruka broke down crying as he remembered the carnage he witnessed, being able to hold back these emotions was surprising but for now he was safe. But for how long was the real question? Was this outpost going to suffer the same fate as the 77th?
The Captain heard enough. "I want every soul in these base ready to defend against an attack. Corpsmen are on the wall and the Grounders I want inside just in case they breach the walls. Move it now!" The Captain watched as her Rangers saluted her and went on with the defenses.
Now that that was done with for now it was time to help someone else. "Corporal" she addressed the medic who was now again shining the light into Haruka's eyes. He stood and saluted, bellowing a 'sir'. "I need you take Private Haruka to the medical wing and treat him as best you can". The man nodded and started to help up the clearly mentally injured man.
The Master watched in excitement as the large wooden gates started to close again. He continued to walk forward as the thousands of his loyal followers stayed one step behind each other. It was such a beautiful morning to kill hundreds of people and take over another outpost. 'This would be the third one in 4 hours' he thought and sighed with content.
The timeline for Haruka was an hour but you know the Master was never good with time schedules. He was always more of a spontaneous kind of guy, it kept himself on the edge which was always fun. So here he was standing a good two miles away from the front gate of Outpost 81. Only 20 minutes after he released his guests back into the filthy world.
He could see the Rangers were now indeed ready for his attack. There were at least 150 of them on the wall with their rifles pointed at his army. He could guess they had some of them in their monster forms behind those so called 'impenetrable walls'. With a look of admiration he pulled a small gold pocket watch out of his jean pocket and flipped the top open.
"Ahh. 21 minutes and 47 seconds. Just a few seconds shy of beating outpost 75 for the best reaction time. Tough luck outpost 81, maybe the next outpost after this one will beat the time." He closed the watch and put it back in his pocket, giving his pocket a nice friendly tap. "I love some good sport ya know". He said talking out loud for a few people behind him to hear
The Master smiled and felt the wind change direction all of a sudden. "I have always been an instigator ya know. Ever since I was a kid I would always pick fights with the other students at school, it's what I was always good at. My parents always tried to change me and tell me that it wasn't nice to start fights with other people. They were basically telling me to change myself into a person I wasn't, picking fights and fighting were my life". He laughed as the higher ranking officials behind him listened intently to his story, knowing well it was going to tie in somehow.
"But I always lived by a few choice words. The only thing I consider helpful in that disgusting human world. It went 'You are perfect the way you are. Never try to change who you are and become someone else'. Humans definitely hit that one on the spot with me. So I never changed when my parents told me too and look at me now. I'm glad I never changed because now I can do this-". In a matter of milliseconds the Master reached for the holster under his white long sleeve shirt and pulled out a miniature version of the ranger rifle. One that only required one hand and easily lined up a shot and fired.
The bullet impacted one of the Rangers on top of the wall. It went through his right eye and came out through the back of his head. The body fell backwards and off the walkway towards the bottom of the courtyard.
"Open fire" he said lowly and just like that the rest of his army pulled their triggers.
A/N: There you have chapter 2. I hope you enjoyed it thoroughly and chapter three will be the battle of outpost 81. What I am really trying to go for with the Master is a sort of lunatic where he could give you a kind smile and then in the same instant stab a knife through your forehead. The whole time his smile still plastered on his face. Anyway I hope to see you in the next chapter. Signing off.