Chapter 11: The Train Bridge of Double Cross
As the footsteps grew louder, the nine Mercenaries armed themselves. The Scouts took out their Bats, minus Freddie who was wielding his Three-Rune Blade, Aonghus unsheathed the Eyelander sword, Benjamin took out his Shovel, Matthias equipped an arrow onto his Huntsman bow, Gerald held his Syringe Gun out, and Gavin took his Jag Wrench out of his tool pocket.
"This is probably how Brian and the Engineers died," Aonghus said, tightening his grip on the Eyelander. "They were cornered here, just like us."
"Aonghus is right," Benjamin responded. "If we're to survive, we need to move!"
"But I hear footsteps coming from both sides of the pipe," Matthias said. "We'll have to fight our way out no matter which way we go."
"Just tell me the direction, and I'll give them a beating they'll never forget," said Gavin, pounding his Jag Wrench lightly in his hand.
"Uh, I understand your need for revenge, pal," Mickey said, holding his Bat high above his head. "But it would also be good if we can stay alive, too."
"Since the entrance to the RED base is blocked by rubble, our only option is to move forward," Gerald said, turning to the pipe perpendicular from the one they came from. "Everyone, get to the Bridge!"
At that, the Mercenaries charged forward down the perpendicular pipe. Further down, they saw a faint light, but there were several figures silhouetted against it, blocking their way. As they got closer, they saw that the figures wore construction worker helmets, red-tinted goggles, and metallic Gunslinger arms.
"Cyborgs!" Matthias shouted, and fired his arrow.
He hit one right between the eyes, causing it to fall over. This in turn made the other Cyborgs angry, and so they charged at the Mercenaries. Aonghus killed several in one swing with his sword, while Benjamin smashed dozens in the face with the Shovel. As for the Scouts, they swung their Bats left and right, knocking the Cyborgs in front of them out of the way. Meanwhile, Gavin was going on a killing spree, pummeling every single Cyborg that came at him till they were nothing but a pulp of blood and metal.
"Don't waste too much time on them!" Gerald shouted, while he fired several syringes all around him. "We need to get out of here!"
"Reinforcements are coming right behind us!" Matthias said in the back, shooting several arrows at the black mass heading towards them.
"Then keep it movin', guys!" shouted Steve, using the heads of the Cyborgs as platforms to run across.
While the other Scouts followed his example, the earth-bound ones took out the Cyborgs that were stunned by the confusion of the head-jumping by either slicing them, pummeling them, or knocking them out completely. Once they got past the wave that was blocking their path, they made a run for the light at the end of the sewer, when a shadow appeared at the other end. It was a Bird-Headed Man, and a large one, being pulled by two Cyborgs with chains. Once they saw the Mercenaries running towards them, the Cyborgs let the chains fall and the Bird-Headed Man came charging at the Mercenaries full-speed. This caused the Mercenaries to stop and hold their weapons in defensive position.
"Wait, I got an idea!" Freddie said. "I just need you to keep the Chicken Kiev Bird-Headed Man distracted!"
Then before any of them could question what he was going to do, Freddie vanished into the darkness. So they did as he asked, and swung their weapons wildly at the Bird-Headed Man as he approached, forcing him to back up. Next, an amazing thing happened. Freddie suddenly appeared on top of the Bird-Headed Man's head and put his Three-Rune Blade at the creature's throat.
"Don't make a move, pally," Freddie said next to the Bird-Headed Man's ear. "Or I'll cut your throat."
The Bird-Headed Man appeared to not listen, and instead started throwing itself against the walls of the sewer, hoping to shake Freddie off. He tried to hold on, but started slipping, and vanished altogether. Mickey and Patten reacted and immediately jumped onto the Bird-Headed Man, smashing him in the head consecutively. This caused the Bird-Headed Man to fall backwards into the water. Further up ahead, the two Cyborgs started running away, but Matthias shot each of them in the head with an arrow. While Mickey and Patten kept hitting the Bird-Headed Man numerous times, Aonghus made the final blow by driving his Eyelander sword right into the Bird-Headed Man's chest. It chirped in pain, and then died. Then the Mercenaries were about to move forward when they noticed two things. One, the Cyborgs that were right behind them before had vanished, and second, Freddie was missing.
"Did you see where he went?" Steve asked, and then he looked at the fallen Bird-Headed Man. "You don't think he—
"Aw, crap." Mickey said, coming to the same conclusion.
"We have to move the body," Aonghus said.
"No need to do that," said Freddie, who appeared out of the shadow of the sewer, alive and undamaged.
"Freddie!" shouted Steve. "How did you do that?"
"I see you are wearing the Invis Watch your uncle used to get out of similar situations," said Gerald, noting the watch Freddie now wore on his left wrist. "He was able to jump onto the Bird-Headed Man's shoulders without being noticed, and was similarly able to avoid being crushed when Mickey and Patten caused the Bird-Headed Man to be knocked down."
Then suddenly, a loud roar echoed through the sewers. It unnerved everyone, especially Gerald. He gripped his Freedom Staff tightly, and turned away from the dark sewer behind them.
"What is it, doc?" asked Matthias. "Something's troubling you."
"I'm afraid that roar we just heard comes from a creature far worse than any Cyborg or Bird-Headed man imaginable," Gerald replied. "I had always assumed it was destroyed in the days of RED and BLU, but clearly, I was mistaken."
"You're not making sense, doc," Benjamin said. "Tell us in plain English what we're dealing with!"
The same roar came again, but it was louder than before. Then, around the corner of the sewer they had just emerged from, a large shadow appeared. It made huge splashes in the water, and its white teeth were visible in the darkness.
"Kamerades (Comrades), we are dealing with…" Gerald paused, and turned to face the shadow. "…The Bread Monster."
At that moment, the shadow roared loudly, and made its way towards them by crawling on green tentacle arms and legs. The Mercenaries immediately made a run for it, and emerged out in the open air where the overhead lamps illuminated the Train Bridge before them. They didn't waste time and quickly crossed the Train Bridge, but at about midway, Gerald stopped. Freddie watched him, but Aonghus pushed Freddie along, and soon everyone except Gerald was standing on the other side of the bridge. Gerald turned and saw the Bread Monster emerge. It was much bigger than it looked in the sewer, and slowly made its way onto the Train Bridge, which creaked under its enormous weight.
"No Monster shall pass!" Gerald shouted, backing up until he was standing above the deep chasm below the Train Bridge. "And I am willing to do whatever it takes!"
"Gerald! What the hell are you doing?" Freddie shouted. "Get over here!"
But Gerald didn't seem to listen as he suddenly turned his Medi Gun on, and let it build up to a Übercharge. While he let the Übercharge from the Medi Gun flood the Train Bridge with power, he used his other hand to slam his Freedom Staff onto the bridge itself. What followed next was an electric explosion of great magnitude that caused the Bread Monster to cry out in pain, and the Train Bridge to collapse. Fortunately, only one part of the bridge fell off, leaving Gerald's side dangling. Afterwards, Gerald sighed, and walked away from the hole before him.
"Gerald! Behind you!" shouted Freddie.
A green tentacle from the falling Bread Monster suddenly appeared and grabbed Gerald by the ankle. He was so surprised that he didn't have time to react. The tentacle pulled him all the way to the edge, but he held on despite letting go of the Freedom Staff and Medi Gun, which both fell into the chasm below.
"Raus! Raus! (Go! Go!)" Gerald said, and then he let himself fall.
"Auugghh!" Freddie exclaimed, trying to run to where Gerald fell, but Aonghus held him back, and shielded him as a sudden series of gunshots came out of nowhere.
It turned out that the Cyborgs, which had retreated from the sewer before the Bread Monster showed up, were now on the concrete bridge, shooting at them with Shotguns. The eight remaining Mercenaries retreated into the sewer of the BLU base behind them, and made their way to the surface from there.
End of Chapter 11