Ignis and Leviathan
Blaze's POV:
The drive was short but the sights we saw, the run down buildings, children walking around with their mothers, and people that look like that there will be no end to this hell. The trucks we were ridding in soon stopped and we all dismounted and the drivers hid their trucks away before motioning for us to follow. We went between a few buildings and into another house to a door that must have lead to the basement.
"Through this door is the main head quarter so don't stir up any trouble." The drivers left us and we all looked at each other before Elsword reached for the door nob and opened the door. Opening it revealed a stare case going into a dirt cavern. Elsword entered followed up with Aisha right behind him with myself after her, and the others behind me. At the bottom of the stairs, the dirt cavern widened out to a room with five guards in total, two behind us and three in front of us guarding a steel door. When about half of us made it down the steps, the lead person that was guarding stepped forward with his hand upwards.
"You're not allowed in here."
"We are being expected to arrive so let us through."
"I never got any orders to expect anyone so you're not getting through." Elsword was getting slightly annoyed and a certain tension was building up in this room and he took a step forward.
"Look man, we were requested by you-"
"And I say you are not getting through!" The guard pulled out his pistol and aimed it at Elsword while Aisha drew her own aiming at him. The two guards behind us started to rise their weapons when Rena and Raven turned around drawing their pistols in a heart beat. Chung and Ember aimed at the guard to the right of Elsword and Eve and myself to the on the left.
"I give you the count to ten for you and your men to lower their weapons." The guard said.
"I give your men five." The tension was at its climax and there was an eerie silence in the whole room when the squeak of the doors rusted hinges cut through the silence.
"Lento, what's with all the noise out here!?" A feminine sounded and Lento kept his gun trained on Elsword as he talked.
"Were you expecting seven pe-"
"Lento, tell your men to stand down."
"But-"
"Tell them to stand down!" He paused for a second before he lowered his pistol and holster it.
"You heard her, stand down men." Lento grumbled and we all holstered our weapons as well.
"Now that's settled, Penensio and Ariel are waiting for you seven. It's nice to be working with you again on more...Civilized terms. The name's Vanessa by the way." We all walked through and some of the guards started to murmur amongst them selves.
"It's them, those are the ones who rescued the three." I took a slight glance backwards to see Lento glaring at us and I chuckled lightly. Maps covered the inside of the room with a worn wooden table in the center with light bulb above it and behind the table stood what must be Ariel and Penensio. Ariel had her orange blond hair up in a ponytail and had on a tan shirt with its sleeves rolled up and some brown cargo shorts. Penensio was a good heads taller than Ariel and he had short brown hair with some camo pants, a tight fitting brown shirt, and his combat vest loosely hanging on his shoulders and unzipped.
"Penensio, the reinforcements have arrived."
"Good. I'm sorry if Lento gave you some trouble. He's the type of person that doesn't like to get along with new people, especially strangers. I'm Penensio and this is Ariel." He pointed to himself and then Ariel and we all shook hands before we continued. "Ariel is our strategist and coordinates our attacks and raids. What she lacks in combat strengths, she makes up in brain power. I lead the strikes against the enemies with Vanessa and not only does she work in the front lines, she also helps out with our intelligence."
"Anything you need us to do right now sir?" Elsword asked.
"Please, don't call me sir. Even so, I still think that you would outrank me." We all shared a small chuckle when a radio operator called for for Penensio.
"Penensio, this is urgent!" He rushed right over and picked up the mic.
"This is Penensio speaking."
"This is outpost 17, we are under fierce enemy assault! Need backup pronto!" Gun fire could be heard in the back ground and a grim look came over his face.
"Outpost 17, reinforcements are on their way." He hung up and turned to us. "I know you got here but we desperately need your help now."
Behind us Ariel was mumbling to herself with a scowl on her face. "Outpost 17? That's where are housing our combat drones. If we lose those, then there's little chance of victory."
"That's what we are here for. Where are our weapons?" Aisha asked.
"There still being smuggled over in small shipments but we have a few of them now. There in the armory but the rest of you will have to use the weaponry that we have here." She waved her hand and we all hustled to through yet another door to see some dirty boxes set off to the side and we opened them to find some of our equipment perfectly clean. All of our Cross-Coms were inside and in the next few cases held Chung's M249 and Eve's robotics kit. We all pulled on some combat vests which were loaded up with ammunition and both Ember and I picked up some bolt action hunting rifles while the others took some military grade M4 assault rifles. We all went upstairs to find Penensio loaded up and armed waiting for us and we all rushed upstairs and outside to get into some trucks that were waiting for us. Once in, they sped off towards the outpost and after a few minutes, gun fire was audible. We loaded all of our weapons doing a final check and we activated our Cross-Coms.
"We will be entering in the back of the compound but be prepared to enter under fire!" Penensio yelled over to us and the trucks skidded to a halt as we reached our destination. We all dismounted quickly and the trucks were shut off and the drivers hide in some cover when a person with glasses came running towards us.
"Good, you came." He braced himself on his knees as he gained his breath.
"What's the situation like Allegro?"
"Enemy forces are moving in hard but the two drones are still inside! We can't move them without a system to control them and we haven't finished that!" He started to panic a little when Eve stepped forward placing her hand on his shoulder with a confident smile.
"I think I can help you with this."
"Y-you can?"
"I know my way around robotic issues."
"Great! Follow me!" She took her hand and I couldn't help but make a soft grunting noise before my sister elbowed me and looked at me playfully and I rolled my eyes at her.
"Everyone, get into positions to provide Eve with all the time that she needs. Blaze, Ember, get up to that tower and provide precision fire on the enemy." I looked at the tower and scowled slightly.
"If we go up there now, we will be cut to shreds making our way up. Plus, if they get to far in, I don't think these bolt actions will cover well in a close range engagement."
"I got that covered for you. We will provide suppressing fire and I'll assign one of my men with you. Edan, you're with these two."
"Yes sir." Penensio then pulled up one of his radios pressing the button on the side as the rest went up the main battle front.
"This is Penensio, all forces, we have two friendly units moving up into the watch tower, provide suppressing fire until they make it up to the top. You three ready?"
"Ready as we will ever be." We made out way quickly over to the base of the tower and machine gun fire rattled the air with bullets ricocheting and whizzing past or thudding against a hard surface when Chung came online.
"This is Chung, we are in position and are waiting for the signal!" An image of Chung popped up into the corner of my HUD and I pressed the button activating my radio.
"I read you Chung. We are at the base of the tower, light them up!"
"Got it! Everyone, suppressing!" Guns on our side light up and Ember, Edan, and I made our way up the stairs as quickly as possible. Bullets bounced as they made contact with the metal supports and a few of them whizzed past my head but we made it up to the top.
"We made it to the top."
"Great, now start shooting!" We rested the barrels of our rifles on the edge of the towers walls and not before long we were sending round after round down range into the approaching enemy and they started to dive for cover.
"Machine gunner setting up on the right." Ember calmly said as we both shifted taking out the gun and gunner. "Trucks coming up the middle. Mark three of them."
I racked the bolt lining the shot up on the driver with my sister and she muttered out, "Send it," and we both shot at the same time. Both bullets found their mark into the drivers cranium and the windowed cracked and was pasted in a dark red before the truck floored it and turned to the left and ramped on a car on one side flipping it over while the others stopped and dismounted their troops. I ducked down as bullet riddled the roof of the watch tower and popped up to returned fire before squatting down to slap in my fifth mag. and radioed Eve.
"How much longer is it going to be Eve!?"
"Give me one more minute! One of the drones won't except the code!"
"We will buy you as much time as you ne-" A burning sensation emitted from my left shoulder as a splintering crack of a bullet tearing through the thick but bullet ridden wood and I grunted in pain.
"Blaze! Are you all right?"
"Talk to me Blaze, do we need to send Rena up?" Elsword came into the chat and I examined the wound to find its a grazing shot and I wrapped it around with some of my shirts cloth.
"It's only a grazing shot so no need for Rena up here. Keep her down there to help with the wounded."
"Shit, covers getting ropey Blaze!" Ember yelled over to me through the sound of gunfire and most of the enemy troops had directed their fire up at us. I popped up firing of two more shots when a figure popped out of the corner and I aimed my crosshairs on him and I felt like my heart stopped.
"RPG! INCOMING!" I took the shot hitting him right in the chest deflecting his aim from up at us, but the RPG still fired hitting the base of the tower with a screech of metal bending and deforming. It swayed one way and I braced and steadied myself on the edge of the tower and it swayed the other way with the metal supports groaning and some popping noise before we started to tip over across out own defense line.
"Look out!" Screams of terror arose from the friendly trooper bellow us as they fled and I could see the other pull out when the tower connected to the ground and I blacked out. I came too shortly after to find ourselves surrounded by this massive dust cloud created from the crash and everything was blurred but and some of my peripherals were blacked out but I could see Edan sprawled outside of the crushed and deformed tower with one of his arms twisted in an unnatural way screaming in pain. I tried to move but my body didn't respond and he propped himself on one of his arms to look at us when another figure came form behind him raising a pistol to his head and with a popping sound, Edan jolted slightly before falling down lifelessly.
"Is...Is everyone all right?"
"I'm up." Raven and Rena said.
"Still here." Aisha said with a cough.
"I'm fucked up but up." Chung said.
"Blaze, Ember, you all right?" My vision was fading in and out and I moved my mouth but no words came out. "Rena, what are their life signs!?"
"They're alive but...Enemy forces are moving on their position."
"Eve, how much longer do you need to get those drones ready?" Silence filled the radio as I watched the enemy soldier that excited Edan come towards our position with three others behind him. He squatted and looked at the two of us with a grin but the two soldiers behind him started to get nervous for some reason and the one looking at us got up quickly looking to the side as an explosion rippled through the air and pained screams where sounded as this heavy object crashed into them with what sounded like a .50 cal chattering. I grinned ever so slightly as I knew who these were from.
'Thank you Eve...' Something turned me over onto my back and I was looking up at Rena's spring green eyes and her head was surrounded with light.
"Come on Blaze, stay with me! Chung, Raven, I need some help here!" I was dragged out from the wreckage as Chung went under to pick up Ember and I saw these two drones, one red and the other blue, fighting off the enemy attackers before I blacked out.
Eve's POV:
-A few minutes before the RPG strike-
'Why won't you except the code!?' I've all ready stripped the original coding from the system and I've got the first drone activated and programed, but the second one won't take the code. From what I could hear outside, the fighting seemed to intensify pushing my to get my work done faster when Blaze's voice came over my radio.
"How much longer is it going to be Eve!?"
"Give me one more minute! One of the drones won't except the code!"
"We will buy you as much time as you ne-" A crack of wood splintering sounded over the radio accompanied by a grunt of pain and I feared the worse.
"Blaze! Are you all right?" Worry was completely present in my voice as I waited for a reply.
"Talk to me Blaze, do we need to send Rena up?"
"It's only a grazing shot so no need for Rena up here. Keep her down there to help with the wounded." Relief filled my mind as I went back to my work and I got one of my last tricks that I have up my sleeve to try and get this code uploaded when a whizzing of an RPG shot cut through the sound of gun fire causing a a thudding explosion shaking the building. I looked up from my work and around the building thinking that we were struck with an RPG when the screech of metal bending filled the battleground and the terrored screams of people followed with a thud that shook the ground, shaking loose one of the lights from the ceiling. Elsword and Aisha then stumbled through the door with a dust cloud close on their tales and the two stumbled through and Aisha fell on top of him before rolling off.
"Is...Is everyone all right?"
"I'm up." Raven and Rena said.
"Still here." Aisha said with a cough.
"I'm fucked up but up." Chung said. Everyone had signed in but there was one voice missing from the call in and as my mind connected the sound of a metal structure and who didn't sign in had filled me with dread.
"Blaze, Ember, you all right?" Silence filled the radio and I could only fear the worst. "Rena, what are their life signs!?"
"They're alive but...Enemy forces are moving on their position." That last statement had fear creep into my mind but I put on a poker face and was determined to get this done. I turned back to my keyboard as Penensio came into the building breathing hard as he rested his back against the wall.
"Shit. When that watchtower collapsed it scattered our troops breaking our line!"
"Eve, how much longer do you need to get those drones ready?" Chung called in but I didn't bother to answer as I put on my poker face and typed the last line of coding in and hit enter. The percentage bar was filling up but paused at 90% before hitting 100 completing the installation and the second of the two drones powered up and the turret moved up and swiveled around as the missile tubes were loaded up.
"You did it! You got them to work!" Allegro shook his fist with excitement.
"I got all the systems up so it will maneuver on its own and will fire at will against the enemy with an automated targeting system but I didn't have the time to get the missiles to shoot automatically so we will have to designate the target."
"Please take care of them. Before you go with them, the red one's name is Leviathan, and the blue one name is Ignis."
"We will take care of them. Thank you Allegro." I gunned the the engines on the two drones and they barreled forward through the reinforced metal door and launched a salvo of missiles into it blowing it out and flew through the opening crushing these enemy soldiers that were in front of the fallen tower and two red diamonds where under the deformed structure that must be both Blaze and Ember. Rena rushed over to them checking on both Blaze and Ember before motioning both Chung and Raven to help her with the two and they carried the two inside the building. Both Ignis and Leviathan were moving fluently with each other strafing the enemy lines with heavy machine gun fire and I gave them a building that housed some of the enemy forces and they let rip eight missiles into the building, demolishing it and killed the enemy within. The tubes went back down into the armored haul of them before popping back up rearmed and I grinned to myself as I watched my work tear apart the advancing enemy. Bullets sparked off the thick armor of the drones and the enemy started to panic with this seemingly indestructible machine that were tearing through their ranks and they started to withdraw slowly when Elsword came to my side.
"Penensio's men have scuttled this area dry of any valuable information and we are now pulling out with the wounded. Trucks are waiting at the back so call the drones back!" He left for the trucks and I took one last look at this place before following him and jumped into the back of the truck that Blaze and Ember were loaded into.
"Will he be all right?"
"I've stabilized them both and cleaned their wounds. They're really lucky that they didn't break any bones from that fall and the worst they can have right now is a minor concussion." I let out a sigh of relief and brought my arm up, tapping the screen to follow me and break their engagement from the enemy as the trucks sped off. We rounded one corner into a wide boulevard and behind us Ignis came crashing through with his brother Leviathan close behind and they turned around to trail my truck. I smiled at the two drones knowing that they were going to be a massive help when a question came across my mind for Penensio when we get back. We reached one of the concealed entrances to the resistance's HQ and I programmed Ignis and Leviathan to follow the trucks into on underground garage and to park in an area before powering down their systems and I rushed over to Penensio as he went down the stairs.
"Hey, Penensio, how did you get those drones? Those aren't your everyday build your own robot at home sets."
"From what Allegro told me, these are one of the latest versions of combat drones that the Koreans brought over. From information that Vanessa gathered, there were only about five of them that were shipped over and two of them were destroyed in the few months after the occupation. They were both extremely luck as you saw how much of a beating they can take with one of them had a manufacturing error in the armor and one lucky ass rocket shot killed that one and the other one was blown up in a trap that some others set up with enough explosives to level a six story home. After the explosives were detonated, the enemy patrol that accompanied the 'Goliath's', as we like to call them, was completely missing and the shattered and maimed haul was left in the center of this giant crater. How we got ours was when we got a tip on this high valued supply line and inside these two cargo containers were both Ignis and Leviathan. We stripped the main system for our very own but we could never get it to work until you came along." That peaked my interest in this resistance force in that they could take out and commandeer a high valued escort party and then kept their invaluable equipment hidden from them. Thanking him, I walked down depositing my gear into the armory and I saw that some resistance members were bringing in some more of our gear, depositing them in a pile in the corner. I then made my way through the under ground base to the medical ward to check on Blaze when I ran into Chung who was just leaving. We both stopped and looked at each other and I raised an eyebrow at him.
"What were you doing in there?"
"I-I-I I was, eerrr.. I was just aaahh... Finishing up on bringing Ember and Blaze to the medical ward YEAH! That! Hahaha..." I looked at him and crossed my arms.
"Funny 'cause weren't you with the other soldiers unloading the rest of our gear?" His face started to turn a light shade of pink and I pressed on. "So if you weren't here to see Blaze, were you here to see Ember?"
His cheeks turned a darker shade of red now and he looked away nervously when he looked back at me with a sly smile. "Are you here to see Blaze?" That sent my own cheeks into a light shade of red and I tried to think up an excuse.
"I-I-I was just err... Concerned with Blaze because of that fall he had."
"Come on Eve, we've been together with the others ever since our team was formed. Anyways, do you know where I could find the others?"
"Well, if you know us so well, then you should know where the others are. Rena and Raven should be together some where and I think Aisha will be with Elsword in the control room."
"Err, thanks I guess." He left in a hurry and my cheeks still felt a little hot when a certain voice called through the door.
"What was that about seeing me?" My blush deepened as Blaze must have had heard the interaction between Chung and I and I took a breath trying to settle my blush and stepped in with a small smile.
"Ah, you're awake I see. How are you feeling?"
"I feel like I just fell form a two story tall tower. Other than that, I feel fine. How are the others? Where's-"
"Ember? Right over here little brother." We both turned our heads to see the redheaded sibling standing at the edge of the bed with a bandage wrapped around her arm and a patch on her cheek looking at the two of us. "You know what, the two of you look sort of cute together."
The blush that I thought I got rid of soon returned and Blaze's jaw dropped as he stared at his sister.
"S-s-sister!" Ember laughed slightly and I giggled slightly at Blaze's reaction.
'He's kind of cute when he acts like that.'
"Now tell me this Ember," she looked at him questionably, "how was your time with Chung?" He smiled slyly at her as she just glared back. "What? You didn't think I heard and saw Chung come in and out of here right?"
"Oh you little..." She left us and I couldn't help but let out a little giggle and Blaze settled back down before putting on a more serious face.
"Did everyone get out?"
"Both Ignis and Leviathan, the two drones we were protecting, are back in our hands and are programed with our Cross-Coms and minus a few casualties, everyone made it out." I then leaned for ward with my poker face on and looked at him. "Just don't do any more shenanigans like that again." I ruffled his hair playfully before getting up to leave to take a shower and to then retire to the bedroom that was given to me.
Anon: I'm sorry for the long update DX. Finals are going to be next week and thing are getting a bit stressful in studying.
Edan: I DIED!? Do you want your shade of blood to be added to my jacket?
Anon: Eep.
Gorundhog: *Drops down on Edan injecting a sleeping agent* Target down.
Anon: Now to go update Velder High...