Chapter 9: The Devil's Ultimatum
U.S.S Oahu, International waters
9:30 am
( Narration by Winter.)
After the events of Meridian, Vacuo's government immediately convened to discuss the matter of the Laz. But their meeting concluded with a unanimous vote for a declaration of war against the ones responsible for the creation of the Laz; The Inquisition. The Vacuo Army launched an aggressive campaign against them, destroying their operations in the entire kingdom, and now they were preparing for the end fight. While the campaign was raging, The First Brother ordered all Inquisition members to retreat to their last known bastion: an old Black ops site from the Faunus wars dubbed Adamant. The Oahu was transporting the military task force that was commanded by General Donald August, or " The Firewind" as his soldiers called him. I was going to be joining Donnic's and Perez's team, and we were going to be delivering the killing blow ourselves...
" We'll be riding in with First Company, that means we get to hit the Inquisition first." Dante said.
" Good, We need some ass to kick right now." Donnic said.
" Now, you folks are going to either capture or kill The First Brother, if you kill him, we wouldn't mind." August said.
" If we capture him, you'll probably want to give him a trial with the death penalty." Donnic guessed.
" Damn straight." August said.
" Do we have an idea where he'll be located?" Winter asked.
" Our hackers confirmed that his followers will move him to the central atrium, which is the one place in the facility that can be easily defended." August responded.
" So we'll have to hit him in a way he'll never see coming." Winter figured.
" Agreed." Dante said.
" Well, we have a battle plan, now lets brief the guys." August said.
They briefed the forces that were going to aid them in this fight, and they loaded up the airships and fighters that awaited on the flight deck. They took off from the Oahu and approached Adamant, which was a large collection of towers in the water. Two fighters moved ahead of the group, and the airship Donnic's group watched them at work...
" Stingray 2-5, we are clear to engage hostiles at Anti-air positions." The pilot of one fighter said.
" Copy that, Echo 6-9, weapons free." The other fighter pilot said, firing two missiles that obliterated two positions ahead.
The Battle was in full swing as fighters engaged hostile positions, and airships deployed their troops. The airships carrying Donnic's team and Dante's group dropped them off at a balcony area after a gunship wiped out the inquisition soldiers there.
" All right, let's find this bastard." Dante said.
" Agreed, let's move people." Donnic said.
They moved into the building, clearing out three more soldiers that tried to stop them. The Adamant Facility was massive, and Evan was able to hardwire and reprogram some of the Facility's old defenders, high-tech mech soldier units. But along the way, they overheard some hostiles talking on the facility's vid-comm system with The First Brother...
" Unit 14, do you have a visual on the traitor?" The First Brother asked over the facility's old vid-comm system.
" Negative sir, she and her compatriots have yet to reveal themselves." The Captain said.
" Your unit is to find and kill them, then aid your brothers and sisters on the battlements." The First Brother ordered.
" Understood sir." The captain said, before the First Brother terminated the call.
" Firebird this is Kingpin, come in." Dante whispered into his radio.
" I hear you kingpin, what is it? " August said.
" We've discovered the existence of possible traitors in enemy ranks, moving to secure." Dante said.
" Copy that, I'll have an airship on standby to extract them." August said.
The group made their way through the facility and encountered the same enemy unit from before, only this time they were firing at a group of people wearing the same colors as them. The group was four different individuals, two were Faunus while the other two were human beings. The one firing a pistol was a cat-Faunus with snow-white hair wearing an armored suit that made her look like she rides motorcycles too much, while the man firing a rifle was wearing what looked like to be a security officer's uniform, just with Inquisition colors. They were protecting a heavy-set panda Faunus who was tending to the wounds of what appeared to be a 16-yr-old girl.
" We need to help them." Alexis, a member of Dante's group, said.
" Haul ass, people." Dante ordered.
They leapt down from the balcony they were on and attacked the enemy unit, slaying them one-by-one. After the smoke had cleared, the Faunus girl and the man approached the group...
" Man, you folks sure know how to fight." The girl said.
" You four alright?" Dante asked.
" No, my daughter, she's hurt bad." The man said.
" How bad is she hurt?" Andrea asked.
" She- she has a sever rifle shot to her torso." The Panda-Faunus said.
" You folks have names? Because I'm not planning on giving random nicknames." Donnic asked.
" I'm Sera Leonus, and this is Will Ryder." The Cat-Faunus said.
" The panda is Jameson Po, and that's my daughter Mirabelle." Will said.
" Great, I'm Donnic, and these are my teammates." Donnic said, referring to his team.
" I'm Evan." Evan said.
" I'm his sister, Andrea." Andrea said.
" I'm...Desmond." Desmond said sternly.
" What's his problem?" Dante asked Donnic.
" Desmond's family had been victims of a White Fang attack that left his mother confined to a wheelchair, and nearly ruined their Dust business." Donnic explained.
" Oh." Donnic said.
" Kingpin to Firewind, we have the defectors, though one is injured." Winter said over the radio.
" Copy that, there's an open courtyard just ahead, get them there for evac." August said.
" Yes sir." Winter responded.
" All right, let's move them out." Dante said.
Andrea walked over to help Jameson with the injured Mirabelle, while the others conversed a plan for evacuating the civilians...
" How'd she get injured?" Andrea asked.
" First Brother did this, as a way to torture Will after we made the call." Jameson explained.
" You guys were the ones who sold out the location of Adamant?" Andrea asked in a surprised tone.
" Well, my daughter was the one who sold this place out." Jameson said.
" Where is she now?" Andrea asked.
" Right there." Jameson said, pointing to Sera.
" But she's a cat-Faunus." Andrea pointed out.
" She's my adopted daughter, her parents were killed in a White Fang attack." Jameson explained.
" Well that clears things up." Andrea said.
The group concluded their talk and they raced to the open courtyard, clearing out more Inquisition cultists as an airship arrived and took the four away. But as they left, Donnic looked down and saw a large submersible rise up at a small platform nearby their location, and the devil himself stepped out.
" Well that's just peachy." Donnic said.
" What?" Winter asked.
" The devil himself just showed up." Donnic said, pointing at Inquisitor.
" Oh shit." Blaze whispered under his breath.
" What the hell is he doing here?" Xavier said.
" Well the Inquisition was trying to copy his work, so maybe he's here to punish the copy cats." Donnic figured.
" True, he's probably here for that." Evan figured.
They proceeded with their mission, arriving at the facility's central atrium where the first brother was hiding. But there were dead cultist littering the stairwell to the upper balcony, so they tiptoed to the second floor, seeing members of Inquisitor's private army holding a group of cultists at gunpoint...
" Listen up! Our employer is willing to offer any member of the Inquisition amnesty and place in the organization, if you are willing to renounce this faction's practices." The Commander said.
" But we were simply carrying out his will." The lead cultist said, before being shot in the head.
" WHO ELSE THINKS THAT THEY KNOW WHAT OUR EMPLOYER'S WILL IS?!" The Commander screamed.
A sheer silence fell upon the crowd of cultists that the soldiers had them at gunpoint. Murmurs began to spread amongst them, and one cultist, a young girl spoke up...
" I'm willing to renounce." The girl said.
" That's a good girl, release her from her binds." The Commander said, ordering a trooper next to him.
The trooper walked over to the girl and taking off her wrist binds, and then directing her to stand next to the Commander. She did so, and The Commander decided to speak with her...
" What's your name, girl?" The Commander asked.
" Mary Ellen." The cultist said shyly.
" That's a lovely name, go ahead and have a seat over there, then we'll take you and any more of your little friends down to the sub." The Commander said in a calm tone, pointing to a long bench at the wall.
" O-Okay." Mary Ellen said, walking over to the bench.
" All right, does anyone else want to follow Mary Ellen's example?" The Commander asked.
" Geez, this guy is clearly a sadistic smartass." Donnic whispered as another cultist joined Mary Ellen.
" That guy is Eric Maddox, ex-Vale military." Dante whispered.
Just after 10 minutes, 13 of those 20 cultists that Maddox's soldiers had captured had joined Mary Ellen in siding with Inquisitor himself. That number then grew to 16, and the remaining four were executed as they had refused to renounce the Inquisition's practices. Maddox ordered his men to move the 16 to the submarine, and the group made their way to the ground floor, and discovered Inquisitor arguing with the First Brother...
" But my lord, we were simply carrying out your will." The First Brother said.
" No, you were servicing your own arrogance." Inquisitor countered.
" Sir, we had no idea..." The First Brother started.
" NO, YOU HAD NO IDEA WHAT THE HELL YOU WERE DOING." Inquisitor said angrily.
" My lord?" The First Brother said, sounding a little scared.
" You are arrogant to assume what my will is, you and your "cult" are children playing with a loaded gun that has gone off in your face. Because of your arrogance, your followers are getting slaughtered by the fury of a nation that you unleashed your abominations upon. Your demeanor is nothing short of a imbecile child who thinks that they know everything that plays out in the world, and furthermore, you attempted to pollute the vision I have set for them." Inquisitor said.
" But all we have done is for you!" The First Brother exclaimed.
" That was a mistake, so now I am here to correct it." Inquisitor said, drawing his cane sword and severing the head of The First Brother.
The First Brother's body slunk to the floor with a loud bang as his armor collided with the metal, and the balcony they were standing on gave way and they fell to the floor below...
" Well, shit." Donnic said, looking up at the soldiers who had weapons trained on them.
Inquisitor maneuvered his way past the soldiers, and then came face to face with Donnic. Inquisitor was as tall as Xavier, wearing a metal breather mask that was black as night with red lenses at the eye slots so he could see, and a suit of power armor the same color, wrapped in a red cloak.
" So you are the child leader of the so-called "team" that has been giving Korvac a headache." Inquisitor said.
" I prefer the term "young adult" and are we really giving your right-hand guy a headache?" Donnic said.
" Yes, he also mentioned you were a smartass." Inquisitor stated.
" I prefer the term "suave rogue." Donnic said.
" You are even more arrogant than that fool was." Inquisitor said, pointing to the body of the First Brother.
" No, he was just plain psychotic." Donnic said.
" What do you hope to gain by fighting me? A shiny medal? Or your name in history as the young man who killed a visionary?" Inquisitor asked.
" I usually prefer the medal for taking down Atlas's most wanted terrorist." Donnic said.
" (Scoff) The kingdom of Atlas is overpopulated with ignorant jarheads who think a war is going to start just as they turn the corner of a hallway or the page of a book." Inquisitor said.
" But it's my home, so I'll fight you because of your hateful comments." Donnic remarked.
" Well, it is pointless to fight against the change that is coming to the world." Inquisitor said.
" You mean your intentions to wipe out everyone in Atlas?" Donnic asked before getting punched in the stomach by Inquisitor.
" Do not speak as if you know my plans. You have humored me enough boy, so I'm going to let you off with a warning: INTERFERE WITH MY PLANS AGAIN, I WILL RIP YOUR WORLD APART." Inquisitor said.
Inquisitor walked out of the room with his men, leaving five of them behind to execute the entire group. But before the soldiers could squeeze their triggers, a mysterious man in a trench coat appeared with a revolver in hand, and he killed all five of the soldiers without missing each one once. He pulled out a little device and dropped it Donnic's lap, tipped his fedora to him, and then disappeared into the shadows...
" Well, he seemed...nice." Donnic said to his speechless group members.
This chapter concludes with the fall of the Inquisition and Donnic receiving an Ultimatum from Inquisitor himself. Also included was a special cameo appearance by the mysterious stranger of the Fallout series, as he saved the lives of Donnic and his group. This also lead to a clue of Inquisitor being dropped on Donnic's lap in the form of a data drive. The next chapter starts with the aftermath of the battle, and a mystery leads to a startling revelation...
WAIT AND SEE.