Ardmore never told my team about the extraction procedure. I was just get in, get Jake, and wait. Time wasn't a luxury anymore with hoards of robots hot on my tail... trail! The only positive of my bodily displacement was my newfangled strength. I could cradle both the girls in one, fire at the bots with the other, and still run n' gun with the finesse of an Olympic sprinter and shooter. Literal scrapheaps, those robots, but if I didn't fend them off they would buy enough time for Jake and his Australian mutants to shut everything down. 2 of them were in the midst of my mechanical pursuers, the snake girl, and the bird girl who forgot to bring her glasses on down to the city. She's the only dark-skinned one of the jungle bunch. Go figure.
Color me damned. The RDA came in force, all right. But the precise details of their extraction procedure furthered my emasculation.
Back when I was in charge, there was what I like to call, the Big Three. The company's three most powerful assets, under my control as head of Sec-Ops. The Venture Star, the Heavy Earth Moving, Exploplanetary Excavator, and the Dragon Assault Ship. They were my superweapons. I could strip the jungle bare within a month if it wasn't for the others holding me back.
What came out of the ground made everything I cherished seem so... insignificant. It WAS a drill. Far larger than my Earthmover. It first breached the city by burrowing up from the water park, then charged onto my position like a runaway big rig. All throughout this was an earthquake. The noise drowned everything out, not that I cared. It should've been mine, not that general bitch...
Eliminate Jake Sully
The whole machine was large enough to block out the artificial sun. It bulldozed perpendicularly through a city block, gradually coming to a stop. Some sections of the machine slid up like garage doors, after which it deployed its troops down metallic ramps
Dwarves. More of them. Black and infernal colors. Weapons far taller than themselves.
Their numbers were sufficient enough to overwhelm the city's defense forces, but they were still the enemy...
"Kernel, sir!"
One of the gremlins stopped to salute me. They are not marines...
"Uh, we came here to retrieve RDA fugitive Jake Sullivan. Is he not with you?"
"Outta the way, runt!"
Finally, a fellow human. Dumb blonde with a grating Aussie accent, but I'd take that over the tanked-up squats infesting this place. She was in blue maritime slacks for some reason, while the rest of the dwarves were red.
"Go with the others and secure the city, like I laid out minutes ago!"
The dwarf squealed and hustled out to join the rest of them.
"Liah Scorsby. Captain of the world's largest spelunking machine, the BOR-3 Basilisk! On Earth too, by the way. I would shake it, but your arms are tied."
Her demeanor soured when she saw that I didn't have Jake. Yet.
"Are you trying to waste my time? You dragged my team off from my expedition for 2 wee pups?"
"I got one of this city's VIPs in my hands. The other is Jake's kid."
"Shit, I didn't know they had salties in these parts. But that's beside the point. Do you have any idea of the quotas I have to meet? Geo-Ops responsibility is extracting every last trace of Originium from this planet, including the subterranean layers. The bigwigs say it's for the safety of the future colonies, but lemme tell you the REAL reason, colonel. War. The Kazdelians are ready to start WW2, so we gotta support them as best we can. While they fool around with their blimp, we will snuff out the last of the resistance with our new space-battleship, the Manifest Destiny. We invented a whole new branch of the military while you were gone, so do you see why all this is so bloody expensive?"
"I'm very aware. Used to control some very expensive toys myself." I sighed, before being rudely interrupted.
"So that's your endgame, Colonisers?"
It was from the black girl. She and the snake were being restrained by the robots. The same bots chasing me... Who cares? What you need to know is that the sleepy girl was wide awake for once. Her defiance was pissing me off, but I just had to stall until Jake arrives.
"You had Gavial's word when you first left. It's worth far more than any chunk of Originium."
"Well, she was a dumbass." Mrs. Scorsby struck back. "80 million dollars per kilo, and a good run brings in around 200. That's if you can even understand modern economics."
"I do. Those prices are horrifically inflated!"
"My tribe was slaughtered at the hands of glorified Rim Biliton barons..." The snake girl hissed.
"80 million, 80 billion, 80 trillion, oh hell, we can sell it whatever price we please, since the RDA is Earth's only provider of Originium and alien goods."
"Aliens? Hah! You barge in on the peaceful Zeruertzians, and dare to call us aliens!?"
"Zumama, she doesn't speak about the Acahullans... The 'goods' are the Durin!"
"They are the most convenient source for Geo-Ops. The usual case is the Kazdelians dumping accused spies and no-goodniks from Victoria on the RDA. Instead of a beheading for their crimes, we give them clothes, food, and all that we want in return is their labor. Most of the Durin went along willingly with our operations after we introduced them to anti-matter reactors. In certain cases, we needed a bigger incentive. Say, bring RDA public enemy number 1 back to us, and you can have your city back."
Great. The two hostages started to squirm in my hands. They would've gotten away if it wasn't for 2 of the robots breaking formation to seize them.
"Why aren't my R3's obeying me? Did they take over while I was out... Zumama?"
"Not us. Even my favorite one has lost its brains."
"Then that leaves... Oh dear..." She gasped and pointed her finger all accusingly at me. "I can't believe it! Stitch... we all trusted you, Papa Dragon!"
"B-But, I thought I saw you with the evil general guy before..." The crocodile kid blathered.
"I don't recall meeting face-to-face with him recently. Whoever you saw, it must be an imposter!"
"An imposter?"
"Tomini, he didn't have a tail the last time we thrashed him. He's a clone. If they could do it Mister Dragon, then the Durin should be a piece of cake." Snakey bore her fangs at me. "Maybe after Gavial kicks your ass twice as hard, you will stay dead."
I point my lethal firearm at the crocodile girl. Same freakish eyes from the last time. The snake girl backs off, retracts her fangs. The rest of her pals got the message as well. "Yeah, I thought so."
Ms. Scorsby gave me a polite reminder of my lack of time. "How much longer until Jake makes his way over here? I have to surface at the plant by the end of the day, and they're expecting a full tank of crystal gold."
A large crowd of the dwarves approached us. Just who else could've been leading the pack?
I've got you now, Jake Sullivan.
He was unmistakable, with all those folds and creases on his face. Quaritch got himself an Avatar. He was Hell's Gates's finest Marine, so of course they had a contingency plan for when he bites it. That meant the rest of his squad came back too. They weren't with him, but taking down Quaritch will send them a clear message. You may rise up from the dead, but me and my friends will always be ready to strike you down.
Quaritch did have with him Zumama, Inam, and Tomimi, being held captive by what appeared to be Durin machinery. They aren't robots. We scrapped a few of them trying to kidnap Catch and Croque on the way, and they sorta just dissolved. Melted into green-bluish sludge and slithered away. Maybe it was the result of a biochemical monstrosity cooked up by RnD.
Anyways, the two were the last of Zeruertza's representatives. Deculture was with Tomini and the others too, pinned down by the imposter bots. Quaricth's plan became painfully clear to all of us.
"Jake, tell your friends to stand down. Want the rest of them back? Want your city, your livelihoods, dwarves? Make sure that man comes out alone."
I lowered my weapon. His was aimed behind Tomimi's head.
"Gavial!"
The other captives tried to help, but there was no beating the bots' vice grip.
"I took you under my wing, Jake. You betrayed me. You killed your own. Good men, and good women. I will not hesitate to execute your kid."
He was right. I was getting sick of the bloodshed, sick and tired of the Sky People following me around and causing mayhem. Just turn myself in, and it's all over.
Gavial pulled the brakes on my gambit. "Don't let him guilt trip you, Jake."
She stopped my advance with a friendly arm. Her next words weren't as friendly.
"Good men and woman? Are you telling me that every single Acahuallan you blew up that day isn't so? You didn't bat an eye, thinking we are subhuman garbage waiting to be thrown out. Here's my opinion, you're a piece of shit. You're one of us now, and it makes your prejudices all the more apparent. I'd call you a hypocrite, but I believe there's a better word."
"How about Racist?" I suggest.
"Thanks. Can you just drop the tough guy act? You don't have your buddies this time, and the Durin folk that bitch brought with had a change of heart."
"You struck 6 months ago, disguising your evildoing as an earthquake. Lay another finger on the Durin, and I strike through your wicked, twisted heart with my crossbow!" Fires raged within Avdotya's eyes.
"Honest mistake, really!" The blonde woman covered behind Quaritch. "The Basilik handles worse than a road train in a dust storm. Scanners picked up their city too late before I could adjust course."
"What pitiful design." Catch shook his head. "Excessively large and no reliable braking system? Master Finch would have a heart attack..."
"Finch would be worrying about the bigger fish, Catch!" Croque replied.
"What's to say they hadn't broken into other cities with their reckless mining!" Edge yelled. "Lady, the Durin pose no threat to the surface! Why must you destroy our way of life?"
"I don't call the shots. Neither does the Colonel, really. They're all back on Earth, enjoying their trillions of buckaroos while we have to break our backs! Also, don't call me lady. I prefer Scorsby."
"Greedy filth!" Avdotya snapped at the woman, who made a little "eep!" sound.
Everyone was in favor of me staying. Leave no man behind.
"Remember that I gave you a chance to resolve this with peace, Jake." The ridges of gorges on his face tightened. "Bring him in, boys."
The Karakistanians didn't budge. Quaritch yelled at them to open fire, but they refused.
"You need to let the Durin vote on such important matters!" Catch shouted.
"Fine then!" He growled. "All in favor of handing Jake Sully over to the proper authorities?"
They didn't raise their hands. Neither did the Zeurtizans.
"Welp. I'm outta here!" Ms Scorsby ran up the ramp into the excavator, shouting at the top of her lungs. "Security! Security! Full-scale Durin revolt! Fire up the Basisilk! Shoot everyone under 5 feet!"
The bots pinning down our friends were promptly gunned down by the Karakistaian weapons. As nonsensical as they appear, a gun is a gun. Works wonders on eldritch goo pretending to be machines. Quaritch snatched up Tomini and fled with Scorsby, but Zumama, Inam, and Deculture were now safe. The Zeuritza representatives and Inam sat out on this one while the rest of us charged on it.
The First "car" of the train was a 2 level workshop. One with all the machines, and other being a catwalk where SecOps supervised the workers. They had the height advantage, but there was far more Durin on board. The machine had enough room for a small city's worth, and from the numbers outside, the RDA took in thousands of them. Guess they weren't expecting them to rebel, until today.
"Gavial and I will get Tomimi. Elysium, comms! Avdotya you're our markswoman! And Zumama, commandeer their mechs!" I was in full Marine mode at this point. "Give me a 'Hoo-rah!'"
"HOO-RAH!" They responded in unison.
Ahead of the workshop was the drill's engine room. B-Team's job was to ensure that Mrs. Scorsby doesn't escape and condemn Zeruertza to a watery grave. Quaritch ran off deeper into train, so Gavial and I gave chase. Security was distracted by all the chaos, which made taking them out easy. Their equipment wasn't much different than Hell's Gate, but some operated AMP suits with bladed, mole-like hands. A few piloted literal crab mechs. Don't ask. Zumama had a blast riding in one of them.
Next carriage gave us less breathing room. Large tankers on either side condensed the room into a narrow hallway, barely giving the two of us room to stand side by side. It was where they were keeping all the Orginium. The tankers were partially see-through, which showed that the Originium was kept in an acidic solution. They've been pumping up the lemonade right under our noses. Smart bastards.
Quaritch used the ladders on the tanks to haul himself up to the room's escape hatch. We followed, and this brought us to the very top of the drill. The entire dome city was from our vantage point. Rather scenic. But we didn't have the time to look at the pretty skyline.
He had a knife against Tomimi's neck
"Let's try this again, Jake. Drop your rifle."
It was like a reflex. My carbine hit the ground.
"Same goes for your girlfriend."
Gavial didn't listen. I could feel her rage. See it, too. There was literally an aura going off her like this was an anime.
"Your weapons, bitch. All of them."
Spider was trailing us the entire time. He wasn't named that for nothing. Had a remarkable tendency to get the jump on anyone, even with the Acahullan's heightened senses. Back then, it was only for childish pranks.
When he popped out of the hatch, everything went to hell.
"Tomimi? What are you doing to her?! Let her go!"
Quaritch loosened his hold a tad bit. It was the opening Tomimi needed. She bashed the man away with her tail and tried to make a break for it.
"Spider! I'm coming! I'm..."
He pounced down on Tomimi, slamming her forehead onto the flooring. He stomped down on her tail, exposing the tip.
He made the cut.
"GRAAAAAAAAAAAAHH!?"
Gavial's Arts were strictly medical. Her strength, while mildly exaggerated by Durin sources, was something that seemed reasonably achievable. At that moment, I released how much Gavial holds back when she uses her fists.
In under a second, Quaritch was the one on the ground. I could hear each and every single bone in his body being pulverized by her unrelenting strikes. I wasn't there to witness her killing Quaritch back in Acahulla, but I'm not complaining. She just did not let up, even when her fists became caked in his blood.
Then she grabbed her chainsaw, revving it up. Quaritch was pretty much disfigured out at this point, his face puffy and swollen like he poked a hornet's nest. Gavial positioned herself to bisect the man in half, but something brought her rampage to a close.
Tomimi was flailing around on the ground, kinda like a gator's Death Roll. The stub was oozing out blood. She was bleeding out.
Gavial dropped the saw. She used her Arts to stop the pain and tied up the wound in gauze. All of a sudden, I was back to Doctor Gavial.
"Tomimi, does it hurt?"
"N-No..."
The two cried in their embrace. Gavial isn't the kind to cry. Damnnit to hell...
But there was still a job to complete. Quaritch was still alive. I could tell because he warbled something out of his beaten throat.
"Son... Come here..."
Spider and I approached him.
"Look at... what they did... to Papa... You saw her eyes... She was gonna... *COUGH* ...git you"
"Gavial fights for her friends. What do you fight for?" He replied.
"..."
Spider walked off, but not before telling me it was my call. I gave the I'm bastard a fitting end.
1 in the head. 2 in the body.
We linked back up with Elysium's group. Passing through the warehouse, it had gone from a sweatshop to Durin happy hour. The drill's security was routed, and the ones who survived the onslaught were tied up. They chanted our names.
"Gavial the Invincible!"
"Jake the Great!"
Hell yeah. Anyways, the rest of the gang was inside the drill's head. Besides Stitch, who was gone with Croque and Catch. Thankfully, it was more of a command center, with loads of terminals and holographic projections. Plenty of room for all of us. The real powerhouse of the Basisik was further ahead, sealed off by the main throttles.
"Ah, Sully!" Elysium greeted us. "Everything's looking good on our side. Adoyta took care of the captain."
Ms. Scorsby was still alive, surprisingly. I swore the Lupine was going to kill her, but Elysium or someone must've convinced her that the captain is more useful without a skewered heart. She was giving our captive captain an evil glare. Karma's a bitch, literally.
"I heard Tomimi... The hell... Did that man sever her tail?!" Elysium exclaimed.
The poor girl was slumped over Gavial's shoulders, exhausted. "She's doing fine. Jake took care of the rest."
"I can't imagine what he would've done to Deculture..." Edge sighed. "The dome isn't safe. None of them are! Not when those RDA lunatics can burrow into them as they, please! We're going with Gavial's plan to expand the Lift-o-Matic!"
"But Edge, we cannot forget the dressing of Zeruertza! Catch responded.
"We may not have the time for the dressing. The originium vein gives us a generous limit of 25 days before it detonates, but it's only a matter of time before those aliens figure out what happened to their drill and strike revenge."
"We are very aware."
The screen over the Basilik's throttles was replaced with a middle-aged woman in typical U.S. military fatigues.
"General Ardmore!" Scorsby cheered, but the general's expression was cross. "Wait, I can explain..."
"Captain Scorsby, BOR-3-009 was expected to be on route for the Sargonian refinery by now. We reallocated Cet-Ops resources to your branch since Mick went MIA, but now you've drawn the ire of 2 Durin cities, my Recombinants gone dark, and Jake's insurgency has control of one of our excavators."
"Then fire me, please! Just get the hell off this crazy rock!"
"No can-do. Airborne assets are tied up in the special military operation over at Victoria."
"Bloody hell! I know you did this to Mick! Sent him in for whaling, knowing full well that the biggest thing in Terra's seas an't the humpback. How long until I end up as a cave tarantula's lunch? Huh?"
"Ms Lupine, you have my permission to silence Scorsby."
Adoyta tied a gag around the woman's mouth. She continued to struggle until Adoyta poked her with the crossbow.
"Jake Sully, you and the Acahullan leadership are illegal occupants of Hell's Gate. As for the Durin Representatives, having that you seized billions in excavation equipment and killed countless workers, are also guilty of terrorism."
"Piss off, Granny!" Gavial yelled with fury, angling herself so the general got a good look. "Are you seeing this? Your man cleaved it off without a second thought. Is hacking off limbs a common past-time from your land?"
"Even Reunion would never go that far..." Elysium shook his head.
"All of Acahullan will go to war over this grave crime... Waging a war on 2 fronts isn't the wisest decision." Inam spoke.
"I can have our new landing craft incinerate your jungle within 24 hours." Ardmore quickly fired back. "Consider this a warning. Your last, in fact. When the Commission neutralizes the Grand Dukes' forces, and the crown jewels are safely in our hands, the landers will be 11,000 kilometers above Acahualla. If I don't see a white flag by then, then I will burn it all down."
"You're bluffing. No machine can spew that much fire!" Zumama spoke. "But Deculture and I discovered your true secret weapon!"
"The Karakistanis said that Scorsby ordered them to produce these huge, rocket-propelled drills. Sounds Durin at first, but they were loaded with explosives, and the engines run off of unstable Originium fuel cells. The reactions used are atypical, but I'm sure it's why they are complete deathtraps!"
"Or, you could fire them at a landship. The crew wouldn't know what hit them." Zumama replied. "It's not fair to call this a drill. It's more like you took a landship and put it underground. Hmm... U-Ship?"
Or in other words, we were on a goddamned submarine.
"No way we could take such a thing." Elysium chimed in. "If anything, they would think it's just an earthquake... oh crap! If a BOR-3 got within striking range of Rhodes Island it's game over!
"Villain! You twist the Durin ways into weapons of war!" Adoyta shrieked.
"It's too late to change course, Avdotya. In different circumstances, I would've accepted their revolutionary power generators if it meant less dependence on Originum. They've got countless Durin on their side by now. The resistance is merely US, and the Acahuallans." Edge took a deep sigh. "Gavial and Jake, our alliance begins today!"
"Hell yeah!" Gavial pumped her fist.
"Bring it on!" I join in. "Marines don't surrender, Ardmore. A mountain of corpses looks worse for PR."
"Have it your way. I preferred to settle this in a civilized manner, but you've forced my hand. You can't hide in the jungle forever, Jake Sullivan!" Ardmore signed off.
"Whew, she was an eyesore. What's the plan for when we get to the surface, Jake?" Gavial asked.
"We take the fight to the enemy."
"I appreciate the attitude, but my fists can't handle firebreathing UFOs. We need our own kind of firepower to destroy them."
"Legend has it that there's a sword within Victoria with the power to cut through Catastrophes," Inam commented. "I know it's a huge technicality, but the spaceships must count given their hellish power. Then otherwise, the General wouldn't waste her time and money looking for the 'crown jewels'."
"Zeruertza's best will reinforce Acahualla while you're gone." Edge turned to ask Avdotya, but she already had the answer.
"The RDA's greed is that of Ursus, Colombia, and Victoria combined into a 3 headed beast! I cannot idle when they are exploiting thousands of innocent Durin!"
"Then Rhodes Island sounds good to you. There's already alot of Durin that work for them... Willingly, geeze!" Gavial added on when Adoyta growled at her.
I was confronting my demons for the first time, in more ways than one. Theresis, the big horned guy from what seemed to be centuries ago, was hired as a peacekeeper for Victoria. Great Britain, England, or however you want to call a nation full of tea, clouds, and funny accents. He promptly took over their biggest city, Londonium, believing it to be stolen land belonging to him. If I had a nickel every time some tribe or minority bickered over this stuff on Earth, I'd be rich. Things worked a bit differently on Terra. Pinky actually had enough military might to back up his claims, even without the RDA. He had a literal weather weapon called the Shard that can cause Catastrophes anywhere on the planet. Rhodes Island was after the sword by now, in order to decommission his evil weather station. Once we gave Theresis his eviction notice, just cut a couple of RDA landing craft in half and, hopefully, the billions in property damage would be enough to send them packing to Earth.
Oh, how wrong I was. The roots they planted in Terra went deeper than the Durins. But you what happens when you dig too deep, and the fiery demons pop out and kill everyone?
The Victorian Incident was what released the Balrogs.