Wow I am not making the goals I set for myself and updating, granted I work retail and this is the christmas season, speaking of MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL I hope you enjoy this little present from me and hope to give you all more often updates of at least any story.
GOW
Colwell saw red, the single color flooded his vision but he was used to seeing red; it was his HUDS color and the emanating glow from his armor complimented the shade in a royal purple. Abruptly, he blinked and then blinked again now clearly seeing what was in front of him.
He was in a grassland area with a Gatling laser in his hands, a quick glance confirmed it's been used a good amount with his suits ammunition tracker confirming that he was running low in the fusion core on his laser, another glance shows his suits energy core is about half power.
"Shit, what happened…" as the words left his lips, his mind forced itself to remember what caused this, and the events of the meeting came back into his mind. Most importantly, Navarro is missing.
"Okay then, I'll guess that mother fucker isn't around here or I'd have him with me now."
As he was pondering his own predicament a loud growl flooded his senses, before his eyes could move his body did as he shot several rounds into the area of the sound. Turning around he could see a large creature of pitch black, bone white scales littered Its back as he was disinterested from the laser rounds entering its body.
"Not much of a threat." The General said to himself, before he could resume his search lights pinged on his HUD showing several hostiles. They seemed to be skirting around the edge of his scanner but the grasslands gave him a good view around him so he didn't give a second thought before opening the local map.
There was a straight line between his location and where the map scanned, littered along it was little red blimps for hostiles, most moving away from him and towards the direction of his line.
"Where are you going, don't want a fun fight?" Colwell shouted to the open field, nothing attacked him as the creatures continued to move towards where Colwell had been.
'Towards Raven Rock' he realized. He stood frozen once again, Jose was still out there. He could be injured and need assistance, on the other hand, hostiles were making their way towards Raven Rock, he could see the mountain as the only landmark on his map and could see the creatures moving away from his scanner and towards the heart of the enclave…
"I must have killed a bunch of them without even knowing it," Colwell muttered to himself. "So you better be able to kill them with your beat ass, you always do." His heart steeled as he turned around and ran home.
GOW
"So this is your camp?" Navarro asked.
"Yes, we've moved south for a bit in hopes to catch some new settlers or some of the traders from Menagerie," Raven explained.
"Not even going to pretend to be anything but a raider?" He asked. No one bothered approaching the two, steering clear from Raven.
"Why bother lie, you know it and I know it, even the children here know they're of the Branwen tribe. All that matters here is that you're strong enough to make it." She responded
"That's why you're allowing me in because I killed three of your people in combat."
"In a three on one, make sure not to leave out the good parts of your story."
"I see, is there anywhere I can put my stuff where it won't be stolen?" Navarro asked.
"Charles's tent, he was the only one you killed worthy of his own tent but by rights of combat it's yours now, no one will bother going into another person's tent. They know the punishment of doing so." She pointed at one of the nearby tents while not mentioning said punishment. "You can rest there for now, if there's anything you want feel free to ask but know you'll still need to prove strong enough for it, though since I saw you kill three of my own I suppose that shouldn't be too hard." She explained.
"Just some maps and food if you could, I'll be here long enough to heal up and figure out where home is," Navarro said walking into his new tent, it was a simple thing with a futon, a few drawers, and a table.
"Don't tell me those weaklings did too much damage to you" Raven said with a smirk, following him into the tent.
"Not them, I fell hard and some monsters attacked me on my way here." He said removing his helmet, Raven finally got a good look at his face, it was pale and had more scars than an actual face. He fiddled with the suit a little more before cursing "of course the auto open is jammed, now I'll have to fix it while wearing the armor."
"Monsters? You mean the Grimm?" She asked.
"Is that what those mutants are called? Got to say I'm surprised I haven't seen them on the way to DC the past few years." He said fiddling with the suit.
"Mutants? Wait, are you telling me you don't know what Grimm are?" She asked in shock.
"Nope, first time seeing them today."
"How? They control more of the world than humans do."
"What are you talking about? Sure mutants are all around but I've been all through the American wastelands and haven't met a single one of those." Navarro said, finally freeing himself from the suit to reveal the mess that was his body, a few open holes that looked to the huntress like Beowulf marks littered his body but drawing her gaze far more were the scars littered around his body making up more surface area than unblemished skin.
"What on Remnant happened to you?" Raven asked.
"A lot, thankfully I've been out of combat for a bit so nothing was fresh enough to reopen." He said digging through his suit.
"Why didn't your aura help you heal those? How come it didn't prevent them?" Raven asked.
"Aura?" Navarro asked STILL digging through the suit.
"Okay now I know you're fucking with me, no way you beat three of my guys and survived all that without Aura."
"Still not sure what you're talking about, shit" he cursed again drawing Raven's gaze to the broken syringes that he had in his suit. "I guess all my stimpacks broke. I'll have to rest up the old fashion way."
Raven pulled her scroll out with a scowl opening the aura measuring app before tossing it at Navarro. "What's it say?" She asked.
"Aura not found." He replied, moving the device up so she could gaze at the screen causing her to go wide-eyed.
"Bullshit, How? The way you killed them implied enhanced strength."
"What do you think this armor is for?" He said, lightly tapping on the thigh plate.
"Your armor? It gives you strength? And here I thought you were respectable."
"I'm frankly surprised you even understand the concept of respect." Navarro tapped his left thigh plate, popping his machete compartment open as he tinkered with more of the inner wires of his armor.
"The entirety of the Branwen tribe works on respect." She snarled back at him.
"Fear, more like. But it's just semantics in this context. Moving on about that mind telling me what the hell is aura?" Navarro asked one eye on her at all times. He was hoping to see some form of communications towers or devices in the camp but there was nothing. Knowing this he may have to fight his way out instead of trying to make use of their tech.
"An aura is the physical representation of one's soul. Once unlocked it provides Humans and Faunus with enhanced strength, speed, and more. Including a personal shield." Her words were sharpened by her scowl.
"OK, I've got to stop you right there. A physical representation of one's soul, seriously? Now I've seen some supernatural shit, that Dunwich building still gives me nightmares on moonless nights but even I have to say that's something ripped out from a Grognark comic." The disbelief dripping from his voice.
"This is not a comic nor is it fiction. This is a proven fact and supported by science." Raven took a step closer to him. Navarro stared her down, eyes locked as silence greeted them for a moment.
"Prove it." He requested simply and in return was given a simple reply.
Raven grabbed the hilt of her sword in return Navarro grabbed his machete and readied himself in a stance. Instead of being insulted Raven smiled as she slowly unsheathed her sword. For a tense moment, nothing was exchanged until Raven slowly reversed the blade and stabbed herself with it only it stopped by a translucent shield of energy around her body.
Navarro's eyes widened before refocusing and examining her body searching for a possible device that could give her a shield like that. Raven noticed his stares.
"I'm not wearing anything that could create something like this. My soul protected me from the attack." Navarro only narrowed his eyes.
"I'll take it for now but I still don't believe it. When I get back to Raven Rock maybe our scientists can figure out if what you're saying is true. Till then let's just keep the peace. Deal?" He lowered his machete and reached out with his left hand, his right gripping the machete softly. Raven glanced at his hand and smirked before using her left as well, her right hand similarly gripped with her sword.
"Deal. I can't say I'm not curious about what your people are like. If there anything like you I think may enjoy them. I know I'm starting to like you." Their hands shook at her agreement.
"To be frank, the feeling is not mutual," Navarro growled back, Raven merely laughed.
"Even better." She finished with a toothy smile.
GOW
"I'm saying You can't shit talk Colwell like that, especially in front of his own squad," Autumn said.
"He's the biggest thorn in my side out of our entire military, honestly his whole squad is filled with problems that I'd love to be rid of," Razz responded. Both of them were typing away on their terminals sending orders or memos to their respective commands.
"I don't give a damn how big a problem he is, he's still your peer and you need to at least pretend to have respect for him in the presence of others." Autumn snarled.
"Why do you care so much, General? He's terrible at his administrative jobs, not to mention rude, uncooperative, violent, need I continue? Or should we keep having this talk for another hour?"
"I'll be the first to agree Colwell is all of those things, but there's a difference between having a personal problem with the man and talking shit about him to his own squad, you basically asked the second in command of the Devil dogs to use you as a punching bag at a time where I need a strong display of unity," Autumn said.
"On top of that, Colwell was personally picked for his position by myself, he may have his rough edges but I'd rather you not disrespect one of my hand-chosen generals." Eden chimed in.
"Of course sir, I apologize for disrespecting you and your choice for brigadier general, but I must ask why Colwell?" Razz said. Before an answer could be given the proximity alarm blared to life, the main screen changed to the exterior cameras and the two generals could see the edge of the grasslands they found themselves in, creeping in from the edges were some creatures made of solidified darkness with bone plates dotted on them like armor, each resembled a different animal and were slowly approaching the mountain.
"Our limited radar shows more approaching as well," Eden added.
"Get the turrets up now," Autumn said.
"Defenses are still offline." Eden said.
"How many soldiers are at the gates?" Autumn asked.
"At the front gate we have half a dozen, all armed with rifles, the other gates have skeleton staff at them already and should have a hard time being pierced through," Eden responded.
"Where are the Devil dogs that were over there?" Razz asked.
"Rivers had them move downstairs to calm the people, speaking of the proximity alarm is causing more of them to panic and I'm getting reports from Bruja that theirs many injured from the transport bay that they're attempting to assist," Eden said.
"Tell Rivers that any Devil dog that can be spared from crowd management is to report to the gates immediately, On your feet Razz, we're going to defend the base ourselves," Autumn said.
"Are you sure? I'm not exactly an effective combat unit," Razz said with a pale face.
"I'm sure, we need the army keeping things secure below, hopefully, they can get things calmed down and reinforce us soon," Autumn said with a frown.
With a sigh Razz left the room with the general, they grabbed their modified APAs and some laser rifles before making it to the front gate where they met three men in APA, they recognized the modifications and emblems marking them as Devil dogs.
"How is it below?" Autumn asked, the shortest of them turned around to face Autumn before responding.
"Good as it can be, Basilisk and Ghost were playing music to calm the people down, it seemed to be working until the proximity alarm set the newer people off. Most of the soldiers down there are trying to figure out who is in need of medical aid and get us organized again." The man said, his armor was overall standard for the Devil dogs with the fiery emblem on his arm, though he did have a short sword strapped to his side.
"Sounds right, are we sure you three aren't needed below?" Autumn asked.
"Are we sure you three are all we can get from down there?" Razz countered.
"Just us, HellHound wanted to send more but the other people in charge wouldn't let her until all the civi's are accounted for." He responded.
"Alright then, how are preparations?" Autumn asked.
"We haven't had time to start, Sirius and Laika are no doubt waiting for the doors to open so they can trap the field but other than that we're just on standard arms." He said.
"Devil dog standard or army standard?" Autumn asked.
"Army standard, we didn't have time to run to our rooms, we all have our normal side arms though." He said.
"Then I guess there's not much else we can do, I'm not sure what kind of mutants are approaching so I can't say much about how difficult the fight is going to be, I'm sure you and your squad mates know what to do though," Autumn said. The man nodded in response.
"Hey Minotaur, why are you still talking?" One of the other Devil dogs said.
"Let's get these doors open and fuck up some muties!" The other said.
The Devil dog talking to Autumn, Minotaur, shook his head and turned around. "Of course, we're going to fuck up some mutants, The General just wanted to ask some shit first."
"Let's not keep the Devil dogs waiting then. Open the gates, We're clearing the perimeter if possible and defending the base as a mandatory." Autumn yelled. A cheer of approval overcame the room, the loudest being the Devil dogs going up to the front of the door. "We don't need anything too fancy, just keep the line clear until we can get reinforcements."
A loud metallic groan echoed through the room as the doors pried themselves apart, sunlight inched into the room as the soldiers waited with held breaths. As soon as the gates opened enough for a body to exit the Devil Dogs ran outside, the soldiers following their example as Autumn and Razz took up the rear. The dark monsters were in larger numbers than what the screens showed now, but the Devil dogs made quick work of the closest ones, expanding their perimeter around the main entry until the soldiers could make formation comfortably.
they couldn't extend too far with only eight of them working defense but the Devil dogs proved themselves to be worth their name, as Autumn glanced over at the three he saw them engaging multiple hostiles at once, ducking and weaving through the strikes and firing several rounds of lasers into the beasts until they disintegrated into ashen piles. Minotaur elected to disregard the laser rifle and fought with his short sword instead, using feints and dodging at the right time to hack into their bodies.
"I'm not sure what I'm cutting here, it's not flesh like we're used to but they seem to go down with sword well enough, the white shit seems to be some kind of armor and my sword is having trouble piercing it." Minotaur barked out.
"Hey, Adam hold one down let's see how a laser handles against it." One of the other Devil dogs asked, Minotaur obliged, ducking the swipe of another wolf-like creature he slashed at its legs causing it to stumble, making it an easy target for him to hold it down.
"Go for it, Sirius!"
"Thanks, man I owe you one." He replied, firing the laser into the monster's face causing a slight crack in the bone-white armor. "We can damage it with lasers but it looks like it'll take more than one shot to do it in."
"If only we had our tools we could see how much explosive yield their armor can take," Laika said while Minotaur put the pinned creature down.
"If only." Sirius agreed, the two then went back to focusing on the fight, the two of them fought in synch baiting the enemies closer before pinsering them in a barrage of fire.
"Holy shit, this is what the Devil dogs can do?" One of the troops muttered, Autumn understood exactly what he meant. While he was used to seeing them in action he was mildly shocked to see how large a pile of ash surrounded them, their weapons were making fatal blows more often than not and drawing more of the ever-growing horde towards them.
"Just make sure to keep the stars out of your eyes, it'll be a lot less impressive if one of them gets hit in the back by a monster we don't gun down first," Autumn said.
Looking around Autumn could see even more creatures beginning to appear, thankfully only in a trickle but he was worried about how long that trickle would last.
An hour passed, the Devil dogs continued to stay in the thick of the monsters as they invaded, leaving Autumn to keep the line secure with the rank and file.
"They're coming in slower numbers! This may be our chance! Keep the line strong." He called, sure enough, they did seem to be trickling in more, the monsters kept coming though and dying to the now visibly tired Devil dogs, one of the monsters lunged to attack Laika before being slammed into with multiple laser shots until it's whole body disintegrated, following where the lasers came from Autumn and Razz went bug-eyed, a modified APA stood on the clearing covered in ash, a faint purple glow Emitted from the machine as the pilot swung a Gatling laser into the approaching enemy lines pulling the trigger and pounding the beasts with fire until they were vaporized.
"Miss me?" Fenrir asked, throwing his Gatling laser to Sirius who grabbed it and went to pick off the remaining strays.
"Come in just as the party's ending I see", Autumn said.
"Oh the party's just beginning, those were just the ones I couldn't kill during my afternoon stroll, according to my radar a lot more are about to be on the way," Colwell said.
"Shit, the base defenses are still down and the latest reports say we're still working on getting medical aid to people hurt in the move. This isn't going to be easy." Autumn said.
"Don't worry, I know just what to do," Colwell said. "I'm going to lead the Enclave through this battle."
Autumn and Razz looked at each other for a moment, then they looked back at their fellow General and spoke as one.
"Fuck no"
GOW
With that the seige of Raven Rock begins, still missing BG Navarro but he's not dead, let's see if we can keep things that way when we return whenever I finish the next chapter.
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