January 2nd, 1945
Outskirts of Cairo, Egypt
Upon reaching their portal, showing the plane crash where they would complete the objective marked PURGE, Arthur and Polina nodded and placed their hand within the portal. The two spawned in the area of the plane. Both of them quickly ran down the plane wing to the Fiendish Fortitude (Juggernog) at the bottom of the area. Norticus's red control runes appeared on the ground surrounding the area.
"You know the objective. Stand in the rings and clean this place of the augmentors. This will deal a heavy blow to Kortifex's power." He said.
"Foolish humans that believe the augmentors have much to do with my power. I am the king of the Dark Aether. I am all powerful!" Kortifex responded.
Polina and Arthur agreed to start on either side of the arena. With how vertical this area was compared to others, Polina climbed back up the plane wing to the top and began there. Arthur stayed on the ground to complete the rings in the circle on the bottom of the arena.
Without much warning the undead made their presence known. Arthur was in a much worse spot strategically than Polina. Being on the ground, zombies began appearing through dig spots left over in the ground. A couple open tunnels in the walls also served as a zombie spawn point. High walls separating them from the outside world also gave way for the zombies to effectively base jump four stories from the top of the wall onto the floor below.
Polina, at the top of the plane wing and walkway had to focus on zombies that spawned on the outside of the barrier at her back that kept the two trapped in this crash zone. She also dealt with zombies that were crawling out of the ground in the second rock section between her and Arthur.
The two learned much from their escapades in the jungles of Japan and in Stalingrad. They used their equipment and special abilities. Polina brought gammon bombs she used to help clear a heavy group all trying to climb up the rock section the wing was connected to. She also focused on maximizing the use of her strong sniper, but knew she would need another gun for any more close quarters spaces after this.
Arthur, using his submachine gun, prioritized the explosive zombies that began spawning. He was able to keep them plenty of distance away while focusing on standing in the circles. Against his pride, he used Norticus's ability to freeze the zombies around him as he moved from the second to third augmentor circle. Freezing, icy air circled him and slowed down every zombie around him. The range also helped Polina as it covered the zombies crawling up the rock formation in the middle as she worked her way down. Arthur finished the frozen zombies with his Sten.
The zombies suddenly stopped spawning. Arthur looked around, confused, before calling out to Polina.
"Polina! You see any?" He asked, leaving the third circle as it disappeared and he moved to the fourth one on the bottom.
His question was answered, not by Polina, but by two red lightning flashes in the next section. Wade and Solange had joined the party.
Wade and Solange's portal read SACRIFICE. They quickly spawned into the area next to where Arthur and Polina were completing their objective. Solange quickly fell due to a heavy wave of nausea. Wade was there to catch her as she slowly regained her feet.
"How is friendly, American dog?" Polina shouted, having walked to the red barrier that separated the two groups.
Wade waved at her as he noticed Arthur completing the last symbol for his objective. Solange also weakly waved as the strength in her legs began to return to her. Solange was about to say something just before the two soldiers were struck by the red lightning and teleported away.
"Oh." She commented as red letters flew in front of her face.
THE WORLD GROWS HARDER…
The color from Solange's face drained as Wade donned a mean expression. She looked to him for answers having not understood the purpose of the words the first time she saw them earlier in the day.
"The zombies are going to be harder now," Wade commented, beginning to fan out to a place he could run around. Immediately after he said that, red lightning appeared at three different locations around the area. The syphoncores were back.
Solange stood frozen as the first one appeared right next to her. The amalgamation of zombies groaned and cried in protest of being trapped like they are. Solange reached her hand out slowly to a zombie trapped that had an arm and head sticking out of the syphoncore. Like Apollo, the zombie snapped at her and she stumbled backwards and fell into the Venomous Vigor (Quick Revive) fountain behind her. Her clothes became drenched in demon blood.
Wade ran quickly over as Kortifex made his presence known, "Ha! This is supposed to be my resistance? Pathetic scum of flesh trips over her own feet. Sorry excuse for a soldier. End this now my minions."
The sky grew a bit darker where Wade and Solange stood as he helped her out of the fountain. She muttered her thanks and jogged to the other syphoncore as the first zombies began to spawn. Immediately, a boomshreier jogged out from behind a hole in the wall and began hissing as soon as it cleared the barrier. Solange whipped around and dropped a couple shots into the bomb it held, exploding the zombie and sending shrapnel flying. Luckily, no one was hit by the shrapnel.
Solange felt some dirt begin flying as another zombie started crawling out of the ground at her feet. She quickly stamped down on its head, stomping straight through the thing's head, killing it.
"Solange!" Wade called, "Focus on the syphoncore!"
She quickly turned as she heard a wet slop as something exploded nearby. She saw a couple zombies floating in the air connected by red lights in their eyes to the syphoncore. She shot them out of the sky as her MP-40 began roaring.
"Make sure no more get through!" Wade shouted as he began running around in a circle from the fast chasing zombies.
Red lightning appeared in the middle of the area. Wade knew immediately that he was staring at another Sturmkreiger.
"IIIII'MMMMM BACKKKKKKKK!" The Sturmkreiger shouted as its belt-fed miniature anti-aircraft gun was lowered at Solange.
Wade turned quickly and grabbed Inviktor's artifact. He pulled it in front of him and grabbed it hard. He had no idea how to activate it and nothing was happening.
"Inviktor you motherfucker! Activate this piece of shit artifact! Right now!" He screamed as the Sturmkreiger laughed in response. The Sturmkreiger began firing at Solange, however it was doing a better job of shooting other zombies as Solange ran away towards the syphoncore to kill the zombie floating in the air.
Whatever Wade said must've forced Inviktor's artifact to wake up as a purple fiery ring appeared around Wade. He roared as he felt Dark Aether energy flow through his blood as his heart began racing. His shotgun began to roar into the back of the Sturmkreiger as he began firing like a madman. It took only four shots to knock the helmet and armor of the Sturmkreiger and two more to kill it.
Wade quickly turned around and killed the remaining zombies around him.
"Fuck!" He yelled as he saw another zombie explode near him as the syphoncore took its soul.
Successive loud pings were heard and it shocked Wade as a zombie that was about to pop into the syphoncore had its head taken off. Arthur and Polina were standing on the other side of the red barrier in the plane area firing shots at the remaining zombies.
Vercanna's green energy exploded through the area and the remaining zombies had been killed. Wade and Solange jogged over to Arthur and Polina quickly, forgetting they'd be teleported back to the beginning area. Polina laughed as she was about to hug Solange before she was teleported away. The two shook their heads and climbed their way back out of the plane crash area.
Apollo finally made it over to the train yard. His portal showed SACRIFICE. He checked his weapons quickly. He had a fire axe that was pack-a-punched (it had a moving camo this time, much to his delight) and his shotgun. Apollo opted for the axe this time around. Right before he placed his hand into the red portal, bold words flew across his vision again.
THE WORLD GROWS HARDER…
"Why does that keep happening? I don't care, the zombies are still going to die regardless." He commented with a frustrated breath.
"My champion," Bellekar's purring voice aired through his mind, "are you sure you don't want your friends to help?"
Apollo turned around and looked behind him expecting her to be standing behind him. She was not.
"Have I needed help yet?" He responded, now looking into nothingville as he had the conversation, pretending she was standing there.
"Well…no I suppose not." She responded.
"Then shut the fuck up about it."
Bellekar was slightly taken aback by her champion's response. Sitting above the battlefield on the rock wall overlooking him, her eyes widened slightly as she breathed out a frustrated sigh from her nose.
"Fine, have it your way. Impress me, human."
Apollo responded by sticking his hand into the portal. Soon the familiar red lightning flashed in front of his eyes as he was teleported 20 feet directly in front of him.
"Oh another thing, can y'all stop teleporting us three feet? At least make the teleport worth it. Like damn. Making me nauseous and shit for no reason." Apollo mumbled.
Bellekar chose not to respond.
Apollo, realizing that he wasn't getting a response from anybody, walked over to the Aethereal Haste (Stamin-up) fountain and took two drinks out of that. This would help him keep stamina while swinging his axe around like a madman.
He heard the first growls of zombies as Inviktor reminded him to stay alive. Apollo didn't bother to listen. He felt an itch on his left arm again as a timer became displayed on his vein.
10:00
Apollo looked at the timer in confusion, he could've sworn that there wasn't this long a time limit in the games. Then he looked up and remembered this wasn't a game, it was real life. He sighed in frustration before putting his hands on his face and rubbing his eyes.
"Lick my balls Vic." He commented to nobody as the first zombies began getting close.
Apollo spun around and swung the axe like he was chopping wood, completely decapitating the zombie's head from its body. It dropped like a sack of potatoes. Apollo hacked and slashed his way through zombies. He took off limbs, heads and cut even more zombies clean in half.
"Damn this axe is sharp." He thought to himself.
After he killed the wave of zombies, no more spawned.
THE WORLD GROWS HARDER…
"Goddamnit." He commented.
He checked the clock on his wrist.
8:21
"Oh fuck off." He said.
Apollo got bored with the axe quickly and decided to change to his shotgun. He overestimated how long it would take him to get bored with the axe and is now realizing how big of a waste of points it was. It was great fun for about 40 kills.
Apollo's shotgun roared as he continued laying into Kortifex's army. The zombies seemed to be like ants. They continuously spawned everywhere. Hellhounds and boomshreiers littered the groups. These groupings turned out to be very easy to eliminate to the point where Apollo wondered why Kortifex even bothered sending them anymore.
Red lightning flashed just on the other side of the crashed train from where Apollo was. He quickly ran over, seeing it was another Sturmkreiger.
"IIIIII"MMMMM BBBBAAAAA-" The beast said.
It barely got through its introduction before Apollo laid three shells into its face, taking off the helmet. Apollo pulled the trigger once more, hearing the gun click. He quickly changed weapons to his axe. The Sturmkreiger, however, recovered from his momentary shock and quickly smacked Apollo hard with the back of his machine gun.
Apollo went flying into one of the rock pillars. The force of the hit knocked the axe out of his hand momentarily. Zombies started to converge on his position like vultures. Thinking quickly, Apollo grabbed Bellekar's artifact from his hip and activated it. The Dark Aether fog covered Apollo as he grabbed the axe and ran straight back for the Sturmkreiger. The beast was looking around confused, having no idea Apollo was now standing in front of him.
Without taking a moment's hesitation, he raised the axe above his head like a sledgehammer and slammed it into the top of the Sturmkreiger's head. It split the head down to the shoulders completely in two pieces. The beast fell backwards right as Bellekar's Aether fog dissipated.
Apollo pulled a monkey bomb from his other hip, which he still didn't understand the science of (not that he cared at this point) and cranked the dial on the thing's head. He quickly chucked it over the railcar, back next to Aethereal Haste (Stamin-up). He remembered to check the time.
4:52
"Just under five minutes, thank God." Apollo muttered. He heard the monkey bomb say its final goodbye as an explosion shot dust and zombie matter into the air.
Apollo walked towards where the monkey bomb went off to finish off any stragglers and drink more demon blood. As soon as he crossed the threshold between the separated railcars, he froze. Standing in the middle of the haze and dust was a red glowing figure. It took three steps and was on top of Apollo. He realized too late what, or rather who, that was.
He swung his axe quickly, hoping to drill it into the side of the attacker with no such luck. The attacker grabbed the axe and ripped it out of his hands. At the same time with one quick motion, the blue figure dropped a shoulder like Ray Lewis and speared Apollo into the dirt getting payback. He huffed as all the air in his lungs was pushed out of him.
Zaballa wasted no time in pinning Apollo's arms and legs as he fought for breath. She smiled wickedly down upon him as she felt the growing satisfaction fill her blood with energy. Her face crackled with lightning.
"FINALLY! I have my…sweet…HORRIBLE boy in my arms!" She yelled, "I have you now."
She cooed, caressing Apollo's face as she leaned into him, keeping his extremities pinned. Her faces kept switching back and forth. It seemed her emotions couldn't decide on which one to be the priority. She also had the look that reminded Apollo of an asylum patient. He doubted Zaballa was far from an asylum.
"I wouldn't stick my dick in there…however." He thought to himself, almost chuckling out loud at his own joke.
"Forever and EVER you will be mine! I have so many PLANS! You will be my slave, my servant. I will play with you every day. I won't ever let you leave! I will show you to all my friends! You will never embarrass me again!" Zaballa said, hysterical. Her mask finally settled on the smiley face.
"Oh? Do I get anything out of it?" Apollo asked.
Zaballa seemed to think for a moment, she turned her head to the side and Apollo could feel a slight shift in her weight.
"Yes!" She finally shouted, "ME! You will only need me. I need a friend. My sisters are dead. What do you say?"
Apollo just looked at her sideways in a questioning way. She was looking down on him with that creepy smile and eyes akin to when a labrador tackles its owner. Finally being able to grab his shotgun from the ground next to him, he pointed it into her side. She froze.
"No, I don't think I will." he commented.
*click*
"Oh you've gotta be kidding me."
It was amazing to watch how quickly Zaballa's face turned into fury. The faces spun in a circle until it landed on the one of anger. The lightning began to crackle again as she began building rage in her.
"How dare-HOW DARE YOU!" She screamed, "YOU WILL PAY FOR THIS REJECTION! IF I CAN'T HAVE YOU NO ONE WILL!"
"What the fuck happened to you?" Apollo responded, stunned.
Zaballa's only response was to begin salivating like a zombie. Apollo quickly tried to roll around, hoping for some type of leeway. She wasn't budging. Zombies began to spawn again and Apollo realized he was going to be trapped. Taking a deep breath for one final push, Apollo grunted as he rolled Zaballa and himself over so now he was sitting on top of her. He smirked as she tried to wrestle him back for control.
Apollo was able to quickly free one arm from her grasp and drop a fist onto her mask like the hammer of truth. He recoiled slightly as it hurt terribly. Now it was Zaballa's turn to smirk.
"You like my reinforced face plates? I learned!" She said.
"My fist didn't but I know someone who does." Apollo responded.
"Oh? And who would that be?"
Apollo quickly grabbed the pack-a-punched axe that had rolled next to him during the scuffle. He quickly raised it above his head as Zaballa's eyes widened to saucers. She tried to put her arms up to no avail. Apollo was too quick and split her head in half while slamming the blade through her skull. He buried the axe blade into the dirt below her and tried to pull it out as the zombies collapsed on him.
Unable to pull it from the dirt, Apollo grabbed his artifact and immediately activated it. Upgrading it previously with the corrupted hearts, Apollo teleported away about 10 feet, allowing him to clear the zombies horde. Realizing he was now unarmed, he chucked his last monkey bomb away from the trains so he could grab his weapons.
Reloading the shotgun quickly, Apollo slam fired into the horde as the monkey bomb exploded. Immediately after, Inviktor's purple power flowed through the area and eliminated the rest of Kortifex's influence in the surrounding area.
"Finally," Inviktor growled, "We may continue. Hurry back."
"Aye aye, Captain." Apollo responded, out of breath. He quickly put his hands on his knees as the red lightning flashed through his eyes.
The group waited in front of the Decimator for Apollo to return from his trial. They watched as red lightning struck down from the direction of the train yard and where Apollo's location was. Wade mumbled something about Apollo taking too long as his eyes glowed a very faint purple. He quickly shook his head and rubbed his eyes.
"I'm going insane." He muttered to himself.
The other three soldiers just looked at each other as red lightning struck in front of the group. Apollo appeared, clutching his shotgun and axe with his hands on his knees breathing heavily.
THE WORLD GROWS HARDER…
Vercanna quickly appeared in front of the group, directly behind Solange who was inspecting her rifle. She jumped as Vercanna spoke.
"Seedlings, soldiers! I have seen enough! You are definitely worthy of wielding the Decimator shield. There is a speaking stone near the Green Fountain. Use it, we will talk soon."
"Hurry, Special Forces, I am anxious to hear what she has to say!" Dr. Krafft added, finally piping up from his silence.
The group collectively rolled their eyes as Vercanna disappeared again.
"Seriously? What is it with the collective boner for speaking stones?" Apollo asked as he began walking over to where he knew the speaking stone was next to the communications gear at Demonic Frenzy (Speed Cola).
The group trudged over to the speaking stone without saying another word. Everyone could tell that Kortifex and his zombie army was beginning to wear on their nerves. Fatigue was setting in, both mentally and physically, and it was only day 2.
Apollo waited by the speaking stone for the rest of the group to drink from the green fountain if they haven't already. When the group circled around the glowing green rock and found somewhere comfortable to sit, Apollo placed his palm on the rock and activated the stone.
"Ah! It seems the playthings have missed us after all." Saraxis commented as her form, along with the other elder gods, shimmered into existence, "Finally get to stretch my legs."
Nobody bothered to look at her. Solange had returned to her inspection of the NZ41 she carried and didn't acknowledge. Wade had laid down in the sand and rested his head on his jacket to take a nap. Apollo had pulled his legs up and pinned himself in the corner between the table on which the speaking stone sat and the tent. Polina found a bed that was not too horribly destroyed and laid down. Arthur leaned against one of the wood support pillars and looked out back towards the Decimator.
Upon looking around, Saraxis's smile fell off her face, "The playthings are no fun."
Vercanna paid no mind as she began speaking, "When I found the Decimator - discarded and forgotten about in the Wilds - his inner flame dwindled and disappeared. He was once a soldier. Cruel and exalted. But Kortifex cursed him, trapping him within his own shield. Finding him in such a wretched state made my heart swell with pity."
Saraxis looked at Vercanna. She had an unreadable expression on her face, even as her three faces twirled into the frown, "Seriously Vercanna? I will never understand this need to…what was it my playthings called it…ah yes, forgive."
"Whatever you wish to call it." Vercanna continued, "When I saw the seedlings try and fail to get the page from the tome of rituals, I realized there was an opportunity for the Decimator to do something that Saraxis may be more familiar with."
"Lemme guess…Redemption?" She responded, raising an eyebrow on her frowning face.
"You are not as hopeless as I once thought, Saraxis. Nevertheless, I sent the Decimator here to have him be claimed by the humans. Those damned crystals are in our way."
Norticus decided to chime in, "I think I know why…Kortifex uses augmentor worms to enhance his corruption. I sensed that same corruption in those crystal locks blocking the page from the Tome."
"Then to weaken those locks we must purge more augmentors." Bellekar added.
"Precisely! I shall open a portal an-" Norticus jumped in and was immediately cut off.
Saraxis interrupted, "Whoa there, Conqueror-guy. I'm actually starting to give a damn about how this turns out. Let me take the wheel this time. You up for this, playthings?"
Nobody responded.
"Uhh…Playthings?" She asked as her face switched to a smile.
Arthur and Solange looked towards her. Polina and Wade didn't move or bother opening their eyes. Apollo pulled the clothes he was using to block the sun from his eyes a little bit more closed.
Saraxis just sighed before launching into her plan anyway.
The soldiers moved back over to the spawn area from which they entered Egypt from Stalingrad to find a light blue portal waiting for them near some pillars. Arthur quickly made sure everyone was ready to go into the portal before placing his hand on the portal. The lightning quickly took everyone from the group directly into the Dark Aether. The area they spawned in was a rocky, floating section of the Wilds, Vercanna's home. Red aetherian rock protruded from across the battlefield and bodies of both humanoids and creatures of the Dark Aether littered the area. Glass walkways connected both ends of the walkable area.
"Spread out! You have your orders. The sooner we get through this the better. I can feel the air seeping into my brain." Arthur quickly ordered.
Polina and Apollo trusted the glass bridge to hold them as they quickly crossed to the other side. To the left, Solange walked and stood about halfway between where Polina ended up and where Arthur and Wade continued to stand. Wade nodded and went towards the right.
Clouds continued to darken the surrounding area as the red tinge in the air turned a deeper blood red. Rock formations built like upside-down pyramids floated just outside the boundaries of the arena. Apollo was awestruck by the surrounding area. There was no doubt in his mind glorious wars were fought in these lands. It was truly a sight to behold.
"Augmentor worms are befouling our area of operations." Dr. Krafft added, "Remember, augmentor worms summon defenders, so work quickly."
Soon the storm overhead came to its apex. Heavy winds began buffeting the area and lightning flashed along the sky.
"Ah Saraxis," Kortifex finally spoke. His deep booming voice, obviously much more powerful here, made the soldiers jump, "still a pain in my neck I see. I will have a word with your sisters about that."
"Oh boo hoo. If you just gave up you wouldn't have to worry about any of us." Saraxis retorted.
Suddenly Norticus's power was put to work. Kortifex's control runes were exposed on the grounds around the soldiers. The soldiers found the nearest one and began the tedious process of standing and waiting on the control runes. This time there were 30 runes in total. Each took 15 seconds to clear.
Kortifex paused for a moment before speaking again, "What are you doing with the augmentors?...Oh I get it. The augmentors are your way to the Decimator."
"Bingo! You've still got it you three-eyed genius!" Saraxis shouted sarcastically.
"Hmm…remember where you are, Shadow." Kortifex said in finality.
The soldiers had just finished one of the control runes each before the zombies began spawning. Pack-a-punched weapons began firing into the zombies climbing out of the dirt barely allowing their heads to clear. Soon each soldier had a second control rune done. Kortifex turned up the heat.
The number of zombie spawns quickly doubled with three separate Sturmkreigers entering the fray. One spawned between Polina and Apollo, the second between Wade and Arthur, the third spawned on the glass bridge between Apollo and Wade. Now was when the boomshreiers could be most potent. Quickly filling in amongst the groups of normal zombies, the soldiers had to fire three zombies deep to eliminate the hissing noise before too late.
Once the Sturmkreigers woke up, they immediately turned on the closest soldier. Apollo was the target of both of the Sturmkreigers near him and the one between Wade and Arthur turned on Wade.
Apollo quickly found himself backed into a corner as the zombies, boomshreier and Sturmkreigers made a collapsing horde around him. Apollo quickly chucked a monkey bomb in hopes that it pulled them away. He threw it towards Polina as the Sturmkreigers opened fire. He watched as the anti-aircraft bullets hit him in the chest and exploded. He looked down quickly and saw an orange and yellow skin tight shield made of miniature hexagons help block the projectiles from passing through his body and killing him outright. Shrapnel still stuck itself into his skin through his shirt and stung. Getting shot in this world still hurts.
As Apollo stood there semi-stunned from being shot at, he watched as more and more pain took over his body. The orange and yellow shield began to get dimmer as the pain grew. He looked up quickly as a zombie swung down and swiped at his face, scratching him along the chin. The monkey bomb should've worked.
Apollo quickly activated Bellekar's artifact and teleported away to just outside the collapsing group of zombies. He looked and saw that the monkey bomb had successfully brought all of Polina's zombies to it, not his. He looked back at the zombies around him and noticed something completely different about them. Kortifex's red, glowing rune logo was burned into their bodies. The zombie's eyes glowed bright red, instead of a normal yellow.
Even still with Apollo protected by Bellekar's magic, the zombies didn't shuffle towards the monkey bomb, they waited. Wasting no time, Apollo began firing into the swarm of zombies. They fell multiple at a time as the 12-gauge roared through them and created a meat grinder. From where the barrel flashed from his firing, the zombies moved again. This time they seemed to be commanded to follow the bright flashing of the shotgun.
Quickly, Bellekar's magic faded allowing the zombies around to now pinpoint onto Apollo. Realizing quickly he was about to be overrun he turned and fled towards Wade, tossing an impact grenade behind him.
Solange and Arthur quickly made a tandem team that worked together. With them being very close in proximity, they completed the control runes next to each other as efficiently as they could. The zombies seemed more focused on everyone else. They were able to quickly finish their 12 control runes before going out to help Wade.
Two different red lightning strikes landed directly in front of them, making both soldiers raise their weapons. Two red portals appeared on the ground as Zaballa and a being similar to her appeared out of the ground.
"Finally I get to join the party! It has been much too long." The elder god that looked similar to Zaballa spoke. He had the same three faces with glowing blue eyes such as Zaballa, however, she glowed a deep ocean blue instead of the light blue or almost white of Zaballa and Saraxis, respectively. The red veins known from Kortifex along her skin still remained.
"Yes sister. These meat sacs will not know what hit them. Our Lord is going all out." Zaballa responded, finally turning to look at Arthur and Solange before her face switched to a frown.
She didn't have time to say anything as Solange began firing into her chest. The pack-a-punched bullets hit her directly in the chest and stopped, falling to the ground leaving not so much as a scratch on Zaballa. Solange looked in shock.
Zaballa could only laugh, "Your pathetic weapons are no match for one as powerful as me."
Zaballa went to laugh again. Arthur, now feeling anger overboil in his mind pulled the pin on a grenade. He took two quick steps forward and shoved the grenade directly into Zaballa's mouth with a growl. He then quickly backed up as the other sister watched.
*BOOM* *PING*
The grenade explosion shook the arena followed by one of Zaballa's face masks being knocked off and falling to the ground.
Both Solange and the sister gasped in shock. Quickly regaining her senses though, Zaballa roared in pain and anger. She attacked Arthur by spawning an explosive mine directly under his feet.
"Kill them!" She roared to her sister before disappearing in her portal. Arthur jumped out of the way and tried to chase Zaballa into her portal before she disappeared, leaving him pawing at dirt. Seeing now as a perfect opportunity, the sister floated over and kicked Arthur right in the stomach, hard. The wind was knocked out of him quickly as he tried to roll away from the advancing sister. She launched a slow moving, blue projectile at him. It connected as he tried to stand and detonated. The explosion launched Arthur back 10 feet and left him with blue spikes in his back and side.
Solange, locking back into the fight she was in, opened fire at the sister. Now realizing she needed to aim for the head, she laid some heavy damage into the sister. Quickly being able to knock one of the faces off, the sister returned her attention to the now furious soldier. The two stared each other down before Solange pulled out an impact grenade and chucked it at her. The sister launched another slow moving projectile as she ducked into her portal below her feet. The grenade sailed right where her head had been and flew over to the glass bridge separating Apollo from Wade.
The sister appeared right behind Solange and attempted to grab her. Solange ducked at the last second, hearing the portal and side-stepped right. She grabbed the barrel of her NZ41 and swung the stock like a baseball bat directly into the sister. There was a sickening *thwunk* as the wood stock connected with the sister's face. The air suddenly dropped by 40 degrees and an icy storm formed around them. Every zombie that had now shuffled around the group froze and exploded while the sister slowed down severely.
Arthur walked back into the fight limping heavily with fury on his mind. He opened fire into the sister's face masks as she was stunned. He still had the blue spikes sticking out of his body. Solange followed suit and quickly the woman was killed.
Arthur collapsed on his good knee as he waited for the spikes to fall out of his side. Solange quietly muttered, "Oh," before pulling out Vercanna's artifact and activating it. A green aura field surrounded them and the spikes were violently pushed out of Arthur's body as he groaned in pain. Once they were all out and the bleeding quickly stopped, Arthur stood up and took a couple deep breaths before nodding.
"Fuck not you again!" Apollo yelled over the noise of combat before a yellow outline of his prone body shone through the rock. Solange and Arthur ran to the edge of the rock platform they were standing on to see him surrounded by zombies with one Sturmkreiger on one end and Zaballa on the other.
"FINALLYYY!" Zaballa screamed into the air. She quickly grabbed onto Apollo's bleeding body and threw him over her shoulder. She dropped into a portal and disappeared.
"Dirty bitch!" Polina shouted. It sounded like a mix of her voice and Saraxis's.
"Don't fret!" Dr. Krafft chimed in, "I have a beacon on their location, complete the objective quickly and I will help you get our team back."
The group collectively nodded. Solange joined Polina, who was still fuming, while Arthur joined Wade to complete the job. Keeping the zombies at a good distance, The group was able to finish the last 6 control runes without much trouble. Once the last control rune was finished, the collective powers of the four elder gods eliminated the remaining zombies and powers of Kortifex to spawn any more. The group was then teleported back to Egypt where they awaited their instructions for the rescue mission.
Upon appearing back in Egypt, the four soldiers realized quickly that Apollo was still there. He was laying down unmoving, face down in the sand at the Decimator's feet. The group quickly looked around for Zaballa or any of Kortifex's tricks.
"I have found Apollo's location!" Dr. Krafft shouted over the radio.
"Sir," Arthur commented, "He's right in front of us."
At the same time, Wade had walked over to Apollo. He quickly rolled him over as he remained unmoving. As soon as he did he jumped back in shock. Apollo's face had been completely sheared off. The white of his skull was all that remained on the front of his face. Bullet holes, scratches and teeth marks littered the front of his body. Red aetherian rock protruded from some of the holes in his body like some type of parasitic growth.
"Fuck!" Wade exclaimed.
"Is that so?" Dr. Krafft asked after a moment, "I have a reading that he's in Morasko, Poland. But how can that be?"
"Repeat." Arthur angrily asked into the radio device again.
"Apollo is in Poland...but the reading is distorted. He must be somewhere underground." Dr. Krafft repeated.
The four soldiers looked at each other in complete confusion.
"Poland?" Polina asked.
The group didn't have an answer for why Apollo would have been teleported to Poland. Why would the members of the Dark Aether have any interest in a tiny town in Poland?
Eventually it clicked for Arthur, he remembered back to the documents discovered before they were trapped in Stalingrad. Something had stuck out in one of the Nazi documents on the shipment the group had discovered. There was a top secret Nazi outpost held in Poland, a facility that was overseen by Von List himself. Projekt Endstation.
"Projekt Endstation." Arthur finally muttered, "Dr. Krafft, there's a Nazi base in Morasko. A Nazi sheet we discovered before we were trapped by Kortifex told that the base was trying to do research into the Dark Aether. All reports showed they had failed. Obviously, that isn't the case."
The remaining four elder gods appeared around the soldiers as they studied the body in front of them.
Inviktor was the one who spoke up first, "That's a decoy."
The group looked at him. He quickly rolled his eyes before disappearing. Purple energy flowed through Wade into his arms and eyes. He blasted purple fire into Apollo's body. The body quickly disintegrated and flickered out of existence. The group looked on in awe as his body was replaced with red and blue crystals surrounded by dark red energy. Quickly Inviktor's purple energy was removed from Wade's arms as he reappeared with the group.
"What the hell?" Solange responded to the action in front of her as she and Polina looked at each other.
"Like I said, decoy. Night Legions used to use them all the time. It seems like Zaballa assumes that we aren't very intelligent."
"Good eye there, Inviktor. I had sensed a dimensional rift hole punched into the Dark Aether last season. That is how Von List, and subsequently you all, were able to be connected to us through the artifacts. Zaballa and Kortifex must be using the power of the dimensional wormhole to boost their influence in this world and the Dark Aether." Vercanna added.
"6 months?" Wade asked in confusion, "Can't be because Von List was only connected to Kortifex recently. Otherwise there should've been widespread outbreaks far sooner."
Dr. Krafft spoke, "Dark Aether time is around 10 times as fast as time here on Earth. A year on Earth is 10 years in the Dark Aether. This means that Projekt Endstation had to have been successful around 17 days ago."
The group nodded along taking in the information. Arthur and Norticus began thinking of a plan to rescue Apollo from the grasps of Zaballa and Kortifex. They sat in quick deliberation before a yellow/orange portal appeared below the Decimator shield. A floating zombie head passed through before the portal disappeared. The head floated right before the group and stopped. Arthur walked up to it as the zombie head inside began to try and snap at his fingers.
It suddenly spoke with a gruff, feminine voice, "Zaballa is alone and I have no sense that Kortifex is overlooking this location. She somehow stumbled upon the dimensional wormhole and is barely keeping Apollo alive to allow the influence of the Dark Aether to corrupt him. Hurry to the beacon. If Apollo succumbs I will too."
The group looked at each other before the head seemed to have run out of energy. It dropped to the ground and disintegrated when it hit the ground. The group nodded in determination and Vercanna opened a portal to Poland.
There it is, the first major change of the Vanguard story. If it wasn't clear already, the Nazi base in Poland is where the maps Die Machine take place 40 years later. It is also where Zykov is sent into the Dark Aether (hint, hint). I look forward to introducing more twists and turns throughout the story. I think Vanguard definitely can, and should be, expanded on as a story. I felt that the story with Zykov and the events of Cold War didn't do the elder gods nearly enough justice to finish by saying Zykov, in 400 years, consumed everything by starting out as a random human soldier in the Dark Aether. Bullshit, lazy story excuse and I want to make a better one :).
As always feel free to review, comment or DM me. I will answer any question you may have and hopefully you all enjoyed it. See you next time.