A drop of rain fell onto Leaonards visor, slowly trickling down its length and dripping off. More drops soon followed. The squad was already miserable, trudging through ash and rubble. The rain started coming down steadily now. Dirt and ash started to mix into a foul, sticky mud. It was hard enough to navigate through fallen buildings, roads clogged with cars, and debris from various battles fought here. Now it was wet. Leonard stole a glance at his comrades.
Jensen was walking beside him carrying massive paired Vibro Hammers. Dexter Automatic Shotguns hung from his back. He had selected them from a supply drop. Leonard himself had chosen two Galleon Rapid fire cannons for his shoulder mounts, and two new UT gatling guns for his main weapons. There was no hint of fear or nervousness in Jensen. He walked confidently forwards. He turned to see the two militia fighters he had met in the Caliban, Buck and Holly. Buck had armed himself with a Slaughter series pump shotgun, and had a rapid fire Raven assault rifle slung on his back. He walked along, fatigue obvious in his stature. Leonard already respected the man. He had chosen to keep fighting after the flagship fell. He was the first volunteer. Holly was the second. He looked at the young woman. She wielded a standard issue Stork series assault rifle and had a bandolier of grenades around her chest. She stared forward as she trudged along, a look of fire and determination in her eyes. Her foot sunk into deep mud and she fell forward. Buck turned to help but she was already up and moving. Leonard had thought she would be a liability at first, but seeing the courage in her stride told him he made the right choice bringing her along. He looked forward again. Storm One was leading the way. Their Ranger had a massive sniper rifle on his back, one that Leonard had never seen before. It looked more alien than anything. The Wing Diver flew overhead, serving as extra eyes in the sky. Storm Ones Fencer boasted two FHER artillery cannons on his shoulder mounts and had two FG series miniguns in his hands. Two massive swords hung from his magnetic back sheath. Their forces were rounded out by volunteer civilians. Leonard couldn't make out most of the faces through the now borderline pouring rain. The ones he could see were frightened, and he imagined the others were the same. Leonard cursed at the fact they were here. He was grateful they had volunteered, but things should have never deteriorated to the point where they needed civilian help. He partially blamed Command.
The group followed in formation behind one of the Blacker Tanks. They would be approaching the stadium from the south. They rounded a corner at an intersection and the stadium's massive crumbling walls came into view at the end of the street. The road was oddly clear of vehicles. It was so clear in fact, there wasn't even anything on the sidewalks. A second look and Leonard realized, the sidewalks themselves were gone. Asphalt from the road turned to mud about halfway down the street.
A memory flashed through his mind. He had seen this before. He remembered his team being dropped into what was left of Tokyo not too long ago. There were no structures left. Not one building left in sight. There were trees, shrubs, and other vegetation still standing in eerily straight lines, the streets they used to line no longer there. Leonard had seen Tokyo before the war, and it was beautiful then. But now... there were no buildings, no sidewalks or roads, there wasn't a single man-made object in what used to be Tokyo. And it was breathtaking. The rivers that used to spiderweb throughout the city now flowed through fields, and below canopies of trees. Mount Fuji now loomed over a beautiful paradise. The one thing that pointed to humans ever inhabiting the area was the remnants of a grid street system, seen from the sky.
"Contact!" A frantic voice ripped Leonard from the memory. He whirled around to see an older civilian woman aiming her rifle down an alleyway. The rifle was shaking. "Hold your fire!" Leonard shouted. The last thing he needed was losing somebody to friendly fire. He ran over with Jenson next to him and they peered down the alleyway. Halfway down, there was a dumpster in the center of the narrow passage. A bulge of sticky mud was rising from underneath it. Green pincers broke the surface and tore through the bottom of the dumpster. Two spindly legs followed, pushing out more of the monster's body. Its head pushed through the earth, its long antennae searching. The beast pushed the rest of its body out, tipping the dumpster over. It was an ant. It was almost as tall as an average human, and just as long as the dumpster it was eating. Mud sloshed off in chunks from its light green exoskeleton. Its antennae searched the air as it crunched through the side of the dumpster, chittering and squawking as it feasted. The antennae suddenly stopped, and it grew silent. Slowly, its head turned towards the group. Its bulbous eyes almost seemed to lock onto Leonard. It let out a hiss, and clamped its pincers in quick succession. With all six legs it sprung forwards like a rocket straight towards him. It let out clicks and chitters as it charged, ready to rip into flesh and bone. It launched itself with its legs, sailing towards Leonard with pincers opened. A huge hammer came down like a lightning bolt, smashing the thing downwards and crushing through its exoskeleton. It slammed to the ground with a sickening crunch. Greenish brown blood exploded in all directions, painting the ground and part of Leonard's armor. The corpse twitched and another hammer came down on its back end. Jensen raised his weapons with viscous, stringy blood and fluid dripping off of the heads. "Thanks brother." Leonard said as he wiped a bit of blood from his visor.
He scanned the area for more hostiles, paying close attention through the rain. Seeing none, he looked back to the dead ant. These were the green bastards responsible for the complete loss of Tokyo. The aliens started deploying them near the end of the war. Tokyo was their first target. Their purpose was to consume every last remnant of humanity. Concrete, glass, plastic, garbage. Anything and everything humans created. Leonard and his team had been sent to Tokyo to take out a massive nest of the beasts. They had made their colony out of what used to be the Tokyo subway system, and expanded on it. Leonards team was successful, although there wasn't much left to save.
Leonard looked at the street they had come from. The monster that lay dead before him must have been a survivor from a past operation in this city. From the looks of the street they were on, it never stopped eating. He stepped away and out of the alleyway, giving the older woman that called out a nod. She nodded back. Her hands weren't shaking anymore and her shoulders were relaxed a bit. He turned and motioned for the fireteam to continue forwards. The Blacker tank had stopped and the driver was halfway out of its access hatch. Leonard looked in his direction and twirled his finger in the air, indicating they were moving out. The driver dropped back in the hatch and continued forwards.
The group made it about a hundred more feet when the tank stopped again. Leonard heard the crackle of the radio in his helmet. "Sir we think we saw something coming from the stadium" came a voice from one of the tank crew. Storm Ones Ranger already had his sniper rifle out, raking the scope back and forth. Leonard spoke into his transmitter. "Hold position until we..." his voice trailed off as he spotted a faint pink glow appear from the stadium through the rain. He squinted. The glow was intensifying. Before he could react or bark orders, an immense flash of pink light shot from the stadium and slammed into the front of the Blacker tank. In a matter of seconds, Leonard could see the metal on the back of the armored vehicle start to glow a bright orange. The laser had already penetrated through the vehicle. Jensen had to dodge out of the way as the laser shot from the back of the tank. It traveled swiftly upwards cutting a line vertically through the mass of metal. The tank was cut down the middle, falling inwards on itself. Leonard could hear screaming from the tank. It was on fire, the rain doing nothing to put it out. He turned to see the woman that had spotted the giant ant earlier. She hadn't gotten out of the way of the laser in time. There was a line cut neatly from her outer left thigh, to the top of her right shoulder. There was a confused look on her face. It slowly distorted to shock, and her eyes rolled upwards. Her head and half her torso fell to the wet ground. The rest of her slumped and fell the opposite direction with a splash.
"Sniper!" Leonard roared as he jumped for cover. He saw a man get cut in half trying to help the men in the tank. One of the tankers had managed to get the hatch open and was trying to clamber through. He got halfway out when another laser lanced into his neck and traveled up his face, splitting his head in half. By this point most of the fighters had scrambled to cover in alleyways and some were just lying prone in the street. Jensen, a handful of civilian fighters, and Storm Ones Ranger were in the alleyway across the street. Leonard was with their Fencer. Their Wing Diver had landed next to them. Buck and Holly were stuck prone in the street with some other civilians. "God dammit" Leonard thought.
The sniper had stopped firing, there being no more visible targets. The screaming from the tank had stopped, and Leonard could smell the stench of burning flesh. "God fucking dammit" he thought again. He looked to the alley opposite of him across the street. The Ranger had his sniper rifle out and was looking back at him and nodding. No, not at him. He turned around to see the Wing Diver burst into the sky. She flew out of cover and upwards. Almost immediately, a laser pierced the air just beneath her boots. It followed her as she rose and fell, dodging the beam with the grace of an eagle. Leonard turned back to see the Ranger step out of cover, raise his sniper rifle to his eye and pull the trigger. The gunshot sounded like a battleship cannon. The laser suddenly disappeared. The Ranger held a thumbs up and their Fencer stepped out. He tilted backwards slightly, and let loose a barrage of mortar shells towards the sniper's position. The side of the stadium lit up as the shells impacted. Explosions erupted all around where the sniper had been and debris splintered and flew in all directions. Anything on this side of the stadium would have been vaporized. Silence fell across the land as everyone slowly looked from their cover. There were fresh, smoldering craters where the shells had impacted. Leonard spotted a chunk of purple meat hanging from a destroyed wall. Smoke floated lazily upwards towards the sky. Everyone was standing now, sticking close to the sides of buildings.
Everyone looked towards the mayhem Storm One just inflicted. As the smoke cleared, Leonard could make out what looked like a gigantic oval being traced into thin air in the sky above the stadium. "What the fu-" Holly started to say. A deafening boom sounded from the direction of the oval, and the shape imploded on itself. It exploded outward an instant later, filled with a pinkish purple light. From inside the shape a figure slowly floated out. The alien was massive. It had shiny gray skin that was partially covered in golden armor. It looked more for show than anything. Two huge golden rings floated off the top of its back. It had no face, except for a mouth. It was snarled. It had its arms crossed and looked to be staring at the fireteam. The oval dissipated behind the floating being. It just sat there for a moment. Staring. Studying. A gunshot sounded as the Ranger fired another massive round. It slammed into the monster's blank face. The impact tilted the beings head slightly back. It looked back down slowly, smiling. It had a huge, deep crater where the round impacted. Deep purple blood flowed from the wound, down its face and dripped off its chin. The hole in its face was already closing, healing. It uncrossed its arms, letting them dangle at its sides. A bright white light ignited in its empty right hand, and a blade of pure white energy shot from the glowing hand. It raised the blade, pointing it towards the fireteam.
A huge circle traced in thin air over each of its shoulders, and there was another boom. The same pinkish light filled the area and this time... Leonard heard buzzing. Giant hornets the size of box trucks flooded out of the portals in droves. Hundreds of them poured forth, forming a wall of death. "Sir" Leonard heard Buck's voice. He turned and saw the man aiming his shotgun behind the group. There were portals behind and to the sides of them. Alien foot soldiers stepped out of the glowing masses, surrounding the team. "Dear God." An older civilian fighter muttered. Leonard felt the feeling of despair and helplessness rising inside of him. Panic was slowly gripping him. They were surrounded on all sides. It was an ambush. Leonard stole a moment and closed his eyes. He couldn't just sit here and feel helpless. He shoved the despair down deep, opened his eyes and looked for an opening. The alleyway he took cover in looked to open up about three hundred feet in. No aliens had blocked this route yet. "Fencers form on the street and lay down covering fire towards the hornets! Storm One cover our rear! Buck and Holly get these people through that alleyway and clear a path!" Leonard shouted into his radio. The Ranger from Storm One dropped to the ground, aiming his sniper rifle behind the Fencers. The Wing Diver took to the sky, sailing towards the aliens flanking them. Buck led the way past where Leonard had taken cover. Holly took up position at the mouth of the alley, ushering the civilian fighters through. They funneled past Leonard and the other two Fencers and Holly brought up their rear. Leonard, Jensen, and Storm Ones Fencer strode out into the street and turned towards the horde descending upon them. Jensen brought up his shotguns ready to blast anything that got close. The other Fencer hoisted his gatling guns and tilted slightly back, preparing to unleash another volley of mortar shells. Leonard aimed and spun up his UT gatling guns. His shoulder cannons automatically locked on, ready to fire. There was silence for a second. The only sound being the buzzing of the approaching hornets. "Let em have it!" Leonard roared.
Gunfire erupted in every direction. Artillery shells, cannon fire, and minigun rounds ripped into the giant insects streaking towards them. Explosions filled the sky. Shells detonated in mid air, obliterating massive clumps of the creatures at once. Green blood exploded into the sky, hunks of meat being thrown in all directions. The stream of monsters didn't slow. More of the hornets shot through the smoke in the air, heading directly towards them. They flew straight into a wall of bullets. Wings were sliced off, legs were shredded, huge eyes popped as bullets lanced into every inch of the beasts. Leonard felt the slight recoil of his shoulder cannons suddenly change directions. They were firing almost straight upwards. He looked up and saw that a group of the monsters had split off, coming from directly above them. He saw Jensen launch into the sky using his thrusters. The man spun as he flew upwards, his shotguns firing at full speed. He became a death tornado. Hornets tried to bite and sting as he flew upwards, only to be eviscerated by the close range weapons. Their body's exploded in green mist. Jensen switched to his hammers in mid air and came down behind Leonard. A glance backwards and he saw why. Alien foot soldiers had made some ground on Storm One. Jensen slammed into the ground, smashing his hammers into the earth and releasing the payload in them. The heads of the weapons exploded outward and into the ground, releasing a shockwave. The earth in front of Jensen shattered and hurled towards the approaching aliens. A wave of asphalt, dirt, and debris slammed into them, crushing and breaking armor. Four of the beasts were flung backwards, holes in their helmets and armor. Storm One took advantage of this. The Ranger fired off two rounds, exploding the head of one alien, and putting a neat hole through the chest of another. The Wing Diver came out of nowhere and planted herself directly on one of the aliens' throats and jabbed a high tech looking pistol into exposed flesh through a hole in its armor. Hundreds of orange beams shot from the weapon, penetrating through and out the back of its neck. The last alien swung its weapon up towards the Diver. She drew what looked like a lance with her other hand in an instant and fired a beam of energy into the alien's leg. It tore through the skin revealed by broken armor, and sliced it off. The alien fell sideways, slamming to the ground and rolling to its back, screeching. The Diver shot to the sky from her perch on the other alien as it fell dead, a hole in its throat. She stalled in the air and fell back to the earth in a nose dive. She brought the lance down into the screeching aliens faceplate. The weapon crunched through with a loud crack, and she released another beam of energy. Purple blood exploded from under its head. It fell silent and went limp. Leonard felt a jolt and staggered as a metal dart the length of a road sign grazed his shoulder armor, sending orange sparks flying in the air. It stabbed into the ground behind him, sticking halfway into the ground. Leonard cursed himself for getting distracted. He turned and continued firing Into the mass of flying flesh. He caught a glimpse of Buck and Holly at the end of the alley, waiting for them. "Everyone get down that alley!" Leonard shouted. More aliens had started to flow where the others fell. He turned and layed down covering fire for Storm One to retreat, leaving the other Fencer to defend against the flying monsters. Rounds punched into armor, forcing the aliens to take cover. The Wing Diver flew past Leonard into the alleyway towards the other group. The Ranger slid into the alley, turned, crouched, and brought his rifle to his eye. He fired off three rounds and three beasts fell. Leonard focused his attention back on the hornets. He saw Jensen in the corner of his eye speed past him and into the mouth of the alley. Everyone was in. Leonard and Storm Ones Fencer walked backwards, still firing. They were almost there. The Ranger was still firing shots behind them. They were going to make it. Movement caught Leonards eye coming from the wrecked Blacker Tank. The man's corpse that was still halfway out of the hatch was pushed up and out. A man stuck his head out and waved his hands frantically and screaming. "Help me!" He shouted. How was that possible? How was this man... it didn't matter. Leonard turned to the Ranger and shouted "Cover us!" The Ranger nodded. He continued firing on the advancing aliens. Leonard took a step towards the tank, the other Fencer advancing with him. They both fired there gatling guns into the army. The other Fencers gatling guns suddenly stopped firing. He was out of ammo. Leonards guns stopped a moment later. "Shit" he thought helplessly. His automatic cannons wouldn't be enough to hold the horde back, and they were too close now for the other Fencer to use his artillery cannons. He glimpsed the man drawing his swords and stepping forwards. He returned his sight to the man at the tank. A hornet had punched through the defenses and shot towards him, pincers wide open. The beast was about to slam into him when Leonard heard a familiar noise through the gunfire, pouring rain, and screams. Fighter jets... no... an ax from nowhere slammed into one of the monsters eyes, stopping It dead in the air. It reared back, screeching and chittering. A second ax came flying and embedded itself in its other eye. A Wing Diver speared through the air above the guy in the tank like a hawk and planted her boots on the things face, grabbing on to the ax handles and ripping the weapons outwards. Green blood gushed from the wounds and it fell from the sky. The Diver flipped off the corpse, and landed perfectly on the destroyed tank's gun barrel. She turned and nodded at Leonard. "Storm Four" He thought, filling with hope and nodding back. A second Diver landed next to the guy in the tanks hatch. She helped him out and he sprinted for the alleyway. The first Diver sprung from the gun barrel towards three more advancing hornets. Like a bullet from a gun, the ax in her right hand fired forwards into the center of the first beast's face. It split open like a watermelon. She slammed into it, grabbing on to the handle. Using her momentum, she whirled around with her other arm extended. The blade in her left hand found the soft flesh between the wing and body of the second hornet. She ripped the other blade out of the first beast in the same motion, bringing it around and down to finish slicing through the second hornets wing. She followed the momentum of her weapons, bringing them together in a front flip. She added the power of her plasma core, spun twice, and brought the axes down together square in the third monster's face, killing it instantly. All three hornets fell down to the ground simultaneously, dead. Two more monsters barreled towards the first Diver. A thin green beam of energy appeared above Leonard. The laser smacked into the lead hornet, slicing a clean, massive chunk from its abdomen. It fell from the sky in two pieces. The laser flicked up and then downwards, chopping off the second beast's wings. It careened into a building and crashed to the ground, its own weight obliterating its body. Leonard looked up to see the second Diver perched on a balcony above him. She flew down to meet the first Diver and together they retreated to the alley. From behind them, the hoard only seemed to grow bigger. Then came a sight that Leonard would never forget. Every single hornet seemed to fire darts towards the ground at the same time. The twelve foot spikes penetrated the earth, carpeting the battlefield in steel and death. He couldn't even see the ground. The wave of spikes and metal was rapidly closing in.
Leonard just rounded the corner of the alley right behind the other Fencer and Ranger as the spikes washed over their previous position. Darts slammed into the wall behind him, penetrating and protruding out from the surface of the building, effectively cutting them off from the street. Leonard started down the alley as the monsters crushed against their own wall of spikes, trying to turn into the alleyway. Some of them impaled themselves in the process. He looked to the sky expecting them to start flying over. Instead he caught a glimpse of blue lightning. A giant blue laser suddenly penetrated the clouds from above, piercing through a mass of hornets and searing into the ground. Then another came. And another. The sky started raining lasers. "Not lightning" Leonard thought with a bit of a grin. He turned and continued towards the rest of the group as the insect army turned to soup behind him.
Civilian fighters parted as Leonard approached. He saw the Ranger aiming to the sky behind them, scanning for more monsters. The Fencer had drawn his swords and was waiting to continue onward. The man they rescued from the tank was next to him, armed with Buck's Raven assault rifle. The newly arrived Diver with dark skin joined Storm Ones Diver on the fire escapes of the buildings in the alley. The one with the axes leaned on a wall behind Buck, Jensen, and Holly, who were crouched at the opening of the alley. It opened into a field of rubble, crumbling walls, and dilapidated buildings. A few still stood. There was a parking garage to the right and across the destroyed street. The sound of a helicopter drew the attention of the group. They all looked to the source as it flew over the parking garage towards the stadium. Rockets streaked from the launchers towards an unseen target. Its undermounted machine gun belted out rounds. "This fighting is going on everywhere sir" Buck said as he stood. "There are reports of those portals, or whatever the hell they are, appearing all around the AO." He continued. Just as he finished his sentence, an oval traced in the air in the field behind the parking garage. There was a boom, and the area lit up in pinkish purple light. Four heavily armored aliens stepped from the light and to the ground, raising their weapons. The oval dissipated behind them. They started towards the fireteam. Every fighter turned and aimed their weapons towards the approaching aliens. They were moving past the parking garage now.
Time slowed to a crawl as a tank burst through the top level of the parking garage behind the squad of aliens. Leonard spotted a Wing Diver perched on top of its turret, her arms extended on either side of her. She was holding devices the size of baseballs in both hands. She sprung from her perch and flipped through the air, activating her core halfway through the spin and burst towards the lead alien. The tank landed directly on top of the beast in the rear, crushing its head downwards. The tank and alien fell to the ground, the things head still under the vehicle. Its heavily armored helmet was no match for the vehicle's weight. Both its helmet and head were crushed between steel and dirt. Leonard looked at the Diver again. She had reached her prey. Without even stopping, she planted the device in her left hand underneath the lead alien's chin. She looped around in an instant, coming around to the second alien. It swatted at her, she dodged flawlessly and planted the device in her other hand directly on the monster's faceplate. She flew upwards and spun around. The devices lit up simultaneously, blue plasma poured outwards. It melted through the armor on the lead alien's neck in an instant, its vulnerable flesh following soon after. It fell, dead, its hands clasped around the device on its neck. They melted soon after. The second alien clawed at its own face as the plate melted. It managed to scrape the device off as it penetrated the armor. Leonard could see that damage had been done though. Half of the beast's face had slopped off. It roared in agony and anger then raised its weapon towards the Diver. The alien's face suddenly shattered inwards, disappearing in a purple mist. There was a neat hole through its head. The tank had gotten a shot off. There was one more. The monster had dodged backwards when the tank dropped down, it was scrambling for its weapon. It found it in the rubble. It stood, turning and firing at the same time. A flash of blinding blue light penetrated the clouds above and slammed into the alien square in the head, penetrating through its body and into the ground. The light disappeared in an instant. It left the alien standing, with a perfectly cylindrical hole vertically cut through its body. It fell to the ground with a smack. Leonard spotted the driver of the tank, an Air Raider, halfway out of the tanks hatch and pointing a small laser targeting gun at the felled beast. He then glanced up at the clouds. There was a perfect hole running up into the atmosphere. The Wing Diver landed back on the tank next to the man. A small metal ball flung from inside the tank, spiraling through the air and coming back down, stopping between the two. It flashed blue and spoke, "Mateo, Sarah, and Ada reporting for duty!"