"What the fuck is that?"
Dutch stood at the shattered windows, gazing at the enormous mechanical automatons romping through the refuse of bloated, rotten corpses, squelching remains underfoot across the concrete pier. Jets cut as flesh cooked, yellow eyes boring through glass panes, lightning crackling overhead.
"Panzer Soldats," Richthofen remarked proudly, strutting beside the mercenary, "Zhey were the achievement of anozher time, knowledge granted by zhe Vrill device to me some time ago." His smile hit cheshire proportions, and he clapped once, priding himself no doubt.
"You still got that with you?" Tank maneuvered to the door beside Revy, racking shotshells into the tube magazine of his shotgun with haste.
"Ja, of course, I am no dummkopf like yourself."
Tank scoffed. Hugging the 1301 to his torso, he spotted five Soldats in the landing party. Booster malfunctions and sputters reverberated through the atmosphere, signaling the arrival of more, and as heat lightning struck buildings, it gave birth to the hairless and hunched-over Nova Crawlers. Their guttural snarls resonated amidst the chaos.
"Great," Tank growled, "More creepy crawlies."
"So I assume the plan isn't to sit around on our ass, right?" Benny chipped in, glancing between the many corpses in the room, "Cause I'm not liking these odds."
"No shit, Benny." Revy moved inches before Richtofen and stared him down, "But I bet this asshole knows what to do." He turned his nose up at her, scrunching in disgust. "Ugh!" The Doctor exclaimed, swatting her away. "Is zhis gutter trash trying to hold me responsible? Fuck off!"
Revy stepped forward, but Richthofen swiftly reached into his bag and brandished the golden spiral of fate, causing the woman to halt. It emitted a silent yet audible hum, glowing with a sacred aura.
"Jah! There is an idea! And it starts with shooting those things! So if you'd please-" Richthofen swayed the object towards the window, "-Open fire!"
Dutch clenched his jaw, scowling at the undead-piloted mech suits, and aimed his M79 at the nearest one. As he pulled the trigger, the high-explosive round soared through the air and slammed into the steel torso plating. An explosion erupted across its chest, causing the creature to stumble, but it quickly regained its composure and continued its advance.
It made footing and glared at the window, emitting a deep, guttural howl.
"Shit!"
Revy shouldered the CTC and punched rounds at the second mech. Bullets ricocheted off the steel armor but spiderwebbed the visor. It picked up the pace, zig-zagging erratically through her fire, Revy cursing as her bullets clipped the armor or kissed corpse-littered concrete. One split open the glass face shield and dropped a soldat as her gun locked empty. Revy took a step back and dropped the empty 30-rounder.
"These fucks aren't goin' down easy!" She yelled.
Takeo and Nikolai cautiously approached and opened fire. Takeo unleashed a barrage of shots from his CZ, each nine-millimeter softnose round peppering the third mech, causing minor impacts on its armor and faceglass but failing to slow down the approaching Soldats. Meanwhile, Nikolai fired his XM5 fully automatic, the .277 rounds ricocheting off the fourth mech and grazing its face shield before his weapon clicked empty.
The fourth mech maneuvered behind the unit, aligning itself with the building before activating its jump jets. The powerful turbine flame and hot exhaust blasted against the concrete, propelling the Soldat directly toward the office and the people inside.
Rock strode up to the window, the weapon's flickering bulbs casting a tense glow as he reloaded the Wunderwaffe. He aimed and pulled the trigger with somewhat steady hands, unleashing crackling blue lightning from the massive weapon's multi-pronged muzzle. The energy struck the first Soldat dead-on, engulfing him in a searing blaze of lightning, leaving the pilot charred. The mech lost control, careening through the windows and crashing into the office, scattering debris and leaving deep grooves in its wake.
"Shit..." Rock murmured, trailing the soldat with the Wunderwaffe. Lights flickered on the shoulders, sparks spattered, and after a few seconds, died out. "I think it's dead..."
Heavy footsteps reverberated across the pavement. In tandem with footfalls, two Soldats raised their arms and fired stick-shaped grenades with auras of arcing electricity.
"Cover! Now! Move!" Tank shouted.
He dove to the floor. Revy did the same, turning on her side as the others crouched behind racks or laid down. Snap-crackle explosions rocked the building, flinging shrapnel and heat through the office space. Hot fragments cut exposed skin, the shockwave bursting eardrums, and many went to shouting and frantically patting minor burns across their skin as the thundering footsteps grew closer.
Dempsey was up first. He moved to the window and ripped several shells out of his 1301. One of their flamethrowers detonated, but it moved on, tiny pinpricks scattered across the remaining steel armor. Before the others could get up, they'd rounded to the front.
Revy got behind him first, rocking a fresh magazine into the CTC, then thumbing the bolt release.
"Looks like it's playtime."
"No fuckin' kidding. Doc?"
"Jah!" He stood in the center, small fragments of glass stuck in his uniform, a tiny stream of blood flowing beneath his right eye, "Working on it!"
Dempsey looked at Rock, who was fumbling with the reload on his Wunderwaffe. "Rock! Once they step in, hit 'em with everything you got!"
"We're waiting for them to get in here?" Revy snorted, jogging to the side exit and stepping over a mound of corpses. "Fuck that! Come on!"
"Shit!"
Dempsey gazed down the main entrance. A Soldat, its flamethrower throbbing with fluid, stood at the bottom as if waiting. In a swift motion, Dempsey drew his Colt and fired two rounds at its center armor before a burst of flame shot up the stairs. With adrenaline pumping, he leaped into the room, narrowly escaping the trail of fire that kissed his boots.
Nikolai stepped aside from him, frag grenades in hand, and chucked both down the stairs. They detonated as the flame went out, a secondary explosion billowing smoke and fire through the door.
Takeo had followed Revy, and Dutch turned to follow as a hairless, hunchback creature trailing a foul smog crawled into the window nearby. Benny spun around, raising the VAL and stitching two rounds through its mottled torso, four more going wide and high. It shrieked, twisting out of the window as six more crawled through the window.
"God damnit!" Dutch backpedaled, drawing his .357 and plugging one in the chest. It curled over, coughed, and deflated as green gas and blood discharged through its orifices.
Pulling his second Colt and standing tall, Dempsey walked copper slugs into a trio, peeling straight for him and Nikolai, who fired wildly into the small group. Others were pouring in from the flame-scorched doorway, fire billowing off their gas, shrieking into the bulletstorm.
Revy confronted the first Soldat, jumping over a claw firing from its arm. She aimed the CTC at her shoulder and fired. The .308 chipped pieces of the armor off in close range, with dangerously close ricochets flinging by Revy as she landed on one foot. She swept across its back as the thing awkwardly tried to turn. Takeo was right behind her, spraying the subgun up its torso and through the thick glass plating, shattering it before the thing turned fully.
The magazine ran dry as it faced Revy. With her CTC locked open and dry, she quickly dropped the rifle to its sling and pulled both Cutlass handguns from their holsters. The Soldat's flamethrower spat a liquid stream of flame as it turned, but she beat it to the punch, slinging two lead 9x19 slugs through its head before it could get her.
As the other Soldat charged towards its fallen comrade, sweeping its left arm at Revy, she ducked and unleashed a barrage of nine millimeters across its solid midsection. Meanwhile, Takeo swiftly drew his Katana, springboarding off the stairs, the fallen mech, and landing on the partially inflamed Soldat's back.
With a ferocious battle cry, he drove his Katana beneath the left shoulder pauldron, cleaving into the undead flesh with unrelenting force. The air crackled with heat lightning and illuminated the near maniacal expression on his face as he twisted the weapon deeper, a trail of crimson seeping down the steel armor.
The creature twisted around, its arm reaching up to swat him away. Takeo hurriedly planted his foot on the spikes and, with a swift movement, ripped his sword out, leaping off its back and tumbling across the fallen Soldat, landing on his ass. Meanwhile, Revy relentlessly fired her weapons until they locked open, causing the Panzer Soldat to turn as its faceplate began to loosen and buckle.
On the ground, Takeo quickly drew his revolver as Revy hurriedly reloaded, backpedaling as fast as possible. With a steady aim and a slim margin, Takeo targeted the corner of its faceplate and fired, punching through the worn steel and up through its jaw, splattering rotten brains inside the pilot's compartment.
After taking two steps forward postmortem, the Soldat faceplanted, dead.
"Nice one, old man!" Revy loaded her Cutlasses, shoving them in their holsters, repeating the process with her CTC. "Didn't know you had it in ya!"
"Do not underestimate the Japanese!" Takeo shouted, tediously rising from the ground. Gunfire from inside the building roared as their compatriots threw what they had on the other Soldat charging inside.
Its massive frame shouldered through the small doorway leading inside. Benny and Dempsey furiously fired at the thing, but the armor took it in stride, Dutch and Nikolai fending off the Nova crawlers at the window. A small pile of their corpses stank up part of the room in a billowing, green gas cloud reeking of rotten flesh and shit. Dutch felt his eyes water, pushing through the pain to blast another crawler as it tried clambering in, blowing off its arm at the shoulder and sending it tumbling down the side of the building.
Nikolai had forgone his XM5, wielding a crowbar he'd plucked off a stack and cracking a torso with the bottom end, a slight stream of red-green goop clinging to its forked end as the thing recoiled out of the window, wailing until it hit the concrete and splattered.
Benny sprayed in a panic, the 9x19 rounds glancing off the Soldat's armor into the surroundings. Dempsey had gotten two shells in, crimpling the T-shaped faceplate, but was on the run and struggling to get his handgun from the holster again.
Rock finally decided, pointing the Wunderwaffe at the Soldat cruising through the center and firing. Brilliant lightning punched through its side and detonated the flamethrower on its back, flash-cooking the occupant and billowing a choking heat wave through the room—shrapnel whizzed by, toppling Benny in a fit of cries and winging Dempsey's right side. A few fragments caught Dutch's flak jacket, but one grazed his head, and another punched Nikolai in the side.
A connecting stream of lightning arced to one of the crawlers, chain-reacting with the rotten flesh and lancing each cretin together in a macabre lightshow, flash-cooking their insides and swelling each one's torso with electricity until they popped, splattering the window with pus and bloody organs.
The only ones unaffected were Richtofen, Revy, and Takeo, as the latter two burst through the side door with a second to spare them from the destruction. A burning pyre by the forward windows, a rotten mound by the ones overlooking the inner Harbor, and a good portion of their comrades flinching and clutching bloody wounds as a confused Rock and amused Richtofen glanced around.
"What the fuck happened?!" Revy screamed, "You assholes try to kill each other?"
"No!" Dempsey roared, plucking a small piece of steel from his right forearm, blood sluicing down his sleeve, "Your fuckin' boy toy about blew up the goddamn room!"
"Oh, that's fuckin' rich comin' from you!"
"Both of you, quiet!" Takeo shouted, strutting past Revy, "Tend to your wounds! We need to move! This place is not safe!"
"No shit," Dutch dabbed the wound on his head with a cloth from his vest, walking towards Benny as he fumbled with his wound, "Let's not kill each other just yet. Doc, what's your plan?"
"Well," He sighed, "Zhis place is not a good conduit for the next plan. We must, ah... Go to somewhere with a good amount of power," He smirked, "With plenty of 115 to go around, ja!"
"And where exactly would that be?" Dempsey had mostly wrapped or treated his scarring. Benny was less fortunate, and Dutch was doing his best, but another setback would be Nikolai - Takeo attempted to help his midsection wound. Still, it was deep enough to be problematic.
"Well... The power plant, maybe a meteor - they always land when we arrive."
"Hey, Doc," Dutch tightened a bandage around Benny's shoulder, "You mind helping us out? You're more qualified, I reckon."
"Ohhh... I don't know. I'm better at taking people apart than I am putting them together."
"Doc, seriously," Tank limped over to Takeo and Nikolai, pulling his tweezers from a medkit, "You really gotta contribute other than being some fucking asshole."
"Ahh... I don't know-"
"Fuckin' bullshit!" Revy strut across the room, dropping one of the magazines to her Cutlass and slotting a fresh one into the magwell, "You've been a cunt this whole fucking time! Good-for-nothing asshole!"
She sent the slide home, striding right into his space. Doc turned his nose up at her, but she quickly drove her left fist into his midsection. Admirably, the man only coughed, stepping back and swiftly pulling his combat knife from its right-sided sheathe and driving it up at the woman, some semblance of close-quarters training echoing in his movements. Revy sidestepped, grabbing his forearm and tearing it away while crashing the bottom of her Cutlass into his temple.
Doctor Richtofen crumpled to the ground, and she followed him, stamping on his right hand and shoving the barrel of her M92 in his throat - the subtle reflexes of his muscles gently tugging the gun as he gagged. Revy dropped a knee on his gut and pushed the handgun further until the trigger guard stopped against his teeth.
"Listen here, you fucking Nazi fuck; I'm out of goddamn patience with your bullshit. You're going to fucking cooperate, or I'll blow your goddamn head off, understand?"
Stifled gurgles were all that escaped his mouth. The man's sole free hand flapped at Revy's side several times. Still, she pressed her Beretta further, grinding against the man's well-manicured dental work, a small stream of saliva trailing from his mouth, his eyes staring wide, fearful and hateful, up at Revy.
A hurried but paced set of footsteps approached Revy from behind. They were sturdy, leather, and ended in something cold-hammer forged pressing into the back of Revy's skull, accompanying a revolving cylinder rotating into place and a hammer's click as it set. The perpetrator took a step back, about a foot of space, and sighed.
"Miss Revy, you are a fierce warrior; do not let this filth get under your skin."
Barely turning around, Revy scowled up the barrel of Takeo's Python. Dempsey held Dutch in at tentative gunpoint with a Colt M1911 and Benny with the other. Nikolai sat oblivious to the scene, sipping at his vodka, while Rock stood confused, now staring at Revy.
"The fuck's this asshole worth to you, Takeo? You really gonna kill me over this?"
"No, but the Doctor holds many secrets and many answers, of which are greatly important to me and my mission."
"All of you? Seriously? The fuck's the matter with you?"
"Look," Dempsey cut in, "It's complicated, but we don't really know, and what we do know ain't shit, so here's the deal - we're followin' Doctor Dicktofen around until we do know. And if I get to kill undead meat bags in the process, it's fine by me."
"Fuckin' brilliant."
"Miss Revy, please withdraw... I do not wish to make this our tomb."
Revy scoffed, "Fine, but don't blame me if this bites us in the ass."
She lifted her foot off his wrist and planted it behind her, slowly rising off his chest until she was a reasonable distance away from his knife, then ripped the Beretta from Richtofen's mouth.
He curled up, spitting and hacking while pawing the saliva and bile creeping from his mouth. A tiny bit spewed onto the ground as he tried to rise from the fetal position but ultimately failed, staying head-down on the floor while catching his breath.
Revy shoved the Cutlass back into its drop holster and worked on reloading her CTC. Dempsey sighed in relief, holstering the Colts and shaking his head.
"Watch it," Dutch stood to Dempsey, staring at him with spite and restraint, "I won't let it fly next time."
"Wouldn't expect you to," Dempsey knelt beside Nikolai and finished tying off his bandage.
Richtofen slowly regained himself, standing with the device in his hand, and cleared his throat. The mixture of fumes, smoke, and stench made their eyes water, with the pungency scorching their throats.
"First-" He coughed, "Let's leave!"
"Amen," Dutch mumbled.
The group limped to the side exit, down its stairs, and away from the slowly collapsing building. Pausing in the street, Benny groaned, motioning toward their vehicles, crushed by the Soldats.
"Great! How the hell are we getting there?"
"We walk!" Richtofen suggested, raising the Vrill device, "What other way?"
"Fuck you!" Revy barked. The Doctor recoiled slightly, scowling at Revy but refusing to comment due to the conflict from earlier.
"Anyway," She looked at Dutch, "There's that garage down the Harbor. Should have what we need."
"Agreed," He slotted a grenade in his M79 and glanced at the crew. "All in favor?"
They looked like shit. Save for Richtofen - mostly - they were covered in scrapes, burns, and bruises. A few of them had putrid blood staining their clothes, laden with pus from the Nova Crawlers, or reeked from mixtures of sweat and odor. The acrid smoke still lingered, Dutch stifling a cough and turning down the Harbor. Notably, the heat lightning spawning the crawlers had vanished, replaced by those unfamiliar constellations in the night sky.
"Sounds like we're in agreement."
"Ammo isn't looking good," Dempsey checked the shell racks on his chest, "I'm down to a quarter load."
"I'm almost fucking empty!" Nikolai blurted, flagging the XM5 around, "But this gun fucking kicks really good!"
"Agreement, indeed," Dutch sighed.
As they maneuvered around the Soldat corpses, crushed zombie carcasses, and their decimated cars, a figure rose from the ground at the corner of a warehouse down the Harbor.
It was thick and tall, with a broad body and three massive heads sporting gargantuan teeth-lined mouths. Yellow tendrils split off where its arms should be and twisted tediously in the air. It emitted a low, strangled growl while stepping forward. Under the streetlight, its mottled skin emitted a gentle, golden gas that spewed around it. The eyeless monstrosity seemed only to be roving, basking its heads and body aimlessly as it trot along.
Dempsey instantly recalled the creature that killed them at the power plant.
"Stop! That thing fucking killed us last time!"
"Oh, that thing?" Richtofen chuckled, then tapped Rock's shoulder, "We have this thing now. Should be easy-peasy!"
"What?" Rock glanced at the Wunderwaffe, then the creature, "Seriously? It can kill that?"
"Ja," He stepped away from Rock as he gradually lifted the wonder weapon at the creature.
"Wait!" Revy hissed, "It hasn't noticed us. We should go around."
"Oh, and spoil our fun?" Nikolai punched Rock in the side. He gasped, nearly falling to the ground. "Oh, uh, oops! Yeah, let's fucking kill this thing!"
He raised the XM5 and, before anyone could stop him, ripped the final dozen rounds he had for the .277 rifle at the creature. Pockmarking off its skin in tiny yellow fountains, the thing flinched, then turned up at the survivors. Each stared at the beast as it reared its heads at the sky and released a cacophonic roar, bellowing through their bodies and rattling bones.
"You fucking moron! Dempsey shouted, kneeling beside the crushed truck and sighting one of the creature's heads, "Fuck it! Open fire!"
Earth-shaking laughter echoed through the sky.
"YOU THINK YOU ARE SMART, DON'T YOU?"
Lightning coursed through the sky, slamming into the ground around the creature. Barks and howls reverberated through the Harbor as large, flaming, rotten dogs leaped from the strikes, bolting for the survivors in a flurry of cries.
"Ah, scheisse," Richtofen pulled the Vrill device to his chest. "Drastic measures, people!"
He opened his mouth to speak again, but the survivors didn't hesitate to open fire—Dempsey, Revy, Takeo, Benny, Dutch, and Rock slung lead and lightning-down range. Nikolai fumbled for his handgun and took rapid-fire potshots at the dogs. Rock's Wunderwaffe wrapped several rapidly-materializing hellhounds in a sheet of lightning, cooking and detonating the creatures as the three-headed monster trot onward, one of its mouths wide and snarling.
Rock shifted his aim for the head and unleashed a final lance of lightning in the weapon, erupting its head in a fountain of yellow blood and charred meat. The creature tottered over on its tendrils, seemingly defeated.
"Good fucking shot, Rock!" Revy screamed as she punched two rounds into a hellhound.
"A fine move from a fledgling warrior!" Takeo ripped a burst across two dogs, chain-detonating them.
Some of the hellhounds struggled to move over the corpses, but others used their fallen brethren as smoke clouds, bounding straight through them, as others weaved around the withering fire the survivors offered.
More and more spawned in as the lightning storm returned, pockmarking packs of Hellhounds down the street.
And then the creature stood back up, its other mouths stretching open and shrieking through the chaos. Without delay, it thundered forward at the survivors.
"Fuck! Reloading!"
"I'm out!"
"Black on ammo!"
Dutch sent a 40 millimeter into one of the packs, blasting it with shrapnel and concussive waves, detonating five simultaneously, only to be replaced by half a dozen more.
One got danger close, Dempsey sliding a shell through the open bolt catch of his 1301 and sending it home to blast a Hellhound point-blank with twelve gauge. It exploded, washing him with a fiery cloud as another dog burst through, smashing him in the gut and bowling him over. Turning, Revy pulled her left Cutlass and plugged one through its skull.
Revy walked in front of Dempsey as he stood up, dropping the empty CTC on the ground with her other hand, then pulling her second Cutlass and continuing a chatter of bullets to the herd of Hellhounds.
Nikolai ran dry, pulling the crowbar off his belt from earlier and bellowing a war cry.
Benny ran dry on his VAL, slumping in place and glancing helplessly side to side.
Rock fumbled, replacing the shimmering bulbs and serving as munitions for the wonder weapon.
Takeo relinquished his Evo subgun, placing it on the hood of their decimated truck and drawing his Python, fluidly plugging a Hound's skull and detonating it over the corpse of a Soldat.
Humming a joyous melody, Richtofen adjusted something on the Vrill device, harmonizing with his success. He laughed, raising it triumphantly.
"I have it! Get close, boys and girls! Tip to butt! NOW!"
The group gathered around the Doctor, unquestioning, as Dempsey abandoned his shotgun and switched to dual-wielding his Colts. With Revy and Takeo by his side, he unleashed a relentless barrage of gunfire at the oncoming pack of dogs. As Takeo's Python ran out of ammo, he quickly stashed it in a leather holster and unsheathed his Katana, ready to face the relentless onslaught.
"If I die, it will be a fighting death!"
"Quickly, Rock!" Richtofen pushed the Vrill into the air, "Shoot it vith the Wunderwaffe!"
"What?!"
"Just fucking do it, you dummkopf!"
"Uhh... Okay, okay!"
Rock aimed the Wunderwaffe at point-blank range and unleashed a crackling lightning bolt that pierced the Vrill device. The blue tendrils of electricity pierced through their chests, reducing each survivor to a swirl of ash drawn into the Vrill device before vanishing entirely from that moment in time.
Author's Note
I swear, having annual or half-yearly releases for my fics is not my intent, but I am experimenting with more writing styles, and focusing on a bunch of projects at once.
Ha, procrastination and never simply doing it has its drawbacks.
Enjoy another plunge into the depths.