I do not own Gears of War or any of the characters.
Mining
Joseph stared at the Locust cocoons in silence. They had just finished killing about a dozen Drones, none of them having much trouble, even Joseph not getting hit this time, then had found that the exit was blocked by Locust cocoons. They were a little more than body length, about as wide as his leg was long, brown, and had yellow crystals sticking out of it. Joseph had refrained from saying what they looked like. He didn't figure now was a good time to make a joke about corn-covered feces.
"They kind of look like poop after someone eats corn, huh?" Lizzie asked him quietly, apparently on the same wavelength as him, as usual.
"I mean, I wasn't going to say it, but..." he smirked behind his helmet and Lizzie chuckled, nodding.
Just then, the cocoons suddenly flew away from the door as a Drone about a foot taller than the normal kind and much, much more muscular stomped through, holding a minigun.
"Suppressing!" the massive Drone shouted.
"Oh shit!" J.D. shouted, everyone spraying the thing with bullets as they fled.
Then, it opened fire and they all dove behind cover, Joseph tackling Lizzie behind a cocoon, several bullets glancing off his armor, leaving deep gouges in it in the process, though neither were hurt.
"I told you, you took my luck," Joseph said.
"Thanks for the save," Lizzie said, hurling a grenade at the thing as its bullets were chasing J.D.
The grenade exploded and the thing staggered back several steps, its body burned and shredded in places, chunks of flesh blasted off in others, then it turned and began to spray bullets at Lizzie again.
"What the fuck is this thing!?" Joseph shouted over the minigun.
"Annoying!" Del said as he and Kait sprayed it.
Finally, J.D. sprinted to it before it could turn on him, putting his Gnasher to its head and blasting it. Its head exploded and it collapsed and Joseph sighed, standing and picking up the minigun just as Juvies began to swarm from the tunnel the thing they'd just killed came from, followed by Drones. Joseph swung the minigun around, Lizzie instantly leaning into his back, hard. Then, he began to spray bullets, the force nearly shoving them both back, though Lizzie was able to hold him in place. He swung the gun back and forth, the bullets ripping the Swarm apart as fast as they could step out. One of them managed to get a shot off, but the bullet glanced off the edge of his helmet. Then, it was over. The minigun's glowing orange barrels spun to a stop and Joseph dropped it, rolling and clenching his hands to work the soreness out of his forearms, also bending and straightening his arms to work his biceps.
"Nice," Del said.
"Reckless," Lizzie said, smacking him in the back of the helmet.
"Effective," Joseph countered.
"Needless," Lizzie said, hands on her hips.
"Successful," Joseph said.
"Stupid," Lizzie said.
"Alright, that's enough, you two," Kait said. "We need to keep moving."
They nodded and turned to head into the tunnel only for Joseph to pause to pick up small chunks of the yellow crystal that were lying on the ground from where a cocoon had apparently broken apart when it hatched.
"What are you doing?" J.D. asked.
"What?" Joseph asked. "This stuff's completely indestructible. "If I get enough of it, I can find a way to make armor out of it."
The others all looked at each other before shrugging.
"That's actually not that bad an idea," Del said. "I think I'll pass, though. It's probably going to look really, really stupid."
"Probably," Joseph agreed. "But I'll be virtually untouchable."
The others shrugged and turned, following the tunnel, Joseph following a moment later when he'd gathered all the pieces he could find that would fit in his pockets.
"All this time, the Locust weren't dead," Kait said. "They were cocooned. Transforming."
"Like what?" Del asked. "Evil butterflies?"
"Yeah, well, let me know when you come up with a better explanation," Kait said.
"The Locusts always were called grubs," Joseph pointed out. "It makes sense that they've been cocooned. It's what grubs do."
Del sighed, waving a hand dismissively and they continued through the mine quickly. As they walked, Kait and Del got into a discussion about which Swarm were Locust, and which weren't. Juvies and Drones were decided to be part human, somehow mutated into being part Locust, creating Swarm. The bigger Drones, now called Scions, were decided to most likely be pure Locust. The Pouncers and Snatchers were both a mystery. At one point, they passed through a room where a scavenger had been killed by Juvies, though there were a couple dozen mangled corpses lying around the room. J.D. grabbed the scavenger's Gnasher ammo before they continued through the room on the far side. Then, as soon as they stepped out of the door, a Pouncer crashed down on Joseph, pinning him. He sighed loudly as he drive a knife up into its underside, but before he could kill it, Lizzie slammed into it in a tackle, knocking it off of him, Joseph holding onto his knife. Then, just as it stood, she grabbed Joseph and yanked him back through the door, closing it just before a grenade she'd stick to it exploded.
"Thanks," Joseph said. "I'm so glad I didn't get showered again."
"I figured you would be," Lizzie said, the two of them walking back through the door.
They turned to walk to the next door just as a second Pouncer flicked its tail, a half-dozen quills slamming into their armor, three each, and hurling them backward, through the quills only managed to stick about a half inch into their armor, all of them being knocked free when they landed. Joseph stood as Del, J.D., and Kait sprayed the Pouncer, killing it.
"Don't you just love my luck?" Joseph asked.
"Well, I love you," Lizzie said, pushing herself up. "So I don't mind sharing your luck for a bit."
Joseph rolled his eyes and snorted. "Yeah, okay cuz." He shook his head. "You just have no intention of quitting today, do you?"
"Nope," Lizzie said, grinning at him behind her mask before walking after the others, Joseph following as he shook his head.
Joseph dropped off the ledge into the pod-filled chamber, one which strongly reminded Joseph of an arena. They'd made it a good distance into the mine now. And they'd learned that Scions had another ability besides being borderline living tanks. They could somehow strengthen other Drones, making them glow orange and be able to shrug off bullets almost as well as a Scion. After a few fights where this happened, they'd found a Loader, which J.D. used to massacre a swarm of Juvies, several Drones, and finally to crush a Scion between the Loader and a pile of cocoons, around which were more of the yellow crystals Joseph had collected. Then, they'd heard Marcus's radio causing feedback, strongly, and had followed the tunnel they were in to this chamber.
"Alright, check the pods for my dad," J.D. said. "He's gonna be in one of the newer ones."
"We have bigger problems," Joseph said, staring at the tunnel opposite where they'd entered, where a Snatcher was stalking toward them.
It let out a clicking, cooing sound before dropping to the ground.
"Scatter!" J.D. shouted.
Everyone dove behind one of the small cement blocks scattered around the arena. Just as they did, a spike the length of Joseph's forearm drove itself through the cement an inch from his head.
"Something tells me my armor's not going to stand up to these ones," Joseph said.
"Then don't get hit," Lizzie said as the others fired at the Snatcher, which shrieked in pain, a soft "thwoom" announcing another quill being fired.
"Speak for yourself," Joseph said. "You're a Carmine, too."
"Ready?" Lizzie asked.
"I'll go first," Joseph said.
Lizzie nodded, and Joseph stood, beginning to spray the Snatcher instantly. It shrieked, rearing up, the other three doing the same. Joseph dove for cover as the tip of its tail began to glow, and the quill stabbed into the ground, cracking it. Instantly, Lizzie stood, beginning to fire as the Snatcher turned, regurgitating a spray of bubbling, pinkish-orange fluid onto J.D., Del, and Kait, all three staggering backward and gagging. then, the Snatcher spun as Joseph stepped out to fire, only to break into a sprint. The Snatcher's tail began to glow running from its body to the quill. The Snatcher flicked its tail, firing the quill, and Joseph dove, shouldering Lizzie out of the way. There was a loud crash and Joseph shouted in pain before bouncing across the room, the quill having torn a gash in his armor and body both from the outside of his left shoulder to just shy of his spine.
"Joseph!" Lizzie shrieked, scrambling toward him, only for one of the Snatcher's legs to slam into her side, rolling her a few feet before dozens of slimy, reddish-brown tentacles to extend from the slit in its stomach, wrapping around her and dragging her into it.
"Lizzie!" Joseph shouted through gritted teeth.
He threw his helmet off and rolled, grabbing his pistol and firing at the Snatcher, but it turned, beginning to flee rapidly. The others all began to spray as well, and Joseph dropped his pistol, grabbing his rifle as he sprinted after the Snatcher.
"Let her go!" Joseph shouted as he reached it, starting his rifle's chainsaw before slamming it into a leg, removing it in a second.
The Snatcher shrieked in pain, falling to that leg and Joseph spun, swinging his rifle's chainsaw back up, removing the other in under a second as well. It shrieked even louder, and Del and J.D. both sawed off one of the front legs. The Snatcher dropped to the ground and rolled onto its side and Joseph ripped his chainsaw along its underside carefully before hurling the rifle aside, driving his arms into it. He grabbed Lizzie by the front of the armor and pulled, taking two steps before dropping onto his back, Lizzie finally breaking free of the Snatcher, her helmet falling off. She coughed up the same fluid the Snatcher had spat at the others, vomited up more, and then coughed up more again. Finally, she finished, using her hand to try and wipe off what was on her face just in time for the Snatcher to pop in several splatters of slime, recoating her and coating Joseph as well.
"Are you okay?" he asked once he'd wiped the goo off of his face and she off of hers.
Instead of answering, Lizzie simply mashed her lips to his. Joseph allowed it for a moment before pulling back.
"Thank you," Lizzie said, hands still clutching at the sides of his head. "You saved me again."
"And you kissed me again," Joseph said. "You really don't quit."
Lizzie smirked and shrugged, then glanced at the blood running down his left arm. "We need to bandage that."
"Do it moving," J.D. said.
Lizzie glared at him, but Joseph tugged his armor off and passed it to J.D. before tugging his shirt off and passing it to Lizzie. She tore it into strips instantly and began to bandage his wound for him as they walked, taking a path off to the side where a rounded metal plate had formed a sort of ramp to a passageway out of the room. Finally, the finished and he passed her his rifle long enough to tug the armor back on. Then, he took his rifle back just as they reached the end of the passage, a small room with several pods and flesh roots. One of the pods was glowing and had a complete silhouette inside. J.D. ran over and sawed it open, then stepped out of the way as Marcus crashed heavily to the ground.
"Some son you are," Joseph said, rolling Marcus over. "You could have caught him."
"Oh god!" J.D. gasped, seeing Marcus staring emptily up at the them, mouth open slightly. "Dad! Dad! DAD!"
"Move," Joseph said, taking his Gnasher and pushing him out of the way.
He held the Gnasher a few inches over Marcus's chest, aimed upward, then pulled the trigger with a Lancer bullet. The Gnasher slammed down into Marcus's chest hard, the impact transferring through the armor into Marcus's chest. Instantly, Marcus coughed up a spew of the fluid he'd been floating in, then groaned before coughing up more. Then, he rolled onto his stomach and began to cough and puke up more. J.D. knelt beside him, barely keeping from crying in relief. Finally, after nearly a full minute, he began to gasp for breath.
"You're okay, Dad," J.D. said, resting a hand on his back as Joseph stuck the shotgun to J.D.'s back again. "We got you." He waited while Marcus finished coughing and hacking before grinning. "Wow. You smell bad."
"James..." Marcus gasped, struggling to catch his breath. "In that pod...I was in their network."
"Network?" J.D. asked. "What network?"
"This," Marcus said, waving a hand around. "This whole goddamn hive. It's all connected. All the people they've podded...I could feel them. The Locust never died, James!"
"Yeah, we figured that out," J.D. said, helping him stand.
"Kait...your mother..." Marcus said.
"What about my mother?" Kait asked.
"She's alive," Marcus said. "And she's not being treated like the others. Not podded."
"Where is she?" Kait asked.
"Another grub burial site," Marcus said. "It's not far."
"Take me there!" Kait said, turning and beginning to walk away quickly.
"Wait," Marcus said, Kait stopping and turning back. "Your people from the village. I felt them, too. For a while. They didn't make it."
"Ah, dammit," J.D. sighed.
"Oscar," Del breathed.
J.D. went to comfort her, but she brushed him off.
"Mourning our friends isn't going to save my mom," Kait said defiantly.
"Alright," Marcus said. "So, what's the plan to get topside?"
"Uh...you're not going to like it," J.D. said.
Marcus groaned but nodded, accepting J.D.'s Gnasher before they all turned to the closest tunnel and began to walk away.
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