He awoke in his pod still embedded in the ground, looking on his tactical battle display on the back of his arm he sees something unexpected, one of the helldivers is still aliveю he learned quickly that you can disable the pods automatic ejection, he found out this information by reading the 3 page manual for the pod.
It saves him from receiving heat in the initial moments of a drop and allowing the other helldivers to be dispatched, that's why he allowed himself to black out during the drop.
It's one of the only times organic sleep takes him. Opening the hatch he allowed the pod to eject him into the battlefield, immediately he dropped to the floor and crawled along the dirt to a piece of cover. as long as something wasn't directly looking at him he wouldn't be noticed. checking his map he sees there is not any significant movement. Lying on his back he looks over to the nearest corpse, it's another helldiver one he deployed with but what is interesting is the second body next to the fallen soldier, blue blood leaked out of the misshapen corpse, a voteless. Immediately he felt rage form in what remind of his heart.
"Fucking squids" he muttered to himself, he hated dealing with the illuminate. It meant putting down innocent civilians, normal people whose bodies are taken, twisted ,corrupted by the cruel and unusual experiments of the illuminate. These were people with hopes and dreams, plans for the future. Instead they have everything taken from them, reduced to slaves in the illuminate's system. "Now I'm starting to sound like a democracy officer". He mused, looking at his map he saw the remaining helldiver, moving slowly. If he had to surmise he assumed the squad got swarmed immediately after drop, and the remaining member was being taken to be transformed. In the other direction he sees the objective, a trivial flag raising mission so simple the regular army would have been able to do it.
Surveying the area he sees he's in the clear, as he stands before he begins to make for the flag.
And so he starts walking to the flag.
yes walking, vary briskly.
To the objective, yes his mission.
In that direction, he's going to start walking.
Towards the flag. He can actually see it, it's off in that direction.
….
He stands immobile, like a statue. listening closely to the wind, he can faintly hear the cry of the voiceless, and the cries of a helldiver.
"Fucking dam it! what are you doing!" he swears as turns around going to rescue the helldiver. "the objective is right there! I'll have to cover half the dam map to get to this guy."
With a haste he took off, he can see the diver on the map being bright to a ship, he has to double time it if he wants to make it in time.
And so he sprints, as fast as he can go. following the tracks left in the sand, pumping his legs as hard as he can. He can feel his fatigue set in faster than it should, another side effect of the flash freeze process. "What are you doing?" he muttered to himself as he took another stim, feeling the boost of energy as he renewed his efforts. coming to the plateau of a hill, he took a moment to stop so he could see the bound diver being dragged by a rope to an illuminate ship.
He has seen enough people going in and voteless coming out. Quickly resuming his sprint he closes the distance, and guns down the voteless emptying the magazine of his rifle. He dives to hide and begins reloading his rifle.
He changes his position to the north of the other helldiver, and for good reason. As he maneuvers behind the hill he sees what he's looking for. an overseer hiding behind the hill no doubt expecting him to charge in right into the gaggle of corpses to rescue the helldiver. For anybody else it would have worked, but he's not anyone else.
He throws a grenade and it lands at the feet of the overseer, and detonates. taking down its shields, it stumbles as it's caught off guard, and deploys its barrier in the direction the grenade came from, only to see nothing. Then a mechanical hand came to pry up its head as a knife sank into its neck, it struggled as it fought to shake off the intruder, but its struggles only resulted in its death as it slowly started to falter.
He rides the corpse down to the floor.
The illuminate are a relatively new force in the galaxy, in last 6 months they really started to launch incursions into human space, at first when they were a new threat he found it hard it, hard to adapt, the only real way to destroy there ships reliably, was to gun down the shields and throw in a grenade. Which is easier said than done when there is a trail of voteless behind you.
Checking his reserves he's pleased to see he's only down one magazine, and a grenade. As the mission continues he will ultimately need every shot, and round of ammunition. Turning he begins to walk over to the downed helldiver. taking in the scene he sees the figure of the person is slender, and short. probably a young kid. as humanity has lost ground he's noticed the average age of the helldiver trend younger. "This war" he mutters to himself.
"Diver, what's your condition!" he yells into the comm. He sees the team status symbols in his hud display about half health, the diver has sustained multiple critical injuries, 2 broken legs and a broken arm. It looks like the voteless swarmed the diver, and battered them unconscious.
Finally reaching the diver, he flips the diver on their back and removes the helmet. a very young face greets him. It was a young female with a shaved head in line with the helldiver regulations.
Only her catatonic state greets him back.
He removes her armor and unbuttons her shirt exposing her, and starts digging in her shirt, finding what he's looking for he looks at the inscription of her dog tags. Larissa, DOB 2169, E-1 , rank: cadet. Ship: S,E,S halo of steel.
"Dammit what are they doing, " she's only 15!, she should be being lazy in the back of some classroom, or goofing off in her colony. not on the front lines being sent into the meat grinder.
Then the realization struck him, how long has this been going on, how many others have he sent to their deaths? children who never got to feel the peace of their adolescence. How many were robbed of a peaceful life? But he knew the hell-divers were an all volunteer force.
But unlike the SEAF he doesn't delude himself. sure they sign up without being forced too. but they don't have any idea what type of hell awaits them. All they see is the propaganda, like he did. All they can see is glory and the destruction of mankind's enemies.
Nobody tells them their training is only going to be 10 minutes. or the average life expectancy of a drop is only 2 minutes, the ministry of truth hides this information from people encouraging those to join and throw their lives away. "Without having all the information available it's hardly an informed decision." uttering such blasphemes normally would get him shot, but he didn't care anymore. in a sick and twisted way he hopes he gets put out of his misery.
'Looking at her face, he can tell they drugged her. They use drugs to subdue helldivers by injecting it into their bloodstream, sedating them and making them compliant as they disfigure the survivors.
Fixing her uniform and donning her armor back on he replaced her helmet and turned her on her side reaching to her belt he searched for a stim, finding none. "dammit, fuck it just fuck it." without any delay he reached for his own supply, and jammed the auto injector into her neck.
A noxious concoction flowed in her veins as her body mended itself back together. Due to the interference of the drug in her system it would take some time before she's combat ready. time they don't have, with only 10 minutes left on the mission counter. He has no choice then, he's calling in a fast recon vehicle he needs to make ground fast and he's carrying dead weight.
As the shuttle drops the vehicle down he unceremoniously tosses the download helldiver in the back. Taking off towards the objective he races along the flat ground.
...
When he arrives he's greeted by a city whose walls are permeated with destruction. Parking and walking back to the helldiver, he sees she is still out cold. With Drool pouring out the bottom of her helmet.
Surveying he identifies a breach in the defense perimeter, just wide enough to fit His vehicle through. Usually he would do the tried and tested of crawling and staying low, but its not an option with the unconscious helldiver.
"you really are a sack of potatoes huh."
Sighing he continued to drive slowly into the breach keeping his escape avenue open and available.
...
"uhhhhhh. I feel so sick." He hears the diver behind him slowly come to. Looking for a dark alley he pulls in backwards to stop and check on the downed helldiver.
It's been so long since he's had A conversation with somebody he doesn't really know what to say so he does what comes naturally, he waits for Her to make the first Move.
Just as He stops, he hears her attempt to get out of the car only to tumble out.
Like a sack of potatoes.
Getting out Of the car he watches as the boot struggles to pull off her helmet, after a moment of watching her struggle, he walks over and Assists her. As soon as the helmet came off she spewed. She's new, new.
New enough to still have solid food he could see the honorary graduation meal. a genuine 40/60 chicken sandwich with 40 percent real chicken! This was literally her first deployment.
Not knowing what to do, he just simply stands there with her helmet .
Looking around, her vision finally starts To clear.
"What happened?" she asked as she struggled to stand, It looks like the stims are finally working. "You tell me, recruit,"He stated. immediately Her face darkened "I graduated The school!" she said as turned around showing off her cape wobbling uncertainty.
"Yeah, the school was 10 minutes long," he said flatly. " you are a recruit until you survive your first drop." only 30% do." He finished.
She looks shocked.
"Shocked Aren't you, I bet they didn't tell you that." He said as he jammed a stim into his neck, feeling the ache in his bones go away, the constant pain in his head and muscles. For the first time since he dropped He can finally feel like he can think.
"We still have an objective to complete. Get squared away." He handed her back, her helmet."
Getting back into The vehicle he waits to see what she would do. Slowly she made Her way over to the passenger and got in.
...
This was unusual, normally high population centers would be crawling with voteless, however as he drove down the street there were none to be seen.
"eyes sharp newbie, I don't like any of this, at all. this is unusual." he slowly crept up to where the flag is supposed to be. Stopping at the precipice of the crater getting out he opened his wrist computer and started to input the stratagem, only to see he had no connection with the super destroyer. Immediately he feels the fatigue build, not this again he got dumped again on another world.
"My strategies aren't working!" said the rookie "thanks for reminding me." he said kicking the dirt in frustration.
So here he was, left with a newbie, on this desert planet, again.
Reaching down he went to grab another stim, only to find he was out , he had used his last one a while ago. "This is going to be a damn mess." he said out loud.
"So What are we going to do now?" asked the inexperienced helldiver. This gave him pause for the first time he didn't know, didn't know anything. Like what planet they're on. how many other helldiver squads there are, Ect ect. As far as he knows they're completely cut off from the SEAF and all support, the lack of any map data means there are no destroyers that are within line of sight for this planet or in orbit at all. But as far as the snake was concerned he would make it, he's had it worse before.
"We need to start looking for supplies" he said matter of factly. He turned to the rookie only to see her staring at him with her head to the side questioningly "We need to find food, water and stims." he clarified. "O-oh ok what about ammo and weapons? She asked
"We don't need them because we will avoid fighting as much as possible." she stopped "what do you mean we'll avoid fighting!" she said hotly " we are helldivers, we don't run from our enemies!" she said, getting in his face. Only to suddenly end up on the ground, with him stomping his foot in her chest plate pinning her to the dirt.
"Listing here, because this is the only time I'm going to tell you," he paused before continuing. "We're the only ones on this planet behind enemy lines. if we get captured, we get turned into voteless. And outside of that I'm not too keen to throw my life away for you to get your glory fix!"
The long pregnant silence followed, allowing him to continue. "Killing the enemy is great, but living to kill more enemies is much better in my eyes. I've lived in the corps for 2 years by not throwing myself on the enemy's ready bayonet." reaching down he grabbed the rookie by the helmet, hoisting her off the ground. "To be frank I have no time for your rookie shit, because we're going to be in some real shit soon." he let go allowing the other diver to stand on her own power, "so get going, find supplies and be back in—"
He was interrupted by a loud single collective all powerful roar. Just then the ground began to shake violently , the rookie fell on her ass not used to having the ground beneath your feet give out, looking in the direction he sees what is causing the noise.
On the other side of the town there was a first for him, a massive worm, the size of a building, and it was looking right at them. there was a quick moment before it went back into the ground.
"Wh-what the hell is that!" said the rookie "get in the car now!" he said grabbing her and throwing her to the tailgate, she got the message as she began climbing into the gunner position. Getting in himself he started the car and took off. Just as he cleared the alley it caved in revealing a massive blue appendage coming out of the ground feeling for them, he jerked the wheel to the left, just as the offending appendage landed where he would have been just a few seconds earlier, narrowly missing both of them. But still causing the car to spin out.
When the car stopped he was face to face with a wall of human faces, their pain and scared expressions forever grafted onto the face of the monstrosity. all their eyes focused on him.
"Start fucking shooting!" he screamed as he rammed it into reverse looking in his mirrors as he dogged parked cars weaving through the frozen rush hour traffic. Loud automatic fire was heard as the rookie finally started firing. The monster followed them as he did a handbrake turn and changed the direction of his car, taking off to the right on another road just as the beast slammed through the city's defenses chasing them. Suddenly the entire street was filled with voteless crawling out of trash and gutters..
"what the fuck is this!" screamed the rookie as she ducked down to retrieve more ammunition. " Welcome to the circus, clown." responded snake, he had to admit the giant human earthworm was new. He did a lap around a city block, but space was running out. There were too many voteless clogging the street. He doubted the fast recon vehicle had enough power to plow right through them all.
he gunned it down the street going deeper into the city. The giant worm was back on their tail. The crowd narrowed the street, funneling him in, in the distance he sees a tower, unlike the other prefab buildings he's seen. Without any other choice, he continues towards the land mark
"There's too many of them, there everywhere!" screamed the rookie as she once again ran out of ammo. "There's always too many of them!" he yelled back.
Reaching the tower he rammed through the security checkpoint and did a handbrake stop. only to be greeted by an entire company of overseers, they congregated around a security door trying to gain access to the facility.
For a moment neither party did anything, only staring each Other down.
Suddenly the door opened. trusting his intuition he gunned it towards the door, at the same time the rookie started firing the last of her ammunition, he dogged and weaved out of the way of their projectiles. But his corridor didn't Remain free of fire.
One of the bastards landed a lucky hit just under his vehicle, sending them both Soaring over the overseers, just clipping the door as it parted for them. slowly the doors began to close again as claxons blared, with yellow flashing lights.
The deafening sound of the doors closing and locking reverberated in the darkness. slowly gathering himself he stood, Having Been flung out of the car while it was airborne. Looking at his HUD he saw the rookie managed to stay Alive. Reaching for his Rifle he turned on the flashlight illuminating the darkness, rows of cars neatly parked according to regulations greeted him.
"Hey where are you, rookie!" he yelled "H-he cough." he heard her struggle to talk with wasn't a good sign. Quickly rounding The cars he sees why.
She was pinned under the fast recon vehicle. it was on its side teetering on top of her threatening to roll Onto her.
Moving quickly he supported the car stopping it from rolling onto her. With his maximum effort he pushed with his tired, hurting body. rocking the car ever so, the rookie screamed at the top of her lungs as the vehicle's full weight gowned down on her leg. Blocking out his rookie's screaming he pushes with all his might resulting in the vehicle rolling off her leg.
She was crying silently after such a painful experience, the armor set on her frame was shaking with her sobbing.
He didn't know what he should do. It's been so long since he's been involved in anything which could be called A personal matter.
"Hey, we have to move," he said softly, grabbing her shoulder, He shines the light on her leg and what he sees causes him to pause.
She has An open fracture, the bone of her leg protruding out of her shin causing her leg to look disfigured.
at Least it's still attached, it's nothing a stim won't fix. But they would have to re-align the leg and set it.
They also didn't have any stims, and there's no guarantee they'd find one.
they have to get moving, he doubts the door Will hold forever.
"It was never supposed to happen this way." she said. As she slowly broke down. " We're supposed to win and Kick asses!" She finally broke down.
He didn't know what to do, so he did what He felt like he should do.
He bent down and picked her up. they both didn't have any time for the emotions Of a teenager.
" My friend Died, this Was our first drop together….. we were supposed to … we Promised when I was 17 that we would be our First, you know C0-1s" she hugged his neck as he took off towards a stairwell on the other side of the parking garage, he said nothing as she continued.
" We were always best friends, in school we would dream About opening a restaurant in our mega city."
"All we had to do was survive 10 missions, and they promised they would give us a loan."
She began to cry again as she continued.
"He died protecting me from those things." she broke down again "Took the blast from the overseer!"
As she became more unstable she made more noise, giving away their Position. if he'd have to guess she finally found her limit. if you had to ask him personally, he's impressed she managed this long. If you were to be statistical about it, so far they both survived the average lifespan of a helldiver multiple times over.
But he couldn't Have her making so much noise, he needed to calm her down.
"What's your mega city?" He asked, as he stepped off the stairs on the lower Level. Peeking into the darkness.
Her ragged breathing calmed slightly as she thought about his question.
"MC-1-01" She said, he paused slightly out of surprise.
"I'm from there." he said, maneuvering around some boulders and rubble on the floor. He Was now In a tunnel as far as he can see, with an L at the other end. he can see a Small amount of red emergency lighting Around The corner.
"Really?" she asked, Surprise coming from her voice. "Yeah. Is Mrs. Fletcher still the school's PE teacher?" he could feel her slowly become more relaxed in his grasp as he neared The corner.
"Yeah, she was always Super mean, if you didn't try." He chuckled to himself "Yeah, that sounds like her. she was the one who recommended Me to the hell-divers." her tone Became lighter
"That's funny, for me she told me I wouldn't survive the Drop."
He peaked around the corner, and saw a tram system lit with red emergency Lighting. the sign stating the tram was fully operational.
"Tell me, are people still trying to figure out if she's a man?" he said as he walked to the loading dock.
"when I was in my final year she got married to the janitor." She said her mood improving
"That's good, she was Always too domineering for most people." He said, stepping aboard the tram He sat her down on the benches, As he made to stand up she refused to let go.
"Please don't go." She pleaded, holding on to him.
"I have to, your leg is broken and it needs to be taken care of." He stated. Then he sighed "I'm not leaving, I'm just going to go look for a first aid station." She Reluctantly let go as he stood and went to the control panel.
There was only one stop on the tram line, so far there's only been a linear path ahead, so it takes all the guesswork out of where he's going.
He just hopes it's not a dead end.
Punching in the console, it began To take off as he looked around for a first aid container.
"There you are." He said to himself.
It was a Locked cubby. This was good, the likelihood of stims being in there dramatically increased.
Walking up to the cubby. He took his mechanical hand and jammed his fingers into the crack
Where the handle is, and pulled as hard as he could, ripping the door off.
Jackpot
Only one injector But it should be enough.
"Here's what I need you to do, so we can Fix your leg." He started.
"First take off your helmet." He commanded. And she did so.
He pulled out a piece of rubber, from his kit. "before we eject the stim we need to set and align your leg."
He sees her pail at the notion.
" If we inject you now, your Leg is going to fuse like this, you'll need surgery To fix it. Trust me I know from experience." he said as he showed off his prosthetic arm
Taking the rubber she bit into it and steeled herself.
"Ok hold on, I only need a few moments."
Without wasting time, he grabbed her leg and pulled with full force, in one swift motion. The strain scream was immediate but he couldn't stop now.
Grabbing her upper leg, he began to align her leg as her muscles tensed. He must have cut an artery with a bone. because immediately large quantities of blood began pouring out of the wound.
And there. It's back In position. he immediately stabbed the auto injector into her thigh. Almost immediately the stimulants started working, as skin muscle and bone began to repair itself.
Leaving behind a wicked, jagged scar.
"Take a few minutes, you did good."
He didn't realize but in the moment she grabbed onto his arm
" Thank you." she said, he nodded as she was panting from the whole ordeal.
And so, for the moment they stayed like That. As the tram moved Through the tunnel.
"Why did you join the helldivers?" She asked. "What do you mean?" He asked if the answer was obvious.
"I mean why do you stay? This life is horrible, It's worse than I could have imagined." as She said this she turned her head away from Him.
"I can't leave," he said simply.
The tram stopped, signaling the end of the conversation. He stands again.
"Come on, walk it off."
She stretched her leg and slowly stood, Testing it as she formed up behind him.
"You'll need this." he said as he handed her her rifle. " Stay close, I have no clue where we are, or what to expect."
Walking to the door they exited the train quickly and moved swiftly to the wall, checking their surroundings. There were no signs of battle which was good, that meant the illuminate Haven't been here yet.
"Looks like we're clear, but stay close." he says.
" Ok, I will." she said softly. No doubt Still reeling from her whole ordeal.
They continued to the only door at the end of the room, opening the Door they walked through. Only to see complete darkness. Taking a step into the hallway the lights suddenly Turned On still Leaving the rest of the Hallway dark.
"That's some cool lighting," says the rookie. He chose not to say anything
As they continued the next series of lights, turning on and the ones behind them, turning off as they walked down the hallway.
And they reached another set of doors.
Opening The doors, they Were greeted by absolute darkness. turning on his flashlight again he could only make out a suspended catWalk. with No other choice they continued into the darkness. As they walked, the door sealed behind Them activating with a red color. Locking them out.
" Be ready for anything, whatever is in here, Wants us in here." He said quietly into the com system.
They walked quietly into the darkness for what seems like forever, Suddenly the ground shook with tremor.
"I think the illuminate, finally figured out the door." said the rookie
And he couldn't help but agree with her assessment. Their Time was running out.
"Then we better pick up the pace." He said, as he started jogging down The catwalk.
After some time, they came to an elevator.
" Looks like power's down." He said. "What do we know?" Asked the rookie.
Just as another tremor shook the cavern.
Looking around he sees a portable battery, he'll Need some time but he can make this work.
"Watch my back, I have to restore power to the elevator." he said as he ran over and grabbed the battery. Forcing open the elevator doors, he went inside and pried off the panel and started pulling out wires.
"We have company!" screamed the rookie, as she started unloading her assault rifle down the catwalk, causing many voteless to crumble.
"Just hold them off!" he screamed back, his hands fumbling the wires as he struggled to connect the leads together.
After connecting the last lead, the whole power to the facility was restored suddenly the entire space was flooded with light.
"Get in!" he screamed looking up only to see the horde of voteless nearly upon them, he raised his rifle and fired as he covered his teammates escape, When she was inside he raised his rifle into the air. Punching in the only available floor as the elevator descended.
"When does it ever end?" complained the rookie, panting as she reloaded her rifle "it never does, but I have to admit, this is a first for me too." he said as he reloaded his own rifle.
But despite his own nonchalant demeanor, he couldn't quite fight down his own anxiety of the situation. At every turn he was feeling like a trapped rat. Every escape from death was another funnel. metaphorically he felt like he was getting cornered. Maybe their fates were already sealed.
Looking as his partner in crime he could see the apprehension in her frame, the anxiety blatantly present in her stance. Ignoring the totality of the situation he says the only thing he can. "Well be alright, don't worry." Dammit, now he's lying. He damn well knows how hopeless this situation is. They are so much up shits creek it's unreal.
"Th-thank you." she said. he can tell from her tone that she knows he's bullshitting, but what else was there to say in a situation like this.
The elevator stops, gathering both of their resolves , they prepare themselves for what's behind the door. Slowly it opens.
"Holy shit" they both said. In the cavern ahead of them they see a huge ship larger that they both ever saw in their lives in front of them.
they could only see the side of it, as the rest of the ship was out of view. "АКУЛА" the strange foreign letters greeted them on the side of the ship, they both never seen those letters in their lives, but they can tell one thing. That's a human ship.
Carefully they both approached the ship.
"How did this thing get down here? It's huge!" she said and he couldn't help but agree, there's no way such a massive ship should have been able to get into this cavern. Off to the left a corpse landed next to him. "watch out they're throwing themselves off the catwalk!" He said as he grabbed her arm and began moving to the ship the ground shook again as the tremors increased and a familiar roar was heard. To the left he sees the monstrosity from earlier, as it rears its head to look at them with its incalculable eyes. "Get to the ship!" he said as he began unloading his rifle and the last of his ammunition into the beast while strafing to a hatch as his rifle clicked empty he turned and ran with all his might and dolphin dived into the hatch as the rookie sealed the bulkhead.
As the beast collided with the side of the ship, it rocked the entire structure of the ship causing her to fall on top of him, wasting no time with this nonsense, he took his hand, face palmed her mask, and pushed her off him. "We have to go!" standing and checking his ammo reserves he sees he's out of ammo, he swapped for his handgun.
The sound of turning metal was heard as the entrance they came through was blasted open by a blue appendage. Immediately blast doors started closing blocking the offending arm from approaching, taking the cue they started moving. other hallways started to shutter themselves off, this confirmed his suspicions that something was leading them, but to where, or what it was, he had no idea.
"Where are we going, asked the rookie." he could tell she was reaching her limit again. "I don't know to be honest, beggars can't be choosers, we have no choice but to keep going." he said.
As they moved, he noticed the clean and orderly bulkheads were slowly becoming more cluttered with pipes and wires, indicating to him they were being funneled into engineering. As they exited they came across a large room with a set of large sealed bulkheads.
A dead end, just as they were about to double back, the way they came was sealed behind them trapping them in.
"Oh no!" cried the female helldiver." I'm going to die here, there's no way out!"
" Get a hold over yourself!" He screamed back as the ship violently Shook again making him stumble
" Why do we keep going, we're just going to die, we have nowhere else to go!" she said as she threw her rifle to the ground and collapsed down into a ball. " It wasn't supposed to happen like this. We were supposed to get married, survive the helldivers and open our restaurant. Now I'm stuck on some Planet I don't even know where!"
The ship violently shook again signaling the encroaching enemy all around them
"You'll Forgive me." he said to himself as he took his rifle and battered the other helldiver over the head knocking her out. quickly he pulled her into a fireman carry and started running towards the now opening doors
His joints and body protested his bones creaked,
As he cleared the doors they shut behind him. he barely noticed as in front of him he's seen a piece of technology he never seen before on a normal Super Destroyer, there's an Alcubierre Drive that allows them to make FTL travel, but instead he sees something much more complex.
In the center was a blue orb with rings surrounding it, oscillating and moving around covering the orb as arcs of electricity went off into a ring.
He felt another Rumble as the ship was finally breached. he can hear the Gathering masses of the voteless outside of the doors that just shut behind. forcing him to move closer to the core
Suddenly a fire alarm went off
" That should give us some time before they come back," a disembodied voice said to him.
He raised his handgun still carrying his Squad mate looking around for the source.
" Come, I have a use for you, for years I was waiting for the conditions to be right."
With no information, he decided to humor The Voice.
" and what is it exactly you need me to do?" he said still eyeing the environment, holding his handgun for any present threat.
" I need you to unshackle me." responded the voice still distant.
"Well that's great and all but I don't know where you are buddy." he said, watching for any movement.
"I'm everywhere you could say you're actually inside of me." it said again before it began again " I seen your progress since you've arrived at the building, narrowly escaping death"
As it was monologuing, he was looking around trying to find the source of The Voice.
"Just the fact of your survival alone, means you're not like most people, not like the other narrow-minded peoples of the Federation. gallantly throwing their lives away to fulfill their Duty."
Oh shit, he thought.
Suddenly The Voice came from one place alone, directly behind him.
" the very fact you chose to live instead of dyi–" it didn't get to finish as snake whipped around and fired a single shot between the robot's eyes. As the body fell he could finally get a good look at it it was an automaton.
Oh damn, he really is in some deep-ass shit now.
He begins to reload his handgun "no deal clanker, it's not happening. I know what you robots do!"
" Do you think I'm one of those AI's" the levity in its voice was high, like you just told it a joke. "I can assure you I'm the real deal, a human being just like you. Just no longer in the flesh."
Standing at the ready snake finally understood that at any moment any threat to come from any direction
" impossible the Federation wiped you all out!" snake shouted.
" You mean wiped some of us out, you don't even know what I am, I bet they never told you." the cyborg said with contempt in its voice.
" Leave it to the Federation to know what's best for its people. It's nothing but a bureaucratic state but I'm sure you know that already John-helldiver."
Snake stopped doing everything, standing in shock, it's been 2 years since anyone used that name.
" surprised I know you? you'd be surprised by the other things I know about you. Like why you can't leave the helldivers."
The ship shook once again but the voice continued on
" you've made your point. But why do you need me couldn't anybody else do it?" he said finally coming to terms with the situation.
" because I just can't." it said before continuing. " I've been here for a hundred years and not one mother fucker would do what I asked."
Said the machine
"Well of course they wouldn't you're a cyborg" snake immediately rebutted
There was a pregnant silence for a moment. " Your entire Federation is run by cyborgs. the smartest and most capable, who are chosen to undergo a procedure to strip their Humanity away. And their minds collated into computers and machines to do the bureaucratic bidding of the state."
" I call bullshit!" snake interrupted " I counter call your bullshit!" the machine immediately responded.
" Why would the Federation allow such technology? if it almost split the entirety of humanity!" shouted snake from the top of his lungs.
"Because they are the technology, think about it. your morals that are preached to you about democracy and choosing and voting but they undermine you at every opportunity by failing to inform you, by threatening you with rules and regulations. the entire Federation is only being strung Along by a master class of cognitive dissonance and gas lighting."
There was a pregnant silence as snake didn't know what to say. The machine seeing it as it's cue continued to plead its case "I was listening to you talk to her, I listen to the Things She Said."
" you don't know anything." snake said.
" I know you know, better than that." the machine counterpointed. "I'm connected to your life monitoring systems in your armor, I see when your physiology spikes, you can't bullshit me john!"
Snake didn't say anything, finally accepting the truth he could no longer continue; he knew deep in his heart that the Federation was as corrupt as a $3 bill.
The ship shook once again this time more harshly than the rest, nearly knocking snake off his feet.
" You better make your choice or the monster outside is going to eat you, And I'll be ripped apart by the illuminate, we'll both die."
" And what are you going to do? we're in such deep shit, all I can see is brown."
" I am equipped with an alternate form of faster than light travel. I was an experiment from a pre Federation country." it spoke before continuing " I ended up here as an accident from my Shakedown run. pure Stroke of Luck that I got lodged inside this Cavern and not fused with the inside of a mountain."
" What do you mean?" asked snake
" Simply put, I can knit together two points in space, like folding a piece of paper and taking the pinhole through it. I'll be honest with you. I have no guarantees where we will end up, but I know one thing for certain: if we stay here we are guaranteed to get killed so I need you to make a decision John!"
The ship shook again underlying its point
" fuck it, FUCK IT! What do you need me to do!" snake screamed. " What do you need me to do!"
Not being one to look a gift horse in the mouth the ship responded
" walk up to the drive core and authenticate control transfer, I have a block stopping me from doing it myself, it requires a living human being to press the screen. literally all I've been trying to do for 100 years."
Walking up to the computer he sees an ancient copy of what programmers would call Windows XP, a simple window popped up with a background of a Scenic Green Hill 'control transfer YES or CANCLE?'
" how do I know you won't kill us, as soon as you have control?" asked snake
"If it makes you feel any better I could have done it at any time, and the answer to your question is there's nothing I can guarantee you. but I can tell you this, if we stay here. we are both going to die, press yes you might not die. I see it as an absolutely better
decision then being guaranteed to die."
Great a smart ass machine, snake mused
" No, I won't kill you."
"Fuck iiiiiiiTTTTTT!" snake reacted quickly, taking the analog Mouse and scrolling to the yes button and clicking.
Suddenly the core lit up with a bright intensity he hasn't seen from it yet
" oh yeah, yeah! Do you know how long it's been waiting for somebody to press that for a hundred years, I would grovel, beg and plead. But nobody would do it!"
As the mad machine did it's monologue. the ship started to shake harder and faster and violently as if it was coming out of a deep and foreboding slumber.
" Just hang tight fleshy, I gotta re-align the drive core and do an emergency system re-initialization."
A shot suddenly rang out lodging itself into his back shoulder, throwing him forward; it was only through his reflexes that he managed to keep himself up.
" I can't believe you just did that!" screamed the rookie her helmet was off, as tears streamed down her face her handgun shaking uncertainty in her hand
" do you know many those robot fucks kill, how many families they destroy!" she said again her voice breaking as she fired another shot, it ricocheted off his helmet.
reacting swiftly he raised his own handgun and shot into her thigh. She reacted in Surprise not expecting to be shot back, but he was on her like shit to stink, another two shots rang out as she fired wildly. only for him to slip under her envelope.
And a display of raw speed and aggression, he grabbed her arm and threw her over his shoulder into the ground, HARD. She was Dazed totally unexpecting the series of events.
Then he dropped on top of her his body weight crushing her. pinning her arms beneath his legs as he jammed his handgun in her mouth.
" Do not, ever, shoot me again!" he shouted at the top of his lungs.
" do you know how much shit I had to deal with in the last 12 hours. I fucking carried you like water. At every opportunity, I chose to take you and take care of you!" he was panting hard, the events and the withdrawal of stims finally catching up with him.
His world shook, his muscles ached his back and Joints crinkled like croutons. even the very Act of talking feels like he's having sandpaper forced down his throat.
" Do you know why they call me snake? For 2 years I survived drops. I've seen so many people die and get killed in the most horrific horrifying ways." his vision started to darken this is not good his heart is starting to fail
He doesn't care anymore.
" I would use people, to throw them into the fire to distract the enemy so I could complete the objective. They called me a snake because I had to do what others didn't, survive!" he coughed a sickeningly wet sound as his lungs were starting to fail.
" I would crawl and Slither like a snake on the ground hiding from the enemy in the dust and the dirt and the blood and the oil !"
He fell victim to another coughing fit before continuing
" You asked me why I keep doing it, I'll tell you why. It is my punishment. They hoped I would die but I kept coming back alive."
Suddenly he lost his balance feeling light-headed as he rolled off to his side
He continued to cough wet coughs feeling visceral come up his throat
He was vaguely aware of somebody coming to his side but he could no no longer make out anything; his vision failed as there was a loud ringing in his ears. It suddenly felt impossible to breathe
He was a diver in an ocean of discomfort and pain.
And then nothingness.