Ters-Ly War (5)

  Fox walked back to his people, when Nala spoke to him as soon as he turned around and took 2 steps. “Need me to come with you?”

  “No, I need someone strong and scary outside, too.” Fox stopped and looked at her, shaking his head lightly. She nodded, blinking her eyes a bit. Fox walked to the others and looked at them for a moment before delegating. “White Stone, Oragem, you, you, Colmillo, you… and Bluebug.”

  Fox selected 6 people before turning to Miros. Colmillo looked at him, a bit questioning and unsure. Fox blinked while Miros walked to him with the others. “He’s the only seconder, but he is from the District, too. This won’t be his last assignation. You need preparing.”

  Fox said those last few words after turning to look at Miros, who nodded a bit resolutely. Miros also felt a little… proud. He wanted to do his best in this scenario, too. Although he’d prefer to remain behind and do his role, what if his life was in danger?

  Nala walked to Fox with Bloodycoon and Wheel. With Fox taking Akina and Alea, he would only leave Nala with Nol and Lyan. Now that they were ready, Fox nodded upwards at the Captain in charge of the tech echelon before turning to the streets.

  Fox left the 120+ people, leaving as only 9 others, with Nala and the other 2 beside him. They checked the roofs in front, with the rest of the 2 echelons behind them climbed the walls, careful to not be seen in case there were more shooters.

  What was strange was that no more shooters appeared. It felt like there would be a lot more of those, if they wanted to attract whoever also caught that distress signal. It wasn’t directed towards only Lymoca, after all.

  Fox and the other 9 safely went to the building, which was indeed enormous, as the streets around it have long been built so everyone could go around it, and it would remain functional. It didn’t seem damaged by the bombardment, nor the debris falling on it, only inconvenienced.

  Buildings and dust fell atop it, leaving the roof riddled with more debris than the last taken images showed, and leaving the streets the same as the rest of the city, useless to navigate through with vehicles. But it was indeed built for the use of the head of state, it could resist all of that, and more perhaps.

  With no more shooters in the buildings, Fox’s group arrived at the front gate, roughly putting their shoulders against the walls. Just as they did, Fox‘s pools centered on the gate, before a small person opened it and looked left and right, peeking their little head out.

  “Are you from Lymoca? Are you the heroes?” It was a little girl, brown, with a short curly ponytail, who looked around with fear in her eyes. Fox looked at her without an expression, his visor leaving the little girl feeling absurd. Armor like that was useful?

  “Are there people inside?” Fox asked with a smooth voice. The little girl looked at his visor and nodded, “Yes, sir. We are a few hundred, many people! So you can’t hurt us…”

  “I didn’t come here to kill. I caught a distress signal from here, I am from Lymoca.” Fox spoke again, watching as the little girl’s eyes turned wide, with evident glints passing through her eyes. Before she could speak again, however, a woman’s worried, desperate yet soft voice hurried the girl. “Te dije que no te asomaras! (I told you not to peek!)”

  “Mom, these are Lymocans! The army came to us!” The little girl turned as a larger hand closed the gate. The other SAs looked at Fox, patiently observing. Everyone could hear their murmuring voices from the inside, hurrying themselves to talk with ‘those outside’ as quickly as possible.

  Creak… The metallic, somewhat thick but still easy to open, doors moved again. This time, a bigger version of the girl showed, looking at Fox’s visor with her guard up, but resolute. “Are you Lymocans? Who are you?”

  “…” Fox looked at the mother, whose child peeked from behind her legs, unbeknownst to the mother. The girl seemed thoughtless, looking at him. Fox’s voice sounded from his helmet at last, “We are. Came here for the signal. Will you let us in?”

  “… Only if you leave your weapons outside, we… we won’t trust you otherwise.” The woman said, to which Fox nodded and took his DLM out and left it leaning on the wall, with his large pistol left outside as well, then spun on the spot. The woman was left speechless, but she nodded after seeing the others repeat it.

  “These 3 will remain outside, in case there are more.” Fox pointed at Nala, Nol, and Lyan with his thumb sent backwards. The woman stopped, stifled, before nodding and stepping further inside, leaving the gate open.

  Fox didn’t look at the others, calmly entering through the gate, with the last person, Miros, closing it. Fox took his helmet off as he did, but the others, except Akina, kept it on. When they walked into the open space of counters and thick pillars inside, it reminded Fox a little of the Centralized Parliament. Only, with lights, and the civilians inside weren’t dying of hunger.

  There were supplies piled up and here, water there, and the bathrooms seemed to function well, as the noise of flowing water came from them, as well as a cleaning aroma in the air. Indeed, it was a great place, maybe capable of resisting a direct bombardment, but not two. And this was only for the ‘outer’ part of the building.

  A whitish man of average height, with creamy brown skin, walked to Fox from some of the crowd around them, who stepped backwards as the man appeared. He had a mustache and some thick beard. He extended out his hand to Fox, who looked at it. The man spoke, “When we saw the Ter- soldiers, we hurried here. We didn’t open them the doors, so they let us here.”

  “Mhm,” Fox ‘replied’. The man didn’t seem bothered and continued, “What can I do for you?”

  “Is the facility in good percentage of operation?” Fox lowered his chin a little. The man nodded, “Everyone was sent underground when the bombing commenced. When we came up, everything was fine.”

  “I can see that. There’s food and water everywhere. So, how many people are here? Which are which?” Fox asked again. The man nodded, rubbing his palms together. “There are approximately 300 here, not counting the almost 100 kids, around 80, and so.”

  “Where are they?” Fox asked, keeping his helmet between his right arm and his side. The man nodded yet again, “Downs-”

  “Good.” Fox worded just once, and in that second, he extended his left arm and motioned his left comet. The man was amidst speaking, when a bursting blade extended to his throat, the sheer power cutting more than the blade’s size.

  Swwlip- spsshh! Swish swish swish, splatter… Immediately after, Fox cut the man’s body in irregular swings before cleaning his blade off the blood, throwing the latter on the ground. A second after everything happened in under a second, a shout sounded from above, “Shit! Just attack now!”

  Several dozen people, all standing in the higher floors around Fox’s group, stepped up from some mantles covering them and the other floors, which appeared like it was just a tall dark wall before. They had third and second-hand weapons in their hands.

  With just an extra look around, Fox saw the ebony from before hold one with her teeth gritted viciously and her eyes widened. There were some others, with those around his age, and even a little young, male and female, also holding mediocre rifles. Those were even worse than the ones he and everyone else used in Preut, except Prona’s assault soldiers.

  “Fox, these are all crappy-” Alea frowned as they were all ready to respond, but Fox didn’t have anything to say, leaving them with only one choice. Yet, when she wanted to ‘ask’ Fox, he simply replied while slowly taking out his right comet atop his forearm. “It’s fine, Oragem. No mercy.”

  “Fire!”

  Alea’s eyes became cold, and her body lowered in presence a bit with her knees slightly bent. A shout sounded from above, indicating the beginning. As everyone dashed to the sides, some practically jumping into the air with some air propellant push to kick or punch some bodies to immediate death, Fox and Akina remained on the ground.

  Bang bang bang bang bang bang… tr rrrr rrrr rrrrr rrr rrrr rrr rrr… Bang! Bang!

  To the SAs’ surprise, there were some pistols here and there. The other SAs climbing into the walls and higher floors, picking some weapons after destroying bodies from within with their simple melee strikes, or cutting their bodies. They used their pivots to protect themselves from the other side of the higher floors, who couldn’t believe their bullets were being semi blocked by a ‘thing’. There was a bloody mayhem below.

  “Aagh!” A person screamed before Fox, who he stabbed and moved at the last second to cover for some bullets going towards him with his left arm. He slowly put his helmet on while his victim groaned, crying tears before shouting to their comrades. “You’re hitting me, you idiots, aaah!”

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  “Perdón…” A young girl, around 17 years old, widened her eyes in terror before watching as Fox cut her comrade’s cranium in half from the top before kicking the lifeless body away. She aimed again, shooting at Fox, but the bullets reflected like they were nothing. She continued firing, but her face dropped, and tears emerged with Fox’s every step coming closer.

  Akina moved faster, using both comets like her own katanas, jumping and crouching with barely any bullet grazing her, most focusing on the easier-to-hit Fox who slowly killed his victims. Every now and then, her fingers snapped, dropping a tiny red ball, which exploded on peoples’ bodies, burning them with a blast. Quite a few became moving, living bodies set ablaze.

  Trrrr rrr rrr rrr rr rr rrr rrr… It wasn’t even 2 minutes before the shooting from above became organized and selective, dropping the number of firearms heard during the combat, just how a special agent would work.

  The situation on Fox’s part was almost resolved, but the situation in the large room in Proteros City was deadly silent. The raging firepower from everywhere almost felt deafening, even with the volume being lowered a few times over.

  Luis looked at the bloodshed and didn’t know what to do. When the battle inside the building was just ongoing, outside, dozens of shooters ‘reappeared’. Nala, Nol, and Lyan responded quickly, downing some just peeking from afar, while other enemies rushed at them with assault rifles and shotguns. Nevertheless, their end was the same, with the 3 even rushing at melee.

  When more enemies appeared and Luis frowned. From everywhere around the building whence Fox and the 2 echelons came; finally acted, shooting in unison and downing more than 100 lives in a moment. It didn’t end there, with Nala and half her team taking cover after she ended multiple lives in seconds with just her body moving. The 2 echelons downed the enemy, again and again, with semi synchronized bursts of gunshots.

  There were many enemies coming towards them, all soldiers, and even probably more than half belonging to Terkan special forces, but they downed them round after round of bursting gunshots from the buildings. The SAs dominated the outside, coating the debris and streets of blood. But inside, only 7 of them faced almost 200 people with firearms.

  Even if those were crappy models, those were still firearms which could make the medium NUAs’ armor vulnerable, and then, whoever had those pistols could aim and…

  Bang! “Aaaggh!” A familiar voice groaned in pain, followed by a short silence that was ensued by furtive, fast, furious, and bloody movements at the uppermost floor. Then, another ‘bang!’ sounded, with another groan, followed by the same movements from before, but crazed. “Aagh!”

  It seemed like the fight, with multiple people hiding on the higher floors, was already over. Below, however, there were still a couple dozen people who were still alive. Fox and Akina took some cover, segments of their armor had turned vulnerable after a while.

  Once they felt it was enough to keep going, they looked at each other, and through their visors, their eyes detailed each other’s faces before rushing at the remaining few.

  Stomp, stomp- pah! Whoosh! Stomp! Daaash!

  Having taken cover behind a counter each, they didn’t jump and directly charged through the counters, breaking them apart with a single impulse, not even using the raw power enhancers. The enemy, who had momentarily stopped shooting to not waste bullets and slightly closed in while reloading, widened their eyes for a second and a half before resuming fire.

  When rushing at the enemy, Fox and Akina’s bodies caused tremors and small craters on the floor, damaging only the tiles. Still meters away from the enemy, Akina jumped in the air. Not even thinking once, Fox used his left palm to ‘spank’ her armor, impulsing her upwards with stupid speed.

  Fox continued dashing, making a strong stomp with the NUA’s power to enhance his strength. He could feel the amazing power, even though… it felt inferior to an impulse from his left arm. Even then, it proved too much for the enemy, who was already shocked with Akina’s movements.

  She suddenly blurred and appeared before some of them, landing her feet so easily, so smooth, that she could somersault after breaking someone’s chest bones. Then, whilst somersaulting, her comets cut the arms off of another, making them cry in pain.

  Akina continued with the same absurd speed, throwing pivots left and right before crashing against a wall. The pivots gave her a second to get off and kick the cracked wall, thrusting both the tips of her comets towards her next victim.

  The person’s collarbone shattered, like an air grenade blew just in the middle of their bone structure. She spread her arms, cutting the body with unbelievable ease before falling backwards with her arms crossed, extending her legs to kick their lower belly, brutally sending them flying away.

  While Akina was busy with a few, Fox dashed towards the rest, bumping into one, only for blood and skin to burst apart, with organs flailing in the air, adhering to his armor and visor for a bit.

  When he stopped with a stomp, throwing 2 pivots just below the armpits of 2 enemies, the blood and skin slammed against them, making them close their eyes and tighten their mouths in disgust. They still fired away, but they were in the middle of the others behind them.

  Tr rrrrrr rrrrrrrrrr rrrrrrrrrrrrrr rrrrrrrrrrr… Fox was slow no more. His body reached out, stretching with one knee bending and the other straightened backwards, and his left arm launched forth. The comet went through someone’s glabella while the bullets reflected on his chest and thighs.

  A second later, he launched his body to the other enemy, bumping into them to inflict fractures before stabbing their solar plexus with his right comet before slicing upwards. It cut from the ribcage to out the top of their head.

  Fox dashed past, breaking the dying enemies’ knees or directly femur bones and shins in under 1.5 second, throwing their dying bodies away or stomping on them before going to the next. One by one, they fell in under 2 exchanges, with their weapons barely turning segments of his armor vulnerable.

  Swwlip- bang! When Fox was finishing another enemy, his left comet stabbing from the right armpit to the left side where the heart was, piercing and cutting it into 2, Fox was momentarily surprised to see the enemy. Even while shaking like their bodies would self-destruct out of pain, neck and back of the head throwing everything squishy inside about, the enemy still held onto a small pistol with their left hand and aimed at Fox with difficulty.

  The trigger was pulled, and Fox felt his right thigh pierced for the first time in months. His body recoiled, but just a bit, before using his right fingertips to crave holes in the person’s brain. Death by their heart being stricken was too good for them, although their willpower was commendable.

  Plop! Fox let the body fall on the floor, and then limped once to stand up straight. Akina turned to him, seeing his wound and the small pistol fall from the enemy’s hand. Fox looked down at his right hand instead. He had intended to use his ultra nails and carve the brain out, but his strength in the medium NUA left him baffled. He only imprinted holes into the enemy’s forehead.

  “Are you good?” Akina came over and asked, before stopping and looking past him. Fox turned around, unsurprised, to look at a young blonde girl about 16-17 with her shoulders and arms moving. She had a trail of blood running laterally on the top left corner of her head, courtesy of panicked gunshots from her comrades.

  “Wait… no, don’t… please…” She looked at them and cried. Her legs were immobile, clearly paralyzed, with her face turned ugly. Fox held his right fingers up, to which Akina wordlessly kicked the small pistol upwards, directly into his open hand.

  Bang! The girl’s head dropped; what was left of it. Fox broke both his comets, damaged after this hassle, and disarmed the small pistol before looking at Akina, who seemed thoughtful. “I am fine.”

  “Do you want me to grab the blood from your left arm and pass it to…?” Akina offered, trailing off in her words. Fox shook his head, “That is done by my body. I trained it to do it on its own.”

  “Really?” Akin raised her eyebrows, marveled. Fox nodded before taking the hand armor segment of his right hand off. Akina walked over and tilted her head, listening to the blood flow in his body. Her head returned to its natural resting place in wonderment.

  “With something like this, should you fall unconscious… wow!” Akina pinched his index fingertip, wiggling it brusquely, and looked up at him. “Nala knows this? Is she okay with others knowing?”

  “Who do you think hears it every day? Almost…” Fox smiled, before tilting his head to the right with eyes upturned, playful. Akina blinked, wanting to request him to do non-hetero things for her again, but abstained, not wanting to have her body beaten by the tigress. Fox added, “Besides…”

  He walked half a step past her and placed his left hand on her left shoulder, “You are my team member. Mn, my people, now, as Raging Blood. I have to learn to let you know, and also take care of you.”

  “…” Akina looked at Fox’s back as he walked to where the injured puppy was brought down by Colmillo, in her arms, and descending by a climbing gun. She turned and blinked, forming an untraceable, thin smirk on her lips, thinking. ‘Damn, that boy sure learns with a good teacher.’

  Fox walked to Colmillo, who held Miros under his armpits. He seemed unwilling to be carried this way, while Colmillo looked at Fox with daggers. Fox smirked, though, taking his helmet off to show it more blatantly. Looking at Miros, Fox asked with a small nod upwards, “Battle scars? How lucky, show me.”

  Miros didn’t notice Fox’s sarcasm, who already knew where the injuries were, smelling the blood way before the boy was brought down. Miros lifted his palms, showing his injured hands with larger holes than the one in Fox’s thigh. Colmillo rolled his eyes at Fox’s attitude in the meantime.

  “Medium pistols appeared. I… I dealt with them… It’s similar to here.” Colmillo spoke with her smooth, robotic voice. Colmillo tilted her head at the mess on the floor. Her mask was the only one that was unique, with her paint being that of her mask’s patterns, just to her liking.

  “Those are big ones, then. Let me,” Fox nodded, dropping the attitude from earlier. He stepped forth and shot a glance at Colmillo. Miros, who was pouty of being held below his armpits, slumped. His butt slapping on the floor a couple times, he looked back at Colmillo with begging after being dropped out, but Fox took his hands’ armor off. Miros returned his gaze to Fox, not noticing Colmillo’s hand around his helmet.

  “Eh, boss… Is it- oh, heavens!” Miros’s boyish voice exclaimed. Fox took out a silver cream medicine, scooping it with his right index finger. Ignoring the boy’s trembling eyes, he grabbed one hand and smeared the silver around the wound.

  With Fox’s left hand holding the boy’s hand, there was no escape. However, just as Miros overly widened his mouth to scream from the rooftops…

  “AAAGHH- hop- mnnf!?” Miros felt his head fresher, although it was already airy enough within the NUA. His head was tilted upwards, with his chin prodded by Colmillo’s left hand, who promptly took her mask off with her right hand.

  Colmillo’s bright, dark chestnut, short, extra smooth hair flung beautifully, taking Miros’s eyes off the pain. Then, with one swooping motion, she looked down with extremely narrowed eyes before lowering her mouth to his, shutting him up and fully closing her eyes.

  Miros shut his eyes tight just as her hair and face obstructed all the light in the building from his sapphire retinas, feeling her plump, supposedly thinner lips on his. The pain? What pain? He was stolen of his first kiss!

  When Miros felt his other hand smeared with silver medicine and something liquid, the same with his first hand, he was too engrossed in Colmillo’s beautiful face and… ‘dedication’.

  …