War Wagon

by Al Shield

  Sensing victory, Nex increased her attacks and after a flurry of quick blows, tripped him down to the floor once again. This time his reactions weren’t quick enough to catch his fall and he slammed into the floor with a great thud. Without hesitation Nex stomped as hard as she could down on the now cracked visor, destroying the shield, the facial features and the front of the man’s skull behind it in one fell blow.

  ‘Mother of god...you’re like the angel of death!’ Patches had emerged from under the bed as Nex was busy wiping the gore off her foot with a nearby towel.

  After seeing her in action and how quickly she dispatched three heavily armoured and trained soldiers after recovering from great injury she didn’t know whether she considering the being the savior of the base or a nuclear weapon still waiting to explode at any moment.

  ‘My Dar’Kannag, he is near?’

  ‘Ah...th-that’s the massive purple one?’

  ‘Yes. You have seen him.’ It wasn’t a question.

  ‘He’s downstairs,...in the main containment room. But...but you’ll want to wat-’ But Nex had scooped up the armour plates she didn’t have time to attach before the battle had began and raced out of the room.

  Now finding herself alone in the middle of the recent carnage and a little shocked from the sudden silence, the normally calm Patches closed her eyes took a very deep breath. Even in the fumes from the recent gunfire, it was the sweetest breath she had experienced for as long as she could remember and she took another deep one immediately after ... .before doubling over and vomiting her recent lunch all over the floor.

  ‘I fear for whoever you cross paths with next girl...’ she spoke to herself as she wiped her mouth, retrieved a submachine gun from one of the fallen soldiers and began her search for any survivors in the bloody massacre.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  Strike team Delta had encountered minimal resistance as they made their way to the complex. The soldiers that had taken up positions behind barricades in the rooms along the way were easily killed, especially when their weapons showed little effect against the invaders. Various explosives had slowed them down and even stopped one soldier but even the staunchest pocket of resistance was overrun eventually.

  It was only when they came across a room with billowing smoke pouring out that they paused in confusion.

  ‘Have another of the strike teams already been here?’ one asked.

  ‘Negative. We are the only ones in this area.’ the second one replied.

  ‘That will be Agent Omega hiding in there.’ Rasped the bodyguard as he strolled up behind them. ‘He’s using that smoke to hide his heat signature from your sensors. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s near the doorway, right around here...’ He pointed to a section of wall near the entrance.

  Secretly he wanted the agent all to himself but the Nameless One had insisted he tag along with one of the teams purely for back up. The idea galled a man such as the bodyguard, these bumbling idiots who couldn’t tie their own shoelaces without a video simulation would just get in the way.

  ‘Shall we just blow out this wall section then and be done with him?’ The third asked which earned him a dangerous look.

  ‘You think the best soldier they have in this shit hole is going to be taken out by sheer dumb luck? Get your asses in there, keep each other covered and flush him out. There can’t be that much space in there so keep your eyes open.’

  The same soldier fired back a look of annoyance at the man but it couldn’t be seen behind his dark visor. They nodded to each other while the leader of the group used hand signals to devise a plan.

  Carefully in pairs, they slowly stepped into the smoke and began their sweep. As the last one stepped through the doorway, the Bodyguard quietly took many steps back and took cover behind some nearby supply crates.

  His nagging suspicion as soon as he had seen the smoke was correct - mere moments after the last man entered, Omega tripped the explosives hidden in the smoked room and the entire team were instantly eradicated in the conflagration.

  As the booming noise subsided, the Bodyguard called out from behind his position.

  ‘I saw that one coming a mile away!’

  ‘A shame you didn’t decide to join them then!’ Agent Omega called back from a similar position behind a big crate far down the hall. ‘You didn’t seem to care that five more of your men suddenly got roasted.’

  ‘Plenty more army idiots where those ones came from. We’ve got the tech, we can always build more.’

  The Bodyguard looked at his submachine gun. It would be the quicker way to kill the man but deep down he felt it would be nowhere near as satisfying as taking him out face to face. He’d been the only soldier he’d seen on base that he thought might provide a few minutes of fun sport and it’d be such a shame if he didn’t get an opportunity to test his skills.

  ‘I read in a file somewhere that you’re packing a few toys under your skin there. A few presents from our tech division?’ he called out.

  ‘The way you picked up that box, I’d say you do too.’ Omega called back.

  ‘Oh I didn’t need it for the box back there, that’s actually a trade secret. But you’re right, guilty as charged. I crossed the halfway point quite a few surgeries ago.’

  ‘So arms and legs?’

  ‘Yep. Eyes too and a bit of chest work. You had anymore work done since five years ago? That’s the last time I read up on you I reckon.’

  ‘That’s my trade secret.’

  The bodyguard just laughed, the sound wheezing out before he gently placed his gun on the cold floor.

  ‘Now look agent, I’ve got a proposition for you.’

  ‘I don’t deal with government backed mass murderers.’

  ‘You haven’t heard my offer yet. You might find it quite agreeable.’

  ‘I highly doubt that.’

  ‘Hear me out. We’re going to run out of words soon and start firing. While that’ll get the blood pumping, I have a better idea. What say you pull out your knife, I do the same and we see who is standing at the end of it?’

  ‘I don’t trust you!’

  He laughed even harder this time.

  ‘Oh course you don’t you paranoid fuck. I’d wager though that your hands have been just as stained as mine. But I know you’re a man of honor, so try this on for size.’

  With that he picked up the gun, ejected the clip and tossed it over the crate he was crouched behind, causing it to clater down the hallway. Then he reached into his carry belt and pulled out the remaining ammunition, hurling them all after the first clip.

  ‘So now you’re faced with a man with just a knife. You going to shoot me as soon as I step out from behind this box?’

  ‘Don’t tempt me!’

  But Omega held his firing in check as the Bodyguard slowly emerged with one hand up in the air, the other holding a combat knife by his side. He took took a step out from behind his box but kept the barrel of his gun pointed to the floor.

  ‘We’re a lot like, you and me’ the Bodyguard rasped as he took a few steps. ‘We get told what to do and rarely do we ever question the why. Why are we here? Why are we killing this guy or that girl or these kids or this army or that army. Why, why, why.’

  ‘We are not the same.’ Omega replied stepping forward after he carefully laid his gun on the floor ‘I do what I do because it’s my duty. You do it because you enjoy the killing.’

  The Bodyguard smiled.

  ‘Well my job does come with a few entertaining perks, that’s for sure..’

  They came to a stop with five metres of space between them.

  ‘You don’t know how long I’ve been waiting to do this...ever since we rolled in and I see you strutting around the place like king dick, boy oh boy have I wanted to gut you...’

  ‘And you think you’re going to get the chance right now in the middle of this shit storm?’

  ‘Oh I know I will-’

  In a lightning motion Omega snapped his arm out and a hidden
knife flew out of his sleeve and into his hand. In less than a heartbeat he had raised his hand and sent the blade spinning directly to the bodyguard’s head.

  However the bodyguard was just as quick and snatched the knife out of the air, holding the hilt with the edge point an inch from his forehead.

  ‘You sneaky little dog.’ He grinned ‘I wouldn’t have figured you as a goody two shoes would have any mongrel in you. Bravo. Now I’m really going to cut your fucking nuts off!’

  Both men raced forward and Omega narrowly stepped under the arc of the bodyguards knife swing, twisting around and throwing a punch into his upper arm. Normally the strong strike would cause an assailant to drop their weapon but Omega felt like he had just punched a barrier carved out of stone and wasn’t quick enough to dodge out of the way when the bodyguard completed his pivot and caught him with an elbow from the opposite arm. He was rocked momentarily but still managed block another thrust and throw a quick jab into the man’s chin.

  Again, even with all his improvements it still felt like he was trying to punch a mountain.

  ‘You like it?’ The bodyguard laughed. ‘Armoured skin. Looks like the real stuff but tough as hell. Probably should have told you about that...probably..’

  He threw himself into the fray again with a flurry of punches and strikes and Omega countered as best he could. Highly trained and experienced, both men attacked and counter attacked, dodged and feinted and waited for the slimmest of openings which rarely came around.

  After a short while Omega realised he couldn’t count on the man’s stamina running out as he was showing no signs of exhaustion in the battle so far. The Bodyguard was also starting to get irritated at the fact that any blow that he managed to land would only be a glancing one and his opponent moved too quick for an impact to do any lasting damage. Both men were bleeding lightly now, Omega with slashes on his arms and chest, the bodyguard trickling blood out of one nostril after a lucky forearm strike.

  But they continued back and forth, occasionally stepping back for a mere second to devise another plan of attack before getting stuck in again. Even with his size, the Bodyguard was incredibly agile and had no problem ducking and diving as much as his opponent.

  Even when another strike team arrived on the scene the fight was kept at the same pace, the Bodyguard barking and wheezing orders in between blows to leave the two to it. The soldiers just shrugged their armoured shoulders and moved on, leaving two to continue their deadly dance as much as they wanted to see the outcome, orders were orders after all.

  Three frantic minutes had passed now since both men had emerged from their hiding places and the battle had kicked off and even though both men we slowly getting covered in blood, both their own and their opponents, the measured thrusts, parries and counter attacks were just as quick and vicious as they were at the start.

  ‘This can’t go on forever you know.’ The bodyguard said as they both jumped back for a moment.

  ‘You have to die, there’s no other way. You work with monsters..’

  ‘We’re all monsters. Some of us have just come to accept that.’

  ‘I might be part machine, but I still have my humanity.’ Omega wiped the blood that was starting to flow just above one eye. The cut wasn’t deep but it was enough to affect his vision if he left it unattended.

  ‘It will go.’ The bodyguard rasped. ‘It always does. Just a matter of time really..’

  ‘I will never work for that beast thing downstairs!’ He yelled.

  ‘Then you’ll never know the true meaning of power.’ The bodyguard sighed. ‘You think we are at the top of the food chain? We haven’t been there for quite some time. Face facts agents, we’re puppets to these new masters. The sooner you realise that, the sooner you get to share in the spoils of war with the rest of us.’

  He lunged forward again but Omega launched into a drop kick and planted both feet into the man’s knee. While the skin might be tough on the outside, a weak point was still a weak point behind it. He was confirmed correct after he rolled out of the way and sprung back up, to notice the bodyguard was now favoring his other leg.

  So he could be slowed down if you knew where to hit.

  Using this new intelligence Omega spent the next thirty seconds aiming and reigning blows with his fists at the man’s face, unconcerned that few broke through his guard. He just wanted him to concentrate on his high guard and hopefully not react as quickly when he shifted tact. When he was convinced that his opponent had sussed his possible pattern of attack, he quickly aimed low and drove a mighty fist into the man’s opposite knee.

  Omega’s had broken many fingers in his hands overtime either from overzealous hand to hand training or while out in the field, so one of the first ‘improvements’ he had woken up to after almost dying in battle was a strong spider web like weave across his bone structure. It still allowed the bones to operate as they normally did but the odds of a fracture or even a complete break were now significantly lower with the supportive mesh in place.

  However it didn’t stop the jarring impact of the blow from rattling every bone in his fist and arm as it connected with the fury of an out of control train. Hitting the bodyguard right in the knee was like trying to dent a slab solid steel with just your bare hands.

  But the blow caused tissue to tear and bones to separate and with a sudden loud grunt, the bodyguard dropped to his other knee. Moving quickly, a knee strike to the head toppled the bearded man over to the floor.

  He was down, but he was far from out.

  Omega straddled his chest and started furiously pummeling him with vicious punches. A bit dazed from the last surprise hit, his guard was slow, sloppy and many of the fists rocked his head back into the unforgiving floor. However he quickly regained his wits and using his least damaged leg, kicked as high as he could and caught Omega solidly behind the shoulder blades, the move pushing the man off his chest. Wincing from the pain lancing through his knees he quickly put two fingers to the side of his neck and pushed on a capsule embedded just under the skin. The capsule burst and a stream of drugs soared through his system. Some numbed the pain, some helped with blood clotting, others increased the neuron activity in his brain, giving his entire system a boosting shock. They were highly experimental and the come down after using them was incredibly painful but they were needed here and he was glad to have had them installed. In less than 30 seconds he would be as good as new, if not even better.

  ‘Nooooooow....’ He slurred as he got to his feet, the pain medication taking a hold and relaxing his facial muscles before the boosters took their turn and boost his nervous and muscular system. ‘Wheeeeeereee weeeeeere weeeeee...’

  But he was stopped dead in his tracks when he turned to find Omega, having retrieved his gun now pointing it directly at his mouth.

  ‘Whaaaa?? Fuuuuuuuckkkkkk yoooooo...’

  The shots exploded through his teeth, ripping through the back of his mouth and attempting to penetrate through the back of his head only to bounce off his armoured skin and ricochet their deadly path upwards into his brain. His eyes rolled back into his skull as he let out a wailing moan before his legs gave out again and he crashed down the floor unceremoniously.

  The killer of killers had finally met his end.

  ‘Don’t worry, I’ll make sure your master isn’t too far behind you.’ Omega nodded to his body before reloading his gun. He stopped to check his injuries, most of them minor before bandaging the cut on his head with a strip torn off the bodyguards t-shirt and continuing his search for the remaining invaders.

  ‘WELL WELL WELL, THINGS not going to plan?’ Dar’Kannag goaded. ‘But then that’s to be expected with Jorzan the miserable in charge..’. His keen hearing had been picking up the radio reports messaged into the Nameless One. While of lot of the residents on the base had been eliminated, a worrying trend was starting to build - a few of the strike teams were failing to respond and nobody had appeared yet with either Nex or Unit M in tow. Even chained and impriso
ned as he was, Dar’Kannag couldn’t help but smile at the smaller beings current predicament.

  ‘A minor setback.’ Jozan stumbled. ‘You!’ he ordered The Nameless One. ‘Send your man to investigate. I want the heads of those who refuse to answer brought to me at once!’

  ‘My lord... I’m afraid he isn’t responding currently either..’

  Jorzan gave him a very angry look. It was the first time Dar’Kannag had seen the rotund man flinch in his time on base.

  ‘But I will track him down and get him on the case immediately!’ he quickly followed up.

  ‘Just like old times isn’t it Jorzan?’ Dar’Kannag continued. ‘Your numbers dwindle by the moment until it’s just you standing around looking stupid. Such familiar territory for the one they call Jorzan the pathetic!’

  ‘Silence!’ he roared, the harsh words seeming to instantly heat up the large room some more and he backhanded the chained beast viciously across the jaw. Fueled by intense anger, it shook Dar’Kannag’s skull right down to the very points of his canine like teeth.

  ‘If I care to hear your weak words, I will read them off your tongue myself, right after I rip it right right out of of your worm like maw!’

  It took a few moments of deep breathing with his eyes closed for the wave of anger to slowly recede. Wisely during that time, Dar’Kannag kept quiet.

  Jorzan opened his eyes and turned to the Nameless One.

  ‘New priority. Forget the survivors, they aren’t going anywhere. I want all teams to concentrate on bringing the female here to me.’