Times of Peace: Volume 1 of the side adventures to The Mercenary's Salvation

by Anthony M. Johnson

  Chapter 9: Piedra

  May 24, 2001

  3:43 P.m.

  Point Blank, Los Angeles, California

  The gun exploded, the fight began.

  Jumping into the air, Oliver showed no more concerns for hiding his powers as he flew a good twenty feet, Damned Boss cursing as he pulled his trigger again and again, watching as pellets of white fire soared through the air and completely missed their target. At level four, the vampire could have the strength of up to twenty men if he had fed recently; given how quick he zoomed through the air, it was a safe bet to say he did.

  Almost to the point that as he began to fall, the soldier found himself nearly getting crushed. Rolling away, he felt the earth shudder and giant rock spires shot out from the ground as a ring around the monster, as tall as man and sharper than shark teeth. Vlad Tepes would be proud; a man would have been impaled if he was hit directly by the spikes.

  That explained the tire iron. As Big Boss pulled himself to a knee, he pulled the trigger once again and found the shells exploding against another pillar, a mere swing of the melee weapon enough to spawn another pile of stone. Frowning, the soldier flicked his wrist and caused the spent cartridges to fall out of the steaming shotgun as he muttered an ancient syllable, his gun automatically reloaded as another short movement clicked his refilled drum back into the Saiga.

  Just in time. Bringing the weapon to his shoulder, another burst exploded and impacted with the magical iron as the soldier nearly had his face bashed in, the weapon catching on fire as its wielder was forced a few steps back. Taking the chance, Damned Boss pulled the trigger again and again as he hoped for just one good hit… only to fail. Even stumbling back, the man with lightning reflexes was able to summon another shield as the rock formation that appeared took every pellet, absorbing metal and flame and protecting the vampire who hid behind it.

  The one eyed man was getting really sick of these monuments. Charging forward, he threw a single punch enhanced beyond its natural power as it exploded into a hailstorm of bricks, sending stones his vanished opponents’ way.

  Which is to say, it would have sent stones towards his opponent if his foe had remained. Nothing but a hole in the ground marked where Oliver had once been, a tunnel more fit for a mole than a human. No vampire would have even been able to dig that fast; the FTM had used his power to create the escape hatch, burrowing beneath the ground as he made full use of his magical ability.

  Meaning, if he were to be anywhere beneath the ground…

  Big Boss was knocked off his feet as the FTM with Green eyes shot out of the ground, knocking his gun upwards into the sky as he flew after it. Ten, twenty, thirty feet they rose as the soldier realized that Oliver was trying to kill him with his own weapon, an ironic turn of a battle that could have ended there without another trick to resort to.

  Well, that’s why soldiers and scouts live by the principle of being prepared. Just as the two stopped rising, Oliver and the shotgun suspended over forty feet into the air, Big Boss cracked a smirk as he reached and tapped a button hidden within his belt, a beep confirming it’s activation as the Black weapon above suddenly grew Red.

  Oliver realized it too late. His hand exploded as he was peppered in a hail storm of White Phosphorus and Glowing Shrapnel, his NASCAR uniform catching aflame as he became a falling Icarus set alight by his own pride. Screaming as he fell, he tore off both fabric and skin as he plummeted to the ground, Big Boss stepping back a few paces as the comet grew bigger and bigger.

  The crash was spectacular. A dust cloud, set off by what could have been a bomb, began to cover the area as Damned Boss threw his arm up to cover his good Blue eye, thrown back a few feet as he tried to stay upright. Any lesser man would have died from such a fall; even a weaker FTM would have been crippled, unable to regenerate as they were reduced to a blob of White Paste.

  Wasn’t so for Oliver, a prime example of the strength of his corrupt kind. Dropping his arm, Big Boss found his opponent already standing back up, half naked and bleeding all over but still alive. His hand, an ear, and most of his nose were gone; a huge chunk of flesh was burnt away in his left thigh, as it was on his pectoral muscles, permanent scars that no amount of blood would be able to heal. The Remington had done its part, at least.

  Too bad that was merely a warm up. Throwing his head back, the man found himself capable of at least talking, even though one of his cheeks was burned through, as Oliver explained

  “Rock… my dad was a miner. He took me down with him once a month, helping me explore cavern after cavern as I learned to appreciate this Earth. You destroyed me… even if I kill you now, I can’t go back up to the light.

  “So I’ll become one with this land. Let’s see you beat me now!”

  Stomping into the ground, Oliver Cage plunged the socket of his missing hand into the mole hole that appeared as he gave off another mad laugh, his V mark glowing bright as his eyes began to change. Here was the ultimate use of his power, a transformation into the inner beast he was as the fight reached it’s crescendo.

  Unlike the idiot protagonist of many a tale, Big Boss did try to stop it. Reaching into a pouch hanging on his back, he withdrew a knife laced with poison and tossed it towards his foe, aiming for the eye that he himself was missing. Just as the previous frontal assaults had gone though, it was blocked with ease; another spire rose from the ground, deflecting the knife away as the man really found himself wished Fred was there to cut through the stone.

  What happened next though was nothing short of unexpected. Three more spires appeared from the dirty arena, towering over the FTM as they joined together as a sort of crossed teepee. With no way to take him, Big Boss could only watch as a beam of light rose from the figure hidden within as a chant rose from his lips, words unintelligible even to Big Boss, though a dialect he recognized to belong to one man.

  Volgin.

  “Oliver! No!”

  The spell ended, the results as disastrous as the one eyed man had anticipated. The vampire within was swallowed into the ground, forced into the earth as the spires collapsed on top of him and buried whatever sort of grave could be left for the cocky racer. No hole, no mark, no evidence remained of his presence; nothing but the wind even sounded as Big Boss found himself nervously standing alone, fingering another knife as he waited for Oliver to return and strike again.

  No mere vampire came to fight.

  “Boss! Tremble before your god, the ruler of this earth! I am Gaia reborn, come to take what is MINE!”

  Nothing short of an earthquake shook the arena as Damned Boss found himself stumbling, struggling to stay upright as the area violently trembled as the mutant vampire invoked his will over the area. Would the man try to swallow him in a fissure, plunge him into the depths to rot forever?

  No. The Vampire must have known that Big Boss could break free, possessing a strength that could tear a world asunder. What he planned instead was far worst, a god to challenge the one who sought to become one. Not even god was accurate; a titan is what Oliver had become.

  With five stone spikes rising from the ground, Big Boss found himself backing away as the Earth stabilize and gave birth to the largest monster he had faced in centuries. Those spikes became fingers, joined by a palm larger than his interceptor that began to grow an arm that crossed the whole length of the arena, a copy growing on the other side of the stands as the soldier realized what he was about to face.

  A body, made entirely from the earth. A Golem.

  Time to bail. Turning away, the soldier ran as fast as he could to the car waiting a hundred feet off as he heard the stands behind him beginning to break, a torso rising from beneath and causing the metal to break apart with ease, just as a leg began to rise from the ground at his side. Big Boss, for all his athleticism, might not have been able to even out run it without the help; Bibiana, no slouch, put the car and drive and rushed forward into action as she headed straight for her partner, the man who helped her c
ome so far.

  Which may have saved his life. Putting the car into a slide and opening the back door from within, Big Boss was just able to get in and close the car as they tore away, the Golem titan complete as Gaia Oliver began to stand. Taking his first step, the whole area seemed to buckle beneath him as several fissures extended from beneath his foot, wide enough to crush a car like an ant beneath a boot.

  A good size comparison. Standing up to his full height, the titan made of rock and dirt must have been at least forty feet tall. No Godzilla or Kaiju, but still a threat to any ground forces and an obstacle to the Ford Interceptor, high tailing away from both beast and city as it tried to draw its attention to the desert.

  It had it. A inhumane, gravely roar that caused their ears to ring was heard as the beast shouted “BOSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS….”

  Bibiana turned, looking in the back to see nothing but Big Boss’s back to her, busy sorting through his trunk hidden beneath Max’s cage as she sought an answer. “What the hell did you do to him?”

  “Nothing… didn’t even get the chance to interrogate him. Shame… but I learned something nonetheless. Not a complete waste.”

  “Which is?”

  “That Volgin is far more powerful than when we last fought… fortunately, I’m better equipped. Try not to get us killed.”

  “What are you- hijo de la virgin…”

  Damned Boss, patting his surprised dog on the head, tore out a RPG-7 launcher with a thermobaric head, the most powerful and lethal variant of the world’s most famous rocket launcher. Slinging it over his back, he kicked the door open once more as he leapt onto the roof of the interceptor tearing away at over one hundred miles a hour, heading into nothing as the one eyed soldier found himself staring down the titan.

  Staring down his foot, anyway. They may have been moving fast, but like the race they found themselves in Oliver found a way to keep up. The long stride of this gigantic being covered dozens of yards per step, the ground shaking as the beast continued to follow from behind. The only reason they weren’t dead yet is because the man was unfamiliar with the form; he was clumsy in his movies, running more like a drunk than a sprinter.

  Didn’t keep his mouth from running. “I’ll tear you apart, Boss… than I’ll eat that girl alive. I’ll find everyone you love, Boss… I’ll kill them all!”

  “Try taking me down first.”

  Taking the launcher off his back and locking the long, ten pound warhead into place, Big Boss aimed with his one good eye and fired, the shot aimed high as to avoid a miss. More than anything it was to see how much damage the weapon could do; no point in taking the risk and aiming for a limb if the weapon wouldn’t do much damage anyway.

  The reality was that it did something in between deadly and superficial. The monster roared as the rocket exploded in his chest, rocks blown to the ground and a large dent made into the thick stone of the massive golem. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to get him to even slow down; still he followed and got closer as Big Boss summoned another warhead from the dark regions of other worlds, his subspace spell summoning the war head as he planned his neck attack.

  A risky one. “Turn left!”

  “What?”

  “Now!”

  The man was nearly thrown off the roof as the car began to slide, making the change in direction as Big Boss tried to use the momentum to his advantage. While the projectile grenade had failed to achieve the effect that he had desired, it had revealed a startling truth that he wouldn’t have guessed from the outside.

  Oliver had tried to emulate a human structure within the interior of the largely featureless, lumpy behemoth. Rocks cut to look like bones had resided within the chest and stomach, the rib cage now exposed if the sternum and repeated ribs were any indication. The man had the power to create anything he wanted, and he choose to go with what he knew rather than anything he could have imagined.

  His lost. Damned Boss, that human hunter with the eternal mission of making the universe better, was more familiar with human anatomy and weakness than even the most trained doctors and coroners in the world. The one eyed soldier knew exactly where man was weakest, which meant he already knew how to take down this blasted golem.

  One such points? The heel. Achilles downfall was no mere accident given by his mother; not even the river Styx could grant invulnerability to that portion of the physique, so worn and used, ultimately fragile because of it.

  So with the prayer and power of Paris in his mind, the rocket flew forward and cut just through that small hole between the legs, aiming for the heel of a foot that was locked with the ground as Gaia Oliver was about to take another step. Impacting directly, the whole of the foot and ankle was shattered as the great beast roared, losing its balance and crashing into the ground as it fell flat on its face, incapacitated for but a moment.

  Bibiana cheered, hoping to use the chance to get some distance, only to hear her Boss stomp on the roof and give the next order. “Get me close! Head straight for him!”

  “Are you mad? He’ll crush us!”

  “This might be the only shot I have at the back!”

  The small of the back, often associated with the tailbone or coccyx, is one of the most sensitive and odd components of what is otherwise a rigid and solid region. Just above is the spine and rest of the torso, full of the muscle that controls our arms. Beneath is where you begin to find the connections to the legs, the other half of our movement so critical to our day to day behavior.

  So the chance to take it out was too much to pass up. Turning once more, Bibiana began to cross herself as Damned Boss loaded another shell, aiming upwards as he realized that their opponent was all too ready to face them. Bringing a hand up, the same one that had been destroyed by the explosion of the shotgun, the soldier found it coming their way as it threatened to squash them, so thick that a direct shot wouldn’t cause it to break apart.

  Fortunately, the golem’s structure wasn’t just critical from the way it was defended. Switching towards the opposite hip, Big Boss fired another salvo as the behemoth lost another chunk of rocky flesh, the arm swinging wildly and missing its target as the torso constricted in reaction to the forceful blow. A reprieve, if only for a few moments.

  All the soldier needed. As the passed by, Big Boss leapt off the car and caught the wire attached to the hook in the roof, hanging by the side as he did his best to aim the rocket rifle one handed. A few more seconds to steady the shot, but nothing he wasn’t used to; he’d taken bigger chances in the past, though never against such large foes.

  Size was the friend, the missile a few feet off but still hitting the general area that the soldier had intended. The spinal cord of the beast was exposed, it’s vertebrae plain and open to a shot of explosives if Big Boss could simply get a few more seconds to reload and fire.

  The fight would never come to that. Unable to stand and withering in pain, still capable of feeling even as the grotesque behemoth he had become, the golem rolled over and onto his exposed back as he threw his arms out, making himself into a V as he made the prayer to the dark devil he hoped would save him.

  “Volgin! You made me this… save me, master! Kill these flies! I’ll do whatever you want!”

  The answer was not what any had hoped. The skies, Blue and open on that spring day, seemed to dim for just a moment as the air around them grew static with electricity, the very oxygen growing dense as a dark depression came over all of them. The voice, the presence, everything about the dark spirit that appeared to answer his acolytes’ plea were disgusting, causing even the strong willed Boss to revert to his Damned nature as he felt the fear that had once haunted him back in the harsh lands of Russia.

  “NO.”

  The execution was quick. Gaia Oliver, once so fierce, could only yell when his entire body exploded from within, a dark energy pulsating and shaking the land about as a fissure appeared from beneath his stone form. The chunks, losing whatever glue or attraction that
held them together, tumbled into the crater that was hundreds of feet deep as the hole began to expand, faster than even the monster that had been chasing them for the past fifteen minutes.

  Meaning, the most likely thing of all to finally end their afternoon getaway. Tossing the launcher into the abyss, Big Boss clutched the Turquois roof and slammed his first into it, giving the order to use the only thing that could save them now.

  “NITRO!”

  Bibiana had no reason to argue. Flipping the tab, a burst of Blue flames shot out from the eight exhaust pipes exposed from beneath the Interceptor as it suddenly screamed and raced forward, so fast that the one eyed soldier was finally lifted from his precious car and into the air. Saved by his wire, it was still unnerving as he held on tight and hoped beyond all hopes that today would not be the day his hook decided to break, an instant condemnation to a untimely end if it did.

  Yet at last, there were no more twists to be had. Just when the soldier thought he would past out, the growing sink hole finally came to a stop just as their car ran out of the charge that had caused their vehicle to boost forward, the pair finding themselves back at the ruined arena and the start of all their troubles.

  Which is when gravity truly decided to kick back in. Dropping to the dirt as the car began to deaccelerate, Big Boss finally cut the wire that held him as he rolled once more across the ground as his shirt continued to tear up, his outfit a mess as he bounced and bounced before coming to a final stop. Flat on his back, the soldier sighed as he finally reached up and tore off the eyepatch, half broken due to a pebble that had breached it as he relaxed and became Jack once more.

  A bit too early to celebrate. Listing to the quiet world around him, he turned his head to the footsteps that sounded in the distance, coming from the giant pit of despair that he had barely escaped, wondering if he’d find Oliver coming back for one final attempt to take his life.

  It wasn’t him, though a dark specter did fill his sight. With his body long ago destroyed, his spirit cursed and chained to the most nether regions of Hell and Space, it was hard for Colonel Satan Volgin to maintain any sort of physical shape. The best he could do is become a featureless silhouette in the blasted GRU trench coat he wore the day he died, tattered with the burns that Jack Wallace had inflicted when he shoved his head and melted it in the fuel reservoir of the Metal Tank that the Russian had tried to destroy the world with.

  Long story. Suffice to say that the one eyed man was far from happy as he brought himself to a stand, his fists curled as he faced down the demon who continued to haunt his dreams.

  “You lost Volgin. Go home; I have nothing to say to you.”

  The same curse, the same depression and darkness filled the air, flickering in and out as the silhouette shrunk and increased, fading in and out as it tried to get its message across.

  “Yet I have everything to say to you, Big Boss… Oliver was nothing more than a pet, one dog of many in the war that I’m preparing.”

  “A war you’ll lose.”

  “I can’t lose if you can’t erase me… even if you and Garland become gods, even if you put the events in motion to give birth to the real Elohim and Jehovah, it will never be enough… I’ll haunt your posterity forever, always causing more to fall and obey me and my Fallen Angels. What has been done on other worlds will continue forever.”

  “Then the promise I made to you while you lay burning in that nuclear tank of yours will remain true; as long as evil exists, I will send my mercenaries to quell it. You will lose forever, until you yourself decide to let the universe be.”

  “Then give it your all, Big Boss… show me everything you have to offer. I await my arrival; even if I die, you and I become more alike every day. We’re learning to live for the battle and nothing more…”

  “We’re nothing alike, Volgin. We’ll never be the same.”

  The Specter merely laughed at that, disappearing as he finally released his hold from the world. So the battle ended; so did Big Boss receive yet another victory to chalk on his belt, another triumph against the source of all evil.

  Or so it seemed. Deep down, he knew the colonel was right. War was changing; ideologies, families, rights, resources, even power had nothing to do with it anymore.

  All of this fighting was going on for the hell of it… and Jack wasn’t sure he’d have it any other way.