y3k
07-14-2007, 10:42 PM
An idea I had a few weeks/months back (http://www.funaroverse.db-destiny.net/fbBB/viewtopic.php?t=1715) which, having a writer's block with a Psycho Black story I was working on, decided to write about, just for the hell of it. It takes place sometime in the future, in the centuries preceding Time Force. I hope you enjoy:
...
Left. Right. Left. Right. Left. Right.
All that was on Erin Tate’s mind was the instructions for her feet to keep sloshing though the thick mud that stuck up past her ankles. Her entire body ached, but she struggled to ignore the agonizing pain, keeping herself focused on the trek ahead.
Just stay alive, she told herself, even as her vision began to blur.
She could hear shells going off, as explosions ripped across the ground in the distance, shaking the very earth she moved upon. One almost cost Erin her balance, even though she was using her sword as a walking stick. She was injured in several places, including what she expected was a sprained ankle, and a deep cut along her abdomen were her ranger suit had been cut open. The heavy grey and black (with hints of blue) armor that overlayed ontop of her black ranger suit was in tatters, and her helmet was gone completely, allowing her shoulder-length, tangled brown hair to fly freely in the cold breeze that was sweeping though the battlefield. Little light lit up the field, thanks to it being night, as well as the thick cloud of dust that hovered above everything.
Around her lay bodies. Some of them were still morphed, others who’s powers had already failed. All of them were lifeless. The wreckage of destroyed heavy vehicles (ranging from command trucks, to tanks, to various hover-tech cycles and ATVs) also littered the field, many of them still burning from the attacks thrust upon them. Up ahead, Erin saw a familiar body among the casualties. A ranger with armor similar to hers (although, these days, only minor details were different from various teams in the same faction) but with hints of green, and missing a helmet. The short black hair and the unshaven beard was a give-away.
Andrew, one of her teammates. He was the soul of the team, the guy who would always keep things light-hearted no matter how bad they got. His limp body was shaken by another explosion a few yards off, revealing a good-sized gash along his right temple. Looking closer, her heart leapt for joy as she saw he was still breathing, slowly. Erin shoved her blade into the mud and bent over to grab Andrew’s body, pulling him over onto her shoulder before grabbing her sword again with her free hand.
Erin moaned softly as another breeze cut through the remains of her power suit, chilling her hurting body to the bone. She looked ahead, at the chain of foothills near her. She decided she would make for the caves in the sides of the hills. After that…well, she’d decide on that then. She stumbled again, now more unstable then ever thanks to the added weight of Andrew, but kept going. Her foot was beginning to swell, making it even harder to move it. But she had to keep going.
The ground was becoming steeper now, as Erin began making her way up the mountain-side. Her vision was becoming even worse now, as her concentration waned. A few flakes of snow began to drop as Erin dropped to her knees, unable to keep going. But she *had* to. She began crawling, dragging Andrew’s body with her, and forgoing her sword. She reached out to the rippling Cliffside ahead of her. Then everything went dark, and the void encircled Erin.
…
“nnng” she muttered, slowly drifting back into the realm of consciousness. “what…”
Her entire body ached. Even opening her eyes caused her pain. The sudden bright light caused her to shut them again, before opening them more slowly.
…Where was she?
“W…where…” she spoke, but she stopped, as she began coughing thanks to her bone-dry mouth. She tried to sit up to get a better look, but just couldn’t muster the strength. As far as she could tell, she was on the ground in…a cave? Wrapped up in a thick blanket, and facing the mouth of the cave, of which only an intense white light shone from. Between her and the entrance sat a number of boxes, as well as a fire that was going in the center of the room. A figure sitting on one of the boxes next to the flame looked behind him, at Erin. He had dark skin, and a shaved head ontop of a thin body which wore a white coat and long camo snow pants.
“Well, well” he said, getting up, “look who’s awake”. He handed Erin a water bottle, which she grabbed greedily, and began chugging it down. “My name’s Shawn. We found you and your buddy unconscious a few miles away, near Denver. Or…what’s left of it, anyway. You’re lucky, a few more minutes in that snowstorm, and you would have been pushin’ up daisies”
Erin stopped chugging the bottle, and moved the opening away from her mouth. “…Who’s side are you on?”
“Why, the United States of America, of course!” he said, with a proud grin…then his face fell into concern, “…Don’t tell me someone as cute as you are one of SPD’s goons”
Erin jumped up, ignoring the pain racking her body. She moved into a position to morph, ready to free herself and Andrew (who was still unconscious a few feet away) from her captors. “Erin Tate, SPD Zeta squad, Green Sector, subsector 225. I’ll kill you myself if you don’t let us go”
Shawn laughed. “Don’t joke around” he pointed to the opening of the cave behind him, “Even if you took me out, you’d never survive out in that snow long enough to make it back to civilization in your state. Especially not with what you’re wearing” he pointed back at her as he sat down.
Erin looked down, to see she had been stripped of most of her clothes, minus her dog-tags, white tank-top, and white underwear…and apparently bandages across her abdomen and wrapped around her ankle. Even her morpher was gone.
“So I’m you’re little sex slave now?” she asked, angrily, moving into a defensive pose.
“Hardly. Your clothes were soaking wet and covered in ice and snow. We threw away both of you guy’s morphers, ‘cuz they were damaged beyond repair. Now, are you a prisoner of war? Yep. But we try to keep you comfortable. I don’t have a thing for sex slaves”
…We? “There are more of you?” she asked, pulling up the blanket around her body. It wasn’t so much that she was embarrassed…far from it. It was that it was so fucking cold. She could see her breath when she exhaled.
Shawn nodded, pulling a pack of cigarettes from his pocket. “Yeah. Alex, Sara, and Nix. They should be back shortly”. He took one of the sticks out of the box, and used the fire to light it up, before taking a drag and standing back up. “Lemme find you some clothes so you don’t freeze to death” He walked over to one of the boxes on the other side of the cave, and opened it, pulling out a white coat and snowpants, like his, as well as a pair of wool socks and white hiking boots. Tossing it all over at Erin’s feet, he said, “camouflaged. We don’t want anyone shooting at us”
Erin grudgingly dropped her blanket and began pulling the socks over her feet. Looking up, she saw Shawn sitting back on his box, watching her. “What, you never seen a woman before?”
Shawn just laughed, but before he could reply, the sound of snow footsteps called his attention to the cave entrance. To his relief, three white hooded figures made their way into the cave, with the same style of clothing as Shawn.
“What’s up?” asked Shawn, as the lead one pulled back her hood. She was an Asian woman, with her black hair tied up in a bun. “We’ve wandered into Org territory. We need to move”
“We sighted a few of them down in the pass” said the man to the right of her. Taking off his hood, he was revealed to be blond-haired, which was cut very short.
The other figure, also male, took off his hood to reveal a face surrounded in a green scaly skull. A Horathian. He said nothing but just looked at Erin, who was now fully dressed, and just putting her boots on. The other two newcomers glanced over at Erin as well.
“So she’s awake?” asked the woman, obviously the leader of the team. Shawn nodded, looking back at her.
“Give us a minute” the woman said. The other three soldiers silently left the cave. The woman looked at Erin.
“Sara I presume” Erin said, recalling Shawn’s listing of names, “Erin Tate, SP—”
“I know who you are” Sara said coldly, cutting off Erin in mid-sentence. “Erin Tate. Member of the SPD Bloodhounds. Responsible for the scorched Earth policy in Washington. Responsible for the razing of the entire Seattle area”
Erin’s face became one of controlled rage. “Your forces were using it as a foreword base of operations. The terrorists that bombed Angel Grove came from here. It was a tactical manu—”
Sara laughed bitterly. “Is THAT what you call it? ‘Tactical maneuver’? ‘Terrorism’?”
“That city—”
“THAT CITY HAD MILLIONS OF PEOPLE LIVING IN IT. INNOCENT people. Women, children!” Sara exploded, “And you BURNT IT TO THE FUCKING GROUND”
“You bombed Angel Grove!”
“We hit military instillations. We didn’t commit crimes of war!”
“It’s not my fault you used innocent civilians as shields!”
Sara snapped. She slammed her fist into Erin’s jaw, causing her to stumble back. Feeling the point of impact, she readied herself for Sara’s next assault.
“Tell me why I shouldn’t just kill you right now” said Sara angrily. She lunged at Erin and grabbed her by her coat, then tossed her into the wall. Erin fell to the ground, and looked up at Sara. “Go ahead. Kill me. Kill an injured person out of rage. You’ll just be as bad as I am”
The two women just stared at each other, neither one saying anything, but both breathing heavily.
An explosion rocked the cave, causing Sara to almost topple over. “What was…”
Shawn burst into the room, holding two pistols. “Hey girls, time to wrap it up. We got company!”
Another explosion shook the cavern, causing pebbles to fall from above. Sounds of a firefight could be heard outside.
“Orgs?” Sara asked.
Shawn nodded. “We better pack up. There’s only one of them, but more will be coming”
“Tank’s out of gas, remember?” said Sara, “We’ll have to travel light. That means whatever rations and ammo we can carry, and the clothes on our back” She moved over to open one of the boxes, which contained packets of food. “Get out the backpacks”
Shawn opened up another box, and began pulling out grey backpacks. Five in total, one for each person except Andrew. He tossed one to Sara, and another one to Erin. “Start filling up” he said, grabbing a couple packs himself. Sara opened yet another box and began filling up her bag with water bottles. Another explosion shook the earth.
Shawn pointed at the blanket Erin had been using. “Start putting blankets into yours. Get one for everyone. All six of us”
Erin didn’t argue, and started with hers.
Another explosion sounded, followed by silence as the gunfight ended. The three looked out at the entrance to the cave as Nix and Alex returned. “That was just the scout” said Nix, the Horathian. “They’re on their way”
Sara pointed at Andrew. “Wake our other guest up. Get him dressed” Nix and Alex nodded, and moved over to get Erin’s teammate up.
Erin threw a full bag at Shawn, who tossed her a grey duffle bag, which she began filling with more blankets as a confused and injured Andrew began getting dressed. Shawn began putting filled bags together in a pile, then began filling one up with extra weapons and ammo, filling the smaller pockets of it with matches.
“Where are we headed?” asked Shawn, at Sara. “I think Colorado Springs is still in American hands, but that’s a long way away”
“That’s the only city remotely within walking distance” said Sara, “Unless you wanna go back to Denver, but I think that’s now in Alliance hands”
“Colorado Springs it is” Shawn put the ammo bag down with the rest. He looked over at Andrew, who was now putting on his boots. “We ready to go?”
Sara nodded, taking the weapons bag. “Yeah. Everyone, grab a bag and move out. We make for Colorado Springs and regroup there.”
Erin grabbed the food bag, put Andrew over her shoulders, and muttered to herself, annoyed. “Wonderful. Just fucking wonderful...”
...
Left. Right. Left. Right. Left. Right.
All that was on Erin Tate’s mind was the instructions for her feet to keep sloshing though the thick mud that stuck up past her ankles. Her entire body ached, but she struggled to ignore the agonizing pain, keeping herself focused on the trek ahead.
Just stay alive, she told herself, even as her vision began to blur.
She could hear shells going off, as explosions ripped across the ground in the distance, shaking the very earth she moved upon. One almost cost Erin her balance, even though she was using her sword as a walking stick. She was injured in several places, including what she expected was a sprained ankle, and a deep cut along her abdomen were her ranger suit had been cut open. The heavy grey and black (with hints of blue) armor that overlayed ontop of her black ranger suit was in tatters, and her helmet was gone completely, allowing her shoulder-length, tangled brown hair to fly freely in the cold breeze that was sweeping though the battlefield. Little light lit up the field, thanks to it being night, as well as the thick cloud of dust that hovered above everything.
Around her lay bodies. Some of them were still morphed, others who’s powers had already failed. All of them were lifeless. The wreckage of destroyed heavy vehicles (ranging from command trucks, to tanks, to various hover-tech cycles and ATVs) also littered the field, many of them still burning from the attacks thrust upon them. Up ahead, Erin saw a familiar body among the casualties. A ranger with armor similar to hers (although, these days, only minor details were different from various teams in the same faction) but with hints of green, and missing a helmet. The short black hair and the unshaven beard was a give-away.
Andrew, one of her teammates. He was the soul of the team, the guy who would always keep things light-hearted no matter how bad they got. His limp body was shaken by another explosion a few yards off, revealing a good-sized gash along his right temple. Looking closer, her heart leapt for joy as she saw he was still breathing, slowly. Erin shoved her blade into the mud and bent over to grab Andrew’s body, pulling him over onto her shoulder before grabbing her sword again with her free hand.
Erin moaned softly as another breeze cut through the remains of her power suit, chilling her hurting body to the bone. She looked ahead, at the chain of foothills near her. She decided she would make for the caves in the sides of the hills. After that…well, she’d decide on that then. She stumbled again, now more unstable then ever thanks to the added weight of Andrew, but kept going. Her foot was beginning to swell, making it even harder to move it. But she had to keep going.
The ground was becoming steeper now, as Erin began making her way up the mountain-side. Her vision was becoming even worse now, as her concentration waned. A few flakes of snow began to drop as Erin dropped to her knees, unable to keep going. But she *had* to. She began crawling, dragging Andrew’s body with her, and forgoing her sword. She reached out to the rippling Cliffside ahead of her. Then everything went dark, and the void encircled Erin.
…
“nnng” she muttered, slowly drifting back into the realm of consciousness. “what…”
Her entire body ached. Even opening her eyes caused her pain. The sudden bright light caused her to shut them again, before opening them more slowly.
…Where was she?
“W…where…” she spoke, but she stopped, as she began coughing thanks to her bone-dry mouth. She tried to sit up to get a better look, but just couldn’t muster the strength. As far as she could tell, she was on the ground in…a cave? Wrapped up in a thick blanket, and facing the mouth of the cave, of which only an intense white light shone from. Between her and the entrance sat a number of boxes, as well as a fire that was going in the center of the room. A figure sitting on one of the boxes next to the flame looked behind him, at Erin. He had dark skin, and a shaved head ontop of a thin body which wore a white coat and long camo snow pants.
“Well, well” he said, getting up, “look who’s awake”. He handed Erin a water bottle, which she grabbed greedily, and began chugging it down. “My name’s Shawn. We found you and your buddy unconscious a few miles away, near Denver. Or…what’s left of it, anyway. You’re lucky, a few more minutes in that snowstorm, and you would have been pushin’ up daisies”
Erin stopped chugging the bottle, and moved the opening away from her mouth. “…Who’s side are you on?”
“Why, the United States of America, of course!” he said, with a proud grin…then his face fell into concern, “…Don’t tell me someone as cute as you are one of SPD’s goons”
Erin jumped up, ignoring the pain racking her body. She moved into a position to morph, ready to free herself and Andrew (who was still unconscious a few feet away) from her captors. “Erin Tate, SPD Zeta squad, Green Sector, subsector 225. I’ll kill you myself if you don’t let us go”
Shawn laughed. “Don’t joke around” he pointed to the opening of the cave behind him, “Even if you took me out, you’d never survive out in that snow long enough to make it back to civilization in your state. Especially not with what you’re wearing” he pointed back at her as he sat down.
Erin looked down, to see she had been stripped of most of her clothes, minus her dog-tags, white tank-top, and white underwear…and apparently bandages across her abdomen and wrapped around her ankle. Even her morpher was gone.
“So I’m you’re little sex slave now?” she asked, angrily, moving into a defensive pose.
“Hardly. Your clothes were soaking wet and covered in ice and snow. We threw away both of you guy’s morphers, ‘cuz they were damaged beyond repair. Now, are you a prisoner of war? Yep. But we try to keep you comfortable. I don’t have a thing for sex slaves”
…We? “There are more of you?” she asked, pulling up the blanket around her body. It wasn’t so much that she was embarrassed…far from it. It was that it was so fucking cold. She could see her breath when she exhaled.
Shawn nodded, pulling a pack of cigarettes from his pocket. “Yeah. Alex, Sara, and Nix. They should be back shortly”. He took one of the sticks out of the box, and used the fire to light it up, before taking a drag and standing back up. “Lemme find you some clothes so you don’t freeze to death” He walked over to one of the boxes on the other side of the cave, and opened it, pulling out a white coat and snowpants, like his, as well as a pair of wool socks and white hiking boots. Tossing it all over at Erin’s feet, he said, “camouflaged. We don’t want anyone shooting at us”
Erin grudgingly dropped her blanket and began pulling the socks over her feet. Looking up, she saw Shawn sitting back on his box, watching her. “What, you never seen a woman before?”
Shawn just laughed, but before he could reply, the sound of snow footsteps called his attention to the cave entrance. To his relief, three white hooded figures made their way into the cave, with the same style of clothing as Shawn.
“What’s up?” asked Shawn, as the lead one pulled back her hood. She was an Asian woman, with her black hair tied up in a bun. “We’ve wandered into Org territory. We need to move”
“We sighted a few of them down in the pass” said the man to the right of her. Taking off his hood, he was revealed to be blond-haired, which was cut very short.
The other figure, also male, took off his hood to reveal a face surrounded in a green scaly skull. A Horathian. He said nothing but just looked at Erin, who was now fully dressed, and just putting her boots on. The other two newcomers glanced over at Erin as well.
“So she’s awake?” asked the woman, obviously the leader of the team. Shawn nodded, looking back at her.
“Give us a minute” the woman said. The other three soldiers silently left the cave. The woman looked at Erin.
“Sara I presume” Erin said, recalling Shawn’s listing of names, “Erin Tate, SP—”
“I know who you are” Sara said coldly, cutting off Erin in mid-sentence. “Erin Tate. Member of the SPD Bloodhounds. Responsible for the scorched Earth policy in Washington. Responsible for the razing of the entire Seattle area”
Erin’s face became one of controlled rage. “Your forces were using it as a foreword base of operations. The terrorists that bombed Angel Grove came from here. It was a tactical manu—”
Sara laughed bitterly. “Is THAT what you call it? ‘Tactical maneuver’? ‘Terrorism’?”
“That city—”
“THAT CITY HAD MILLIONS OF PEOPLE LIVING IN IT. INNOCENT people. Women, children!” Sara exploded, “And you BURNT IT TO THE FUCKING GROUND”
“You bombed Angel Grove!”
“We hit military instillations. We didn’t commit crimes of war!”
“It’s not my fault you used innocent civilians as shields!”
Sara snapped. She slammed her fist into Erin’s jaw, causing her to stumble back. Feeling the point of impact, she readied herself for Sara’s next assault.
“Tell me why I shouldn’t just kill you right now” said Sara angrily. She lunged at Erin and grabbed her by her coat, then tossed her into the wall. Erin fell to the ground, and looked up at Sara. “Go ahead. Kill me. Kill an injured person out of rage. You’ll just be as bad as I am”
The two women just stared at each other, neither one saying anything, but both breathing heavily.
An explosion rocked the cave, causing Sara to almost topple over. “What was…”
Shawn burst into the room, holding two pistols. “Hey girls, time to wrap it up. We got company!”
Another explosion shook the cavern, causing pebbles to fall from above. Sounds of a firefight could be heard outside.
“Orgs?” Sara asked.
Shawn nodded. “We better pack up. There’s only one of them, but more will be coming”
“Tank’s out of gas, remember?” said Sara, “We’ll have to travel light. That means whatever rations and ammo we can carry, and the clothes on our back” She moved over to open one of the boxes, which contained packets of food. “Get out the backpacks”
Shawn opened up another box, and began pulling out grey backpacks. Five in total, one for each person except Andrew. He tossed one to Sara, and another one to Erin. “Start filling up” he said, grabbing a couple packs himself. Sara opened yet another box and began filling up her bag with water bottles. Another explosion shook the earth.
Shawn pointed at the blanket Erin had been using. “Start putting blankets into yours. Get one for everyone. All six of us”
Erin didn’t argue, and started with hers.
Another explosion sounded, followed by silence as the gunfight ended. The three looked out at the entrance to the cave as Nix and Alex returned. “That was just the scout” said Nix, the Horathian. “They’re on their way”
Sara pointed at Andrew. “Wake our other guest up. Get him dressed” Nix and Alex nodded, and moved over to get Erin’s teammate up.
Erin threw a full bag at Shawn, who tossed her a grey duffle bag, which she began filling with more blankets as a confused and injured Andrew began getting dressed. Shawn began putting filled bags together in a pile, then began filling one up with extra weapons and ammo, filling the smaller pockets of it with matches.
“Where are we headed?” asked Shawn, at Sara. “I think Colorado Springs is still in American hands, but that’s a long way away”
“That’s the only city remotely within walking distance” said Sara, “Unless you wanna go back to Denver, but I think that’s now in Alliance hands”
“Colorado Springs it is” Shawn put the ammo bag down with the rest. He looked over at Andrew, who was now putting on his boots. “We ready to go?”
Sara nodded, taking the weapons bag. “Yeah. Everyone, grab a bag and move out. We make for Colorado Springs and regroup there.”
Erin grabbed the food bag, put Andrew over her shoulders, and muttered to herself, annoyed. “Wonderful. Just fucking wonderful...”