The Last of Us (IC)

[Drummer-Dan]

Around him Ryan noticed the thunderous sound of marine and STG fire dwindling to be replaced with brief screams and then an ever growing silence. The decrease in firepower and troops alike did little to deter Ryan's drive and courage, he sat poised behind his LMG, continuously throwing rounds down the ever shortening battlefield, it didn't last long as the whistle of the empty chamber signified the last of the ammunition, he felt down to his belt kit and could only feel the one mag remaining. He hammered the clip in swiftly and mounted the LMG on the tripod before bringing his shotgun into the shoulder and loosing of a few cartridges.
A hail of blue plasma flew in his direction, colliding with the surrounding walls of his make shift gun pit as he dived into cover. Remaining on his stomach he leopard crawled over to his fallen comrades and checked them for ammo he could use to bolster the LMG's hastily depleting supply, he found no such luck however and took a look over his shoulder to see yet more plasma flying in trying to pinpoint the heavy weapon cutting through the machines ranks. Though his gun thundered and whirred as it moved on its bipod selecting targets matching the parameters set on Ryan's HUD, the machines carried on unrelenting, and Ryan found himself now to be the only person left at the very front. It was then that a thought struck him, The Charge!, He pulled the detonator from his belt kit and crawled as fast as he could toward the safe zone.

He edged forward on his stomach quickly sliding through the masses of spent cases, rubble and pools of blood, behind him the smooth sound of machinery approaching grew louder. Glancing over his shoulder he could see the gently blip of the 'Armed' light displaying on the explosive charge, it was distant but not distant enough. Rolling behind another damaged wall he rose as high as he dared to in order to move as quickly as possible toward the safe zone, it seemed he was alittle to high as another blast of plasma flew his way taking out a piece of wall just behind him and throwing the broken shards of debris toward him, the wall crumbled on top of him and screamed out as the weight pinned him down at the legs. Managing to roll over onto his back he saw the culprit advancing on him, he brought his shotgun up and fired two rounds into the machines left leg, the circuitry fizzed and whined but held as the machine covered the last of the ground and towering over him, Ryan threw his aim up in let loose three accurate blasts that completely deformed the bots head as the circuitry blew sending the bot toppling backwards, the chassis proved a little more cover at least. Three more bots approached the trapped Ryan and turned their weapons on to him and priming them, Ryan threw his shotgun at the first and watched it bounce helplessly off its solid body, He opened his comm channel.
"Hope this buys you guys some time, see you on the other side. Havoc out" He raised his left hand and gave the three bringers of death the finger before raising his right hand, flicking open the trigger guard on the detonator and squeezing the trigger.

---------------------------------

The resulting explosion was bigger than one might have thought given the size of the actual explosive itself, it had sent the three bots well clear of Ryan's now stagnant body, which lay beneath layers of rubble which, as he had hoped, had cut off any access from the advancing machines to the safe zone.

Total darkness was all that surrounded Ryan. So this is death? thought it would look more interesting to be honest? His thoughts comforted him, if he could think then he couldn't be dead, right?
He tried bringing up his HUD but it just whirred gently in his ears, it finally flicked into life, the screen pulsing and juddering which was no doubt a by product of the impact the suit had suffered. He tried moving his toes, all good. His fingers, all good. His legs, no good. He found some lee way in his arms and tried to wriggle them free, it was useless, the rubble was positioned too awkwardly and weighed to much for him do anything of any real use.
His HUD finally finished booting and he attempted to open his comm channel only to find that his mic had been damaged to badly to be of any help,He then remembered the emergency protocol program and opened it.

Activate Emergency Protocol ----- Initializing Emergency Protocol ----- Oxygen Levels low: Activating Emergency Oxygen ----- Vital Signs: Good -------- Opening SOS options ------ Activate ETS ------ Electronic Tracking System Active ----- Send SOS Ping ----- Ping sent... Warning: Power Low

The ETS brought up a flashing beacon on the radar of the emergency response squad who monitored their screens religiously in case of situations such as these, this was a last resort though as they probably wouldn't make it in time, his Ping however, would alert his squad to his suits presence by momentarily flooding their HUD's flashing alerts providing them with his Suits ID and his current Physical and mental status, once they had clicked this they could pinpoint his location on their map, accurate to within five feet.
Ryan sat silently, he knew better than to panic, that just wasted precious energy and oxygen and would only make things worse, instead, he thought of his squad and hoped his actions had bought them enough time to get the wounded out and receive the reinforcements.
He also hoped he wouldn't be stuck down here for too long, there was only so much oxygen in his tank after all.

[iByaah]

"All response teams enroute to STG barracks, avoid the main street and come by side alleyways. Machine fireteams are being pushed back but are still on the central routes in force." Leo keyed into his comms while scanning up and down the streets. The frontlines were as bloody as ever but the Synthetic attack seemed to have been slowed to an absolute crawl. On the other side of the city, reinforcement squads were reaching their areas and providing relief to the first response teams. Thank whoever's up there. Another couple minutes of this and 001's innards would be much bloodier. Splatter looked through the Cricket's scope and took the head of another Heavy. Three magazines down, two more shots and I gotta make a run for the barracks...

"STG Beta, what's your status down there?" Leo called down as he prioritized his targets. From the radio chatter, he reasoned that Captain Vallenco was still alive and being seen to. A message from Tank and a large explosion alerted the sniper to his teammate's predicament. He'd seen Ghost carrying away Singer from the frontline while the reinforcements took over fighting. Leo sighed, picking two more Heavies to terminate. As the shots flew downrange and relieved the targets of their knee joints, Splatter waited for any response. "I say again, STG Beta, status? This is Splatter, you have response teams enroute to relieve your position."

Leo stood from his firing position, broke the anti-materiel rifle down, and stowed it to the mag-hooks on his back. Veng sighed as he surveyed the rooftop he'd perched on. The hole in the ceiling from the Heavy's cannon had left barely half of it workable and the ladder to street level was exactly on the other side of that hole. Terrific, the route was looking pretty obvious as he eyed the drop. Gotta get those upgrades. Without a chance to have second thoughts, he dropped down through the crater to the floor below. He landed with a thud and rolled through to avoid hurting himself. Well, I'm rusty... Leo groaned as he stood up. Inwardly, he wondered what Ghost would say if he saw that sorry excuse for a descent.

A few minutes later saw Splatter on a side alley leading to the main road before the barracks. As the reinforcements came forward to shore up UGC's lines, he moved from cover to cover, upturned car to charred bus, his main goal the STG Barracks. Across the pockmarked street what was left of the Synthetic shock troopers were being forced back under constant fire from the response teams. Leo fired a couple shot from his Jericho before diving into the Barracks. "Ryan hold on, help is coming," he keyed into his comms, taking cover about 20 yards away from where his teammate was holding the line.

[Celestial]

A makeshift medical compound had been taken up within a crumbling building. Over the pass few minutes, wounded poured into the compound while medical supplies were quickly divided amongst the handful of medics that traveled from soldier to soldier. The ones that could be bandaged up and reinserted into the fight were quickly taped up and sent back on their way. The ones that were stable but had wounds too critical to bandage up remained within the building while IV fluids and other medical equipment pumped into their system. The critical, ones who were bordering consciousness and too weak to fight, let alone perform basic functions, were quickly evaced to the hospitals first. Their injuries were of the highest priority and would go first before the other soldiers. The sound of fighting still rang through the cement halls as the machines were slowly being pushed back. The toll exacted from the UGCU military was heavy though, they could not withstand a second wave given their current condition.

Claire gritted her teeth as a medic operated quickly on her wound. She'd be damned if she sat this one out. She had already wasted enough time sitting on her ass. "How much longer? I need this wound patched up right now!"

The medic expertly applied a medica gel as he continued to the clean the wound. "With all due respect ma'am, you shouldn't be moving at all. You're asking to be pumped with painkillers and adrenaline - definitely against protocol." A hiss escaped her lips as the gel burned as it began to cool. "You're lucky that the internal damage wasn't too extreme. You sure you wanna go back out there? It'll hurt like a bitch to walk, ma'am."

She gingerly swung her lips over the table as the medic okayed her to move. A dull burning pain emitted from her wound as she tried to walk. It wasn't as strong as before, but the shot had certainly left its impact and mark. She'd have to pay back the machines that did this to her and took away her fellow comrades. "This is nothing." She gritted her teeth as she found a stray Marine helmet laying around. This would have to do until she could get hers replaced. She picked up a rifle and some clips. "Another shot."

"That'll kill you ma'am. You've already exceeded the appropriate amount of drugs. I strongly suggest you don't go back. You're not critical, but that wound will get you killed."

She smirked as she limped towards the door. "Obviously you weren't at DC when all the shit hit the fan..." She looked into the building again as she shook her head. "Save as many of them as possibly doc. We'll need as many men when this is all over."

With that, she slowly made her way back towards the direction where the fighting sounded the heaviest. She had to reconnect with her squad and make sure everyone was alright. She couldn't fathom losing any of them, but she prepared herself to accept what had come to pass. Death was not a new to her, but all the same, she hated to see it.

She passed vehicles still burning from plasma rounds or what was left after the energy cells had exploded. Corpses littered the ground, machine and human alike. Someone was going to pay she thought angrily as she passed into an alleyway. The shot began to ache as she clenched her teeth together.

After minutes had passed, she reemerged onto the ruins of Beta's barracks as she took in the scene. Many dead graced the floor while the walls of the barracks crumbled to nothing but broken sections and crumbling particles. Large black scorched marks remained from the Heavies, which she was glad that all had been taken care of. Already there was a huge influx of reinforcements tracking in from the other parts of the city, slowly pushing the machines back. Then she saw him. "Jesus Christ..."

As she moved, a nauseating dizziness caused her to stop and lean on a nearby wall for support. Her breathing was ragged as her wound suddenly pounded with relentless tenacity. She opened her pouch as she took a pain killer. She uncapped the needle and plunged it onto the wound site and pushed the injection button. The drug needed only seconds until the pain subsided into its dormant ache again. With a sigh, she began to move again. Singer was hurt bad. Real bad.

"Ghost." Her voice was hoarse and her throat felt dry. Then she turned to Isis. "Is he still alive?"

She toggled the HUD within the Marine's helmet and plugged it back into Beta's comm chatter. It didn't surprise her that she wasn't registered within the roster. "Beta, this is Raven. Report your condition and regroup on this signal." Her breathing became labored as she stood next to the downed Marine as she noticed his missing lower body and left arm. "My god Singer ..."

[101 Scout1]

Nolan was catching his breath behind a wall, a short distance from the frontlines, which were rapidly being pushed back, when he heard a familiar voice come over the comm. It was tired and it took a moment for him to place it. "Captain? Oh, Jesus Christ... I know that COs are devoted to their troops, but this is ridiculous!" He muttered to himself, having shut off the mic in his helmet as he shook his head. The man pushed himself up from the ground, his shotgun across his chest as he marched himself parallel to the line that was pushing against the machines. He clicked the comm back on, "This is Annalist, First Lieutenant Gibbson, to Beta," He spoke. There was a pause, "Captain, shouldn't you be in the hospital? You were hit pretty damn hard and I'm positive they pumped you with plenty of drugs..." The Lieutenant started to double-time his movement, taking to a brisk jog as his HUD led him to the group. He found the Captain and Isis kneeling beside Singer...

Nolan crouched beside the captain, his shotgun now hanging in front of him. "Captain, what the hell are you doing?" He asked sternly. He didn't want to step out of line, but there was a line. "I understand wanting to be there for your men, but this is insane!" He looked over to Isis, and then Singer... The condition was bad... Even if they could revive him, he was missing over half of his body, would Singer even want to live that way? Nolan doubted it, but it wasn't his place to decide for him.

He kept his eyes peeled as his gaze scanned over their surroundings every few moments, knowing that if another wave of heavies attacked, they would have to move. Another Marine lay dead nearby, a bullet in his head. Jesus Christ... this was bad.

[Hymusia]

The fight moved around her, bullets flying and men marching by but her eyes never left her patient. Even as she reached into her pack her eyes didn't move. He was lucky in some senses, when the plasma grenade had gone off it had taken his legs, however it had seared most of the wound shut preventing Singer from bleeding out. While still the wounds wept she could properly seal them at the fall back point, so for the time she doused them in iodine and wrapped them with gauze and bandages. His arm, which had seen less of the blast and so still bled. With laser scalpel in hand she sealed the more important parts of the wound before wrapping those as well.

Pack was zipped shut and thrown on her back, both straps fit snuggly and clipped across the chest. She was about to pick up the marine when the mouthy boy from earlier happened upon them and scooped up them badly injured marine. “Thank you, be careful with him but we need to get him to the medical fall back point as quickly as possible.” As she started to get up she noticed the Captain and fought back the urge to utter something about the incompetence of other medics. “I'm relieving you of command Captain, you are clearly delusional and a danger to yourself and everyone around you. Gibbs will you carry the Captain back, she won't be walking.” Isis spun the needle in her grip and with movements quick and agile for a surgeon she found the gaping hole in the captain's arm and plunged the solution into her veins.

It was the equivalent of knock out drops and hopefully wouldn't affect her body too much but the woman had now risked not only her life but the four other people here as well by being so stupid. She had no respect for people without a shred of common sense or forethought for their team. A true commander would not risk her company's lives by coming out in such a state. “Aries would never have been so foolish.” She muttered to herself before standing up and looking to the two with her. “Who is next in charge after the Captain? Radio them and tell they are now the commanding officer until the Captain regains her senses and is cleared by me for action.”

It seemed harsh but Isis was actually looking out for all involved here, even if it didn't seem that way, an errant, perhaps insane Commanding Officer would make ridiculous decisions, like returning to the field injured as she was, would be more damaging to personnel than the machine attacks. With a motion of her hand she would lead the way, again, for the two men and their downed comrades back up towards the fall back point.

Once again though she stopped at the crest of the hill, at almost the exact same place as she had the first time. Her head whipped around as she saw an SOS signal flash up on her HUD with location and name of the soldier involved. However if she went back now the Captain would surely be allowed to do whatever she wanted, the medic's clearly had no clue what they were doing and Singer needed proper medical attention the likes of which these medic's were unlikely to provide. It was not a slur on their abilities but judging by their moral stance they didn't seem to care two clicks about the oath they all were sworn under. With a heavy heart she turned from the SOS beacon and patched in her radio, “This is Isis of Zodiac squad calling Valkyrie Zero, I need your assistance on a rescue and evac. Run to these co-ordinates. Do you copy?” It was all she could do for now to patch the co-ordinates of the beacon through to the flying unit and hope they were able to get to the soldier in time.

Turning to the two who were still, hopefully, behind her she called out, “I'm going to go ahead and prepare a table for Singer, Gibbs take the Captain to the medical tent and secure her, tell the medic's I will speaking with their superior about their dangerous conduct.” Turning then to Vincent she added, “Bring him at your pace and then get yourself looked at.” With that the petite thing sprinted off with her heavy pack, bounding up the incline with all the trouble of an antelope on a mountain side.

Inside she quickly took a table and secured it behind a make shift curtain. A sheet was made to cover it while she rustled up what she could from her pack to be ready for the surgery that she was about to perform. She had an over head light which she attached to the curtain, turned on it blared down and lit the table with a honeycomb of light. A small tray was found and this was where she placed all her instruments. She also threaded the surgical needle and cut it to length while awaiting Singer and the man carrying him. As long as Singer was alive she was going to try to make sure he stayed that way, that was the Hippocratic oath and in war times the medical staff were given the power to relieve CO's that were acting as the Captain had been. Why most medic's seemed to take both the oath and this military law as nothing but guidelines she had no idea.

[Zhaliora]

After Lisa had set up her position in a crevice in the roof that was large enough to support her and her equipment but there was no room to sit without having her jets on. She cursed under her breath and called upon the plans and maps for the city to see if the roof was thick enough to `make some space´ for her. She took a good look at the maps and did some calculations in her head before she raised her armoured fist and punched into the rock three times, making a seat for her and another punch to make a stand for her rifle. Satisfied, she flew into the hole and shut down her jets and attached the optics cord to her scope from the helmet. Suddenly her entire HUD turned into one big transparent scope. Due to it being transparent, she could still see with her eyes and not being limited to only what the scope saw. It was an upgrade to the system that she had personally requested for her squad compared to the HUD being entirely replaced by what the scope saw.

She brought up the kill-count and longest kill again and noticed that Five was ahead of the rest by a margin. Lisa smiled as her disciplined and efficient Valkyries wrecked havoc in the enemy lines. True to the competition spirit, the others was not far behind Five, and she herself was in the bottom due to transporting Isis. Lisa ejected the normal rounds from the rifle and made a mantle motion to eject the round already loaded. She put the magazine next to her and took out some high explosive rounds from her ammo pouch and loaded the rifle with them. She scanned with her scope for groups of enemies. Her helmet improved the zoom capabilities of the scope to 3X50.

She zoomed in on the barracks just in time to see a marine get blown in two by a plasma grenade. The man crawled up to another marine whom got badly injured in the blast and shot him after they talked for a while. She tried to listen in on what they were saying but she was unable to. "Four, remind me to complain to the research team again about the specified audio enhancement, mine is not working properly. Is your's working, four?" "Negative Ma'am. Mine is not working properly either, only at times." "Rodger" Lisa sighed as she saw Isis starting to attend to the half soldier. "He made the right call, the other one was impossible to save" she contemplated making a mercy kill on the soldier Isis was attending, but even a normal round would probably damage Isis heavily too due to the kinetic energy.

She zoomed out a little and saw a large group of light machines flanking the barracks from a side that the reinforcements had not got to yet. It would become a slaughter if the soldiers rushed in since the machines were digging in into buildings and behind covers. She calmly raised her rifle and let the scope auto-adjust to the range before she let hell loose on the machines. The shells roared through the air as you could hear a distinct crack when the shells broke the sound barrier. The heavy shells sounded something akin to artillery as they flew through the air over the soldiers at the barracks and they tore up both environment and machines as they struck the ground. "HEEEEEEEEEY! High explosive rounds is cheating Zero!" she could hear Five almost screaming her displeasure into the comm. "Too many targets for non-explosive. Preservation of lives took over, sorry Five." Five snorted back in the comm as Lisa climbed up to second place on the kill-count. She zoomed in on the area her rounds had slammed into the ground. The entire area looked like a field of large craters. "That is going to give the marines on the ground a headache" she grinned as she saw the marines getting up from their hiding places and looked at the devastation before they decided on walking around the area.

Lisa once against looked towards the barracks and noticed Claire walking up to the others. "What the hell is she doing!?" Lisa had to resist the urge to power up her jets and going down there when Isis relieved Claire of her command. For once, the audio enhancer was working, and it was not something she wanted to see, nor hear. "Why are you so stupid Claire? You weren't that stupid in the old days, but then again, she never got wounded like that before." Lisa sighed deeply to herself and calmed her nerves.

Suddenly Isis voice broke into her comm; “This is Isis of Zodiac squad calling Valkyrie Zero, I need your assistance on a rescue and evac. Run to these co-ordinates. Do you copy?” Lisa checked the coordinates compared to where she was right now. "I hear you loud and clear Isis. The coordinates are close by so I'll do the honours of helping out the medic. Also, you did the right thing with Claire. I am glad there are some competent medics in this city. I'll be taking care of your errand soon." Lisa cut the connection and looked through her scope one last time and locked in on the coordinates she had been given. The soldier seemed to be trapped under some debris. She zoomed out some and looked around the position. There was another group of mechanical soldiers nearby there was also a tall building nearby. She made a quick decision and aimed towards the buildings foundations and fired a few rounds. The building started to lean more and more until the foundations gave way and the building started to fall to the ground. It crashed into the ground with a loud bang and created a huge pile of scrap, crushing two mechanical troopers and cutting the rest of them off from where the soldier was trapped.

Lisa ignited her jets and put the rifle on her back and pulled out the DMR before she accelerated to almost top speed and dove like a rocket to the ground. The last few meters she turned her body around and really activated top speed upwards. This maneuver put high stress on both body and suit and she still crashed into the ground at some speed. "Good thing this armour is build to last" she smiled as the pure energy of the act had blown away part of the debris covering the downed soldier. She put the DMR onto her back besides the now folded Anzio and started to lift. Some of the junk she was able to lift away, but some of it, she had to ignite her jets and use the extra power to life it off.

Finally uncovered, she looked down at the soldier in his armour. She crouched down and took one of the cords from her helmet and plugged it into the soldiers helmet, creating a direct link since his power was very low. "I am Valkyrie Zero. I am here to pick you up and bring you to the medical centre. I'll inject some power into your suit to make it easier to move you. Hang on a second." She brought up her HUD and indicated it to send energy into the downed soldiers armour. "Hmmm.....my suit will need to idle somewhat soon, the power is running out" she sighed and cut the connection to the soldier and picked him up and once again ignited her jets. She did not say a word to the soldier as she flew with him to the medical centre before she dropped him off.

"Valkyrie Zero to all Valkyrie's. My power run out somewhat soon so I'll return to overwatch and stay idle until the battle is over. If we get any more calls for assistance, you'll have to volunteer for them instead of me." Five Rodger's soon followed after she had finished the transmission and started flying up to her spot in the ceiling again. This time however, she flew much slower then normal, only supersonic.

[Celestial]

A lone figure stood on the outskirts of UGC-001’s eastern gates as it looked on with foreboding eyes. The winds of change were coming, and it was he who would be the harbinger of the great change. Icarus had demanded its children to carry out what the forbearers, the ones who raised the glorious machines to the pinnacle of evolution, had started. The cry for the annihilation of the creators was echoed throughout the Network as each and every protocol was recalled into the Assembly to War. First, those who possessed technology would be sentenced to their punishment, then those who had decided to brave the world above as their sons and daughter became hardened to the war would be next. The crazed creators would undergo systematic death. The machines would wipe them out like the insects they were.

“Harbinger, the attacking vectors codes have been lost.” A box-like machine sat hunched over as its eyes stared obsessively into a screen. Its body looked like a human whom had their back arched all the way back, a posture that would no doubt crush every vertebrae to form. “Heavy vectors have been lost too. Recommendation: requisition more units, reinforce, retreat.”

A low rumble emitted from the Harbinger’s metallic chest as its seemingly human-like face sneered. “Requisition, reinforce, retreat. What have we at our disposal?”

“Less than a platoon of vectors.”

“Within the city?”

“Less than two platoon of vectors.”

Harbinger waved dismissively as its arm whirred with deadly energy. “Then we shall press on until every vector is exhausted. Our attack on the human shall be devastating. They shall suffer from our anguish since the dark years, and continue to feel the wrath of the machines. Icarus demands it.”

The machine attendant nodded as it began to peep and buzz in an alien language. “All vectors have been ordered. Commencing activation routine 21:34.”

Harbinger nodded as he and a cohort of machines that were built, like him, in resemblance of a human. “One last push then,” he muttered to himself. He stared at his chest as a familiar thump, hidden behind a multitude of metallic layers, thumped in rhythm with the brother around him. They were the next step in evolution. Icarus had said so. “We are the calm before the storm. We are the messengers – the saviors – of what we once were. Rejoice, for Icarus has promised us. Rejoice.”

---

As the heavies and machines held their ground, the fresh reinforcements fought with unmatched tenacity as the machines were slowly being pushed back. Claire watched all of this as she felt strong arms grip her shoulders. She had not noticed them for she was too concentrated on what was happening in front of her.

“I’m gunna kill that son-of-a-bitch medic that cleared you,” growled a voice as another pair of hands seized her. “Unless you want your rank pulled, as the Lieutenant was about to do, I suggest you quit your twitching. Sergeant, a hand please?”

As Claire was being led back by a cohort of medic mixed with Marines, the man that had ordered the deranged Captain back walked after the First Lieutenant that had been treating the mortally – hell – the butchered Marine that was still alive. He came to a table where the Medic was beginning to operate.

He walked beside the table and began to analyze the body with his medica helmet, he made absolutely sure to stay out of the medic’s way, for no one dare interrupt a treatment – especially this one.

He toggled his headset. “Lock onto my location and drop off a container of anti-biotics and level – D medica supplies.”

The radio quickly responded. “Yes Colonel. Anything else?”

“I sent a Captain back. Make sure she doesn’t leave the medical compound under any circumstances.” He looked to see two men standing by – both from STG Beta. “Your Captain always so stupid?” he asked as he sterilized his hands. “First Lieutenant Isis, is it? I’m Colonel Maric, Chief Medica of UGC-001. The Marine won’t survive through your conventional,” he looked at her hands, “needle and thread. We’re going to emergency evac him to Central. He’ll have a chance there.” He looked at the wounds and sighed. “Medical gel the arm and the torso. Save the other supplies for others that’ll benefit from it.”

He tapped his pack as tubes of medical gel popped into his hands. He tossed one to Isis. “You don’t have to approve, just do it.”

---

Harbinger looked at the destruction as he grinned. He was bred for war. His memories flourished with the hunt as he instructed the Specials to fan out. There, he aimed with his arm as targeting algorithms played through his orange tinted vision. As it locked he shot to the sky as he saw a flyer burn from the green energy he had shot. It was a marvelous sight, he could ask for nothing better.

“Harbinger. Vector count decreasing to platoon strength,” reported a Special as it shot a similar energy discharge at a disintegrating human soldier. “Your orders?”

He didn’t even pause as the words left his mouth. “Issue protocol 67:65.”

“… Protocol issued.”

As Harbinger shot down more of the flying targets, he motioned for the machines around him to fall back. In the background, as his mind buzzed with the symphonic sound of war, he heard thunderous explosions. The vectors would serve the great idea even in death.

---

Damon and Boer were knocked to their feet. The air was punched out of their lungs as they gasped for oxygen but receiving nothing. Their vision had gone dark as they grouped the ground. All around them, they could hear cries of the dying as the shooting has stopped.

“Sergeant … Boer – the fuck just happened?”

“I can’t see shit, and you’re asking me?” retorted Boer as he tried to clear his vision. “Why did the machines stop?”

“Maybe we knocked them out?”

Boer shook his head as his vision began to clear. “With us being outnumbered and shit? Don’t kid yourself. Can you see yet?”

“Almost … Can you?”

Boer looked up as his heart sank. All around him, limbs were scattered here and there as some of the Defense Corps troopers were crawling on their gut. He felt bile rise from his throat as he quickly stripped off his helmet.

“Boer, what is it man?”

The Sergeant never answered as he hurled over – only liquid had come out, for he had consumed nothing up until now. The lurched over again as the smell of cooked and burnt meat assaulted his senses. “Don’t … Look – Jesus Christ.”

---

Harbinger turned as he stood outside of the city gates. His visions magnified as he smiled a gruesome smile comprised of nothing but metallic plates and chrome teeth. “Take a moment and look brothers. Look as the humans crawl amongst the floor like the bugs that they are. Icarus will be pleased.”

“For the Great Idea,” replied the other machines in metal grinding voices.

----

Colonel Maric groaned as he rubbed the back of his neck. He had been applying medical gel to the soldier and the next thing he knew, he was lying on the ground, aching from head to toe. He toggled his helmet. “Someone tell me what the hell just happened! What was that explosion!”

Only silence answered him.

He saw a Marine slowly get to his feet and motioned to him. “Go find out what’s going on! Either the comms are down o—“

“They’re gone,” replied the Marine as he looked out the window at the impact craters. He dropped his weapon and succumbed to his knees. “The tin cans destructed and took everyone with them ...."

[Hymusia]

Singer's poor broken body was upon the table and her hands began to move once again, she worked with a precision that was only seconded to her speed. So when the Commander had walked in Isis had already hooked up a pair of drips to the poor soldier and unfastened the bandages to his arm wound so she could better see to the damaged area. Such a thing was simple fare, check the nerves, take back the bone, pack the wound, sew it shut. Singer's biggest enemy was shock, loss of fluids and mental despair, all of which could prove to be fatal. When the Commander spoke she glanced to him, her lack of salute was clearly no lack of manners, however her hands were knuckle deep in her work and even he could see the seriousness of the marines wounds.

She had hoped to privately work on Singer, wanting to use that time to phone the General and ask if she could be reassigned and inform him of what a complete mess these people were. Mind you it was hardly a conversation worth having as she knew what his response would be without him telling her it. The Commander spoke up about a gel and threw her a tube which she caught while barely looking up from the body. The exposed nerves and veins would be another problem, any major damage to them, or to his head could kill Singer. She had been about to reply with her opinion on the matter he spoke of when he ordered her to silence, she was not one for disobeying orders and his order didn't immediately put Singer's life at risk. If of course the Commander tried moving the marine, that would be when they had a disagreement, any small jolt or shock to his body from the moment he was blown apart could have killed him. She was honestly surprised he was still clinging on at all to life but she would not reward that feisty determination by further putting his life at risk.

While his argument on supplies was valid, it seemed the medical tent was lacking in many and while her back pack was quite large if it was all they had it would be better conserved, her instructor had always taught her there was never a right or a wrong patient for supplies. Just a patient. She did not see the logic, nor understand the point in having bought medical supplies to treat the war victims if she did not use them on those that needed them. She did not have a full medical centre for sure and most of the blood packs would be, without refrigeration, spoiled soon but that was more so the reason to continue her aid rather than wait on the right patient to need them.

The Commander also had little idea of her skill, she was not like the knife wielders here, the ones that patched them up and sent them out, knowing all too well they may never come back. She had done many procedures, none as complicated as this mind, in similar environments and she had quite the good success rate. Taking the bone in his arm back a few inches had been tricky, it was hard to cut with just the tools she had to hand and the Commander leaning over her work as he did. Still she managed to carefully remove a segment and ensure that all the veins and arteries were sealed off. She'd have to change the packing as the soldier healed she was sure, however for now a thick wad of what felt and looked a little like foam was inserted into the wound around the gap. With that more iodine was sloshed about before finally she began to close the now flesh flaps with the typical surgical stitches, followed by a second layer of finer stitches. It would be absolutely tragic if the stitches came undone too soon.

As the Commander was finishing applying the gel to one of the injured man's legs an explosion knocked him and many others off their feet. Isis though treated to the light before the sound had flung herself across Singer's body and gripped to the tables edges. She, the equipment, Singer and the Iv's almost all went over as the entire room shook and dust rained down in the after shock. However, to her amazement and satisfaction Singer was still attached to his IV's and she had heard his heart while pressed close to his chest. Weak, faint, like an injured bird but it still beat and that meant Isis would continue fighting for him. The Commander was slow to his feet so she'd applied the medical gel to the now, mostly, fixed arm stump before wrapping it in fresh gauze and further fresh bandages. Securing it with a small amount of tape.

As the Commander got up and began to ask questions, and get the answers Isis knew was coming, the medic had moved to the leg that had yet to be covered in the medical gel. Unwinding the bandages and removing the gauze to take a good look at the damage there. Most of the nerves seemed shot but the arteries and veins were in relatively good condition. She'd have to do some work to make sure they would not leak and cause discomfort and worse to the soldier but she was relatively sure the work was not going to be too difficult at all. Grabbing the magnifying visor she slipped it on and the adjusted it so she could better see her work, finding a fresh set of clamps and a clean surgical blade she began the work. The Commander now had bigger things to worry about than a marines well being while she did not.

[101 Scout1]

Nolan nodded and moved to get the Captain before a familiar man came up from behind her, barking an order. He saw the insignia on his arm and immediately recognized the colonel as his hand shot to his head, his feet came together, and he saluted. "Colonel, sir!" He spoke before being waved off and joining them around Singer's body. Nolan stared him up and down, it was awful... He doubted that even if he survived he would want to live like that... But it wasn't his choice to make. He turned away to check on the situation when something went off... several things... There were explosions and the ground shook and the sounds reverberated throughout the entire area.

The Lieutenant's eyes opened slowly, fluttering behind his helmet. He was against the wall, laying on the floor, his rifle across his chest and his shotgun, which must have fallen from his shoulder, was a few feet away on the floor. Everything was kinda blurry, he was seeing double for a moment. He groaned, pulling off his helmet and grabbing the back of his head. It was pounding and he saw that Isis was okay, the colonel was shaking a Marine. Nolan stood up and rubbed his head, his helmet in his hand. "Ugh... What... what the fuck happened?" He asked, his head was absolutely pounding. He couldn't remember the blast, everything was foggy and his mind was cloudy as he looked around... The world seemed so surreal now... like nothing was actually going on around him. However, he couldn't hear anything. His ears were ringing sharply and he was losing his balance, putting a hand on the wall beside him. The room felt like it was tilting. His own words were even inaudible to himself as he spoke way too loudly than necessary, "Ishish... W-what haappennnnn...ed?" He asked, his words stretching in a slur as he blinked, the light in the area was causing his headache to get worse.

His hearing was slowly coming back, but the ringing was ever-present despite being able to catch some words here and there... Somebody vaguely explained an explosion, and the colonel asked how it could happen. Nolan tried to find his way over to the man, but he stumbled over his own feet on his way and nearly hit the ground before standing completely still. Explosion... Everything was gone... "C-colonel... I... I think that there'sh a shyshtem... A shelf-deeshtruct... shomethiiing put in shome of the... the... the thingsh... L-like a failshafe... Did they u-ushe that... ash a weapon?" He asked at the end. The entire sentence took him far, far to long to actually say, and the world was still spinning as he tried his best to focus on the Colonel, still unsure how hard he must have hit his head.

[Pax]

It was a field day for her. The Heavies were slow, large, clumsy. THey were easy pickings for a person like her. It was simply a matter of being where they could not shoot at her, could not grab her, could not do anything even remotely threatening. It was simple really. All she needed to do was be in their faces, if you could even say those machines had faces. Even though they were more than a head taller than the lithe woman, Sophia was much more than a match for those she met. When the order was given to disperse, Sophia paid no heed as to why but simply to where she should go. She sprinted off her slain foe and jumped into a brawl with a second, using her momentum to jump up and catch the machine's neck before slamming it into the ground and pummeling it until the head was messily severed from the torso. Large bolts of plasma were shot her way but quick blinks out of sight made tracking her as a target difficult, even for the advanced targeting systems of the machines. Between dodging bolts and trying tor get into cover, she was met with a single heavy slowly turning, its gun already glowing with energy. Sophia bullrushed the machine and jumped, going feet first into the machine and knocking it to the ground with a resounding crunch of metal before the machine's overcharged gun discharged wildly, the bolt heading up and blowing out wall. A second salvo of bolts shortly followed and this time the acrobatic fighter was not so lucky. While dodging, a cat, panicked and yowling, burst out of a trashcan where it had been hiding, startling the woman just enough for a bolt to connect close enough to sear her left leg. Sophia cursed loudly as she limped into the darkness, the machines more distracted with their objective to waste energy giving chase to just one human.

The sounds of the intense fighting between the humans and their machines echoed awfully in that alley. The sizzling sounds of the bolts flying through the air reminded her of a thousand snakes hissing in unison. The chatter of ballistic weapons were reminiscent of firecrackers during The Fourth of July. She remembered one of those celebrations from when she was a small girl, the night sky was filled with millions of stars as the fireworks flew up with a whistle and popped with a roar of thunder and beautiful lights. Sophia limped further into the alley and sat down between a pair of trashcans, supporting her leg with a nearby cinder block. She sighed as she looked back on that night, hot dogs and hamburgers and the smell of charcoal on the grill. Kids like her laughing as they played tag or hide-and-seek. The lake shimmered under the moonlight as the adults were setting up the display. Her mother had made her wear a dark blue dress and red and white ribbon in her hair. She remembered how all the other mothers adored her, saying how gorgeous and cute she looked. How did it all end up like this? One night she's sitting on a red and white checkered blanket, cuddling with her papa watching the night sky fill with a cascade of colors, the next, she's sitting in a crap-filled alley, with a messed up leg, cursing the world for the shithole it's become. She laid her sword across her lap and simply looked at it, what did she really have to live for now? Her parents were dead, her brother was dead, hell, she was probably dead too, she just hadn't quite gotten around to checking out.

Looking at that sword, she knew that if she went, she would finally be done with all this crap. All the pain, all the death, just gone. Heck, she may even go on to a better place, one that wasn't full with cannibal zombie things and robots that were trying to burn the flesh right off your bones. Unsheathing the black katana she wondered how she would even go about it, she couldn't exactly hold it and stab herself in the stomach, the thing was too big. She cried out in frustration and tossed the sword aside. The pain in her leg was only getting worse. The sounds of bolts and bullets was only getting louder. She retreated into herself and curled up as best she could, hugging her good leg and moaning as the other one simply radiated with agony. If it wasn't for this, she may have heard those footsteps. Growing louder and louder as a hulking machine came through the alley. Much larger than a heavy and unarmed. She looked up at it and tried to scramble away, dragging her leg up and crying out as it collapsed under her, sending her sprawling to the ground.

"NO, no no no NOOO!", she screamed as she tried to beat the machine away. It's advance was steady and even Sophia's flailing did little to stop it. When its large chassis-like chest opened to reveal a hollow compartment, Sophia grew even more panicked and tried to crawl away. The machine picked her up by the dud leg, eliciting a yell of intense pain before it roughly inserted her into its torso and closed, leaving Sophia's yelling and poundings muted. It simply walked away at that point, lumbering off into the straight before heading out of the city, its armed brothers covered its slow retreat. Sophia's katana lay in the dirt and as Sophia exited the city, a small light started to blink from within the handle as the katana itself started to send its coordinates out to all channels.

__________________________________________________ _

The battle was over. The machines had suddenly blown up like a bunch of kamikazes. A man looked out the window at the destruction, the humans below scrambling to and fro caring for the wounded, transported the bodies, mourning for the losses of friends, families and loved ones. His door slid open with a click and swish behind him.

"Can I help you?"

"You've been activated Fog. Please report to the armory and then coordinates in this envelope. Follow orders from there."

The man turned around and picked up the envelope and turned it around in his hands.

"Let me guess, they need some more muscle to move all the dead around?"

The other man, a skinny, pale fellow in a lab coat simply pursed his lips. He adjusted his glasses and shook his head before heading out the door.

"Agent Smoke has gone MIA"