November 14, 2111
Dro'Zer
City lights illuminated the skyline and streets below. The air was brisk, and the temperature was dropping. However, a little cold air never fazed a korkyra. Their pelts and insulated, thick skin kept them warm in even the coldest of weathers. Airra leaned against Dro'Zer's shoulder, and they both rounded out the back line of the five remaining korkyran warriors. After Airra activated the divisor bomb, she was left in a horribly weakened state. Dro'Zer had to double back to retrieve her from the rubble of a fallen skyscraper. Over time, she regained some strength but was still unable to walk independently. According to Airra, the Devisor bomb required her life-force to activate it, although Dro'Zer wasn't sure if he believed that. Having said that, she was clearly depleted of energy to the point where she'd be unable to regrow her body; in other words, she would be an easy kill.
The korkyran warriors stopped where the lake water splashed the decorated limestone walkway. The circular city was edged with water, and their platoon was at one now. Trapped, Dro'Zer and his allies could hear the footsteps of the oncoming ARW soldiers. Options now were in short supply. Fight or die? Those were the only options that came to mind.
"Dro'Zer!" Airra, heaving from exhaustion, tried to put as much boom in her voice as she could muster. "I have to get this back to base. The future of this galaxy hangs on it." She held up the key they'd stolen. "Do you understand?"
Dro'Zer nodded. "Fight or die." He could've sworn he saw a small shimmer of water fall from right below her eye. A tear? No, not Airra.
"Hold them off as long as possible, and, ah… show them the true power of a warlord. If you survive--"
Dro'Zer cut her off. "There is no surviving this. They have too many. Let this be the day my warriors use to rally against the ARW savages. Will you do that?"
"Everyone will know of this day."
"Before you go, would you like one of my men to escort you in your weakened state?"
"I'm a cold-hearted, wooden bitch. I'll float with the current." Airra pushed off Dro'Zer's shoulder and fell into the slow, dark-red water, letting the current begin to take her to the distant mountains.
"Dor'Zer?" One of the warriors came to his side. They'd all heard the conversation between him and Airra.
Dro'Zer spun to face his warriors. "Brothers! November 14, 2111," he emphasized with a flick of his wrist. "Your families, siblings, brethren; will all remember this day as the day the ARW struck down their chieftain in cold blood. They will rally behind their thirst for justice. Today is the day we begin the end of the hypocritical snavos who call themselves freedom fighters. No! After today, the ARW will remember this day as the beginning of their end. So, let's make today a great day, and let's give them something to remember us by!"
The six brave warriors stood cheering, standing their ground as the ARW soldiers approached. Guns in hand, armor tightly fitted, they were ready.
"Fire!" yelled one of the soldiers from the ARW's side.
A sudden wave of projectiles smashed into them, and the korkyran warriors took cover, while Dro'Zer marched toward the enemy soldiers, absorbing anything that hit him. He could feel the energy building, and he hungered to release it among his foes. Behind him, his brethren fought bravely.
"Flankers!" warned one of his men.
Dro'Zer stopped to look behind them. A smaller group of soldiers had gotten the drop on his men. Blood splattered across the floor, enemy and ally. His men bravely swung and bashed around the smaller soldiers of the ARW. However, the maelkii flankers held their own against his men, blow for blow.
Enemies and allies dropped like flies around Dro'Zer as the heat of war seemed to possess him. He found himself crushing the bodies of enemies without remembering how the fight got to that point in the first place. His battle cries, growls, and even his movements seemed to be out of his control, like his inner beast was let loose.
Time passed. Minutes felt like days. The sounds of war had now fallen quiet. Across the area were the remains of the dead. Blood and severed limbs painted the picture of war throughout the withered streets. Dro'Zer came out of his trace and stared down at himself. He was barely recognizable. Blood covered his body and fur, but none of it was his. He peered around; nobody was left alive but him. The enemy force the korkyran warriors had fought was incomplete. Those soldiers he fought, the soldiers his warriors died to, were missing key pieces of their standard formations. Neither of the two remaining captains was present for this battle. All but a couple of the enemy soldiers were low in rank and experience; in short, they were cannon fodder.
"Where are the rest?" he found himself barking out loud, as if to issue a challenge to the world.
"I can leave dem ah message, if yah'd like." Dro'Zer turned to see an enemy soldier sitting over one of his warriors, cleaning the blood from his knife. However, he was unlike the rest. He wore battle-worn, custom armor - power armor. This man had experience, there was no doubt about that. "I'm waiting."
The man turned his marked helmet to face Dro'Zer. Even to a beast as strong as him, Dro'Zer couldn't help twitching at the sight of the image carved into the helmet; an image that shadowed darkness and impersonated wrath.
Something was off. Dro'Zer could sense it around him. It wasn't necessarily the man's look, or even his staid, calm tone. No, it was the way he presented himself. No fear, no remorse. Not even Dro'Zer could match that level of intimidation. What kind of darkness surrounded this man?
"Who are you?" Dro'Zer finally asked.
"Da man dey sent tah make sure da job waz done. Call me Brad Swift." He holstered his knife into his shoulder and pulled out a shotgun. "Y'all dat's left."
"It seems I am." Dro'Zer clinched his fists. "You know what I am?"
"Yup. Ah warlord."
"Then you know that gun won't kill me."
The man snickered, "Are yah sure?"
The beast within him took over, and he could feel all the rage and all the energy he'd built up bubbling to the surface. He charged at Brad, ready to punch him to another planet. Brad stood, now only meters away, and kicked down on something half-hanging from the edge of rubble.
Fling!
A massive shield came spinning at him. It was one of those annoyingly indestructible shields the maelkii used. He ducked under it and saw the mask carved into Brad's helmet as the man slid under him.
Bang!
Dro'Zer took a shotgun blast to the loins. At that moment, he felt like his ace powers were a gift from the gods as he absorbed the stomach-turning energy that would've put him in bloodcurdling pain if it weren't for his ability.
"What the frak was that?" Dro'Zer spat at the man.
"Don't tell me yah gonna bitch n' moan all-fight long."
"You're dead!" Dro'Zer bounded toward the man and clawed at his helmet. The man ducked and blasted his shotgun upward at Dro'Zer's arm. He absorbed it, and Brad evaded to the side, using his power armor's thrusters. Brad then took aim at Dro'Zer's head.
Boom! BOOM!
"Frak!" Dro'Zer cursed.
Simultaneously, Brad shot him in the face with a grenade launched from below his shotgun, while another grenade blew up at his feet. The event played in Dro'Zer's head. Brad must have tossed that grenade when he shot Dro'Zer's wrist, which had distracted him. This was no amateur; every move that man made was calculated with deadly precision and intended for maximum results. Dro'Zer realized if he'd had no abilities, he would've been dead already.
"You're good." Dro'Zer bee-lined it for one of the guns lying to the side of one of his dead allies. He picked it up and aimed for Brad.
"It'z only ah appetiza!" Brad slid behind cover, avoiding the deadly projectiles heading his way.
Flash!
Dro'Zer was blinded by a light grenade Brad threw. Suddenly, a downpour of explosive bullets blasted into him. He absorbed it all, but the bullets packed tons of energy, and he could begin to feel the energy overwhelming him. His eyes readjusted to see Brad shredding him with a light machine gun; too much, the energy was getting to be too much. He had to release it.
"AAAGGHH!" Dro'Zer let loose a battle cry as he slammed his fist to the limestone. All that energy, all at once. The force unleashed an earthquake-level tremor into everything nearby, shattering windows and crumbling a few buildings. Dro'Zer felt relief.
"Hmm," Brad, who'd taken cover under a rubble tent, mumbled to himself. "Done relievin' yerself?" Brad taunted him.
How did he know? Had he been catching on?
Dro'Zer shoved the negative thoughts aside and stampeded toward Brad, firing his weapon, too. Brad clambered over the nearest rubble and took refuge inside a small structure close by. Somehow, it was still mostly intact.
Dro'Zer chased him inside, kicking open the door.
Click!
That was the sound of grenade pins. It was a trap! Dro'Zer braced, absorbing the massive burst of energy released on his back. Blinded by the sudden light of the explosion, Dro'Zer stepped forward and swung. His knuckles bashed into forcidion, sending a bone-tingling sensation throughout his body and piercing ring into his ears.
Crack!
Below him, the ground caved and his foot sank in. His eyes readjusted, and he looked directly at the mask carved into Brad's helmet.
"You!" Dro'Zer tried pulling his leg from the rocks that held it in the ground; nothing. He'd used most of the energy he'd stored in that last punch, which hadn't even left a dent in the metal. "You led me on!"
"I did," Brad confirmed. He stepped away and began pulling wires out of one of his pouches. "I had jus' 'nough time tah set dose grenadez before yah came burstin' drough da door."
To that light, that couldn't be the end of that story. Had it not been for the overwhelming flood of energy, coupled with the blinding explosion, he wouldn't have taken an instinct-swing in the air; a swing that landed against the indestructible metal called forcidion and depleted him of most of his stored energy, causing him to be trapped.
"Using my instincts and rage against me. I've underestimated you. But the floor caving in on my leg… well, that's just luck!" Dro'Zer growled.
Brad let out a smug snicker. "Hah… luck," he said, speaking almost to himself. He then opened a nearby barrel and pulled out a dozen machine guns, all with mounts but no triggers.
"What's that for?" Dro'Zer prodded.
"You."
Dro'Zer, knowing now what Brad was planning, began to drain the air around him of heat, piling up as much heat energy as he could so he could try to break free from the ground.
"I know what yah try'na do." Brad placed all the guns around Dro'Zer in a circle, with the barrels aimed at him.
"You think you can kill me before I break out?" Dro'Zer roared. However, inside him, panic began to swell. "Mara'Sane," he whispered to his intellectual partner. He was getting close to being able to release himself, but Brad was closing in, too. He was connecting the wires to the guns.
Dro'Zer? I feel your fear, her thoughts echoed in his head.
"This may be the end," he spoke those horrible words in his head.
Dro'Zer, no! You can't die! If you do, the darkness will be rel-- Dro'Zer had to push her thoughts from his head. He'd built up enough energy and heaved his foot free.
"Too late!"
Brad flipped a switch, and a blizzard of explosive bullets shelled into Dro'Zer's body from all directions. For good measure, Brad tossed in a few grenades and used his own weapons. So fast. So much. Dro'Zer didn't have time to react, and his insides melted from the excessive energy buildup in his body. He felt like a pool of molten rock had been poured on him as he fell to the floor and let out his final breath.
⁕⁕⁕Brad Swift⁕⁕⁕
Brad flipped the switch again to stop the bullets, then crouched down next to the melted corpse of his victim, the warlord Dro'Zer. He stared at the body as if it were art, and it was to him. From inside his helmet, a smile spread across his face, from ear to ear. His mission was complete, and it was now time for him to return to his squad. Unsurprisingly, he wanted to make this kill last just a bit longer, so he stayed. But only for a little while.