Sharpshooter
Sharpshooter
Chapter 1
Warnings: None (for now)
My grandparents say that I was born in an unfortunate time. They always tell me about the old world, where we were allowed to go outside and breathe cool, fresh air, without the inconvenience of having to wear a cooling suit just to prevent ourselves from roasting in the heat. I don't believe them. For me, these are all just stories. Stories of a world long gone.
"8 billion people used to live on Earth, you believe that?" my grandparents always ask, laughing slightly as if they don't believe it themselves. I definitely don't believe that. There's only 700 million people left on this doomed planet.
Some of my friends-wait, I only have one, tells me about how the richer people get transported to Mars while us poorer, starving ones, stay on Earth and wait for our chance to die.
Usually, when my grandparents launch into a full-on rant about the world before, I roll my eyes and slip on sunglasses just to hide the fact that I'll be sleeping for the next hour or so. These stories are meaningless to me. There's no point in clinging on to the past, when I have a family to take care of.
We used to live in Singapore. Sea levels were rising so much that the few transports that remained on Earth brought us to the interior regions of North America, at least the ones that haven't gone underwater yet. That's where I met my good friend, and eventually, scavenging partner, Mayday. He's about a head taller than me, and I'm already considered tall for a girl my age. He's got short black hair. Just like mine. And just like the other 300 million or so kids. Mayday told me that his parents named him that because they're trying to call out to the authorities for help, to bring them to Mars. It hasn't worked for the past 13 years of his life, and I don't think it'll work anytime soon.
Me and Mayday's families are quite close as well. We usually share whatever little food Mayday and I scavenged that day with each other, to ensure that we don't starve to death.
On one of our scavenging trips, I find a knife and a blaster pistol. The knife's a bit blunt, but it's sharp enough to stab through dead fish or whatever I find in the ruins of the houses that are flooded to my waist.
Everyone knows the stories of what happens to houses that get flooded. They get abandoned, and whatever wildlife that has managed to adapt to the temperatures tears them up, sometimes leaving nothing behind.
After spending about a few months in North America, even with the cooling suits on, the air temperature has become too high. Mayday and I can only spend an hour, maximum, outside scavenging before we start to get burns and it gets hard to breathe.
The air conditioning in the "houses" that the authorities give us barely works. I can't even call those things that we live in houses. They're more of a group of tents sewed together and protected by a ray shield, which is the reason why we call the place we live in the Dome. It provides air conditioning, at least, for a few hours a day. The rest of the time, we rely on that limited cooling cream that Mayday and I scavenge to prevent ourselves from roasting to death.
We've been living like this for a few months now. None of us are getting used to it. We have one small screen in the only small area where tents aren't clumped together to watch the news. Usually, the one that stands in front of the small screen shouts the news out to everyone else crowding around.
Today, I squeeze my way through the crowd, it's easy because of my small size, and I make my way towards the screen, getting a good view. There, I see face of the man that always appears on the news when something important is going on, but I never remember his name because I have more important things to focus on.
The image of a globe projects onto the screen, and the man on the television turns the hologram of the globe until it shows a brown landmass.
"Antarctica," the man says. "We will be moving all inhabitants on Earth here. The temperatures here are lower than the ones around the world, so..."
I slip away from the screen and back into the crowd. I hear the people near the screen shouting what the man on the screen just said, and people are muttering excitedly, some cheering. I hate it when this happens. So much noise. I run away, pushing past people, back to my house where I tell them the news.
"The authorities say they're moving us to Antarctica," I say the moment I run into the tent, my breathing slightly heavy from the running. Mayday's in the tent as well, rubbing the ankle that he sprained on yesterday's scavenging trip. My family and Mayday all look up at me, before my family starts to cheer and Mayday remains silent.
I sit down next to him. "How's your ankle?"
"Could be better," he replies, and I definitely know something's wrong. He'd usually crack a joke or something.
"Nervous about going to Antarctica?"
Mayday nods, and I pat him on the shoulder. "That means new territory to scavenge stuff, which means there's definitely some fresh loot there."
Mayday looks up at me. "Antarctica's a barren desert. There's nothing there to scavenge."
"We'll find something," I try to sound confident, but after the stories I've heard of Antarctica, there's only a sliver of hope that Mayday and I could scavenge anything there. Antarctica's also full of wild animals. The ones that managed to get to Antarctica, at least. They're the real danger out there.
The next few days, transports descend from the sky and bring people to Antarctica in a matter of minutes. I'm guessing the transports are from Mars. The advanced technology there lets them travel fast. Really fast.
My family and Mayday's board the last transports after packing everything up. There's not much to pack, besides some of the old ration bars I found a few days ago and those gummies that hydrate us. Authorities give us about three of those per person every month, so we have to ration them. Can't forget about the cooling cream either.
When we enter the transport, we're greeted with a blast of cold air. Is this what Antarctica feels like? I'm shivering slightly from the cold, and it looks like everyone else is too. We're not used to this kind of temperature.
It's really cramped in here. I count about a hundred families with us. I hear murmurings going on in the crowd, and I'm pushed right next to Mayday.
We stand there in awkward silence, and I start sweating, somehow. It's not because of the temperature. Large crowds just make me nervous, and Mayday knows that. He puts a hand on my shoulder reassuringly, and I give him a small nod.
Thankfully, we aren't in the transport for long. In a matter of minutes, the doors open and everyone rushes out. My family and Mayday's are the last to walk out, with a lot of hesitation.
The air is fresh. Cooling. Devoid of that burning smell of the ground. I scan the surroundings, and so does Mayday. Rugged terrain, with gorges that go so deep that if anyone fell in from above they would definitely die. The sky is navy blue. Clear. Cloudless. Not like the smoke-filled skies of North America.
We stand on a platform that descends into a deep gorge, where I see buildings. Not tents clustered together, actual buildings. They're inside a ray shield, just like the Dome, and I can only guess that it's not to protect us from the heat, but from the wildlife.
After we enter through a hole in the ray shield, it closes up behind us and we are, once again, in a crowd of people. There's a big screen, which everyone is looking at, and it's projecting the image of another man, who's dressed in what my grandparents would call a suit, even though I could not possibly imagine why someone would want to wear such a suffocating piece of clothing.
"You are safe here now, in Antarctica," the man says, and I start hearing people talking again. The man waits until everyone is silent before continuing. "No one goes in or out of the ray shield unless given specific permission to do so."
Mayday and I glance at each other with a knowing look.
"Enjoy your stay here, and good luck."
Good luck? What does he mean by good luck?
As the crowd disperses and authorities lead others to their respective buildings, I turn to Mayday, and he turns to me.
"I've got a bad feeling about this."
More Posts from Tbnrpotato and Others
Into the Dark
Chapter 2: The Darkness Comes
(casual reminder that this story won't be finished unless someone really really wants me to)
Word count: 1.1k
Warnings: War, violence
As I walk out of the office, I can feel many eyes on me. The enemy are not the only ones who have heard of the Demon of The Other Realm. They admire me for my tactics, for not holding back when faced with a choice to kill. That's something most of the others don't have.
It's become instinct now to survive, alone if I have to. Most of the other mech pilots would give their lives up for their brothers in arms. That's weakness. And the Demon of The Other Realm shows no weakness. I will not give my life for anyone on the frontline.
I am called to my next battle in a few hours. I arrive there in a matter of minutes with my mech, which I call Eclipse's Fury. It's shield is now repaired from the previous battle. My mech always gets first dibs when it comes to repairs.
I always feel slightly uneasy when I look down from Eclipse's cockpit down at the battle below, wondering if there are any people who are like me with their metal limbs fighting for their lives down there. But today there is no uneasiness, it almost feels like something is coming home to me.
The enemy mechs are already gathered there, their guns ready to fire. I dive, shield raised to block some of the incoming fire. I get my sword out, soaring upwards to stab one mech from below.
The enemy mechs scatter and fire from far away. I chase after the one with the heavy gun.
"Come here," I smirk. For most people, travelling at this speed would cause them to feel unfocused, but I'm as alert as ever.
I increase my thrusters to max, and catch up with the mech with the heavy gun. It gets out its sword, and clashes with mine.
Under my sword arm, the laser gatling gun there fire, piercing the enemy's cockpit and the light fades from its mech and it falls.
Suddenly, I feel a mech ram into me from behind. I elbow it in the back, one of its hands lets go, but the other is still holding on tight to one of my thrusters, crushing it.
My mech is unstable. Red lights flash in my cockpit showing the damage. I switch my sword to reverse grip and stab the enemy mech holding onto me in the side, while holding my shield up the block the fire from the others.
The enemy mech lets go of my thrusters and falls. My own mech twists to the side where the thruster was destroyed, so now I'm at an awkward angle and a part of my mech is vulnerable to attack.
I get out my gatling guns and fire at the rest, managing to hit around half of them before spiraling in the air and crashing to the ground.
My cockpit is cracked. Wiring from the cockpit digs into my skin, and my metal arm is disabled. I hear gunfire around me, explosions and the sound of flames.
Show no weakness.
My anger at myself numbs the pain. It fuels me. I cannot fail. I must survive. That's all I've ever done.
The enemy mechs land on the ground as I push Eclipse up. I calculate my odds. My shield's still intact, my swords are still sharp, my guns are out of ammo, and it's 5 enemy mechs against 1.
I like these odds.
Their guns are pointed at me, but they're hesitating, giving me enough time to use one of my thrusters to crash into one of the mechs, stabbing it in the cockpit with my sword and I get to my feet.
Suddenly, I feel a rumbling in the ground below me. The air is moving unusually, I can somehow sense it.
It feels...almost welcoming. Like I'm returning to some of my brothers in arms after a hard-fought battle. The enemy mechs are also distracted by the disturbance.
I activate my sword as I charge towards them, slicing 2 of them in half before the other mechs regain their senses.
They fire at me again. I raise my shield, blocking their attacks. Their guns show no sign of low ammo. My shield is glitching out, it's taking too much damage. Their laser bullets get a few hits on Eclipse. One of them pierces my cockpit, hitting me in the stomach.
I wince as the cauterized wound makes me feel breathless. My legs give way and Eclipse falls to the ground. I grit my teeth as I stick my sword into the ground, trying to help myself get up. Pain courses through my body. Not something I haven't felt before. I see one of the enemy mechs raise their sword and ready to stab it at my cockpit.
Remember the guy who took your arm?
This memory always haunts me. It drives me to fight harder.
As the sword comes down to my cockpit, I block it with my sword, straining to keep it away from my cockpit, as I fight through the haze of pain of wires digging into my skin.
I push the sword of the mech away before swiftly stabbing it in the cockpit. The other mech now starts firing at me again. Most of the lasers hit Eclipse's armour, but a few pierce my cockpit and now I have 3 holes in my chest.
I still fight on. I won't die like this.
Suddenly, a cloud of darkness envelops the enemy mechs and the battlefield. Black clouds...on the ground? Is the pain making me hallucinate or something...
I run away from the darkness as the enemy mechs disappear from view. I feel breathless from my wounds, but they seem to be healing faster than usual. At least, fast enough for me to survive.
I just keep running as I see the Darkness rise over soldiers from both realms, slamming down on them like a giant wave.
I see some lights in the Darkness, I can sense smoke and fire in the cloud. I keep hearing screaming, from I don't know where, and it's driving me insane.
I can feel burning. It's not Eclipse's wires. It feels like a flamethrower burning me.
I don't look back. I just keep flying away. Tendrils of darkness reach out from the cloud itself and try to hook onto Eclipse.
My remaining thruster is overheating, it won't be able to hold out for much longer. I feel something grab onto one of Eclipse's legs, weighing me down, pulling me into the Darkness.
I activate my sword and try to cut the Darkness from my leg, but it just moves around my sword and keeps its grip.
For the first time in a while, I feel that choking sensation of fear as I am pulled into the Darkness.
Into the Dark
Chapter 1: Frontlines
(unfinished story btw i abandoned it a while ago)
Word count: 1.2k
Warnings: Violence, war, death
I see the enemy mechs take formation in front of me. Everything is crystal clear from my cockpit, and I can feel the adrenaline rush. That's what I love about this war.
In my own mech, I charge towards the formation, breaking through them as I slice at two with my double swords. I activate my thrusters to stop mid-air, turning around and raising the shield that was on my back a few moments ago to block the bullets that the enemy mechs just fired at me.
And now it's time for me to bring my own guns out. The laser gatling guns come out from under my mech's arms, and I command them to fire. The lasers pierce another one of the cockpits of the mechs, and it falls limp onto the battle raging far below.
Suddenly, one of the mechs rams into me from behind, the alarms in my mech blare as I spin in the air. I try to shake the mech off, but it's grip on me is too strong. We're spiralling to the ground, further and further away from the Rip where more mechs are coming.
I see the ground below. Blaster shots everywhere, the only difference between ours and the enemies' is the colour. I max out my thrusters, getting myself back upright and peeling the mech off me and flying upwards. The enemy mech follows.
We're almost going at the same speed, ascending rapidly. I get my sword out, abruptly stopping. The enemy mech following me crashes into me again, but this time I have the advantage and stab it in the cockpit. The mech's lights go out, and its body goes limp, falling back down.
I look up at the bunch of mechs coming through, and smirk. More victims for me.
Before they can get into formation, I charge at one of them, slicing it in half before it can react, activating my gatling guns and firing at the enemy mechs before they can fire at me.
Some of the enemy mechs remain unmoving. I can almost sense the fear in them. They've heard about me before. Stories about how I defeated entire legions of enemy mechs. Stories about the Demon of The Other Realm.
I dip down as they start firing at me, and I block some of the enemy fire with my shield. It's about to break. It hasn't handled this much fire in a while. My mech shows me the one that's firing the most, and I fly, shield still up, into the enemy mech, crushing its thrusters with one arm, hurling it down onto the battlefield.
No more mechs are coming through the Rip, and I only have about 10 more to go. I ascend further up really near the Rip, and use the cover of the clouds to hide, activating my guns again and shooting down below. My mech shows me the targets, and all I need to do is fire.
And soon enough, only one mech remains. I want to take this one out in the coolest way possible. The pilot should feel honoured.
I go out of the cloud cover, seeing the final mech. I fly above it as it fires at me, flying straight downwards as I pass by it.
It's too late by the time it turns around, its thrusters are already destroyed from my shots. And it falls.
I grab it by the torso and speed downwards. I can't sense the fear in the pilot of this mech, only the feeling you get when you know you're about to die and you've accepted it.
I hear a timer ticking. I already know it's a bomb. I've heard too many of them. And suddenly, the mech grips onto me as we get closer to the ground, and it doesn't wanna let go.
I wrench one of my arms out from its grip, and get my shield. I activate my thrusters as we hit the ground, slowing our landing.
The next thing I see is flames as I raise my shield. The force knocks me backwards, and I flip before landing on my feet, driving my sword into the ground to slow myself to a stop.
I'm in the middle of a battlefield now. Enemy troops try to penetrate my armour with their blasters, firing at my cockpit.
I gotta get out of here fast. And anyways, I think the boys down below are having fun.
I activate my thrusters again and fly back to base.
The fights are getting easier and easier. They're running out of mechs and pilots. They're focusing more on the ground combat.
I remember my days on the ground as I step out of my cockpit and I flex my metal arm.
Flashback
The sounds of blaster fire echo through the battlefield as I take cover. A grenade lands right next to me and my group. I jump out just in time as the grenade explodes. The others aren't so lucky.
I see soldiers being struck down by fireballs, burning at the torso or the head. I feel the ground shaking, and suddenly I get launched into the air by an unknown force, as if the earth itself was trying to kill me.
I land on my back, pain shooting up my torso and I resist the urge to scream. Show no weakness. My vision is blurry.
The tide turns, and not in our favour. The fire strikes down so many soldiers. I inch back, dropping my blaster. I can't stand.
I find some cover in one of the wrecked enemy mechs. I curl up into a ball as the sounds of blaster fire grow louder.
Soon, it all stops. I crawl out from the wreckage, and bodies are strewn all over the ground. I try to stand up, but my legs feel like jelly, and I fall to the ground again. I still can't see clearly.
I see a figure standing over me, holding a blaster and a lightsaber clipped to its belt. I can see that its hair is black, just reaching its shoulders, and in its hand is a ball with a red light blinking.
I recognize the sound of the beeping of the ball in its hands. It's a grenade. And the figure drops it before running away.
I crawl away as fast as I can, but it's not fast enough. The beeping sounds get to the part where it's so fast that it almost flatlines.
I block my head with one of my arms as it explodes.
Flashback ends
Blown clean off my shoulder. I move my fingers of my metal arm around, hearing the clink of metal against metal.
That was what drove me to fight. But not as a ground soldier anymore. I was going to be a part of the elites, having the privilege of flying in a mech. And I did get it.
I have nightmares of the explosion sometimes, when I still had a flesh-and-blood arm. But I brush it off quickly. Show no weakness.
I walk over to the commander's office to report in.
"When's the next battle," I ask, slumping onto the chair, one leg on the armrest.
"Already? No rest for the Demon of The Other Realm," he smirks. I hate that title. They found me in the Rip. They knew I wasn't from their realm, and I did too. That title is only a reminder of it.
"Yes commander. No rest for the Demon of The Other Realm."
Anakin Skywalkers sister, Aris Skywalker as a bounty hunter
from my fanfiction on wattpad
my account: TBNR_Dream_BMGO
we’re in the endgame now
happy bad batch eve-
WAIT NOOOOOOO
im still not over tbb :(
HOLY SHIT I NEVER REALISED AAAAAAA
Remember what I said.
It took me a while to realize what Hunter meant when he said this to Echo. I was rewatching Clone Wars season 7 and I gasped--
Hunter basically said that Echo's welcome to come back to them. That he has a place in their squad, their family, even if he has a different path 😭😭😭
Into the Dark
Chapter 4
(this is the last one I wrote should I continue this story)
Word count: 1.6k
Warnings: Violence, profanity
I'm so used to thinking in my head now, having conversations with the darkness on the walls and the bars. The darkness on the bars are slightly more aggressive than the walls, but they'll do.
Yes, these things can talk to me in my head. I'm not going crazy, hopefully, at least. It's been a few months now, and I'm planning my escape attempt. I really thought it would be faster than this, but I gotta make sure that I don't mess up. Hopefully I'll get to see the outside world, or at least what's left of it. The other voices in my head sometimes flash images of the outside world into my head, pictures of ruins of my city, pictures of both realms covered in clouds of darkness. I really hope that they're lying.
I've managed to teach some stuff to the black lines on my skin, they can extend out from my body and possibly out of the cell to unlock it and free me. From there I could take out the guards and find Eclipse, my informants (black lines) on the walls have told me that Eclipse is in a hangar in the prison. If I could get to it, I could bust my way out of this prison.
Back in the day, they taught me how to pick the locks of these things, and I pass on that information to the black lines on my skin, and somehow, they understand. I've tried it a few times on the prison bars. Usually the bars envelop my own black lines, and they immediately pull back after feeling a stinging sensation.
Cope with it you fucking weak asses.
It's painful!
They always reply this, and then flash an image of someone getting an electric shock into my head. I'm guessing that's what it feels like to them.
Cope with it.
But-
I said cope!
I've been studying the guard shifts. There's 2 guards that are always sleeping while on duty. And luckily for me, today's that day. I command my black lines to extend through the bars. As they pass through, the darkness on the walls merges with the black lines, but they transmit what's going on outside the bars to me. I command the lines to pick the lock and free me, and I receive a few confused looks from them.
How?
I sigh, and give them instructions on how to pick the lock. They follow, and soon enough, the cell's unlocked. The black lines instantly retract back to my body, screaming out in pain.
OW! IT HURTS!
Deal with it. And don't make any noise.
I silently run out of the cell and through the hallways. My time in prison has heightened my senses, I can tell when other Dark Ones are nearby. That's what I call the people made out of the darkness.
I can hear a few of them talking about going to the hangar, and I hide behind walls, careful not to touch them, and follow the Dark Ones, and eventually reaching the hangar. I can just about make out the outline of Eclipse, but Dark Ones are swarming the hangar.
Shit, I think.
What's wrong?
Shut up.
I scan the surroundings, looking for possible cover. There are crates that I could hide behind if I was kneeling down. But there's not many of them, and some of them are getting moved by Dark Ones. Not very reliable cover. There's a few other mechs, which I recognize as enemy ones from my time in the war. Could take cover there. Not gonna try passing off as a Dark One.
I see the next group of Dark Ones pass by, and I have around the span of a few seconds to run towards one of the enemy mechs. So I sprint behind the closest one and hide there, breathing heavily but softly. My nerves are acting up, they usually don't do that. Maybe it's the fact that I'm in enemy territory, not that I haven't been there before in battles.
I run behind another enemy mech, and I can see the black lines on it extending out, looking at me almost curiously. I make my way towards the other one, only stopping a few moments to catch my breath and keep my cool.
Slowly, Eclipse comes into full view. At the sight of it, I smile slightly. It hasn't changed since I left it there. Sure, there are a few broken parts, but besides that, it looks good.
And it's the only piece of familiarity in this wretched place.
I glance over at the Dark Ones just passing by, holding my breath as they walk in front of the mech that I'm behind. I can hear my heartbeat in my throat. I clench the fist of my metal arm, making the slightest sound. I bite my lip, trying not to panic. From what I've seen from the alert guard rotations, Dark Ones have good hearing. Good thing that these ones are engaging in their own conversation, I can hear them from here.
When they pass by, I run up to Eclipse and climb up it's legs to reach the torso, where the cockpit is. I cling to Eclipse's torso, trying to force the cockpit open with my black lines. I see some Dark Ones coming, and I climb to the back of Eclipse, hoping that they won't see me.
Suddenly, I feel a tugging force on my leg, and it's strong. I can't resist it, and I'm forced to the ground. Black lines on Eclipse.
Around my neck now, pushing down on it.
I can't breathe.
I try to force them off of me, but they merge with the ones on my skin, and I can hear them crying out, trying to help force them off of me. I can almost see them fighting with each other for control over the lines on my neck.
I'm pinned to the ground. I can't move. Black lines from Eclipse starting to make their way towards my legs, and now towards my torso.
"Eclipse..." I really hope voice activation is working, my voice is hoarse from weeks, no wait, months of not speaking.
Screaming. Burning. Fire and smoke in the darkness when it came.
"...flamethrower."
Nothing happens for a moment.
And then Eclipse turns around, flamethrower at the ready, pointing it at my neck and then igniting it. The black lines on my skin rush from body to protect my face and the areas where the black lines aren't covering my neck, and I can feel the heat from here, I'm sweating, but I can also hear screaming and voices crying out for help.
It hurts!
Burning...
Haha, die trash
Screams from not my own black lines, but the ones around my neck, and they slink back onto Eclipse, and I'm gasping for air, sitting up and climbing back onto Eclipse. "Open."
The cockpit opens and I climb inside. Dark Ones are already coming, one runs to close the hangar doors. I start up Eclipse as best as I can, some of the lights in the cockpit and flickering, and the hangar doors are starting to close.
I use my flamethrower to burn the black lines anchoring Eclipse to the ground, and then I fly through the doors just before they close, and into fresh air.
It's not fresh at all. It's dark. Not the clear night sky kind, but the foggy type. I can barely see in front of me. I look back, and enemy mechs with Dark Ones piloting them are flying out of the now reopened hangar doors.
I speed off, occasionally looking behind me and firing a few shots at the enemy mechs, but my priority is to get to the Rip.
Suddenly, Eclipse's thrusters shut off, and I'm now plummeting to the ground. The systems are beeping, flashing red, and I'm trying to turn them back on, but the screens say that the thrusters are jammed.
Fuck those black lines. Must've jammed the engines.
I look back, enemy mechs speeding towards me. I fire a few shots at their cockpits, but the bullets pass right through the pilots.
Black lines make their way to the cockpit and threaten to come inside. Enemy mechs getting closer, almost at arm's length. I use my flamethrower on them, but the cockpit's preventing the pilots from any damage. The black lines on the mechs move away, but does little damage to the mech itself.
My altitude's decreasing rapidly. Screen says 400 feet to the ground. I know the game's up. They're gonna get me. I try in a last-ditch effort to reroute all power to the engines, but they just won't start, and then one of the enemy mechs grabs me, and I'm engulfed in darkness.
When I wake up, I'm in a different cell. The bars are above me now. High above me.
Where are we? I ask my black lines. Hopefully they've been conscious while I haven't.
I don't know, I woke up the same time as you did.
Useless shit.
I receive a small jab in my skin for that.
A door opens in front of me. One that I didn't know existed until now. A Dark One, clad in what looks like armor from the ground fighters of this realm, but of course covered in Darkness, grabs me by the arm and leads me out into what looks like an arena.
My eyes widen. I look across the place, and see another Dark One standing there, with a black laser sword. I look up above him, and see yet another Dark One sitting on a chair, looking down at us, smirking. Or at least I think that's what it is on his face.
The Dark Lord. The Dark One that's holding me by the arm says into my head. I glare up at the "Dark Lord" dude and he stares back.
The door closes behind me. I'm not handed any weapon. The Dark One that was leading me out just now walks to the center of the arena, and then shouts into our heads.
"Fight."
What I take as my opponent runs towards me, laser sword raised, ready to strike.
Our Own Choices
Chapter 12
Anyways, the droids arrive soon enough, and Crosshair is camping with Echo and General Skywalker on a cliff, using the high ground, something which I never thought General Skywalker would use. (if you know you know)
I blend in with the shadows of the rocks, waiting for the droids to arrive. My sword is in my left hand, because my right hand is basically useless, and my other pistol is in the holster on my belt, I'm ready to drop my sword and use my pistol anytime I need to. Just gotta wait for the droids to come and for Wrecker to take them out.
I can feel the tension in the air. No one likes the calm before a battle. Especially not me. I prefer to watch the carnage as I slice up clankers.
I hear the droids flying in, and I don't move. I hear the rock rolling down the hill, crushing a few droids as it passes me, and the locals move in.
They're definitely cannon fodder.
I watch some of them get shot in the head, and some of the others being the MVPs by taking out a bunch of droids. So I start to get some kills, slicing some of the droids and Crosshair's stealing some of my kills. I'm just about to slice up a clanker when it gets shot in the head, and I look up for a moment, still holding my sword, and hold up a middle finger at him, and I receive a warning shot that whizzes past my head and shoots a droid that's behind me.
I stay close to Hunter, Tech and Wrecker and they're getting more kills than me, and Hunter's taking out droids with style. Tech rolls a stun grenade at the droids and it stuns them, and the Poletec leader runs up to us. I sling my sword back onto my back.
I see a droid standing up and is aiming for the Poletec leader, and I quickly draw my knife and throw it at the droid's head, just as it gets headshotted by Crosshair. I see him pointing his middle finger at me and I do the same in response.
I look up at where Echo and Crosshair are at, and Echo's shooting some flying droids. I draw my pistol and start shooting at some of them, managing to hit one and Echo hitting another.
I see a walker droid landing near us, and I immediately run to take cover, splitting from the others and blending into the shadows, and I consider running up to where Echo and Crosshair are, but that would draw attention to them and also leave me exposed. Actually, maybe I should do that. Could kill Crosshair in the process. Something I would very much like to do.
The walker droid shoots a beam of explosive light at Rex, Hunter and the others and at the other Poletecs, and they all run to try and take cover, out of my line of sight. I can hear other spider droids coming, and a bunch more of those flying ones.
I run in the shadows silently, taking out a few droids here and there as I make my way to where the others are. I see Rex, Hunter and Wrecker shooting at a walker droid, so I follow them and start covering them, taking out some of the droids that are shooting at them and dodging the walker's legs that are currently trying to crush us.
I hide behind a rock and watch as General Skywalker slices up the walker.
"That seemed to work, but how do we get up there?" Rex asks, and in response, Wrecker grabs him and throws him up to the walker's guns.
"NO NO NO NOT AGAIN-"
I'm laughing as I watch Rex get yeeted up to the gun of the walker and just hanging there.
As Wrecker goes over to Hunter and gets ready to throw him, I step forward.
"Ladies first," I say, before Wrecker yeets me up to the top of the walker. I land on my shattered hand, which sends a wave of pain through my head and my right arm, and I hold back a scream. As I roll off the round top of the walker I stab my knife into its head and land in front of the eye of the walker, right above the gun.
Ow. My fucking pelvis. Ow.
Hunter gets thrown up as well, and the walker's head spins, and I'm clinging on for dear life with one hand. I stab my knife into the walker's eye, Hunter does the same on his side, and Rex shoots the one on his.
I see General Skywalker force-pushing the walker to crash into ours, and we go crashing to the ground in a cloud of dust.
REALLY GENERAL? YOU SERIOUSLY HAD TO FLEX LIKE THAT AND LITERALLY ALMOST CRUSH ME?
Everything's blurry for a moment and my head hurts as I regain my sense of surroundings. The droids are retreating. Wrecker helps me up, followed by Hunter and Rex. As we all stand up, I hear the Poletecs cheering. Hunter, Wrecker and Rex take off their helmets and I try to do the same with one hand, doing so with some difficulty.
"It's hard to compete with a Jedi," Hunter says.
Soon, we head back to the ship, followed by the Poletecs, who I assume want to send us off. As we walk, Echo notices my hand swelling, a side effect of basically shattering it.
"You okay, ad'ika?" he asks.
"Just shattered my hand a bit, some surgeries will get it fixed up before the next mission," I reply.
The Poletec leader walks up to us as we stand in front of the ship.
"Thank you for helping us in our fight," General Skywalker says, and Tech translates it. The Poletec leader says some stuff in response.
"He said the Jedi will always have an ally here on Skako Minor," Tech says as the Poletecs walk away.
We start walking up the steps and enter the ship.
"You stole my kill," Crosshair says as he elbows me in the back, causing me to trip slightly and almost fall down the stairs.
I chuckle. "Too slow."
Then Crosshair goes over to Hunter and says some stuff as Rex and Echo walk into the ship. Rex sits next to me.
"Hey ad'ika, how's your hand?" he asks, and I ignore him.
"Aris..." he puts a hand on my shoulder, and I stand up and walk away from him.
Not like you give a shit anyways.
I head over to where the batch are chilling and spin my knife with my good hand. Wrecker looks impressed, and Hunter takes out his own knife and does the same. I glance at Rex for a quick moment. He's looking down, and that's when I know something's wrong. I look away.
Doesn't matter. Wrecker's impressed, and Hunter's trying to one-up me. That's the only thing that matters.
Our Own Choices
Chapter 13
When we reach back to the Anaxes base, I go to the medbay and get my hand fixed up. Medical droid replaces the shattered bone inside with metal and my hand's good as new. Echo's doing good as well. He's recovering from what damage he took on Skako Minor.
So Echo has a plan about getting onto a Separatist Dreadnought and into Trench's comm vault so that he can feed Trench strategies that we already know and let the Republic retake Anaxes. I've been hanging out with the batch for a while, and I actually feel like I fit in with them. I don't get weird looks for being different.
Tech's fixing the ship while I show Hunter and Wrecker how I manage to fit 20 knives into my wrist compartment. Wrecker looks shocked, Hunter raises an eyebrow, looking slightly impressed. Then I see Tech trying to get a piece of metal loose from the engine, and I throw a knife at it, hitting the piece of metal with the hilt of the knife, and the metal piece falls to the ground, along with my knife. I head over to pick up my knife and receive a "That was unnecessary" from Tech. I smirk as I throw my knife up in the air and catch it.
Echo, Rex and General Skywalker come over just as Tech finishes the repairs.
"Tech, is everything ready?" Hunter asks.
"Yep Sarge, we are ready," Tech replies. "Still not sure how we are gonna land on that ship."
"Don't worry, Echo says he's got a plan," Rex says, putting a hand on Tech's shoulder.
"That makes me feel so much better," Tech replies, with a hint of sarcasm in his voice.
"What do you mean by that?" Rex and I ask at the same time, slightly annoyed.
"To be blunt, his mind belonged to the Separatists until we unplugged him. We don't really know where his loyalties lie."
Good point.
"Yea. Well I know. Now get moving," Rex orders.
We walk up the ship, and I'm standing next to Crosshair and Hunter, Tech's piloting, and Wrecker's slightly restless.
"Please tell me we are blowing something up," he says, turning to face us.
"Sorry Wrecker, this is strictly stealth," General Skywalker replies.
I like that word.
Wrecker groans. "I hate that word."
Oh cmon Wrecker I thought we were getting along here
"Echo, you're up," General Skywalker says and Echo plugs his mechanical arm into the scomp link. "As soon as I plug in, I'll send a signal to the command ship."
"What type of signal are you gonna send?" Hunter asks. "Nothing that'll give us away, right?"
"As far as the droids are concerned, we're just gonna be another one of their shuttles coming in for a landing," Echo replies.
"And the regs think we take risks," Hunter says as he and Crosshair give a sideways glance at each other.
We fly for a short while, past some of the Separatist ships stationed above Anaxes.
"Sending the signal...now."
Echo I swear if you give us away I will fucking waterboard you and then carve your eyes out.
"Roger roger, Shuttle TC-159. You may approach and land." A battle droid's voice is heard over throughout the ship.
Wow looks like I don't get to torture Echo today. How sad.
Wait tf is my brain thinking rn stfu brain
Wrecker groans. "I'd still rather blow it up."
"I have a feeling you'll get your chance," Tech says.
Really hope he doesn't.
We fly past the fleet of Separatist ships and up to the Dreadnought, flying under it. The ship turns upside-down, much to my discomfort as I land head-first onto Rex's chest, and we're now on the underside of the Dreadnought.
As I stand up on the ceiling of the ship, rubbing my head, I ask, "Okay so how the fuck are we getting from the damn underside of this thing INTO it?"
The door at the bottom of the ship opens and so does the one in the Dreadnought. The ladder in the floor extends and we climb in.
I ready my pistol and knife, in case there are any clanker patrols nearby. Luckily for us, there aren't any.
I help Echo up and we walk through the corridors cautiously, with General Skywalker leading the front and Crosshair and I guarding our flank, walking backwards, on alert in case any clankers show up.
Echo, Tech , Rex and General Skywalker enter the comm vault, while Hunter, Wrecker, Crosshair and I guard the door.
"So uh how's it usually like on missions without us regs?" I ask, not expecting much of a response from Crosshair.
"Wild," Crosshair says as Hunter walks into the comm vault to check on Echo and the others. I raise an eyebrow at him, although he can't see it from under my helmet.
"Yeah, our last mission was with those Yalbec males, and they tried to eat us after I cut off the queen's stinger," Wrecker says.
"Why? They jealous that you get that Yalbec pussy and they don't?" I ask, smirking slightly.
Wrecker side-eyes Crosshair, and Crosshair replies, "Yea, I guess so."
I grin under my helmet, holding back a laugh, trying to stay focused.
Echo's taking a while, and some clankers have started to come through the corridor. Crosshair goes to take care of some of them and I follow him.
I take cover at the side of the entrance to the corridor, shooting at the B2 super battle droids with my pistol, throwing my knife at one of them and hitting it in the head. There's about 16 of them, and Crosshair gets more kills than me, which sucks.
Wrecker joins us slightly late, and by then we've almost taken out all of them. As I throw another knife at the last one, I wait to see if there are any more droids before running to go pick up my knives.
Crosshair, Wrecker and I lead the way through the corridors, shooting droids the moment we see them, littering the corridors with bodies of broken battle droids.
Wrecker runs ahead, and when he turns the corner, some battle droids start firing at him, and he takes cover around the corner. Crosshair and I start shooting at the droids in front of us, Rex behind us doing the same, and Hunter and Tech are taking care of the remaining droids at the back.
Then, Wrecker goes to absolutely destroy the battle droids with his bare hands, and I kinda feel bad for them as I look left and right, scanning the area for more droids as I hear the terrified screams of the battle droids and the crashing of metal against the walls.
"It's all clear!" I hear him shout, and we move out from the corner, Rex half-carrying Echo.
No time to ask what happened to Echo, if Rex is carrying him, he shouldn't be dead.
Some more battle droids come from the back, and Tech alerts us to them. "More droids."
"Go. I'll buy you some time," Crosshair says, throwing up a deflector puck in his hands just to look badass, and proceeds to do an epic shot where he just throws it at the battle droid's chest before shooting it in the head, then waiting for the precise moment to fire another shot at the deflector puck which bounces off the ceiling and at all 3 battle droids' heads.
I just stand there, frozen for a moment before walking off with the others.
"We'll meet you at the infiltration point," Rex tells Crosshair.
Wrecker groans. "He's gonna try and top me. You watch."
"And me," I say in an annoyed tone.
We start half-walking half-running through the corridors, and we reach the infiltration point.
Tech looks through his visor. "I'm picking up dozens of droids on my sensors, all heading this way."
"Hope you're not waiting on me," General Skywalker says as he runs to our position.
Wow I didn't even notice he was gone I think I literally forgot he existed.
"Now all we're missing is Crosshair," Hunter says.
Right on cue, Crosshair comes running through the corridors to our position, throwing deflector pucks literally everywhere, and stops in front of us, turning backwards and aiming his rifle, using his right shoulder to support it.
"You miss me?"
No.
"How touching."
Then he aims at the deflector puck as the droids come marching through the hallway and he fires.
The blaster bolt deflects off the first puck and then to the second and then to like the next 30, hitting all the droids in the side, and Wrecker and I just stand there gaping at what just became the most badass shot I've ever seen.
"THAT STILL ONLY COUNTS AS ONE!" I protest.
"Relax Wrecker," Hunter says as he nudges Wrecker in the shoulder. "You'll top him next time."
No he won't.
And then Crosshair just comes up to us just to say "No he won't" to Wrecker's face and now I'm trying my best not to laugh again. I'm quite sure Crosshair has the biggest smirk ever under that helmet right now.
Wrecker groans.
We climb down the ladder to get back into the ship and fly off.
"I've got a present for you, Wrecker," General Skywalker hands Wrecker what looks like a detonator with a green button.
"Oh, seriously? I get to blow it up? The whole kriffing thing?" Wrecker sounds excited as he takes the detonator from General Skywalker's hand, and Crosshair and I watch.
"This..." Wrecker wipes a probably happy tear from his eye. "Is the happiest day of my life."
He presses the button and I can hear all the ships behind us going kaboom as we fly back down to Anaxes.
When we land on Anaxes, we get praised by General Windu, and General Kenobi says we've got some medals coming our way.
I take off my helmet.
"Thank you, General," Rex says as he starts to walk off.
As Echo starts to walk away, and batch and I stay behind.
"You coming?" Echo asks.
"Not really our thing," Tech replies.
"Accolades," Crosshair clarifies.
"Yea, we're just in it for the thrill," Wrecker says.
"You sure it's your thing?" Hunter asks, the question directed at both of us.
Echo looks confused. "What do you mean?"
"Your paths are different," Hunter says. "Just like ours." He motions towards the batch. Echo looks down. "If you ever feel like you don't fit in with them, well, find us."
I...don't fit in with the 501st. Or any of the other regs. And I think Rex knows that. Echo knows that. 99 did. And so did...
Don't say his name. Don't say his name.
As the batch turn around and walk up to their ship, I'm standing beside Echo as Rex walks up to us. "Those are some of the finest troopers I've ever fought alongside." He pats Echo on the shoulder. "Echo. You and I go way back. If that's where you feel your place is, then that's where you belong."
I glance at Rex. "Does that apply to me?"
Rex sighs. "Yes, ad'ika. It does." He turns around and walks away.
He's...he's letting me...what-
I thought he would-
Nevermind. Don't worry about that right now.
Echo and I look at each other before walking slowly up to the batch, and I see Rex turning back to look at us. Echo salutes him, and then I do the same, with the batch following.
"Goodbye, ad'ika," he mouths to me.
"Goodbye, buir," I mouth back. He smiles, and so do I.
And then Echo, the batch and I turn around and walk into their-well now it's our ship, and we fly off.
On the ship, I sit on the floor, making myself comfortable, spinning my knife, scanning the surroundings of our ship. When I finally see the toilet sign, I sigh in relief.
Thank god.
I go into the toilet to take a piss, until I realize that there's something very wrong.
"GUYS WHY IS THERE ONLY A DAMN URINAL IN HERE WHERE'S THE MOTHERFUCKING TOILET BOWL?!"
