Mercenaries’ Tale – 4.16 Cold War
Abaddon came to a halt mid free-fall, fighting gravity to stabilise himself. He had mere seconds to find his bearings, a jet of green flame blasting up from below. Abaddon barrel-rolled to the side and summoned a shield to protect himself from a barrage of blasts that were being flung his way.
“Did I upset you, Brother?!” the mad mage cackled. Gratin was rushing up to meet him, firing a stream of attacks at his opponent. He needed to end this quickly so he could focus on getting his friends to safety. He had little time for Abaddon.
Abaddon attempted to dodge and weave but the pain was slowing him down. The pain caused by Gratin’s pet humans. Every blast that impacted his shield felt like an insult. Gratin’s silence was like pouring salt onto the many wounds.
“Stop ignoring ME!” flame burst out of him in a giant sphere, rapidly expanding to engulf any and all incoming blasts. Gratin had to brake hard to avoid flying straight into it. He quickly changed direction as Abaddon began to fire spells through its surface, blasts rapidly spraying out in all directions.
Below, the mercs climbed to their feet and ran for cover, death raining down from above. Kate scooped her gun up as she ran, darting too and fro before joining Doug at the hole in the wall Gratin had created, Doug grabbing her arm to help her through before the warehouse was destroyed. The force of the explosions threw the mercs backwards, sending them sprawling down the darkened corridor. Doug took the brunt of the force, turning mid air so that Kate would land on him, holding her close.
Outside, Gratin was weaving between blasts as fast as he could. Abaddon could see his brother was distracted. He reabsorbed the sphere, collecting the flame in his hand and firing it like a laser beam directly at the spot his fireballs were driving Gratin. The beam hit its mark, puncturing Gratin’s shield and hitting his mask dead on, sending the golden adornment flying off his face.
The sight of Gratin’s bare face gave Abaddon pause. Although Gratin’s jawline still had healthy skin, the area around his eyes and a good chunk of forehead was nothing but scar tissue. The eyes that had once been so vibrant that they practically glowed were now pale, his corneas completely clouded over from sustained damage.
“I see you didn’t leave the moon completely unscathed,” noted the madman as he admired his own handiwork.
“An eye for an eye. I’ve yet to claim your other,” was Gratin’s calm reply. Abaddon sneered in response, gesturing with his remaining hand for Gratin to try.
“Come get it!”
⁎ ⁎ ⁎
Doug and Kate eased themselves off the floor. They weren’t safe yet, the sounds of explosions rocking the building and causing the ground to shake beneath their feet. Doug offered his hand to Kate, helping her to keep her balance as they both hurried out of the blast zone.
“What- how did you-?”
“We ain’t the only ones trying to raid Genetix tonight. Power’s out in the whole building. Good thing too else I never would have…” he trailed off, the words catching in his throat. He couldn’t bare to think of what might have happened if he hadn’t broken free…
“Point is, Salmanic’s in the building!”
“What?!”
“I’m guessing they wanna get even after the Power Plant invasion?” Doug guessed.
“Faust…we really shouldn’t have come straight here…”
“Yeah…yeah, you might have a point there…”
Up ahead they could see a large man in a lab coat waving them on. He had slicked back grey hair, a large, heavily styled moustache and coke-bottle lenses. The mercs couldn’t help but exchanged a confused look with one another as they approached.
“If you’re about to tell us to go into stasis then I’m gonna introduce you to my boot-” Doug began once close enough.
“Shh!” the scientist looked frantic, “My name is Doctor Tilo Käsehändler. GR4 instructed me to stay close to the pair of you.”
“…Why would Gratin say that?”
“I believe I technically am his prisoner right now? It’s all very confusing,” the doctor gave them an apologetic look. This only led to more questions but this was hardly the time.
“I ain’t going to argue with that. What’s the best way outta here, Tilo?” asked Doug, taking the situation in his stride.
“I would say back this….way…” there was an odd skittering noise, something large darting around the far end of the darkened corridor. There were shadows being thrown about by the dim, red emergency lighting.
“Oh dear…”
“What now?” Kate asked, reloading the empty pistol.
“Um…well…In GR4’s daring escape, the guards caused something of a containment breach. In the Aetheric Creatures Containment Floor. Many of which feed on aether sources…which GR4 and the Sister’s guest are currently saturating the area with…”
“What are you trying to say Doc?” Doug asked, holding his chainsaw arm out in front of him and drawing his own gun. The shadows were getting closer, a mass of shapes turning the corner.
“If we don’t leave here promptly then I fear we may become appetisers to some very hungry specimen that have been in stasis for a very long time. Or worse…” he let the sentence hang. He couldn’t see any more of the armoured gorillas but there were many other things to worry about.
“Oh. Great. Is that all?” Kate asked, aiming her weapons at the shifting mass of shadows moving around in the darkness. She could see wings and horns and the glint of scales in the dim light. There was also the noises. Skittering and clacking. Strange, alien growls. They had just left one hell and had stepped directly into another.
“Where’s the nearest way out Doc?” Doug pressed, a note of desperation in his voice.
“The central hub’s atrium. Which is on the other side of all that!”
“Well fuck,” this was punctuated by the corridor behind them erupting into flame as a blast slammed into it from the outside, fire engulfing the area. The trio were nearly knocked off their feet by the blowback, the three of them crying out in shock.
This acted as a starting signal for the creatures at the far end, several dog-like entities covered in scales and sharp, pointy bits broke into a sprint, charging down the corridor to where they could smell meat and magic.
Doug and Kate opened fire. Kate aimed for anything that looked even remotely vulnerable: eyes and the softer underbellies. Doug just let the laser fire rip, swiping with his chainsaw the moment anything got close enough. Two creatures fell mid-way down the corridor. A third was skewered by the saw, Doug roaring as he dragged the contraption through the animal, bisecting it. There were more following and they were extremely fast, clearing the hallway in seconds. The smarter avoided Doug and his saw, bounding past to try and tackle the relatively-less-deadly Kate and Käsehändler. Kate fired directly into the mouth of a creature as it attempted to snap at her, twirled aside and emptied a round point-blank into the back of another’s skull as it tried to pass her to attack the doctor. She then found herself diving to the ground as a third tried to leap at her, the creature sailing over her head and directly into the magical fire that was in the process of consuming the corridor behind them. The sight of it caused her heart rate to quicken and her breath to catch. Especially when the creature walked out of the fire completely aflame, parts of its neck aglow with absorbed magical energy. It looked truly demonic, the light and shadows dancing across its face twisting its features in such a way that highlighted just how unnatural the creature was. It looked as though it had just stepped out of a nightmare and its attention was on her and her allies. It’s jaw began to open, a swirl of green energy coalescing there in a writhing ball.
“ShitshitSHIT!” Kate dove aside and flung herself at Doug, knocking him into the wall as a beam of energy erupted from the creature’s mouth and shot down the corridor, taking out a number of the other monsters shuffling their way down the corridor and barely missing the two humans.
“What the fuck?!” cried the startled Doug.
“It’s part Blight Dragon1!” explained Käsehändler as though that was any help at all, the Doctor pressed against the wall just behind them.
Doug gritted his teeth and prepared himself to try and tackle this new threat only to pause as he realised just how badly Kate was trembling, the gunslinger still pressed against him. Her breathing was uneven, her eyes unfocused. She was struggling to keep herself together, the heat, noise and proving to be too much on top of her battle with Abaddon. Doug recognised the signs of a PTSD attack if only because he had experienced them himself enough of late.
“Blaise? You still with me, Red?”
Elements of a forest were beginning to encroach on Kate’s vision. Dangers had been lurking in the dark there too. Monsters prowling in the shadows, aiming to drag her back into the flames.
Only she wasn’t alone this time. She had people to protect. She wasn’t going to lose another family…
She began to mutter something under her breath, Doug having to strain to hear her at first. It was lyrical in nature, Doug very quickly realising that his friend was singing, the lyrics getting louder as her breathing became more controlled.
“Don’t turn away,” She turned on her heel as her pistol lined up a fresh shot on the hound, “Don’t try to hide,”
The dragon fusion began charging another blast, Kate quickly unloading the rest of a clip into its throat before it could finish, its whole head bursting from the built-up energy.
“Don’t close your eyes,” she spun again as she reloaded in one lightning fast action, the loose strands of hair whipping around in such away that they blended in with the backdrop of flame behind her, “Don’t turn out the light!”
Doug was frozen in place, his mouth agape in awe as he watched his companion open fire on the encroaching mutants, her aim constantly readjusting as if her arm was spring loaded and all the while her sweet voice filled the corridors as she banished the nightmares with a song. The sight of her was breathtaking. It took Käsehändler grabbing hold of his human arm for him to snap out of it, Doug refocusing on the terrified scientist’s face.
“We need to leave! They’re just going to keep coming!” Käsehändler insisted, his voice full of panic. Doug nodded, surveying the damage. Kate had thinned the heard but more shadows could be seen approaching.
“Don’t suppose you’ve got any grenades on ya, Love?” he suggested, readjusting himself so that the bulk of the scientist was behind him. Kate reached into her coat, holstering a pistol.
“Only flash! Get ready to run!” she yelled, drawing her one of her remaining flash grenades which she flung into the mass of creatures running at them. The mercs shielded their eyes and began to sprint down the corridor the moment the grenade went off, the creatures now blinded. Käsehändler was forced to hold onto Doug, the man unable to see having not known to cover his eyes. Kate began assembling her shotgun as she sprinted, firing into the crowd as soon as the final piece was in place. Something that was mostly tentacles was obliterated by buckshot, a purple-ish smear spraying across the wall behind it. Doug hacked and slashed at anything that entered his path that wasn’t Blaise, sending heads and bizarre limbs flying.
Something lunged at the doctor, wrapping him in tendrils and trying to pull him backwards. Doug spun on his heel and rammed his saw through the creature’s side, plunging the device in deeper until it let go, the doctor blinking desperately as he ran after the red head that was leading the way forward. Doug had to use his foot to pry the creature off of his saw, sprinting after the others as soon as he could.
They didn’t slow down until they passed the door Gratin had clearly blasted through to enter this section of the facility, and turned several corners just to be sure the majority of the creatures were behind them.
“Is that the worst of it?” Doug asked between breaths. He was leaning against the wall, keeping an eye out for anything following them.
“That was just a small selection. The ones with minimal intelligence. There could be much worse roaming the halls and not all of them may have been drawn to the aether…” Käsehändler was red in the face and doubled over as he tried to catch his breath. His lab coat was torn in places but he looked like he had avoided serious damage. Doug however was dripping with gore and viscera, his new toy hardly a clean weapon. Blood and sweat was pooling in areas Doug didn’t even know he had. He turned to look at Kate. She was kneeling on the floor, rocking back and forth slightly as she finished her song.
“Don’t turn away, Don’t try to hide…” her voice was still shakey but for the most part she sounded like she was in control. The sight of her still worried Doug, the redhead clearly distressed. He holstered his gun and knelt down in front of her.
“You holding up okay? I know you and burning buildings hardly mix…” he tentatively placed a hand on her cheek to wipe away some of the gore that had landed there, Kate instinctively leaning into his touch, using him as an anchor to reality.
“I’m fine…just fine…” this was more or less true, the hallucinations having faded from her vision, “what’s our plan here? Do we still need anything for Gratin or can we get the hell out of dodge?”
“We’ve got a mad scientist,” Doug turned to the scientist in question, “will you be able to answer our questions over this GR-whatsit shit you lot want Gratin for?”
“I’m the head of the project so yes,” Käsehändler admitted, surprised that the duo hadn’t worked that out. He thought it obvious, why else would Gratin have grabbed him?
“I’d say mission accomplished then!” Doug said before the doctor could add anything else.
“Great,” she sounded steadier now, a goal becoming clear, “go to the central atrium, head outside, try and help Gratin any way we can. Sounds like a plan!” she was saying this more for herself. If the road ahead was structured then she could press on. Focus on the next step and keep moving. Don’t look back at the flames.
She pushed the hair out of her eyes and stood up, focusing on the sounds of her own breathing for a moment as she re-centred herself. Eventually she checked her ammo, reloading where necessary and turned to face the direction of the Atrium.
“Lets do this…”
1Blight Dragons are a species native to the Blight Zone; large lizards that absorb the magical radiation the area is seeped in. They’re especially prevalent in the large forest at the centre of the zone.
⁎ ⁎ ⁎
The mages were no longer holding back.
The fight on the cruise ship had been a far more civil affair, both combatants having either friends or co-conspirators to worry about, not to mention Gratin having been concerned about the number of civilians in the area that could have gotten in the way. That was less of an issue here, Polaris near desolate and Gratin’s friends sheltered to some degree by the concrete below.
Abaddon was on his last legs. He was down an arm, he had lost his electrical powers when his gauntlet was removed and he had lost a lot of blood. His various augments and enchants could only do so much. For that reason he was eager to end the fight quickly. There was only so much energy that he could afford to lose before he could no longer hold himself together.
Gratin by comparison was as fresh as a daisy. He’d only used but a fraction of his energy until this point. He had the upper hand. He was also impressed by just how well his friends had fought against his long time rival. This fight could have been far worse.
Abaddon resorted to fire whips, attempting to entangle his opponent. Gratin dodged left, swerved right and then caught the end of the whip with one hand and held on tight, his own flames slowly running along it and back towards Abaddon as Gratin overpowered Abaddon’s hold over the spell. The mad mage let go moments before the end he had been holding burst with explosive force, Abaddon exerting his will on the heat and compressing it to form a new blast which he flung at the Twigarnian. Gratin slapped it out of the air, his momentum turning him into a spin, green fire erupting from his hand the moment he was facing Abaddon once more. Abaddon swerved around the stream of flame, looping around it and manipulating it to follow him, the fire turning orange as it circled around him, a series of blasts launching from it’s surface.
Gratin wasn’t about to fall for the same trick twice, clapping his hands together to form a shock wave spearheaded by a slice of heat that detonated the blasts before they could reach him and kept going. Abaddon growled and swept his hand up, disappearing in a burst of flame as he teleported out of the way, appearing directly behind Gratin, fist wreathed in flame as he attempted to punch his rival. It hit its mark, the blow colliding with Gratin’s jaw. His shield held strong, Gratin sculpting the surface of the spell to ensnare Abaddon’s hand, holding him in place.
Gratin made a tutting noise to show his disappointment in his old friend as he laid a hand on Abaddon’s abs and released a jet of flame directly into him. Abaddon yelled in pain and anger as the heat built up around him, his shield failing. He was sent flying into the night sky as Gratin released the hold on the mad man’s arm.
Abaddon managed to right himself, levelling out his flight yards away from his opponent. He was badly injured, multiple layers of skin having been burnt off. This would not do. He refused to lose again! It was time to end this! No matter what it took!
People Gratin cared about were down in the facility. The humans. The girl and the maniac. Lets see what he’ll do to keep them safe…
Abaddon charged up an attack; a fireball that kept swelling large and larger in size. The size of a car. No, the size of a van. No. Bigger. The size of a lorry. Gratin braced himself, ready to defend against it.
He wasn’t expecting Abaddon to fire it at Genetix itself. Towards his friends.
“NO!” Gratin flung himself downwards, streaking through the twilight sky in a blue blur. The building wouldn’t survive a hit like this. Neither would his friends; if the blast didn’t kill them then the falling rubble would. He had to do something.
He over took the giant flaming ball, turning to face it mid-air. He threw his hands up and used all of his power to halt it’s descent, forcing his will upon it. The bottom of the ball began to change to a green colour, Gratin slowly taking control.
“Not today, Brother!” Abaddon screamed, pumping more power behind the spell. The green fire stopped spreading across the ball, the orange holding steady, each mage only half in control of the spell.
“You should have left my friends out of this!” Gratin yelled, digging deeper. The green began to shift further up the orb.
“You shouldn’t have left me for them!” Abaddon shouted back. He was losing ground. He didn’t have enough power.
“And you should have learnt the meaning of the word NO!” Gratin screamed, sheer power erupting off of him in waves. The emerald flames burst forth, Gratin taking control away from Abaddon and sending the entire ball back at it’s creator. It was too big, Abaddon lacking the energy to dodge. It had consumed him in a matter of seconds, the ball exploding the moment he was at its centre, the blast momentarily lighting up the night sky.
Gratin watched as the charred form of Abaddon fell out of the sky and landed in a snow field with a dull and pathetic “thud”.
The Twigarnian mage lacked the energy to remain airborne, electing instead to float down towards his fallen adversary. He landed a little away from him, shuffling over to inspect the damage.
Abaddon was somehow still alive but badly crippled. What clothing was still in one piece had fused to what was left of his flesh. He was almost unrecognisable as being human any more, so severe were his wounds. He wasn’t going to last long without medical assistance.
“…It didn’t have to be this way, you know,” Gratin solemnly spoke. He couldn’t see the full extent of the damage but he could sense the amount of pain Abaddon was in. It wasn’t pleasant.
Abaddon wheezed, his vocal cords barely functioning.
“Is that…regret…I hear…?”
“We were friends once. More than that. You could have amounted to so much more than this…”
“Heh..heh…you were an…old romantic…” Abaddon wheezed, “you loved me…really…”
“To a point. But you let the search for power consume you. You could never be happy with what you had. You only ever fought me because you couldn’t stand to see me leave you,”
“Enough. I can’t stand…your platitudes. End it already…” sneered the dying man. Gratin raised a palm to point at him.
“For what it’s worth, I am sorry…” he didn’t have the chance to fire the spell. Something rammed into his spine, firing electricity through every nerve ending in his body. He collapsed to his knees, aware of Abaddon shouting from the floor.
“NO! HOW…DARE YOU! He’s…he’s mine…!”
The attackers evidently cared little for what Abaddon’s opinion was. The prod was removed, Gratin forcing himself to turn to stare them in the eye. His senses outlined a team of armoured individuals in a very familiar shape. Salmanic Troopers.
“You will regret that! I am not a man to be trifled with!” Gratin announced, his arms wreathing in flame, his eyes glowing.
“Whatever, eat anti-magic!” one of them was holding the AMD the Genetix raiders had used at the Power Plant. They flicked the switch before Gratin had a chance to fully process what it was, the signal turning on at its maximum setting. Both Gratin and Abaddon began to scream as their minds were consumed by pain, Gratin grasping at his head whilst Abaddon merely writhed on the floor.
A moment later and the two mages lost consciousness…
1Blight Dragons are a species native to the Blight Zone; large lizards that absorb the magical radiation the area is seeped in. They’re especially prevalent in the large forest at the centre of the zone.
Post by Sam | January 28, 2023 at 12:01 am | The Mercenaries' Tale | No comment
Tags: Abaddon, AMD, Anti-Magic, Blaise, chainsaw arm, Doctor Tilo Kasehandler, Doug McCracken, Forest Canyon, Genetix, Gratin, Kate O'Donnell, Mad Science, magic and mages, Mutants, Polaris, Salmanic Incorporated, the Mercs