After the sun settles and the night brews...
“Strix, what have you got for us.” Raiken asks Strix who is on voice with us.
“The city is clean, but the guards inside the palace are problem. I suspect 50 guards guarding the Relic Gear. A 100 outside the Relic Gear’s place and a lot more in the city patrolling. You can come inside the city if you disguise yourself as its citizens.”
“Okay, what else?”
“The guards are not that tough but I will need everyone’s help to secure the Relic Gear. It’s time for you move in the city”
“Okay Strix, we will stay in touch so keep your comms open.”
“So, we move in the city then” Razor says
“Yeah, but I need Drax, Rex and Mico to enter from the north while others with me from the east. Drax’s team will provide a distraction if needed or they will join us in the Relic Gear hunt. Understood.”
“Yes” Everyone answers in unison.
“Let’s get this thing done” Raiken orders and all of us move out.
Everyone pulls out their UI on the left hand while mine is on the right hand as I am wearing a claw on the left one. The interface allows us to dress according to the needs and everyone disguises themselves as the citizens of this planet. On the inside it feels like our own self but on the outside, we don’t even look like ourselves anymore. Man, this tech is cool that I feel like freaking out all the time. Nobody knows, the smile that I have on the inside, the excitement and the adrenaline rush. My first mission as an all-powerful member of a death squad. My day couldn’t get any better. I mean night…
At the entrance of the city we all stand disguised as normal citizens. Our Weapons automatically disappeared and somehow, they are not detected by the machines which looked like metal detectors back at home. As planned, we enter the city and start wandering on its street, scouting for assault. Drax’s team enters the city from the other side and waits in position for Raiken’s order. We all are moving about when I notice the people in the city and I can’t help but remember the times I used to walk around the city, looking at people. I guess no matter where you go, life in the city is kind of same. People minding their own busy going about their daily normal lives. Shops on the street, kids playing in the field, although I am not sure what they are playing but they look happy and lively. Cars that don’t touch the ground and have no doors. I just look at the person as he enters the car just by straight going through it, I mean damn, that’s low key different.
“Everyone, are you in position?” Strix talks on the comms.
“Yes, what’s your status?” Raiken replies.
“I Have found the Relic Gear but I need you guys to infiltrate the area to cause distraction.”
“Roger, we are on our way” Raiken replies. We all move towards the entrance of the safe keeping area of Relic Gear.
“Drax on my command create a one hell of a distraction without revealing your identity or the king will send his men our way, Understood”
“You go that, boss” Drax replies.
“No use of Dark power, everyone” Raiken Orders
“Yes, boss” Everyone in unison.
We move in the area, Raiken switches to his gear and we all follow him in the process as we all switch back to our gear.
“All of us will separate here, move from different directions and clear out the building” Raiken orders.
Everyone nods head in agreement except me.
“Zunzar, stay close to me and if you mess up its on you” Raiken says to me. Did I do anything to piss him off.
“Okay, boss” I reply
We are inside the building waiting for Drax’s signal to commence the assault. Currently we are situated near the lower floor of the building while Strix is near the Relic Gear room. Rex, Drax and Mico are in the city preparing for distraction. Razor, Zemo and Orion are on their own inside the building ready to take out guards. Our plan is the provide support until Strix gets hands on the Relic Gear and then we all regroup and run with the Relic Gear through the bridge.
A loud explosion occurs and Raiken raises his eyebrow in a little disbelief.
“That was more than what I expected!” He exclaims.
“Well, we have the attention of the entire city. You guys are good to go” Drax orders.
“Strix can you get the hold of it?” Raiken asks as we peek out of our hiding.
“No, it is still heavily guarded”
“Okay, I guess we got to make them move.” Raiken putting a stress on move.
“Ah, boss I am not getting a good feeling. I am detecting way more life signals than 50” Zemo says
“Are you sure?” Raiken tries to confirm Zemo’s analysis.
“Yes, they must be hiding to ambush on intruders like a trap”
“Okay, everyone, keep your head’s up and conceal your movements. We will rendezvous at Strix’s location. Strix, as soon as you get chance, retrieve the Relic Gear.” Raiken orders.
The guards start to react according to the distraction Drax’s team created. Raiken and I move in the building while lurking through the shadows. We spot three guards standing in the corridor. Raiken signals me to stay and moves up. He sneaks behind them and Splash! All the guards fall to the ground as blood splats on the walls nearby. Raiken sheaths his swords and signals me to move up. I come from the hiding while looking at those miserable guards who fell prey to Raiken. I can’t help but feel a little bit of sorry for them.
The guards in the Relic Gear room start to move out as an intruder alert is set off. They move out in squads and the protection around the Relic Gear decreases. Strix takes the opportunity and strikes all the guards standing near the Relic Gear. She moves so fast that the guards can’t see her coming. She kills all the guards instantly in a flash. She carries a dagger in her hands and a small knife on her shoulder with two guns hanging around her waist. She walks up to the Relic Gear which looks like a trident. Suddenly, out of nowhere guards pop out and attack her. She looks back and blocks the attack of one guard with her dagger. She swoops low and throws a knife at the one coming from behind. Kicks the blocked guard in guts and takes out her guns to finish others off. Raiken and I move up while Raiken handles all the guards we encounter. Raiken stops and looks ahead of him. Two entrances for one place and the guards are at a distance. Raiken holds for a while and then turns towards me.
“I can’t take them all at once, you have to take out the one on the left. Can you do it?” Raiken looks at me doubtfully
“Yes” I say but Raiken’s expression don’t compliment with me. He doesn’t seem to trust me with his back.
Raiken signals me to move and both of us move slowly behind the cover. I walk up to the guard and quickly grab his mouth from behind. I slit his throat nice and quiet. Raiken climbs up and jumps on the guards with his swords pointed at them and splash!
Raiken looks towards me and nods his head to signal me to move ahead from here. we come out on the other side and move ahead through the path.
Strix takes the trident from its keep and hands it over to Orion. All the guards who ambushed her are lying dead and Razor is inspecting one of the bodies.
“They weren’t that tough to take out.” Strix comments
“Yeah, the armour they wear is not tough enough. The grails used in them seem to be off the mark.” Razor comments as he is still inspecting a body,
“Someone’s coming” Zemo says and everyone runs to hide in for an ambush.
In the room, they are all hiding to ambush whoever is coming towards them.
“They are near” Zemo says and everyone gets anxious as they stop any kind of movement.
Footsteps approach, they get louder and everyone conceals themselves. The footsteps stop.
Raiken’s expression change as he notices the silence of the room. He gets cautious and signals me to be still.
“We are not alone.” He says with a low pitch voice and slowly gazes around. Suddenly his expression changes. He looks at me with a
sigh
“Come out! We know you are hiding.” Raiken says.
Everyone comes out of hiding and they all look at each other in utter disbelief.
Outside, in the City of Rizmos,
Drax and Rex take on the army while Mico supports them by setting charges and traps. With all the attention on them, they get heavily fired upon, Mico tries to cover them but suddenly gets taken out by a cannon fire.
“Mico’s down, Everyone Mico’s down.” Rex calls through the comms.
Drax grabs Rex by the collar and turns him towards her.
“GO! I will cover for you.”
What’s happening out there Drax?” Raiken asks as everyone in the room gets worried about Mico.
“We are outgunned and outnumbered, we can’t hold them much longer now” Drax replies
“Don’t worry Drax, we got the Relic Gear, move out of the city towards the camp. Razor will open the bridge for you there.” Raiken orders and looks at Razor. Razor immediately opens his console to configure the Bridge opening.
“I need time boss” Razor says.
“Okay, we will hold the line here. Zunzar grab the trident and stay behind with Razor. Everyone else stand with me.” He orders
“There are lot of them coming our way.” Zemo says
“Let’s make sure that they don’t get to the trident till Razor opens the Bridge.” Raiken says as he looks at Zemo with a serious look.
Everyone except Razor and I move up towards the entrance and shake a little bit while taking out their weapons. They stand guard and get ready for the assault. I am holding the trident. I look at it with awe. Strix comes back and stands next to me.
“Looking stressed” Strix asks as she smirks.
“Yeah, this thing looks awesome by the way.” I say while breathing slowly as my heart beats faster than usual.
“Stay behind me and you will be fine.”
“We won’t be able to hold, so open the bridge fast” Raiken says
“I am on it!” Razor yells.
Many guards come storming into the room and Raiken charges straight at them. He swings his blade and takes down four of them in an instant. Everyone holds the line with their skills which are beyond the level of guards they are fighting. The guards fall like flies in front of the Dark Order.
Drax has Mico in his arms and Rex is covering for them as they all are running out of the city to get to the camp as fast as possible. Mico seems unconscious and Drax is continuously looking at her while running. Rex picks up a rocket and blasts the army following him and a sign of relief reflects on his face. Mico’s bleeding and Rex runs up to Drax and looks at him and Mico with dull face.
“You patch her up” Drax says and rests Mico down. “I will handle the army.”
“Can we hold them off till bridge opens?” Rex says with a disbelief in his actions.
“We will, just patch her up, quick” Drax says boldly to motivate Rex and to hide his own fear. Without the use of Dark Power, Dark order can’t function at its fullest and it is causing a lot of trouble for them.
In the room the guards keep falling one after the other but they keep coming in and Raiken and his crew hold them off as much as they can. Some of the guards get past them and Strix shoots them in their head with her guns. I am still holding the trident tightly. Everyone is starting to show signs of fatigue as they all start breathing heavily. No matter how strong you are you will run out of energy after some time.
Razor is still configuring the bridge and seems stressed by it. Suddenly a loud bang occurs and Raiken, Zemo, and Orion are thrown way across the room. Strix and I look at the explosion with a gasp and shocked faces. We look at each other and then at smoke which has covered the room. The smoke settles and a tank like machine appears in front of us.
“What the hell is that thing?” I say looking at that huge thing which popped out of nowhere.
“It’s the P-898 Reverb cannon.” Strix replies while still in shock.
“It’s pointed straight at us, what are we going to do, we got nowhere to hide.” I say as the fear takes the toll on me. I grip the trident even more tightly.
The cannon loads and locks at us, a loud screech occurs and the blast occurs.
BOOM! The smoke covers the room....
“what’s taking them so long?” Rex says impatiently as he puts a patch on Mico’s wound.
“I don’t know, we just have to hold our line, I am sure Razor will open the bridge.” Drax says and turns to the enemies.
The dust settles in the room and miraculously Strix and Razor are unharmed but I am nowhere to be found. Raiken and Orion look at each other and nod their heads.
They flank the cannon and Raiken jumps on the top while Orion takes explosives and throws them beneath it. Raiken kicks the cannon’s barrel and turns its direction. Orion triggers the explosive and boom goes the tracks of the machine while Raiken jumps off the cannon. The machine falls apart, as Zemo lands a shot at it with a laser gun.
Strix runs towards the wall behind her and finds me lying down with the trident still in my safe hands. I am unconscious and pretty beaten up. Raiken and others walk up to me and notice trails leading to me with a dent in the wall. By the looks, it seems as I was thrown back from the attack and got banged on the wall. Strix tries to wake me up.
“he’s in pretty bad condition.” Strix says with a sad look on her face.
“What happened exactly?” Raiken asks as he looks around.
“He jumped in with the trident and took the shot on himself. I guess he couldn’t handle it and got blown away. But he did manage to stop the cannon and save us” Strix says in a soft voice showing empathy towards me.
“Bridge’s ready” Razor says as he taps on his console.
A bridge opens and They pick me up along with the trident and walk in the bridge. Outside the city another bridge opens and Drax picks up Mico and walks in the Bridge with Rex. The bridge opens up on a remote place unfamiliar to everyone.
“We are here” Razor says.
“Ah... where are we? Is the cannon there...” I start saying as I come back to my senses.
“Take it easy, wait what happened to Mico” Raiken says and moves towards Drax who is carrying her.
“She got Shot but I patched her up, she will be fine.” Rex says in a pale voice.
“Okay, then let’s hide it here and leave.” Raiken says
“Here...” Zunzar says doubtfully
“Yes, we can’t keep it on hell, and this place is a remote planet, so no one will come looking for it here.” Raiken answers.
“One thing’s for sure, these Relic Gears are powerful.” I comment.
“Yeah we know that” Razor answers.
“So, this Relic Gear is the trident itself?” I ask curiously
“Not exactly, but yes, trident is the Relic Gear but an ancient alien race made weapons out of Relic Gears by changing their structure. What you see now, were created by them. They used it to wage war which in fact led to their own extinction. Now, we keep them in check. So, you done with questions?” Raiken says with a serious look on his face.
“Ah... one more. How many are there?” Zunzar asks.
“We don’t know the exact number but probably over 20 known to us and many which have not been found till date.” Raiken replies and puts the trident inside the box.
“let’s go, Razor opens the Bridge” Raiken Orders
The bridge opens and they all walk in...
The city of Rizmos witnessed something really unbelievable but their King knew exactly what happened. He is standing in the Relic Gear room between the dead guards. He seems agitated and angry as he looks around and then at the place were trident was kept.
“It seems I made a mistake” He says looking at the empty case.
“Never mind, Order must always be there”
Outside the city on the cliff nearby, few mysterious guys are standing and watching the city.
“Well, Dark order did their job, whatsoever�
� One standing in the front says.
They all are wearing metallic armoured white suits with golden details. There suit looks like a futuristic battle suit with blades on their back and two golden robs hanging from their back. Without a slightest of expression, the one on the front stands with his sword pierced into ground in front of him. Looks at the city and takes his sword out of the ground
“Regalia, we have to move too, we can’t just watch” His subordinate says
“Yes, it’s time we also start moving after everything that’s coming to light. Universe is moving towards an interesting phase” The Regalia says with a smirk while looking upon the vastness of the city and the area around it. “Can’t wait to see it”
He walks away from the cliff and everyone starts following him.
All of us have returned back from our mission and Rex has taken Mico to heal her up with the Maiden to the Ponds of Esorus. We all bow before to Dark Lord. Raiken stands up and Says
“My lease, the job is done and the Dark Order waits for your next command.”
Dark Lord smiles with all his grace. He still looks scary though.
“Rise my Legion, you have done a good job.” He says
Everyone stands up and looks at Dark Lord including me. He looks directly at me and says
“You have shown your capability, though you lack the strength, you have done well. But that doesn’t mean you can slack off. You have to build the strength.” He says and looks at everyone
Then he continues “Strong winds have started to blow ever since the incident which happened 2 months ago. Your work in the universe will increase drastically. I can’t guarantee your rest with what’s brewing in the universe. All I can ask is that you are the ones capable of putting it to rest and I expect you to do your job. It’s not an exaggeration but the fate of the universe and your home is at stack here.” He says with a very serious look on his face, and not only his but everyone standing in the room.
Universal War- the New World Page 7