LOCATION: BASTION CITY CENTER
PLANET: BASTION 123295 CFP
MISSION TIMER: 53:04:15
When the Peacekeepers began allowing their Fighters to select unique weapons, Jud Haggerty had chosen a battle axe. The handle was forged of a high-strength titanium alloy that was light but durable.
The axe head was made of the same material, and featured a long, curved blade on one side and a dangerously sharp spike on the other. It reminded him of something firemen would use, and he selected the weapon in honor of his own father, who had died during the 9/11 evacuations in New York.
He gripped his axe and dropped into a battle stance.
Brick pulled his trusty shield from his back and held his longsword at the ready.
The Supreme General of all the forces on Bastion stepped forward, smirking.
“Just as I thought. Undisciplined clowns. I’ll make sure to send one of the prisoners back to report on how pathetically you all died today. Just before we invade Earth and convert your population into slave labor. I will enjoy the process of breaking every last one of you.”
The General’s two men held spears with wooden hafts. The General himself wielded a similar spear, only the haft was made of some kind of black metal that almost seemed to pulse in his hands.
Brick laughed.
“Are you going to talk all day, or show us what you’re made of?”
The two guards ran forward in unison, engaging with Jud and Brick.
Grim stood absolutely still as the General began advancing.
The first few strikes in a fight were usually more for testing your opponent’s reaction time and fighting style.
But the General from Bastion apparently intended to end the fight instantly. When he was ten feet away from Grim, he suddenly yelled out a battle cry and charged forward.
It was a skill, Grim noticed, and the spear in the General’s hands was thrust forward, aimed straight for his heart.
He dodged to the side, parrying with one sword while swinging the other and making a long, shallow cut along the General’s forearm.
Grim felt a sharp pain and blood began dripping from his left shoulder. It appeared the thrust carried a forward piercing field that extended beyond the physical tip of the spear.
Grim took note of that as they continued with their deadly dance.
The General used the spear as much as a staff as he did a piercing weapon, swinging to block and parry, but also to strike with the blunt end of the weapon.
Minutes later, Grim was covered in bruises and the General was covered in his own blood from dozens of slashes Grim had landed.
Neither was breathing heavily, and neither was losing enough health to be of concern yet.
But that was when the General did something unexpected.
He twisted something on his spear, and it pulsed in his hands.
Grim took that moment to strike with both swords, but the General simply held his staff out in front of him.
Grim’s swords were ripped from his hands, flew through the air, and slammed into the staff, as if pulled by a powerful magnet.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
The General smiled as he swung his weapon to the side, and Grim’s weapons clanged to the floor fifteen feet away.
Then the General moved faster than he had before. But Grim’s Perception was at 792, and he didn’t miss much. But even with that, the General’s body was a blur before Grim’s keen eyes.
The General began his charging thrust attack again, moving into position instantly, and pushing off with such force that the stone floor cracked under his feet.
Grim could already feel the pressure from the piercing field that preceded the attack. He wanted nothing to do with that, but he also wasn’t going to get many opportunities now that he was disarmed. And his opponent wielded a spear, which was excellent at keeping unarmed combatants out of reach.
He had one final Hail Mary skill he could use, but it was dangerous. He’d have to get it just right.
Time seemed to slow around Grim as he prepared his last gambit. The General was two feet away from him now, and Grim could already feel a hole opening in his chest from the extended piercing field.
He had dropped his stance just enough that it would land inches above his heart.
He grunted through the pain as the General continued moving, unable to slow his incredible forward momentum.
The hole in Grim’s chest grew in diameter, and now extended through his back.
He reached forward and grabbed the General’s head in an iron grip with both hands.
Then he channeled his ultimate skill: Command.
Grim’s mind assaulted the General’s with energy. Darkness filled his vision as his mind wrestled for control of the other man.
Not surprisingly, the General was powerful, and he fought back valiantly.
It took several minutes as Grim searched the General’s mind for the switch.
He searched through veritable archives of information and data.
Secret passcodes, the names of the General’s children. Memories of a childhood spent among the stars. How his father beat him daily until he had grown strong enough to turn the tables.
The day the General killed for the first time. His first promotion to leadership, and how he had engineered his predecessor’s untimely death in order to secure it.
The blackness crossed back over the connection and inundated Grim’s mind. He pushed back with everything he had. He was in danger of blacking out from blood loss, but the pain kept him focused. He knew he had only moments left before he would pass out and lose control.
He pushed back across and burrowed deeper, finally getting to the center of the General’s mind. Plans and schemes danced around him, flashing in and out like an electrical storm.
The maelstrom raged on around him. It felt like standing in the eye of a hurricane as he was pulled this way and that.
But then he found it: the General’s plans for the prisoners, and for Earth.
It was too dark. Too dystopian. And it couldn’t be allowed to stand.
Grim mustered the last vestiges of mental energy he had, and slammed the General’s mind shut.
He pulled out quickly, released his vise grip on the General’s head.
The General stood in a daze, his brain unable to function after the mental assault it had just endured.
Grim pulled the spear from his own chest, yelling out in pain. Inch by excruciating inch, the spear point ripped through muscle and bone, until it was finally free.
Grim’s vision flickered from the pain and the blood loss, but he remained steady on his feet just long enough to drive the spear through the General’s heart.
They both collapsed to the ground at the same time, and Grim blacked out.
<
LOCATION: BASTION CITY CENTER
PLANET: BASTION 123295 CFP
MISSION TIMER: 49:53:29
Graham Thorne woke with a start.
“Easy there,” Brick said, holding him in place. “You took quite a beating back there.”
Grim looked around.
They were just outside the infrastructure building, and he was on the ground looking up at the starry sky, surrounded by three Healers still tending to his wounds.
Li and Brick helped him sit up, and Li handed him some water.
After Grim took a long pull, he looked around.
“Where’s Jud?”
Brick sighed and looked down at the ground.
“He didn’t make it. He fought hard, but those guards were fucking good.”
“They were formidable,” Grim said, nodding sadly. “Fuck. Jud was a good man.”
They were all quiet for a few minutes.
Grim was not looking forward to telling Michael Trent that his former head of security had died on an alien world. But Jud Haggerty had died fighting for Earth. It would have to do.
That was for later. The mission comes first.
Grim looked up at Li.
“How are the other operations going?”
He checked the mission timer. Still almost fifty hours left.
Li gave him an update while Grim stood and started working his shoulder, rolling it in circles, and moving his arm around. He was already starting to feel better.
The Healers had been able to get to him just in time, as the wound had been dangerously close to his heart.
“Let’s talk while we walk,” Li said. “We need to get to the holding cells.”