An hour till sunset Shadow finally pulled into a nook in the side of the mountains. She and Leo made this their home a few months ago. After unloading the supplies, Shadow started to worry. The warriors today were some of Tigra's strongest. Thinking this, she headed to the hovercraft.
A motion sensor sounded an alarm at their base. The mountains create a lot of interference. So, Sprite made her and Leo set them up as a backup precaution. Hearing the alarm Shadow left the craft and went to the designated spot to stop intruders.
Unit 1352 and his driver was following the sounds of Shadows hovercraft and found the base on accident. "Unit 1577, you will enter the cave entrance. I will go around and drop in from above. Any questions?"
The beastman shook his head. Unit 1352 called in that he found the base of operations for the bandits. Then the beastman executed their plan.
Scaling the cliff was a lot harder task than the beastman initially thought. The walls were made of granite, a hard rock substance. The Mana Fighter stealthfully snuck into the base and saw the stolen supplies near a hovercraft.
Smiling, Shadow watched the two beastman from the cameras they put up. She hit a button, and three missiles fired about five secs apart. The weapons locked onto the Core Building warrior going up the cliff. The beastman pushed away from the wall just in time to dodge the first missile flying at him. Mid-air, the beastman had nowhere to go and was hit with the second rocket. The explosion blew up, destroying half of his body. What was left flew to the ground only to be obliterated by the last missile.
Unit 1577 watched this as it happened. The death of his teammate made him freeze up. Seeing Shadow snuck up behind the beastman and grabbed his jugular. "I have asked many beastmen before you, but do you wish to be free or die serving Tigra."
The beastman knew he would die if he said he didn't want to be free. By what the female variant in front of him said, this was not the first time she asked a beastman before ending their life. Thinking back how hard he trained, he wondered, "what was it all for?" Beastmen were proud people, but some of them had more aspirations then blindly follow the powerful.
Unit 1577 shook his head and said I want to live. "Alright, then brethren." Shadow slapped a collar on 1577. It was a remote bomb collar that Sprite came up with. Letting go of the beastman, 1577 just stared at her as he felt up his new neckwear.
"Since, you are with us. Tell me how many beastmen are coming here and what are their levels?" Shadow asked without blinking.
Understanding that if he wants to live, he is going to have to rat on his team. He served with this team ever since they landed on earth. It was emotionally painful, but he gave her everything he knew. He only asked one thing. "If Unit 1576 shows up, please give her the same out as me." The two of them have a relationship, and the beastman cares for her very much.
Shadow wasn't a monster. She told 1577, he was tasked with convincing her. "Also my name is Shadow. Free beastmen don't use the name 'Unit.' What do you want to be called by?"
The beastman didn't know how to respond. He looked around and spotted a mammal scurrying across the ground, and it reminded 1577 of the furry creatures called goblins on their planet. "Call me Goblin. I might not be the toughest, but I want to survive." Shadow nodded her head and motioned him to the monitor area.
Looking at all the equipment, Goblin knew that the hunters were coming straight into Shadow's web. Now, he understood why Unit 1352's plan went awry. The motion sensors went off signaling the arrival of the new prey. Goblin saw an eerie smile on Shadow's face.
Goblin had to ask, "Shadow why do you use these barbaric tactics instead of confronting the enemy. This is not the beastman's way."
Shadow shook her head and said, "I'm not here to win me honor, I'm here to fight for my life and survive." This shocked Goblin. He thought all beastmen cared about honor, but he rejected this thought because, in the end, he chose life over honor. The whole thing came full circle, and it finally clicked.
Looking at the monitor, Goblin said, "It looks like Unit 1350, 1353, 1576, and 1579 pulled up in their two crafts. The 1300s are the Core Builders, and the 1500s are the Mana Fighters."
"I used the last of our missiles to kill the guy before, so its time to go to plan B. I need you to go distract them while I get it ready." Worried about what she was planning, Goblin nodded his head and walked towards his old comrades.
Seeing Unit 1577 walk out of the building, Unit 1576 breathed a sigh of relief. Goblin smiled at her and walked up to Unit 1350. "Team leader, Unit 1352 entered this place on his own and was blown up. I tried to catch up and was too late. I don't even know what happened here."
Unit 1352 was not stupid, and Unit 1350 knew it. He then noticed the beastman was wearing a new collar and smelled another beastman on him. Unit 1350 knew they had been betrayed. "Shadow Strike!" A quick claw thrust at Goblin. He blocked it only to be launched into the wall.
"1577!" yelled Unit 1576. She looked at the leader is disbelief. How could he attack their comrade?
Several metal nets were launched onto the team of beastmen. Unit 1576 and 1579 were pinned down, but the other two easily sidestepped the webs. "Come out and show yourself, coward." Unit 1530 was raging. His subordinate deceived him, and they fell into someone's trap.
Shadow dropped in behind them and used Shadow Walk. "Unit 1353 behind you!" Shadow punched at the beastman. Unit 1353 blocked the blow only to have a bomb stuck to his forearm.
Boom!"
"Arrggghhhh" screamed Unit 1353. His left arm was blown off. The explosion distracted them, and Shadow disappeared. Trying to stop the bleed, 1353 started to put pressure on his missing arm. Wincing, he looked up at Unit 1350. "Unit..."
Shadow didn't let them plan anything before she struck. Standing before Unit 1353, a feline variant had her claw through the team leaders chest. The team leader caught shadow off guard. Bleeding out as he was, he grabbed her wrist protruding from his chest.
"Unit 1353, kill her now! For Tigra. Kill her!"
"Beastman Art: Shadow Strike!" The strike pierced Unit 1350 collar and went for Shadow behind him.
"Pew!" Goblin fired a plasma shot at Unit 1353. The blast blew him back. Goblin ran over to Shadow. She nodded to him she was ok. Then he walked over to Unit 1353. "Pew!" The plasma penetrated his skull finishing him off.
Shadow peeled Unit 1350 off of her. Covered in blood Shadow walked over with Goblin to the two beastmen in the nets. "Do you want to die serving or live free?"
Unit 1579 said, "you are no beastman. You are a vile spider trapping your kind."
"Seems you made your decision. Lunar Claw!" The claw attack killed the trapped beastman. Looking over at the female beastman, she asked, "what is your decision?"