"All warfare is based on deception. Hence, when we are able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must appear inactive; when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are near."
–Sun Tzu, The Art of War
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"RUN! RETREAT!" The Baron screamed over and over. I could see myself with my Co-Angels watching, our faces contorting in confusion and then kicking into action. I never thought I could be running from them.
We rounded the block when they came behind us; all of them were couriers first and second degree. Messengers, equivalent to a sergeant in the army, get grappling hooks, but below that rank is Courier, grade one gets slideJets and when upgraded they get jumpJets. Thus, with all of them being Couriers, they jumped and wallRan with flips and corkscrews. One might call it show; our trainers called it intimidation.
The thing is, not only do couriers come in large numbers, but have a elite Angel or a super leading them. NOT GOOD.
Surprisingly, none of us were hit by the first volley of bullets. Wehya launched his second nade at a fire hydrant and Obsidian formed another shield around us. She seemed to be growing weaker by the minute however. A volley of underslung grenade or gauss gun fire followed.
Wehya walked smugly to the water that was forming until he was in it. With the first real but evil smile on his face he looked at all of the soldiers who were shifting in their weight uncomfortably. Then it was too late.
Some of the Second degree Couriers leapt away from the water thinking Wehya was a water-specialist but he's not. Wehya seemed cloaked in blue when he pumped arcs of electricity into the water.
The morbid sight before me reminded me of the stories of the older police officers when they'd take someone to the electric chair. Blood oozed from their helmets as their eyes popped out of their skulls and the smell of feces filled the air. Some of the electricity had exited their bodies into some of the others but when it would exit it would blow off whatever part of the body it came out of, leaving singed stumps and meatballs on the ground. On top of that, a lot of the bullets kept on the soldiers went off. Chaos.
This all happened in a few seconds...
We unleashed fire and shot a few of the Couriers down like birds after Obsidian dropped the shield and Waya began slaying. Then we continued our retreat to Fluffy, because more were on the way and it's gonna get dicey.
We passed into a coldesack around a water fountain surrounded by buildings. Angels began pouring into the area and we were forced to take cover. I made myself a shell of gravity to redirect any bullets. Waya did the same thing but to Thread Walker so she could flank with her katana.
I shot two or three of them and had to reload. Their burstJumping and burstSliding made them fast, agile targets. On top of this is their tough armor, thus, they are incredibly fast and tough targets. I could put six rounds into their heads and kill five per magazine but then the Baron might think I've had training from somewhere.
Waya's electromagnetic shield had Walker untouched. Bullets curved around her and sometimes hit Angels behind her. At one point an Angel drew his KABAR marine knife and even that bounced off. Following Walker were floes of blood and mutilated or decapitated people.
"Obsidian!" Alien yelled out over the gunfire.
Alien began reaching for his military grade IPad in his suit and Obsidian, realizing something threw a force field around him. I heard that hissing that can only come from a jet engine and looked up in fear to a predator drone. It didn't seem to be targeting us and I smiled when I realized that it was Alien's.
A rocket fired and some of the Angels near a building tried to flee but they were blown away as mostly legless rags of men. All the others weren't so lucky and were obliterated. Then the building fell down, effectively blocking any other reinforcements from that direction.
Another rocket fired and I assumed that he struck at another Angel convoy. Then the drone hit the building behind me and crashed through three cars and slid into another building. Obsidian's shield lifted and Alien mumbled something about 'that guy's good with a PIKE.'
The Angels screaming the word 'drones' caught my attention as Alien's 'flies' came into action. Amazingly similar to the Talons of CoD Black Ops 3, they unleashed small mini-guns of 50. Desert Eagle pistol rounds and up to four 40mm rockets. They kill anything with a gun that's not registered in their system, Alien's system. Thank God they put me in their database.
Being bought extremely valuable time with the drones the Baron called out to me,
"AllFall! Get us into the buildings!"
We ran for the nearest buildings and I gifted them all the ability to walk up the walls. At the third story of a loft we broke the windows and went inside. They all were panting, but I wasn't tired; not to arouse suspicion I sulked onto the wall and faked fatigue.
Waya and the Baron weren't tired.
"C'mon, Fluffy, isn't far."
Él Doug groaned and yelled as if psyching himself up and ran THROUGH a wall, into another hall. Sunlight billowed through a window at the end of the hall, stairs were to our right. We congratulated Doug as we fanned out, waiting to get everyone together. The window smashed and I heard the ground crunch...
We're too high for Couriers, and the floor crunched; so whatever it is...
It's big...
I looked up to the siloleuette blocking the sun as he rose from the quick landing. The armor was thicker than normal Angels, more thrusters, thicker grapple, more tech, and a cloaked Templar-like helm with just a little more than a few upgrades. The Templar Cross and a prototype targeting-eye, among other tech, gave him away. Templar.
I screamed the name like 'grenade' as it rose to shoot a PIKE rocket at us. Waya shot it out of the air with arcing electricity and shocked the Templar. He was unaffected and unintimidated...
He then abruptly began shooting, but before that moment the Baron cried Obsidian's name, Doug yelled a curse, Obsidian grunted, I... panicked, Alien laughed and Waya howled like a wolf to the moon. Then Obsidian threw up a shield and it stopped a spray of bullets hitting our heads a with insane accuracy, but that's not all...
When the shield was made it cut the floor beneath us and sent us falling into the lower floor...
On top of Angelic Spec Ops...
Spec Ops have powers...
We were surprised to say the least; didn't notice the groaning coming from underneath our feet. They were enveloped in surprise and we unloaded; BIG TIME. Waya electrocuted half of the hall with the first toothy grin I've seen on him, I launched a grenade and emptied one and a half clips of ammo, Obsidian made a small shield inside people and quickly expanded it sending guts and blood everywhere, Alien would shoot enemies in the neck with a desert eagle to remove a few of the enemies heads from their bodies.
Then they recovered...
An ice specialist began making cover for his comrades. We all tried for cover to the right of the hall, the part Waya single-handedly cleared, getting away from the hole in the ceiling as they returned fire. Another launched a Halo-like bubble shield as a haven from our ordinance and then the Templar came down into the fray. The fighting was stopped by a tall wall of darkness and everyone's gazes landed on Obsidian,... except Waya's,
"Dang it! I was just having fun."
Being raw from exertion and fear of death I said,
"Your crazy!"
"Obsidian," Alien said, "you can't keep this up for long."
"I can do this!" She objected, the Baron chimed,
"Your gonna have a brain hemorrhage Obsidian."
"Launch one Alien."
She glanced at Walker and pressed her eyes closed. Was she angry with Walker? Alien glared at her for a very long moment but complied;
"Your gonna be the death of us..."
With that Waya yelled out similar to a drill-sergeant,
"Aight, everyone else, move, move, move!"
As we were leaving Alien was taking out his IPad and the Baron and Él Doug blew a hole into the first floor. Waya went first with an electromagnetic-shield and fried whoever was down there for our advance.
We arrived in the loft's lobby and began shooting the Secret Service that was there. With all the electricity and people getting shot some of them deserted. Or were they ordered to retreat if things got hairy? I didn't know but we were out on the streets again and running.
The missile came in and took the building with it. Moments later Alien approached; unworried. He was carrying Obsidian and the Baron said,
"What's the situation?"
"I called two dozen," adding emphasis, "'horse-flies' and Obsidian is fine but 'asleep'."
"You mean unconscious?" Doug said and MasterLock replied with a annoyed,
"Shut up Doug."
Alien retorted, "The neural physics is to intricate for an ignoramus like you Doug. You ignorant dote."
"Woah-you do talk like an alien!"
"Wow!" Waya chimed in, "That was the lamest comeback I've heard in a lo-"
He was interrupted by the SS returning into the street; much more confident now. I heard the suspension of a truck screeching behind us and saw the Templar on a wholesale delivery truck; Angels moving toward us without him. The SS said over a comm for us to surrender and things didn't seem good.
The clanking of safeties going off filled the air and we stopped stock still, hands still gripping our weapons. The comm beckoned again and we still stood in a Mexican stand-off. Obsidian was knocked out, but I heard a strange ticking sound.
The man who was on the comm gave us a final chance to drop our weapons. The ticking was louder, reminded me of a wind-up toy or the crocodile off of Disney's Peter Pan. I looked to the others but they smiled at their luck through their three-holed masks.
Then Sarah rose from the ground in the midst of the Angels; incorporeal, or like a ghost.
She sounded a lot like the girl on Despicable Me, but Despicable Me was SO much more innocent,
"It's time to die!"
All the Angels opened fire on her, some shouted because of her sudden proximity, and even the Templar used his rocket on her. Smoke enveloped her, and we opened fire on the SS and the Angels. Then an ominous giggle came from the smoke like a ghost doll before dark energy blasts equivalent to 20mm grenades were returned to the Angels.
I heard the Templar scream curses like a woman being attacked. The screaming was so horrid that I stopped shooting but looked at what he was screaming about and my mind blanked. To describe the beast's character would simply be animistic mercilessness. It's muscled body and bulk was like the Hulk; but it had giant floppy bunny ears, huge tusks and teeth, large red eyes, claws and hands that gripped the Templar as he tried to ThrustJump away in vain.
Pulling him in like a cat caught by its tail the monster clamped him into both of its hands. One hand covering the ankles and the other the Templar's head the Templar shot a spray of assault fire into the beast's face. It didn't lose grip, but instead bellowed in rage raising the victim overhead and bent his spine back like a large stick. Snap, and a second-long geyser of blood, and the most powerful Angel here was dead.
An Angel ThrustJump with some sort of energy blade but was swatted away like a dodge-ball. Then another was stomped flat and then an Angel leapt into the beast's hand and had her collarbone-up eaten in one bite. Next, I had to concentrate on not getting shot and returned fire.
The enemy formation was breaking down and Alien was on the ground; doing a pass with a Reaper through his IPad. I shot some Angels down as Fluffy, the hideous beast, was using an Angel as a club against the others. When the smoke from the missile enveloped us the Baron grabbed me and we tore down an alley; disappearing into a maze of alleyways.
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