"That's her. The Union's Full Metal Bitch."
Levi glanced when he heard those crude words. A few meters next to him a group of grown men soldiers from Dorthmayer talked to each other with voices full of resentment.
The person they were talking about just walked into The Union's grand hall. Eight hundred participants gathered in this place to receive their last brief by The Union's leader himself.
She — Levi assumed that person was a 'she' — was indeed wearing a full-body exoskeleton, unlike other participants who wore the standard exoskeleton suits.
Her exoskeleton was painted in steel blue color, it looked way cooler and sleeker than Levi's suit. A thick velvet navy cloak fastened into her exoskeleton. Her face was covered in a matching full-face helmet so nobody could see her face.
She walked behind The Union President, Julius Kaiser. A sixty year old man with a menacing scarred face.
"Let's ambush that bitch in the expedition. I heard she never joined any team in every expedition, it's easier to attack when she's alone. Nobody is going to blame us if she's dead in the middle of the tour."
Levi tried to keep his eyes straight to the stage podium.
"I wonder what she looks like behind all of those fancy exos. She must be reaaally pretty that Kaiser insisted she wore a helmet." The same voice continued in a lecherous tone.
"I heard she cut someone's dick when they tried to uncover her face in the previous expedition," His friend replied reluctantly. "Besides, she's Julius Kaiser's daughter. You know what happened to the last man who tried to propose to her daughter, let alone trying to kill her."
"You coward!"
The sensible one shot back again. "I like my dick attached to where it belongs. So let me out of this."
A loud angry grunt cut their conversation.
"Chill out, Jorian, we're just joking."
"Cut it out before I cut your little dicks myself," growled the third person angrily.
Levi glanced again at the Dorthmayer group. A huge man just joined the group and stood near them.
His exoskeleton was a bit different from the other too. He wore a leather kilt outside of his exoskeleton, and a simple cloak with real fur linings. A big ax was tucked into his leather belt.
His blond hair and beard were long and rough. A long scar grazed his left cheek to his right eyebrow. One of his huge arms was decorated with intricate Celtic tattoos.
He looked like a massive Viking Warrior ready to jump into a battle anytime.
But Levi saw a badge on his right chest, so he must be someone with a high position in Dorthmayer.
Dorthmayer… He clenched his fist tightly before turning his gaze back to the podium.
According to his sleazy lawyer, the psycho that had started all of this trouble was the Dorthmayer's Grand Admiral's son…
Lars Seville's son.
Levi swore he would get his revenge after he made it out of the monolith. IF he made it out alive.
One step at a time. For now he had to find a way to survive the monolith first.
"WELCOME! MY FELLOW SOLDIERS!" Julian Kaiser's deep rumbling voice boomed from across the podium, he was shouting right into the mic.
Almost half of the expedition participants flinched in surprise, Levi included.
"THANK YOU FOR COMING—"
One of The Union's staff came up to the podium in a hurry and whispering something to Kaiser's ear.
Kaiser scowled and grunted. One of his thick eyebrows twitched furiously.
Then he spoke again in a much-lowered voice. "Ahem. As some of you may already know a few days ago the eighth monolith had opened itself. A newly opened territory is always dangerous. You will be the one who explores and fight whatever monster comes from the foreign land. You will be walking in the frontline, defending our land and humanity. Get in, tear them down, and seal the gate. You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade, toward which we have striven these many years. The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of people everywhere march with you."
The atmosphere in the grand hall turned thick with heavy silence and dread.
Nobody dared to utter a single world for every single participant knew what was waiting for them inside the monolith probably would kill half of them.
As Levi said, this was a suicide mission. War was always ugly and Kaiser knew there was no comfort in lies and sweet words.
Julian Kaiser grunted again to break the silence. His solemn gaze roamed over the quiet crowd. "That's all I can say. I hope you all can return safely... Godspeed."
***
It was one of those cold, grey November days.
Levi shivered inside his exoskeleton. He couldn't wear padded jackets or cloaks like the others because as a porter his semi-opened exos was built for carrying heavy loads.
In this expedition, a porter would carry the food and camping supplies, along with supplies of first aid kits, tools, spare ammunition and explosives for the whole team.
Each of the soldiers was allowed to bring their own weapon, whether it was hand-to-hand or secondary weapons. But their military exos had built-in lethal firearms so they needed to bring spare ammunitions.
Levi stopped and stared at the tall stone fortress that surrounded the eighth monolith. The fortress had three layers of thick walls and only one way in and out.
Military heavy tanks surrounded the outer layer of the fortress. Guards with automatic rifles stood in their posts on each layer twenty-four seven.
Levi had never seen this many weapons and explosives scattered around in one place. Not even when he had his eighteen months long mandatory military training.
He waited with his team on the second layer corridor. Each expedition team contained ten to twelve people, usually a mix of soldiers from The Union, Dorthmayer, and Shanorak, plus one porter.
Each team would go into the monolith one by one every half hour.
Levi's team was led by a woman called Val from The Union, and Dasheniel Shepard from Shanorak.
As a porter Levi wasn't included in the tactical brief, so he just stood a few meters back in his heavily loaded exos and stared at the busy corridor. Everybody seemed tense and on the edge.
"...our team will go to the east, remember to always..."
"Do you need help with that or can I..."
"...let's bring more explosives if shit hits the fan we will blow up everything..."
Levi tried to block out the voices around him. He needed to calm himself so he could think about his own plan to run away.
But still, he couldn't stop his heart from hammering so loudly inside his chest. He wiped his damp palms on his cargo pants and took a deep breath.
Levi thought that the best time to run away from his team was when the team encounter enemies. When they battled it out he would sneak out and run with his supplies and then find a place to hide until the expedition was over.
'Nobody will try to find me if I run away in the middle of a battle,' Levi thought solemnly. 'And they probably think I run because I'm afraid. I'd better play weak in front of them from the start.'
Suddenly a loud commotion in the hallway drew him from his thoughts. Levi turned his head and saw someone wearing a steel blue full-body exos walking into the second layer corridor.
Murmurs of hatred and sneers emerged from a group of Dorthmayer soldiers as Full Metal Bitch walked past them.
She marched graciously like a warrior ready to step into the war and win them. This wasn't Full Metal Bitch's first expedition. In fact, this was her fifteenth trips. There was a certain aura about her that made her look cold and unapproachable. Like a lone wolf.
'But she really did attract attention,' Levi thought absentmindedly.
She only carried a long scythe in one of her hands, and it was no ordinary scythe. As she walked past him, Levi could see the scythe looked pretty old.
Sure it's magnificent and beautiful, but it didn't look like a proper weapon you would bring into a war.
The scythe's big black blade looked blunt and chipped. Its long steel blue stem was decorated with golden coils although a bit crooked here and there. A long gold chain was attached from on end to the other.
There were three little gold bells tied into the chain. A faint tinkling sound was heard every time she walked.
It also looked heavy but Full Metal Bitch held the scythe easily.
"What a beauty, right?"
Levi flinched and turned his head to the person who stood beside him.
"I wonder how she could get that scythe?" The man murmured softly, almost in a daydreaming voice before turning his attention back to Levi.
He smiled widely and it blinded Levi's eyes for a second. "I haven't introduced myself. I'm Dasheniel Shepard. Your team leader in this expedition."
***Full Metal Bitch was inspired by Rita Vrataski from the light novel/manga 'All You Need Is Kill/Live Die Repeat'. It also had a live-action adaptation called 'Edge Of Tomorrow' which was one of my favorite movies of all time. I recommend it if you need something good to watch over the weekend *chef kiss*