Dammit, those bastards. As the man rose from his seat, the surrounding darkness vanished, unveiling a vast control room filled with projections and controllers operating them.
"Commander, what are your orders?" Next to the previously seated man stood another exosuit-wearing woman. He couldn't believe the Generals were so stubborn. They couldn't let go of their pride, even for the sake of their soldiers. No matter what he said, they wouldn't listen, they were unwilling to open their eyes to the severity of the situation.
"Colonel?" At the sound of his deputy's voice, the commander returned to his senses.
"Yes, continue with the previous plan, leave a communications channel open in case the enemy tries to contact us." He couldn't trust them with how fast the orders changed, he needed to be ready for anything. Seeing her shoulders sink, he held back a sigh. He couldn't waver before his troops. "Go on, this is war, not a playground." Oh, how much he missed General Scern, things were so smooth back then, him and General Michaels… Pausing, he took a moment to mourn the Hero of Light.
When he opened his eyes again, he found himself outside amidst the carnage. As soon as he'd stepped out of the bunker, one of the flying ships had fallen from the sky. Despite it crashing right next to him, he didn't budge. His men were dying with no progress to show for it.
"You clueless idiots, I told you I need a medevac! Not a resupply, there's no way I can evacuate my injured with the ammo. Fuck!" This old man was as lively as ever. His sergeant major always struggled with technology, but somehow always managed to get the hang of it when it mattered.
He was never a fan of this new tech either, he'd rather be as close to his men as possible. The chair allowed him to do everything seated in the comfort of a safe bunker, but he still chose to be here, on the front lines.
As commander, he had his officers directly connected to him. He could see what they could see, feel what they could feel. He could usually handle it well, but he was starting to get a headache.
One platoon, two platoons down, one company. How long had I left for? He gritted his teeth.
The N series Gamma unit wasn't doing so well either. All that talk of being directly trained by Blackcoda and… the corrosion was simply not strong enough to push the never-ending roots back. Why didn't they just send the Heroes?
30% that's how many he'd lost. 30%... Where were the so-called reinforcements? Stand your ground, stand your ground… did they even know what was going on here? One after the other, he watched his troops fall, getting decimated by plants… PLANTS!
What could they do if they had no firepower when even artillery was useless? If they were waiting for reinforcements, why were they maintaining the assault? The city wouldn't go anywhere, would it?
He couldn't bear it, he was considering disobeying the orders. And right when he was about to give the order to retreat, an unfamiliar voice rang in his ear.
"Niner this is Mayhem, requesting permission to enter the channel." Someone had entered the channels. The reinforcements were here… Mayhem, Hero of Heat, was here.
"Niner, permission granted." The commander answered automatically, his reflexes kicking in as his brain struggled to process the situation. Was this it? Were they saved?
"Mayhem, I'll take over from here, commander," he heard him say as the troops were ordered to spread out before him.
Everything turned white as a ray of light descended from the sky. Everyone looked up at the same time. They all saw the light descend onto the ground before them, the vegetation annihilated in its path.
A massive hunk of armor stepped out from it. It took a brief moment for the soldiers to realize what was going on, but when they did, a war cry erupted from them. And as he walked past the dimming beacon of light, the imposing man wound up his fist. The ground shook with his every step, the trees and vines instantly combusting around him, the moisture in the air evaporating into a distorted fog.
When he finally threw out his punch a heat wave followed creating a path amongst the regenerating trees. The mesmerized soldiers didn't hesitate, creating a formation behind him.
He was about to throw his second punch when the flaming forest turned green and with the scenery changing before him, he lowered his arm. The army behind him reacted accordingly, retreating even further back. They could no longer interfere in this battle.
"I greet you, oh emissary of vehemence." A woman's voice echoed into every soldier's ear, bringing a feeling of fear into their hearts. Although most had never met her before, they knew through this feeling of unsurmountable dread that she was the one. The one responsible for their pain, suffering and loss. She was the one who killed them.
Burning neon green ashes moved by the wind congregated at the center of the scarred land, forming into a noble, fiery beauty. She was elegantly bowing, the forest recovering behind her, the plants dancing in her green flames.
"You've eluded us for a long time, Thorn…" the words of the hero were like a swift soothing wave washing over the troops, but it didn't last long as he was interrupted amid his homily.
"Oh, there's no need for this, is there? We both know why we're here." forced to end his words, the giant stared, frozen, at the approaching enemy. The source of this calm voice, this woman who made him quiver, was his enemy, and yet he couldn't help but admire her. She… her power… it was so beautiful.
"Would you allow me to have this dance?" She chuckled as she softly extended her hand. Instead of reaching to grab it, Mayhem reached behind his back.
To the colonel, the next moment was just a blur, in one moment she was there with her hand reaching forward and in the next, she wasn't, her figure replaced with a massive claymore that was still materializing, pieces of the hero's armorlike suit moving to complete it.
"Oh my God," a soldier screamed, pointing toward the previously incinerated patch of trees. There now stood a massive woman, half kneeling, her eyes burning with fervent green light.
"This could've been easy, but you decided to make it hard." When the commander glanced back at Mayhem, he was nowhere to be seen, a crater laying in his stead. He'd already lunged toward his enemy's throat, leaving a trail of heat in his path.
He would dodge and slash, using her plants as footholds, but with every cut, the number of plants simply grew, alimented by the raging green flames. They continued this dance for what felt like an eternity to the soldiers. The number of vines, thorns and roots increased as Mayhem's speed decreased. She was becoming a monster truly worthy of her name.
Mayhem was seemingly giving it his all, flames bursting from the cracks in his armor, when, out of nowhere, he brought his weapon up in front of him. In the next moment, a wave of plants engulfed him, slowly morphing into a fist as Thorn regained her human form. Her massive form was now somehow even more terrifying. She pummeled him into the ground, every blow carrying with it a load of despair that swiftly spread to the soldiers.
"Isn't this one of the Heroes?" One murmured into the channel. "How is this happening?" Even his commanders were distraught, but the Colonel clang unto hope. There had to be a way, a way to beat this monster, it had to have a weakness. And as if answering his prayers, an explosion radiated out from within the hole the Hero was now laying in, followed by the most ferocious war cry he'd ever heard.
It was like a hymn to the soldiers' ears as they watched their only hope dash toward the injured monster. His movements were now so fast that nobody could follow them. Even the monster was taken aback, unable to replicate.
"Commander," he heard a welcomed voice talk call out to him. "Ye…" he wasn't given the chance to finish his words as, as soon as he heard him, the man interrupted. "Listen to me carefully, I don't know… for how long I can keep this up…" He could hear from the man's grunts that he wasn't doing well. "We have no choice but to compromise…" the Colonel's heart swelled up hearing the ultimatum. "Order a full retreat and prepare for Doomsday Alpha… It probably won't be fully effective… but it should weaken her as we plan our next course of action." Hearing this, the man froze, unable to process what he had just heard.
"Commander, do as I say! This is an order from Black Hydra." He watched in horror as the monster started counterattacking, adapting to the Hero's patterns. No way… Snapping back to his senses, he followed the order. And when he saw this, Mayhem accelerated even further outmatching Thorn one more time, sacrificing parts of his body to push her back.
While it was happening, the commander grew confused, doubting his common sense more and more. A nuke would only weaken this monster. It was a joke, right? That's when Mayhem stopped his assault, retreating to follow the troops. The monster simply watched, a confused look on its face, until that intrigue turned into a disgusting smile that sent shivers down the Colonel's back.
"Is this how you want to play it?" It asked, its voice echoing in everyone's ears. "Fine, I'll indulge in your charade." With that same unmoving smile on its face, it looked up, raising its hand toward the sky.
What happened next shocked the soldiers so much that each and every one of them stopped their retreat into the bunkers. Following her movement, roots rushed out from under the earth towards the unreachable sky, gigantic Masterworts growing from them. The scene was as horrifying as it was beautiful. The Commander now understood why his requests for air strikes had been denied. But could it really stop a thermonuclear explosion?
He didn't have to wait long to find out. Soon he spotted a small source of light descending from the sky. However, before his systems could fully analyze it, the roots moved to envelop it. No way. Was this real? It felt like a movie.
They all watched as the bundle of roots began to glow. A shockwave spread through the air with the sphere at its center. Following its plants, the monster also began to glow and slowly raising its other hand it pointed to the now fleeing soldiers.
"Commander!" Everything happened so fast. The light, the screams, then the darkness. "He needs you alive." Those were the last words he heard before he fell unconscious.