Face to Fate
Dr. McNinja, Josuke, Sigmund Vrell, Hulk Caustic, Kefka
Karl’s ‘sinkhole’ had been a relatively short descent into a carefully excavated tunnel. Despite the numerous gags and memes present on MulTwitter and Tik Ter, the only enormous pit had been the metaphorical one in the stomachs of the bloodied contestants as they were joined by the Lonely Hearts marines who had set up position in the tunnel networks.
“You were the only volunteers?” A younger man, a Corporal Haskins, inquired as he helped Josuke down from the wall of the sinkhole.
“There’s just three of us?” Josuke whispered as he looked over at Sigmund Vrell and his companion, the doctor-ninja.
The corporal shook his head. “Two others. The one said he wasn’t a people person, and I don’t think any of us really wanted him around, since he was covered in burns and talking like a lunatic.”
Josuke and McNinja shared a silent look before the noncommissioned officer continued.
“The other one looked like he was some type of… I dunno, battle scientist?” The man turned to his fellow soldiers, but there wasn’t a single one of them that could come up with a better description of the growling, oversized Caustic.
“What’s the plan?” McNinja asked as the marine collected their belongings and started to march down the sewer-sized tunnel.
“We walk,” Haskins replied. “It’s about three clicks down this tunnel… the excavators have been working on it for the last four days, and they say they’re about an hour or so from breakthrough. We’ll likely have to double-time a little to catch up to them.”
“From where, though?” Josuke whispered.
“We’re not sure,” Haskins muttered. “We just know it’s some type of unmade fortification. “That Mr. Jak guy an’ the Sarge were both pretty clear when they told us it was likely one hell of a fortification, given the above-ground defenses and the fact that the place is under some sort of … high-tech shit that keeps it off the radars. We think there’s either someone important housed up there, and if that’s not the case, it could be some type of weapon. Y’know, a giant laser they’re gonna use to blast a whole in Markov’s shields.”
“Sounds like either way we need to try our best to wreck this place,” Josuke replied.
“Correct, but like I told the other guys,” Haskins spoke in hushed tones. “I can’t guarantee your safety. Karl Jak’s sent some heavies, but unless one of you can create miracles, you need to know we’re probably not comin’ back from this.”
“This feels worth the risk,” Josuke replied with a faint smile, even as sweat ran down the side of his face.
“Here,” Haskins handed each of the men a small object before lifted down the thick collar of his suit to reveal one was attached to his neck. “Karl Jak calls them ‘Death Assurance’, and they’re designed to explode when they detect your heart has stopped.”
“Future tech cyanide pills?” Dr. McNinja asked as he glanced at the stamp-sized piece of technology.
“Shooting yourself doesn’t always prevent them from reanimating you as one of their monstrosities,” Haskins grumbled. “These will make sure there isn’t anything left for them to seep into when you die.”
“Great,” Sigmund muttered as he collected his Death Assurance.
“We have to make up some time, so I’m going to ask that you all try your best to keep pace,” Haskins replied as he turned and started to jog his way down the tunnel.
***
Call it adrenaline, but it was Josuke who managed to make it to the small room before the other three.
Not only was Kefka present, but there was also another dozen armored marines and four cybernetic figures that dwarfed the soldiers.
“The clown,” McNinja hissed as he tried to push passed Josuke, who put an arm out to stop him.
“I think that’s one grudge you might have to settle somewhere else,” he whispered. “Bigger fish or something, am I right?”
McNinja said nothing, but his posture relaxed, even as a sneering, black-toothed Kefka started to blow charred raspberries at him.
“All right, people,” Haskins spoke in something barely elevated above a whisper. “That wall in front of us will take us into a storage room in the third level of this fortress. We’re gonna blow this wall, and then we’re going to rig the room to explode. Now, the moment we breach into this son of a bitch, the klaxons are going to start shrieking, and the rest of you are on ‘Kill every mother fucking piece of shit you set your damn, sorry eyes upon’, and you are not going to relent in this mission until every aforementioned mother fucking piece of shit you set your damn, sorry eyes upon is dead or your body fails you. Am I clear?”
“Yes, Sir!” The marines shouted in reserved tones as Corporal Haskins walked up to the four hulking cyborgs in hockey masks. “On your mark,” he muttered as the ‘heavies’ that Karl had sent him cocked back their massive arms and punched through the reinforced steel. Then, with the ease of children parting sand, they peeled away the foot-deep plating until there was gap large enough to send a truck through the wall.
“Go, go, go!” Haskins screamed as the marines leapt into the fortress. As anticipated, the alarms seemed to sound the moment boots smashed down upon the metal flooring. “Bomb squad! Up!”
The men with the explosions set about their duty as the four ‘heavies’ shouldered and elbowed their way through the walls of the room and started their programmed duty to murder everything that even had a faint aroma of Darkseid’s corruption. In their wake, Caustic, who had barely managed to compose himself over the last five minutes, went roaring into battle.
“Run and gun,” Haskins remarked to the three men he had personally led to the fortress. “You’ll want to at least be above ground by the time these detonators go off. Maybe I’ll see you up there, and maybe I’ll see you all in Hell. Either way, good luck!”
***
Four stories above ground, a trio of soldiers strode through the reinforced doors to the command center.
“What is this racket?” Their commanding officer growled without glancing away from a holographic array of the surrounding landscape. “Did a parademon pick a fight with the anti-air turrets again?”
“It’s … intruders, Sir.”
The unmade lieutenant held out his cybernetically augmented limb and willed a heavy assault rifle into his hands. Turning to face his now cowering underlings, the former Spectre grinned.
“I need the target practice,” he deadpanned as he strode passed them. “While you’re at it, release the recent converts in the cells and let them serve as the first wave.”
“Yes, Saren!” The soldiers shouted in unison.
***
You are in the fortress/base of unmade Cevanti Lieutenant, Saren Arterius (
https://multerra.zulenka.com/wiki/saren/).
The whole place is a hive of unmade cultists (a number of Mass Effect races with a likely plurality of turians), unmade zoids, pseudo-domesticated unmade akata, and parademons. The first bulks of resistance you will face is a number of partially and/or (recently) unmade ‘prisoners of war’ and unfortunate souls scooped up in the wastes beyond Markov (y’know, the rest of this Arbiter-forsaken World).
You are joined in your mission by the Lonely Hearts Marines (roughly 10 of them – they’re outfitted in battle armor akin to StarCraft Marines). As noted over in the Sgt Swift wiki page, anyone who gets into her squad is highly trained (more so than standard marines in Markov).
You are also joined by 4 Über Jasons (Cyber Jason from the seminal 2000s film Jason X… or from last year’s Dante’s Abyss). These engineered Jasons have been programmed and battle-tested using data gathered throughout Conquest, so while synthetic, they are highly effective and highly trained killing machines sheathed in katchin steel and armed with machetes. Think of them heavy tanks on a battlefield. They don’t speak (they’re fucking Jason Voorheeses) but they are capable of coordination and understanding.
I expect all five of you to post at least once in the next 50 hours (6/27 by like… 6 pm CST). After that, I’ll do an update, and whoever is alive at that point will have a window of time to do one last post. Given the suicidal nature of this mission, all entrants will receive a Coin prize, with the ‘final survivor’ receiving the most.