10 - Almost Only Counts...
Fawkes stumbled out of a small tavern holding his jaw as he clenched his other fist. Three minotaurs stood in a line, one holding a broken bottle dripping with blood. Another minotaur stumbled out, standing next to him as he righted himself. Running his fist across his jaw to wipe away the blood dripping from his lip, Fawkes smiled.
“Well, you and me against the world, eh, Iron Will?” Iron Will held up his fists, spitting blood onto the ground. He seemed to be having trouble standing, favouring his left leg. The three minotaurs spread out, circling the group of two as they kept each other from falling over.
“Iron Will will not be defeated!” His shout gave the three minotaurs pause until they jumped towards Fawkes, whose smile only grew even wider. As if in slow motion, he brought his armored fist up quickly right into the stomach of the minotaur, the sound of bones cracking signifying that he had, in fact, connected exactly where he wanted to.
“You'd better stay down, motherfucker.” He flipped around, landing a roundhouse kick directly into the chest of the second minotaur, sending him flying through a nearby fence. Animals held in the nearby fenced-off pen scattered to the winds as the third minotaur seemed to regret his decision as Iron Will raised up to his full height.
“As my human friend would say,” Iron Will stated as he grabbed the minotaur's arm, “'go to Hell.'” With a mighty shout of strength, he flipped the minotaur over his shoulder, slamming him into the ground as others started to filter out from the tavern. Fawkes spat out the blood in his mouth, cracking his wrists as he frowned.
“Iron Will, that's the third job you've had me out on with you. I know I asked you to keep me busy, but this is a little ridiculous.” Iron Will stopped as Fawkes spoke a sentence without swearing once, thinking back to Fawkes' explanation of events that had transpired before everything that they had done together.
----==|THREE DAYS PREVIOUS|==----
“Creed, I'm not changing my mind. I'm fucking useless here without fighting, and I know jack shit about dealing with politicians and law enforcement.” Fawkes was wearing only pieces of his power armor, mainly the gloves and the boots, the rest of it piled in the corner along with the dented helmet he had tossed away.
“Fawkes, you've inspired many to join Celestia's Solar Guard. Don't deny the hope you've given many!” Fawkes stopped, turning quickly. He stood still as Creed adjusted his power armor, making sure the camouflage t-shirt was not caught.
“Thanks for that. Still, I've got to think some things over, Creed. I can't do that while in the seat of fucking richness and luxury.” Creed was given pause by the lower amount of swearing that Fawkes was using. Fawkes was serious. He pointed at his duster, pointing out the patched holes in it.
“I hope you've got some idea of who you're doing these jobs with. I-” Almost as if on cue, a large, grey minotaur burst in through the door, wearing a black t-shirt and thick leather gloves.
“Good to see you, Fawkes! Iron Will is ready to leave. My show is being put on hold while I help you, my friend.” Creed's jaw dropped when he saw the minotaur shake Fawkes' hand, smiling.
“Fawkes, you will have to tell me the story about how you and him became friends one day.” Fawkes smiled as he strapped his Monster Ripper to his back. Flipping up the collar of the duster, he waved as he followed Iron Will out.
“So, bounty hunting. This is a fucking new one, even for you, Iron Will.” Iron Will silently held up a poster of three imposing minotaurs, each one guilty of crimes that gave even Fawkes pause.
“Vandalism, theft, murder, treason, the list goes on, Fawkes. I've followed the trail of these minotaurs to the edge of Equestria. To Appleloosa.” Fawkes' smile grew even wider as he held up a bottle cap in one hand, flipping it over as he read the inscription somepony had scratched in it. 'Come back anytime! - Braeburn.' He stuffed it in his pocket, following Iron Will out of the castle.
----==|PRESENT DAY|==----
Fawkes dragged the unconscious minotaurs against the partially destroyed fence while Iron Will sprinted around and gathered up the animals. Producing a cord of rope from a bag that one of the three had been carrying, he tied them tightly down, making sure to avoid anything that might cause too much pain to them. Wiping his forehead, he turned and looked at Iron Will, who was gathering pieces to repair the fence.
“That's it for this job, then. I'll see if I can call it-” A flash of light behind him startled him as he and Iron Will watched something akin to a rift ripping open the wall of reality. Hefting his Monster Ripper, Fawkes smiled as he stood up, standing beside Iron Will as an orange pony approached them.
“Fawkes! Y'all gotta help us-”
“Interdimensional rift, possibly bringing through a large number of enemies, and we're the only ones in the town with combat experience. Braeburn, do you even have to ask?” Iron Will merely chuckled as he lifted a large machete.
“Whatever happens, Fawkes, remember that I will always fight beside you.” Fawkes lifted his hand in a fist, staring straight ahead at the rift. Iron Will returned the fist bump as they took off running, their shadows long in the glow of the setting sun.
--------====||====--------
Creed stood at the edge of the castle wall, looking out to the edge of Equestria. He could sense that he might be needed, but ignored the instinct to fight, as he had an inkling that someone he knew was already on it.
--------====||====--------
Fawkes stood at the edge, staring down at the rift that was forming. He drew his Ripper as he crouched, creeping closer until he could clearly see what was happening. Dead bodies of creatures he had never seen before lay on the ground, green blood and clouds of toxins spreading around.
“They're on your left!”
“Grenade out!”
“Martinson, behind you!”
“You bloody fucker, come get some!” Fawkes raised an eyebrow, looking over at Iron Will who shrugged, signifying he was just as confused. He set the Ripper down, getting closer until he was almost at the edge of the fog that had started to appear. Almost as soon as he was at the edge, something started glowing behind it, a deep crimson red. His mind clued in quickly, leaping to the side as a beam of crimson death flew overhead.
“We've got movement!”
“Ah, shot wide!” As he was standing back up, a soldier in heavy armor jumped out of the mist, tackling Fawkes to the ground and aiming his rifle at Fawkes' head.
“Down on the- sir? We've got... a huma-” His sentence was cut short as Iron Will tossed him like a ragdoll back into the mist, dragging Fawkes back as their eyes were still wide, taking in the scene.
“Dammit, Martinson's down!”
“Fujisara, toss a grenade!” An object landed between Iron Will and Fawkes and began to beep rapidly. Looking at each other, they dived for cover, Fawkes almost taking a piece of shrapnel to his shoulder. Peeking over their respective bits of cover, Iron Will flashed Fawkes a thumbs up to relay that he was all right.
“Fuck that was close. What kind of fucking idiots throw a fucking grenade in a fucking cloud of smoke?! That's batshit insane, if you ask me.” Three forms exited the mist, aiming wide as they scanned the area. The soldier that Iron Will had tossed was held up on their shoulders, groaning as he regained consciousness.
“Miller, Martinson shouted something about a human. Could it be... you know-”
“EXALT? Not likely, Fujisara. Lance had better be alright. Doesn't look like whatever tossed him was trying to hurt him-”
“Yeah, because the fucker decided to jump me. Good thing he didn't jump my friend, or he'd be fucking dead, you assholes.” Fawkes stood up from behind cover, walking out towards them with his Ripper drawn.
“Whoa, hostile!” They dropped Martinson, training their weapons on Fawkes while he watched Iron Will sneak around behind them.
“Down on the ground!” Fawkes ignored them, firing up his Ripper.
“You came to this world, shooting a fucking laser rifle, nearly take my fucking head off, and expect me to listen to a damn thing you shitheads have to say?!” He sat down on a nearby rock, turning off the Ripper.
“What are you-”
“Eh, I've seen worse reasons to listen to someone. Iron Will, don't hurt them.” Iron Will backed away, giving the three a wide berth as he moved to sit beside Fawkes.
“Who are-”
“Jason Fawkes, Courier Six, and you just tried to kill me and my friend. Hope that clears that up.” The two standing set their rifles down, seating themselves in the dust as a large rush of wind blew through, a white light disappearing as darkness fell, the rift dissipating into ash.
“So...”
“Iron Will, could you set up camp? I don't like being out in the dark too long.”
--------====||====--------
Fawkes stood by the fire, warming his hands as the three soldiers explained what had transpired. Their leader, a Colonel Isaac Miller, had ordered a retreat when EXALT – the pure opposite of their anti-alien defense force XCOM, or the Extraterrestrial Combat Unit – forced their hand and caused their Skyranger, a Vertical Take-Off/Landing combat transport, to leave them behind. Aliens had swarmed them as EXALT had kept them suppressed, forcing one of them to test out a new device they had been equipped with, a quantum bomb that, instead of creating an explosion, ripped apart reality and sent the three of them through.
“That's.. a lot to take in. So, what about Alaska, China invading?” Miller and Fujisara stared at each other, their eyebrows raised.
“There was no conflict between the Chinese and the rest of the world, especially the United States. My wife was Chinese, Courier-”
“It's Fawkes.” The colonel sighed, rubbing his forehead. He regretted detonating that quantum bomb, but he knew it had been the only way to take out that specific cell of EXALT, and their alien ally contingent, without causing, hopefully, too much damage.
“You're aware of the Multiverse theory, right?” Fawkes had to think about that one. He remembered the eggheads at Big Mountain having mentioned something along those lines, which started to make sense.
“The one about there being an infinite number of universes where every probability is possible, every possible decision we could have ever made?”
“Precisely. What it sounds like is that you've come from not from this dimension-” Fawkes held up his hand, sighing.
“I was in contact with scientists from my Earth. They said they could track me, but I was on a planet orbiting Proxima Centauri.” The colonel choked for a minute, his eyes going wide as he stared at Fawkes, his hat quivering in the light breeze.
“P-Proxima Centauri? Then we've traveled farther than any other person in the entire universe!” Fawkes raised his hand, smiling. His smile faded when he heard movement nearby.
“Tell me you've got a sidearm I can use.”
“Just a laser pistol, but I don't see-”
“Give it here.” The colonel tossed it to Fawkes, who looked it over in amazement.
“We didn't have laser weapons like this. The battery pack is self-contained, and the beam is more highly concentrated. Must have a hell of a punch.” He pointed the pistol at the darkness, growling deep in his throat in anger.
“Fawkes-”
“Come on out! I know you're watching, so there's no point in hiding!” An older man entered the light, making Fawkes shake his head in amazement.
“Fawkes.”
“Alexander Volks. To what do I owe the fucking pleasure?” Volks merely smiled, seating himself at the fire. He held out a small PDA, letting Jason take a look through.
“Proof, Jason. There's a little research I've done about the world at large now. You're not actually from Earth, but from a terraformed copy that, unfortunately, felt the sting of apocalyptic nuclear war.” He sighed, staring at the fire and watching the tongues of flame lick at the dry wood in the pile.
“Colonel Miller, you might want to come here and look at this.” Miller moved over, staring at the screen.
“But, that's... that's not possible. We're all from this dimension, and all from different time periods?!” They both stared at Volks, who merely raised his hand and smiled.
“My friends, there's a lot more going on than what you understand. A gathering darkness will come upon this world. On that day, I will be able to assist, but until that day...” He vanished from sight, causing Fawkes and Miller to jump.
“You're going to have to learn about who you really are.”
--------====||====--------
Creed stepped away from the edge of the wall in Canterlot, returning to the palace and Celestia, the one pony he had discovered he could fully disclose a lot of what he had faced and she would not run. Instead, she would just let a single tear escape, the face a person, or pony, who had faced horrific war of unimaginable proportions that none could fathom. Leonidas was training with his buffalo compatriots, competing against Minsc who, in fact, was laughing and smiling as they tried to knock him over. Raimi and Mewtwo were meditating, the supernatural energies surrounding Raimi visible as colourful lights. Pushing open the doors, he entered the main corridor, pulling out another Cuban cigar and lighting it up. He leaned against the wall, closing his eyes and lifting his head to relax.
“Something on your mind, General?” The two griffons who had come with him came out from where they were watching and looked up at him.
“My home. Cadia still has a large enemy force of Chaos Marines and Traitor Guard that are deeply entrenched. Peace my home has never known. I was just wishing we had even a small squad of Kasrkin, the most elite soldiers of Cadia. Born and bred for war, in the sense. None else can look down the sights of a weapon at the mutated horrors of Chaos and pull the trigger without so much as a blink of the eye.” He sat down, the griffons taking a seat on either side of him.
“Sir.”
“The Eye of Terror is the greatest concentration of evil the entire universe has ever known. Chaos' forces stream forth every time of a black crusade, and have ruined my planet many times. Fawkes was telling me the horrors of atomic warfare, and it reminded me-”
“Of the planet of Krieg, sir?” Creed looked up to see four troopers wielding lasguns staring at him. The griffons got up, standing between Creed and the Death Korps soldiers.
“Sergeant Michaels.”
“It's just Tallius now sir. We had a... disagreement with the Space Marines over deployments, and we said something we shouldn't have. One thing led to another, and we ended up here. Just to let you know,” Tallius stated, “The Order of the Black Hand has several ships in orbit. We've got the forces and the technology to equip it.” Creed was about to hold up his hand when a shiver went down his spine.
“Did you feel that?”
“Yes sir. I did.”
“Something horrible is coming.”
--------====||====--------
Fawkes looked up to see a streaking flame, pieces of metal showering off of it as it slammed into the ground.
“Get to cover!” The pod, of sorts, blew its doors off, letting out a foul stench. Fawkes covered his nose, his face wrinkled in disgust. He heard clanking and growling, almost as if- he shivered. Remembering what Creed told him about the Ruinous Powers before, he shook in fear. He was staring at honest-to-God Chaos Space Marines. He looked over at Iron Will, who stood beside the XCOM soldiers. He lifted his hand, making the motion for them to circle around behind. He flipped the switch on the laser pistol when he heard something land in the sand beside him. Picking it up, he realized that Colonel Miller had tossed him a radio headset. Smiling, he quickly put it on, tuning it to a frequency he knew by heart.
--------====||====--------
Creed was about to continue talking when he felt his communicator click. Lifting it, he raised an eyebrow as he heard quiet voices, and then his eyes went wide. He could hear the telltale sounds of Chaos, and of Traitor Marines. His free hand clenched as he lowered the communicator. Pointing at the soldiers of Krieg, he started barking orders.
“Get on the vox with your ships in orbit! We have a Chaos incursion. There is a small warband of probably around five or six, but one is carrying a Heavy Bolter, another with a Missile Launcher! Area outside of a frontier town, probably six kilometers out.” The soldiers from Krieg nodded as a Vox Trooper entered the room.
“Get on the comms, Private. Give Captain Ackeron the coordinates of the drop zone.” They looked at Creed, who seemed incredibly puzzled.
“Drop zone? I thought you would use Valkyrie Dropships?”
“Dropships? You underestimate the Black Hand, Creed. We are the best of the best, for one reason: We will willingly jump into hell to prove we will fight for humanity, no matter what we believe.” A crackle and a low voice barked a response from the Vox Trooper's receiver.
“Then they've got reinforcements?”
“They're sending Kasrkin, Creed.”
“Wait... you mean...”
“Your own people fight alongside us, Creed. We fight secretly on Cadia to free her from the grips of Chaos using whatever weapons we've... 'procured' in our long fight against pretty much the entire galaxy.
“You boyz gonna get dem Chaos boyz, eh?” Creed raised an eyebrow, very curious.
“The Orkz decided to help us in exchange for scrap. Specifically, Warboss Gorgutz 'Eadhunter.” Creed could only gawk as the troopers disappeared in a flash of light, shaking his head as to what he just witnessed.
--------====||====--------
“Slaughter them! Blood for the Blood God! Skulls for the Skull Throne!” Fawkes had to stay behind his rock as the rounds from the heavy machine gun that one Marine was carrying pounded pieces from it.
“You fuckers are going to eat shit, you hear-” More light above made him crane his neck. There were ten, no twenty, no- Fawkes gave up counting them as they had begun to slam into the ground, doors flying off.
“Kill them all! Leave none alive, troopers!” Laser beams and plasma blasts peppered the air as the Marines turned to face the new threat, shells pouring on as Fawkes watched both sides engage in a battle that the Marines, quite honestly, were not in good chances of winning. There were a lot of soldiers, and he could hear the whir of cybernetics. Fawkes stood up, smiling.
“Leave some of the fuckers for me!” Firing off his laser pistol, he was surprised to see the beam cut right through the armor. Smiling, he charged forward, firing off more shots as the troopers came from the other side, supported by the XCOM soldiers. Rolling and firing, the troopers took down two of the Marines, one of the remaining ones hefting a rather large rocket launcher to fire at the other troops. Fawkes could not allow them to kill the soldiers that were fighting on his side. Without thinking, he leaped onto the Chaos Marine, wrapping his cybernetic arm around the Marine's throat.
“What the-”
“You motherfuckers are going to die-” Suddenly, he was accosted by visions of evil and destruction.
“You know not the power you contend with, mortal. Give yourself to Chaos, and true power will be yours-” Fawkes put the gun to the Marine's neck, firing three times before jumping off and kicking the corpse to the ground. The other troopers had already taken down the remaining Marine, piling the corpses and weapons on a funeral pyre. One came forward wielding a large flamethrower, setting the entire pile on fire, bodies, wood, and weapons. He shook his shoulders, sighing as he removed his helmet. Looking to Fawkes, he smiled and held out a hand.
“Captain Jonas Ackeron, commander of the Crimson Guardian, at your service.”
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An awesome new chapter man, nicely done!
Its good to see them all kicking ass! :D
Black Hand?
Heeheh eue Elder Scrolls~
Keep it up!
6015217
Actually, a custom faction in Warhammer 40K. Kitbashed a lot of units for it, including Fireteam Joker, which might or might not be added, depending on how many beings I want in this.
6015538
Aww, hehe.
Awesome man, hope to see it added.
Keep up the good work.
6360596
Actually, I'm using some stuff from Fallout 3 for the Courier. The Winterized T51b armor, to be exact. However, considering the Pipboy no longer works now, he's got nothing he can use right now.
6793456 Woman's voice? I wasn't trying to give it a woman's voice. I was going off of the first movie's Mewtwo.
10949325
Bruh
That comment was 6 years old
No one else has commented on this story in 5 years
Maybe let sleeping dogs lie?
10952220
It's more that I haven't been able to regain the momentum I used to have on this story. I want to come back to writing it, but it's a mindset you have to be in.
10952704
Coolio, and I do wish you luck with that. In reference to my previous comment, I was more referring to their 5 year old necro-threading of old posts
10953143
Yeah, I get that - was kinda out of the blue to be honest.
It's just, at least people are reading it, so there is a minor amount of interest? I've been suffering from writer's block on certain stories for a bit now.