//------------------------------// // Resurrection // Story: Crossover // by Blitz Habanera Tuscania //------------------------------// His foot hit the ground, twisting around on his toes as he twirled around to complete another lap of pacing in this hell he called home. It was nothing, no sound of his boots on the invisible ground, no sound of him adjusting what was left of his uniform, no sound of him screaming in anger. No light to show him where he was going. Nothing to touch, except the invisible walls that he knew were there but every time he tried to touch them he ended up touching nothing. He deserved to be here, to believe the General’s words. He deserved it for believing Blackwatch’s story. He deserved it for sending the Wiseman team in like cannon fodder to distract Mercer. He deserved it for the things he had done. But on the other hand he didn't deserve his cruel fate. He saved the planet numerous times by containing the deadliest plague to ever be created. He helped that thing that claimed to be Mercer save millions of lives. He stood by his men to the very end, refusing to desert them. In the end it didn’t matter what he had done because thanks to that monstrosity, he was stuck in this hell forever. There wasn't any way it could have been played out differently. The General had just finished giving him orders, and flew off in his helicopter. He was alerted to the infected climbing over the fences by his fellow soldiers. He watched a hunter hop over the fence, a massive gorilla like creature that walked on all fours, with sunken eyes and lipless mouth, massive clawed hands that could easily fit around his head. It had stood up on its hind legs roaring to the heavens above before it dropped to its natural four-legged state. He had whipped out his electric baton and told his fellows to contain the rest of the infected and leave the hunter to him. He had charged, dodging the hunter’s attacks and beat into it with his baton, intending to draw it away from his men. He had leaped off its arm and stabbed it in the eye and kicked off, shooting as many grenades out of his grenade launcher as he could, an amount that would have put down a normal hunter. But that thing had been far from normal, for as soon as he turned his attention to the infected charging at his men, it had leapt out of the smoke and came clawing at him, completely unharmed by his barrage. His men were overwhelmed while he had done his best to kill the monstrous hunter. But by the time he had attained some sort of progress with it seeming to be weakened, its fellow infected had swarmed him. Busy fighting the horde, the monster took the opportunity to slam its hand into the ground, buried up to the wrist. The ground below him shortly erupted in spikes after, impaling him and the dozens of infected that had been trying to swarm him. Then the monster simply pulled the spikes out of the ground dropping him, and walked over to him. It had looked down at him before slamming its foot into his face. That had been when he found himself here in the abyss of nothingness, pacing until something happened. This very well could be hell, a punishment of solitude for his devilish deeds. Or it could be heaven with a final eternal peace and he didn’t have to fight anymore. He took a moment to trace the white streak in his hair before sighing inaudibly. He finally stopped his pacing and let himself collapse to the ground, head stopping as it hit something that he didn’t feel. The fluid in his ears told him what his eyes couldn’t and that was he had landed upside down, or was looking upside down. He laid for maybe days, months, years or even just a few minutes. It was hard to tell. But as he lay there he noticed something he could see in the distance, something red. Something visible and moving. Flipping onto his side and pushing himself up he stared at the indistinct red object that was getting closer. Swiping at his nose he walked towards it, slowly breaking into a run as it grew brighter and more noticeable. Within moments it doubled its own speed towards him, seemingly happy to see him as he was to see something for once. He slid to a stop as it came within touching distance in front of him, illuminating him in a blood-red glow, showcasing his black uniform that somehow stayed with him, his armor plates still there on his body, radio on his chest and the unzipped portion on his chest. As he took appreciation of the fact he still wore his custom uniform sans his baton and grenade launcher, he looked at the red object, seemingly hovering in the air and flickering like an angry flame colored red as blood. As it spoke he jumped slightly. “I have a proposition for you soldier.” Its gravelly voice echoing in the abyss they were in. He crossed his arms, already wary of the flame despite being happy he wasn’t entirely alone anymore. “First what are you, then you can state your proposition.” It flickered to the side before resuming its upward flicker. “What am I… I am a king in need of a soldier. I am a king that’s been ousted from my own empire. Under normal circumstances I’d ask for you to kill those that ousted me.” “Well for me this already different from normal, but what has you changing your position on those that ousted you?” He asked, his eyebrow raising slightly as he fiddled with his turtleneck. “As much as I hate to see my empire under control of others, they have done a…. decent job at running it. Not how I would but regardless they are prospering. I would sooner have them run my empire then have a army of thieves ransack it and rip it to pieces when the could have gotten what they wanted just by mining the nearby mountains.” He smiled. “And judging by how you called me a soldier and you said you had a proposition, I have a feeling you want me to do something about this army?” He swore he could hear a smile in the flame’s reply. “Exactly. Those that beat me had access to a device that could wipe me from existence, but only because of my deeds to the citizens of my empire and my succumbing to the dark. It does nothing to thieves, and their guards aren’t ready for fighting off this many at one time. So I looked around for an answer and I found you, a being that fought the Horse of Death and won, withstood the Horse of Plague’s touch and prospered, fought the Horse of War and managed to give it a hard time at its own sport.” He took a moment to think about that before realizing the voice was comparing the virus to the four horsemen, albeit the voice kept calling them horses. “So what you want to hire me? Sorry, but I’m not a mercenary.” “Even if it means a way out of this hellhole you find yourself in?” A tendril of the flame seemed to gesture all around them. “I am one of the few beings that could find you, and I’m the only one willing to bring you back. This is my area of expertise, bringing back the dead. All I need you to do is accept my proposition.” “How do I know you’re not trying to steal my soul or something?” “I can’t give you any assurance past the fact I need a soldier to fight for me, as much as stealing your soul right now would benefit me, this is even more beneficial. Either you run a risk with me or you stay forever in between life and death. Not up to heaven or down to hell, not even in the middle with the living, but instead shoved to the side.” “So let me get this clear? You want me to fight off an army of thieves? As great as a soldier I am, I can’t fight off an army with guns, armed with nothing but my fists. Go ask Mercer for that.” “I will not deal with Death, all that lies down that road is my empire crumbling apart,” The voice hissed as the flame turned greenish, before resuming its original blood color. “And you need not to worry about them having guns, my kind are… primitive in the art of war compared to what you know. Also another thing I need you to do is push a heart off a pedestal that’s in the middle of the empire, it won’t break no matter what you do so just push it off the pedestal.” He smirked and picked at his chin as he thought it over. A hovering fire of blood was offering him a way out of this hell-hole he called home, a chance to save another country. The exact definition of sketchy right there, but then again, it was a way-out, compared to his other ways out… which were none. He shrugged. “Okay I guess not like I have much of an option.” It laughed momentarily. “Excellent, now this might hurt a little, just don’t fret too much and you’ll be fine.” The fire moved towards him, completely void of any heat or absence of it. His lips pressed together as he did his best not to fidget as the fire started to wrap around his feet, slowly twisting around his body. Less than a minute later it had finished wrapping around him and all he could see was the blood-red. “Okay now here’s the part where it’s going to hurt, just whatever you do. DO. NOT. PASS. OUT. I cannot emphasize that enough, anyways let’s get this over with hmmm soldier?” At that the fire started to warm, at first pleasing then moved onto a uncomfortable heat. He could feel it starting to press inwards on him, making it hard to breathe as it crushed his ribcage and his windpipe. The heat turned into a blistering one as the blood-red fire started to turn green and the more it turned green, the hotter it became until he felt like he was truly on fire. The fire kept crushing him, far past the point his bones should have cracked in half. He fell forward onto the ground gasping for breath while his entire body, regardless of whether or not it was inside of him or outside, felt like it was melting. His hands clawed at his throat as every little breath of air he took only increased the burning sensation in his throat and lungs, drying out into little deserts. Just as he thought it couldn’t get any worse it stopped, the only feeling he felt on his body was a smooth and cold substance on the side of his face. “Congratulations you’re alive.” Said a voice sarcastically above him. Cautiously opening his eyes he was assaulted by a blinding light from every direction and as such he immediately shut them again, bringing his hand up to give them some shade as he inched them open ever so slightly. His other hand pushed him up into a cross-legged sitting position going for his baton but realizing it was gone. “So as for who you need to get rid of just go ahead and get rid of any bipeds you see, I’ll have you deal with the usurpers to my throne later.” Said the voice again, just to his right. He turned to the voice to see a blurry outline of some black thing, but the longer he stared at it the more he realized how fucked up his situation was. The person giving him orders wasn’t even a person. It was a greyish horse with a curved sickle of a horn coming out of its head, colored a raging red, the eyes taking up half the face were green with purple slowly leaking out of the corners like a noxious gas. On its hoofs were metal bracers,, while a silver crown decorated its head with some red decoration right behind the horn. Its hair if you could call it that was as black as the abyss he had just come from and seemed to be shapeless as it moved slightly. The horse in question looked at him, fangs flashing in the light as it spoke. “Don’t tell me you’re this surprised, you fought the three of the Four Horses. Not to mention the horde of demons they had.” “You’re a fucking horse.” He said lowering his hand as he finally got used to the light. His attention though shifted from the black unicorn of vampires in front of him and to the Crystal buildings behind the horse. In fact everything looked crystalline, the grass, the buildings, some berry bushes directly beside them, a giant tower that jutted out from the middle of the city and somehow the sky too. How was that sparkling? “Yes and you’re a soldier who’s been through worse Cross. Anyways down that way,” The male horse said pointing again with its hoof, towards the Crystal Tower. “Are the majority of the thieves which I need you to take care of and the heart I need you to push off its pedestal is directly under the tower. Remember only bipeds, no quadrupeds.” He kept staring for a moment before shaking his head and pushing up off the ground, slightly surprised that the grass felt like actual grass, and looked off in the direction the horse was pointing. “After I take care of the thieves do you mind if I ask you some questions about where the fuck I am?” “After you get rid of them and remove the Heart from its pedestal, yes.” With a puff of air leaking out of his lips he shrugged and turned towards the center of the Crystal City, legs keeping in stride as he marched. As he strode he took a quick note of his new… suit that the vampire unicorn had been gracious enough to give him. Probably the vampire unicorn anyways, since this was the first time he’d seen his current outfit. Adorning his knuckles were metal gloves, black mesh covering the hands while the bones were covered by silver metal plates, he was unable to tell exactly what it was, but venturing a guess it was titanium. The knuckles themselves had spikes as if he was supposed to beat the thieves into submission. Up and down his arms, legs and covering his feet were the same metal, the metal forming a type of boot around his feet, all painted with lines of black running up and down the metal plates on his body. His elbow and shoulder plates ended in a miniature spike, while curiously, compared to the rest of his outfit, his knees were only rounded plates of the metal. His chest or breastplate had some sort of symbol on it, from craning his neck to look at it he guessed it was the vampire unicorn’s eye, complete with the purple smoke leaking out. His head was free of any type of metal plates or other clothing, leaving his main feature of a white streak of hair down the middle of his head, as thankfully the only feature. His hands brushed the outside of his thighs as he checked to see if he had any type of weapons, and with a smirk his hand smacked something. His hand closed around it as he yanked it out of the armor’s holster and as he lifted it into his view he saw a familiar sight. He threw his arm to the side and it extended into its full length, the main difference being it seemed to be bladed instead of just round. He thumbed the switch, which was there surprisingly, and electricity started to arc up and down its length. A bladed electric baton…. there was literally nothing he could say to that. Shrugging he thumbed the switch again the miniature lightning died off, leaving a bladed baton to his side, then hanging at his side as he dropped his arm. All in all he looked like a evil knight from the medieval ages, that had a lightning sword at his side, sans the helmet. He was also allied with a vampire unicorn, he was about to enter a Crystal City, where everything seemed to be crystal, he had to fight an army of thieves, and the unicorn kept saying something about bipeds only, no quadrupeds. As he kept walking and kept his eyes forward, momentarily registering a sign he thought to himself how easy this was compared to the virus so far. It would be a walk in the park. Literally, judging by the area he was in now. Or he could break into a run and finish this up quick, so he could figure out what was going on. Yeah. That sounded better. He slowly broke into a full out run as he focused on the clash of metal up ahead, that reached his ears. “Hey Star!” Yelled Glisten, a crystal pony guard clad sparkling a dazzling blue and a darker blue coat, as he ducked underneath another Diamond Dog’s blade, twisting on his forehooves to bring his hind legs smashing into the Diamond Dog’s legs, sending it to the ground. “Yeah bro?” Asked Star, his cousin who was also dressed in standard uniform, as he twirled his spear in his hooves, standing on his hind legs and making him easily as tall as the Diamond Dogs around them. It discouraged any Diamond Dogs from attacking him head-on, but didn’t stop one from trying to sneak up behind him. Star’s ears flicked up as he heard it stepping behind him and he let the spear almost slide out of his hooves, just to catch it at the end and smashed it into the Diamond Dog’s head. Said Dog didn’t make a sound as it crumpled to the ground. “Next time you tell me you have an easy job, don’t tell me. The Changelings were easier than this!” Glisten commented as he caught a blade between his hoofs, by smashing them together, and yanked back on it, rolling onto his back and pulling the Dog down with him, before kicking the Dog off as it fell on top of him and threw the sword to the side. He smiled at the Dog before looking up at the miniature horde of them down the street, easily twenty or thirty, that had just turned the corner and frowned. Clad in mismatched armor and varying from pony size to bigger than even the Alicorns, all in the process of snarling or growling at them, a few had swords, others maces, a few with flails, some didn’t even have a weapon of any sort, they watched them. Then they started to run at them, a few opting to run all fours in leaps from spot to spot. “Ah buck me... why did we volunteer to go near the edge?” “For country? My question is why are there so many of them?” Star muttered as he walked up beside him, the spear somehow balanced on his back with no help from his hooves. He shook his head. “Well I do believe we are going to die, what say you?” Glisten was about to respond when he saw one of the Diamond Dogs at the back of the pack suddenly fly up into the air and scream in panic, before getting stabbed by lightning. The rest of the Diamond Dogs stopped and turned towards one of their own clad in silver and black armor, one of its arms raised skyward holding the same lightning that impaled one of the Diamond Dogs, which was still there decorated on said lightning. The silver figure that had attacked the Diamond Dogs alone, lowered its arm and let the one it had just killed slide off its sword of lightning. As one the rest of them attacked the figure en masse. It responded in kind. All the while Glisten and Star watched dumbfounded as the figure slid underneath swords on its knees with ease and come up with an uppercut, sending Diamond Dogs flying. It caught the maces in its hands and smashed their heads in with it. Any Dog fast enough to avoid its lightning sword, were still sent to the ground in pain as it arced outwards and struck them with blue electric rage. It was the Diamond Dogs versus a righteous hurricane of lightning and fists, to which they didn’t last a minute against. The final Dog fell as the silver and black figure dropped what was left of its head after smashing it in with its knee, and looked to them, the lightning sword changing into a black one devoid of any evidence of what it had just been used to do. “Uh I think it’s looking at us.” “Yeah I can see that.” Star replied as the figure slowly started to walk towards them, slowly changing into a jog. Then a run. Then a full out sprint, at which point they realized what symbols it had painted all up and down its armor. The same symbols that Princess Cadance and Prince Shining had told them were Sombra’s black magic. The most prominent symbol on this figure being the eye painted across the chest, seemingly looking into their souls. He would have shivered in fear if it weren’t for the fact that the figure that definitely wasn’t Diamond Dog or Minitaurian in nature, was almost on them. Star and Glisten looked at each other before nodding in agreement, they couldn’t let this thing get past them. But as they prepared to fight, the figure turned down an alley to their left and disappeared from view, re-appearing momentarily later behind them, completely avoiding them. And heading straight to the Crystal Heart. “Oh buck this day just can’t get any worse.”