Planetside 2: The Path We Walk

by Xzeron2000

3: The First and Last Thing

CHAPTER-3: The First and Last Thing

“A friend of mine once said, ‘you’ve got to be stealthy sometimes, but sometimes,’ He waved his C-4 detonator in my face, ‘You’ve got to live a little.’”

The infiltrator came to consciousness with a start. She put her hands under her, and pushed herself up into a crouching position, then quickly realized that her choice to transfer to such a position was not wise. She clutched her forehead, and pain wracked her body. Slowly, the pain faded, and she stood. What she saw didn’t quite surprise her; as she saw the same alien device she had jumped through, glowing objects and all. It was a copy, she suspected, and she walked over to it, and quickly snatched one of the objects from its antigravity suspension. The object glowed brightly in her gloved hand, and then faded to a dull teal, with glowing glyphs etched along the sides of it. The object was shaped like an X, and had four different glyphs etched onto the flat ends of the X. She decided to stow it in one of her breast ammo pockets, should she need it later.

The infiltrator’s keen eye swept across the rest of the room, which was illuminated in a soft, teal light that emanated from the alien object she stood upon, and poles that had glowing crystals affixed to their tops. When she stepped back out onto the floor, she felt said floor, taking off one of her gloves to do so. It felt smooth, and when she knocked on it, she heard a thudding sound. The floor was solid, nothing hollow as would be expected in a space station or a spacefaring vessel. Good. At least she knew she was stranded on a planet, where things may or may not be familiar. Right now, nothing looked familiar. So, she made up her mind. She was going to escape this alien prison, even if it was the last thing she did.

After hours of walking down the same corridor, she came to a nexus, where three hallways branched off. One was blocked off by what looked like crystals; their cruel, black points gave a warning to all those who would try to pass them. The infiltrator simply shrugged, and marked the place on her map, which her suit’s sensors were putting together as she walked the corridors. What she was more interested in were the stairs that spiraled up into an infinite helix, carved out of pure crystal. She could see a faint light coming from the top of the winding staircase, and she decided to take it up. Before she did, she used the range finder on her sniper rifle’s scope to judge the distance from floor level to the top of the staircase. It read a little less than 100 meters. She chalked it off as a substitute for her early morning PT routine, which had been replaced by a Galaxy ride to the Vanu facility on Indar, and began climbing.

Halfway through her climb, she paused to catch her breath, and eat a small ration bar that she had taken with her on the mission. She took the whole thing in her mouth at once, chewed, and swallowed. After her impromptu meal, the infiltrator relegated herself back to the stairs.

For about 10 more minutes, she climbed the monotonous steps until she reached the top, panting slightly. When she looked up, she saw not an opening, but a large cover with a large glowing glyph on it. She sighed, and brought out the spare C-4 she kept with her at all times. After all, you never knew when you’d need to blow something up. Luckily, she had two other charges with her, so she could blow other things open if she needed to. After placing the charge, and working it into the surface of the glowing glyph, she pulled out her remote detonator, and retreated down the stairs so that she was on the opposite side of where she placed the C-4. She then detonated it.

The explosion was accompanied with something like the sound of glass breaking, and the infiltrator watched as a section of the door peeled away, and cracks formed on what had not been shaved off by the explosive. Then, it, too gave way, and tumbled to the floor below, sounding like so many pieces of broken glass as they impacted said floor. Satisfied, the infiltrator steeled herself, and climbed back up the stairs. There was a small ledge, and she jumped, and pulled herself up and over it. She didn’t take time to admire the scenery, as she plopped down and sprawled out on the new floor. She couldn’t help but admire her handiwork. After all those hours, climbing stairs and walking through corridors and something thought it could stop her? Well, it didn’t. The hole in the floor was a testament to that.

She regained her composure, and pulled herself into a standing position. She surveyed her surroundings. There, on a crystalline throne, surrounded by two guards of the apparently the same species, stood a regal figure. It was pink, wore a golden tiara with two purple jewels on its head, had a horn on that same head, had wings on its back, and a depiction of a heart-shaped diamond with golden embellishments below it on its flank. The infiltrator was at a loss for words, and her mouth struggled to shut itself, despite her training. The creature’s hair was short in most places, except where it extended into a long, purple, pink and yellow cream colored, carefully tended tale and mane.

The creature, in fact, looked just about as surprised as the infiltrator. Its mouth was closed, although the infiltrator could tell from its large eyes and expressive face that it was every bit as surprised as she was to see this sudden intruder on her court. The infiltrator immediately regained her composure, and reached for her sidearm when the guards advanced on her, spears brandished menacingly. The creatures were short, but that didn’t make them any less threatening. She took aim, and tightened her grip on the gun in her hands. The creature on the throne was absolutely terrified now, its eyes wide, pupils dilated.

“Come any closer, and my pistol’s going up your ass.” The Infiltrator said, as she reformed her firing stance. The guards’ faces turned from menacing to fearful in a millisecond. They backed away, and one of them spoke, its voice startling the infiltrator. She kept her composure, though, even as it spoke.

“It-it speaks!” the guard said.

“Yeah, I do, and if you don’t back off now, my gun will be speaking for me. I’ll be the first and last of my kind you’ll ever see.” The infiltrator, now going for intimidation, stood up straight, and held the pistol in a one-handed grip. She scowled beneath the mask she wore, and inched closer to the guard.

The guard’s composure finally broke, and he backed up back to his place next to the pink creature, the other one quickly following suit.

Still brandishing her pistol, the infiltrator smiled like a predator on the hunt.

“Say, got any water?”

Author's Note:

If it was kinda boring, I apologize. You can expect more action later on in the story, for sure.

Comments

[Xzeron2000]

Heavy is credit to enemy tanks, rocket launcher to face making enemies EXPLODE! (sorry, had to express the awesomeness there.)

[The Commissar]

1856652 Indeed.