Another Side: Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Ladnar cocked his head to the side, listening for any signs of where Blake and the others had gone. He thought he had heard laser fire earlier, but only about three shots. Now he thought he’d heard some sort of explosive being detonated. Aside from Katie who had run out somewhere into the forest, Ladnar was on his own. Brittany and Maximus had decided to stay inside the base for the time being in case Blake got back. When and if he showed up back at the base, Maximus would contact him through the ear communicator he’d been given. As Ladnar searched throughout the forest, he found several clues as to what might have caused the sensor to go offline. Boot tracks of varying sizes dotted the marshy areas of the forest, and at one point he even found an entire tree knocked aside, and for some odd reason it was on fire. Ladnar cringed when his earpiece started making a high pitched crackling noise. This was obviously the “static” the other members referred to when communication was obstructed.

“Hello? Who is this?” Ladnar asked, tapping on the ear piece to try and get it to work better. He could hear fragments of Blake’s voice coming through, but Ladnar couldn’t understand a word of it. Crystal balls worked much better than these.

“This is Blake to… scanner crushed by… elyan … apprentices. Does any…”

As Ladnar moved further from the base, the audio from Blake was getting clearer.

“Hello, is anyone read… this? There is a Trevelyan drop… Crew is already…”

Hearing Trevelyan, Ladnar knew that his suspicions were confirmed. They had somehow been found out and were under attack. Ladnar switched back over to Maximus’s channel. He had to warn them. With just two people still at the base, they didn’t stand a chance.

“Maximus, I’m picking up Blake’s radio broadcasts. We’re under attack by a Trevelyan attack force.”

All Ladnar got back was more of the static. Figures that as soon as Blake got in range, Maximus would get out of range. He would have to get Blake and back to the base quickly. Ladnar activated his detect life spell, reading three signatures not too far away. Three? What happened to his apprentices? Hopefully if it was just them getting lost, then they would go back to the base to be safe. Trevelyan wouldn’t already know where the base was, would they? Distant weapons fire answered his question.

Maximus was a general y happy guy. He was one of those “Glass is half full” types. But right now, the glass was pretty empty. He and Brittany had stayed behind to get all the data Blake would need, and delete the rest. A hard task considering how little they knew about computers. But they had succeeded, and had just been about to walk right out the base, but when the front door swung to the side, they found themselves face to face with an entire Trevelyan attack force. One soldier had been crouched in front of the door about to plant some sort of explosive on it, and he was the first to go down. A quick bolt of lightning from Maximus’s wand had fried him inside his suit, but that was the only one they had got before the rest opened fire. Normally, Maximus and Brittany would both attack at the same time, but with no cover to get behind, Maximus used his magic to erect a barrier, and Brittany was in charge of attacking. With barriers, they don’t need a constant flow of magic to stay up. You just need to invest a good serving of it into the barrier every now and then, and it will stay strong. But with all these rifles firing at the barrier, Maximus was quickly losing his energy. When the fighting broke out, all the soldiers had retreated to the tree line, making it even harder to get them. One of their two heavy mechs was slowly walking toward the base entrance, minigun arm firing. Brittany had hit it at least five times with her fireballs, and all it was doing was melting off the plastic on its metal armor.

“Use lightning!” Maximus grunted as he poured more magic into the barrier. Once he put in enough, he began casting more lightning at the soldiers.

“Don’t you tell me what to do!” She shouted back, but then went ahead and zapped the mech three times with lightning. The plastic would have protected it from a spell like that, but with it melting, all it took was one of the bolts to fry the mechs delicate computer systems. Luckily, two of them hit the mech, completely destroying its AI. With no way to receive commands, it staggered backward, collapsing sideways onto the dirt ground. Maximus immediately thought of running to it for cover, but realized that it had staggered back to far for him to make a safe run for it. With the mech no longer in the way, five of the soldiers who had stepped out of cover to follow behind the mech were now completely exposed, and were promptly slaughtered by a combination of spells cast by Maximus and Brittany.

In the trees, Wallace watched as five of his men went down from the barrage. This entire mission was supposed to be bloodless, yet he had lost six men, seven If you counted the pilot he’d lost contact with. This had to end soon.

“Noriega!” Wallace called to the teams demolitions expert.

He jogged over, his back loaded down with rockets for his launcher. He had been told not to use them unless authorized. And now Wallace was going to authorize them.

“Rocket use is now authorized! Light them up!” He shouted over the sound of gun and laser fire.

Noriega signaled the OK, and pulled his rocket off his back. The launcher itself was very small, but the rockets meant to be loaded onto it weren’t. Noriega pressed himself up against a tree, waiting for just the right opportunity. When he heard several lightning bolts impact a tree, he made his move. He swiveled from around the tree, launcher aimed, and fired.

Maximus saw the rocket coming, and knew Brittany wouldn’t be able to react fast enough. Maximus brought his wand around, and cast a lightning bolt at the rocket. But it was moving too fast , and he missed the rocket. It crashed against the barrier, blinding Maximus and Brittany for a second as orange flames spread across the barrier, eventually dispersing.

“Time to go.” Maximus said to Brittany, restoring more of the barrier with his hand and firing a lightning bolt with his wand.

“How do you think we’re going to get out of here? Call a time out?” She answered sarcastically.

“I have a plan, but it will only work for a little bit, and we might tire ourselves out trying it.” Maximus said, pouring even more into the barrier which was growing more unstable with every laser that hit it. It also took a bit magic on his part to allow Brittany to fire through it from the side he was on.

“I’m already getting tired out, so a little bit more won’t hurt.” She answered, redirecting some bullets right back to their shooter. They impacted against the soldiers shields, but didn’t breach them.

“There are only a few soldiers taking cover behind those trees directly in front of the doorway. If we create a corridor of ice, we can run right through towards the forest, but they might be able to shoot their way through with lasers, and we might not have enough strength to take out those soldiers waiting for us at the end.”

“Pffft. Like making a little ice hallway will tire me out. Let’s do it!”

Maximus had been putting up a constant barrier this entire time, blocking lasers and bullets alike. He was running low on energy though, and he hoped he still had enough to pull this off.

“Alright, on three. One…”

Heavy sniper rounds were hitting the barrier now. Maximus wasn’t putting any more energy into it anymore, and it was now in danger of collapsing.

“Two three!” Brittany cried, raising her wand. Maximus did the same, and just as the barrier fell, reflecting the bullets that had brought it down, Brittany and Maximus cast their spell. The moisture in the air gathered in a wall like formation on the left and right, freezing into two solid walls.

“Go!” Maximus shouted, already a little weak from the spell. The two ran down the corridor, hearing bullets hitting their walls and chipping off little bits. The lasers however were much more effective, carving right through the wall and nearly hitting the two wizards. The soldiers that had been hiding in the trees at the end of the ice corridor were momentarily shocked at its sudden appearance, leaving them open to the lightning Maximus cast. In his weakened state, it wasn’t enough to kill, but it sent them sprawling onto the ground, clearing the way for the wizards to make their escape. By the time the corridor was brought down, Maximus and Brittany were already far from the base. Wallace, saddened by the loss of six of his own men, radioed the other squad on the other side of the mountain.

“Second squad, abort mission. Rendezvous with first squad on the other side of the mountain. We’ve taken casualties, and it looks like there’s no one left in the base. The rebels have fled into the forest, and we currently don’t have the man power to hunt them down.”

“Copy that sir. We are moving out. ETA is ten minutes tops.”

Wallace hung up. This mission was already going bad, and all this could have been avoided if Morg had just stuck with the group. Where the hell was he now?

Martin was thrown back but quickly brought up a stone wall behind him to stop him from falling back into the ring of fire. His movement halted, Martin shoved himself off the wall, letting it sink back into the Earth. Morg already had his hammer swinging before Martin reached him. Seeing the hammer coming around, Martin went into a forward roll, avoiding the hammer and getting under Morg’s guard. Surprise flickered across his face, until Martin brought his fist into it in a perfect uppercut. If Morg had been a normal human, he would have been lifted into the sky by the force of the punch, but instead all it did was stagger him a little bit. Morg kicked out with his foot, driving it into Martin’s face. Martin fell backwards onto his back, giving Morg the opening he needed. He brought his hammer above his head, planning to crush Martin under it. Before he had a chance though, Martin raised a pillar of stone under Morg, sending him up into the sky. This had been the third time Martin had tried that, but nothing was working on this guy. He’d punched him, tossed him, and even tried trapping him in a sinkhole, but this Morg was virtually indestructible. But he had to run out of stamina eventually, right?

Outside the fire ring, Rosh was trying to limp his way to safety carrying Liberi on his back. He could hear the fighting in the ring, and the several sightings of the super human being thrown into the sky gave Rosh some hope, but seeing him land and hearing the sounds of fighting continuing was lowering his confidence in Martin. But there was nothing he could do to help right now. The fire was sucking up any air that he would otherwise use to fight. Rosh stopped walking when he heard Liberi take a large breathe. Rosh set her onto the ground, seeing she was waking up. She coughed several times, but her eyes eventually opened.

“Rosh… where?” She started.

“Stop talking and take a few breathes. Is anything broken?” Rosh asked, feeling her ribs to see if they were intact. Liberi slapped his hands away.

“I’m fine.” She said. Rosh had seen humans do something called blushing before, and he knew Liberi might be doing that if any of her flesh was visible under her feathers.

“Where’s Martin?” Liberi asked, suddenly noticing his absence.

“Some massive human flew in and blew himself up, so now Martin did his bulk up thing and’s fighting him off while we make a getaway.”

“And you actually left him? What’s wrong with you?” Liberi screamed at him.

“Hey, I was trying to save you! Besides, I couldn’t do anything. The human made some sort of fire ring, and I can’t get in there because it’s sucking up all the air!”

“Well I’m awake, so now we can do something about that fire. Let’s get back there.”

Liberi turned and began a painful walk back towards where the fighting was happening.

“Yeah, your welcome for pulling you out of the fire.” Was all Rosh said as he followed, also in pain.

Morg rose from the fourth crater he’d made that night with his body. He had long since stopped using his fire magic, except for upholding the ring of fire. He tried to raise himself up with his hammer, but realized it had fallen out of his grasp.

“Sir!” He heard one of the soldiers call out from outside the ring. “Are you alright?”

“Shut up!” He shouted, extending his hand in the voice’s general direction, launching a plume of fire. He didn’t hear any screams of agony, so he must have missed. Morg would just finish this bird off without his hammer. He was a lot more agile than Morg had thought. He’d so far avoided almost all his hammer swings and punch’s. That head smash was the first hit he’d got on him in the last two minutes. Morg could feel himself tiring, a feeling he hadn’t experienced in a while. He felt like he’d finally met his match…

“yeah right!” He thought to himself Morg leapt out of the crater, already looking for Martin. Martin was crouched on the ground, breathing heavily and looking defeated. He had hoped that last move might have finished Morg off, but he just got out of the crater like nothing had happened.

“You’re doing pretty good.” Morg said, fatigue in his voice. “But I’m not known for my mercy. Why don’t you just lie down so I can kill you quicker? You’re going to die here anyway, so why delay it?”

“Sir, our orders are to take prisoners, not kill.” One of the soldiers shouted.

Morg ignored him, still going on with his monologue. He knew his orders were to not kill, and he planned to follow them. But the bird didn’t need to know that.

“Tell me, you’re a smarty pants student right? Do you know what fuels fire?”

Of course Martin knew, but he wasn’t going to answer. He had a plan, and he needed every ounce of strength to pull it off.

“Not so smart after all huh? Air, bird. Fire needs air to keep going. I’m used to fighting on low oxygen, but what about you? The longer you fight me, the more air this little blaze of mine will use up. Soon, there won’t be enough for even me to breathe, but by then you’ll be dead. You ever suffocate before bird? It’s not very pleasant, but then what would I know. It’s never happened to me before.”

“Well then why don’t you try it?” Martin shouted, and enacted his plan. Thrusting his hands forward, he opened up another sinkhole underneath Morg. Just like before, he sank like a stone, but would be able to fight his way back up to the surface in just a few seconds. Martin could already feel the ground shaking as Morg pushed against the stone and sand. Knowing it would only be a few seconds; Martin rushed towards the sinkhole, picking up Morg’s hammer as he ran. Martin had seen it fall after Morg had been sent flying that third time. Morg had gotten himself halfway out of the sinkhole when Martin arrived at where he was. Martin already had the hammer swinging around in a horizontal strike by the time Morg had gotten all but his calves out of the sinkhole, but he was too late. In one last desperate attempt, he tried to block the hammers head, but even that was useless. The hammer hit Morg’s hands as he tried to stop the hammer. The force pushed Morg out of the sinkhole, which reverted back to normal dirt. Martin, using the momentum from the first swing, chained together a combo of bone shattering hammer strikes. First he brought the hammer up in a diagonal swipe, catching Morg in the ribs, spinning him away from the impact. Martin then brought the hammer back down after spinning around in a diagonal downward hit, knocking him onto the ground as the hammer caught him in the shoulder. With Morg on the ground, Martin finished off his combo by bringing the hammer up again and holding there for a few seconds, stopping its momentum. Then in a exact representation of earlier, Martin brought the hammer down right onto Morg’s chest. he screamed in pain as Martin heard something finally crack. Satisfied with his work, Martin backed off from Morg. Martin stood there for a second, wondering why the fire ring still hadn’t gone down. Suddenly Martin’s blood chilled when he realized Morg wasn’t screaming. He was laughing. He stood up, still laughing as he did so. Martin knew he had heard a crack after that last hit, but Morg had no marks on him at all, as if he hadn’t just been beaten up by a massive Warhammer.

“Seriously? Even with my own weapon, that’s all you got?” Morg laughed. But then, the laughter stopped, and he turned dead serious, which made Martin shudder.

“Listen Bird, you can try and drown me in dirt, you can toss me into the air, and you can even beat me up better than anyone else ever could. But if you think you can take my hammer, then you’ve got a death wish.”

Martin levelled Morg’s hammer at him, readying himself for anything Morg might try. Almost everything. Morg reached his hand out towards his hammer, and the entire thing caught fire from Hilt to head. Martin screeched and dropped the hammer, his hand feathers on fire. As soon as Martin dropped the hammer, Morg charged right at him. He closed the gap in only a few seconds, giving Martin no time to react. Morg swung his right fist into Martin’s gut, causing him to double over. While he was bent over, Morg shoved his head further downward while bringing his knee up into Martin’s beak. His head was almost crushed between these two forces, but Morg removed his hands from behind so Martin’s head would snap back up. Morg pulled back his fist, tensing his muscles for his next punch.

“Thanks for playing.” Was all Morg said. He threw his punch, hitting Martin right in the collarbone. Martin gasped, the force knocking all the air from his lungs. In a puff of red smoke, he reverted back to his normal self, collapsing onto the ground. His hands were burnt, his face was broken, and his chest had all but collapsed from the punch Morg had given him. Satisfied with his work, Morg snapped his fingers and the ring of fire disappeared. The three soldiers rushed into the clearing, checking this way and that for any sign of hostiles.

“Stand down jarheads. He’s finished.” Morg said, giving Martin a slight kick. He moaned a bit, but otherwise looked to be dead. “Now if you’re done gawking, don’t you need to secure this prisoner?” Morg asked.

The soldiers looked at each other, until one stepped up to get the body.

“Carry it back to the other ship. I’ve got a feeling the one we rode in on isn’t going to be as reliable anymore.” Morg said, a smirk on his face. He was sure that the perimeter sensor he crushed when he first arrived would have drawn some people out of the base to check, regardless of whether it sent back a signal or not.

“I’m reporting you for failure to follow orders.” The soldier carrying Martin said.

“I don’t see how I didn’t follow orders. He’s still breathing, and you, an enemy soldier, are carrying him off to the ship as a prisoner. I say that’s following my orders to the letter.”

“You Bastard!” A feminine voice screamed. Morg turned, and saw two young Avos standing there. One had a double bladed sword, and the other was just now forming a bunch of arrows around him. The two soldiers trained their rifles on the new arrivals, while the one with Martin over his shoulders stood there, not sure what to do. Morg hoped that the rifles were loaded with tranquilizer rounds. He had been specifically ordered to capture any Avos in the area by his superior to prove the Avos government was conspiring against the human government. Of course, none of the soldiers had to know that. He had a ruthless reputation to uphold.

“That’s not a very nice thing to say.” Morg said, not even readying his hammer. These two were obviously much weaker than the Avos he just fought. They didn’t have the same strong bones and muscles the other one had had.

“You killed him…” The hawk Avos said, obviously in shock from what he saw.

“Friend of yours?” Morg asked casually. He didn’t know why the soldiers hadn’t fired yet, but his assumption was that they were afraid to do something to make Morg angry. They must be afraid if they did fire, he would be angry for taking his fun. But Morg had had his fun, and these Avos were just an annoyance. The swan Avos responded to Morg’s question by swinging her sword, sending a wave of water at him. Morg stood there, sure the water wouldn’t do any damage. When the wave hit however, he staggered back from the force of the impact. Morg checked himself, and saw that his chest plate had a scratch running down it. Morg looked back at the two Avos, suppressed fury in his eyes. He took a deep breath though, and it was gone.

“Shoot them.” Morg said, waving his hand dismissively. The soldiers fired, but not before the Hawk Avos sent an arrow into one of the soldiers shoulder. It broke right through the shield, and punctured through the black fabric between the bicep and chest armor. The tranquilizer darts had a fast acting sleep toxin that would come into effect at least three seconds after entering the bloodstream. With the darts now embedded in them, the swan stumbled, and the Hawk reached out his arms to catch her, but then fell himself. With the last of the Avos incapacitated, Morg turned to the wounded soldier.

“Get up.” He said. “I still have some hunting to do, so that means it’s up to you to carry these birds back to the ship on the other side of the mountain.”