Ripples of Time
~ Guineazilla (Garuda 1)
~ Guineazilla (Garuda 1)
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'Forward to the past!' were the last words I heard shouted from my partner, Noir Lime, as we dove headfirst into a time machine leading only Gurt knows where. I felt the sensation of being dragged out, as if I was being pulled to pieces, and strung into Marine spaghetti. Then, all of a sudden, it was over.
I was thrown out of the portal and into a wall head first, with a sickening crunch. I lay there for a while and listened to the sound of the time machine humming behind me. I then slowly got up and looked around. I couldn't see anything so I gently tapped my helmet.
'Battlesuit AI' I said, to no response.
I repeated it, but still nothing. Remembering that I was on Earth, I removed my helmet and held my breath. Saying as I hadn't exploded, I figured it was safe and took in a tiny amount of air. The fresh oxygen was a relief like one I hadn't had in days. I breathed in deeper, just standing there for a while. Then I checked myself for any broken bones and my possessions. I had none, save my armour, swords, and my trusty defibrillator. With that out of the way, I searched around for Proxy and Noir. My eyes had adjusted to the low light levels given off by the time machine behind me as I carefully searched the room, but found nothing. 'Prox'. I whispered. 'Noir'. Then, louder, I repeated. No answers, no bodies. I was alone. 'Great.' I said. I sat down with a sigh and examined my helmet. It was definitely cracked in the side. My brains would be splattered across the walls if it wasn't for it. The helmet contained translators, vision enhancement, battle analysis, and a lot of other things that were necessary. I had no idea where I was and no backup was arriving. Thankfully the helmet had backup systems. They didn't turn on automatically like they should have though. This was odd, but probably had to do with the extensive damage it had taken from the accursed wall. After a bit of fiddling I managed to turned the systems back on. I placed the tech back on my head. Since Noir and Proxy still weren't here yet, I decided to move on. I searched the edges of the room once more for a door or some sort of exit. It took me a while but I managed to find a panel. It wasn't written in the standard English we use today. In fact, the script was strange, alien. I glanced back at the time machine.
'Why....?'
Right at that moment, the door opened. I was nearly blinded as my broken helmet struggled to quickly filter out the light. I could not mistake the surprised warble of a Usurpation grunt for anything else though. It was pure instinct which saved me as I thrust my Psi blade into an enemy that could barely be made out. My eyes finally adjusted to see the two other Usurpation Smalls standing right outside the room. A third one had turned around and was starting to run. As the other two brought up their weapons to engage me, I jabbed one in the side of the head and then spun around, flinging blue blood onto the yellow walls. The other one had raised its weapon and had it's finger on the trigger. I grabbed his arm and broke it, and then sliced off its other arm at the elbow and kicked it backwards. Quickly grabbing the weapon out of the arm in my hands, I turned and shot the running Usurper in the back of the head twice. Finally I walked over to the dying alien and shoved my blade through its head.
'Battlesuit AI, what year are we in?' It began processing, straining from the damage.
'.... Year unknown.' Brilliant.
'Where are we?'
'Processing.... Setting, unknown.'
I walked up to one of the yellow brick walls. I had seen it many times before.
'What is this material?' I asked the armour.
'Material unknown. Commonly used in Usurpation structures.'
'How can that be...?'
The Usurpers shouldn't be in play yet. This is supposed to be the past. Unless the invasion had begun earlier than anyone had thought....
None of that mattered now, however. I had to get moving and see if I could figure out what happened here and a way out. I started walking to the left, my measly alien pistol at the ready. It was brighter in the hallway. Lights lined the ceiling, which looked to be made of brown concrete, almost like an old human building. The walls were lined with doors like a schoolhouse - those ancient things that they used to teach kids in. I finally came to an intersecting hallway and took a left turn. I had no idea where I was going but I decided to just let my instincts guide me. I tried to read some of the signs on the doors as I passed. They looked vaguely familiar but they were still illegible to me. Eventually, I gave up and focused on the path ahead.
I peeked around a corner to see a group of three Usurpations heading down the hall towards me. With no way to sneak past them, I ran over as quietly as possible and attempted to unlock the door closest to me. Instead, however, USE key just gave screeching denial. I could hear the footsteps of the three aliens as they came around the corner. One of the group stayed back and was talking in the strange language while the other two fired. I shot back, hit one Usurper in the legs and then in the face. Two pistol shots hit my chest, causing me to go down. I kept myself out of the way of the rails by rolling to the side and continuing to lay down while I fired. One of my shots hit The Usurper that was towards the back of the group, knocking is arms off. The other started backing away when he realized his friends were screwed. I shot a few more times and managed a perfect headshot, blowing alien brains onto the ceiling and walls. Then, I took off and took a right, switching on my swords and cutting off the head of the dying Usurpation along the way. I kept running but the alarms were sounding and I didn't know where to go. I unfortunately missed a shimmer of light directly in front of me and ran into an invisible wall.
In agony from my earlier head impact, I slumped to the floor, and laid there for a little while. However, I forced myself to get up after hearing something. I searched to the left and right but both doors were closed off. I could see the use panel for all three areas. With barely any hesitation I punched holes into all three. Both doors unlocked and the wall went down. Could hardly believe that worked. One of the doors opened and closed before shorting out. I noted that and then ran through the other one. Though, honestly, I got the feeling I was moving deeper into the facility. I took the next left while looking to get out. In front of me was a door, to my extreme joy.
'At last!' I thought.
However, one obstacle remained: six Usurpter soldiers. Guards, most definitely, with Alien rifles. I needed both the guns and to leave this building. So to me there was no point in not going for it. I activated the Time Module in my suit and ran full tilt for the exit. The aliens were slowly raising their weapons as I aimed my pistol at them, shooting the first one four times and breaking it in half. They started firing. Since I was still using the altered time, I managed to deflect a large majority of the bullets back towards the Usurpers after switching to my Psi blades. This alone killed two of the remaining five soldiers. At this point I had reached the other aliens. I threw myself over the barrier and grabbed one of their rifles as my energy ran out. Then I fired without pause, blowing the legs off of all three remaining enemies. Now that the Usurpations lay dying and limbless, I killed them all and threw open the doors. And with my new rifle in hand, my pistol on my hip, and my swords sheathed, I moved outside of the building.
From here to a tower several meters away stretched a large bridge, enclosed in glass. Directly outside were two Soldiers with guns trained on me. I immediately sprung into action, managing to flip over both of them, jumping so high that my back grazed the ceiling. I landed directly behind them, flipping backwards to get onto my feet. The stunned Usurpers turned around too slow. Bullets had entered both of their heads by the time they could even face me. It appeared I had more to worry about though, as the Usurpations guarding the door to the other side of the bridge started walking my way, firing their weapons at me as they did so. I fired back with my superior aim. I hit five shots on one Usurper and shot the arm off of the other as I advanced. The one-armed soldier dropped his gun and unsheathed his sword. I read his movements and backed up to a section with more bullet holes in the glass. He charged me but I sidestepped easily and kicked him off of the bridge. His still thrashing body turned into a small blue spot moments later on the ground far below.
I wasted no time after that as I crashed through the doors. Anticipating the Usurpers waiting on me, I launched myself through the doors and into one of the two on the other side, slicing into his windpipe. The other was no luckier. He didn't have time to readjust his aim before I sliced off two of his limbs. He fell to the ground and I, merciless, stabbed him in the chest and twisted the blade . I didn't draw it out until he stopped moving. Then, I continued to what I could only hope was the exit. I ran along as more alarms came on. I would be the first to admit that this wasn't the most stealthiest approach. All I knew at this point is that I had to find a way out. I sensed movement above me. I looked up and saw some kind of rail was transporting a wide rectangle. As I watched it moved ahead of me and stopped. Then I ran straight into an invisible barrier. I gritted my teeth and assessed the situation. There were, rather surprisingly, no Usurpers around to challenge me. Instead, an empty corridor greeted me from both the left and the right, as well as to my back. I turned to the right through intuition, but when I went to move there, another transparent door blocked my path. To the left then. I proceeded with caution. I could tell this was a trap but had no choice but to keep my gun raised and to stay on alert. I was being lead around like a domesticated animal following food. I didn't like it, but I had no choice.
Finally after about ten minutes of this game, I heard pacing around the corner. I decided to activate a life scan on my Battlesuit AI. It picked up two aliens of an unrecognized class right around the corner. Gently, placed my back against the wall with my rifle pointed upwards. I peeked around carefully, noting the two heavily armoured Usurpations - both standing a full head taller than me. They guarded a thick door. From the sides of their heads, slightly above where the ears should be, extended two fleshy looking..... Things. One on each side of their green visors. The units themselves were very thickly built, and looked to have tough armour as well. Both had alien rifles on their backs and pistols at their hips. One was holding some sort of launcher while the other had his Psi swords activated. They were thick and hung down nearly to the floor. This was the one who looked up and to the right whilst giving a slight nod, as if it was speaking to something. Radio, I presumed.
I didn't see much way around it. They had to go. I took my alien rifle and held it in a ready-to-fire position while bracing myself. Then I swung around the corner and opened fire. Three shots straight to the launcher wielder's chest. The other Usurper, who I figured I'd dub Usurpation Guardians, switched to the unknown launcher and fired. I used my time module to sidestep the rather slow moving projectile. I didn't want to waste energy so once I was out of it's way I switched it off. To my surprise, the projectile traced me with impressive agility and managed to scratch the armour I was wearing. I grimaced. This could be a problem. The other Usurper wasn't dead. Far from it. He fired a projectile as well. I moved fast enough to get out of the original path of fire but was still scratched along my flank.
'Enough of this....' I murmured to no one in particular as I squeezed the trigger and landed six more shots on the already injured Guardian.
I moved closer so the launcher shots wouldn't be as effective in theory, and the whole time I kept my finger on the trigger to the gun. I pressed myself against the wall and then rolled to avoid another tracking razor before firing off another three into the Usurper's body. The large Guardian finally toppled and hit the ground with a thud. I was so close at this point that the launcher's tracking ability would be negated unless fired directly towards me. The giant Usurper realized this and activated it's swords. The soldier charged at me, but I grabbed the launcher, his dead comrade's hand and rolled out of the way. The alien missed me, instead striking the wall and getting stuck. The brute had no trouble pulling it out, but it gave me the time to fire a razor straight into it's side. It pierced the thing's armour, but with little effect, only enraging it. I activated my swords and jammed one of the blades into the creature's wound, giving it a twist and then slicing upwards before pulling it out. Green blood sprayed the walls, and me, as the Guardian slumped to its knees and put its head against the wall. The light from it's visor faded and then went out.
After letting out a hefty sigh and recharging both my health and energy, I grabbed the other launcher and fired it at the door. I then proceeded to move into the room. It lit up instantly, both with over head lights and the eyes of many test subjects in tubes. They seemed to follow me as I walked through the room. I spotted a console on the side of the room as I moved quickly to the other side. Then, I paused. Slowly I turned around. And I saw the console inputting directions by itself. Test tubes opened - five of them. Out of each container stepped one dark gray beast, one that I've never seen before. All five faced me with a sneer on their faces. The ugly things had a dog's form but came equipped with a spiked tail and three horns that were each about two thirds of a meter long. It also sported a bony looking frill upon their skulls.
I did not hesitate to lock on my rocket and launch a homing razor straight through the center dog-thing's skull, spraying it's thick blue blood all over it's companions. I drew my rifle as the other four hounds took my shot as the sounding of a war trumpet and charged at me with their heads down. I squeezed off some shots which took out the left and rightmost mutts, but the last two were to close. One tried to leap above me, so I sidestepped one and activated my swords, using one hand to slice down the belly of the dog, spilling it's entrails out upon myself and the floor. The other, not phased in the slightest, turned around and charged me again. I jumped and flipped, eyeing the foe warily. It swung around and came at me a once more. The thing, which I had dubbed a 'Usurpation Hound,' tried a different approach. It jumped onto a nearby tube before bounding off towards me with its head down. I activated my time module, managing to just avoid the deadly horns and fearsome teeth while stabbing my blade deep into it's throat. Using the momentum from it's jump, I then threw the monster down onto the ground where it lay dying from its injury. I pulled out my rifle and shot a round into the beast's skull. I proceeded to check the Hounds, confirming them all dead.
Nothing else outside emerged from the pods, so I went to examine the console. It shouldn't have done what it did, unless it was automated. Of course when I got there I couldn't make out a single word on the screen, even though they still mostly looked familiar. Unwilling to waste any more time, I hurried to the doors and blew them open before something else opened up. Behind those doors were, rather surprisingly, no more guards. What wasn't surprising was that the maze that made up this complex continued on in both directions. With a sigh I turned to the left and began walking, on high alert. At least the alarm had stopped going off. My head was still throbbing from the concussion I got earlier. I continued on, trusting my gut feeling. But at regular intervals, I would be cut off by some invisible wall or barrier. It could only be assumed that someone was forcing me to follow their path - no doubt one that would lead towards more trouble later. Finally I turned down one last turn, and was greeted by a wall. I turned around, but low and behold: invisible barrier. Having no other choice, I walked up to the wall to examine it. It was then I heard a slight sound. I swung around but saw nothing. To be sure I looked up, and that's when I finally noticed a pair of glowing blue eyes.
A long green tongue stuck out of a mouth filled with teeth while two half-saw blades switched the side of it's arms, the same arms that were being used to hold the alien up onto the roof. The almost all black creature dropped to the ground and gave a bow, it's seemingly long tongue dangling down even more as it advanced forward.
It struck suddenly, dashing at me with blinding speed. I blocked right in time, managing to activate one Psi sword before the strike. I slung my rifle over my shoulder while the alien brought it's other hand around for a strike. The sword grazed my leg, but it didn't matter. I drew my pistol from my side and shot the creature while we were still in one to one deadlock. It leaped backwards and then charged full speed at me again. I was expecting it to come straight on but it jumped over my head, forcing me off balance as I spun around to try and counter attack. It gave a heavy hit and I went down hard. The creature loomed over me for a moment, and we locked eyes. Then, it jumped. I rolled to the side and sprung up, my rifle suddenly in hand. I shot at it, but to my utter surprise, it dodged. Once more it bounded towards me,this time sliding under me as it tried to take out my legs. As it slid I jumped up and flipped over, landing on the shield and bouncing back off. While I traveled towards the wall on the other side, I reached out with my Psi blade activated and sliced off the creature's arm. It hissed at me, green blood spilling over the ground. More confident I slowly walked towards the creature. It ran at me again, making a sudden dash to the left when it got closer, the remaining arm sweeping back towards me. Taking a risk, I ducked and shoved my blade into the thing's gut. I suffered a scratch on my armour but not much more. As the creature's last twitches died, I could see it had something in it's hand. That something glowed red as it dropped down to the floor. I moved just in time for the explosion to throw me up into the roof and then let gravity pull me down to the ground.
I lay there for a moment, exhausted from the last trial and so desperately wanting to sleep, before looking around me. And it was then I saw ten, no.... Twenty pairs of eyes staring at me.
'Well crap....' I breathed.
I spotted the exit a few meters away. These 'Hunters,' as I had dubbed them, stood between me and leaving. Even worse was that I was backed up against a wall. They started dropping down from the ceiling. I took out my launcher and fired a razor, following that up with a volley of alien rifle fire. The razor did hit one of the slower moving Usurpations, but that still left a lot. They were quick too, many of them managing to dodge my bullets while still covering a lot of ground. My shots killed only a few as they charged closer and closer. Though, at least these things didn't have guns or I would have been long dead. They were getting too close for the alien rifle to be effective. There were still more than ten when the Hunters got to me. I immediately clubbed the closest one in the face and then sliced off it's head with my blade. I slung my rifle onto my shoulder and then leaped over the remaining ones. I managed to make the leap practically perfect and landed a blade through the head of one of the creatures. The others were fast though. They turned around already and were converging on me. They were smart as well, spreading out and attempting to encircle me. I took out and reloaded my launcher while they closed in. To their surprise, however, I decided to rush the one standing directly in front of me. I stabbed at it's side but it dodged while swinging at my neck from above. Blocking the attack with my left arm, I swung my other hand into the creature's side, giving it a nasty scratch. Another Usurper came at me from the left. I dodged its attack, putting my elbow in the middle of it's forearm and forming a satisfying crack. Then a third one attempted to slice at me behind, but I used my victim as a meatshield to intercept the blow before drawing my launcher and putting a razor directly into the face of the scratched Hunter that was now behind me. Then I stabbed my meatshield as well as the adversary that was in front of me. I proceeded to slice off both of their heads. I was still surrounded, and the Hunter's were now wiser with three more of their number dead. They decided to change their tactics. Two bounded towards me from above. I reacted with my time module, shooting the legs off of one while still managing to dodge the other. But a third one was where I moved. I swung around and tried to shoot it but it knocked the gun out of my hand. I ducked as it sliced at me, and then sliced off its arm. I tripped it and went for my gun. Another two came at me from the sides as I dove for the weapon. One of the Hunters grabbed it first, discharging it while I slide. A few bullets hit my back as I slid past the Hunter and cut his feet off. I got up quickly and deactivated the chronomodule, but as I did three enemies rushed me from the front. I activated my kinetic module to bring the gun to me before pressing the barrel to the now unarmed Hunter and firing. I calmly looked up and then jumped right as a sword swung under me. I landed and blocked another blow from the front. Two other Hunters converged on me. As they did, I noticed one of the Usurpations had moved behind me and swung at it, but it managed to get out of the way. The other two in front of me had flanked me and began taking alternating swipes. I got stuck on the defensive, parrying blows with both hands. I finally had to break my deadlock and spun both my blades into the Usurpation on my right, killing it while dodging the left's attack. I used my kinetic module to throw his body at the other three and moved back. A fourth one came from that direction and leaped at me, but I ducked and thrust my blades into it's stomach. The last three Hunters took advantage of this and attempted to slice at me from the back. I still evaded the attacks, throwing the target I had just killed into them and backing away. Dead bodies lay strewn across the cavern floor in puddles of green blood. I taunted the last of the combat able Hunters. They charged me. One head on, one from above, and one from my right. I backed away from the front one and the one on my right's blocked attempt to attack before stabbing it in the neck. Then I moved back to avoid the attack from the airborne one. The other Usurpation came at me and I parried it's blow, forcing it back before darting in and stabbing it through the head. The last Usurpation came from behind in a blinding blitz. It stabbed me in the back as I turned around and cut it in half laterally. I was saved from an injury by the launcher I had picked up, which was unfortunately damaged beyond repair now. All the Hunters were now dead. I quickly checked my weaponry. Again, my Razor Launcher was totaled. But thankfully, my rifle was perfectly fine. Still, I was covered in alien blood and rather annoyed at the entire situation. I walked over to the exit and up the stairs, throwing open the doors at the top.