|
Episode
144 |
|
|
“Can hearts sing? Can a heart burst? Can hearts be pure? Can a heart be made of stone?” Rammstein,
Links 2 3 4 Two MPs in Marine uniforms walked
along the lonely base road, nearing the front gate. Their footsteps echoed ahead of them in the
darkness as they neared the gatehouse.
Inside the small, unremarkable brick building, another Marine sat
quietly, flipping through a magazine.
Beyond the small, one-lane road to either side of the gatehouse, the
brick wall extended into the distance, it’s curvature seeming to follow the
horizon. The soft call of the crickets
matched the pre-dawn hours. As the two soldiers approached the
gatehouse, they glanced to their lefts, beyond the base, to see a figure in
black and red walking towards them.
The nearer of the two guards stopped, his hand dropping by his
holstered pistol. “Can we help you?”
he called. The figure kept approaching. He held up his flashlight, aiming
it at the approaching figure. The
bright light shone into the eyes of a Japanese woman in a black trench
coat. “Ma’am, can I help you?” Ryoko tilted forward slightly
before rushing at the gate. Both MPs
drew their guns. “That’s far enough!”
yelled the MP. Ryoko closed quickly. Both MPs let loose several shots, but Ryoko
ran straight for them, the bullets missing their mark by inches. At the gate, Ryoko leapt over in a single
bound, landing feet-first into the lead MP.
She rode him like a surfboard to the ground and leapt off from his
chest. The other MP trained his pistol
on her, but she ducked under the shot, sweeping his feet out from underneath
him. With both MPs down, she turned to
the gatehouse where the third Marine watched.
He looked from Ryoko, several paces away, to the alarm button by the
door. He turned back towards her, to
see her right outside the glass, her katana drawn back, the blade aimed right
between his eyes. With a fast shove,
the dame punctured the security glass with her sword. When she drew it out, blood covered the
blade. The lights in the Marine barracks
flickered on like a wildfire spreading across dry leaves. “We’re under attack!” yelled the Marine
that skidded inside. In his gray
trunks and Marines T-shirt, he was bleary-eyed from having been woken up
suddenly. He banged on the trashcan by
the door, desperate to get the attention of the open room full of Marines. He turned around as Eliot led
Dante inside. The Marine was about to
say more when Eliot stabbed him in the throat. The Marines in the first row of beds saw
the attack and started to get up.
Before they could get off their bunks, Dante kicked the first bed with
enough force to knock it over, sending it collapsing into the next, creating
a cascade of confusion and disorientation. Several of the Marines from the
far side of the room were up. They
rushed at Dante but he let the first get near and grabbed the back of his
head. He shoved the eager Marine to
the waiting Eliot who punched him in the face twice and tripped him. Falling to his back, the Marine had the air
knocked out of him. He barely had time
to fail to breathe before Eliot knocked him out with a kick to the face. Two Marines charged Dante, but he
drew his katana, slicing at the first.
The second tried to tackle the knight but Dante planted the pommel
into the base of the marine’s neck, knocking him unconscious before he hit
the floor. The first marine lunged at
Dante, but he chopped him hard in the shoulder, slicing deep and shoving him
off his feet. More marines got to their feet,
Dante and Eliot waiting. The first
wave was four young, strong soldiers who rushed at the two invaders. Two slashes from Dante and two of the
marines went down, bleeding badly.
Eliot slashed at one of the others’ neck, making him rethink his
strategy. He punched the other in the
side, connecting to his kidney. He
kicked for the first marine’s head, but as he moved to block the high kick,
Eliot redirected it and connected to his midsection. The blow got his attention enough to lower
his defenses to let Eliot slash his eye. In a flash, four marines fell, a
room full waiting where they had come from.
Dante and Eliot stood their ground, welcoming on all comers. Alan burst out of the mess hall,
sliding along the floor. His cutlass
held down and ready, he came to a stop as two drill instructors came rushing
after him. Both brandishing marine
swords, they attacked in tandem. Alan
blocked the drill sergeant on his left as he sliced at him from above. He reversed the block to parry the attack
from the right sergeant, only to repeat to defend against the left. With his swordhand on his left side, Alan
jerked suddenly to his right, driving his elbow into the sergeant’s temple. Backing away, Alan and the other
marine squared off. The drill
instructor faked a lunge, but Alan deflected it too quickly and punched the
solider in the face with the palm of his free hand. He followed with a punch with the hand
guard of his sword, the telltale sound of bones cracking following the
strike. Alan finished with a deep
slash across the base of the marine’s neck, letting him collapse. “Sergeant!” Alan and the still-standing
soldier turned as a team of marines rushed in from the building’s main
entrance. The lead marine tossed a
pistol and the drill sergeant snatched it out of the air. He whirled around to Alan, firing
instantly. The knight stood still,
letting the bullets zip by him. The
sergeant emptied the entire clip and stared.
Alan smiled. “Not very
effective is?” A sudden storm of
gunfire went flying past his head.
“Jesus!” he screamed, ducking down.
He dove away from the sergeant and the hail of gunfire as it tore up
the wall. The sergeant grabbed his wounded
partner and drug him away as the relief marines rushed after Alan. They turned the corner and Alan fell on
them like a plague. Leaping through
the two marines leading the charge, Alan was in their midst and turned into a
hurricane. Letting his blade move like
lightning, he tore through the marines, slicing and severing
indiscriminately. In the blink of an
eye, nine marines hit the floor, all badly wounded, their blood coating the
floor. He looked across the hallway at
the downed drill sergeants, the one conscious one staring in horrified
awe. Alan smiled and spun his sword in
his hand before starting towards the two. Matt leapt backwards down four
steps at once, landing as two marines fired at him with pistols. The shots ripped through the air by his
sides. He swung with his massive sword
at both of them, driving them back.
Two more marines tackled Matt, knocking him down the steps. As they rolled, he got on top of one. As they landed on the floor, he slammed his
pommel down onto the marines’ face, then leapt up to his feet, driving his sword
up at the same time, impaling another marine. Soldiers came flooding down the
stairs. Matt backed away, Alan coming
out from near the mess hall. “How’s it
goOHMYGOD!” Both knights backed
towards the exit as the marines flooded down the stairs after them. “Run?” Matt asked. “Run,” Alan confirmed. The two backpedaled out the doors
into the open parade grounds of the base.
As they rushed out, Dante and Eliot came rushing out with them. “You guys a little…” Dante started to ask
just before seeing the sea of marines running out the doors. “Yep!” The four knights turned and
sprinted towards the open marching grounds, the marines hot on their
tails. As they ran, Ryoko rushed up
after them. “Nice of you to join us,”
Alan yelled over the frantic sprint. “I thought I’d bring some friends
along,” she said, the sound of more marines joining the stampede. As the knights reached the grassy
fields, Alan turned. His team slowed
and they all turned, stopping on the edge of the grass. With weapons drawn, they stood their ground
as the entire population of the marine base approached on their
location. With guns drawn and ready,
the whole base set their sights on the offending invaders. And then everything stopped. Alan stood still, only his eyes
moving. He glanced to either side of
the marching grounds, seeing the others.
He looked to the marines, able to see their reactions to them. The mass of marines, all dressed in their
nighttime clothes, were at a loss.
They backed up, closing up their ranks. Dante and Matt took the
opportunity to look, to see. Eliot and
Ryoko did as well. Around them, along
the edges of the marching grounds and filling the fields, from the distant
perimeter wall all the way to the edges of the base, was black and red. An army of knights stood ready to
support Alan and the others. With
their weapons drawn and ready, the black and red figures were poised to
attack. Alan smiled with relief and
accomplishment. “Knights!” he called,
holding up his cutlass. “Attack!” Like the crashing waves, the
knight descended on the marines with unyielding fury. The guns of the marines were mad, firing
into the attackers with abandon. The
bullets ripped past them all, firing harmlessly into the ground as the knight
store past the marines. Alan and his
five charged into the center, decimating everything within their path. In the distance the sun rose over
the marine base. Within the perimeter
wall, the air was thick with the smell of blood and gunfire. Broken glass and debris from errant gunshots
were everywhere. Bodies lay on the
ground throughout the base; spent bullet casings caked in the blood of the
fallen marines. And atop the marine
base, flying overhead at the highest point, a black and red |
|