Chapter V: The Brute

"Nothing is to be feared but fear."

–Francis Bacon

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The Black Baron

I regretfully kicked the woman in the face. AoDD got MasterLock to get the cuffs he was in and I looked around the bodies. I was happy not to fight the magma making Magmantis but I was planning to have someone to interrogate.

Alien (following MasterLock) in his church-worthy suit, his hands intertwined as if strolling, faked concern as he asked,

"Angel! Are you alright?"

"Yes," as his cuffs fell to the floor, "thanks to the pretty girl there."-flicking his head toward the girl I kicked.

Alien looked back on the slew of bodies as I ordered someone to take the girl off somewhere.

"How many Dragoons were here AoDD?"

He was still looking at his hands as he said,

"20."

Alien frowned in shock, "20?!"

He nodded and Thread Walker began searching around in their direction.

Alien said, "I apologize, it appears that it was me walking on threads my lady."

Everyone was fanning out for more enemies. I flipped Magmantis' body over with my boot. I snorted, he joined the Dragoons for protection from us and we didn't even touch him at his death. Thread Walker held up a document and said loud enough for all to hear,

"I have plans for the Dragoons to kill us. This says that they want to capture leaders and lead all the 'sheep' to a slaughter."

She gave it to Alien and I said,

"I think that means war everyone."

Everyone was silent, soaking up the seriousness of the declaration. We have documents to prove that they were planning to kill us. Thread Walker said for everyone, "The orders are from the Seventh Dragon."

Alien was as pale as if he were reading his own death warrant. Then I saw the dust on the ground shaking. Everyone was caught up in searching the area and the dust shook again.

I thought on it, is it King Kong? Godzilla? No, those don't exist, someone like Bane? Why did I think that thought just as a giant seemingly exactly like Bane smashed through the wall opposite me?

Gunfire and electricity, thanks to Weyha, enveloped the Brute. The giant was still moving, unaffected by the ordinance. Dragoon gear at its finest.

He wore a Kevlar like rubbery mesh of armor, and on his back was the strength enhancing machine. This must be the method of how they captured my monster transforming friend, AoDD. I even launched a stun grenade at him and it had no effect.

The man was a normal person until he put on the jumper-like suit and turned the machine on. The man's skin was softened so that he had room to rapidly expand six times his size, but changing back is impossible. Jihadists strap bombs to people's backs and Dragoons tie these on people's backs.

This was his final stand,... and he might ACTUALLY kill us!

"Boss!" A goon shouted, throwing me a machine gun. I caught it as the drugged monster roared at me, as Alien hid with his .45 calling his drones, as Obsidian Owl began launching dark matter, as Waya electromagnetically attacked with his chain bending away from its reach, as Thread Walker charged the monster with inhuman acrobatic maneuvers, as my friend AoDD quickly transformed, and as all hell broke loose I was locked and loaded.

The fifty of us attacked all at once and didn't worry too much about friendly fire. Thread Walker double front flipped with a katana in hand and in blurs of hair misses and flashes of silver blood began to show. The BIG guy wasn't happy.

Angel was attacking like his name suggests, every now and again Walker would flip over AoDD, him clinched with the Big Man hitting and striking. We sat back with our weapons and powers. Then as Thread Walker was leaping from the back Big Man caught her in mid-air and slammed her into the ground before tossing her out a window.

I stopped shooting as the Big Guy wrestled the Angel of Death and Doom to the floor. Was my love crushed and thrown out like a rag doll? Before I could go on with more thoughts Alien tapped on my comm in a private link,

"Concentrate! She's fine!"

I thought helplessly, "How do you know?"

He groaned as if reading my mind exactly,

"Your map is tracking her now! On your wrist is her heartbeat!" -He paused as if wondering if to say more,- "And you have her picture taped in the corner of your visor..."

After a quick encouraging glance at Walker's picture in Russia. I started shooting,... and interrogated Alien over the comm. Angel was knocked back to human form taking time to unconsciously regenerate. The only lights to light the room were muzzle flashes.

Next to charge was Él Doug with his pure adamantium spear. A billion dollar weapon without exaggeration. It's his prize weapon, but I can't tell stories in a gunfight with a giant.

My comrade with the spear was doing honest work but then his spear nearly impaled me as it twirled by. The monster roared in his face as Él Doug was getting up. He surprised me with an exchange of punches and full body rams to the enemy's legs that rivaled Angel a second ago.

Then... My gun clicked empty as Doug was knocked to the floor.

I hastily launched a stun grenade at him. More flesh was exposed in an ugly matter combining with the tattered armor making this guy look more like a big zombie than a human. The enemy stepped back screaming in utter pain as Doug threw a few curses my way.

The Big Kahuna recovered faster than Doug. A soldier to my left stopped shooting to grab his extra MG from off his back. Running to me letting his squad cover he had to leap and toss it with one arm before Doug was thrown to the side so fast that I could see Doug's suit make sparks against the pavement taking out the squad and possibly killing one man.

This whole time Waya has been making Evil Kenivel passes via electromagnetic pulse jumps over the beast striking it with his chain. As less and less rubber covers our enemy the closer we get to simply electrocuting him. I cocked my MG, then thumping harmlessly on my arm, burning fire.

Then he caught Waya's chain…

Alien screamed in my ear,

"Use it!"

The monster swung the chain ripping Weyha from his bike and forcing him to latch onto the closest thing possible; a beam. As he did so however, he dislocated his shoulder and rendered the beam unstable. I was burning fire into the monster and everyone is in fear of running out of ammo. EVERYONE.

There's little standing between King Kong and my infantry. Alien was repeatedly screaming in my ear as Obsidian Owl went for a caging force field. Before the shield broke I finally made up my mind.

I dropped my MG to the floor to grab the new addition to my suit on my left hand. It was my last resort, my MG only had 67 more rounds in it and this guy was still very much alive. I grabbed a little ball that expanded like Pokémon balls, and aimed steadily.

This is when the shield shattered and if we had just a little more ammo we would have had him. Then he was hit in the face by a grenade my boys got from a Dragoon crate but it simply took the head armor off. Everyone was about to panic and flee but then he roared…

I remembered when the SWAT had come for me, and what I did with my backpack. It was like that moment a few weeks ago but this time I had Alien design some stuff for me. Like the fire-breathing Abwehrflammenwerfer 42 designed garden gnomes, check out the fougasses in my rose garden and make me totally awesome grappling grenades so don't have to expose myself to throw the larger grenades that my 20mm grenade launcher can't deliver!

The line went straight down the throat, it was being pulled in so quickly that the nade punched through his (shot up) teeth and went in his throat. I waited a moment for it to work. He keeled back like a troll choking. NOTHING?!

I swear if this prototype doesn't-

And then it blew up and opened the man up like what all men are; bags of bone and meat. He fell with so much force that the flooring for six feet cracked. I dusted my hands off as a job well done, his whole chest cavity was gone bye-bye; ribs anyone?

Waya stood from where he was and popped his neck. He held a determined face not to grimace as he electromagnetically wrapped the chain around his dislocated shoulder and popped it back in place. He didn't.