Grand Battle S3G1! (Round Four: City of the Dead)

Grand Battle S3G1! (Round Four: City of the Dead)
Re: Grand Battle S3G1! (Round Two: The Great Battlefield)
Originally posted on MSPA by Anomaly.

Corporal Lacatus of the Red Army's Crimson Squad hurried down a number of twisting corridors, toward the equipment locker. Even during their off-time, no one could get any rest during this war. Apparently, some off-duty private had seen a Blue-colored projective splash down in the river, dangerously close to Headquarters. Or maybe it was Green. The private was too panicked to make up his mind. General Németh didn't feel like taking any chances, so the half the Crimson Squad was sent to investigate. Just another good way to get "enlisted". Typical.

The Corporal was greeted at Equipment Locker 32B by his subordinates: Private Lakatos, Private Molnár, and Private Petrović. The three were already outfitted in their standard Red Army uniforms - uniforms that for some reason couldn't even defend against a bullet. In another two minutes the Corporal was prepared for combat as well, and the fireteam shoved off.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Air. Falling. And then, water. Clear, cold water.

Tengeri took a moment of solace after crashing down into the large river, letting herself sink to its enveloping depths. Her HUD idly flashed a few notifications, noting that her Telekinetic Enhancement Unit and Hypermanipulators were fully repaired, and that vocal repairs would be complete in another hundred microcycles. For the first time in a while, she finally had time to think.

Miles is dead. One of the only people in this battle I could trust, just another innocent, dead. And for what, entertainment? This is going to happen to all of us if we don't stop this "Fool". And now what? A war game? But one without any death? Just brainwashing. Nearly as bad. Need to avoid getting shot by those soldiers. Maybe unite the armies if possible, but it's probably too dangerous. Just need to avoid them and find anyone I can trust. Tor and Velobo for sure. Probably Huebert and TinTen as well. Kerak had something to tell me, but after that last round I'm not sure I can go near him... Then again, he just doesn't understand how society works. Maybe he needs me more than anyone. On the plus side, I'll be able to speak to them soon enough. For now I just need to

Tengeri's thoughts were disrupted by a warning flashing before her eyes and the warning sirens that came with it.

"POTENTIAL THREAT DETECTED - Four armed individuals approaching river. Appear to be of the 'Red Army' mentioned by GB-1. Tentative threat level 5. Approach with caution."

Soldiers of the Red Army? They must have heard me fall into the river. I could just swim away, or I could try making peace... It would help to get more allies, in any case. Just hope they're friendly.

Tengeri surfaced, attempting to look as nonthreatening as possible. Not that it was at all possible for a cybernetic sea serpent to look nonthreatening to common human soldiers. As her HUD had told her, four soldiers in bright red uniforms stood at the riverbank, pointing their rifles directly at her, all wearing expressions in varying degrees of "surprised" and "horrified".

"What the hell is that?!" shouted the stout one on the left, whose uniform helpfully labeled him as "PVT. LAKATOS".

"Some kind of monster? Should we shoot it, Corporal?" questioned the tall, wirey one on the right, identified as "PVT. MOLNÁR". Tengeri hurriedly began forming words in the air.

"Could be a Blue or Green weapon, for all we know. Might be best to... hold one, what's it doing now?" responded the Corporal.

"don't shoot. i'm dr. tengeri nyoka, brought here against my will for a battle to the death against seven others. there are only seven of us left now. need help to survive this round, find a few others. may be working with other armies, cannot tell."

"It can write? With water? ...In the air? Am I hallucinating?" asked a very confused Private Petrović.

"You're not hallucinating, Petrović," replied Lakatos. "But wait... It's saying that it has allies in other armies! It's an enemy!"

"You don't know that for sure, Lakatos," responded Corporal Lacatus.

"I know damned well! This thing is Green, anyway! We can fix that, now, can't we?" Tengeri heard a distinctive click from the soldier's gun.

"Private, I'm giving you a direct ord-" Corporal Lacatus was cut off by the bang of the private's gun.

Tengeri felt a sharp pain in her side, and saw her blue-green blood leaking out, running through her partial field of water and into the river. But the bloodflow was soon overshadowed by a multitude of flashing warnings on Tengeri's HUD, once more accompanied by her own voice.

"Warning. Level Seven Memetic Hazard detected. Unknown memetic agent dispersing rapidly from bullet wound, attempting partial rewrite of neural patterns. Attempting to surpress spread of agent...

...

Attempt successful. Spread of memetic agent stopped at 14%. Side-effects such as discoloration of skin potentially unintended by agent; unable to fully analyze. Memetic agent disregards several known laws, but differs greatly from "Chaos" phenomenon. Agent has also completely healed wound by unknown means."

Tengeri noted with some disconcertation that her scales had turned a vaguely reddish color, although other then that it was as if she had not been shot at all. She slowly dragged herself from the riverbed and out of the river entirely, deciding to levitate above the water's surface instead.

"...private tengeri nyoka of the red army, sir!" Tengeri quickly wrote out.

"Whatever army she was with before, she's on our side now, men," said the Corporal. "Who knows... she might even help us win this war. We can only hope so."

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Re: Grand Battle S3G1! (Round Two: The Great Battlefield) - by Anomaly - 05-30-2011, 04:38 AM