Gun Metal Crusade 3 (Patreon)

Gunmetal Crusade

Chapter 3: War (2)

-109-

From atop Brutus, Taylor, Skitter in her costume, gasped as she arrived just in time to see Velocity get gunned down. She didn’t miss the civilians stuck in the crossfire just like he had, but she and her team had been too far to help. She flinched back, clamping down on her ears with her hands in shock as cracking snaps of half a dozen shotgun(-pistols?) went off, and her bugs gave a very good view of exactly how Velocity was eviscerated. 

She heard Lisa gag off to the side, and then when Lisa looked up towards the mercenaries - because there was no way those guys were regular gangsters - and froze, Taylor knew that something was wrong.

“Anti-Thinker tech…?!” Lisa mumbled. “How-?”

“We need to leave, now,” Brian said just loud enough to be heard over the background noises of gunfire, screams, sirens, and fires. 

As they prepared to leave, one of the giants looked around… and then spotted them. He pointed his shotgun at them-!

“RUN!” Lisa screamed and they were off. 

Too late.

THOONK THOONK THOONK!

Three shots rang out, and all of their rides went down. The dogs crumpled helplessly as a spray of viscera and blood splattered the side of the street they were on, and all four of them fell onto the ground.

“NO!” Bitch screamed and turned towards the giant. 

“Bitch, n-!” Lisa screamed.

DAKKA! Splat.

“-o!”

Bitch stumbled back one step and another step, and then fell flat on her back, unmoving and lifeless. Her head rolled to the side and Taylor saw - in less than two seconds - as the lights went off in the girl’s eyes.

“Fuck!” Brian shouted as he grabbed Lisa and her and hauled ass into the alley. 

THOONK!

The wall right above her head shattered into a hundred particles but they were in the alley, out of the sight of the killers. 

Her legs ran, but her head remained affixed to the still warm body of her teammate. Taylor couldn’t help but cry in that instance as she ran. She dumped her emotions as fast as she could into the bugs, but even then, there was too much of it. 

In rage, she sent the bugs after the killers, but the armor they wore had no opening. 

She was powerless.

Just before Brian dragged them away from the Docks, she saw the giants grab Bitch and Velocity’s heads and cut them off from their bodies eagerly and not cleanly.

-127-

Oni Lee didn’t think outside of what was strictly necessary to inflict pain and complete whatever mission his mission had given him, and tonight, his mission was to find those destroying the dragon’s land and eliminate them. 

He pulled out his knife from the tiny crack between the helmet and the neck guard worn by the invaders. 

Armored and heavily armed, these invaders were new, unfamiliar, and as violent as he was. They gave no quarter, which made them no hero. They shot to kill capes, which made them no villain. 

He teleported away, leaving a clone to be shot in the head and turn into dust. 

The problem, as Oni Lee saw it, was the sheer number of the invaders. While they weren’t as professional as Coil’s mercenaries or stupidly numerous like the by-gone Empire, they were disciplined just enough with their tinkertech armor and weapons to make them even worse company than either of the aforementioned enemies. 

And they never missed.

He jumped away again, leaving a clone behind, and that clone burst into ash within half a second. He teleported again and again, leaving behind only trails of ashes.

At the end of his trail, he was far from where he’d run into the second contingent of the invaders-.

There was a staccato of gunfire, and he -!

-157-

Kenta hadn’t fought this hard in so long. The mere threat of his ire turning towards them sent so many scurrying. 

And then out of nowhere, these Slaughterhouse Nine wannabe’s were attacking him and his land! 

AND HE COULDN’T CATCH THEM!

He roared as he beat his four wings, only for them to be shot off at the base, sending him tumbling down to the ground. As he snapped his head up to enflame the bastards, he got a shot to the forehead, sending his draconic face tilting up, and his flames missed. 

Regenerating from the pesky attack, he roared again, only for his neck to be struck by a dozen shells, and he gurgled as he felt his neck violently explode. He tumbled backward, trying in vain to get his bearings, but then Rune - where was the bitch!? - sent a container box at the back of his knee, sending him crashing into the ground below. Luckily for him, there was a trio of those soldiers, and he crushed them with his weight. 

Pushing up quickly to avoid getting bombarded, he turned towards the source, ready to blast them with his healed throat and fire, but then his eyes widened when he saw one of the tinkertech soldiers on top of a building with four more container boxes, holding a handheld glass lantern encased with a protective metal cage. Within it was a young girl’s head floating in green liquid. 

‘Faerie Queen,’ his mind supplied him with the implication. It couldn’t be the power collector; she was still in Birdcage. 

Someone else had powers similar to her.

The thought sent shivers up and down his spine.

Then, he smelled a familiar blood. 

His head snapped, and his eyes widened to the point of pain when he saw Oni Lee’s head held by one of the approaching tinkertech soldiers. He shot up, ready to kill them all for killing his lieutenant.

“Kill him,” one of the soldiers commanded, and a hundred explosive shells struck him. 

“‘On’t ‘elp ‘ou-!” he roared out but then he faltered. Why did he stop? He looked down. 

His legs. They weren’t regenerating. 

… No, they were, but something was eating away at him equally as fast.

“Corrosive serum is working,” the same soldier that commanded the others spoke up. “Finish him.”

He wanted to shout. To roar. To rise up and smash his enemies. But his jaws gave away to the burning sensation, his neck seemed to leak air, and his limbs seemed to betray him.

‘なぜ私は疲れているのですか...?’

He heard one last sound.

BAM!

-166-

By the time Armsmaster, Miss Militia, Dauntless, Battery, Assault, and nine PRT squads arrived at the scene, the giant killers were gone.

-190-

Leet and Uber watched apprehensively through the stealth drone’s camera as the tinkertech soldiers beheaded Lung, carrying it off to somewhere. They saw another soldier bring another girl’s head. 

“What the fuck is going on…” Leet muttered.

“... Time to get the fuck out of town.”

“Yeah.”

“Leet, pack up.”

“Y-Yeah.”

-196-

End of Chapter / Next Story to be Update: Garden of Enchantment

Worm CYOA v.3: Twins Only Run

Details

God Mode 10

For Want of a Nail: Dead Entities 9

Man of Mystery 8

Special Snowflake 7

Geas: Cannot Lie 8

Geas: Create Territory for Self 10

Wanted: E88+, ABB+, Merchants+, S9 18

Twins

Spree+++: clones don’t degenerate, clones are permanent, each clone obtains a copy of the equipment - tinkertech or regular - on the original at the time of its creation 12

Bonesaw+: can “bottle” powers 9

Kid Win+: additional specialty - Personal Protection 6

Dragon 4

Flechette 2

Quarrel 0