Shattered

I fell out of the hammock, and stumbled to my feet. I saw her pinning who I can assume to by the sniper on the ground. “Damn it…” He muttered.

“Now you talk… Who sent you?” She asked our friend.

“As if I would talk,” He replied. She pulled a pistol and shot him in the thigh. “Nice try fucker, I won’t tell,” He continued, not reacting to it with even a flinch.

“I won’t waste my time… You get one more chance, or a bullet,” She warned him.

“You know my choice,” He replied, then spat at her.

“I was hoping I did,” She replied, then shot him in the face.

“One less guy to play paintball with,” I said from behind.

“Yep, let’s get going… We should be there soon anyway, and with him out of the picture, we won’t have to hurry.

“I hope we get there soon… I can use some calm time…”

“So could I…” She replied as we walked on. After a while of silence she came with a question. “So… Can I ask something?”

“Yep,” I replied.

“Yesterday… Why did you help me get up? You could’ve gone on without me,”

“The same thing you got me out of that village,” I replied quickly, tho I was still pondering at the question. We returned to no talking afterwards for the rest of the way… To the sight of a town completely walled off from the outside, large metal doors, guarded by soldiers in what seemed to be exo-skeletons. “What the fuck is this?!” I asked loud.

“A bunch of Grunts and Brutes,” She replied, handing me binoculars. “The guys with the thicker armor are the Brutes, they got a pretty much impenetrable armor,”

“They must have a weak spot…” I muttered.

“Damn right they do,” She replied, lying on the ground with an M107 sniper rifle.

“Where the fuck do you get this stuff from?!” I wondered.

“You’re not the only one who got a hand on a nanosuit,” She replied.

“Are you sure you can take them out?”

“Who said I will? Their suits need a constant supply of energy and oil for the machinery. If I hit the battery or oil tank on their back it will send em flying all ways,” She explained.

“Well, since you don’t intend on passing by unseen, why won’t you just go balls to the walls and use an RPG?” I inquired.

“Why won’t you just walk past them with the shit you got on?” She threw back.

“You’re the one who immediately pulled a rifle,” I reminded her. She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, standing in front of me.

“If you insist on prioritising the least violent way, fine, but I’ll have a few smoke bombs ready. We’re gonna see if we can get in through them,” She replied, she seemed a bit annoyed. I guess she wasn’t a born pacifist to say the least… We slowly walked up to said gate, where the same patrol stopped us. Before we got there she managed to whisper a few things. “1 Mech, 3 Brutes and 8 Grunts… You sure about this?” I nodded and continued.

“Hold it there,” Said one of the grunts.

“Yes?” I asked confidently, trying to play the role my attire represents. He opened his mouth to talk, but before he did, he took a good look at me, then shut his mouth.

“Who’s she?” He wondered.

“She’s…” I had no clue what to tell, it was obvious I needed to lie. “She’s one of the experimental border hunters, haven’t you heard?”

“Border hunters? Never before,” He replied.

“Well, it will be their job to keep the borders clear, instead of wasting us to stand here instead of conquering new land…” I explained. He seemed to believe my made up story.

“Right… Go on,” We walked past him and approached the large metal door. “One second…” He said. I looked at her, she had a small, grey ball in her hand, staring me in the eye, waiting for a not. I turned around to reply.

“What?”

“What were you doing out here?”

“I was showing her around, the environment, the forest, so she’ll know it a little better,” I replied.

“Makes sense, okay, never mind,”

We did it, we got past them finally… “Told ya it won’t be that hard…” I said, trying to mock her passive aggressive attitude.  “Where was that meeting point again?”

“Don’t you know the way from here?”

“Not from here… First time I went there I had no other choice, was on a back seat and almost shot,” I reasoned.

“Riight…” She replied and pulled her phone. It rang out. “C’mon….”

“Jason?”

“Yeah, we just passed the South gate. Can you send someone for us? We don’t know the way…”

He seemed to be having a problem. He hung up.

“Asshole… Is he like that all the time?” She wondered. I just pulled my shoulders. *Burrr* *Burrr* “What?”

Jason replied, the hung up again.

“Motha fu- Gah!” She replied, and threw her phone at the ground, which bounced as high as she threw it from. I couldn’t help but chuckle at the scene.

“S-sorry…” I managed to spit out while doing so. Soon we heard sirens coming near. “I have a feeling that means our ride is near…” I muttered, wiping the grin from my face. I was right, we saw a car pull up and drift into stop in front of us.

“C’mon guys! Hurry!” Said the driver.

We got in and held on. “What now?” She wondered.

“You either keep your heads down or shoot back!” Replied the driver.

It was enough for her to lean out the window with a GL-79 and shoot at the cars behind us, who, needless to say were the police… Some of the cars flew, the road had a crater in it, preventing them from following us. “Effective… The fuck did you get that from tho?” Asked the driver.

“Eyes on the road!” I yelled, pulling my own sidearm.

“Huh, hers is better,” He said, and looked back on the road. Unfortunately a few turns later a few more of the patrol cars started to chase us. “When I kill the engine and shut the lights you keep down,” He said and pulled into an alleyway, took a sharp turn left and stopped the engine. We waited sometime there until the police passed. “Now, give me your money,” Said the driver all the sudden, pointing a sawed off shotgun back at us.

“What the fuck?”

“Jason said it will be an easy job, and nothing about the two of you. I’m just gonna pop a cap in both of ya and get your cash, then tell em the police shot ya’ll,”

“How about no?” She wondered, then shot him in the back of the head through the seat.

“Geezus…” I said.

“What? You saw it! He was gonna kill us! I ain’t gonna die to a small time criminal like his ass!” She tried to explain.

“This once I’m glad you did it,” I threw back, and got out of the car with ringing ears. “Ugh, what are you again? A terrorist or something?” I asked, since she called the guy a small time criminal.

“You must be a sniper, cause you’re damn right,” She replied.

“And so the irony of life sets in… An ex-soldier saved by terrorists… Not that I regret it…” I began to ponder. We spent the rest of the day getting back to the bunker.

*Kock* *Knock* *Knock* “Yeah?” Asked Jess through the intercom.

“It’s me, Joseph,” I replied.

“I see, we have a camera up there you know. What of your friend?”

“She got me here,” I answered, the door opened and we got in.

Jason soon enough came to check on us. “I see you two are fine,” He noted, holding a hand to me as a greeting.

I slapped it away. “You out of your mind? The guy you sent tried to rob us then kill us!” I threw at him.

“No shit, really? Next time I won’t hire that guy I guess…”

“I doubt anyone will,” She threw in.

“Good thing I didn’t send one of us then,” Jason replied. “Now, thanks for the visit, and fuck off,”

“Beg your pardon, dickwad?” She threw back, not leaning against the wall anymore.

“You heard it right. Get your ass out of here!” Jason yelled back.

“Dude, she got me here and saved me. I would’ve died without her!” I tried convincing him.

“Joseph, we’re better off with her gone. Her kind is not appreciated anywhere!” He exclaimed.

“It’s okay, just keep out of my sight from now on,” She replied and punched the wall on her way out, leaving a crude dent in it.

“She could’ve hit you instead…” Jess leaned in to whisper, then left to one of the labs.

“Trust me, she’s one of the two kind of people you want to avoid…” Jason told me.

“Explain,” I replied crossing my arms.

“There are two radical groups, both are considered terrorists by the government,”

“Wouldn’t our enemy’s enemy be our ally?” I pondered.

“Not these ones,”

“So who are these two?”

“Here’s a hint: One considers Luna as a god, the other, same, with Celestia,”

“So we have the Lunatics and… Uh…” I tried to make a joke but barely made one.

“What can be related to the sun… Hmmm… Tan? Sunglasses? Heat? Hotheads?” Asked Jeff, one of the shooters, offering a hand for high five.

“Good enough,” I replied, high fiving him.

“You done?” Jason wondered.

“What? It’s worth a joke,” I replied.

“Just… Stay away from them… Keep the badge, but lose the rest, some of the fixers might mistake you for target practice,” He advised me, then left to his room.

“You might want to do that one,” Alex noted passing by with a few smaller crates. I went to my room and did so, keeping the gun and badge. I chose to take a nap, so I leaned back and got at it.

It must have been hours later when I heard my phone ring. I pressed the unlock key on the side, and my eyes began to burn. Don’t you all hate when this happens? I quickly dragged the slider down to adjust the brightness, then looked at the screen. “1 missed call…” I muttered. I looked at the logs and called back. It rang out for a while.

Said a familiar voice.

“Jason might be the boss in the group but not of mine,” I replied, recognizing the caller.

She wondered.

 “Fine… What time is it?”

<4:19 am, I have an offer you will be interested in, but I won’t be alone… And if you come, I doubt Jason would allow you back, just to make it clear to you> She explained. Then she hung up. I chose to go, just from curiosity, but before doing so I left them a thank you and good-bye letter. It was darker than usual but I managed to get there by 4:23. “Glad you came,” She said, wearing full combat gear, all white with golden trim.

“So this is the guy you talked of,” Noted the man next to her, same gear, but all dark blue with black trim, crossing his arms.

“Let me guess, he’s the lunatic, while you’re the hothead,” I said to her.

“Yep… Heh, hothead… That’s a new one, tho,” She noted.

“So, what’s the offer you mentioned? I’m still half asleep, and I got no clue how long I can stay up…” I cut to the point.

“If you want to, we can get you back to Canterlot to do your duty once again, but with a new face, name, and body,” Said the guy next to her.

“I’m interested… What’s the plan?” I wondered.

“Easy. You come with me, we take your memory from your body, get you a new body, plug it back into that one, and dump the other somewhere in the sewers and viola! All we will need then is for Lumen’s guys to hack into the database and create your alias in there,” He explained.

“Just to make things equal, Malov, remember our deal, okay?” Lumen threw in.

“Yeah, yeah, I remember… We get him back in there, so he can do us both a favor by keeping the sisters safe, I know,” He said, tired of her to some point.

“What do you say?” Lumen wondered.

*Sigh* “I’m in, just so I can get closer to Omnis as well…” I noted, and went with the two of them wherever Malov took us. It was less than an hour, and I woke up in my new body.

“Rise and shine, uh…” Said Malov. “What should be your new name?” He wondered.

“Whoever’s body this was,” I threw back.

“Lucy Stillman it is…” He replied with a grin.

“WHAT?!” I yelled, looking down on me right away, to my relief, I did not have a female body.

“Gotya… But seriously, your new name is Ryan Knight, copy that? Your age is 25, and just enlisted, so we will get you into the next shipment to the training camp…” He explained.

“Great, thanks for the help,” I replied.

“I’ll take him from here, come on,” Lumen said, and managed to fit me in, basically bribing a few employees and having connections. At last, I was on my way to the camp before night.

“Thanks for the help, I got the phone so we can keep in contact,” I said.

“You’re the one doing us both a favor,” She said with a grin and left.

[End of Chapter 3]