Don't Fear the Reaper: Part 5 (Sequence 2)
The missile hurtled into the wall behind which the trio once stood!
An ear-shattering explosion rocked the old building, sending chunks of rock and shrapnel showering over Mantis and Scarecrow. Scarecrow stood up slowly, slightly dazed, and looked down at Trisha who was underneath him, protected from the flying debris. She looked twice as dazed as Scarecrow or Mantis did!
"What the..." Scarecrow muttered as he leaned up slowly. Mantis looked over her shoulder at the gaping hole where the wall used to be. Scarecrow looked back down at Trisha. "You alright? Can you hear me?"
Trisha nodded weakly, the pressure from the blast completely dazing her. Scarecrow patted her cheek gently and then stood up, grabbing his hat as he looked over to Mantis.
"Check her out, make sure she's not concussed," he ordered. He walked rhythmically to the hole and stood out in the open, holding his hand up to the side of his head and speaking into his headset. "Mother, this is Scarecrow. Call off the reinforcements, Mantis has been captured and we are returning Home."
"Negative Scarecrow," a low, demonic voice murmured from the other side.
"Infernus!" Scarecrow growled. "Mother will make you pay dearly for this..."
"Always hiding behind Mommy for protection aren't you?" Infernus chuckled malevolently. "Well I'll have you know, my good sir, that Mommy Dearest is the one you'd be least safe behind at this point..."
"Mother?" Scarecrow whispered in disbelief. He felt sick to his stomach...
"Oh dear did I let that slip out?" Infernus chuckled again. "Silly me...not like it matters too much anyway...well Scarecrow it sure has been a blast, but Mother IS expecting results soon so I'm afraid I must cut our conversation short!"
"Infernus I swear I'll kill you...so help me god I SWEAR I'll rip your heart out!" Scarecrow yelled into his microphone, his fists shaking violently. His enemy just yawned noisily and then gave a throaty chuckle.
"Goodbye Scarecrow," the connection was severed and Scarecrow was left with a static-spitting comm-link in the cold night. His hand swung down by his side and he looked out over the night with loneliness burning a ragged hole in his conscience. He looked up into the sky.
"Scarecrow," a finger tapped his shoulder lightly, snapping him out of his trance. Trisha was awake and conscious and just looking at her active made him happier...
"Trisha, Mantis, we need to get out of here," he said quietly. There was a noise outside, and Scarecrow spun around wildly to face the hole in the wall. Outside there were numerous ripples in the air and on the ground...the air looked like it had a sheet of trickling water pouring through it. Scarecrow's crosshairs widened and he leapt back inside the building just as at least fifty high-powered machine-gun rounds pummeled the area in which he once stood!
Trisha screamed and was pulled to the ground by Mantis as Scarecrow took cover behind a wall. Scarecrow looked over at Mantis and nodded. She nodded back and drew her SRS from her sling. Without moving, she aimed at the wall while Scarecrow spotted for her. He peeked out the hole once, then zipped his head back inside.
"2 approaching! 20 degrees from GL! Side-by-side! 10 degrees apart!" he shouted. In less than five seconds, Mantis fired off two rounds through the wall! Scarecrow looked through the two holes she had made and laughed. "Two down!"
"Just like old times!" Mantis called back. Scarecrow laughed. He looked at Mantis and then his crosshairs widened...
At the back door to the building, behind Mantis, he saw shapes! Four of them! Scarecrow's crosshairs tightened and he placed his feet on the wall behind him. With a growl, he pushed off from a crouching position and lunged through the air at his targets!
He landed with a heavy thud on the ground and rolled to get closer. The shapes shimmered for a second and then became visible. They were Soldiers, just regular Soldiers! This was impossible! Surely Mother didn't think so lowly of him and Mantis that she assumed a Chimera Squad would be able to terminate TWO Skinners?!
He was within range, and the soldiers opened fire! A volley of bullets whizzed past his head as he stood up, but Scarecrow professionally dodged them. Another few bullets crackled the air as the Soldiers fired, but none of them hit their marks...their guns finally clicked...Scarecrow growled excitedly...
There was a bright flash and one of the Soldiers fell dead on the floor, blood spurting all over his companions. This was disorienting, as they seemed to be stunned as the bright flash of Scarecrow's blades struck again and severed the throat of the far-left Soldier! The last two were in perfect reach, and Scarecrow took no time in bursting forth in their confusion to grab both of them by the throats and hoist them off of the ground!
They struggled and tried to reload their guns as they were held aloft, but could do nothing...
"Useless machines," Scarecrow hissed and clenched his fists as tightly as he could. He felt cords snap and pipes crush and metallic bones break violently in his hands...then he dropped them to the ground, twitching slightly...they were both still semi-conscious. Scarecrow made a snarling noise and then turned to walk away when he looked into the eyes of two concerned females.
"Don't leave them there..." Trisha had her hand held over her mouth in terror and shock. "Please don't leave them there..."
Scarecrow scoffed and started walking away to analyze the situation...
Trisha took her hand away from her mouth and looked down at the two twitching and pain-wracked Soldiers on the ground and then at Mantis' gun. Without thinking, she reached down and grabbed the weapon from the disoriented Skinner and ran over to the two Soldiers.
There were two bright flashes and then there was silence once again. Mantis disarmed Trisha with superior force and then pushed her to the ground.
"You NEVER take another soldier's gun on the battlefield! EVER! I could've killed you!" she screamed. Trisha felt tears well up in her eyes, not from the pain (god knows she could deal with that) but from the sheer horror of the situation...the two men she had just killed...
"Mantis!" Scarecrow yelled. "Don't waste your time yelling at the girl, just find us an exit. We're surrounded north to south."
"There are no exits east or west, I've been here for days," Mantis revealed exhaustedly. "I scoped the place out top to bottom before I even considered it."
Then Scarecrow started yelling, something about what they were going to do and whether or not they were just going to lie down and die there. Trisha barely heard a thing...she was too absorbed in the two men she had just killed...it was an act of mercy wasn't it? Scarecrow says that they weren't even alive! Right? Right?! No...they were life...half machine or not...they had living hearts and she had ended their lives...
She scratched at the ground, her fingernails digging in the dirt and pushing clumps of it out of the way. Her nails went through layer after layer of soft earth before finally grating painfully against something hard! She winced and looked down, brushing some of the dirt away. There was a little bit of rusted metal about two inches below the dirt! She dug around it, brushing away all of the dirt until it was semi-exposed.
It was grating! A medium-sized metal grating fully rusted over and half-buried! She smiled through her tears and started laughing! She turned around.
"Scarecrow!" she cried. Scarecrow turned to face her. He saw the metal square in the ground and he and Mantis immediately rushed over to where she knelt!
"Yes! Great job kid!" he turned to Mantis. "Scoped the place out real good?"
Mantis mumbled something and flicked her antennae impatiently. Scarecrow laughed and then stood up, only to jump up and slam his fist down into the grate! He put a massive hole in it which he used to wrench it free from the ground and toss it over to the far wall. He patted Trisha on the head as he stood up and then looked to Mantis. He was about to speak when he heard another noise...a small buzzing was getting louder...
"Fuck! Another Abaia! Alright, you two, go!" Scarecrow ordered again. They hesitated. "An ASM inside the building'll kill all of us! MOVE!"
Like they were freed from a spell, the two females did as they were told and jumped through the square hole in the ground, arms crossed over their chests. As they disappeared into the darkness, Scarecrow looked around the building. He noticed the four bodies and rushed quickly to them. He took their rifles and any spare magazines they had on them, he took any passkeys he could find, he took ID cards, he took everything useful. He slung one body over his shoulder and carried it over to the hole, taking a quick look around before dumping it down below to Trisha and Mantis' audible dismay! He chuckled slightly and then finally reached up, taking off his beloved hat and touching it gently to where his lips would be. Then he tossed it over to the three bodies, watching it flutter lightly down to the corpses and rest there.
"Goodbye, my friend," he whispered quietly and disappeared into the darkness below. The buzzing grew louder and louder until finally the long-range, high-powered air-to-surface missile flew through the previously made hole and gutted the building in a devastating explosion!
The building collapsed and started heaving piles and piles of debris into the air! With its final breath, there was a low chuckle. Infernus stepped out of the shadows and shimmered into visibility. He walked proudly, assured of himself that he had succeeded. He turned to a group of Soldiers.
"Search the wreckage," he ordered, smirking. The Soldiers nodded and made their way over to the site of destruction and began lifting heavy piles of rubble from the scene. Infernus reached into his battlesuit pocket and pulled out a small screen. He pressed a button and it clicked to life, Mother's face fading into view from the darkness. ""Mother, it's done. Mantis has been eliminated."
"And what of Scarecrow and the girl?" Mother asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Them as well. Scarecrow initiated an attack and we had no choice but to terminate him," Infernus said. Mother looked surprised.
"He was unaware of the information that Mantis had stolen?" she asked interrogatively.
"Unsure Mother. Regardless, the mission is complete. We will return immediately," the demonic Skinner said.
"Mother hears her Children," she finished and the screen clicked off.
Infernus stood in the rubble, relishing his victory over his long-time rival.
"Just like Mogadishu, huh Scarecrow?" he chuckled over Scarecrow's previous comment. "Well, I think not..."
He looked down at the rubble and saw something sticking out from between two rocks. He bent down and moved the rocks, picking up Scarecrow's beaten and worn-out hat. It was black, and that seemed to suit Infernus just fine! He let out a hearty laugh and then popped that hat on his head, walking off to his jet happy and content.