Fragment of Destiny

The sounds of conflict raged overhead. They had come sooner than he had expected. Clattering stone accompanied by the thud of heavy footsteps was clear in the oppressive silence of his cell. Larry Renkofski’s smiled. There was a shriek of twisting metal and the heavy cell door clattered on the floor like a broken toy. Two hulking malravians entered followed by a third, smaller, more human. The little one had wisps of mist flowing from it like lapping tongues of fire.

The three malravians looked quizzically at Larry for a moment as if not sure what to make of him.

Big mistake. Like the snapping of a thread, the thick looping chains that held him to the wall pulled free. In the same instant, a long claw-like blade extended from the left arm of the smaller malravian.

To slow. One massive hand covered the smaller one’s entire skull. Like cracking an egg, the skull imploded under the force of Larry’s grip and the lifeless body crumpled to the floor.

One. The other two malravians converged on him even before the little one’s body hit the floor. Twin craters marked the wall as Larry sent each malravian flying. Beating a malravian to death was near too impossible, even for him.

Time to find a weapon. Reaching down he yanked the large claw-like blade from the dead malravian. It came free of its socket with a tearing and popping sound that was viscerally satisfying.

This one won’t be needing it anymore. The blade was sturdy and sharp, it made for a convenient tool with which to eviscerate the dazed malravians. Larry shuttered with a moments ecstasy as he reveled in the carnage that covered his arms and soaked his shirt.

Now to go find his things. Stepping over the mangled and torn bodies Larry made his way to the archive elevator. At the bottom, the door opened, into deep darkness, the only light came from a single terminal. Dull as it was his eyes compensated for the rest. Scanning the wall of lockboxes, he grinned, someone had been looting. Spector perhaps?

Using an enforcer ID Yami had created for him, Larry tried his luck. He smiled as the archive terminal greeted him. Welcome, Nato Renkofski scrolled across the display. The first order of business was the scientist’s crystal, Lockbox 108C. Someone had destroyed the lock and taken the crystal, with luck it really would be Spector who had taken it.

His bulky hands moved quickly across the tiny keys bringing up his second inquiry. Larry Renkofski, code name: Slobber-pot, Larry had to force himself to take deep breaths to calm down upon seeing the epithet. The terminal view screen turned into a spider web of cracks as the metal frame bent under his grip.

Items retained: Kukri blades x2, Status: Execution pending. Releasing the ruined terminal, Larry turned to find his possessions. The shriek of twisting metal rang in the small space as he forced the confiscated blade through the lock. Wrapping a thick finger around the bent metal Larry separated the door from its hinges with as much effort as a normal man would bend a paperclip. On a recessed shelf, he found his toys. He had fashioned the blades himself and until recently always kept them on his person when away from home. Discarding the malravians claw he strapped both blades to his waist, enjoying the familiar weight once more.

In the short span since he had entered the archive room the air had become dank and now carried the strong sent of minerals. Under his boots, a film-like layer of water covered the floor. His business at the detention facility concluded Larry made for the exit.

Outside the smell of raw minerals hung in the air, the pungent sent seemed to be radiating from the city center. Whether by accident or design the sent could only mean one thing. The lower city was flooding, likely in an attempt to keep the fight above ground.

Though night had fully come there was light enough to see. Great swaths of the city were illuminated by enforcer floodlights even as explosions sent bursts of flame towering into the sky. The city looked to be in a state of barely-controlled chaos. Overhead dusk blades circled the hammering the malravians with heavy autocannons.

It looked as though the enforcers held only half the city now, with sectors two through six in utter darkness. It seemed the main battle was currently taking place in sector seven though clearly, some malravians had broken through to sector eight already. Despite his size, Larry disappeared into the shadows with hardly a trace. It was time to pay the high inquisitor a visit.

Soon scattered skirmishes were happening in the streets around him. Most went the way of the enforcers, the MPR’s and heavy cannon rounds ripping apart the exposed malravians. It was only when a mist-shrouded malravian appeared that the enforcers were cut down.

Larry tailed a band of malravians careful to keep his distance as they slinked from shadow to shadow ambushing and destroying enforcer patrols. After each successful ambush, the shadow-clad malravian absorbed the mist from the crystals of the fallen. It quickly became apparent that this act was more than superficial as the reaper displayed new and unique abilities after each victory.

At last the command center came into view. Piles of malravian corpses crowded the approach. Three armored skimmers were placed at key defensive points around the building, and heavy auto cannons filled gunners’ nests along the roof. Walls of sandbags created a makeshift rampart that served to funnel the heedless malravians into kill zones. It was a good strategy for the leaderless hordes which attacked with blind aggression but Larry wagered it would not be of much use when the reaper showed.

As if on cue, the ground shook violently and the first of the skimmers was swallowed up by a sinkhole. In seconds a wave of malravians poured from the ragged pit. The air came alive with the blaze of gunfire and the shrieks of death. It took a sizable effort to restrain himself from joining in the frenzy. A moment later the band of malravians he had been tailing burst from cover and swarmed over the second skimmer even as it cut the number of attackers in half.

The reaper was the last into the fray. Moving at incredible speed, it closed on the final skimmer. Chunks of asphalt showered the air and the mist surrounding the malravian flagged where MPR’s detonated around it. With one fluid movement, the malravian cleaved the skimmer in two, solid armor plating peeling back like wax before a flame.

An explosion turned the skimmer into molten slag as rockets from an approaching dusk blade hit home. Out of the smoldering shadows, a flair of dark mist vaulted to the roof of the command center. In a blur of motion, the enforcers manning the autocannons were dead. Then the beast turned its attention to the dusk blade.

With a wave of its hand, a howling wind filled the air causing the dusk blade to spiral out of control and into the side of the command center. The battle had been won in moments with the reaper doing the lion's share of the work.

Larry watched in fascination as the reaping began once more. Torn bodies shifted as the crystals were pulled from them by an unseen force. The host of crystals hovered in the air each sending out a long tendril of mist towards the malravian until they were nothing but ash.

With the defenses destroyed the flood of beasts stopped like water from a spigot. With such a powerful malravian already present it appeared they had decided to direct the fodder elsewhere. With the path clear, Larry followed the malravians inside as if they were his personal vanguard.

A few turns down the narrow halls and Larry caught up with the action. A heavy autocannon ripped from a battle skimmer held the next hall. Anything that went around the corner was instantly turned to pulp, but then the reaper approached. With an outstretched arm, large chunks of the shattered walls rushed down the length of the hall. The cannon fired blowing away more than half the incoming projectiles, but it wasn’t enough. With a satisfying crunch as the fragments hit home, the enforcers offered no more resistance.

With the deliberate pace of a victor who treads over the desolation of his enemies, the reaper closed the remaining distance to the command room. Silent as death itself Larry followed the reaper. Ahead the only sound that remained was of a woman in anguish.

With long powerful strides, Larry closed the remaining distance in a flash. The reaper stood in the doorway an arm extended in reaping. Letting his blades fly Larry caught the beast in the neck and side. Not only did he slice the beast clean in half but took a sizeable chunk of the door frame with it.

The thrill of the kill and the feel of blood running down his arms was almost too much for him, but at last, he regained his composure. In front of him lay two bloodied bodies, the severed malravian reaper, and the asset, Tess LaBou. In a red-stained hand, she clutched her crystal with a death grip. She whimpered and convulsed as blood pooled from the wound in her chest where the crystal had been grafted.

At the end of the ruined room, the crumpled enforcer began to stir. Larry brought his blades up to strike but relented. The enforcer’s helmet had been knocked off revealing yellow hair matted with blood.

“Glad you are still alive Spector,” Larry said.

It took Samuel several long seconds to formulate a response as he struggled to his feet. “Is that what this is?... Tess where is she?” Samuel asked suddenly seeming to remember where he was.

“She is right here. She has been injured and will need medical attention. Can you walk?” Larry asked.

“Yes, I think,” Samuel said taking a wobbly step forward.

Tearing a piece of Tess’s shirt that was not already saturated with blood Larry placed it on her chest and ordered her to hold it firm, before scooping her up like an infant.

“Any available units this is Under Marshal Samuel Spector, the command center has fallen. I have wounded at my location and need immediate extraction.”

“The nearest medical facility is going to be at the airfield. It’s not far from here. If it’s still there at all.” Samuel said every word labored as he struggled to keep pace. The Halsinion bobbed his head as if listening to something over his helmet’s com system. “We have a skimmer coming to pick us up they will be here shortly,” Samuel said relief thick in his wheezing words.

Larry slowed his pace taking more care not to jostle Tess. Within two minutes a battle skimmer came screaming towards them at full speed, guns blazing the entire way. It slid to a relative stop, no time for stabilizers. The side hatch was already open and frantic enforcers yelled for them to get in.

The skimmer was moving again before Samuel had even gotten both feet on board, yet it was not a moment too soon. Despite the six barreled rotary cannon doing work, a flood of malravians was all but upon them.

Larry could hear the driver yelling for backup and a moment later a chain of explosions rocked the skimmer. Even inside the whistle of shells from much larger guns could be heard followed by a torrent of deafening explosions.

“We have just past the defensive perimeter. We will be at the medical facility soon,” Samuel said his eyes glued to Tess. “Hang in there.” He whispered.

When they arrived all three of them were ousted from the skimmer, which was already being sent on a new mission. The moment their boots hit the tarmac they were rushed to the hanger that had been converted into a medical ward. The place was crowded with the wounded and dying. The stench of it triggered a voracious hunger for violence.

No one asked questions about him. From the moment they determined the blood which saturated his clothing did not belong to him, he was instantly forgotten. Samuel however, was immediately embroiled in the politics of the enforocer's fragmented command chain. With Tess safe, it was time for the next move.