Insert WAR GIFS/PICS here - Most likes wins š(A/N: Only TWO Entrees Per Person!) Winner(s) will be announced in the next chapter.
Winners: WasUp_IKnowYou
Prize: šĀ
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*3rd Person POV: Cassandra Cassanova*
Sunday morning had rolled around and Alexander had awakened. Cassandra hadn't spoken a word and refused to leave his bedside until her father awoke. Examinations had been done to Cassandra and there were multiple noticeable forms of trauma on and in her body that all pointed towards rape.
It was clear that she was under some mental trauma from the events she had experienced over the past 2 months under capture. The only thing that slightly brightened her eyes was seeing her father's limbs being regrown.Ā
It was a very gory and messy process as the body was pushed to a sort of state to recreate the cells of development of when one was a baby and then accelerate their growth to match something similar to the age of the patient. Layer after layer of bones, muscles, veins, and skin could be seen slowly building upon one another creating an eerie sight.Ā
When Alexander awoke, he looked around the room with a confused gaze, seemingly disoriented by his surroundings. He then noticed that someone was tugging at his arm. His brain seemed to kickstart as he noticed that there was an arm where there was supposed to be a stump.
He then looked up and made eye contact with his daughter. Her dark-wine red hair cascaded as her teary eyes looked into his. Alexander quickly sat up with a speed betraying his age and hugged his daughter tightly.
"I'm so sorry, honey," he said with a shaky voice. "I wasn't able toā¦. To protect you."Ā
Cassandra broke away from the hug and looked her father in the eyes. "It's ok, we're ok."
Alexander reached out his hand and touched Cassandra's face, making her flinch back. "No, you're not ok. And it's all my fault. I just wanted to reconnect but instead, this, this, this happened because of me."
Cassandra didn't say anything and just let her father weep as he held her. She was slightly detached from the world but she was still crying. She remembered how those bastards tortured them both for almost 2 months while seeking information about a man her father claimed he hadn't seen in almost a decade.
It seemed like they had given up at first, giving them some days of respite before they suddenly barged into the building they were being held at and took her father's limbs all the while her father screamed and maintained the claim that he had no information on the man.
She remembered how those bastards then turned to her and held her down and took turns with her, thinking that if the pain wasn't going to make him break out the information they claimed he had, then seeing her being raped before his eyes would push him over the edge. But still, her father, barely conscious, remained adamant that he hadn't seen Aspen.
At this point, he had lost too much blood and was about to faint, but he used up his remaining strength to spit blood into the face of one of their captors and told them: "I haven't seen Aspenā¦ in yearsā¦ but knowing him, he'sā¦ he's going to kill you allā¦"Ā
Her father then smiled before being punched across the face again and falling unconscious. A few seconds later, Cassandra heard some sort of electric guitar riff she had never heard before. Her captors seemed to enjoy the music as well, but that enjoyment was quickly replaced with fear when sounds of screaming followed by shooting came from outside.
It hadn't been long before she noticed that the only noise left outside was from the music playing. Then all of a sudden, the door burst open. Their captors opened fire on the door and the wall until they ran out of ammunition. Then, as if out of a Holonet show came a man in military gear.
He moved swiftly and dispatched all of their captors, with the remaining one barricading himself somewhere behind them. The man paused for a second, lowering his rifle. He looked at the location of the last bastard as if giving orders. Then in a split second, a deafening sound filled her ears as dust rose all around them.Ā
Her ears rang, her eyes blurred, her nose burned, and she was barely hanging on to her consciousness. She didn't know when or how, but when she opened her eyes, she found herself on the soldier's shoulders and managed to barely get a glimpse at the pitch-black foot of what was definitely a mech. Then she passed out.
The next thing she knew, she was in a medical bed in some unknown place. She knew she was safe, but something inside her urged her to break out. She stood up from her bed, her energy and fighting spirit seemingly replenished. She attempted to subdue the woman attending to her at the moment, a woman of Asian descent with a katana on her hip.
She quickly found herself on the floor and then cuffed to the bed. She was then given reassurance that she was safe alongside a breakdown of her injuries. Her instincts had betrayed her this time around. She was then informed about her father and the fact that he was in a regeneration chamber.Ā
She asked to see him, expecting some sort of pushback due to her actions, but instead, they led the way. She was taken to her father and witnessed the miraculousness of the regeneration pods.
She was torn, the events that had caused a divide between the two when she was younger seemed unimportant as she watched her father lay almost lifeless in a chamber. She had also yet to get an answer as to who these people were and why they had rescued them.
"Ahem," Cassandra was snapped out of her thoughts of the past few days by the sound of a man clearing his throat behind her. She broke away from her father and turned around to see who had interrupted their reunion.
Before she could even say anything, her father addressed the figure of a tall muscular man "Asā¦ Aspen? Is that you?"Ā
She saw the man smile as he nodded, "Long time no see, old man."
*1st person POV: Aspen*
I had come to recall the memories of my predecessor on why the man I had rescued appeared so familiar. I don't know how I didn't put this together any sooner by his name alone, but he was one of my instructors in the academy. The previous me had come to see this man as a father figure due to how close they had gotten.Ā
Alexander stared at me for a second while still in an embrace with his daughter. I decided right now would be the perfect time to clear my throat, and so I did, "Ahem."
I noticed Cassandra get startled by my action, but she quickly recovered and turned around. I could see the gears turning in her head as she formulated her next words, but Alexander was faster.
"Asā¦ Aspen?" He said with visible confusion.
I couldn't blame the man I had come to know as a father figure for not recognizing me, well, who I had become. "Long time no see, old man." Said with a grin plastered on my face.
"Oh, by the- by the gods you've changed," Alexander said with awe.
I nodded, "That I have, I'm no longer the man you remember I was."
"Just look at you," Alexander smiled, "Tattoos, muscular, a beard, long hair, you look like a Veteran pilot! And you even seem to be doing very good for yourself judging by where I am."
Alexander paused for a second, catching his breath before asking a hurtful question. "By the way, how's Autumn? I heard a few years ago that you lot had kids of your own."
My face soured at the mention of Autumn and the girls. I may not have been the one who experienced their lives and deaths, but I was the one who lived with the memories of it and the pain it caused. Alexander was quick on the uptake, immediately noticing something was off by my reaction.
"Ohā¦ I'm sorry, I thought you two were still together," he said, causing my brows to furrow even more.
"They're no longer with us," I said in a bitter tone.
"Aspen, I- you don't know how sorry-" he was about to apologize for his questions, but before he could, I decided to drop the bomb on him.
"They were killed by the same man responsible for your kidnapping," I said while clenching my fist. "A man I was too blind to have trusted in the past. I already raised hell at the camp you were being held captive. I'll be leading a strike tonight on Ajax's base and ridding this universe of that filth."Ā
"And Cassandra, I'm sorry. I didn't make those bastards suffer anywhere near enough for what they did to you," I locked eyes with Cassandra and apologized. "I'll be making sure that the one who orchestrated this whole thing will suffer more than any man can imagine before leaving this plane of existence."
She didn't respond verbally to my words, opting for a simple nod instead. I turned and left the two alone. I can't even begin to imagine the trauma this bastard's actions have caused this poor girl. I'll make sure not to kill Ajax and bring him back to base, only to extend the torture for weeks and allow everyone to get their fair share of him, before I finally decide I've had my fun and kill him.
After that, I will get schematics for some spaceships, some frigates, corvettes, and a handful of destroyers should be more than enough for me to step into outer space and start riding this universe of filth elsewhere.Ā
I had ordered for some digging to be done and it turns out that the corporations held a lot more power than I thought they did. All of the cities on this planet appear to not get along with each other, but that's just for appearances. They're all controlled by the same corporation.Ā
It would be fine if that were all they did, but they also had a lot of bandits, mercenary groups, and pirates in outer space in their pockets to ensure control over trade lanes, over the mercenary associations, and the people themselves.Ā
These greedy motherfuckers couldn't be happy with just having their cake and eating it, they wanted everyone's cake. That meant that the moment I debut as Reaper and start wiping out a lot of these fuckers, the entire universe will have it out for me.Ā
So I must be more than prepared and have technology so advanced that fighting my forces would be a nightmare even if only one were left. But that was all for future me to worry about. For now, I just had to get ready and get my strike party over to the location of Ajax's base without being noticed.
*3rd Person POV: Volkov's FOB*
It was currently 11:37 pm on Sunday night. Valina and Ajax had just returned from testing out their new Vanguards. Both had been blown away by their maneuverability, responsiveness, and just how easy to pilot they were. These new mechs were the perfect work of art for war.
Ajax dismounted his mech in Hangar 2, while Valina dismounted hers in Hangar 1. Now that Victor and his men had left, they had regained their titles as the highest powers in this FOB, the two had free reign over where they wanted to be.
"I never expected them to be this good," Valina said, a smile plastered on her face.Ā
"Tell me about it. They're exhilarating," Ajax responded. "That Azrael Fallcrest may look a little like Aspen, but that fucker's got some brains on his team."
Ajax and Valina made their way to their quarters, taking a good 20 minutes to reach it. Once they did, the two immediately broke into a kissing frenzy.Ā
"I'm going to fuck you so good tonight, you're not going to be able to walk straight tomorrow," Ajax said in between ragged breaths.
"Please, as if you've ever even put me to sleep," Valina teased him which caused Ajax's smirk to falter. "Let's shower first. You smell like shit and I stink too."
"I don't mind a little stank if it's from you," Ajax said, earning him a smack to the back of the head. "Ow, the fuck was that for?"
"You're not supposed to agree that I stink," Valina said in a huff. "Now get off of me so I can get out of this suit and shower!"
Valina managed to push Ajax off of her and started undressing to go shower. As Valina bent over to take off her clothes, Ajax slapped her buttcheeks, turning her pale skin red.
"OW, YOU MOTHERFUCKER!" Valina yelped in pain as she stared at Ajax, anger seething from her.
"Don't act like you don't like it," Ajax said only to dodge out of the way as a knife flew to where he was standing.
"Only while having sex, not outside of it you fucker!" Valina responded before quickly taking her tower and rushing into her shower. Ajax did the same as her and went to join her in the shower, but the door was locked.
"You can use the other shower. You're lucky I'm still letting you touch me tonight," Valina said through the door.
"Oh come on, it was only a slap," Ajax complained.
"Would you like it if i slapped your balls?" Valina asked through the door.
"How is that even-" Ajax started but was cut off by Valina.
"I didn't think so."
Ajax gave a defeated sigh and walked his bare self to the other end of the room and got into the shower. By the time both were done showering, it was already 1:30 am. Valina had decided to take longer to teach Ajax a lesson on slapping her ass. The two then had sex for the next hour with Ajax being unable to continue any longer.
"So much for me not walking tomorrow," Valina teased Ajax with a slight moan as she lay facedown on the bed and Ajax walked and sat on a couch chair.
"I caught a fucking cramp. You try to do hip trusts for an hour straight and see how much you, *cough cough cough* how much you last," Ajax responded, obviously winded by their activities.
After a little bit of back-and-forth banter between the two, Ajax threw himself on the bed, lying next to Valina. They held each other for about 10 minutes, no talking, just their breaths and the smell of sex in the air.Ā
"I don't know what I ever saw on that cunt when I could have always had you," Ajax whispered.
"That's because you're one dumb son of a bitch," Valina said, smirking.Ā
"Yeah, I'm one lucky son of a bi-"
*TUM*
A sudden, gut-wrenching silence overtook their surroundings. It felt like the world itself had stopped breathing. Thenā
*BOOM*
The entire base shuddered and metal walls groaned under pressure as an explosion sent a violent shockwave ripping through the compound. The lights flickered out, plunging the room into momentary darkness.
Then the red emergency strobes snapped on, turning the night of passion into a hellish scene. A dull alarm thrummed through the walls, and a voice cut through the comms:
"ALERT. We are under attack. All personnel to battle stations. This is not a drill. I repeat, this is not a drill."
Somewhere outside, chaos reigns as the distant whine of weapons and explosions met, creating a mix of sizzles, metallic ricochets, and the whomp-whomp of heavy gun emplacements firing into the darkness.
Ajax barely had time to react before the entire base trembled once again. He and Valina tensed as a second explosion detonated, closer this timeāa dull, thunderous boom followed by the screech of tearing metal.
"Outer perimeter breached. Assailants are still unknown."
Valina was already moving, grabbing her sidearm and tossing Ajax his gear. No words were needed as the two got ready and hauled ass to their mechs.
Outside their quarters, the base was in full swingāsoldiers and pilots the like could be seen sprinting in all directions. The distant roar of automated turrets unloading on unseen hostiles. The walls shook again, and somewhere far off, a man's voice cut through the chaosā
"CONTACT! WE'VE GOT UNIDENTIFIED MECHS IN SECTOR FOā"
The soldier's voice was immediately cut off as another explosion went off. Valina and Ajax sprinted full speed to their mech's hangars. Valina was starting to leave Ajax behind as she was more augmented than him and a higher-tier pilot.Ā
Within no time, the space between the two had grown by over 30 meters. Valina turned the corner to enter the Hangars, Ajax now even further behind. Valina managed to get into her Vanguard before Ajax had even reached his.Ā
The top of the hangar opened up for Valina's mech to be raised by the platform, but she didn't give it time to raise her mech. She immediately punched it and took to the air through the opening as Ajax got into his own Vanguard.
He copied Valina's movements and jumped out of the opening of his hangar. What greeted his eyes once he was outside made his heart skip a beat. Dozens of mech lay destroyed across the compound, and not a single one of them was from an enemy.
Word Count: 2934 Words š
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