Sorry i wasnt commenting, again, I was blacklisted, AGAIN.

I assure you it's good, even if I do say so myself.

I haven't even read it yet, maybe I will later.

Considering my plans, it would be difficult, but yes, I could get yo in somewhere or other, but how did you like this story? Favourite parts?

[quote][b]Posted by:[/b] Colonel Corbec Did you want to be included into the story? If so, sorry about that. I will be writing another book in the series, I could maybe fit you in there.[/quote] If you're talking to me.I would like to be in there please.

Did you want to be included into the story? If so, sorry about that. I will be writing another book in the series, I could maybe fit you in there.

*What?*

Hello?

(The Rescue-continued.) Sally leapt away again as Lady Die brought the chair down again, breaking some bones in the corpse with a painful snap. Lady Die cursed, and turned to bear on Sally again, fully prepared to bludgeon her to death. Unfortunately for Sally, Lady Die now blocked her approach to any of the guns in the room and the exit, but not the tripod camera. It lay broken on the floor, and within reach. Sally ducked low and grabbed it before Lady Die could strike again, and swung it around her head like a mace. She brought it onto Lady Die and smashed the wooden chair apart with it. Smiling triumphantly, Sally laughed as Lady Die held onto two chair legs, holding them like daggers. She slashed in, stabbing incredibly fast this way and that, and Sally found herself backing up to the wall under the flurry of blows. Someone tossed a hand grenade. It bounced around the left leg of the metal behemoth and detonated. At first, it seemed as harmless as everything else being used on the giant, but the more aware of the Undergroundicans noticed the lower left leg of the Mech Warrior was damaged somehow. It was sparking and smoking, with perhaps a severed control connection. “Give that here!” Pezza snapped, and stole a pistol off a Undergroundican soldier, and took a crack shot at the head of the walker. Suddenly, Corbec lost his left view screen. Up to that point, he had been quite enjoying himself, watching their efforts to harm his near invincible walking tank. The screen had descended into a messy, blurry fuzz. He was also having problems with his Mechs left leg. “OK” He said quietly, “Enough.” He brought himself to bear, raising his chain guns, and the incessant plinking of bullets stopped. By then, it was all too late for them. He swatted an enemy who got too close with his right arm like an annoying fly. The man went screaming out the wide, warehouse entrance and on into the ruins. Corbec unleashed some of his last few rockets on his foe on the ground, blowing them apart, and raked those on the gantry with a deadly hail of bullets. Pezza dropped low, the pistol falling away, and covered his head. Soldiers all around were falling down, falling apart, dying in almost every way imaginable. All he could do was ride the carnage out. Lady Die was distracted for a moment by the sound of heavy gunfire and explosions, and it cost her dearly. She sent out a clumsy strike, and Sally sidestepped. She raised the Camera like a great war hammer above her and brought it down on her right arm, snapping it like a twig. She screamed and dropped her impromptu weapons, stepping back as she did. As she recoiled, Sally dropped the camera and started to pound Lady Die with her fists. “Call me a cow will you?!” She punched Lady Die in the face with knockout power. “Who’s the whore now?!” She shouted, and swung out a kick to her midriff, sending Lady Die flying into the door with a loud thump, probably breaking something as she impacted. Sally bunched her fists, and relaxed them, repeating the process, and slowly moved closer to finish Lady Die once and for all… Corbec hit a button in the darkness and the cockpit hatch parted, letting in the smell of burning flesh and fuel. He leapt out keen to not waste any time, knowing full well that Sally could be in danger. He ran along the ramp up to the gantry, his feet clanging when the weren’t treading on a dead body. He reached the gantry proper, when he was confronted. “I see you finally arrived, Corbec.” Pezza announced, seemingly appearing out of nowhere. “Pezza!? But you’re…” Corbec began. “On their side? Yes.” “But why did you-” “I joined Undergroundica because I knew no other country on the planet would accept me into society. I struck a deal with Lady Die, leader of all Special Operations. In this conflict, she would capture your concubine and I would lure you here. We would have both Floodian leaders for ransom, and the war would be ours. Obviously-” He said, pausing to wrench a length of iron railing out of its mounting and twirl it like an elegant blade. “-I’ll just have to kill you instead.” Corbec followed suit and tore out some railing and prepared to use it as a sword. “All of your Ninja Friends put together couldn’t kill me, what makes you think you’d be so lucky?” Corbec taunted. Roaring his battle cry, Pezza charged, jumping over corpses as he went. Corbec stayed stationary, letting Pezza rush him. Lady Die was well aware of the royal cow advancing on her, but in her fall, she had landed on the pistol that the hostage had taken off her. She made sure it was ready and the safety was off. Pezza came with a downwards slash that he followed with a horizontal stab, Corbec backed out of the range of both attempts, and clanged the third strike away with a powerful counter-attack. Pezza was still advancing, still attacking, but he was in for a surprise. Corbec stepped to one side of another attack from Pezza and he stepped past him, stumbling on a deceased soldier. Corbec brought his shank of metal back… And stabbed Pezza through his torso, right through his soft, vulnerable belly. He yanked it out, kicked Pezza hard and the traitorous Ex-Ninja tumbled over the railing and out of sight. Sally crouched in front of Lady Die, and reached out with her hands. She held the woman’s head gently, preparing to break her neck with one brutal snap. She was surprised to see her smiling. Sally glanced down, and saw the Undergroundican agent was prodding a pistol into her attackers chest. There was no way she could dodge this, no way at all. As Lady Die tightened her grip on the trigger and Sally closed her eyes, waiting for the end, a length of metal pierced the door, and skewered Lady Die in the head. She dropped her weapon and lay still. With a long, scraping noise as the metal pulled back through the door, Lady Dies corpse lost it’s support from the pole and toppled over. Sally stood back in anticipation of whoever was on the other side… And Corbec came through. Sally ran at him and jumped into his arms, crying with relief. “Let’s go home.” Corbec said. [b]The End.[/b]

[b]The Rescue.[/b] Undergroundicans dashed around the warehouse, within and without. The latest truck departed, heading for the river and packed with valuables. The warehouse was made with tall, thin walls of a once shining metal, now dulled with dust. The modern style roof of similar metal curved gently above it, with small overhangs on all sides. As the wall reached the roof, the metal was replaced with glass, now shattered and broken. Not that this made the occupants ignorant of the outside world. The warehouse had been used as a forwards command centre for the Undergroundicans, and the large space was once filled with desks, computers, technicians and officers, running about their duty. It was also used as a staging post for Undergroundican special forces. As such, a small group still remained, since not everything had been evacuated yet. A few computers and radio sets still carried on operating, but would soon have to deactivate. Lady Die just had to execute the hostage and then everyone would be on the next truck, whether they were finished or not. Technicians wiped the files off their computers and shredded paper documents or burnt them, lest they fall into Floodian hands. Overlooking the open area was an ironwork gantry with rickety railings and a ramp leading down to ground level. Along there, and at intervals along the ground floor, were Undergroundican Special Forces, armed with assault rifles and clad in entirely black uniforms, Kevlar, helmets and all. They reacted to the sound of gunfire from what was presumably once the managers office-where they kept the hostage-and brought their weapons to bear. Pezza jumped out of the doorway, closely followed by the civilian cameraman. “Don’t go in.” Pezza warned the advancing soldiers. “Keep working, hurry!” Pezza shouted, and the Undergroundican staff got back to the matter at hand. The cameraman made his excuses and left, eager to get away. Pezza ignored the panicking man, and set about telling the assembled Special Forces the situation. Lady Die grabbed Sally and threw her bodily over her head, hitting the door with a thud and sliding to the floor. The gun was no longer in her hand as she scrambled back up, her dress making matters hard. Lady Die snarled, hefted the wooden chair, and intended to smash her adversaries head in with it. “I’ve been trained by the very best in all of Undergroundica, and what do you have to offer?” She spat. “I’ve fought harder people than you.” Sally replied, she reached down and tore her dress vertically down the right side to give greater mobility. Fighting in this was like swimming with a house tied to you. Lady Die swore explosively, and swung with the chair. Sally leapt to one side, and the heavy blow missed her. Sally realised she had landed on one of the deceased soldiers, a well armed deceased soldier. Lady Die recovered from her swing, and came lumbering over, raising the chair above her as she neared Sally, who was busy rummaging through Casey’s person in search of a gun. The large, electrically powered, sliding doors of the warehouse slowly ground apart, eventually revealing two eight wheeler trucks, their backs to the interior of the building, looking out into the carnage wrought on the city. The aides, officers, technicians and operators crowded around began to load items into one vehicle, and themselves into another. “Come on! The Floodians are coming!” One shouted to the soldiers on the gantry, urging them to get down and into the trucks. The man, turned and began to get into the truck holding the personnel when it exploded. A couple of rockets slammed into them as if from nowhere. The vehicle with the valuables flipped away from the building, slamming into an office building across the street where it lodged and exploded in a ball of flame. The second stayed took a direct hit and burst into flame. Those unfortunate enough not to have been killed outright stumbled out, blazing from head to toe and screaming. As the human torches fell to the ground and lay still, a Mech Warrior Mark 20 stomped into view, crushing the corpse last man to get on board the truck underfoot. It crouched a little to fit under the overhang of the building, and stood at it’s full height once inside. The soldiers were amazed. Silently, the mechanical monster regarded them with the hateful, blood red eyes on the box shaped head where the cameras were mounted. “Don’t just stand there! Open fire!” Pezza ordered, and the soldiers complied. All along the gantry, and those on the ground, opened fire, Rifle rounds and Sub Machine Gun bullets plinked harmlessly off the protective armour. [Edited on 10/1/2006]

The ending comes with the next part, and visit The Colonel Corbec Club tofind out more news regarding the story!

[b]The Counter-Strike.[/b] CPO limped up the now rickety stairs, careful not to put too much pressure on them in case the caved in underneath him. The floor boards creaked, betraying his advance up the stairs, but CPO already had his pistol drawn and freshly loaded rocket launcher slung over his shoulder. He had quickly checked the rest of his squad mates before continuing on. None had survived. CPO knew quite well that if he ran into another eight man team, he wouldn’t stand a chance, and now tried to go about his business as quietly as possible. He looked onto the landing that had taken so much to win over. The landing had been obliterated, wood turned to toothpicks, men turned to lumps of cauterised meat, glass smashed apart, metal melted in intense heat. CPO noted the area was clear, and checked by a gaping hole in the floor. Juts of wood and flooring stabbed out of the sides of the hole, and the hole led on into darkness below. Most likely a shell, thought CPO. He resolved to move on, ignoring the dead Undergroundicans around him, he jogged over to the side of the building where the noise of gunfire was loudest, and kicked open a door. Acting quickly, he made it to a window just in time to see a parade of massive, armoured bipedal giants do battle apparently with one another. One of them blasted away at a pair of others moving to take up a position. He blinked as a rocket was unleashed and an instant later was followed with a deafening bang. As the ringing in his ears subsided, and the floor stopped quaking, CPO took another look. Streams of enemy infantry were fleeing in the wake of the surviving walkers. One of them remained, sanding tall in the middle of the street, blazing away at the fleeing enemy seemingly without a care in the world. “Rush them! Go! Charge!” CPO shouted into his earpiece radio, and Tinos warbled a reply. CPO spotted a grey person stand up amongst the ruins and barricades, with what looked like it’s arm held high, and everyone responded. A chorus of voices united in a victorious cheer that drowned out the sound of gunfire, and dozens of Floodians stood, abandoning their positions to rush after the enemy. Their hated foe falling to rifle rounds, grenades, explosives, they didn’t falter once in their rush, swarming around the legs of the stationary giant that had saved them from destruction. CPO, smiling like he never had before turned to join his people, but turned to find a quartet of Undergroundicans, weapons raised, ready to fire. He barely had time to move and the soldiers fired without hesitation. Bullets tore through his limbs and torso, sending plumes of blood and chunks of bone out the other side. He stood for a moment, transfixed as blood seeped out of his fresh wounds to stain the floor red. He coughed up blood, and one of his executioners fired another burst, propelling him backwards and out of the window to the street below. He hit the ground with a sickening crunch, and Corbec’s goal of killing CPO Fraser had been achieved. Corbec’s Mech Warrior Mark 20 had come to a stop. Corbec stood on a low rise of ground that overlooked the Industrial District. Once a glittering, beautiful symbol of hope and prosperity for the future, it had been smashed beyond recognition. The warehouses and office blocks, with their curtain walls of glass, shining, modern metal columns and designs were broken shells. Glass surrounded the buildings like the reflective blood of long-dead giants. Corbec fiddled with the controls a little more, and managed to increase the magnification of his main screen and focus on a particular building. He had been sitting there for around two minutes, checking from the small map that Pezza had given him, and what he was looking at. There could be no doubt about it. One particular warehouse had trucks coming and going from it on a regular basis. It would seem the Undergroundicans intended to abandon their positions here. It had been barely ten minutes since Corbec had turned the advance on the Dual Carriageway, but already the enemy seemed to be prepared to give up it’s gains and flee the entire city. But that wasn’t about to happen. Corbec had finally been able to contact General Ardias, who was in command of the Floodian forces in the Flood Lin area. Ardias told him that intelligence had managed to breach Undergroundican radio encryptions. It seemed that his antics had been exaggerated as though he had single-handedly defeated an entire armour division. Ardias told him that all units were ordered to press on attacks along all fronts, to help the illusion that Undergroundica faced an astounding defeat and a massed counter-strike. Corbec lumbered on, determined to recapture Sally and finish this once and for all. Sally cast her eyes about the room. She could hear activity outside the small room she had been confined to, and the rope securing her was now broken. The two guards shifted uneasily, jumping at every explosion, no matter how faint. They were jumpy for some reason. “Let’s get this over with.” Lady Die barked to the sweating cameraman, and he tinkered with his controls, trying to get it to work. Lady Die was short tempered and had a habit for executions. She unholstered her pistol and pointed it to Sally’s head, haste making her fumble a little. Pezza stood by the door, unmoving and silent. “We’re live.” The Cameraman said, and Lady Die began. “People of Floodland, hear me! You were offered a chance for peace, but you ignored it, and instead launched a pathetic gesture of an attack.” Lady Die said, despite the fact that she was about to flee herself. “In doing so, you have condemned her to death, and your country t-” She was cut short as Sally leapt out of her seat, grabbing Lady Die’s wrist, and applying pressure, forcing her to let go of her pistol. She took the pistol, and blasted both guards at either side of the room, square between the eyes. Pezza ran out of the room in a flash, slamming the door behind him. The Cameraman stood stock still, frozen with fear. “Casey! Private Naysayer! No!” Lady Die cried, struggling with Sally’s strong grip. “Get out of here, or I kill you now.” Sally ordered, and the man complied, leaving without a word, closing the door behind him. “Now.” Sally began. “Payback…” [Edited on 9/30/2006]

Woops. I changed it though. I will definitely have trouble writing this weekend. I have another essay, a massive Xbox Live session on Halo 2 with a friend and I have to prepare for Dorsetshire. If you're lucky, you might get one on Sunday.

Just to let you know, you used my [i]real[/i] name at the end of this chapter... just a heads up for ya! ;)

[b]The Survivor.[/b] CPO Fraser stayed low as the grenade went off with a [i]whoomph[/i]. He hauled himself out of the thick lump of dust, and hawked a huge globule of blood. Mixed with the dust in his mouth, it was a lot thicker than it really should be, but at least it got the choking dust out of his mouth. He was still dazed from the various bangs, whacks, hits, falls he had endured just moments before. The soldier crouched low, remembering that people wanted him dead. He couldn’t find the Rocket Launcher, so resorted to his sidearm. He couldn’t tell where his final squad mate was, but he could clearly see a couple of Undergroundicans wheeled out of cover, and began to hose the stairs with their Sub-Machine-Guns on Full Auto. The effect was devastating. Bullets and splinters flew around in equal measure, blowing floorboards into toothpicks in fractions of seconds. Expended shell casings tumbled down the stairs, clinking as they went. Covering his bruised and battered head, CPO waited for the incessant gunfire to stop. At length, presumably to reload, they stopped and CPO jumped up to take them down. [i]Wham.[/i] One of the shooters sagged and tumbled down the now ventilated staircase. [i]Wham.[/i] The second man scrambled back behind a corner just in time, and the shot went wide. CPO dropped down again to reload, and heard a familiar [i]clunk.[/i] Turning, a Undergroundican grenade, pineapple shaped and segmented, was ticking away mere feet in front of him. Acting on overdrive, he grabbed the grenade and threw it with all the might his throwing arm could muster. The explosive sailed through the dusty air to explode right by the shattered doorframe the enemy bastard was hiding behind. Corbec scooped up a man sized chunk of concrete from the pock-marked street and chucked it at the nearest of his walker enemies. The bipedal tank, in the shelter of one of the tanks that had first tangled with the Floodian defences, blasted it out of the air with ease, but it gave Corbec time to charge the static vehicle. Having learnt how to jump by accident moments before, Corbec had sufficiently got the hang of it. He leapt high into the air, streams of bullets, mixed intermittently with screeching rockets chased after him. Corbec landed on top of the Mech Warrior Mark 20, knocking it flat, and unloaded a few dozen bullets into the pilot’s compartment. Certain it was dead, Corbec picked it up as best he could when his arms were just gigantic guns. Servos groaning with the overload, Corbec hurled it at a pair of Mech Warrior Mark Twenties that were dashing for a better firing position. The onboard computer plotted it’s trajectory automatically, and a small sub-screen displayed it at the bottom of his main field of vision. With a terrible crunch of metal, one of the targeted Mark Twenties and Corbec’s makeshift grenade impacted at high speed. Not bothering to aim, Corbec decided to fill the air with so many bullets and rockets that they were bound to hit [i]something.[/i] Literally hundreds of high-velocity rounds, punctuated with a quartet of rockets, all turned the area around the unfortunate pilots and their vehicles into a Killing Zone. The previously unharmed Mechs shuddered as their armour barely repelled hit after hit, denting deep into the thick plating. But that wasn’t the worst part. An incendiary rocket, packed full of petrochemical explosives, touched off the ammunition inside the already dead walking tank. The resulting explosion tore the entire front off the building nearest to the explosion, it also killed the entire squad of Undergroundican Infantry inside it. Now with a healthy measure of respect for the traitor, the other vehicles backed off, unwilling to mess with what it had on offer. Joining the infantry below them, the armoured behemoths turned to flee. Not too far away, Sally Sabar carried on scratching away at the rope. Feeling it weaken and loosen by the second, she knew her revenge was nigh. [Edited on 9/28/2006]

Helooo... I take it everyone has piles of Homework. Well, next part comes out Saturday unless something comes up.

[quote][b]Posted by:[/b] Pyroshark The story's starting to get surreal. I like it. =) So wait... I'm dead, yet I'm not. This is one more step up the list of bodily injuries I've undergone in this story. -Pyroshark-[/quote] And thus concludes your part for the rest of the story. However The Flood 4, well... And thinking about it, you have died this time. [Edited on 9/24/2006]

[quote][b]Posted by:[/b] spartan 396 To much for a lazy person to read. I'm also a lazy person :P[/quote] You, my friend, are missing a great story. I recommend you read it, else I might have to smiteth ye with my Beatin' STick o' DoOm™. -Pyroshark- [Edited on 9/24/2006]

To much for a lazy person to read. I'm also a lazy person :P

The story's starting to get surreal. I like it. =) So wait... I'm dead, yet I'm not. This is one more step up the list of bodily injuries I've undergone in this story. -Pyroshark-

[b]The Backstabber.[/b] Corbec panicked. He frantically turned his head from side to side to try and find a return radio button, or receiver, or [i]something.[/i] One of the walkers loosed a rocket, and it screamed down the road, impacting into the flank of a stationary tank. Corbec figured that would happen to him if he didn’t get his act together soon. “Six, are you having radio problems? Respond!” The Platoon Leader queried. “Sod it.” Corbec said to himself. He got his hands around the control sticks and thumbed the controls. “How’s this for a response!” He cackled, and levelled his Chain Guns at a pack of crouched Undergroundicans. The thumping sound of the autoloaders and deadly shells blasting out of the muzzles was quickly joined by desperate cries or help from the Infantry. “Six! Stand down! They’re friendly!” Someone pleaded. Turning, Corbec noticed that all of the Undergroundican units displayed icons above their positions, presumably to avoid friendly fire. This just helped him find the enemy. Another Mech, with a ‘2’ displayed above it stomped over, a meagre hail of bullets pattering off it’s armour. It raised it’s chain guns and blazed away at the Floodian defences. “The enemy is that way!” Said the same voice. Corbec noticed that the 2 flashed as the pilot spoke. Ignoring him, Corbec pulled the trigger on the right stick, and the protection flap locked into place over the right rocket pod dropped out of place. The main display told Corbec how much ammunition he had for all weaponry. Displayed at the bottom right and left of his main screen were counters showing his ammo count for the chain guns, and at the top corners were five missile icons. One of them disappeared as a whooshing pall of smoke streaked towards Mech ‘2.’ there was a vast incendiary explosion, and Corbec immediately followed up his strike with a charge. He raised up his right chain gun as he burst through the clouds of liquid flame, and brought it down hard on the enemy vehicle. With a shriek of torn metal, a great gouge was torn into the flank of the death machine, killing the man inside. In an instant, flames touched off the ammunition supplies inside, and Corbec stood firm through the blast. “Target six, he’s gone rampant! Do it now!” The com spluttered. The surviving Mech Warrior Mark Twenties stopped their advance on the Floodian position, and turned to face Corbec. Corbec, laughing at the top of his lungs, drew a bead on a group of Undergroundicans jogging for the cover of a bank. He let them get inside before taking a shot. A missile roared out of the left hand rocket pod and went straight through a ground-floor window. The entire construction blew apart in a blinding flash of flame and chunks of concrete. A bizarre rain of bank papers fluttered down from the sky. “Who’s next?” Corbec said. CPO had got his small band of reinforcements together. The cramped corridors, even with the current absence of enemy activity, were still living hell. They were choking with gun smoke and the floors were treacherous with debris. The walls themselves didn’t make the place any safer than outside, if anything making it even more lethal. A quartet of wounded Flodians had been coming towards them mere moments before, and a shell obliterated the stretch of corridor they had been on. CPO’s handful of people had managed to escape the searing flames, but the other group hadn’t been so lucky. Those not lucky enough to be burnt to death in an instant had to be given mercy killings by CPO and his comrades. They couldn’t bear the screaming. But now they had moved on. They were on the second floor, and still had no contact with enemy troops. But CPO felt this was because the building was so large that they had maybe slipped by them. CPO made some quick hand signals, and his team rushed towards a staircase that they had just spotted. The ancient oak banister was snapped and burnt, the carpeted stairs worn and damaged beyond repair. “Alright, you have point.” He whispered, pointing at one of the professional soldiers. The man nodded and began to work his way up the stairs. At the same time, an Undergroundican sweep-team was working it’s way down the building, having wiped out resistance on the third floor with incendiary grenades. The force of eight was right next to the staircase CPO had just begun to use. “Contact!” CPO’s point man yelled, and opened fire. His assault rifle barked, and a man in a grey camouflage with matching body armour tumbled down the stairs, knocking into the Floodian front man. Another Undergroundican popped around the corner, his SMG flaring bright in the darkness. The point man cried out and fell from the staircase, landing on a sharp spike of wood below. CPO was immediately behind him as he fell, and did the first thing he thought of. He pulled the trigger on the rocket launcher. Which, in retrospect, was an incredibly stupid idea. The rocket banged out of the launcher, ran into the enemy soldier, lodged in his gut, carried on going and exploded as it hit the ceiling behind. The man was rendered down into steaming heaps meat, and the blast killed two more Undergroundicans. But it also had a downside. The backwash exhaust expelled from the rear of the launcher had a problem. The young conscript had been stuck right behind it when the blast had gone off, and subsequently been thrown several feet into the air, landing with a sickening whack. But CPO didn’t escape either. The exhaust also propelled him into the steps in front of him. His a painful snap, he broke his nose and dislodged a tooth in the jarring impact. “Fire in the hole!” Shouted the Floodian soldier last in the line, throwing a grenade up the stairs. CPO Registered the noise and acted just in time. He shoved himself off the stairs and landed face first in a pile of brick dust.

That'll be tomorrow then.

Wow. You just can't trust anyone in power, can you? lol Well, its very good. *waits for next chapter*

So, what do you think of the new revelation,?

[b]The “Second World.”[/b] “All units, sound off.” Called the platoon leader via the radio. Corbec gulped inside his pilot’s mask. This was a problem. The only way he even heard these people was through the wall radio and he hadn’t figured out how to reply. The Infantry had thinned out, moving into the side streets and buildings around the metal juggernauts to cover them and remove Floodian skirmishers. The half-dozen walkers were coming up on a fork in the road. A wall of buildings separated the two Dual Carriageways. Fiddling with buttons, Corbec bumped up the magnification of the view screens. He could see individual soldiers dashing to and fro, getting to their spots, ready to fire. “2, here.” “3, active. “4, ready.” “5, ready.” The other pilots barked back their returns in no time at all, but Corbec hesitated. What if they could tell his voice wasn’t that of the real pilot? How could he even reply? The Cookie Ninja Tank drove forward out of it’s hiding place, and drew a bead on one of the departing helicopters before it could get out of range. In perhaps the most accurate shot of the decade, the tank commander compensated for gravity, wind speed, and locked on with his laser guidance system attached to the turret. Desperate to bring one of the flying terrors down, the cannon roared, and somehow one of the helicopters took the tank shell and exploded into hundreds of flying shards and plumes of burning aviation fuel. “Now that’s what I’m talking about!” CPO cheered, accompanied by the victorious whooping of the rest of his people. They were behaving like they had already won the war. But the horrors of war soon caught up with them. A rocket whooshed down the dual carriageway and slammed into the side armour of the Cookie Ninja tank. Immediately after the smoke cleared, screams of pain sprang up. CPO had been thrown down hard, into something wet and warm. He struggled up and gasped in horror. The man in front of him had been shorn in two bloody halves by a spinning track section. He had been just two feet in front of him. His ears ringing with the noise of the explosion, he looked around him. The armour of the tank had held fast, but without it’s right track, it was immobilised. A conscript in his late forties lay decapitated nearby, and another unfortunate was rolling around, covered in burning fuel. “Tinos!” CPO shouted, the noise sounding small and far away in his ears. Tinos looked up from where she had been throwing up, an slowly came over, staying low to miss the sudden hail of bullets. “What?” She shouted, trying to be heard over the sound of a building collapsing nearby. “You have command! Three people with me!” CPO screamed, dashing towards the buildings to his left. A man tumbled out of a top floor window, blazing from head to toe. Three of CPO’s loyal soldiers came after him, two from his original squad, and a young conscript. The conscript carried an Anti Tank launcher over his shoulder, and seemed to be struggling with the weight. “Give it here son, how much ammunition do you have?” He asked once they were safely across the street. “Two more rockets, that’s already loaded up.” The conscript said, handing him the launcher. “Alright, we’re going up into that hole, and force our way upstairs, we’ll kick these bastards out if it’s the last thing we do!” CPO shouted, scrambling up a small hill of debris, and into a shell-hole in the side of the building. “I’m… Dead?” Pyroshark stammered. “No, Pyroshark is dead, you aren’t.” Lehto explained. “But I’m Pyroshark!” Pyroshark exclaimed. “No, Pyroshark died of ex-sanguination soon after we extracted the bullets lodged in him. You are a clone.” Lehto carried on. “And you can remember being killed, because we ran the real you through the Memory Scanner over there.” He said, finishing by pointing at the pod behind Pyroshark. “OK, but why did you put me through that? Surely you could’ve just cloned me?” Pyroshark asked. “We can clone individual body parts with ease. But to clone an entire person is somewhat more difficult. We had to run you through the Memory Scanner so that your cloned body would operate properly. You have all the previous experiences of your past self, but you are not the real you.” “But why clone me at all? Are the Undergroundicans still coming?” Pyroshark asked. “I have something to tell you, Pyroshark, we used you. All our work, it wasn’t for advancing society, it was for conquering it. We cloned you solely to get samples of your genetic information. You see, we have made an amazing discovery, simply amazing. We have discovered something called “The Internet,” a place that seems to link our world to another.” A Holographic image sprang out of nowhere, displaying the world Pyroshark knew and another one, a different one. “We ran extensive tests and experiments in our time down here, and we have come to a conclusion, we are little more than blips of thought within the minds of the people in this world. We are vulnerable, at any time, they could imagine a war, or a famine, and millions of us will die. They don‘t imagine what harm it does to a world that is very real indeed.” “We’re using your genetic information to make ourselves an army. We will invade this “second world” and show to these heartless beasts that we are not something to be toyed with.” “And then what? And why didn’t you tell me this before? I would’ve gladly helped you!” Pyroshark cried. “And then, we will return to our world, with an entire planet’s population under our control. The Grizzled Ancients will subjugate both worlds, and the Seventh Column will reign supreme.” Lehto chuckled, enjoying the sound of his own voice. “No, I’ll stop you, you bastard!” Pyroshark ran past, without Lehto trying to stop him and grabbed the handgun off the desk. “Ah, ah, ah. Now I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” Lehto mocked. “Why should I?” Pyroshark spat, holding the gun ready. “Because this is just a hologram!” Lehto laughed, he put his hand out and moved it through the wooden desk, the hand disappearing into it. “Where are you! I’ll hunt you monsters down and stop you!” Pyroshark shouted. “I believe your familiar with the place: Downaport.” Lehto said, smiling. “Fine. Just you wait, I’ll free my home town from you horrible things.” Pyroshark promised, horrified that his home town had been invaded, or captured or whatever had happened to it. Downaport was a small port in the wastelands of Ireland. It was his home. “No you won’t, you see, we’ve left about two hours worth of Sobe in the generators. And when that runs out, a cloud of Nanites will be released into the ventilation system. They will convert everything and anything into rock. So, enjoy the last few moments of your life. Kick back, relax, wait for the end… Or you could use the one bullet in that gun. Either way, your going to die in here. Farewell, I have worlds to conquer, have fun.” With that, Lehto’s hologram dissipated into nothing. Pyroshark’s hands were shaking. He said nothing, and looked around for something to sit on. He spotted a padded, black leather chair. He pulled it up to the desk and sat down. He took the clip out of the pistol and saw for himself. He had one bullet, presumably for him…

I'll see if I can get some bits done today.