Gotthard Von Leim's Story

Patrol duty was always boring, and it always sucked, but being forced to patrol in the Abandoned Slums was almost as bad as being shoved into VL. People thought it was utterly abandoned, hence the name, but they were wrong. The Bulwark patrols were all too aware of just how many people lived, or at least "worked" here. Drug deals, arms dealers, murderers, thugs. All common fair in this horrible section of Wing City.

The only upside was The Bulwark had standing Shoot To Kill rights in this zone. Anything that moved was a viable target, within reason. Oddly enough the rats were protected by a Terran Druid's Circle that actually filled out the proper paperwork, and was granted the wildlife of all of Wing City. They issued harsh penalties for anybody who hurt, captured, or killed just about any form of Terran wildlife.

Go figure, right?

Luckily Ivan and Gotthard had come to like the little creatures. Which is good because they were two of the more trigger-happy members of The Bulwark. At first they thought they were just filthy scavengers and shooed them away, but after so many years of being stuck in the Slums, they grew fond of them. Especially since they usually tipped the duo off to criminal activity by fleeing inhabited locations. By now they had several pet rats with names, and lineages and the whole deal.

After all, they had do something to keep them too busy to work.

It was Sunday though, and that was Cheese Night. Ivan and Gotthard were both stationed towards the eastern half of the Slums, which somehow was poorer than the rest of the ghost town. The rats there were scrawnier, and more hostile. Cheese had won them over though, the rats flocking to the duo as they grumpily staggered in for "work". Ivan was tense immediately. After years of Cheese Night a few rats would amble close, before sniffing around then altering it's buddies.

This was panicked running.

A sea of rats poured over the two soldier's boots, fur and whiskers and leathery little tails flying. "Shit." Ivan mumbled, Gotthard sighing in response as he stuffed a magazine into his rifle. They looked at each other for a moment, debating calling in sick. Having to deal with occasional thug or psycho was part of the job, but this? People this close to the patrol station(An old desk in the open between two crumbling shacks), meant for once the morons had a plan. Ivan clicked the flashlight tapped to his rifle on, pointing the weak beam of light at the direction the rats come from. Gotthard did the same.

The instant they had raised their weapons, shoot rang through the whole of the Slums. Punks with shitty Invictus-gats had been waiting, tired of the minimal law and stability The Bulwark brought.

The duo returned first of course, steady bursts of rifle-fire drowning out the little sub-machine guns. Of course Ivan's aim was horrible thanks to the bullet he caught in the right shoulder. His armor absorbed most of the third-hand gun's damage, but it still hurt like hell. "Are you fucking serious!?" Gotthard was shouting between bursts of his fire. "We just fucking got to work! It was FUCKING CHEESE NIGHT YOU BASTARD!"

Wing City, nothing ever seemed to change for this hive of scum and villainy, nothing certainly changed for Captain Costas, of the Custos Pantharae Prowler squad.

He was laying prone, atop a shanty watching a narrow approach, behind a small corrugated steel and concrete outcropping that provided just the barest of cover.

His eyes were watching the zoomed in holographic sights of his Type 53 disruptor pistol, the standard issue weapon for soldiers within the United Aschen Empire. The sights of the weapon were tuned to thermal, enhancing the scope of vision for the lone sentry. Bright orange hues over dark blue flickered on the scope as he watched a team approach from his position.

Licking his lips he flicked the arm switch of the rifle, the audible whine signaling the weapon was powered and ready to fire.

Weapons fire echoed in the distance, but Dion didn't move from his position to inspect, rather he was watching as the team approached.

"They're getting too close for comfort." He whispered into his comm link, which was linked to an IIA position the next building over. "Whoever these guys are I don't want them blowing our position, or looting our stash; how do you want me to proceed?" He asked.

"Draw them away from our position, neutralize them if you have too."

Dion nodded softly, before he shifted his weight, his eyes moving to a few gangbangers on an adjacent street. He'd have to engage them too if they got too close for comfort.

His finger twitched, and the disruptor rifle barked it's report, like a close by thunder clap, it belched a gout of brilliant green plasma, culminating into a cohesive bolt of energy that careened downwards at the approaching team. It was aimed at Dusk, but Dion's prone position in addition to the humid air distorted the bolt of energy, whatever it impacted, it would leave a plume of steam and a jet of white hot molten concrete or metal.

Distinct incoming Aschen weapons fire, a staple of events on Terra.

Gunfire?

Dusk halted and signaled for Athens to do the same.

"You two okay?" A worried voice chimed in on the radio, it was Hermes.

"Yeah we are fine, someone nearby probab_"

The shot hit before she even heard the Disruptor Rifle. Fortunately someone had miscalculated or it was just a warning shot. Dusk had experience enough to know that was an Aschen weapon when she heard it, her mind told her it was best to disengage and hastily as they were probably somewhere they were not welcomed. However her less experienced Specialist allowed training and instinct to kick in and that was what dictated the next action.

"I'M SET, RETURNING FIRE!" She shouted to Dusk, Athens had already planted herself behind ample cover, her trained eyes finding the location of the shooter and placing accurate shots down range to suppress the target and allow Dusk to move. Dusk couldn't play it passively anymore. Athens' actions made them committed to this fight at the moment but they could still move away.

"Hermes, Anubis, get here. Follow the sound of gunfire, we are going to be on the street." She shouted into her comms, Athens emptying the magazine and announcing that she was reloading.

"I'm set!", Dusk replied after taking cover behind some rubble and taking a kneeling firing stance, her cross hairs fell on where the location that Athens had fired upon, she trusted her to have spotted their shooter. Killing them would leave to more trouble no doubt, something Dusk would avoid if possible but disabling them would allow her to disengage, the more favorable of the two. She would attempt an ambush shot, when he peeped back out to return fire he would be in her cross hairs and a slight adjustment would mean the shot would hit but it wouldn't kill. If she missed, she hoped this wasn't some Rambo character who wouldn't even flinch and continue to fire. Falling back was the plan she had in mind here.

The clap of a disruptor stopped everyone, gang-banger and Soldier alike. There were certain sounds every Terran knew by heart, and this one chilled them all to the core. The Aschen were here, and opening fire. Ivan and Gotthard had turned their heads towards the direction of the shot, catching the tail end of the green bolt. Normally a death sentence to do in an active firefight, but the thugs had done the same. What Terran wouldn't?

Ivan recovered his wits before the others though, and released a well-placed shot into the skull of the punk that shot him.

His crumpled corpse hit the ground with a wet thud, bringing everyone's attention back to the battle. Gotthard fired twice on instinct, taking another punk down. There were three visible combatants left, and they all opened fire recklessly. The Bulwark team dived behind their desk before the bullets hit, hoping the old piece of crap would provide some protection.

Of course Ivan caught another bullet as his dove, this time in his leg.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me!" His howl of pain was primarily drowned out by gunfire, but it was still audible. "I JUST WANTED TO FEED SIR-CHEESER!" He cried, standing up despite the incoming fire to return it. Bullets flew all directions, ricocheting off walls, and breaking apart shacks. Splinters and shouts drowned out the entire Slums. "I just wanted to make my stupid rats happy!" Gotthard sighed at Ivan's antics, pulled him back down pretty quickly, but not fast enough.

Ivan was graced with a third bullet, this one dead-center in the chest. His armor was getting quite the work out, and while it staved off the bulk of the old Invictus SMG's, Ivan was still starting to bleed pretty heavily.

He knelt down beside his patrol partner, groaning and looking to Gotthard, who simply nodded in return. The thugs stopped firing for a moment, likely reloading. The desk they dove behind was kindling, and it was pure magic that they hadn't been tagged more, this was not a defensible position. This was pure shit. Springing up Gotthard unleashed his pent up anger with fully automatic fire. His aim was awful, but the thugs scattered, one of them crying out before hitting the ground.

Both of The Bulwark soldiers went rigid.

They strained, listening, waiting, reloading while anticipating more violence. It didn't come though. Gotthard helped his partner up, glancing over Ivan's armor as his did. "Fuck, man. You have the worst luck when it comes to this shit." The man was about to respond with sass when a high pitched whistle cut through the air. The two soldier's looked at each other for a splint second before running wildly down the little side street.

Whistles were how gangs communicated in the Slums. Every sound meant something. That high pitched whine of a whistle? That meant reinforcements.

The soldiers barreled down the street, not even caring that it was in the direction of whatever the hell the Aschen had shot at. Hell, for once they'd be happy to be in an Aschen's line of fire. Dozens and dozens of blood-thirsty, reckless thugs with fully automatics were about to come pouring out every house, corner, and crack in the damn street.

Somehow, this was a warzone. Both of the soldiers were internally dismayed, if only because of all the damn paperwork this meant.

Dion grit his teeth at the snaps of bullets passing overhead, and impacting where he had taken cover behind. He had been effectively pinned down by Athens, as round after round impacted the small concrete wall that he had been hiding behind.

Concrete dust peppered the Prowler pilot as he considered his next move.

"I saw two." He said, remembering the thermals as he detached a plasma grenade from a bandoleer.

He planned his next move, he had to get out from this position and gain traction against the unidentified assailants, he could run and gun it, move down the rooftop with personal aegis and pin down their positions. He checked the personal aegis device and activated it with a squeeze of his fist, Holding it close to his chest like a shield, the shimmering hexagonal hard light barrier cast a soft azure glow where the Aschen's position was at.

He armed the Plasma grenade and tossed it over his cover, the grenade seared in a wide arc towards Athens and Dusk, it wasn't particularly aimed, but would hopefully disorient them enough to take cover and allow Dion to move.

A moment later the grenade detonated in a blinding flash of blue, sending searing hot plasma in all directions. With a 15m kill zone, and a 25m Maim zone, the close quarters street was liable to become a death trap to anyone not adequately behind cover.

Immediately after the grenade detonated, Dion moved from cover, crouched low and behind his personal aegis, which was a shimmering whitish hard-light shield typical of Aschen special forces.

It was clear by the shield this wasn't a normal grunt, moving across the rooftops he opened fire, trading the Type 53 rifle for a fully automatic Type 03 PDW.

Running across the rooftops, he opted for a spray and pray strategy, the singular crack of Aschen weapons fire was now a blinding staccato as he ran across the rooftops, spraying brilliant green disruptor bolts in a sweeping motion from behind the portable aegis as he moved for better cover, Should Dusk and Athens return fire, their incoming rounds would impact the hard light shield with an audible 'Twang'

The shield turned redder with each impact until Dion dove back into cover, trading his original position for a more open position, a semicircle flash of white light appeared next, a deployable cover. Dion remained crouched behind it, as he ejected a fusion cell from his rifle, and moved to load a fresh one.

That clever fucker...

"GRENADE!" Dusk hollered, and threw herself on the ground. She placed the rifle beneath her as she fell, to protect it with her body and then crossed her legs and place her hands over her neck. Athens followed suit. Explosions went up and outwards, so by having such low postures and minimized the chance of death and protect against serious injury, as well as they could at least. Being within the kill-range of a grenade would normally mean just that but fortunately this individual was not given the opportunity to put out a well placed throw. The detonation shook the earth around them and caused more rubble to fall and dust to pick up. However the two females of Prima Donna were fine. They were disoriented, being within range of sophisticated explosives did had that kind of effect. Green disruptor bolts hit nearby, the two women composed themselves and returned to their previous affair.

The shots on the Hardlight shield were all courtesy of Dusk. Her little way of saying, You'd be dead if it wasn't for that shield so fuck off. However she was very conscious of their situation. That equipment is Aschen Special Forces. He isn't some chump who stumbled upon the toys and decided to play with them. This is a trained professional...Aschen SF don't do solo ops...

"Athens, that guy is Aschen Special Forces and they don't work solo, I've had the displeasure of fucking with them before and It wasn't fun. We are leaving, hooah?!".

Athens replied with a hearty "Hooah!" Of her own and returned fire with the same intensity as before.

"Lessen the tempo, Athens, keep him behind that deployable cover for a bit while I fall back. I'll try the same thing when I'm set!".

"You got it Chief!"

Dusk darted down the street, away from their shooter and turned the corner into a alleyway, a dead end one. It seemed safe enough for her to be there and so she planted herself to the wall and peeked around the corner at the target. "SET! I'm covering you, Move!".

Athens then made her own dart down the street away from the Aschen SF. She would continue a little ways past Dusk so that the Warrant Officer was now the closer target. Dusk didn't want to kill the bastard, but she wasn't going to afford him the opportunity to kill herself or her Marksmen. If it came to it, her shots would end his life but right now she was hoping this guy was getting the message she was sending with her bullets. I could kill you if I wanted to but I don't. We are falling back, don't follow. "Watchout any other contacts, Athens. I'm moving!".

"Roger that maim, I've got you covered!". Dusk commenced another run down the street, reloading her rifle as she went.

Hermes and Anubis

Hermes and Anubis seemed to have arrived just in the nick time. It seemed like Athens and Dusk had gotten themselves into a real clusterfuck, there were baddies all over. They turned the corner with purpose and their rifles let out a wall of well placed shots to down a 3, maybe four of their intended targets. If their friends were smart they would abandon that piece of shit desk they were hiding behind and seek something more suitable.

They both darted to separated pieces of cover peeked over.

"Bro...those fuckers there ain't Dusk and Athens...". Hermes said blankly to his comrade.

"Bulwark officers...Figures we'd run into these fuckers man." He replied.

"We should ditch em...".

The two thought on this for a bit. Previous encounters with the Bulwark came to mind...who the fuck makes it so you need documents to drink? That is plainly evil and sadistic to enforce. However the two decided to be good Samaritans and assist, hoping their good deeds would mean later encounters with the Bulwark were not so....soul sucking.

"Hey, fucksticks! Find better cover, we got your backs!" Anubis shouted as he laid out more fire.

"And yes, we do have the proper documents, ID, Zodiac Signs, to wield these guns!" Hermes followed up half jokingly.

Ivan and Gotthard were halfway down the street when they actually noticed Hermes and Anubis. The whistle had put them off their game, and the job down the street was their only focus. When they called out with the charming greeting of "fucksticks" though, they both stopped dead in their tracks. Prima Donna. Of course those morons would be prancing around the Slums fully armed. Still, more firepower was a lifesaver right now, seeing as how thirty-plus armed thugs were about to come storming through.

"We'll have to verify that in triplicate, civilian!" Ivan shouted as he jogged over to the two as best he could, his partner in toe.

Gotthard snickered, a funny sound as it echoed around his helmet. "Yeah, we also need to see your Slums migrations visas, documentation of every individual piece of ammunition you have, and of course complete colonic maps." He patted Hermes on the back with a chuckle, clearly joking. Of course the moment of levity was cut short by a bleeding, and grumbling Ivan.

"Look you prissy-named bastards..I dunno why the fuck you're here, but I imagine it's to shoot at the Aschen, or harass us, too bad you stepped in it though." He let his rifle fall from his hand as he spoke, the shot in his shoulder making it too painful to properly grip. "I don't know why, but seems like the Slums have decided to push us out.." He was panting at this stage without realizing it. "I don't know about you boys, but we have no back up, no chance of evac, and I can't hold anything heavier than a pistol, and I don't even own a pistol. This is bad."

Gotthard moved from Hermes and put Ivan's arm over his shoulders, helping the man stand, and sighing.

"It's still better than an invasion though, right?" Ivan chuckled for a moment at his comrade's joke, but that was soon replaced with swearing. "Well fuck, blood's oozing out my mouth. I'm gunna drown in my fucking helmet." Gotthard just sighed, looking to Anubis. "We've got about half a minute before at least thirty hostiles pop out from who-knows-where. Running is pointless, they'll just use the roof tops if we do. We need to make a stand, somewhere defensible if we can. And we're gunna need some better firepower.."

"Fuck you man." Was all Hermes could say after chuckling to himself. Their firefight continued, the thugs seemed to be thrown off by their sudden arrival. There pace was off, allowing the two to really put in work. However those few seconds of productivity gave way.

Anubis rushed over to their two uniformed allies, shook his head. "Don't they teach you idiots first aid? Move aside man, I've got super glue and duck tape.". Anubis patted the large bag on his side with a red cross on it and started shoving Gotthard out of the way. "I just need you to shoot in that direction, occassionally take the chance to make sure no one is trying to stick something up our asses. You know. Shit I hope they covered back in Fuckstick academy?".

"Hey Anubis, they weren't kidding. These guys are like roaches...Africanized Commie Roaches...We need to think of something fast or."

There was a series of loud audible popping sounds, Hermes saw something land in the middle of them all. A grenade... "GRENADE!" He shouted and cursed himself for what he did next. He dived ontop of, removing his helmet and placing it over the grenade and then placing his body over the helmet. With any luck he would take the full force and save Anubis plus the others. Tears streamed down his face as he yelled at the top of his lungs, awaiting the moment when it would all end. Anubis shouted something, probably calling Hermes an idiot for doing that but the intensity of the moment was ruined when an audible hiss erupted from the grenade, an ever growing cloud of smoke followed this. The entire street was coated in smoke, which answered what the other popping sounds were.

"I've got you in my sights...", an unfamiliar gruff voice announced, the only thing visible through the smoke was the red glare of what one could only assume was some kind of visor or maybe a robot? Regardless of what or who this was, they put down alot of effective fire. The gunfire only grew louder as they closed in, casings hitting the dirt and bouncing off one another, the screams of the thugs attacking Prima and the Bulwark officers muffled by whatever it was this guy was wielding. However by the time the smoke cleared, there was no one. Only a bunch of bodies, maimed and torn. The only thing to prove someone had saved their asses were the smoke grenades and the casings he left behind.

"Dude...who the fuck just..."Anubis mumble in disbelief.

"Fuck it man, Jesus is real or something. Either way, We need to go. You idiots are coming with us, Anubis help the bullet sponge move."

"Hey Dusk...you and Athens ok? We picked up some strays, their good boys though. Can we keep em?".

"We are fine. Still pulling off from this guy. We'll meet up with you shortly.".

The fight was over as quick as it begun. Both Ivan and Gotthard had groaned quite loudly when a mystery person both appeared to save them, and vanished without a trace. A normal, sane person would've been elated, thanking a deity like Hermes, or doing some other grand gesture, but then again nobody sane and normal was assigned to The Bulwark. And if somehow a sane, rational, normal person had had the horrible luck of being accidentally stuffed into said Wark? The division would've knocked all the normal and sanity out of them in no time.

"Goddamnit..", Gotthard huffed, unafraid to voice his contempt while he tossed his rifle aside. The damn thing had actually taken a few bullets, and been rendered more or less non-functional in the fray. "It just had to be a literal cloud of smoke, a cryptic line, and a wave of death, didn't it?", he was interrupted by a chuckling Ivan. "That dive, though. You were crying like a bitch and everything, Hermes. That shit was priceless!" Gotthard sort of snorted in agreement while rummaging around the bodies of a few slain thugs who'd managed to get close. "Yeah, man. That was fuckin' funny. If I had a camera rolling I'd submit that shit to the Newsletter, but..", he picked an almost modern looking pistol out of a corpse's hand and examined it.

"Mystery man saving us like that, and vanishing? A random, incredibly accurate super solider who just happened to be in the Slums? I mean, I know you Pussy Donna's are pretty thick but think for a minute."

Now it was Ivan's turn to groan, the gears in his brain clicking into action. "Yeah, the likelihood of that is..", he shivered before attempting to stand, and swiveling his head to look at Anubis. "You better patch me up fast, we just got Deus Ex Machina'd. We need outta here now...And if you ever talk about us like puppies again I will get a warrant for your colonic map."

Gotthard just nodded in agreement, tossing a few ratty old SMGs and pistols toward Hermes. Who knows, they might all need the extra ammo and fire power. Random, mysterious heroes saving the day with violence and catch-phrases was pretty normal in Wing City, but The Bulwark knew the truth better than anybody. "Good" things like that either meant you were about to make an edgy new friend, or something worse was about to happen.

"I hate this fucking city."

Anubis finished patching up the sponge and then helped him move. "Your not only one who hates this shithole. You should hear Dusk. She wishes this place got erased so she never had to come here, but then again she only gets like that when she runs into you Bulwark guys...I think she's getting grey hairs from dealing with your 'Paperwork'...I should probably make sure her health isn't deteriorating with all the added stress..."

"Yeah. Lets get back to our little get shanty shack before more of these guys show up." Hermes took the extra weapons and 'sapper assisted' them to his vest. He also made sure to pick up a few magaziness from the abundance of dead guys on the ground. It was a real mess that mystery man had left behind but fortunately they weren't the ones who had to clean up. "I'll take point. Bullet sponge and Anubis will take center and you...guy...I didn't catch your names.. bring up the rear. Don't stare back there the entire time, I don't need you tripping over shit and snapping your neck or something but just make sure we aren't being tailed and holler if anything suspect is going on back there, Hooah? Lets go."

Hermes went on as he briefed, taking point with his rifle at the low ready. He made sure to observe everything as he advanced, even the ground for signs of explosives but there trip was rather dull from then on. The Shanty Shack as Hermes called it, wasn't too far away and while their pace was slow, they got there in a relatively small amount of time.

Anubis moved Ivan over to the table, cleared it of it's original contents with one fell sweep and assisted hauling him on. "Just going to double check my earlier work. Give you some meds to make sure you don't get an infection and you should be good to go. Pray it goes that well...I don't have any pain killers if I have to do anything drastic.".

"Alright man listen," Hermes started to Gotthard, as he paced back and forth. "We had you blind folded and you were unconscious when we brought you here alright? If Dusk finds out you weren't she'll_"

"If I find out what Hermes?" The familiar feminine voice came from the door behind them.

"Uh..nothing yo...Hows you two doing? Had fun with that shooter you ran into?".

"That shooter was Aschen Special Forces. He nearly killed me on the first shot, must be a new guy if he missed but he was probably warning us... training alone would have enabled him to kill me.", there was an awkward movement of silence as Dusk pondered on something. She then snapped out as Athens walked past her, flicking her on the forehead. "Anywho, anything interesting happen besides saving these two lost pups?".

"Damn. Gotthard had been too busy looking around while Hermes was trying to establish a a cover-story to really respond. As much of a shithole as "The Shanty Shack" was, it actually had a door. Walls too, leagues above The Bulwark's Slums office. Somehow that didn't surprise him, really. Even renegade four man squads were better equipped. Hell, homeless people probably had better digs, like some crazy hive-lodging in the sewers or some shit.

"Yeah, real fancy, but did you just fucking say Aschen Spec Ops?"

Ivan's very loud protesting snapped Gotthard back to the situation at hand. "Yeah..", he sort of grunted, tapping just beside the visor of his helmet to cycle through vision modes. "Aschen in a place like this is bad news. Spec Ops is worse, and discharging weapons to not kill somebody is worse still." He moved around in a slow circle as he spoke, coming to a halt and shrugging. "Thermal sweep clear."

Ivan eased his way off the table, rotating his shoulder and staring directly at Dusk. You could see it, but he was glaring.

"You weren't there for the warning, lady, so I'll play nice. Call us puppies again and I will get a warrant for a detailed map of your colon." He shook his left foot a bit, which only made him hiss in pain. "And with the day I'm having I'd be happy to personally ram a camera up your ass." Gotthard just sighed, as amusing as that thought was they were still in danger, a lot of it.

Did either Bulwark soldier give a damn about the Aschen, and whatever their plans were? No. Gotthard was well aware that Aschen Spec Ops could probably easily mask their thermal imprints though.

The last damn thing he wanted was a bolt of green plasma to the temple. "Welp. If the Aschen are setting up shop I say all six of us clock out and let the Invictus handle it?" He turned to Dusk, chuckling a little. "Anybody got a cellphone I can borrow?" Of course he knew the answer. Having personally taken stock of every item Dusk brought into the city.

Twice.

Dusk punched Ivan's shoulder, the one Anubis had bandaged, and continued on to say. "You better take me out on a date first before you do that." She seemed rather serious but then lightened up with a chuckle. "Your so rude asking that. As if you haven't confiscated all of our things at least once?"

"Yo man you can use mine. " Hermes said as he went to his communication station in the corner of the room and grabbed the phone that was face down on the table there. "Don't kill my batteries though."

After that everyone went to do their own thing. Anubis was on that same table, taking accountability of their medical supplies and throwing out anything that had expired. Hermes was working on the communications station, a set of computers and radios, trying to get it to work again. Over by what looked to be a closet, Athens was refilling a few of her magazines.

"Unfortunately for us, we don't get to clock out. I don't have the manpower to deal with the Aschen, I'd at least 3 teams and I'm currently operating as 1 that is down 2 personnel. Plus the skillsets I'm looking for...they aren't easy to obtain and even if I could "hire" people...there is the loyalty issue." Dusk said this half to herself and half to the two Bulwark Officers infront of her.
"I don't expect the Bulwark to do anything...literally. Hmmm...Hermes can you reach Bandit on our radio?"

Hermes didn't even turn around."I tried that earlier. They are currently out of range and the only thing at my disposal that can probably extend that is in need of some serious maintenance. Man what the fuck happened to our maintenance platoon?"

"They got gunned down with the rest of the company...Remember?" Anubis chimed in.

"Yeah well. Fuck those guys..."

"Weren't you crushing on the LT from that platoon?" Athens joined, though she didn't turn from her work.

"Yo, you can't just...throw that in my face like that Athens."

"Gonna cry again, Hermes?"

"Cry?" Dusk was pulled from her thoughts by that word. "Did I miss something?".

The punch hurt, but the tone in Dusk's voice made Ivan perk up a little. You couldn't see it, but he wiggled his eyebrows at the woman, it was vary suggestive. If not pathetic. The chuckle cut his confidence though, so he decided to shadow Anubis in case he started bleeding again. His co-hort on the other hand..

The second Gotthard was handed the phone, he settled himself down on the floor of the shack. He punched in a bunch of things, tapping and swiping like mad. It really seemed like he was trying hard to contact someone in a complicated manner. He wasn't. He knew no one from Invictus, and even if he did they'd never lift a finger for him, probably. No he was downloading his favorite game-app, Flappy Space Mollusk. He went about playing it while everyone was busy.

Their banter through drew both of the Bulwark officer's attention.

"You guys had a maintenance platoon?", "You guys are hiring?", they spoke in almost unison, although Gotthard had only half heard the conversation. A hissed curse was voiced from him, too. "Damnit I was about to beat my high score.." Ivan ignored him though, focusing on Dusk's non-nonchalant job offer, or at least what he hoped was one. He'd jump at the chance, really. Anything to get them off Terra. "Well, there's also the code-name thing. Not many people want to sign up to have their name changed to something stup-"

Gotthard's howl cut him off.

"My space mollusk! I was about to set a new record for the Terran server! I..I.." He was crying, oblivious to Dusk's question, or Ivan's attempt at desertion.

Anubis spilled the beans on Hermes' epic fail which then sparked an argument between Athens and him. The designated marksmen thought that he should have been more grateful to Hermes because he was willing to give up his life. Meanwhile Anubis felt that since it was only a smoke grenade, it was fine. Hermes decided to stay out of this, knowing that Athens could get pretty aggressive with her arguments and Anubis was stubborn. Dusk seemed to be elsewhere, pondering something and coming a sudden and negative realization. If Ivan or Gotthard were smart, they would remember what Hermes was trying to tell them.

"When you got here, you were blindfolded and unconscious. If Dusk found out you know where this place is, she'd_"

"Shut Up." The woman didn't even need to shout to be heard, the venom in her voice spoke over the others. "Anubis don't be a dick, your a fucking professional not some Bulwark Officer. Athens, ease the fuck up. The Army you enlisted to is halfway across the Galaxy not giving a fuck about us so no need to be such a hardass and Hermes...Good job but smokes and the nades that blow you to bits look very different...Cmon man..."

The mood remained tense for a few more seconds as Dusk removed all of her battle gear and placed it in one of the few remaining free spaces. "Jeez guys, at ease. Relax, ass chewing over." She stated over her shoulder. Dusk then gripped the bottom of her shirt and seemed like she was going to pull it up over her head and off but she stopped. "Oops. Right, guests."

Everyone went back to their previous activities leaving Dusk to continue thinking out loud in front of the Bulwark Operatives. "They only listen to me out of respect, if they wanted to they could just leave or flat out not listen to me. I couldn't stop them really. That's another issue about finding more members...they'd have to know their place. People around here aren't very good at that. The average street thug thinks he is a God...sometimes they actually are, it's insane. She leaned against the table Anubis was working on Ivan's bandages at and looked over at him. "You know?" It seemed like she was talking to him the whole time...but then she continued.

"You and this goofball are the ones who always show up to harass me for paperwork when I'm up and about...Are you stalking us?" her tone seemed friendly enough but she was looking somewhat down at Ivan's chest plate, her bangs covering her eyes...her intent. The rest of her face seemed so blank and void of emotion. If Dusk wasn't so much smaller than...everyone in the room...she might have looked down right intimidating. However she did have her pistol still holstered on her hip, her arms were crossed at the moment but she wasn't done. "Your here again...In our path. Was it chance that you got attacked just as I called for help? That my guys ran into you and this mystery man pulled some super soldier bullshit just in time to save all your asses?".

Anubis packed his medical supplies and walked out of the shack. Athens sighed and muttered something about removing stains and Hermes put on the headphones attached to the radio he was fixing.

"You Bulwark guys have worked me over since I got to this city and it was all for giggles. Fine. I can live with that. But now your in my house, so to speak. Using up my medical supplies, looking at our makeshift comms station that one day won't be fucked. Looking at how much ammo we have, all the weapons we are missing. " She paused and chuckled. "Shit I almost took my shirt off infront of you two and you didn't even buy me a drink. So tell me pups...can you see why I suddenly am thinking this way?".

Dusk uncrossed her arms and now resting a few fingers on her pistol. "Why I'm thinking someone might not miss two strays like yourselves who played a few too many games? You understand what I'm getting at? I hope so ...because from now on..Im asking the questions and If I don't like the answer, Im going to give you something you won't like.".

Ivan and Gotthard looked towards one another for a moment, the tension between them seemed palpable. However they promptly burst out laughing, a raspy, unpleasant sound from within their helmets. Yeah, they'd hassled Dusk for giggles, but stalkers? And the fact she thought that pistol was the least bit intimidating, some recon she was. The only thing The Bulwark got that was worth shit was armor, and boy, was it worth some shit.

Even if it was point-blank in the head, her little pistol probably wouldn't even crack the material it was made of.

Did she really overlook the fact that Ivan took three 12mm rounds, at close range, and it didn't even penetrate the armor a tiny bit until the last shot? Their gigglefit paused, both men out of breath. "Y..Yo...You're fun to fuck with alright..", Ivan was biting back laughter, "Yeah, some of your expressions were priceless, and the shit you'd believe..", Gotthard return to his phone-game, already over his amusement and wrapped up in it. Ivan on the other hand looked Dusk dead in the eye, or seemed to, hard to tell with a helmet.

"Here's the thing, Dusk," he spoke oddly slow for once, his tone startling serious for the first time in years. "For one, your pistol is useless, for two your ego is kinda hot, and for three, If there's one thing in the universe that is objectively impossible, it's intimidating a soldier of The Bulwark." He broke off his gaze, opting to stare at the shack's little door instead. "And that's not arrogance, or pride.", he sighed a little as Gotthard nodded in agreement despite not paying too much attention. "I've served custody papers to demons, I've fined bloodthirsty warlords for littering, I've vacantly looked beings who can alter time, and sunder reality in the face and told them, 'No, you can't park here..'."

Ivan's last statement trailed off, as a swarm of unpleasant memories hit him. Gotthard's attention seemed to have been piqued, though. He spoke without taking eyes off the phone.

"Mhmn. We've been in battles that've leveled our city, killed friends and family. We've been threatened by being so far beyond anything you could ever hope to be so many times that we simply...Don't care.", he hissed a little, his talking impacting his score. "But you are right about one thing. Nobody would care if you shot us, not even us really. Probably is, Ivan is currently without his chest-plat, so you'd have to go for him first. By the time you fired on him, I'd gun you down with the PDW on my lap."

The armored man simply shrugged, his voice monotone and care free.

"Sure, the rest of Prima Donna would kill me quickly, but they'd still be without their glorious leader. That'd hurt your efforts, and moral.", Ivan sighed loudly in response, tiring of the tension and memories. "Yeah," he huffed, hoping to dispel it a little. "And you know, you are hot, but not hot enough to stalk. So you know...Chill the fuck out."

" You shouldn't doubt me or what I'm capable..."

With that Dusk backed down. She sat back down on the ground, they're little shack didn't exactly have chairs...or room for them. It was a miracle they managed to fit everything they had in it now.

"Well you're treated and he got to have his fun. If those thugs haven't tried to shoot you here that must have mean they gave up. I guess your business here is up."

As if on queue, Anubis entered back into the shack and continued his work.

Athens looked over, loading her rifle and Hermes sighed audibly.

"Don't bother coming here again...We won't be here." With that it was settled. Hermes begun to pack as did Anubis.

"Don't get killed on the way home."

Uhh..

Warren Aulare was wandering aimlessly about when suddenly he smiled at the sky. For a moment he stood there and stared up into Terran Orbit. A satisfied nod and he turned on his heel with new direction. He thumbed at the die in his pocket as he made his way in to the city.

K'gara sniffs the air curiously and looks around observantly, her tail wagging a bit