the joint force, FC book 2 chapter 4

(Virginia Avenue, 6:05 AM)- "this is fucking sweet. landmasters, stalkers, and soldiers marching down virginia avenue. you've done yourself well, ceasar." i commented, sitting atop the turret of one of the black and red landmasters as it trudged through town, its slow methodical whir coming from the grav lift 'legs' sounding alot like a UFO hovering across the ground as it patrolled virginia ave. "i try. oh, and would you look at that? we've got company." ceasar smugly quipped, before turning his attentions to one of the three story apartment complexes we were peering through while rolling down the road, where an aparoid was squirming in the rubble, looking right flummoxed as it tried to escape the rubble that pinned it down. "landmaster crew seven, show that aparoid what happens to people who cross the devildogs." ceasar squawked into the radio in his helmet, and watching with an amused smirk, i'd seen the turret of the landmaster ahead of us turn to the aparoid, and with a spectacular shower of red plasma, i'd looked over to where the aparoid was, finding nothing but a smoking crater, drenched in blue blood and black motor oil. "ha-ha! well done landmaster crew seven! that bug won't be giving us grief anytime soon!" ceasar cackled from his seat in the stalker at my right, giving the crater the bird as we drove past. "i gotta say c, i thought we were right fucked until the arbitrator came in to save our asses. thanks for the assist, i think we genuinely have a shot now." "don't write the aparoids off yet, that one was wounded. an aparoid at full strength will provide a much harder fight." dusk interrupted, and turning to his stalker escort, i shrugged. "we deal with those problems as we go, sensei. the way i see it, it's better to have the tanks than not to have them. especially since now they're upgraded with railgun tech, of which should help us out tremendously. and you heard my explanation, sensei. we're at war with a race we can't beat without an ace in the hole. so if that ace happens to be landmasters and ceasar's advanced tech, i'm willing to use them to their fullest extent to keep the lylat system, and its sister systems, safe from harm. i'll give no one any quarter for argument when it comes to that subject." i growled sternly, leveling a glare at my master from behind the visor of my helmet. thankfully, my words seemed to make dusk complacent, at least for now, and he sat further back into his seat than he originally had before. "you mind filling me in on where exactly we're going, c?" i changed subject, panning my head over to ceasar, who was still quietly tittering to himself at how effectively that aparoid got pasted into the rubble of ye olde three story apartment. "oh, right! i forgot to tell you. we're converging with forces deployed in new york at the UN building. we're also heading there to both give and get a status report, to ease the UN leaders' minds, and to ease ours if this plague is exclusive to the US. that way, we can get the US' go ahead to drive the rest of these fuckers off, and set up defenses so that the aparoids don't do so again." ceasar elaborated, and frowning at the remembrance of how easily a SWARM of aparoids had slipped by our detection systems, i flung a glare ceasar's way, pinning him down with eyes that resembled fiery, hellish pits. "gee, and i wonder whose fault that was?" "the CDF's, most likely. none of us are that stupid, and i always double check the detection feed before i turn in for the night. if they slipped by, we would've known about it long before the CDF would, and could've sent response vessels to intercept." "but somehow, you magically left out the part where they EVADED OUR DETECTION. you said yourself that you always double check the feed, right? well then, how was a SWARM of aparoid beetles able to evade our scanners, the CDF's scanners, and get to earth before any of us knew about it? somebody HAD to have paid off the CDF and the DDA to turn an eye to their scanners for a while, and i guarantee the very person who got paid off, is the same person who is sitting in the passenger's seat of the stalker beside me right now. so, i'll make this simple. you give me the name of the guy who paid you off, and i won't vaporize you on the spot, got it?" "nobody paid me off! i'm as devoted to this little band of system jumping vigilantes as you are, so why don't you shrug off the faux concern and trust me for once in your life!" "because ASSHOLE, the last time i trusted somebody, they almost wound up dead from a .38 caliber hollow point to the chest! or better still, the last time i trusted somebody who was in about the same position as you, THEY OVERTHREW THE ASSASSINS, AND TOOK MY FRIENDS AND I HOSTAGE!" i roared, getting the congregation of soldiers, tanks and FRVs to slow to an alarmingly fast halt, and turn in tandem to hear the shouting match. "well sor-ry, but maybe if you didn't broadcast the fact that you're a quote unquote 'good guy' to everyone you met, you wouldn't have as many people trying to stab you in the fucking back! i have slaved day in and day out on the supersoldier serum to make your little army, poured blood, sweat and tears into manufacturing their advanced weaponry, and made your girlfriend a goddamn symbiote to keep her safe, and THIS is what i get for thanks? a fucking ultimatum? 'either fork over the info or die'? you know what, fuck you, fuck your self-righteous glory-seeking cause, and good luck getting another R&D scientist to back you up that's as smart and as willing to submit themselves to battle as i am, because as of right now, i'm done!" ceasar roared back in challenge, and promptly thereafter hopped out of the side seat of his escort stalker, before taking off down virginia avenue with a purpose. "fuuuuck me." i groaned, slapping a hand to my face in frustration.

(Manhattan, New York, four hours later)- "ahh, the big apple. it seems just yesterday i'd always dreamt of coming here. shame i never got to." i observed idly, putting the topic of ceasar's desertion to the back of my thoughts, while trying to stay optimistic for everyone's sakes. unbeknownst to the others, ceasar's impromptu  leaving hit the core members of the DDA harder than they thought. i felt like shit for not trusting the only guy whose tech has gotten us this far, krystal is probably silently seething at me from the crew seat of the landmaster below me, and dusk......well, i can't get a very good read on dusk. he never gives any tells to how he really feels about something, and at times, he feels almost robotic, terminator-esque if you will. that in itself is enough to put me on edge. "sir, we're coming up on the UN building! they've got national guard and US marines on standby at the gate, orders?" "don't fire unless fired upon, private, we've been over this. we want to HELP the humans, remember?" i bickered with private jenkins, who i heard promptly smack himself on the forehead, and mutter a 'sorry sir' over the comm line. "it's fine private, just keep the turret unloaded and let me do the talking. it won't take long, i promise." i told the fledgling soldier, whom if it weren't for my advice, probably would've gotten killed already. (ahh, the ever long-running WOW meme that made it to multiple games and movies. goddamnit leroy!) "good morning gentlemen! we're here with the DevilDog Army to see the world leaders about your little bug infestation! don't mind the convoy, but i really need to get into the UN building to at the very least converse with your president." "sorry buddy, we have direct orders from the same president you want to talk to not to let anyone in, military or civilian. this building is one of the last safe havens from whatever the fuck this robo-plague is, and i'm not about to get demoted all the way back down to private because i disobeyed an order from the president of the united states." "then let me ask you this, good sir. how many people are you willing to let die because you were 'just following orders'? ten? ten hundred? ten thousand? i need to see your president ASAP, because the aparoid threat is spreading from the east coast west like a bloody wildfire! and come hell or high water, i WILL see him. because i'm not about to let some stone-faced marine tell me what to do, just because he was following orders." one of the soldiers at the gate and i argued, ending with me hopping off the landmaster, and storming my way over to the marine in question, getting up in his face with a toothy snarl, obscured by my faceplate. "you're speaking to General Kyle Alexander Shepard of the DevilDog Army, and if you don't let me in NOW, i'll move you and make my way inside myself." i growled, reaching for my sidearms when the marine flinched, and almost removed the safety from his rifle. "do i make myself perfectly clear?" i asked quietly, my tone chilling and highly disappointed in the marine in front of me, making him flinch once more, as if he'd been struck. "y-yes sir. g-go on in." the marine croaked, and after opening the gate for me, i nodded curtly at him, keeping my pointed gaze level with the sod as i strolled on through. "next time, when a military general asks you to open the way to something, because they need to speak to your country's leader, let them. and before you argue with me again, remember that every second you and i would've wasted was another second the aparoids could've torn apart a small town." i bit through clenched teeth, not bothering to look back at the marine when the gate swung closed again.

(inside the UN building, three hours later)- "people, people, please! you're the leaders of countries, of nations! don't squabble with each other like children on a playground!" i tried to reason over the sound of concentrated bickering, putting a hand on my forehead when the talking ceased to end. "i don't think they heard you, son."  a strong voice, akin to one that captain america had, commented from my left, and turning to face it, i was surprised to see the president of the united states standing there, arms crossed with a slight smirk on his face. (just clarifying right now, i'm not going to be including obama in first contact, given he's royally fucking the US a new arsehole, so instead, i'll use the president in GTA V, president Joseph Lawton.) "mr. president, sir. am i glad you're here. if you don't mind the question, how do i get these guys to listen to me?" "oh that's easy son. just watch." the president stated calmly, promptly walking up to the podium, and tapping the mic thrice. "ahem, if you would all be so kind, SHUT UP!" he roared, and with a split-second silence that came so fast it could give a man whiplash, the world leaders within the UN building all stopped talking at once, and turned their heads towards the podium at the forefront of the room, eyes wide and mouths agape. "now, if you're all done bickering with one another like old married couples, we have someone here who may have a solution to this little problem we seem to be having of late. General Shepard sir, you have the floor." the president ground out firmly, and taking that as my cue, i stepped up to the podium, nodding over to president lawton as he made his exit. "thank you, mr. president. ladies and gentlemen of the United Nations, i am General Kyle Alexander Shepard of the DevilDog Army, a Lylatian mercenary corps that as of late is a good 6,000 strong and counting. the threat you are all currently facing is one we are at present researching, a threat called the Aparoid Beetle. now don't get me wrong, that DOES sound like a crock of horse-shite, if you'll all pardon my language, but think about it, just for a minute. is religion not horse-shite? your 'holy texts' are just a bunch of fictional stories, they were never meant to be literal in their meanings. and personally, given i'm not of this earth myself, i'd favor the thought of aliens existing over there being a god any day of the week." i replied, only for a man in the UAE delegation to become very enraged by my words, and shoot to his feet. "how dare you speak so low of our gods, heathen! i know you are not of this earth, because you brought this plague to us, from the depths of hell itse-" "let me stop you right there sir, so you can get the nonsense out of your head. are you seriously willing to believe, that the aparoids are a swarm of demons? really? have you seen for yourself what they're able to do?" "no, but i-" "then wait for evidence to the contrary to present itself rather than make such outrageous claims. these robotic insects have been able to assimilate people into their 'hive', use laser technology to destroy what their appendages cannot, and some can actually fly using hover tech. trust me when i say this, good sir, when i fought one of those things while trying to retake the white house, i can safely tell you that they're NOT any kind of demon that would walk upon this planet. and as it stands right now, you all will have to trust us when we say that this isn't a sign of the end of days, or some such other bullshit. it is an apocalypse of sorts, yes, but only if we let it sit for too long. if we act NOW, strike while the aparoids are still small in number, then we can make sure that the apocalypse never happens. i don't expect you all to aid me in this fight, but the ones who at very least give a shit about their allied countries' well-beings should. you'd help make your ally's country, and your own, that much safer from these things." i explained to the world leaders before me, pressing my palms down flat on the podium in front of me to make myself a bit more comfortable. "ladies and gentlemen, allow me to be a bit clearer. we're on the verge of intergalactic WAR. with a race of alien mecha-beetles that rival anything that the US, UK, or the soviet union could've built on their best days. i ask you, now, to help me, help us, the DevilDog Army, drive these beasts off of your homeworld. we want nothing more but for the aparoids to stay gone from this place, and we won't bother any of you again, you have my word. we're not here for you, and we never were. so with that said, can you all PLEASE put aside your anxiety, and agree to our help? because i can feel the uncertainty rolling off of you all in waves." i pleaded, and after looking back to president lawton, only for him to shake his head to deny my request that he return to the podium, i sighed, and looked back to my audience. "and what's in it for us, Mr......Shepard, was it? this can't all be from the depths of your kind heart." one of the members of the chinese delegation spoke out, rising to his feet with a smug smirk on his face. "oh contrair, my oriental friend. we get absolutely nothing from this exchange. but what you all get, is a shield generator powerful enough to keep even the most determined alien races away. not only that, but a DevilDog carrier will be on standby in orbit around mars awaiting the go ahead to ward off any hyper-aggressive invaders. because make no mistake, ladies and gentlemen, they're out there. you might've thought you were the only sentient lifeforms in the universe before, but let me be the first to tell you how WRONG you really are." i recalled, remembering my fight with that yautja hunter back on corneria. "show of hands, just for curiosity's sake, who here has seen the movie 'predator'?" i asked, and upon most of the room's hands raising at once, i nodded stiffly. "well, you might want to start investing in better thermal imagery then, because the yautja exist. in fact, if i'm correct, they've already been using this planet as their own personal game preserve for centuries, if not millenia. and let's not forget the covenant," i felt a collective gasp fill the room at their mention, "or the xenomorphs," i heard a few women in the room faint at their mention, "and lastly, and these people are the ones we're setting up a shield generator around your planet for, the saiyans. yes, yes, mock the anime nerd for saying that, but think about it for a second. they came from another planet, right? a planet that would have to exist somewhere in the solar system? they COULD exist, and knowing now that the lylatians, tameranians, AND the yautja exist, i'm willing to lay my cards out on the table and say anything goes at this point. be that as it may however, i'm not willing to give up because the odds have been stacked against me. the D-Dogs are NOT cowards, and i don't plan on making cowards of them anytime soon. BUT, it would help us greatly if you allowed D-Dog garrisons to be set up within your countries of origin. we're here to help and help is what we'll give. then, when everything is said and done, you'll be well protected from further threats, and we'll make our leave. questions?" i explained, and after nobody spoke up further, i nodded stiffly. "alright then. we'll start with countries bordering the US, Canada, Mexico and the like, and branch off from there then." i replied in a 'fair-enough' manner, stepping off the podium so that president lawton could take my place.

(undisclosed location, three hours later)- "so, he who hath slain me makes a return, hmm? excellent." a dark voice chuckled from the depths of a cave-like lair, before their shadow moved towards another form in the room. "rose dear, make sure our friend knows of our return. it's time i set my plan in motion." "yes, father. it shall be done." the two exchanged, before the larger of the two forms sat down at a desk stacked high with monitors, displaying different camera views of the UN building's interior, with Kyle taking center-stage in every view. "you may have thought you killed me, dog, but i promise you that when next we meet, i'll have your head on a pike. and then the entire world will bow to my name." the man continued, steepling his fingers as he watched carefully the events that took place three hours prior. a deep, low chuckle made the atmosphere all the more ominous, and if you were truly there, it would paralyze you in place with fear.

AN- THAT'S A WRAP! nice work everybody, you did me proud today! anywho, read, review, yadda yadda yadda, i'll see you all back here next time with the next chapter of first contact: book 2. laters!