Twenty-eight, twenty-seven, twenty-six. The device's console chirped, much too cheerily for Calvin's liking. He readied himself, the muscles in his back spasming from his recent injury. The pain blurred his vision but he grit his teeth and began to run through the pain.
The team fought for every inch while making their way back out of the base. Calvin struggled to keep pace with the other two soldiers. His head began to pound from the pain pulsing through his back. His aim, crucial for making the most of his limited ammunition began to slip. He fired two shots into the concrete behind a trooper unit, which was able to take cover before returning fire on the other team members. Calvin focused and fired again, not missing the center of mass shots a second time despite the bot hiding like the socialist coward it was.
He looked in the corner of his HUD, 00:21, 00:20.
The clock had no mercy. If they were in the blast radius when it reached zero, back pain would be the last of his worries.
Despite them being abominations in the sight of liberty, one had to give them credit. The Automatons would not give up. They were swarming the flanks of the three diver's escape path. Jacob's heavy machine gun and Drex's Scythe energy assault rifle were the only things holding the tide back. Calvin was in no condition to shoot well and his state worsened by the step.
00:16, 00:15. Half the time had elapsed from the activation. They still were not at a safe distance. Anywhere inside the base was unsafe territory. There were hundreds of pallets and crates of explosive materials around, not to mention the nuke ticking away behind them. Calvin kept pressing his body onward, only able to continue by sheer force of will. His vision began to blur.
It was at this point that Bynez and Owens noticed their friend falling behind.
"Get a move on soldier, we are running out of time." Owens called out to Calvin.
"I've got this captain, I've got this." Calvin repeated over and over, losing coherence. He was also losing control of his breathing. The pain in his back was winning. Calvins' body would only accept shallow breaths now. He was beginning to hyperventilate.
00:09, 00:08. They rounded the last corner before the opening Drex had made in the wall. The captain dropped behind to retrieve Calvin.
"I need you to make it through that hole in the wall soldier, that's an order."
Calvin could only nod, seeing the escape gave him an extra boost of energy. However, it was to no avail. Calvin placed his foot, but it missed the place where Calvin had intended to put it as he began to lose control of himself. One foot in front of the other was the law of survival, and Calvin could no longer follow that law.
He fell to his knees, retching. Calvin attempted to pull off his helmet before he vomited. Instead he ended up with dinner all over the inside of his faceplate. He was able to get the thing off after he hurled. This was before he just dropped the helmet and fell onto his stomach. Dark patches moved in from the sides of Calvin's vision as his body began to enter shock.
There was a new feeling, something sharp in his neck. Then the world came snapping back to him. Calvin involuntarily leaped off the ground. His body running to the hole in the wall seemingly of its own volition.
Drex Owens tossed the empty syringe to the side before chasing after his subordinate.
Calvin, high as a kite on a second dose of stims yelled. "Helldivers never die!"
"You are one hell of a soldier son." Drex said as he followed Calvin out of the base.
00:02, 00:01. Calvin kept on running, adrenaline pumping through his veins, only a mild tingle in his back. 00:00. He failed to dive to the ground or behind cover. The base behind the squad erupted into nuclear fire. The dropships' fuel reserves ignited and detonated in their containers. The high concentration of ordnance and firepower lit up the base like a solar flare. The force of the blast sent shockwaves through the ground, permanently decommissioning vehicles, bots, and base facilities alike.
Calvin was knocked off his feet and thrown onto his face. His helmet was clenched in his fist tight enough to figuratively leave marks on the metal. Even if he was wearing it, the fall likely would have hurt as his head bounced off the ground. Calvin was fortunately not killed by this blow and the stim pack was still putting in the work.
Stim packs were truly a marvel of Super Earth science. They were more than effective enough during the First Galactic War and science had advanced even further over the next 100 years. A proper helldiver could be normally expected to continue fighting even if missing a limb provided the soldier was not missing too much blood.
Calvin noted the firing had stopped for a moment. Most of the bots had been wiped out when their base erupted. He counted his blessings again as he reloaded the last three shots he had saved into his weapon.
Drex climbed to his feet. He had also been thrown to the ground by the air burst and had recovered more slowly without the chemical assistance of a stim. Fortunately the captain had recieved a much more favorable landing position. Of course, Calvin did notice that Drex was leaning on one leg more than the other.
Jacob managed to hit the deck behind cover and did not require a recuperation. He began to clap slowly. "Hell yeah! Divers lead the way. Freedom always wins."
The comm in Calvin's helmet chimed.
"Excellent work gentleman. Freedom triumphs over tyranny once more, the extraction shuttle awaits your request."
It was the Fist of Family Values' Democracy Officer. He would be authorizing the launch of the shuttle now. Calvin looked up at the sky full of streaks of light as a constellation of military vessels bore down on the planet, he looked for something specific. He recognized the shooting star marking a hell pod delivering the recall equipment- long range homing gear that when activated would allow the shuttle to zero in on their precise location. This was how a hell-diver received a ride home, the only way home.
"Status?" Drex looked at Calvin and Jacob intently as his helmet's communication devices were still nonfunctional.
"D.O. gave congratulations and authorized the bus." Jacob responded.
"Extract gear is landing 200 meters north by northwest." Calvin pointed out the star, which was almost at location.
"Alright then, let's get to the extraction then." Owens Nodded, "Good spot Charlie Three."
Calvins back twitched as his muscles spasmed. The burn across his back had begun to heal. Accelerated by the chemical cocktail the last stimulant had given him. This was sometimes the worst part, rapid healing was itchy. The best part was even if left alone, a stim assisted heal may not heal properly. Often, injuries sustained in the field would require surgery to correct. The usual culprit was tissue healing fully around bits of shrapnel that would later have to be removed. Calvin felt as if this would be one of those cases, he could feel shreds of his armor and cape stuck in the skin that was knitting together.
They reached the extraction zone with almost no further trouble. Their path had even taken them by a river so Calvin could get the stench of his recycled dinner out of his helmet.
The pickup site was unassuming. The extraction communication and homing beacon was posted at the top of a rocky plateau. This place had once been home to some colonists. There was a burned out colony hab and greenhouses on the eastern side of the stone jutting from the landscape. There were some shipping crates at the end of a bio-engineered cornfield near the ramp to the top of the plateau.
There were also two colonists, laying facedown in the dirt. Both had Super Earth colony standard double barrel shotguns. Both were empty. Empty shells lay haphazardly across the property. These two had died fighting for their freedom.
"Shame they didn't get pulled out before the bots came for them." Owens commented.
"Would have made some real fine Helldivers," Jacob agreed.
Calvin agreed too, but then, how could anyone have been evacuated when the mechanical menace just appeared in a surprise attack? One day the helldivers were only dealing with escaped terminids in the eastern sector of the galaxy. Essentially playing glorified pest control workers, and then the surprise invasion came on the western edge while the helldivers corps and Super Earth's other armed forces were distracted.
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It was a strategy only a cowardly socialist would use. The robots needed to be put down, by any means necessary.
"Yo calvin, you coming?" Jacobs called to his fellow soldier.
Calvin began to turn, his gaze passing over an open shipping crate. Did he see something there? He waved the thought from his mind.
"Coming Juliet Two, just thought I saw something; likely my eyes playing tricks on me." The shock and hardship on his body of the last thirty-eight minutes was likely the cause for him seeing things.
"Keep your eyes sharp, that's how we go home, Jacob said. It was a line from the recruit training manual. Calvin could also recite this line from memory. This was one of the things drilled into every SEAF recruit during their 72 hour training period.
Jacob began keying in the extraction request into the recovery equipment.
Calvin glanced back towards the crates, then began up the ramp that had been cut into the rocky outcrop. The extraction shuttle would land at the top of this, taking advantage of the naturally elevated position to receive some protection from enemy fire - if there was any.
"I'm going to check out your crate Charlie Three, which one was it?"
"It's the one on the right with the door cracked open." Calvin pointed. "That one there."
"On it. Cover me."
Drex made his way through the corn field to the shipping crates.
Jacobs had called in a hellpod delivery for an expendable anti-tank rocket launcher. Usually they wouldn't need this but their heavy had been taken out. Calvin thought about Higgins for a moment, sad his friend wasn't making it out of this one. Sad he didn't have anyone to sucker into playing cards with anymore too.
The ordnance arrived just before Drex had reached the shipping crate in question. The logo of the Super Earth Ministry of Expansion was emblazoned on the side.
Drex reached the door of the shipping crate and began to reach towards the door of it. Calvin could see the rectangular red light turn on before Drex had even opened the door.
"Captain Owens, get out of there." Calvin yelled, but Drex was far enough away he couldn't hear the warning.
Drex put his hand on the shipping crate door, oblivious to the single red eye of an Automaton Hulk. He had just begun to pull the door more open when the hulk was set in motion. It slammed the door open, knocking Drex to the ground. It's Autocannon beginning to fire and tracing the outline of the outcropping where Calvin and Jacob stood. Rock shattered and showered the two men.
Three bots equipped with jetpacks leapt from inside the stack of shipping containers, but Calvin was on it. He kneeled for stability and put two of these new threats down. They exploded when their limp chassis hit the ground, lighting up the night with the fire they produced. The third one landed and began shooting at Drex. Always on his toes, Drex Owens managed to roll over and place an AMR shot into the troopers chest armor. A spectacular explosion emanated from the mix of explosive round and jet fuel.
"Pickup anytime you want Pelican One! We ain't in no rush down here." Jacob said over gritted teeth.
"I see you, one minute to exfill." Pelican One came in over the comm.
"Copy Pelican One, pickup is hot, I say again, Pickup is hot." Calvin added on his comm.
Jacob picked up the anti-tank launcher out of the delivery pod. Now empty, its delivery bay lowered back into the pod. "For the love of democracy, we must be out of these too because they only sent one."
Usually, the launchers were sent in packs of two. Having only one meant this was likely the Fist of Family Values' last one, and without it, there would be no feasible way to deal with the heavy laying down fire on their position.
"Well I guess that means don't miss." Calvin responded. He ran back down the ramp and shot the pilot of a strider that was making it's way towards Drex. The machine fell over on top of another trooper, crushing it under the machines weight. Calvin, now completely out of ammunition for his Diligence, switched to his side-arm.
Jacob kneeled and prepared to fire the anti-tank missile. He needed to hit the hulk directly in its cyclopean eyepiece. This was the only thin spot on its armor, any other point of impact would not put the heavily armed and armored construct down. At least not with the single directed explosive they had on hand. Calvin saw a berserker making its way around the bottom of the ramp.
"Berserker, your 11." Calvin called out. The warning came just in time too. Bynez was able to roll away from the deadly chainsaw, the teeth ripping ribbons off of Jacob's cape. Calvin shuddered to think what would have happened if the teeth had grabbed instead of sliced cleanly through the cloth.
Calvin put on the speed. Instead of running away from the demonic looking - chainsaw wielding thing in front of him. He ran TOWARD it. It saw him charging, and Calvin swore it almost grinned as it countercharged him. The fearsome devil bot reared up with it's right arm and brought the chainsaw across to try to split Calvin into two pieces. Calvin had seen this and ducked down to slide in the mud underneath it. He unloaded his entire magazine into the ribcage of the metal beast. It fell over, spraying hydraulic fluid and newly loosened metal pieces all over the ground, completely covering Calvin with sticky red liquid.
With the berserker dealt with Jacob had his chance again. He put the anti-tank launcher to his shoulder and.
BOOM.
Jacob was tossed like a ragdoll to the side. He stopped at the rock wall to his right. Calvin thought the rocket launcher had somehow blown up in Jacob's hands but saw differently when he looked closer. He had failed to fire the rocket. Instead, a smoking trail traced back from the Hulk's rocket arm. A small crater and a severely injured helldiver at the other end.
Calvin ran to Jacob, who was still showing vital signs. It began to rain.
Explosions lit up the farm around them as Pelican One arrived. Delivering democracy in heaps with it's front mounted three shot burst 27 mm turret cannon.
"All aboard, anyone who doesn't want to die down there get on this boat." The supporting fire ended as the pelican's ramp lowered and the thrusters placed it on the ground.
Calvin noted the pilot was in far too good of a mood right now. He turned back down to Jacob who was crying out to him.
"I'm gonna die, Calvin. I'm gonna die." Jacob was quiet and hoarse. His visor was cracked and he looked to be in bad shape.
Calvin grabbed Jacobs left left fore-arm. "You feel that?"
Jacobs nodded, "Yeah, I-I feel it Ch-chief"
"It means you are still alive. No helldiver left behind!" Calvin threw Jacob Bynez up onto his shoulders and began to run, carrying the soldier fireman style. The pain in Calvin's back had returned but wasn't going to stop him from getting the other helldiver out of this hole.
The hulk did not stand idly by as it saw an opportunity to kill two of Super Earth's finest in an efficient manner. It began to fire everything it had at Calvin and Jacob. Autocannon rounds rained down around the men and a rocket flew past them, missing by mere inches.
Before it could get another rocket off, Drex was on top of it. He jabbed his AMR into the socket of the hulks shoulder armor. Two trigger pulls later and the right arm of the massive robot was sheaved clean off. Oil and rocket fuel spewed from the hydraulic lines newly severed in the limb connector. Some of the spray caught the fire from the bots destroyed earlier and the top of the hulk was alight before valves in it's carapace sealed off the leak. The fire burned hot, blanching the black metal of the synthetic sentinel's carapace white and blistering the paint before the rain and lack of fresh fuel put the fire out.
Tak the pelican pilot met Calvin at the ramp to the inside bay of the pelican and helped lower the man to the deck in the extract shuttle. "Good to see you Charlie Three, strap Juliet Two down and get yourself in a seat, we are out of here."
"Negative Pelican One," Calvin replied turning towards the rear ramp of the Pelican dropship.
"You get in your seat now helldiver!
Calvin didn't argue, instead he ran back to the place where the rocket launcher had landed. He scooped it up and put it to his shoulder. The sight was broken but it was still servicable. He took aim at the hulk.
Drex at this point was moving much slower than usual. Having gone back for Calvin injured him. Calvin also felt guilty for receiving the last squad stimpack.
Calvin watched in horror as Drex Owens slowness caught him an autocannon shot almost point blank in the leg. The blast sent the death captain flying several feet where he landed painfully on his head. Feedback blasted in Calvin's ear as a loose wire in Drex's helmet reactivated his comm unit.
"Sweet Liberty! Nooo!" Calvin screamed as he aimed his weapon and pulled the trigger. With a whumph the rocket left the barrel and traveled straight for the cyclops' single eye. It's weakpoint. The synthetic satan saw the rocket and managed to move its left arm into the trajectory before impact. Two explosions from detonated munitions ripped the evil bot's other arm right off.
Calvin heard Drex coughing over the comm. "Great shot Crawley...."
"I didn't kill it, I missed, sir." Calvin looked desperately for anything he could use to finish the fight. He could see two red flares go up behind the farmhouse. Not much time.
"Listen, I'm not going to make it this time," Drex cleared his throat after coughing some more. He fought his way to a sitting position. "Take care of the Fist for me, and promise me something."
"Anything sir." Calvin replied.
"You come back and liberate this place, promise me the light of freedom comes back to Malevelon Creek." Drex raised his right hand in a fist in salute to Calvin.
The Hulk had made it to Death Captain Drex Owen's final resting place and crushed him under its considerable weight.
The thing seemed to be laughing at him. Could Automatons laugh? Rage filled Calvin as he continued to search for something, anything that he could use to avenge his fallen comrade and friend. Then he saw it.
The tool shined like a beacon to him, he ran to it, and picked the shovel off of a tool rack the colonists had left there before their demise. The tip glistened, as if it was calling for him to cut the hulk apart with it. Calvin smiled a wicked grin as he saw the edge had been recently sharpened. He took a step to charge but tripped. Someone's foot had caught his. Before he knew it he was being dragged back to the pelican by a swearing pilot.
The hulk just stared, still seemingly laughing at him as he was dragged by the pelican pilot back to the craft.
"What were you planning to do Calvin?" Tak asked, "You really think you were going to do anything to that beastie with that shovel? My orders were to come get you, and Captain Owens is dead. Call it a draw!"
Tak was small but he was strong, he shoved Calvin in his weakened state down into a bucket seat. Calvin could only watch the Hulk through the back of the ship as the craft began to depart. He took one last long look at the body of his commander, saluting all the while, before the doors shut and the craft shot off towards the relative safety of low orbit.
Calvin swore he would tear that hulk to pieces if he ever saw that foul automaton again, and if he had anything to do with it, Malevelon Creek would see Lady Liberty's sweet embrace once more, if it was the last thing he did.