System of the Damned
Chapter 7- Xavier
Long walks with little legs.
I am First Sergeant Xavier, son of Oreo, son of Snowball, First of the Order of Bun-Bun, and today was my first day as a true leader. The humans and myself were under siege from giant monsters they called dragons, during a storm unlike anything I’d seen. Not that I’d seen a great deal since I was only six human years old, but my person and friend had entrusted his people to me. They reminded me greatly of the mice of the labs, some stoic and others shaking in terror as I typed commands that my armor spoke for me. The voice was horrible and robotic, but it spoke well enough as I moved to gather the strong.
I tasked the ones unable to fight with the duty of loading ammo for us, others with the task of preparing to gather wounded. I’d not been able to drill with my person in my armor, but I’d rode in his helmet, listened to his commands, and tried to be as strong for my new charges as he was for his. I’d gotten them to back four of the bulldozers into a spot not far from the main building, blades facing out and treads nearly touching. It left a gap to run in and plenty of places to hunker against or take cover.
Another of my groups was tasked with tethering weather balloons and sending them up, giving that horrid lightning something to strike other than our cover. And then I heard the com chatter and the near panic in my person’s voice as he heard about the creatures. I gathered my people I’d sensed would fight together at our armored fighting pit and moved to help them stack belts of ammo, magazines, and rockets for our launchers.
I can remember how slow many of them seemed to be moving until I realized my body had started to soak up the energy in the air through the armor. My fur glowed in my displays and I chittered in annoyance at the bit of glare, I’d have to fix that issue later, but for now I simply pulled down my ears and got the tips wet with spit before folding them back and plugging them into the suit’s two small charging ports. The resistors in the system kept it from drawing too hard or me sending too much voltage or amperage into the capacitors that powered my armor, but it let me drain the excess energy. Else I’d reach a point where everyone just seemed to stop, it was infuriating, mainly since it made all of my movements seem in super slow motion.
The Yangtze launched missiles and as the first dragons moved to assault our valley, I saw the mimic leave the top of the ship. The only issue I had with that, was that my person was now stuck up there with one of the giant monsters. My people were firing all around me, sending streams of bullets up into the circling monsters, while I and a trio of them fired missiles and bullets to support my person. “Keep firing to support the others…” My suit ordered out as I raised my rifle, head camera looking through the scope in time to see my person leap into the beast’s maw.
I couldn’t help it, I squeaked, even as I saw the sword spear out between the dual trios of eyes the monster had. I squeaked and then chittered in worry as the beast slumped and was struck repeatedly by lightning as it slid from the top of the ship...with my person in its maw.
Another of them swooped down and my suit’s arm snapped up, lifting a launcher from the ground to fire a rocket into its wing. “Everyone! Get onto the bulldozers, we’re moving!” I ordered as I tossed the spent launcher away and climbed the back of the machine I’d been using for cover.
“Xavier, what are you doing? You can’t punch through their scales. If we hit the wings they can still walk around!” Came from one of my people in a bit of panic. Mice...they always panicked.
I chittered and flipped into the seat of the large dozer. “Aim for the wings! Bring them down! Then fire into their mouths if they roar...and RUN THEM OVER!” The metallic synthetic voice got the point across as I powered up the machine. The others with me scrabbling much like mice to climb into and around the cabs, tossing ammo boxes and belts into them as they boarded.
Before we even started to move, I raised the blade of my dozer and blocked a snap from the beast I’d downed, eyes flicking to a screen and causing me to pause as my people fired at the thing’s face. The dragon that’d fallen from the ship, its maw was shoving open and a blade cut away scaled flesh to reveal a purple blood soaked fluffy monster within.
My hands moved to my keyboard, sending a priority message to the Captain along with the raw feed as the lightly glowing form leapt out and roared in rage, sword in its hand and ruined clothes and gear hanging from it. “Captain Rowland...my person is no longer human. Something has happened. Tag him as a friendly! Quickly!”
It wasn’t the Captain that responded, it was Adam the Ai who spoke as every person’s helmet or targeting system flicked to showing my person’s new form as a friendly. “Worry not little friend, I have marked him as a friendly, let us both hope that he is still a friend to us.”
Then the Captain’s voice boomed as I saw my person’s monstrous canine and human form charge across the soaked ground and leap into the air, his sword cleaving through the air and into another downed dragon’s neck. “All Hands! Major O’Connell has experienced another change, do not shoot or aim at the large snarling fluffy thing around running naked with a sword. We do not know how sane this change has left him, do NOT, I repeat do NOT pose yourself as a threat to him.” Boomed over speakers, the 1mc, and com units alike as my person latched on and tore into the dragon with his claws, teeth, and sword.
My bulldozer groaned as the dragon I was shoving against, shoved back. “Fire at its eyes if it tries to get around the blade.” My suit commanded as I throttled up the bulldozer and locked it into a higher gear, the treads chewing up the ground as we started to plow forward, the dragon screeched and started to try and climb the blade to snap at my team. Another of my dozers came around my side and locked one track, turning its blade into the dragon’s flank and I could hear the sound of bones breaking like shattering trees.
I could see a few of the combat vehicles wrecked or tipped onto their sides or tops, crews having abandoned them or dead around them. Another missile launch from the ship made me look up, my suit’s cameras following the first missile as another and another launched behind that one. Flashes showed bright in the clouds and there was the sudden roar of engines as fighters and shuttles passed over the valley, weapons fire spewing from them like a hailstorm at the dragons.
The titan was barely visible thanks to lightning flashing against its monstrous form, and then it shone bright as day when the first missile struck its wing. The flash of the fusion blast lighting up the many small tornadoes trying to make their way to the ground. The titan roared, billowing rapidly dying flames into the air as its side glowed bright with Caltunium in damaged scales. The second and third missiles shifted and drifted in the storm, arcing to slam into its first and second wing membranes.
I lost track of the titan as one of my humans screamed in panic and something heavy landed atop my cab, I could hear claws scraping on metal before a flame soaked monster with a sword leapt onto the hood and then up to slam it’s sword into the chest of a swooping dragon that’d been attempting to attack another of the bulldozers. “Do not panic, that is the Major. Keep firing at the wings of the dragons. Bring them down so we can kill them!” My suit and com barked, I’d have to get the translation voice changed, it made my ear twitch. Besides, my person had flown off with the impaled dragon. He hadn’t even bit anyone, granted he’d been on fire.
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
I backed from the corpse of the dragon I’d half been on and twisted my machine around to charge toward one of the buildings where a few dragons had landed. “Bulldozers with me!” I typed out and then looked up as that same scratching thud sounded from atop my cab, then my person landed on the hood and crouched low, chewing on a hunk of dragon he’d torn loose. I couldn’t blame the trio that hurled themselves off the back of my dozer, he did look rather terrifying, and was still smoking.
Something I noticed is that he’d grown nearly half again as large as he’d been before and looked around ten human feet tall now, which was remarkable. It also explained his need to be eating anything and everything he could, it made me smile. “Pick up the ones who jumped from my bulldozer and continue following me.” I sent to the other drivers, locking my throttle full and leaning up to punch out the windshield.
My person spun on the hood and growled, then his head cocked to the side as my suit amplified my squeaks to him, I could see him look at the chest of my suit. So I made it open and leaned to wave an ear to him. Another trio of missiles roared out from the ship as I saw my friend suddenly look like this planet’s largest and happiest puppy. A dagger like claw carving off a strip of meat from his foraging and tossing it to my suit’s lap.
It smelled odd as I brought it close to sniff, tearing off a small chunk to chew on and chittered, it tasted almost smoked and I nodded. My suit gave a thumbs up and I saw my person’s new tail wag as he turned and pointed toward the dragons, making a motion like leaping and then pointing to me and making a motion like crushing something. When I nodded I could hear him buff and he leaned to toss the rest of his snack into the cab, turning to face the threat.
I quickly typed up a priority message as I nibbled on the new snack, chest armor closing back tight. “My person cannot speak, he recognizes me. I am currently moving to support the northern building.” I was sending video of the interaction and chittered to myself as I typed up the last bit. “Dragon meat tastes smokey, my person has also been eating a great deal of it himself since his change. How is the titan fight coming?” Stupid robot voice didn’t show how chipper and happy I was currently.
One of my screens changed to Captain Rowland and I chittered and waved an ear as my image was transmitted back, though I was sending a dual image. One was of myself, the other was of my person crouched on my hood holding his sword. “It’s going, the creature seems to be starting to try and bank away from us. Since it’s in the storm though, I’m aiming to cut off the wings on one side of it. So far we’ve lost two fighters with their pilots, and one of the shuttles had to bank away and make an emergency landing.” He seemed to focus on the screen and then snorted. “He’s a bloody werewolf.” I watched him toss up his hands. “And you’re sure he’s safe to be around like that?” His tone was serious.
I chittered and shrugged, holding up the bit of dragon meat before I bit off another bit and went back to typing. “He shared his food with me, safe or not, it is a good start to things. He hasn’t attacked a person, and his sword is able to cut the dragon scales…” I chittered and thought for a few seconds, then went back to typing. “We will have to experiment more later.” I looked over from that screen and chittered annoyed as I saw a tornado moving along the edge of the valley. I typed again. “We really need to chase these off so that we can burrow in for the storm.”
“Trying something.” Came from Gunnery Sergeant Anderson and I heard two loud thumps make it through the wind to my ears, barely getting to see the glowing objects streak into the nearest tornado. The air shook at the force of the explosion and my person snarled on the hood of my billdozer, but the tornado wavered and broke up.
“Do not do that so damned close! What the hell was that!?” Came over the commander's channel from the Captain, the sky lighting up brightly as the last wave of missiles impacted their target. The roar that filled the air was louder than the explosion and kilometers away, my attention turning and watching as two wings on one side of the titan were shredded.
“Hiroshima played with a few of our mortars, packed in some of that glowing mineral he’d mixed into some c-4. Worked like a charm.” He paused. “Damn sir, you got it! That thing is….oh hell.” I looked at my other screens and squeaked, the titan had been climbing and trying to get away, now it was dropping like a meteor. The three wings on one side of its body were shredded and useless, the others simply caused it to spin as it fell toward the ground.
“All hands! All hands, break contact with the dragons and hunker down!” Came over the coms and speakers. “Brace for impact and shockwave!”
I squeaked and turned the bulldozer toward where the titan was falling, sending a message for the others to do the same. The dragons all seemed to look at the titan as it fell and screeched, kicking from the ground and trying to fly high and get away. Of course bullets chased after them, but my concern was the giant fuzzy friend that was jerking me out of the dozer’s cabin.
My person had heard the orders and saw the titan falling, and his normally calm mind wasn’t that way now. Now the giant fluffy idiot was whining and yipping and making sounds like a panicking hyper puppy as he jerked my suit loose and drug me free. I had to admit he’d gotten quite a bit stronger, his legs sending us in long strides through the blasting winds. We made it to the berms beside the main storage building. He dropped me and leapt to attack a dragon that was struggling to get up on broken legs.
Sadly due to his lack of proper thinking, or knowing I’d had weather balloons raised to keep the vehicles safe from lightning...the idiot had left me beside one of the tethers. Lightning cracked the air and I let out a rather loud squeak as my suit was slammed with hundreds of millions of volts, the motors shorted out and I heard the hip systems explode at nearly the same instant that the capacitor pack exploded releasing its charge as well.
I panted and let out squealing squeaks a few times, my body and even fur glowing brightly as it felt like I was on fire. It felt like ten minutes passed before my world wasn’t filled with pain, though I blinked as I looked out of the chest hatch and saw rain simply hanging in the air. Not only that, but everything was stopped, every single thing was stopped, even my person’s sword as it moved for the neck of the dragon.
I’d had things like this happen before, but I didn’t move any faster until now. With everything stopped around me, I looked at my hand paws and wiggled my fingers, ears twitching as yes time had truly stopped for me. I could move though, and it hadn’t settled in that I was moving at some ridiculous speed yet. I’d figure that part out soon enough.
I slipped out of my suit, looking at its damaged and broken state. The entire thing was useless for anything but scrap thanks to…the lightning was frozen in the end of its strike. I thought for a moment and hopped from the armor into the water, closing my eyes and focusing on slowing my heart. I squeaked in the split second time resumed, my suit’s torso erupting in fire, not to mention the fact that the mud exploded up from where I’d jumped.
Time stopped as my heart went back to a fast pace, causing me to chitter and stop to think for a long moment. I couldn’t touch anyone or anything I could possibly break, my speed meant that simply touching things was like my person punching it. That meant I’d have to be extremely careful while using my speed. I sighed and chittered in annoyance, then squeaked as I looked out and saw the shockwave coming toward the ship and my humans. My eyes moved to the ship and I blinked. Not only my humans, but my mate and the others like me were inside that ship.
I had to think, and that blast wave and ground shock would risk knocking the ship off its landing struts. It took me a long moment before I ran as hard as I could and stopped, closing my eyes and slowing my pulse. The ground erupted behind me and I was nearly thrown from my muddy feet before I let my control slip. I chittered in glee and nodded to myself, casually striding across the muddy ground. This was seriously exciting and I’d have to figure out a way to stop my body and mind from moving at such high speed, I could hurt people.
I paused. Ok I didn’t care too much about hurting people, but I was starting to like more of the furless apes. I had to gently hop to gather enough drops of rain to quench my thirst, a few hundred yards more and I think I ate my weight in dragon meat. That got me feeling much better and I kept walking, this was taking forever. Then after a look around I noticed it felt like forever for me, but it seemed like exactly no time had passed. Of course no time had actually passed since nothing had moved around me.
It took me a while to walk out to the very edge of the valley, I had little legs and had to take gentle steps to not leave a wake of damage behind. Oh how I sometimes hated being small, but it had its perks, any true distance was horrid. I had to drink my fill again and started from the side nearest the ship, sprinting as hard as I could for the shockwave, kicking off the ground shock. Then a slow walk back and over to the side and started again, and again, and again. I also threw pebbles as hard as I could at a few trees and large rocks I saw coming for the camp. It was so odd to watch them stop after leaving my tiny hand paw, I’d have to check into this more later. I’d also have to make sure no one tried to put a cape on me, though a cape would make a nice blanket.
It felt like I’d been going for hours trying to help the camp, not to mention the work I’d done before that. When I got back close to my person I thought for a moment and hopped up, kicking down onto the dragon’s head as hard as I could, then waddled along its neck tiredly. I closed my eyes and focused, it didn’t take a great deal of effort now to calm the energy inside me, my pulse slowing and I got to listen to the sickly crunch and splatter of gore as the dragon’s head vaporized.
Other shockwaves exploded out from the encampment and smashed into the storm front and ground shock, but I didn’t care now. I was tired and grabbed hold of my person’s fur as he stumbled forward, his clawed hand moving to hold me gently as shock filled his eyes. I simply chittered and smiled at him, covered in mud and glowing softly as several dragons fell dead around the camp. Large holes had been punched through them in various places, rocks and trees exploded, but best of all I had a warm safe place...to pass the hell out.