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===[CHAPTER 39: GIANT ALIEN ROBOT THINGIES]===

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Eli blinked, watching as the world around him slowed to a crawl. Seconds became hours. The sentry was ready to vaporize them, the soldiers in front and behind them ready to open fire. Eli didn’t know if what he heard was real or not, but he obeyed, as did the rest of Misfit.

Misfit followed his instructions – dropping to the floor - and the moment they did, the soldiers opened fire.

The militia was torn apart by the gunfire. Golden tracers of bullets tore through the room cracking through their body armor. The bodies fell lifelessly to the ground, their blood painted the walls and the floors as the frenzy of bullets tore through them. Steel and flesh intertwined, they screamed, dropping their weapons, and falling.

The others who had shields took cover behind them, holding their shields up, but even they were not safe. A red beam of light fired from the Misfit’s saviors and cracked the shield open, tearing apart the hapless Avonian on the other side. Eli closed his eyes, arms over his head, terrified of opening them until it was over.

And then everything was silent once again. The bullets ceased their frenzy, the Avonians lifeless, their blood pooling on the floor into puddles of devastation. The air was still.

He dared to open his eyes, and when he looked up, he could see his saviors clearly. It was a motely crew of four, and of them, only two were humans. Their clothes were diverse and seemed to lack any type of real cohesion to be called a uniform. As a matter of fact, the gang had more things that set them apart as distinct rather than anything unifying them. One was an elven female with strawberry-pink skin and candy blue hair, she wore a brown leather jacket, black pants and equally black boots. Atop of her head was a small cap that resembled a beret of sorts. In her hands was a pistol, the trigger to which she kept her finger away from now that the pursuing Avonians were dead.

The next was a mustached human male who wore pants that resembled the combat uniforms the Republican Militia would wear, green army fatigues. Across his chest was a combat vest, carrying grenades and spare belts of ammunition wrapping around his torso like a snake. His eyes were hidden away by broad sunglasses with golden lenses that reflected everything the man saw. A wooden rifle, similar to the type the Militiamen used, was nestled in his arms.

The most distinct member of the gang was a bipedal creature, not an elf nor a human. A wolf, man, thing. The visible portions of its body were covered in thick greyish-black fur. It had the face of a canine, with pink scars slicing across the muzzle and parts of the eyes - perhaps from fights long ago that have now healed for the most part. The wolfman had yellow eyes that seemed to burn a hole in the lingering gunsmoke that filled the room. It stood a full head and shoulders over everyone else, at least seven feet tall if Eli had to wager a guess. Its teeth were bared with its hands - rather paws - revealing sharp, dagger-like, claws. They looked sharp enough to tear the average human or elf into small bloody chunks, if the creature so desired. But luckily, for Eli and Misfit, the focus of its aggression wasn't on them. Around its back, which itself had a similar combat vest like that of the human's, a metal pipe hung from a strap on its shoulders. Another rocket launcher, though it looked much smaller in the rather massive and muscular physique of the wolf creature.

And lastly was Eli’s savior. It was another human male who held his pistol high and scanned the room with conviction in his eyes. The man had distinct white spiky hair, and an spotted beard that covered much of his broad square face and jaw. A brown leather trenchcoat was draped over his body with a tail reaching down to his calves and black combat boots, the coat half open to reveal a black sweater underneath. He seemed to be the leader of the group, judging by his position at the front, and the conviction that filled his hazel eyes. In the man's free hand was a small metal device, roughly the size of a smartphone, from which radiant red energy emanated. Magical ekron light filled the room and the occupants inside, and the strange magical technology allowed Misfit to understand the man's next words.

“Misfit?” The man's voice betrayed his age. He was likely in his upper forties, even fifty. But he certainly looked a lot younger. For a man situated in the midst of a warzone like Helena, he had quite the handsome face.

Eli nodded, silently. Slowly the other soldiers, if they could even be called “soldiers”, filed into the room, “Who – who are you?” Asked Badger.

“Your scrappin' saviors, that’s who,” The man remarked with a distinct accent Eli hadn't heard before, “You’ve stirred up a lot of trouble out there.”

“Trouble tends to follow us around,” Matteo said.

“Kindred spirits then, well met,” The man replied with a mischievous grin forming across his hairy face while Eli scrambled to get back to his feet, “So, you’re the aliens I’ve heard so much about. Correct?”

“You know who we are?” Asked Dutch.

“A mutual friend sent us," Said the elf.

“Otaes?” Asked Eli.

She did not answer, and she didn’t need to; it was clear that Otaes hadn’t abandoned Misfit after all. If anything, the warrior might be close by.

Their introduction to the rebels was cut short by the groveling whir of the sentry's engine just above them. The building shook again with the movement of the sentry outside. Clambering across the walls and ceiling. Their gaze turned upwards as the vibrations of the machine’s movements trembled through the floors, “Scrap... no time for introductions then," The man said with his eyes turned up to the ceiling, "I was hoping to throw you all a welcome party, but the Imperials have got other plans I suppose. Sosa? Do you still have the Mighty Mouse?”

The giant werewolf type creature grunted, pulling the rocket launcher off from his torso and presenting the metal tube in its claws, "Aye, sir," it said, the low growling voice marking Sosa as male. His long, wolf-like, tail swished behind his back in acknowledgement, "I only have the one rocket though."

“Good, keep it on hand. Er… paw," The leader of the rebels said in a rather chipper tone, "Vega, you think we can pull it off?"

The other human in the group nodded, "There's no reason why we can't. I've worked with sentries before during Guardsmen training exercises. That model of sentry has armor that's only about 50 millimeters thick on the sides, rear, and underbelly If you get a good shot, and aim at the engine in the rear or its stomach, it should only take one HEAT round to kill it. Or at the very least, knock it out," Vega explained. It seemed that the human was once a member of the River Republic's army. Eli found it interesting to have one of their own among their ranks, somewhat reassuring.

"Right, Sosa. You heard the man," The leader said, the wolf let out a low growl and a flutter of his ears in response, "The rest of you, and Misfit, follow close. It's time for a bit of an argy-bargy,” Said the man, his mischievous smile reappearing through his bearded face.

"Wait, you guys wanna go fight that thing?" Omar asked him with a voice that was practically shivering in fear, "With only one rocket?"

"That was the plan, yes," the man shrugged, "There's certainly enough of us. We can always swarm it, a few of us might get torn apart but that's an acceptable loss."

Omar immediately froze up, his skin turning a ghastly pale, to the amusement of the human who started to chuckle to himself, "I'm joking! I'm joking! I ain't gonna let you die," he said.

"I'd expect our allies to be a bit more considerate," Eli said through gritted teeth. The human brushed off the comment.

"Look, I get it, you aren't familiar with the war machines, right? But there's no use being afraid of them. That's what the Imperials want, fear is a tool just like any other, and if you give them that then the Empire has already won. Besides, sentries ain't exactly hard to kill if you know what you're doing. Ask Vega."

The mustached man gave a confirming nod of his head, "Right. One shot. One dead sentry. It's simple math. I've done it plenty of times."

"Are you sure? I didn't put 'getting vaporized by a giant robot spider' on my bucket list this year," Dutch rebutted.

"Well that makes two of us, don't it?" The man flashed Dutch the widest smile he could muster, though it was only for a split second, "Follow our lead, and don't do anything stupid. We're going sentry hunting..."

The rebels took that as a cue to leave, and they promptly turned their backs on Misfit to track the sentry down. Eli hesitated for a moment, and he felt the weight of Misfit's expectations suddenly shift onto him. Badger nudged him in the side with her elbow, "So... do we trust macho man and his gang of action heroes?"

"If they're the ones Overwatch said we're here for, I don't see why not," Eli sighed, "Besides, it's not like we've got any other choice now that Bannon is dead. If we want any shot of getting back to the Nexus, we need to finish Bannon's mission."

"Right," Badger said, "Sorry... I'm just not a huge fan of giant wolf people. Too many teeth... and claws."

"Sosa seemed cool," Dutch shrugged, "Besides, I would much rather have a giant werewolf dude as a friend than a enemy."

"Fair enough," Badger gave in. With that it was settled, and they followed after the rebels...

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Together, they slogged through the decaying halls of the building. Concrete walls flanked them on either side pockmarked by bullet holes and debris, and the air smelled of something burning. In fact, that fiery scent had been practically everywhere since Misfit arrived in Helena. Now that Eli thought of it, as the battle escalated, it only grew stronger.

Through the darkness of the narrow hallways, the Sentry could be heard clambering around their building. For something of its sheer size, the sentries were remarkably maneuverable. If Eli wasn't currently preoccupied with the thought of getting vaporized by the beast, he would have admired it for being a marvel of engineering. The Avonian Imperials, for all their magical prowess, were just as much strong engineers. It was perhaps that fusion of magic and technology that made the Imperial army feel so powerful, though if the current battle was anything to go off of, they were not fully invincible. They had their weaknesses, and if the rebels were confident enough in their sentry hunting abilities to go out and actively "hunt" sentries down, those weaknesses could be exploited. Eli would have to pay attention...

Though as they progressed through the halls, the rebels' "Sentry Hunt" became more a game of cat and mouse, with the Sentry being the cat and the rebels being the mice. They would stop before crossing windows, ensuring that the sentry’s red eyes weren’t waiting for them just outside. Often times, they could hear the low hum of the engines just behind the brick walls they were passing by. Too many times, Eli felt as if the Sentry was directly on top of them. Looking down at them through the walls, able to see without being seen. Omnipresent in a way that made Eli turn around his shoulder to check, when in reality there was nothing there at all. Such a large machine, lost to their eyes. Like a spider in every fashion. The moment you let a sentry out of your sight, it vanishes. A threat unseen. How such a massive iron contraption could act so... stealthily... was unnerving. Again, it must've had something to do with Avonian engineering.

They crawled, lurked and dashed their way towards the central staircase and began their slow ascent upwards towards the iron door which separated the safety of being inside the windowless stairwell to the exposed roof. Eli knew why they needed to get there, the roof’s lack of constricting walls and open air access was the ideal place to use the rocket launcher. But on the flip side, Eli imagined that there was virtually no cover to shield themselves. A fear that was confirmed the moment the lead Rebel opened the door.

It was barren. The only cover and places to hide were a slight ledge that bordered off the roof of the building from a forty-foot drop to the streets below. There were also metal ventilation ducts and electrical compartments that crisscrossed the roof, though the cover those afforded would only protect from the small caliber rounds that the sentry fired. If it used the main gun, nothing would protect from getting eviscerated in a heartbeat. All around them was nothing by the ongoing battle.

As predicted, Overwatch was forced to restrain its aircraft from flying through the skies. The contrails of jets and helicopters flying through the skies, was now replaced by stillness and a eery quiet that was only broken by sporadic gunfire from somewhere else far away. How Overwatch planned on invading Helena without Airwatch's support was beyond Eli, but the focus remained on those anti-aircraft missiles that were... somewhere here. Eli figured now wouldn't be the best time to bring it up when they had much more immediate concerns. But without the missiles down, their chances of getting out of Helena were slim to none.

The rebels kept their eyes focused on the skies above, their weapons scanning for any threats. Luckily there was no infantry waiting to shoot at them on the roof. It was just them and the sentry, which had yet to reveal itself, "The revolt isn't going as we planned” said the elf among them as she surveyed the battlefield, "We were promised more support from the RDI."

"You should know this by now, Bell. Those Ossie bastards break promises all the time," Vega retorted with a grimace, "They'd rather sell us out than commit anything to the revolution, comrade. We only exist to serve their purposes, in their eyes."

"What about these humans," Sosa growled as he gestured back to Misfit with a sharp claw, "I thought they were here to assist us too."

"Clearly they can't. If the support was as good as the RDI promised it was, Navarro would be dead and Helena would've been ours by now," Bell shrugged as she glared at Eli.

"Wasn't it their forces who managed to fend off a behemoth attack by themselves?" Vega asked, "I've seen that Imperial garrison with my own two eyes. They were Avonian elite, and they were almost completely annihilated. That kind of stuff doesn't just happen by accident. If the Commonwealth isn't coming to help us out, then we can at least pray that The Coalition will."

“Word spreads fast,” Rafael muttered.

“Like wildfire. You alien pricks show up for one day and suddenly half the bleeding planet’s at each others throat again. And the funny part is that the idiots don’t even know why they’re fighting,” the lead Rebel, whose name still eluded Eli’s knowledge, affirmed.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

“Planet Narva doesn't know about us yet?” Matteo asked.

“You should’ve seen the look on my face when a bunch of shady RDI agents approached me with information about a "potential game changer". It was a bunch of humans, no less, who fell out of the sky and were willing to help us out. That's all they told me. Nobody on this planet outside of a select handful know about you or your faction. All's they hear is that there’s a fight in the jungle, and someone’s responsible, but nobody knows who.”

“The entire planet’s on the verge of blowing itself up just because of The Nexus?”

“Nah… we aren’t close to the part where they start blowing each other up. By then, trust you me, we’d already be dead. But that’s why you’re here, you get the once in a lifetime opportunity to clean up your scrap, and put some right back into the world,” He pointed to a ventilation duct on the ceiling, “Comrade Sosa, take up a position over there with the Mighty Mouse!”

The wolf grunted in response, taking the metal tube which almost seemed like a toy in his claws, and making his way over behind the metal vent cover.

“Everyone else, on me-" The leader’s words were interrupted by the crashing sound of thudding. One by one, shaking the building they stood precariously on top of. The Sentry was coming, “Go! Double time!” The leader urged the others to follow. They split from Sosa and hurried behind another solid-enough looking ventilation shaft.

The second that Badger had ducked into cover, the red eyes of the Sentry flooded the roof. But Misfit, and the rebels, were relatively safe in the shadow that the ventilation box offered.

Eli turned to look at the others about to speak, but one of the rebels, the pink elf, put a hand on his shoulder. She held a finger up to her lips. Silence. It hunted via sound first, sight second.

The mechanical groans and whines of the sentry echoed just behind them. Eli could tell which direction it was looking, for the red light followed its eyes, growing dimmer when it turned away. Sosa held the launcher close, peeking out of his cover to get eyes. But instead of firing at it, he turned back to them. Holding a hand – or paw – out to make a cutting motion across his neck. There was no shot.

The gesture from Sosa made the leader Rebel look distressed, as he peeked from behind cover when the red light dimmed. The Sentry knew they were somewhere on the roof, as it refused to leave. But it was hesitating. When the leader got a look, he turned back to the team. In the lowest whisper he could muster, he spoke to them, his voice flat and serious, “The shield is facing us. It’s gotta show its ass, otherwise that rocket won’t do scrap.”

“But it’s not moving,” Said Badger, who also peeked out momentarily, “It’s waiting for something.”

“It knows we’ve got a recoilless, Avonian infantry probably called it in through the radio, or it saw Sosa when we were hiding in the building. It’s scared, it won’t push until it knows where we are for certain,” Bell whispered.

Despite the low tone that they whispered in, the sentry heard. A low mechanical whine escaped the machine, and the building shook as it took another step forward. Slowly, cautiously, advancing towards their position, “Scrap… we need to split. Comrades, with me,” the man said, but he made sure to single out Misfit, “You. Earth people. Run the other way, get its attention.”

“Wait – we’re the fucking bait?” Eli asked him in protest.

“Well, do you have a better idea? Go ahead, walk up to it and ask it to piss off nicely, be my guest,” Grinned the man.

“I’m being serious! Why don’t you do it if you’re so confident, jackass?”

“Look, you’re doing it because I’m the one who saved your scrapping arse from getting gunned down by an Imperial soldier! Now we do it my way, or you can fuck off and take your chances alone! Got it?” Eli was about to argue but the presence of the sentry kept his mouth shut, “Jolly good, we’re all going to push. On my count…”

He held up three fingers. The whir of the sentry’s engines grew louder as it crept nearer. Each step it took, his fingers fell.

3…

2…

By the time the lead rebel’s fingers fell to one, the red light was only mere inches away from them. The protection that the box offered dwindling to nothing.

One more step from the Sentry, and all hell broke loose.

“RUN! RUN! COVER SOSA!” The rebel grabbed his gun, and they all scattered, running out in front of the Sentry’s vision.

The machine unleashed an ear shattering roar the sound of which rattled Eli’s insides as he stood on his feet to run. He raised his rifle, the holographic sights showing the full view of the machine’s threatening build. His finger pulled on the trigger, and his gun was the first to fire.

They swarmed the machine, opening fire, dashing from cover to cover, and even flanking around to get its attention. Their bullets of course, bounced harmlessly off the metal hull if it hadn’t been stopped mid-air by the shield. Yet the sheer volume of fire forced the sentry to step back. It too returned fire with its machine gun, pulses of red energy cracked through the air and embedded themselves into the concrete surrounding them. Narrowly missing Rafael as he slid into cover behind a semi-wall.

But their plans to confuse the machine were working. It stood back, uncertain of what to focus its main “Destroy-everything-cannon” at, while the smaller machine gun opened fire to smash them all like ants. The wolf managed to sneak across the roof, carefully dodging the fire despite his size, keeping the rocket launcher in tow. And in a prime moment of opportunity, the sentry's rear was exposed to it. Eli caught a glimpse just as he returned fire to keep the machine overwhelmed. It was a perfect shot, but one that would rapidly fade. Sosa perked up and studied his vantage point for a brief moment before he raised the launcher tube over his shoulder, and took aim. His massive claws hovered over the trigger, and his yellow eyes narrowed. Eli held his breath...

A flurry of white-hot sparks shot out of the launcher's rear, and a burst of light rocketed out of the mouth! It zipped through the air in a flash! It was a shaky shot, and for a moment, it seemed doubtful... but the rocket hit its intended target. The warhead collided with the sentry, sending the robot monstrosity up into a cloud of black smoke and fire! A massive shockwave unleashed as it exploded, burying itself into what was presumably the engine compartment or fuel tank, and for a moment, Eli felt unsteady on his feet! The sentry unleashed a painful cry from its siren as it clumsily flailed about trying to recuperate from the hit.

"YES! IT WAS A HIT! TAKE THAT MOTHERFUCKER!" Dutch yelled out as they watched the sentry struggle. Misfit and the rebels were on the cusp of celebrating Sosa's shot, but they refrained... the smoke cleared, and the sentry - remarkably - was still standing. The rear was smoking heavily, and parts of the engine compartment were still visibly on fire, yet through it all, the sentry managed to survive...

"Oh, scrap," The lead rebel gritted his teeth, "Come on! We've got to get out of here while it's stunned!"

He stood up, rallying the other rebels around him. Their sights set on the door leading them back downstairs, though it was now quite a hefty journey. Misfit opened fire on the sentry again with the hopes of keeping it bogged down, but whatever kept the sentry frozen had passed. The the engine roared back to life with a bone rattling growl, and the once dormant red eyes flickered back on, renewed with an intense vigor that Eli interpreted as 'revenge'.

The gun of the sentry swung around, ignoring the small caliber rounds of Misfit's guns, and setting its sights on Sosa. The wolf stumbled back as the red light descended over his frame. Quickly, he dropped the rocket launcher and collapsed onto all fours, his claws scratching at the concrete surface upon which they walked. Like an actual wolf, Sosa used his powerful limbs to dash out of the way, just as the machine guns turned to open fire on his position. In his wolf-like posture, Sosa was fast. But not quit fast enough. For a bullet managed to nail him right in his hind leg. A painful whimper escaped Sosa's maw as he collapsed in front of the light of the sentry's eyes.

"SOSA! COMRADE!" Vega shouted, just as he and the rest of his rebels were about to make it out. He immediately turned heel, abandoning all instincts for self-preservation to make a mad dash towards the fallen wolf-man.

"Vega! What the hell are you doing, you're gonna get killed!" Bell tried to stop him, but it was of no use, "Damn it! Cover him!" She shouted out. Misfit and the rebels turned their guns back onto the sentry, knowing that at this point - all they were doing was wasting ammunition. The armor of the machine was too strong, and the sentry seemed to have seen through their swarm-like ruse to be faltered by the small arms fire. At this point, running away was their only option.

"Nobody gets left behind!" Vega said as he sprinted across the rooftop. The sentry's machine gun switched targets, seeing a vulnerable and fully exposed Vega practically delivering himself straight into its tendrils. With the red lights drawing away from the wounded wolf, Sosa took the opportunity to limp away into cover. Yet he was bleeding, profusely. A trail of red blood followed him as he forced his body to move. Vega meanwhile tried his hardest to evade the barrage of machine gun rounds that threatened to slice into him, barely dodging the fire with his quick sidestepping. He too managed to get into cover, though he was still so far away from Sosa's position...

“Oh fuck… fuck, fuck, fuck,” Eli whimpered as he cowered behind cover. The rocket launcher was behind the sentry, discarded, used. Their final weapon against the armored giant had been lost. The machine took several steps towards the hapless and scattered team of rebels and Misfit. Each step brought the red light closer, haunting them with the fate of being turned into little more than dust at the touch of a heat laser. One step after another, the guns of the sentry charged, focusing its attention. Eli held his breath, completely out of time. There was no room to make a new plan or to go and reach Sosa. The sentry was practically on top of them... nowhere to run, nowhere to hide...

That is, until Eli heard something screech through the air! Piercing! Like the cry of an eagle! The fluttering of wings garnered his attention, but it was lost when he saw something else. An arrow. Red tipped. It cut through the air like knife through water, descending from above, landing squarely in the middle of the Sentry’s monstrous face. It stuck, and upon contact with the cold steel – it exploded into yet another ball of smoke and flame!

The blast wasn’t enough to down the sentry, but it interrupted the charge of its main gun. Red ekron energy burst from the main gun, like shocks of electricity, rendering the main cannon all but useless. Bent and twisted steel hung loosely from the face of the machine. It cried in pain, letting out a loud whoop as it stumbled backwards. Alive, but even more wounded than it was before.

Eli looked up to find who his savior was. And he saw the brown feathered wings of a familiar griffon.

Archer, with Otaes atop his back, glided across view, with Otaes launching arrow after arrow at the machine. Explosion after explosion rocked the body of the Sentry, even managing to knock a few more components off of it, making its engine smoke. It spun, forcing its shield up, and trying to keep track of Otaes as she and Archer circle around it. Machine gun fire was unleashed, trying to gun the duo down, but missing as Archer weaved and evaded.

The leader of the rebels ran out into the open, gun in hand. Though the Sentry was distracted, it’s flailing limbs and sporadic movement across the roof would’ve proved treacherous to avoid ending up like Sosa, or worse yet, impaled. But despite the danger, he charged out. Waving his arms to gather Otaes’ attention.

“GO! MAKE IT CHASE YOU! GO!” He screamed out to the circling Griffon. Eli couldn’t tell if Otaes heard over the commotion the sentry was making, but it seemed she had. For the griffon spread its wings straight and turned off to fly into the city. The sentry tracked her, its eyes locked onto the griffon while the duo darted through the air. It seemed to hesitate, perhaps planning on what to do. Eventually though, it caved in. Raising one leg up to crawl back down the side of the building and onto the street to chase after Otaes and Archer. Slowly, the sentry made its way back down the side of the building, falling for Otaes' bait.

With the sentry hopefully gone for good, the rebels sprung back into motion. Vega grabbed a hold of the wounded Sosa, helping to lift the wolf's weight over his shoulder, bringing him towards the group. Sosa was injured, but luckily still alive, "See... I told you! Nobody get's left behind!" Vega muttered.

"What you did was foolish, if it wasn't for Otaes, we would've all been killed trying to cover for you!" Bell interrupted, but Vega brushed her off. The leader of the rebels sighed as he watched his own team of rebels squabble among each other, before he turned to the phantoms, gathering their breath behind cover.

“On your feet. Our work is far from done, comrades,” Said the man.

“Where is she taking it?” Asked Matteo.

“To where we are going,” The man replied.

“What?” Eli asked, standing up, “You want us to still fight that thing? We don’t even have any of those rocket launchers you guys use to take it down.”

“We don’t, but where we’re going does,” The rebel said with slight grin, “If she's smart, she'll be taking it around to our base of operations. It's an old university that the Junta transformed into a military garrison when they took over. Now, it's our headquarters. We have an armory there, and if I remember correctly, more rockets."

“There’re more weapons there. But we must hurry,” Bell said with a grim weight on her voice, “The revolution is on shaky enough ground as is. I've heard some reports that they're making inroads near Marshal Navarro's palace, but they're getting bogged down by the Republican Guard and Militia. If that sentry manages to overrun our headquarters, we'll have to give up!" The elf's blue eyes landed on Eli once more, "The Coalition though... we've heard they have the guns necessary to destroy the Imperials, right? When can your army come in to support us?”

Eli nodded, “Our communications are down with our commander.”

“We’ve got the Behemoths to thank for that," Vega spoke up, as he bandaged Sosa's leg, "The Imperials have a Vampire Behemoth somewhere on the outskirts of the city. They’re jamming all our signals to high hell.”

"A behemoth!" Eli felt his heart drop as he cried out, a shiver went up his spine just hearing the name alone, "Holy hell, they have a behemoth? Here?"

"Calm down, son. Vampire behemoths are pretty much unarmed and are kept well behind their lines. Vampires are electronic warfare vehicles, with an emphasis on Avonian communications. Their height makes them perfect for radio masts and the like, and the Imperials use them to jam the signals of their enemies. Since they're kept behind Imperial lines, we won't see it, and last time I checked, they're mostly unarmed."

Just as Eli was about to sigh in relief, the rebel leader jumped in, "But that doesn't mean we can relax. The vampire confirms that there are Avonian reinforcements nearby. After Emperor Kirk declared an Imperial Emergency, we knew that there would be an Imperial battlegroup making a beeline towards Helena. Now our scouts near the Imperial border haven't spotted any fighting behemoths, but they've sure as hell have brought sentries, alpha units, dragons, and lots of firepower," he paused briefly, "I thought we would've had more time before Imperial reinforcements arrived, but the fact that they've already got a vampire around here means that they're closer than I thought."

"Can't we fight them off?" Rafael asked.

Bell shook her head, "We can barely take on the Republican Guard on our own, the Imperials are going to - and excuse me for using a rather violent term here - slaughter us like pigs. We have about as much of a chance beating back an Imperial battlegroup as a fly does against the engine of a fighter jet. Between the fly and us, my money is on the fly."

“Shouldn’t you have support following you?” Sosa asked, giving a curious twitch from his black wolf ears, "I thought there would be more of you Earth humans."

"We are the support," Said Matteo.

The rebels gave Misfit a strange look, confused by what Matteo just said. There was a brief feeling of pity in Eli's heart, how many more people would they have to confess this basic - but tragic - fact to? He was getting sick of saying it, first to the Warrior Elves, and now to these people, “We’re the Penal Unit. Our commanders sent us in with a squad of normal troops because they think we have a lot of experience on Narva. But those troops were killed. We're all that's left,” Eli confessed, “I wouldn’t be surprised if Overwatch already counted us for dead by now. In fact, I’d bet on it.”

There was a bit of stunned silence between the rebels. They seemed to be looking for a hole to poke in Eli's story, "You're all prisoners? Criminals?" Bell asked with a suspicious raise of her brow.

"Why in heavens name would they send a bunch of convicts out to help us? What do you know about Narva?" Sosa narrowed his golden eyes, his fangs bared briefly.

"Relax, you idiots!" The leader held out his hand, "We're armed militants fighting against The Empire! Aren't we also criminals? The only difference between us and them..." The human flashed Eli a smile, "Is that they got caught."

"You've got to be kidding me. We don't know their crimes? They could be murderers for all we know! Hell, if their story is to be believed, they may have been the ones who killed their soldiers!" Vega tried to argue.

"Are your hands clean of that? Weren't you in The Republican Militia once? Haven't you slaughtered your share of innocents in the name of the Junta?"

"I was a conscript-"

"These people are here to help us. We're all criminals, we're all crooks, and we're all thieves. We are all united by our fight against Imperialism, comrades!" The man preached before turning heel to face Misfit, "And as for you, welcome to the club. I don't know what your crimes are, but if you're willing to help us out, then for all intents and purposes, you're one of us. Got it?"

Misfit slowly nodded.

The leader of the rebels sighed, “Come with us. I can’t guarantee that we’ll establish communications… but we’ll need all the help we can get.”

Misfit had no other choice but to accept. Any shelter was good shelter. And it beat wandering through the streets alone. Besides, at least with the rebels they stood some chance in getting their communications back up. Alone, they fared close to none. At least, that’s what Eli thought.

They agreed, but before they left, it was Rafael who raised his hand and asked, “Wait… we didn’t get your name yet!”

The man turned back to them, holstering his gun. It seemed he was contemplating something in his mind. Strange for so straightforward a question. But eventually, a smile stretched across his bearded face.

“Sparrow. Just call me Sparrow.”

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