Post by Swim on Jan 17, 2016 16:31:26 GMT -5
It has been some time since I pushed out a new short story. Chronologically the next story I have to post is End Times, a short story that I wrote a couple of years ago for a Carnival entry, but since that isn't new it'll just be reposted here in this thread. Since Crystal Huntress a lot has happened. The threat posed by V has ended, but due to the ongoing threat of infiltration by New Gen reploids the size of the Hunter Squads has been scaled back, leaving them vulnerable to renewed aggression by Lucian Alexandre and the reemergence of Sigma. In End Times Sigma himself comes back and empowered by a revolutionary new form of technology, the Cyber Elves, he crushes MHHQ and with it Tank who stayed behind to buy time for the evacuation. As Sigma closes in on the remaining Hunters, Alexandre stands poised to make his own move. Jet has tracked the Maverick Lord to his fortress, a floating weapons platform in the sky, and stages a desperate assault in hopes of preventing the hammer from falling a second time. But before Jet can confront his foe he is forced into conflict with a brand new obstacle, Team Olympus!
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End Times
Maverick Hunter HQ was a flurry of activity. Agitated navigators and medical staff barked out instructions and the workers that could still stand rushed about madly to comply with their orders. Every so often one of them would steal a nervous glance outside. It was a warm summer night, still and silent, save for the distant thunder. Under normal circumstances, it could be considered a peaceful evening, but MHHQ was located in the center of a bustling city and the silence, along with the fog which accompanied it were unusual, and carried a sense of foreboding. Everyone in MHHQ knew what lay beyond the fog, but there was no longer any way to prevent the hammer from falling.
It was the year 2263, and much of how the Maverick Hunters had once operated had changed. Years of terroristic attacks from rouge New Generation Reploids had taken their toll, and the inability to efficiently prevent the attacks had eroded the public's trust in the hunter organization, leading to a series of budget cuts. To make matters worse, the rogue faction of New Generation Reploids had infiltrated Maverick Hunter HQ itself, by picking off handfuls of hunters and impersonating their members. In response to the budget cuts and the continued infiltration attempts, Maverick Hunter High Command was forced to scale back their once vast army of units and reform them into squads of no more than five members. The idea was that smaller teams would be more efficient, and would increase the likelihood of spotting impostors within the ranks. In time, the leader of this new insurrection was brought to justice, but the Maverick Hunters would never again be what they were. It was at this point, just as their wounds had begun to heal that Sigma re-emerged.
No one knew how he'd come back, or for how long he'd spent laying the groundwork for his final war, but his first strike had been devastating. In a series of coordinated attacks, Sigma's forces crippled key military instillations and centers of commerce across the globe, in addition to assassinating several prominent political figures. Maverick Hunters were deployed en masse to deal with the crisis, while Sigma seized on the chaos and confusion he'd creased to strike against the hunters directly. His army quickly swept through the skeletal force of hunters who had remained to defend the city, and even now they moved through the populace unchecked. Zero had been re-called from the field, breaking though enemy lines and challenging Sigma, but even he, it seemed was unsuccessful. Before losing contact, Zero had reported that in addition to the rank and file factory mavericks, Sigma's army contained reanimated maverick generals and even hunters and reploids not designed for combat. Confronted with this intelligence, hunter scientists were forced to conclude that Sigma had weaponized Cyber Elves.
Cyber Elves were an experimental new technology, a sort of sentient computer program that could bond with a reploid's DNA to create all sorts of effects, such as healing battlefield injuries, personal trauma and even, some theorized, the Maverick Virus. Sigma however, had learned to alter the Cyber Elves and was using them to 'overwrite' reploid data, wiping their memories and further bolstering his ranks. In light of this, X had been assigned to watch over a certain scientist who was working on a new type of Cyber Elf which would have power over all lesser Cyber Elves, and would hopefully be able to negate and nullify the negative effects of Sigma's. Those that yet remained at MHHQ had been given the order to evacuate. No one but the mavericks would be coming for them.
Alia's mechanical brain was racing like never before, trying to find some way out of the desperate situation MHHQ had found itself in. The tran-servers were working as fast as they could, but there were simply too many wounded hunters and civilian refugees to possibly evacuate them all. In the last hour things had grown more complicated still, the city's power grid had been knocked out and now MHHQ was running on an emergency generator. In addition to managing an evacuation, it was Alia's duty as highest ranking officer to dispose of any and all compromising intelligence that the mavericks could use against them. She'd been able to shut out the background noise of the frantic personnel and frightened evacuees but there was one sound that kept breaking her concentration. It was a sharp, yet grating sound, one that she could not place. But it persisted, expounding her frustration. When she could no longer stand to listen Alia stood up from her desk, intending to find the source of the sound. Several other hunters were crowding around a window across the room where the noise appeared to be coming from, indulging her curiosity she pushed to the front of the pack and peered outside.
Atop the steps leading into the main entrance of MHHQ sat Tank, calmly sharpening his enormous blades on a whetstone, as was his custom before battle. His weapons did not need sharpening, Tank typically kept them in good condition, but the simple chore held ritualistic meaning for the hunter, it calmed his nerves and helped him focus on the battle ahead. So Tank persisted, even as he became aware that his actions had disturbed the occupants of the building behind him. Only when Alia opened the window above and called out to him did Tank sheathe his blades and lay down the whetstone.
"Tank?" The navigator exclaimed in disbelief, "What are you doing here?"
"I'm here to make sure you all evacuate safely ma'am," Tank responded calmly.
"But you're not supposed to be here," Alia protested, "Command gave the order to flee!"
"All due respect to command," Tank replied, "But they're going to have to forgive me this one time. This is where I belong."
"But Tank," Alia pleaded, "If you stay here you're going to-"
"No buts Alia." Tank cut her off sharply. His voice had lost its pleasant conversational tone and grown suddenly curt. Alia followed Tank's gaze and looked up the road where hundreds of sets of glowing red eyes were emerging from the darkness.
"All due respect to you ma'am," Tank said, now very serious, "But I think it best that you go back inside and do your job, and let me get on with mine."
Alia withdrew her head and slammed the window shut as Tank turned to face the onrushing throng of mavericks. Without taking his eyes off of his assailants, Tank raised his left arm and fired a buster shot over his shoulder, collapsing the entrance to MHHQ behind him. His full attention now on the battle, Tank stepped in to attack, feigning high and swiping low with his katana, removing the first maverick's legs. Tank whirled around to meet his next attacker, actually knocking his head from his shoulders with a powerful backhand. Mavericks continued to press forward, attacking in unison now. Tank removed his arm guard, brought it to bear and activated its Riot Mode, causing it to expand to a large enough size to effectively cover his body. The maverick attacks were deflected harmlessly off the shield's energy barrier. Before they could even recover from the force of their own attacks, Tank gave a powerful shove, knocking many mavericks off their feet. Emerging from behind his shield, Tank raised an arm and let loose several tank shells into the hordes of mavericks which were pressing down on HQ from all sides. They had quite the conclave established, prompting Tank to retreat back to the base of the steps lest his back be exposed. He then fired off a few more explosive rounds, taking advantage of the mavericks clustered up as much as they were, before changing up his buster settings. The arm cannon clicked and morphed into a chain gun. Several mavericks were trying to get around him by climbing up the sides of the building, and picking them off would require a little more finesse than indiscriminately firing tank shells.
Sigma studied the monitor in front of him intently. His forces had begun their assault on MHHQ, but they had encountered more resistance than expected. Zero had already been dealt with, and he didn't think X would show himself yet. It made sense though, once he saw the sole defender. He knew the hunter, understood what drove him to fight. Death on the battlefield would be too good for him, Sigma wanted to make him feel helplessness and despair first. The maverick despot gave last orders to his lieutenants and departed for the front lines.
Tank crouched behind a hunk of concrete and reassessed his options. He was taking fire from all sides and his shield couldn't cover ever angle. To make matters worse, the mavericks had deployed jet troopers, allowing the mavericks to attack from above him, or simply land on the roof and bypass the fight. Tank's thoughts suddenly shifted to Jet, he hoped his brother was okay. Forcing his attention back to the battle, Tank identified a jet trooper who had taken his turn too wide and too slowly. A moment later, Tank's grapple cable pierced the maverick's chest and hooked onto the jetpack on the other side. The hunter gave a sharp tug, yanking the maverick flier face first into the gravel. But Tank wasn't done with the unfortunate trooper, shield still raised to protect himself from enemy fire, Tank grasped the cable in his free hand and swung the trooper into his fellows like a makeshift flail, bludgeoning the legion until the unlucky trooper was in pieces. As Tank retracted the cable a sniper round pierced his upper torso. Tank stepped back and raised his shield as his helmet's imaging picked up handfuls of snipers now perched on the surrounding rooftops, continuing their tactic of staying out of his reach. The initial shot hadn't damaged anything critical, Tank had his heavy armor to thank for that, but they were still more than a nuisance. Powering down his shield and energy katana and returning them to his arm and hip, Tank grasped the two handed broadsword at his back and hefted it, breaking into a charge at the nearest building. The hunter moved with startling speed for one of his size, propelling himself skyward with a great leap and bringing his enormous weapon down on the foundation. The structure buckled and shifted before collapsing in on itself. One nest of snipers had been taken care of, but the constant fire was getting too intense, and no matter how many enemies he killed another took up its position.
In his absence, several mavericks had rushed forward and begun shifting the stone or climbing the walls. Another wave of jet trooper arrived, landing directly on the roof of HQ, Tank was sure several had gotten inside by now. But leaving the main entrance unguarded wasn't an option, it would just let more in.
Tank rushed back to his spot by the door, firing chain guns from both arms as he came, cleaning the climbers from the walls before pressing his back firmly against the wall of debris again. Tank stared out into the legion of mavericks and fired with every weapon he had, sweeping over lines of mavericks with his chain guns and counting on the auto targeting systems in his helmet to guide the clusters of missiles now pouring from his shoulders. For a moment the fog mingled with the smoke clouds and everything was still. Tank wondered for a split second if he'd fought them off, but this false hope was shattered when a green and black bolt of energy shrieked out of the darkness. The blast struck Tank directly in the chest, momentarily shutting down his system and forcing him to his knees.
The mavericks hadn't gone, they'd simply stopped firing. The big cheese had arrived and clearly some sort of showdown was about to occur. Tank got to hit feet and peered across the courtyard at his opponent to be as they emerged from the fog. Tank was taken back - it was Sigma himself.
Tank studied Sigma suspiciously, his newest body was very tall, taller than Tank in fact, and had ghostly white skin. The only weapon Tank could see was a heavy maul that he dragged behind him, and while Tank could see no buster he already knew firsthand that Sigma was able to fire some sort of energy blasts. The body looked strong, and obviously formidable, but nothing too out of line with any of his previous bodies. And yet, Zero had been unable to stop him. In fact, from what Tank could tell by just by looking, Zero hadn't been able to put a scratch on him. He scanned the maverick with his helmet vision, hoping it would identify any fractures in the armor or a weakness that he could exploit but he could find nothing. Tank wanted to start the battle on his terms however, and fired a tank shell at Sigma's head. Only, the shell seemed not to affect the maverick leader, who didn't even change his gait. Tank switched back to his chaingun and watched in stunned disbelief as shot after shot ricocheted off of Sigma's face.
"What the hell is his body made of," Tank wondered. "He's acting like he's not even feeling my attacks..."
Sigma hefted his mace and prepared to crush Tank who dove out of the way, shifting his busters back into hands so that he could use the most powerful weapon he had, the broadsword, Redemption. It was his sword in every sense of the word, when he fought with it he felt better, stronger, more confident, like he could do anything. He barely parried Sigma's next attack.
Tank gritted his teeth as Sigma pressed down with all of his weight. It wasn't often that anyone could match him strength for strength, Tank didn't enjoy being put into the losing corner of a weapon lock. He tried to back away to avoid being forced onto his knees back Sigma responded by lashing out with an over-sized boot, punting Tank several yards away. He propped himself up, visibly shaken, grasping Redemption for support. Sigma advanced forward with murderous intent but the motion awakened something within Tank.
"NO!" Tank shouted, getting to his feet and re-positioned Redemption in an attack stance. "I won't-, you won't take another step you bastard!"
Sigma actually laughed in response. "Is that all maverick hunter? Not with a bang but a whimper?"
"Oh you can shove it," Tank snapped back, "This is my place. You've got tenacity, I'll give you that, but you need to learn to quit while you're ahead. You might think you're holding all the cards but men don't bow to beasts, you won't win. Not today, not ever."
"Cling to your defiance if you must," Sigma boasted, "But that your death will be insignificant."
"I'd rather die on my feet than live on my knees you piece of crap," Tank yelled, charging at Sigma.
Tank swung Redemption horizontally from the left, and quickly pulled back his blade for an overhead strike as soon as Sigma blocked the attack. Sigma blocked this second blow as well, but instead of pulling back Tank continued to push, catching the maverick off guard. His opponent off balance, Tank wasted no time in bringing the blade around for a decapitating strike on the right side of Sigma's neck. The blade made an inch of indentation before stopping completely.
Shock registered on Tank's face for the briefest of moments before it was eclipsed completely by Sigma's gloved hand. Tank couldn't see a thing, but he felt his feet leave the ground. Sigma was lifting him by the helmet with one hand, and try as he might Tank couldn't break free of his grip. He punched and kicked at every inch of Sigma that he could reach, even dousing the maverick at close range with his knee mounted flamethrower. And then he could see again, rather than a dark palm print there was a blinding green light. Waves of energy emanated from Sigma's palm, and Tank's empty helmet crashed to the ground, followed by his broken body.
"Surely this was the end of an era," Sigma thought to himself as his forces flooded into MHHQ, "And the dawn of a new age for reploids."
The sun would indeed rise on a new world the next morning. The time of the Maverick Hunters was over. The Elf Wars had only just begun.
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End Times
Maverick Hunter HQ was a flurry of activity. Agitated navigators and medical staff barked out instructions and the workers that could still stand rushed about madly to comply with their orders. Every so often one of them would steal a nervous glance outside. It was a warm summer night, still and silent, save for the distant thunder. Under normal circumstances, it could be considered a peaceful evening, but MHHQ was located in the center of a bustling city and the silence, along with the fog which accompanied it were unusual, and carried a sense of foreboding. Everyone in MHHQ knew what lay beyond the fog, but there was no longer any way to prevent the hammer from falling.
It was the year 2263, and much of how the Maverick Hunters had once operated had changed. Years of terroristic attacks from rouge New Generation Reploids had taken their toll, and the inability to efficiently prevent the attacks had eroded the public's trust in the hunter organization, leading to a series of budget cuts. To make matters worse, the rogue faction of New Generation Reploids had infiltrated Maverick Hunter HQ itself, by picking off handfuls of hunters and impersonating their members. In response to the budget cuts and the continued infiltration attempts, Maverick Hunter High Command was forced to scale back their once vast army of units and reform them into squads of no more than five members. The idea was that smaller teams would be more efficient, and would increase the likelihood of spotting impostors within the ranks. In time, the leader of this new insurrection was brought to justice, but the Maverick Hunters would never again be what they were. It was at this point, just as their wounds had begun to heal that Sigma re-emerged.
No one knew how he'd come back, or for how long he'd spent laying the groundwork for his final war, but his first strike had been devastating. In a series of coordinated attacks, Sigma's forces crippled key military instillations and centers of commerce across the globe, in addition to assassinating several prominent political figures. Maverick Hunters were deployed en masse to deal with the crisis, while Sigma seized on the chaos and confusion he'd creased to strike against the hunters directly. His army quickly swept through the skeletal force of hunters who had remained to defend the city, and even now they moved through the populace unchecked. Zero had been re-called from the field, breaking though enemy lines and challenging Sigma, but even he, it seemed was unsuccessful. Before losing contact, Zero had reported that in addition to the rank and file factory mavericks, Sigma's army contained reanimated maverick generals and even hunters and reploids not designed for combat. Confronted with this intelligence, hunter scientists were forced to conclude that Sigma had weaponized Cyber Elves.
Cyber Elves were an experimental new technology, a sort of sentient computer program that could bond with a reploid's DNA to create all sorts of effects, such as healing battlefield injuries, personal trauma and even, some theorized, the Maverick Virus. Sigma however, had learned to alter the Cyber Elves and was using them to 'overwrite' reploid data, wiping their memories and further bolstering his ranks. In light of this, X had been assigned to watch over a certain scientist who was working on a new type of Cyber Elf which would have power over all lesser Cyber Elves, and would hopefully be able to negate and nullify the negative effects of Sigma's. Those that yet remained at MHHQ had been given the order to evacuate. No one but the mavericks would be coming for them.
Alia's mechanical brain was racing like never before, trying to find some way out of the desperate situation MHHQ had found itself in. The tran-servers were working as fast as they could, but there were simply too many wounded hunters and civilian refugees to possibly evacuate them all. In the last hour things had grown more complicated still, the city's power grid had been knocked out and now MHHQ was running on an emergency generator. In addition to managing an evacuation, it was Alia's duty as highest ranking officer to dispose of any and all compromising intelligence that the mavericks could use against them. She'd been able to shut out the background noise of the frantic personnel and frightened evacuees but there was one sound that kept breaking her concentration. It was a sharp, yet grating sound, one that she could not place. But it persisted, expounding her frustration. When she could no longer stand to listen Alia stood up from her desk, intending to find the source of the sound. Several other hunters were crowding around a window across the room where the noise appeared to be coming from, indulging her curiosity she pushed to the front of the pack and peered outside.
Atop the steps leading into the main entrance of MHHQ sat Tank, calmly sharpening his enormous blades on a whetstone, as was his custom before battle. His weapons did not need sharpening, Tank typically kept them in good condition, but the simple chore held ritualistic meaning for the hunter, it calmed his nerves and helped him focus on the battle ahead. So Tank persisted, even as he became aware that his actions had disturbed the occupants of the building behind him. Only when Alia opened the window above and called out to him did Tank sheathe his blades and lay down the whetstone.
"Tank?" The navigator exclaimed in disbelief, "What are you doing here?"
"I'm here to make sure you all evacuate safely ma'am," Tank responded calmly.
"But you're not supposed to be here," Alia protested, "Command gave the order to flee!"
"All due respect to command," Tank replied, "But they're going to have to forgive me this one time. This is where I belong."
"But Tank," Alia pleaded, "If you stay here you're going to-"
"No buts Alia." Tank cut her off sharply. His voice had lost its pleasant conversational tone and grown suddenly curt. Alia followed Tank's gaze and looked up the road where hundreds of sets of glowing red eyes were emerging from the darkness.
"All due respect to you ma'am," Tank said, now very serious, "But I think it best that you go back inside and do your job, and let me get on with mine."
Alia withdrew her head and slammed the window shut as Tank turned to face the onrushing throng of mavericks. Without taking his eyes off of his assailants, Tank raised his left arm and fired a buster shot over his shoulder, collapsing the entrance to MHHQ behind him. His full attention now on the battle, Tank stepped in to attack, feigning high and swiping low with his katana, removing the first maverick's legs. Tank whirled around to meet his next attacker, actually knocking his head from his shoulders with a powerful backhand. Mavericks continued to press forward, attacking in unison now. Tank removed his arm guard, brought it to bear and activated its Riot Mode, causing it to expand to a large enough size to effectively cover his body. The maverick attacks were deflected harmlessly off the shield's energy barrier. Before they could even recover from the force of their own attacks, Tank gave a powerful shove, knocking many mavericks off their feet. Emerging from behind his shield, Tank raised an arm and let loose several tank shells into the hordes of mavericks which were pressing down on HQ from all sides. They had quite the conclave established, prompting Tank to retreat back to the base of the steps lest his back be exposed. He then fired off a few more explosive rounds, taking advantage of the mavericks clustered up as much as they were, before changing up his buster settings. The arm cannon clicked and morphed into a chain gun. Several mavericks were trying to get around him by climbing up the sides of the building, and picking them off would require a little more finesse than indiscriminately firing tank shells.
Sigma studied the monitor in front of him intently. His forces had begun their assault on MHHQ, but they had encountered more resistance than expected. Zero had already been dealt with, and he didn't think X would show himself yet. It made sense though, once he saw the sole defender. He knew the hunter, understood what drove him to fight. Death on the battlefield would be too good for him, Sigma wanted to make him feel helplessness and despair first. The maverick despot gave last orders to his lieutenants and departed for the front lines.
Tank crouched behind a hunk of concrete and reassessed his options. He was taking fire from all sides and his shield couldn't cover ever angle. To make matters worse, the mavericks had deployed jet troopers, allowing the mavericks to attack from above him, or simply land on the roof and bypass the fight. Tank's thoughts suddenly shifted to Jet, he hoped his brother was okay. Forcing his attention back to the battle, Tank identified a jet trooper who had taken his turn too wide and too slowly. A moment later, Tank's grapple cable pierced the maverick's chest and hooked onto the jetpack on the other side. The hunter gave a sharp tug, yanking the maverick flier face first into the gravel. But Tank wasn't done with the unfortunate trooper, shield still raised to protect himself from enemy fire, Tank grasped the cable in his free hand and swung the trooper into his fellows like a makeshift flail, bludgeoning the legion until the unlucky trooper was in pieces. As Tank retracted the cable a sniper round pierced his upper torso. Tank stepped back and raised his shield as his helmet's imaging picked up handfuls of snipers now perched on the surrounding rooftops, continuing their tactic of staying out of his reach. The initial shot hadn't damaged anything critical, Tank had his heavy armor to thank for that, but they were still more than a nuisance. Powering down his shield and energy katana and returning them to his arm and hip, Tank grasped the two handed broadsword at his back and hefted it, breaking into a charge at the nearest building. The hunter moved with startling speed for one of his size, propelling himself skyward with a great leap and bringing his enormous weapon down on the foundation. The structure buckled and shifted before collapsing in on itself. One nest of snipers had been taken care of, but the constant fire was getting too intense, and no matter how many enemies he killed another took up its position.
In his absence, several mavericks had rushed forward and begun shifting the stone or climbing the walls. Another wave of jet trooper arrived, landing directly on the roof of HQ, Tank was sure several had gotten inside by now. But leaving the main entrance unguarded wasn't an option, it would just let more in.
Tank rushed back to his spot by the door, firing chain guns from both arms as he came, cleaning the climbers from the walls before pressing his back firmly against the wall of debris again. Tank stared out into the legion of mavericks and fired with every weapon he had, sweeping over lines of mavericks with his chain guns and counting on the auto targeting systems in his helmet to guide the clusters of missiles now pouring from his shoulders. For a moment the fog mingled with the smoke clouds and everything was still. Tank wondered for a split second if he'd fought them off, but this false hope was shattered when a green and black bolt of energy shrieked out of the darkness. The blast struck Tank directly in the chest, momentarily shutting down his system and forcing him to his knees.
The mavericks hadn't gone, they'd simply stopped firing. The big cheese had arrived and clearly some sort of showdown was about to occur. Tank got to hit feet and peered across the courtyard at his opponent to be as they emerged from the fog. Tank was taken back - it was Sigma himself.
Tank studied Sigma suspiciously, his newest body was very tall, taller than Tank in fact, and had ghostly white skin. The only weapon Tank could see was a heavy maul that he dragged behind him, and while Tank could see no buster he already knew firsthand that Sigma was able to fire some sort of energy blasts. The body looked strong, and obviously formidable, but nothing too out of line with any of his previous bodies. And yet, Zero had been unable to stop him. In fact, from what Tank could tell by just by looking, Zero hadn't been able to put a scratch on him. He scanned the maverick with his helmet vision, hoping it would identify any fractures in the armor or a weakness that he could exploit but he could find nothing. Tank wanted to start the battle on his terms however, and fired a tank shell at Sigma's head. Only, the shell seemed not to affect the maverick leader, who didn't even change his gait. Tank switched back to his chaingun and watched in stunned disbelief as shot after shot ricocheted off of Sigma's face.
"What the hell is his body made of," Tank wondered. "He's acting like he's not even feeling my attacks..."
Sigma hefted his mace and prepared to crush Tank who dove out of the way, shifting his busters back into hands so that he could use the most powerful weapon he had, the broadsword, Redemption. It was his sword in every sense of the word, when he fought with it he felt better, stronger, more confident, like he could do anything. He barely parried Sigma's next attack.
Tank gritted his teeth as Sigma pressed down with all of his weight. It wasn't often that anyone could match him strength for strength, Tank didn't enjoy being put into the losing corner of a weapon lock. He tried to back away to avoid being forced onto his knees back Sigma responded by lashing out with an over-sized boot, punting Tank several yards away. He propped himself up, visibly shaken, grasping Redemption for support. Sigma advanced forward with murderous intent but the motion awakened something within Tank.
"NO!" Tank shouted, getting to his feet and re-positioned Redemption in an attack stance. "I won't-, you won't take another step you bastard!"
Sigma actually laughed in response. "Is that all maverick hunter? Not with a bang but a whimper?"
"Oh you can shove it," Tank snapped back, "This is my place. You've got tenacity, I'll give you that, but you need to learn to quit while you're ahead. You might think you're holding all the cards but men don't bow to beasts, you won't win. Not today, not ever."
"Cling to your defiance if you must," Sigma boasted, "But that your death will be insignificant."
"I'd rather die on my feet than live on my knees you piece of crap," Tank yelled, charging at Sigma.
Tank swung Redemption horizontally from the left, and quickly pulled back his blade for an overhead strike as soon as Sigma blocked the attack. Sigma blocked this second blow as well, but instead of pulling back Tank continued to push, catching the maverick off guard. His opponent off balance, Tank wasted no time in bringing the blade around for a decapitating strike on the right side of Sigma's neck. The blade made an inch of indentation before stopping completely.
Shock registered on Tank's face for the briefest of moments before it was eclipsed completely by Sigma's gloved hand. Tank couldn't see a thing, but he felt his feet leave the ground. Sigma was lifting him by the helmet with one hand, and try as he might Tank couldn't break free of his grip. He punched and kicked at every inch of Sigma that he could reach, even dousing the maverick at close range with his knee mounted flamethrower. And then he could see again, rather than a dark palm print there was a blinding green light. Waves of energy emanated from Sigma's palm, and Tank's empty helmet crashed to the ground, followed by his broken body.
"Surely this was the end of an era," Sigma thought to himself as his forces flooded into MHHQ, "And the dawn of a new age for reploids."
The sun would indeed rise on a new world the next morning. The time of the Maverick Hunters was over. The Elf Wars had only just begun.