"Two cannons before the round even started? What happened?" Lyra turned to Cassandra. She shrugged.
"Little dumb fuckers must have either killed themselves, or each other." One of Cassandra's friends commented, taking another drink of beer.
"Won't they put more in to keep the challenge consistent?" Lyra questioned.
"No... Now that the war is over, any no-fur we have is all we got. No more P.O.W.'s to collect meaning we're going to eventually run out."
Lyra leaned back in her chair as she rolled her eyes, she was disappointed but it came to no surprise that a lower species would rather skip a good fight just to meet death sooner.
In spite of her being a good soldier, Lyra never really had an enjoyment for combat. The one thing she believed was that death in combat was the more respectable way to go than taking the 'easy way' out.
"Pathetic animals..." She mumbled to herself.
"Operator deployment in thirty seconds." The automated voice informed.
Knowing it was nothing more than a sick game, Lyra wanted to leave. The only reason she didn't was Cassandra. She didn't know of a way to disappear that wouldn't make her feel bad about being invited along.
"Guess this will be a short one." Cassandra mumbled before offering a water bottle to Lyra. She snatched it the moment she saw it.
"Thanks, Sis."
Cassandra nodded with a small smirk as the round starting alarm went off for another fireteam to enter the arena. This team had a wolf's skull insignia along with white colored armor.
"Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, Fireteam Artemis!" The announcer spoke trying to get the crowd going from the more recent uneventful deaths.
This team was divided differently as everyone surrounded the building from different sides, two repelled onto the north and south side of the structure as the other three found other entrances on the west and east sides.
The big screen showed the five faces of the team along with the humans. Two faces were crossed out, one guy looked big enough to probably pass for a short anthro while the other seemed average height.
"Hey, looks like they got a new guy in." Cassandra's buddy called out pointing to the screen.
Lyra didn't notice at first but one out of the five photos was blank. Just showing a blank gray canvas with no details about the person.
"Must have just gotten them recently then." Cassandra commented.
"Where did they get 'em from? War's been over for over a month now."
She shrugged, turning her attention back to the on going round. Lyra soon abandoned the question, returning her attention as well. By now all five members of the team had entered the building and begun to clear room after room. The Jumbotron swapped to live footage from the team's helmet cams allowing the crowd to watch them perform.
However one of the cameras was completely blacked out. Speculation and concern grew amongst the crowd before the announcer explained.
"It looks like we have some technical difficulties showing on Artemis' cameras... Sorry about that everyone."
But what nobody saw was that the announcer put a hand to his neck and seemed to be talking to himself. Shortly after, multiple guards arrived from behind the crowds and began escorting out the civilian section of the training grounds.
"It's not technical difficulties is it." Lyra stated.
"Nope..." Cassandra answered leaning forward anticipating something else to happen.
A bullet proof glass began to rise out of the ground high enough to cover those seated around the arena. Only military personnel remained in the stands as everyone else was escorted away.
The round continued as the remaining four members of the squad moved around to clear the rooms. An old man jumped the leopard anthro getting a good hit in the chest before ultimately being gunned down by the bear's shotgun.
The camera footage showed the man collapsing immediately after being launched back by the weapon. The bear then faced the leopard. It was quickly discovered that the old man was in possession of some blade, the blood spurting out of the leopard's chest as he stumbled backward trying his best to breathe. While on the ground the bear rushed to his side trying to help him keep the pressure on the wound but it was no use. The wound was fatal.
An X appeared over the man's picture while another two X's appeared over the leopard and missing wolf. No canons were sounded as the announcer must have shut them off.
The team made their way towards the bomb room while the other human made its next move. A few rounds echoed out as the other wolf was gunned down from behind. The camera went dark as the second wolf's point of view disappeared.
"Looks like Artemis has a military combatant to kill, the guy can't possibly be special forces or police." Cassandra commented while having another drink.
'Why is nobody doing anything? Anthros are getting killed and people are still treating this like it's an exercise or test they can't intervene in.' The questions only grew as the timer slowly ticked down.
It was a two on two scenario where the next person to fall would change the match's outcome drastically.
"Bomb defusal almost complete." The automated voice sounded off, causing the pair inside to hasten themselves.
All that was left was the bear and dragon as they finally reached the door leading to the room where the bombs were stored.
With a quick couple of shots to the door's hinges the bear kicked her way into the room causing a smaller human to back away against the wall.
"Bombs defused, defenders win." The automated voice echoed over the remaining silent crowd.
A quick shot echoed from the dragon's assault rifle killing the smaller human. A X appeared over the young girl's face as all that remained was the new human.
"That's never happened before." Cassandra uttered with surprise.
The dragon and bear looked at each other in disbelief. They were expected to win, how could they lose to such low life beings? They even outnumbered them! The bear started to viciously thrash around the room destroying anything not made of cement or concrete.
"Embarrassing, not even me on a bad day would act so childishly." Lyra said with a chuckle.
Now that the 'game' was considered over, most of the audience looked to the announcer who was speaking into a small microphone inside his podium atop his small booth. The dragon on the inside raised a hand to his helmet, apparently taking instructions. After the announcer was done the dragon moved his hand from his helmet and visor down to his weapon directing it towards the canisters. With a small pop a bullet was fired hitting the small makeshift canister blowing a hole in the side.
A white gas started to emerge from the new exit created by the dragon as it spread across the room. The dragon anthro then pulls a gas mask over his head, throwing a spare to the bear. They both readied themselves as they weren't alone in the building.
"Interesting."
Deciding to stay together the dragon and bear slowly crept around the building's second floor as the gas slowly filled out the adjacent rooms. Sooner or later the human would be forced to turn up as he would either succumb to the gas or die fighting the pair.
"What's the gas' contents cass?" lyra asked curiously as she watched the substance flow across the floor from the dragon's helmet camera.
"A poison more or less, the coats in the basement whip up something new every time a test like this happens." Cassandra answered.
"Last week the gas melted the skin right off the last human group of the day, honestly it was a sight to see as they screamed." One of Cassandra's friends chimed in a little tipsy from the amount of cans at his feet.
Lyra's attention soon found itself redirected to the remaining two inside the arena, the dragon and the bear had apparently decided to stick together as they both searched the upper floor.
Eventually after searching, they found themselves working their way back down to ground level as the upper floor had completely filled with gas and was seeping down the stairs back to the first floor. The human was nowhere to be seen and with the pair wearing masks tracking him was going to be difficult.
"Has a human ever gotten out of this event? Alive?" Cassandra asked her drunken friend.
"To be frank, I..." He hesitated for a moment, holding back a hiccup. "I don't believe so."
As he finished the human revealed himself, a gunshot rang out as the dragon collapsed down to one knee holding his shoulder. The bear returned fire around the corner as the human scrambled away, the gas slowly filling out the air as it leaked lightly from the ceiling above like a mist.
The bear gave chase as the human threw down a metal shelf containing empty plastic containers. The bear simply brushed past the obstacle, not losing sight of her target. A few moments of chase continue through the halls as the bear quickly shortens the gap between the two.
With a quick shove from the bear the human is sent stumbling forward losing his weapon as he falls onto the ground, quickly pushing himself up the human tries to take a defensive stance but the bear was already towering over him fist raised ready to strike. The human raises his arms to block the blow only to have the attack go right through his guard into his chest.
The human is sent staggering back as the bear readied a knife. Lunging at the smaller creature the bear goes for a quick stab at the human's lower abdomen. The human jumps back away from the blade as the knife only slashes through the jumpsuit exposing a patch of his stomach.
The bear goes for a few more slashes and stabs while the human dodges the attacks completely, but as the fight drew on the human's movements started to become sluggish. When the bear over stepped a lunge at the human instead of returning the blow the human started to have a coughing fit.
The dragon had recovered from his shoulder wound by now and had begun making his way back to his fellow teammate. The bear on the other hand soon realized that her prey in front of her was getting worn out and began to toy with him by faking lunges and tossing the knife from hand to hand.
This seemed to add the last bits of fuel the human had left as they started to go on the offensive, invigorated by the bear's teasing. The human unleashed a few heavy blows all of which the bear had blocked easily and retaliated with a quick slash to the arm or body. The human raised his arm preparing to throw another punch only to get the bear to raise her arms ready to block the oncoming punch. The human instead lowered his hand quickly and quickly dashed forward tackling the brute down onto her back only to be kicked off a moment later.
The bear got to her feet ready to plunge her blade into the human's chest only to see the human lying on his back with a pistol raised to her head. A small bang goes off as the bear's camera goes black.
"Well played." Lyra commented, impressed by the humans' performance.
The dragon's camera took a full screen as he was the last anthro left alive. He made his way into the room where the bear laid dead, a pool of her own blood forming around her partially visible skull. His attention quickly swapped to the human gasping for breath on the ground.
Gas had risen around three feet tall, completely engulfing the human as it coughed, wheezed, and gasped for air. The dragon raised his sidearm intending to avenge his now deceased squad.
"Cease at once." A baritone voice ordered over the intercom systems.
The whole area around Lyra and Cassandra went into complete total silence as the familiar voice they had grown so accustomed to had now influenced everyone in the stadium.
"I want him alive, he has use for me." The voice instructed.
The dragon holstered his weapon, he walked over to the coughing mess and kicked him good in the stomach. The dragon then exited the building carrying the human over his good shoulder. While a medical team walked out on the field.
The human was thrown onto the grass covered ground still visibly coughing while being ignored by the two doctors who began treating the dragon on the field.
Security rushed out next, weapons trained on the downed human as he struggled to attempt to get on all fours. The human lifted his head finally exposing his face clear enough for Lyra to see.
"You've got to be fuckin' kiddin' me."
Astonishment? Surprise? Disbelief? Nothing could describe the reality of the situation until Cassandra tapped on her shoulder pulling her out of her thoughts.
"What is it? He deformed? Missing an eye or something?"
"It's a boy." Lyra answered.
"Well no shit, a female ain't gonna look like-"
"I meant it's fucking kid, Cassandra."