"Things seem to go from bad to worse, don't they?" Porter's sword sliced the head of a Bahari clean in half, leaving only its lower jaw attached to the body. He had moved his conversation with Marian to the side, letting him place more focus on the swarms of enemies in front of him. When it came to the Jahari, you could never look away, not even for a second. That's what had cost Porter his friend before, and he wasn't about to repeat that mistake.
"The last I heard from you was a plan to never listen to me again," Marian sighed, folding his arms across his chest. He was still on-board his warship up above, as crew members shuffled past him in the background to tend to urgent matters.The skies above the Breach had become a firestorm, filled with gunfire and explosions as the massive floating worms of the Jahari tried to grapple with the numerous warships in charge of overseeing combat. Carnage and debris rained down on those below, as chunks of mechanic vessels and biological creatures crashed into the earth.
"I'm mostly sticking to that plan. You called me after all." Porter dodged out of the way of a massive cannon firing, its bullet a conglomerate mess of biological components. He didn't know what would happen if it hit someone, but he didn't want to be the one to find out.
Marian turned his his seat, answering a tap on his shoulder from a reporting soldier. Porter took the opportunity to reengage with the fight in front of him, leaping over a cluster of Bahari to dive into their backlines, coming down like a whirlwind, shredding through body parts and pulsing hearts as he cleared space for himself. "I just didn't expect to find you here, of all places," Marian said, resuming his conversation. "It's now a massive headache for me to figure out what to do with you. And I have to assume you brought some friends with you."
"You would be right."
Marian rubbed his face, clearly under tremendous stress already. "I hope you understand the severity of this assault on the Breach. This isn't just some minor incursion you're messing with."
"I wouldn't be here if it didn't matter," Porter replied. Electricity danced across the White Storm as he ramped up his efforts, shifting between targets and dispatching them with ease. But for every kill he earned, six more Jahari were there to take the place of their fallen comrade. Their numbers seemed endless, and Porter was so embroiled in them he was constantly surrounded by them. He would catch glimpses of allies around him, a flash of Artisan armour, an Enian Goliath being felled, in between the mass of bodies around him.
Most of the Bahari seemed to ignore him, surging past him to find new prey. Only a few would stop to fight him, most of the time diving straight at him as they ran forwards. He knew was getting closer to the hole in the earth, to their source, as they poured out with little regard for anything in their way. It seemed they were relying simply on the wave of bodies to overtake Porter and crush him.
"I'm well aware of how powerful you can be, when the time is right, so it's not really of interest to me to get in your way. If the purpose of your visit is to kill Jahari, then I'll only be keeping an eye on you."
"That's significantly less scoldy than I expected out of you, general." Porter ripped another Bahari in half, and had to spin immediately to deflect an incoming attack. He was struggling to deal with the constant changes in weapons and attack patterns out of the creatures. Most of them struck with razor sharp claws, but some possessed different forms of armaments that required a different range of defensive moves to turn aside. And then there were the angles of approach. Since not all Bahari passing by were aggressive towards him, but they were a constant flow, it became impossible to determine which one would be the next to strike and which one would just continue moving.
"However, I'd like to ensure you remain on our good side, so I'll be watching from a bit closer than you had hoped." Porter shook his head in the cockpit but let the call with Marian end. He had seen the general beginning to stand before ending it, knowing that he was going to be getting a visit from the Archangel soon. That was to be expected though. Marian was the greatest fighting force the Enians had, and it would be a waste to keep him up in a ship when this was meant to be the final assault. Some of the chatter Sigma had intercepted already indicated the leading general for the Artisans was already engaged in combat, and Eastern United States warlords had shown themselves on the other side of the Breach.
A barrage of bombs struck the ground around Porter, sending up plumes of dirt and Jahari body parts into the mix. Blood splattered across the front of the White Storm as additional shots were fired into the crowds. It seemed Marian was making space for himself before his grand arrival, as all of the attacks had encircled Porter to clear space.
"Porter, we're engaging with Jahari forces now." Ardwen's voice entered into the cockpit, Sigma controlling all communications still automatically to maintain security. "We're receiving calls from a Major Carion to report in, what's our course of action?"
Porter shook his head and sighed, taking pause for a moment as there was a gap around him after the bombing run. "Carion is a...supporter. Stay in contact with him, and move with his squad. Be aware of those who may recognize you, particularly former or current Academy students."
"Got it."
"Make sure to use Sigma if necessary. He could always hack into some of the weapons on these ships if you need a little assistance." Porter glanced up into the skies above him, watching a worm approaching the enormous Enian ship where Marian was housed. An eruption of fire burst from the side of the vessel, unloading into the approaching creature's face in an effort to take it out before it could grapple them. The worms all seemed largely equipped to wrestle with ships, pulling in close and crushing them slowly. No warship was designed to take on something that coiled around it, and its exterior weapons would be destroyed as soon as the worm's mass pressed against them.
Porter was certain the rest of his friends would be fine in combat. All of them were trained now beyond the capabilities of a standard soldier, and if they were paired with Carion and his unit, they weren't going to get assaulted from allied forces, or at least that's what Porter hoped. He was already so deep into the Bahari though that he didn't know what was going on at the main battle line. He if looked over his shoulder, it was nothing but the backs of Bahari, all of them constantly clambering over each other to get into the fray. He couldn't see any other Goliaths now, not even between the bodies of those nearby.
He could hear the approach of Marian though, and his gaze returned to the sky as the shadow of the massive Goliath nearly eclipsed the sun above. Its wings were spread wide, shimmering and creating a halo around the warmachine as it descended. Its enormous form and glittering body forced some of the nearby Bahari to stop, their heads craning upwards to examine the approaching threat. They had fought this monster before, up in the north, and hadn't seen him since, and their collective memory was bound to have scars from the last time time he had arrived. If the Jahari truly did have some sort of singular mind behind them, it would want to do everything it could to kill Marian.
And that was the moment Porter realized the attention that was about to come his way. He had briefly been laughing, internally, at Marian and the assault that was about to befall him before he remembered Marian was going to be standing right next to Porter. What had previously been pushing through a crashing wave was about to become a battle in the epicenter of a storm.
"You just enjoy making both our lives miserable, don't you?" Porter remarked, letting the snark travel over the comm network.
"You started it," Marian retorted as his battlesuit touched down onto the Earth, still landing as though it were a mere feather and not a titanic mass of metal and machinery. "Besides, I imagine you have the same goal I do here."
"We're heading for the heart?"
Marian nodded on the screen before he took in a deep breath, entering into some sort of meditative state. Porter watched him on the screen with curiosity, noting the growing swarm of Bahari around them that were still keeping their distance, awaiting the command to attack. "I'm going to assume Shotuku has spoken to you about protecting yourself from the chi of others?"
"It came up once, I think," Porter replied, scratching at his head a little as he checked with his brain. "Why?" Porter was suddenly blasted back into his seat by a wave of energy, a pulse he could feel going straight through his brain, rattling his every thought and blowing through his memories. It felt like it was stripping away layers of his person and his psyche, as though spirit and flesh were melded into one and destroyed, and he quickly recoiled, the White Storm screaming at him as warnings took off. A barrier was being erected around his Goliath, pulling from his chi that drove its engines, to repel the incredible pressure around the pilot.
The viewscreen containing Marian had been flickering on and off, overloading and losing power simultaneously, and it finally settled onto a constant connection. Everything within the White Storm was going through a reset, and the visual connection with the outside world had been reset, only now turning back on as feeds from various cameras across the battlesuit pulled in images. The Bahari that had previously surrounded them were gone, and the remaining creatures were much further back, still eyeing the pair but in a much more tentative fashion than previously.
Porter had to shake his head, trying to clear the strange heaviness that had settled into his mind. He flexed his fingers, trying to express control over his own body. It was a bizarre feeling and he couldn't properly explain what had just happened to him. All he knew was that he never wanted to go through it again. His machine had automatically defended him from the barrage; he couldn't imagine what it had done to unprotected creatures like the Bahari.
"You were serious then," Porter said to Marian, grabbing onto his controls again to begin stepping forwards.
"There's more to this fight than just killing off some underground mutants." Marian took slow strides forwards next to Porter, towering over the smaller Goliath. The wings across his back had disappeared, and only now were reforming. It made sense, considering they were all generated as an expression of Marian's overflowing chi, and whatever the general had done previously had required an incredible release.
"You mean how you're working with that annoying kid you hate?"
"That annoying kid I hate needs to learn a lesson. Porter, since I became a General, do you know how many challenges I have received to a fight, be it on the battlefield or elsewhere?"
"Uhm, I'm going to guess all of them, generals are always being challenged." Porter thought back to Rex at the island, who wouldn't stop bothering Porter to have a rematch every second he had spent with him.
"Nobody has ever challenged me from any nation. I know some of the other leading generals have fought each other. None have ever crossed paths with me." Porter gulped in his cockpit, suddenly very aware of the power standing next to him. His confidence was knocked down a level for a moment, but he had to reassert himself, bringing his self-esteem back up so he could maintain top form on the battlefield. As per Reaper's teachings, it was time to leave the unsure, timid Porter of old behind. "I want you to be well aware of that fact. That's the other reason I'm coming with you now. You need to know that after this is all over, you don't have a hope in hell against the government. I want you to have that burned into your memory."
"And afterwards I'll turn myself over?"
"I'll ensure you're only imprisoned for life. Maybe I'll let your friends go into exile if you're extra nice."
"Not a good deal, I would think," Porter replied, his voice unwavering as he maintained confidence in himself. "I have a friend who told me that those who get imprisoned for political dissent have a bad time."
"I have to side with him, Marian," Sigma added, cutting into both unit's comm networks. "It doesn't turn out well for those involved."
"Sigma, Marian. Marian, Sigma. I believe you two might have a history together." Porter finished the introductions, well-aware that Marian had always known Sigma would be nearby.
"It's a fun history, to say the least." Marian smiled shaking his head in his cockpit. "Sigma, give this channel the highest levels of encryption, please. I don't need some bureaucrat reviewing the video in the future."
"Done." Sigma's face was transposed onto the viewscreen, transparent enough to see through but clearly visible as he spoke.
"Listen, you two have certainly gone through your own version of hell," Marian continued, now confident nobody would be listening in. The Archangel stepped into the edge of the Breach, and the ground before them sloped into the descent to the underground. The Bahari were still giving them some space, but they were beginning to draw closer, their lust for war insatiable. "I agree that what happened to Sigma and Alpha was terrible. Syn I wish had died on the table, but I suppose we all have to pay for our transgressions. I understand your outrage and frustration, and I know I'm speaking to a family with a history of opposing the government, but if you think some sort of armed rebellion is your solution, you're gravely mistaken."
"I don't plan on raising a weapon at my own people, unlike the Kaiser," Porter snarled. His mind was growing razor sharp once again as he prepped for a return to combat. Some of the Bahari were stepping out of line. Jahari had started to flood out from their feet again, happy to pass through knowing that a Goliath wouldn't care about them enough to stop them. "But I'm ready to have them side with me against their true enemy."
"I hear you, and I certainly disagree with a number of actions taken by the Kaiser and the leadership group. I don't know how much was really Christian's influence in his state of madness, but I know terrible wrongs have been done. After I crush the skull of the last Jahari, I'll be the first person at the Kaiser's door asking him about this. We've already had enough meetings about the situation." There was silence from the brothers, neither stepping in to intervene with Marian's explanations anymore.
"But I don't want to see a bunch of kids get themselves killed in a fruitless uprising. Or worse. I want you to reconsider. Change can be made, but it needs to be made from within the system, not from outside, trying to beat down the door. Nobody compromises with a siege. They compromise with the person they're trapped in the room with."
"You're trying to make a deal?" Porter asked.
"I'm trying to ensure you keep your options open for the foreseeable future, that's all." Marian sighed in his seat before closing his eyes and refocusing on the upcoming battle. They were slowly descending into the gaping maw of the Earth, and the flow of bodies above them were already blocking out portions of the light. A worm burst out from the centre of the massive hole, blocking out the light entirely, leaving the two Goliaths surrounded by darkness. "If we make it out of here, just at least consider talking with me. I'm willing to make a compromise with the Red Scarf Gang at least, and with you as part of this rebellion. Military service as repayment for damages, and we help pressure the Kaiser and those politicians to make sweeping changes. This is going to be the first time in my life that three of the countries will be united together against an enemy that isn't another country, and I think it might be the first step towards reform. I just hope you're willing to take the risk."
Porter sat back in his seat, letting the offer linger in the air between the two men. Sigma's face faded away from the screen as he had stopped speaking and didn't have any further input to add. "When we walk back out of this hole, we'll see how I feel. I'm not a fan of incremental changes anymore. I want to step out of this to a whole new world."
"How about we agree to talk?" Marians posed the question as a compromise, as both had noticed the Bahari had begun to move again, charging upwards out of the Breach. They still ignored the Goliaths though, but it was no longer out of fear. Now it looked like they were welcoming them inside, happy to swallow them up in their home. That meant there was going to be some sort of trap ahead, and the two could no longer get away with casual discussions of the future. They needed to make it through the present.
"Sounds fine to me." The worm above cleared out, and light flowed back down into the hole. Porter realized just how deep they had gone at this point, noting they were reaching a point where tunnels started to branch off and become their own pathways. They were heading into the intricate maze beneath their feet, where the endless hordes sprouted from. And if it was what it would take, Porter would kill every last one of them. But Marian seemed to have different plans, and was happy to slug forward and trudge ever deeper into the network.
A few Bahari had stumbled out of the formation, straying too close for Porter, and he lashed out immediately, decapitating the first one that appeared before shearing through the heart of the second. An arc of lightning shot out from behind his sweeping blade, crashing into the surge of monsters and detonating across their skin. Flesh burned and boiled, splattering around the tunnels as biomechanical parts exploded. A few more chains of lightning bounced around before fizzling out.
"We'll turn down here." Marian gestured towards a massive passage, large enough for one of the worms to squeeze through. There was a distinct lack of Bahari in the area, as they were inexplicably not using that particular tunnel. Porter turned immediately, slicing through any other creatures that got in his way as he followed the Brigadier General.
There was a low rumbling that Porter could feel in his feet, and he looked ahead at Marian, but the general wasn't hesitating, continuously striding forwards with confidence. Sensors were detecting greater movement down below, and it was suddenly surging up fast and hard. The rumbling grew more intense, and a wail could be heard. The wings on Marian's back were casting a warm glow down the tunnel, providing the only light source as they travelled further and deeper.
There was a flash of white, the glint of light reflecting off a massive tooth, as a worm appeared ahead. Its enormous body rubbed against the walls of dirt around it, its wide eyes pointed straight ahead, staring straight into Porter as he quickly came to realize why the tunnel had lacked any Bahari. There just wasn't any room for anything other than this beast. And it wasn't stopping.
Porter froze in his tracks, his mind scrambling for ways out of the situation. It was possible he could begin to burrow into the earth using his swords, though he wasn't convinced he could dig a hole large enough faster than the worm was arriving. And Marian wasn't stopping. The general continued to step forward, and his wings folded in front of himself to form a barrier.
The young pilot watched, in complete awe, as Marian walked straight into the worm, the tips of his chi wings connecting with its jaw. The monster split in four immediately, sliced apart by Marian's power. Its momentum didn't stop though, and its split form pressed against the edges of the tunnel, passing right around Porter as he quickly sprinted to stay as closely behind Marian as possible. Behind them, the worm's body finally collapsed, but Marian never seemed to notice, treating it more as a casual walk.
Finally, the worm's tail arrived and Marian's burst straight through the back end. Porter glanced back over his shoulder, noting that most of the creature's flesh and mechanical components were beginning to melt, having become superheated as they passed over Marian's barrier. Hundreds of Bahari and thousands of Jahari from within the hybrid monster-warship were laid out on the ground, their bodies eviscerated by the heat and power of the Archangel.
Marian halted for a moment, briefly turning to address Porter. "Like I said, I want you to fully realize what you're going up against in the future."