Mr. Lasher

[Chi]

One hour ago, Esamir was locked and under New Conglomerate control for what seemed like an eternity. Spitfire turrents were littered as far as the eye could see in all directions around all the warpgates. It was impossible to tread enemy lines without feeling the equivilent of having 10 bullets per inch of skin rip you apart. However, the land was deserted, and the faintest sound was that of a Mosquito flying overhead.

"If these winds were any worse, there's be no point to flying at all at these speeds," stated the pilot. He came to a halt, and with quick glances to his left and right, he sat back and enjoyed the view. He unloaded a packet of microwavable hot chocolate mix from the glove compartment and proceeded to make his tasty treat. It was the soldier's vacation from the war, and since all the hustle and bustle of the Sanctuary wasn't really his style, this was just what he needed. He popped the mix inside his PSU mug, set the microwave on 2:00 and leaned his chair back, listening to the hum of his Mosquito lull him into a nap.

It wasn't long before a sharp chill run up his back and flushed his cheeks. He immediatley sat up and looked at his radar, which had a red blip on it. The soldier pushed his body to the right side of the window, turning the Mosquito on it's side. He frantically searched around but to no avail, since he could not see the ground. Then there was a flash of light and the chill that was on the pilot's back was now red-hot. He was panicking, quickly brushing away bobble heads and jewel cases to reach for the steering wheel, and cursing himself for "lightening" the ammunition load for his stereo. He grabbed the reigns of his chariot to the heavens and checked his radar... but the blip was gone. He paused for a moment. He tried reassuring himself that his Mosquito had malfunctioned, and that he hadn't had his machine checked up in months. The frightened but relieved pilot slowly released the controls from his nervous and sweaty grip, and he wiped his brow.

The pilot glanced at his microwave and noticed something. His hot chocolate had been on 34 seconds for 3 minutes. As he realized this, a plasma grenade shattered the Mosquito's window pane and burned itself into the armor of the pilot. It detonated and instantly vaporized the pilot and his plane. On the ground, bits of shrapnel lay resting from the blast. A lone, shadowed figure crouched down beside the pilot's coffin and reached inside. He pulls out MAG-Scatter ammo.

"Great. I wait for three goddammed days offline, and all I got was 97 EXP and ammo my empire can't even use?"

And with that, the shadowed figure kicks the coffin, and dredges off through the furious blizzard and into the mountains.

The End?

[Chi]

As he made his way up the hill, the man flung himself forward onto his stomach to conceal himself over the apex. He charged up his Zoom Implant and surveyed the Amp Station to look for any hostiles. There were four of them: one with a Gauss, and three MAXs; they were New Conglomerate. The man on the hill could not make out what kind of MAXs they were.

"Dammit, that ruins that," he said to himself. "If only I knew what they were capable of, I could plan accordingly. The soldier removed a large, war-torn weapon from his backpack - a Lasher. He tore open the clip from it, and proceeded to search for another. He could not find one. For now, he was stuck with only a Jammer Grenade, a REK, and numerous ACE.

One of the New Conglomerate soliders started away from the base. The man on the hill with the empty Lasher was away of this now, and began to ponder to himself. Moments later, he jumped to his feet, stoof up tall, raised his hands to his mouth and shouted out at the top of his lungs, "HEY N00B! WANT S0ME EXP FOR THAT BR3?!" Flustered and suprised, the solider removed the Gauss from his hands, and brought a Phoenix over his shoulder. The man on the hill raised his brow for a moment, then stepped back out of view from the soldier. A second or two went by as the man waited for the Phoenix-weilding soldier would come charging blindly over the hill, ready to run right into the man's Force-Blade. There was nothing.

The man with the Lasher laying beside him decided to peak over the top of the hill thinking maybe the pawn had gone to go find some rooks instead of take him head on. To his relief, he had. The man with the Lasher was curious to see where the soldier had gone, but was not about to go look aroud without a fully loaded Lasher. He looked around trying to find salvation, and sure enough, the man could almost make out a Control Tower through the snow. He gathered up his belongings and began to walk the vast wasteland of cold. When he got to the tower, he looked around the sides to check for Spit-fire turrents he might have to deal with. Nothing.

The man with the Lasher immediately hacked the door, proceeded to the top of the tower to look for enemy soldiers around the tower. Still nothing. With this notion of the area being as remote as it was, yet with still troops in the nearby base, he started to plant ACE mines around the doors, and a Motion Sensor on the inside of the doors. To get his Lasher ammo, he would need to hack the base.

Outside the footsoldier, accompanied by a MAX, began to discuss plans on how to take out the lone gunman.

"He's got something good. Nobody's foolish enough to broadcast that kind of message without something up his sleave." The MAX assured the soldier it was nothing she couldn't handle. And with that, she walked up to the door, and was instantly enveloped in an ACE mine. She died, and the soldier called the other MAXs to come to his aid.

The man with the Lasher had to act quick, since he knew reinforcements would be arriving soon after that. A minute and six nervous double-takes later, he finished and quickly proceeded down the stairs to the Inventory terminals. On his radar he noticed a red dot and two red bracket shaped blips moving fast to his position; clearly he need to move swiftly.

To be continued...

[Spartan]

Well?

[Chi]

Wow I didn't know anyone read this.

Anyway my internet wasn't working for a bit but now just for you I'll finish this part tonight.

[Chi]

Sometimes when you get really paranoid, you talk to yourself. The soldier with the fully loaded Lasher was screaming expletives to himself. He got a quick glimpse of the grunt peering around the corner. Without so much as caring he would die in a matter of seconds against that soldier and the MAXs, he fired off his Lasher into the corner of the stairwell. Luckily, the solider peered back out just in time to get his face extirpated. A sigh of relief came from the man who was reloading his Lasher. The relief suddenly turned to panic as he heard the all too familiar footsteps of a MAX. He hid inside the avatar deconstructer and watched as the MAX came down the stairs and to a halt. It looked around, but luckily must have missedthe man. The Lasher was going to remain loaded however, since the soldier did not want to risk getting caught. It was too early into the game to die and restart from the Sanctuary, he hadn't captured a base nor tower. After a minute of nervous tension, the second MAX came down the stairs and mentioned to the other he was going to be "afk a sec".

This was the precious opportunity the man needed to make his escape.

Far away at the warpgate, seven Galaxys came in at the highest altitude, away from any turrent's range. The captain signaled a descent into the base next to the tower where the man with the Lasher was waiting. As one of the Galaxys landed next to the tower, the man with the empty Lasher stepped toward the Galaxy with a wide smile on his face.

"Congradulations Mr. Lasher," said the captain, "your initiation is complete. Welcome aboard the outfit!"

THE END.

Editor's note: The original ending was "Welcome aboard Sturmgrenadier! but that's kinda mean