A short preview of that which is to come! dedicated to my beloved N280

The Last Tale of the Gunslinger
1st Dec 2007

“Maybe I’m getting too old for this.” Grifter paused to catch his breath while reloading the bullets of his USP pistol, as his team mates laid down covering fire.

“Green Team, get your unit out of there ASAP!! Censors read at least another 2 hellgates opening within 25 meters of your position, and backup is busy backing up another unit! Fall back now!!” Commander Valerie yelled over the intercom.

Kenneth “the blade master” Kwok seemed to be in a killing frenzy, severing heads and limbs of demons, vampires and other creatures that spawned from the hellgates, while Yorkbing “the invisible shooter" was sniping and taking out targets from a distance with his AWP. Hensa “the warlock” was casting a rain of fire on a group of demon hybrids, while Xiangling “the high priestess” Celine was busy casting divine shields for her allies and healing those who were injured. Clarence “the guardian” was holding his own, equipped with a heavy shield and a broad sword, despite being heavily swarmed and wounded severely.

“Clarence, get out of that mob!! They’ll rip you to shreds if you don’t fall back!!” Grifter shouted over the sounds of battle into his intercom, as he put a bullet through the brain of a charging hell beast almost at point blank, while his other pistol shot a zombie in the neck. “Yorkbing, take some of the heat off him and Celine, heal those wounds now, damn it!!”

The Green Team consisted of Grifter “the gunslinger”, Kenneth “the blade master”, Clarence “the guardian”, Celine “the high priestess”, Hensa “the warlock” and Yorkbing “the invisible shooter”, and they were currently in the heart of Sun Tec City Mall, battling some demons who ambushed them while they were getting supplies.

The year is 2077 and the hellgates have reached Singapore, despite the world’s best efforts to contain the terrible disaster.

“Take this you otherworldly suckers!” Clarence swung his sword in a wide arc, slicing through the deformed bodies of the demons and mutates trying to claw at him. But unfortunately, one of them crawled toward him, and lashed out at his joint where his armour was the weakest – at the knees. Clarence dropped to one knee and smashed the head of the monster with his huge shield, but the damage was done. For every monster he killed, 2 more seemed to emerge from the hellgates.

This isn’t working, Grifter thought, and decided to change tactics. If Clarence refused to pull back, they would go to him.

***

Back at the Headquarters…

Commander Valerie was drilling the team leaders of Team Yellow and Team Blue for not training the new recruits fast enough.

“Can’t you see? When you delay in training one new recruit for a day, another veteran may die in the battlefield! When do you expect the new recruits to be ready? Do you think they’ll be fit for battle without any training, effort and time spent on them??” Michelle “the hypersonic banshee” and Carol “the flame-thrower” san almost flinched in reaction to the scoldings.

The Commander had to be harsh on them, whether she liked it or not. This was a war they were fighting, not something out of a crazy story book. She had the responsibility and the authority to ensure that the team leaders trained the teams well, and to ensure that new recruits are added to the unit known as N280, a north division cell group consisting of fighters, swordsmen, gunmen, magic users and various other roles. Team work was vital to their survival, and so far, the Team Leader that was giving the Commander the most trouble was Grifter. He was too much of a lone gunslinger, the solo vigilante.

Before the Commander could utter another word (and to the relief of Michelle and Carol), Green Team entered the Headquarters through a portal and drew her attention.

Of all the team members, Yorkbing was the most blessed, being almost totally invisible with his cloaking device, and sniping at enemies from a distance. The other team members had various injuries, but minor compared to what one of them had suffered. The last to jump through the portal were Grifter and Clarence, the former supporting and half-carrying the latter over his shoulder.

“Medic!! We need medical attention now!!” Grifter screamed, blood splashed over half his face.

Despite Celine’s best efforts at healing spells, the wound was too big and too serious for her to deal with. Alex “the medicine man” was quickly called to administer some drugs and medicine to Clarence, and to sew up the gaping hole in his chest. “Good Lord, what happened to him??” Alex gasped when he saw the injury that Clarence had suffered.

A sharp red claw had pierced through the 2 inch thick armour of the guardian and had somehow reached into the rib cage of Clarence, spurting blood like a super-soaker.

“Leave the medic to handle it,” Commander Valerie assumed command once again. “We’ve got plans to discuss. The month of December draws near, and we have a final agenda to achieve that could wipe out this demon infestation for good!”

The remaining members of the 3 teams gathered around her and listened to the plan. There were 16 in all, 16 valiant men and women, banded together for the common purpose – to fight back the gates of hell, that the evil ones would not prevail against them, and on the rock-like foundation of their faith, to build a new temple of hope.

“This is Operation Breakaway.” the commander announced, as she revealed the battle plans over the plasma screen. The cell group N280 stood amazed by the plan, and even Alex and Clarence were in silent awe for a few moments.

“Yes, it is a grand plan, and yes, we will need every new manpower we can get, the recruits, the trainees, veterans, everyone… will be involved in this operation. If within the month of December we are unable to breakaway the source of the hellgates, then we’re all done for, and every work that this cell group has achieved would be in vain. But if we succeed, it will prove to the world that we may be rid of this hellish occurrence, that we can drive the hellgates back to where they belong!” Valerie’s voice boomed loud and clear across the room.

“Alright! This looks cool!” Mark “the hunter” exclaimed while he brandished his curved blade.

“We really do need more manpower to pull this one off!!” JJ “the engineer” lamented.

“But I think it’s a great plan! We will definitely succeed!” claimed an enthusiastic Yishan “the speed-hunter” and wanted to carry on telling the whole team how she thought the plan would work, before she was interrupted by Grifter.

“Guys.. Where is Clarence?” Grifter asked.

They all spun around, even Alex who’s attention had been directed at Operation Breakaway, to look at the bed where Clarence was lying in mere minutes ago. The tubes and wires which were connected to his body were still there, but he was gone. His broken armour was left behind as well, but he appeared to have taken another piece of armour from Boon “Renji” Kiat without his knowledge, and slipped through the portal. There was a note scribbled on the wall next to the bed.

“Hey guys, sorry but I’ve got to go back to the world to do some stuff. I may or may not be back, but I don’t believe that Operation Breakaway has any chance of success. I prefer to do things my way. It was a great time with you guys, but I’ve decided to go…” Momo “matsumoto” read the squiggly handwriting, while a look of exasperation formed on her face. “Oh no! How man? What shall we do?”

Commander Valerie replied, “ He has made his decision. Anyone who wishes to go may leave at any time. I don’t expect all of you to believe that Operation Breakaway would work, but I beseech you to listen, that you, every single one of you, will make a great warrior to this battle yet.” She sat down in her chair and waited for a response.

“I think I’ve heard enough. I’m with you, Val.” Elaine “the devious one” made her stand.

“I think I speak for the others as well, when I say that we’re all with you.” Phebe “the teleporter” looked toward the rest for confirmation of any kind. She was rewarded with a general nod of agreement.

“So its settled then! I will brief the individual team leaders on the details, while the rest of you go get something to eat.. and bring out the new recruits. We need to put them on the battlefield, and I want them ready and prepared to face what’s out there. Cell group meeting is over, session dismissed.”

Grifter watched his team and other team members move slowly into the cafeteria, some were chatting and laughing away, while others seemed content to ponder about the plan, and one or two were grim looking. Perhaps they had figured out the true consequences of the battle. Nevertheless, Grifter knew that this was his final battle, regardless of the outcome, and he knew he would go down in a final stunning blaze of glory. A faint smile appeared on his face as his fingers ran over the hand grips of his dual pistols. A gunslinger’s weapons were his guns and bullets, but his real killer weapon was the mind, he thought to himself and relaxed, ready for the briefing by the Commander.

***

The Plan was simple enough.

Team Blue, led by Carol, would be the spearhead, jumping through the hellgate to start the assault on hell itself, but from there on, they were only a diversion. Team Yellow and Team Green would storm the main city of Hueco Mundo, where the leaders of the demons and the conspiracies to invade earth realm were woven were hidden.

Sounded really simple right? A walk in the park, as Yorkbing would’ve said.

Of course, that’s not counting the hundreds of thousands of demons, ghouls, hollow, and other hellish creatures that stood in their way. Not to mention the Espada, the Demon Guard and the Four Horsemen which guarded the main tower, before they finally could reach the throne of Morningstar, to find “the Big Red Switch” which they hoped would put an end to the hellgates, closing the gateways between the earth and the netherworld forever.

“Remember, once you’re inside Hueco Mundo, all communication will be cut off, and you guys will be on your own. No portals can be summoned and there’s no way to come back to earth, save for completing the mission.” The Commander briefed, while the teams suited up for the seemingly impossible mission.

“Can’t we call in more teams to help out in this mission? We’re not the only ones charged with protecting Singapore’s defence right?” Alex asked, though he already expected the answer. Besides his medikit, he’d be lugging a bagful of nanotechnology (which would come in useful to replace body parts which were removed), mechanical parts, extra ammunition, a short jade sword and his odd but very effective weapon of choice, a crossbow.

“Yeah, but we’re the only ones who know how to kick some serious butt!!” Boonkiat grinned as he packed some explosive toys into his backpack.

The Commander rolled her eyes and couldn’t believe that this rag-tag group of teenagers of all sorts could actually work together and produce such results that the Unit N280 were known to the top divisions of government as the elite demon-eradicating specialists. Yet in her heart, she felt proud and honoured to lead these young men and women, and would’ve gladly given her life to save anyone of them from this mission – but too much was at stake here.

“Right.. Blue team! Saddle up!!” Carol-san got onto her bike, as her team mates got ready to storm the next hellgate. Since they were going in fast and striking as a surprise attack, they would’ve to be extremely mobile. The team got on their motorbikes and revved the engines. They gave one last salute to the Commander, and then off they headed, for the next hellgate.

Yellow and Green team had slower but beefier rides. Two assault buggies similar to the designs seen in the Halo games and one light armoured APC were their vehicles. They were armed to the teeth, with loads of new weaponary, special gemstones, shields, swords, lasers, robots, talismans, bullets and everything else you could think of, but still, they had a feeling it wasn’t enough.

“I wanna control the machine gun!” whined Celine, but Boonkiat wouldn’t let her. “Grow taller first! The handle’s higher than you can reach!”

“Hahaha!!” “Haw haw!!” The guys roared with laughter, seemingly unfazed by the impending suicide mission. They had to act typically macho in such situations, and Momo couldn’t believe their childishness.

“Alright, settle down in the back!! See you later boss!” Grifter saluted to the Commander, “Let’s go plunder hell and populate heaven!” The two teams roared off into action.

“Boss?” After a while, Hensa asked a question so suddenly it almost threw everyone off guard. “How do you know we’re getting to heaven?”

“Cos by the time we’re done busting the guts of those monsters, hell’d be too crowded for us to get in!!” Kenneth joked and grinned. “Haha! Hoho!” more laughter followed this merry little crew.

Operation Breakaway was underway.

***

Grimjow was furious with Aizen. “How can you order us to sit here and do nothing while you know that they’re coming to attack us?”

Death, one of the Four Horsemen looked amused. “Aizen, is this how your subordinate talks to you?” he mocked.

Aizen’s smile didn’t falter. The most powerful of the Horsemen, going by the other name of Torment, didn’t need to speak for Grimjow to know his mistake.

“ARGH!! *gasp* choke!!” Grimjow’s mid riff suddenly exploded in a mass of bloody entrails, and his lungs seemed to turn to mush as he collapsed to the ground.

Destruction, the 3rd of the Horsemen looked away in disgust, while Pestilence just continued walking by.

Aizen let out a sigh and took a sip from his cup of tea. “I really hate to dirty my hands just to wash up your mess Grimjow.. I won’t kill you if you obey your orders not to attack those humans. At least not yet.. the time will come when you will have your moment. When all of you will have your moment!”