The smoke surrounding the battleground cleared, revealing a barren, dark wasteland strewn with disabled vehicles and massive craters in place of what used to be a lushcious plain. Unexploded ordinance, both friendly landmines and enemy cluster munitions littered the battlefield, posing a hazard to travelers for years to come.
Lying in a now deserted trench was Cashew, with a massive burn mark splattered across the composite armor plating he wore on his chest and his helmet half-submerged in the mud around him. His body was limp, barely functioning as he lay still in a pool of his own blood, but there was enough life within him to watch the clouds above him grow dark and heavy with rain. A low clap of thunder rang through the field, and rain began to fall down, first onto his face, and then onto his body.
They had already lost the war against the moderators at this point, a war that raged on for several months before moving onto the climatic turning point. The moderators had pushed forward for weeks, deeper and deeper into Angel controlled territory despite efforts to slow their advance, and finally came upon their last stronghold, the most heavily fortified installation in all of Sirius, impenetrable to all foolish attempts of attacks.
The Angels had grossly underestimated the might of the moderators.
Backed by recently promoted Admins who still had connections within the moderator ranks, the mods wielded power that normally would be far out of their grasp. With this newfound power, they swept through the region like a rogue wave, toppling any attempts of defense by the Angels with a flick of a finger. It looked grim for the defenders, but Cashew was determined to fight it out to the last man. They prepared tanks, mines, trenches, and artillery for the battle, and at 11:30 AM they spotted hostile contacts moving in the distance. Fierce fighting began, with both sides taking heavy casualties. When the clock struck twelve o'clock noon, the fight was over.
The moderators had emerged victorious.
Despite sporadic gunfire and the occasional booms of artillery in the distance, the Angel force was now scattered and defeated, on the run to nowhere in particular. He and his men had given it his all, but failed in the end. The Angels were gone, forever.
As more raindrops landed around him, a silhouette appeared from the top of the trench. Instinctively, Cashew reached for his sidearm, which was coated in a thick layer of mud. With a blood stained glove, he pointed the weapon in the general direction of his enemy and fired two shots at him, but neither seemed to effect him. A third shot never went out, as the weapon had jammed. Still pulling the trigger frantically, he gave up and threw the firearm at the man in frustration as he approached, but it landed an inch short.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk." said the man, in a characteristic British accent, "You never know when to give up, do you?"
"Snoopy!" exclaimed Cashew, breathing heavily between phrases, "I should have never trusted you!"
"But you did, and that's all that matters...right now."
Snoopy was now standing over Cashew's body, clutching a magnum revolver in his right hand. He paused for a second before raising it slowly to where Cashew's face was only a few feet away, and slipped his finger onto the trigger. A bolt of lightning shot down from the heavens behind Snoopy, reflecting light off of the chrome handgun. Cashew took a deep breath, closed his eyes tightly, and waited for the pain to overwhelm him and then extinguish what remained of his life.
A shot rang out, and Cashew tensed up considerably, thinking he had been killed until another bang echoed through the field. He opened his eyes to see Snoopy stumble backwards, raising his pistol to fire at the unknown force a tad too late, as six more bullets came flying into his armor, followed by a loud pling. Cashew watched as Snoopy toppled backwards into the mud, sinking in an inch when he landed, completely lifeless. Whatever had caused this must have been a true force, as the admin-boosted armor was resilient to almost everything the Angels could throw at them, one that forever watched over him, a benevolent force that seeks only to save those who are destined to die. One that challenges fate itself, and laughs in the face of danger. A real Angel.
Another flash of lightning came down, illuminating Cashew's rain-soaked face as he squinted towards Snoopy's dead body. A figure audibly landed next to him, and he heard the clatter of gear as he shuffled slowly over to where he laid. A third boom of thunder and lightning revealed the man.
It was none other than Tal Ravis.
He was dressed in an extremely unorthodox uniform, and clutched an M1 Garand in his right hand as he stared down at Cashew, silently judging him. In one quick motion, he took a step forward and extended his left, bare hand, an offer to the wounded and dying Angel.
There were a ton of conflicting thoughts running through Cashew's mind, one that feared Tal after Cashew had denied him reentry into the Angels' forces, another that thanked him for his benevolence, and countless others that overloaded his mind, however sophisticated it was. They stared at each other for a minute, completely still, until Cashew reached out with what little strength he had left to take Tal's hand.
He was then surprised by the speed of which Tal pulled his limp, fully armored body from the thick mud, and how comfortable it seemed to be within his embrace. Even between his and Tal's composite armor, Cashew could still feel the warmth radiating off of Tal, which contrasted with the sickly cold caused by the rainstorm. He limped alongside Tal until they made it to the edge of a cliff, where they overlooked the ruins of the stronghold in solemn silence.
"Freeze! Show me your hands!"
The voice was a harsh wake up call for both men, as Tal turned the duo to see the new moderators, Vrabcek, Eduard, Havok, and Tabris, assault rifles poised, ready to fire upon the two Angels.
"Isn't that Cashew?" inquired Havok, who shifted around uncomfortably.
"Looks like it, prepare to execute them." said Tabris, who took his weapon off safety and took aim.
Tal raised his M1 Garand with his only free hand, but had forgotten to reload it earlier. It made several clicking noises, and brought laughter from the moderators. This fit of laughter bought time for the enterprising freelancer to draw his sidearm, a United Engineering UE-10 "Malevolent Renegade" special edition pistol. He fired off several laser shots, none of which had an effect on the moderator's beefed up armor.
"Hah! You couldn't possibly penetrate our exquisite and overly finespun armour plating with such a vile device!" remarked Eduard, to the chuckles of his comrades.
"Enough playing," said Vrabcek, raising his weapon, "Terminate them already."
There was a moment of hesitation until suddenly, a Sabre rose up from behind the cliff. It bristled with Kraken tachyon cannons, and lit up the moderators in a haze of orange energy. Eduard fell first, followed by Tabris and Havok. Vrabcek had sneakily engaged his suit's active camoflague systems, moving out of the way and running before the Sabre opened up.
Tal turned to see his old friend, [XTF]bloogaL, behind the controls of the heavy fighter. [XTF]bloogaL positioned the fighter to where Tal could easily place the injured Cashew into the cargo bay, climbing in after he knew for sure Cashew was secured.
"We'll need to find a secure place, somewhere like Mactan Base. I'm sure the Lane Hackers will take us in, since we're enemies of Liberty after all," said Tal, in a gruff and manly voice, "There, we'll rebuild, and one day take our vengeance on this treacherous moderator scum."
Cashew sat there, mouth agape and in awe.
"Course heading, Ravis?" asked [XTF]bloogaL.
"Second star to the right, and straight on 'till morning."
The sabre engaged it's cruise engines and leaped into the atmosphere. Several flak cannons opened up on them but their velocity was too great for the slow projectiles to hit them. The Moderators had the planet in full control, planet side and orbital. It seemed as though they had recruited some worthless souls to patrol the planet. Nothing [XTF]BloogaL couldn't handle.
"Moderator Vessels up ahead." Spoke Tal indicating Bloogal should eliminate them for his own satisfaction. "Let's ruin their day." He laughed as he unleashed hell onto the unsuspecting enemy. Tal cackled as the explosions light up his eyes, "They won't be causing any trouble anymore." The sabre resumed its journey and headed for the nearest trade lane. It sped along evading any patrols from Humans or Moderators. Cashew was in the same position he was placed in when Tal heroically rescued him. He seemed to be gaining strength from an unknown source. Angels together replenished each others strength, but there was no Angel to be seen. They had reached the Magellan system, traffic had reduced here and there was no reason for an Angel to be here especially with the Moderators ruling Sirius. There was only one explanation. Tal had to be regaining his Angel abilities, his acts of heroism must have triggered the initiation process.
"Mactan base straight ahead, 30 clicks." BloogaL spoke with confidence as they approached the heavily guarded base. "Good, they'll let us dock." said Tal. Cashew was sitting up now and looking at the vast asteroid field. Tal looked behind at Cashew, "Feeling better eh?" He was surprised at the sudden perk of life. "Yes, seems there is an Angel near." Cashew was suspicious and looked around for familiar Angel faces. He had forgotten most had fallen on Los Angeles. Shinju MiA, Wraga had fled to Planet New London the new Angel headquarters. He had no idea where anyone else was. "There is no Angel around." Spoke Tal as his wrist lit up with the Angel emblem. Cashew was shocked, "Tal look at your wrist!" Tal looked at the emblem, his face lit up with wisdom. "Finally, you know it took a while for this to happen." Cashew laughed as Tal got out of the Sabre. They had landed on Mactan. A group of Hackers were waiting for them.
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