Chapter 16 - Chapter 15: the Bulwarks Helm made Manifest

By the time everyone had waken up on their terms i was already outside crouching to the ground to avoid making too much noise, my rifle in my guantlets as i stared off light years away from reality into the ripped and torn fabric known as my mind. Its hard to admit that i havent been able to process anything thats been going on, this.. crap whatever it's called is keeping me alive and tied to my tall masters, so many things i've yet to understand with no time to ask questions, with nobody to ask questions to! I snap back to reality when i feel my left shoulder pauldron shake, i turn to see who it is only to be met by Locust, i raise myself into a standing position and look down at Locust "you looked like you were in another galaxy for a second" he said as he shouldered his rifle looking up at the optical lenses of my helmet "i might've been" i agreed as i returned the gaze more coherent than originally. Dr. Levine began making the starting preparations to study my suit and its armaments that i possessed, she had me take apart and put back together my firearms to understand the craftsmanship and calibers which by seeing the look on her face felt purely alien to her, i had to hold my sword for her to examine it otherwise i feared her arms would snap off from the weight, when she was satisfied i concealed my blade and we continued our journey back into St. Los. As we inched our way through the outskirts of the overgrown city passing what looked to be a suburban neighborhood overtaken by wildlife and the aftermath of a long forgotten artillery bombarment, some shattered skeletons with military uniforms still in some of the houses as we passed by "what had happened here? What would cause such devastation?" Rosemary asked as she looked from Corvines back and he quietly answered after a few moments of silence "power." The wind got more violent as we made our way through the barren streets, Gerald holding onto Rosemary as we walked out of fear she would fly away from the wind, i power marched to corvines right side and confined in him saying "its too quiet, theres usually at least one patrol somewhere in this city and we'd either hear it or see it" Corvine let out a begrudging noise of agreement before asking what the plan was in case of an ambush with no immediate answer to be heard "well think of something boy because im too heavy to do anything with haste" i let out a light chuckle from his remark as i looked around scanning the buildings for what felt like an eternity, paranoia rising through my body making me feel as if ive been struck drunk in an instant looking through as many windows as possible looking for an inkling of something, a shoulder plate out of place, the glint of a scope. My armor felt heavy from the pure insanity swirling in my head, my hearing becoming a distant echo as my ears began to ring while sweat slowly dripped from my brow within my helmet, my vision shaking until a loud noise made me snap out of it, a rifle shot that had hit what was meant to be Corvines knee leaving what was left of the round embedded into the metal plating, it looked like if you had sent a screw too far into a wood surface and had to get it out somehow, i yell to him "get them the hell out of here!" As i shielded Jackal and Locust from the invisible threat before us, Corvine as fast as possible moves the untrained into a nearby parking garage shielding himself and them with nothing but his own mechanical body as rifle rounds both missed and hit his sarcophagus that housed the remains of his body amongst other areas on his mechanical form until they were safe. After they were out of sight the rifleman stopped firing, Locust already grabbing his rifle asked "the hell is the plan?" At first i couldnt give him an answer, this soldier was somewhere up high in a way that makes it impossible for us to track him until a helicopter was heard in the distance, the rotars sounding more and more closer with each moment until it shot two rockets at the parking garage turning it into rubble, at first the helicopter just stood in the sky for a few moments almost showing a sense of dominance it felt before opening fire with its front mounted turret with a flurry of rounds which i could hear making impact all around me into the street, several rounds hit the shield bluntly as if trying to jab their way through like spears, after a few moments of intense spraying coming from above a round finds its way through the shield and bluntly hits the plating on my right knee causing me to lose my balance from the energy behind the caliber and stagger lower to the ground while i still held out my shield to protect my allies that hid behind me regardless of it not going through the armor like it did with the shield i was still worried that it could have taken my knee if it had landed the right way, i raised myself to a standing position "get ready, we make our stand here" i said unsheathing my sword as i watched the hulking mass known as Titan step out from the helicopters troop bay, his armor more fortified as he stood in front of me, it barely resembled what it originally was, he looked tall, as tall as i was with a helmet that had looked almost like a Greek Corinthian helmet with a long sideways Plume that was a dark red with the visor being the same color, it reminded me of a Sensu fan from ancient Japan that some of the Japanese personnel on the ship still had and made, i never understood that because it was a ship in space, why would you need a handheld folding fan in the middle of a ship in the void of space? I guess that never really mattered if it made them happy in the moment. I stood my ground silently as he monologued "since you dropped you have been the biggest problem for me Hyde" grabbing what looked to be a spear from next to where he was sitting in the Helicopter, i brought my shield to my front and my sword pointed true on my shield towards my enemy as he began to slowly advance, "i just didnt think you would become this big of a pain, i left you to rot there for a reason!" "If you truly thought that any of this destruction would help anything then you're the one who's truly rotting" i shouted out to him as i banged the flat side of my sword on my shield making him laugh as he twirled his spear showing full control of it before continuing on, "lets see if you can even try then Hyde" he stepped until he was 10 feet in front of me before lunging at me with his spear forcing me to put my shield up in a block, as i held the shield out he sent the blade a couple inches into the lower left side of the shield an inch away from my hip, letting go of it i sent my body rotating to the right and swing my sword into Titan slashing his right arm with a sidewys metallic scrape before lowering the blade to the ground, he then kicked me in the back forcing me falling forward onto the street, i catch myself with my hands and roll to the side before he sent the blade of the spear a few inches into the ground and pulled it out to ready himself, i grab my revolver, take aim and fire with a trigger pull letting a round go down range into the right corner of Titans chestplate causing him to stagger back from the force of the round, the armor corroding and melting where the shot hit like it was hit with acid, i charge him with my right shoulder throwing him up and onto it before tossing him onto his back a couple feet behind me. I rush to grab his spear sending my body and the suit it controlled sideways to the ground with a small hop almost in a sliding fashion but more violently in the sense that a couple thousand pounds of bulky gold plate armor attempts to drop onto its right side and slide to a spear, my right ribs and hip ached, i felt like a hippo trying to jump as i dropped for the slide causing me to realize that this armor wasnt meant for such a maneuver as i crawled to try and grab the spear that belonged to Titan, as i moved on the ground it felt like nails stabbing into the right side of my body the pain causing me to shake as my vision began to narrow. Titan while this effort was transpiring had already gotten up and was walking towards me, in my helmet through the comms radio i heard a furious yell before a shot rang out outside of my helmet, i couldnt look back at what was happening not yet i needed the spear, i grabbed it with my left hand and used it with my left leg to steady myself back onto my feat looking back at the sight that would send me into madness. As i was grabbing the spear Titan had gone to try and grab my sword surprised by the weight of it, as he went to lift the blade to drive it through me Locust had shot the shoulder of the dominant arm with my rifle sending Locust flying backwards violently onto the street, the bullet contorted, warped, and cracked the shoulder plating that it made contact with causing Titan to drop the sword he was holding sending the blade onto Locusts left leg severing it, the sword then toppled sideways onto its left side and like a Guillotine the blade chopped the other leg off making him scream in agony and horror, his legs were gone there was no real hope of fixing that especially not right now, a primal fury radiated with in me like an demonic heat before i rushed Titan with the spear before jabbing at him three times, he grabbed the handle and sent it into me reclaiming the spear, i stumble back with my hand where he had struck me looking at him as he walked to me "you think you're enough against me boy? Do you?!" He questioned angerly as he sent the blade of the Spear towards my left shoulder getting stuck into the shoulder plating, i could feel the cold steel of the blade against my shoulder just a centimeter in it causing blood to drip down, i look up at him and chuckle "im not the one who has driven people away, you really are lost." the garage rubble began to shake before erupting loudly onto the street Corvine lunged his mechanical body forward from the wreckage that surrounded him and whipped his stomach with the barrel of the cannon that was welded to the metal plating that made Corvines arm, Titan flying backwards onto his back from the force of such a blunt and violent creature full of rage, i couldnt see it with my eyes but it felt like Corvine was showing his fangs as he unleashed his attack sending blow after blow at Titan as he slowly managed to maneuver up and around his attacks due to Corvines size and the educated speculation that his form wasnt meant for such conflicts, while watching the spectacle take place i grabbed my sword and held it true, the blade shimmering in the dim light of the sun behind the clouds above, i felt like my mind was splintering at the thought that i would have to actually use it against Titan who i trusted until he threw me into insanity, pure unhinged, uncontrollable insanity that latched onto my brain as i looked at the blood that covered the blade, Jackal rushed past me with his sub machine gun in hand, he looked like he was running at twenty miles an hour as he sped towards Titan spraying nine millimeter rounds into Titans exposed shoulder, "Jackal wait!" I tried yelling as i held out my hand towards Jackal watching as Titan dropped to one knee from the incoming fire before winding up and sending a right hook into Jackals stomach sending him flying back to a couple feet behind me coughing up blood as he tried to support himself but couldnt muster the strength and collapsed, his face falling onto the small puddle of blood that came from him, i gritted my teeth before clenching the handle of my sword tightly as i rushing towards Titan, as i got halfway towards Titan i had grabbed my revolver, took aim and squeezed the trigger sending a round into the left side of Titans back, as it landed the shot sent a burst of lightning coursing through Titans armor completely powering it off and locking him in place. I walked to him slowly while holstering my revolver, smoke faintly flowing from the muzzle of the barrel, i gave his helmet a hard thrash before ripping it up and off his head and onto the ground sending it tumbling away, i looked at the gray skin that made his face, jagged vein looking lines coming from the left side of his neck and into his left eye, the sclera a deep black and the iris being a bright pulsating red, i shuddered at the sight before me "you are me!" I yelled out furiously as i smashed my free fist into his cheek a small bit of blood splattering onto his collar and slowly dripping down his chestplate like a small red river that ran through the snowy valley of white steel that made the shell that held the diseased yoke that i had felt so rabid towards like a sick animal about to be put down. As his armor had begin to slowly come back online, allowing him control of his war machine once more, he pushed me aside and slowly raised himself onto his feat struggling to get ahold of his balance, i charged towards him kicking at his legs trying to force him back down with no success as he proceeded to force me onto my knees with a combo of heavy blows that made my body feel like it was rattling in my armor with tremendous pain until i was forced onto my back from the force, my vision fading into black as my hearing turned into a distant echo, as i rolled my head to the side i could see Titan grabbing my sword and walking near, the tunnels of darkness closing in on him as i watched but couldnt move, couldnt think, could barely even breathe. Titan drew closer with my blade as each moment went by, foot after foot, step after step it felt like my mind was crumbling with weakness from exhaustion and pain, alarms ringing in my ears signifying structural integrity was damaged, life support was damaged, my left optic cracked. As Titan grew closer and closer with each step all i couldú do was watch as he stomped his way towards me, as he was above me he grabbed me by my left arm lifting me up like a toddler would with their stuffed bear, as he did he lifted up my sword and sliced off the arm he held dropping me to the ground in a crash, blood pooling from where my arm once was, i screamed in agony as blood continued to flow outward onto the ground i laid on. Titan had grabbed me by the boot and pulled me towards him slamming his boot onto my chestplate, my ribs feeling like tyhey were shattered from the impact they received, through the pain i attempted to swing my feet into the back of his leg but with no success, Titan grabbed my right left and with a twirl he sliced it off at the thigh in a diagonal fourty five degree angle "did you honestly think the Dark ones only blessed you?" He asked before getting blasted in the back by Corvines twenty millimeter cannon which was unloading shot after shot into Titan shredding through armor until he collasped onto the ground in front of me, my vision darkening at the sign of flames until i passed out entirely from shock and blood loss.