The Lost Brother

The rain poured down from the heavy gray clouds above relentlessly, the sounds of thick drops pattering against the rocks filling the balcony that overlooked the valley. Joey leaned over the balcony with his hands tightly gripping the railing watching the dark horizon. “Of course it has to rain before the big day,” he muttered to himself. “Every time I’m reminded of him and how it could’ve been different.” He shook his head, continuing to gaze out.

“And yet we’ve come so far,” a soft voice said behind him. “I think he would’ve been proud of what we’ve accomplished.”

Maya walked up to the railing standing with her back to it next to him. They’d been an inseparable trio growing up before the Emergence, back when they’d all expected to lead normal mundane lives. The arrival of the Archons had changed all that, changed all of humanity. There’d been hardly any warning before everyone was required to reorganize and become a part of the war effort for humanity, and luckily they’d managed to remain together during all that as well.

“I still don’t know why I didn’t call that mission off, it had been raining just like this that day,” he replied.

“Do you really think Wesley is the type to change his mind when he’s set on something?” she countered.

Joey shook his head, chuckling to himself. “My brother was a lot of things, stubborn being one of the big ones.”

She reached into her pocket pulling out a small fold out screen. “Here look at our arrangement for tomorrow, me and the other Sentinels have gone over the logistics multiple times already but I wanted to run it by you and some of the generals too.”

Joey took the Holo from her and began reviewing the relevant details, the formations were exactly as he and the generals had discussed for the weeks leading up to this massive effort. They’d finally made headway into Archon territory and were nearing one of the major bases that the creatures had setup from which they seemed to control most of the region. This was their chance to finally gain back some major territory and put a dent in the enemy’s confidence. The people of Earth would not go down as easily as they expected, this war had been raging for over 5 years now and it was clear these beings hadn’t even expected them to hold out this long.

“Everything is in order Maya,” he said, handing back the Holo. “If my plan of leading the charge from the east goes as expected, they’ll have less resources to send in backup to other areas.”

“Yes the east seems to be their densest area, keeping all of them occupied will keep them from scurrying to other fronts,” she said before getting ready to leave. “It’s the most dangerous front as well so are you sure you don’t want extra support with you on the ground for this charge?”

Joey shook his head, continuing to stare out at the view. “Any extra support would be from other areas that need it, no I can handle it with the assigned troops don’t try to talk me out of it.”

“You know Wes wasn’t the only stubborn one clearly,” Maya replied, shaking her head and walking back into the complex.

Joey smiled to himself at that, reaching down his shirt to pull out the pendant half attached to his chain. The other half had been with Wesley, a gift given to both of them by mom when they’d finished their training at the highest level and been promoted to Reclaimers which was one of the highest ranks before general. They’d felt invincible back then, nothing could bring them down especially as long as they had each other. Missions that they participated in were generally successful and further honed their skills. One of the favorite strategies of the power duo of brothers was to draw attention to themselves while another more surgical unit completed the mission.

“I would’ve loved to have you at my back again for this one little brother,” Joey whispered to himself before letting go of the pendant and finally going back inside to get some rest before the raid tomorrow.

***

An explosion rocked the ground from nearby. The panicked troops started running away and tripping over themselves in an effort to find cover. Joey hustled across the field hearing the enemy’s bullets hit the ground behind him before sliding down an embankment. He took a deep breath then peeked over and quickly ducked down again as bullets flew over his head. The other troops beside him caught their breath, looking at him expectantly.

“Well boys we’ll have to make a break for it eventually, those sentries might just decide to bomb this ditch altogether,” he said, servicing his Gunblade which they all stared at in awe.

The deadly red long sword with a revolver handle instead of a traditional hilt. It had a double barrel extending out and between the two barrels was where the sword was squeezed enabling it for both melee and medium range combat. Every Reclaimer was assigned one according to their skillset upon completing training. After reloading it and aligning the blade he got ready to move.

“Alright look, you all have to go left and I’ll go right, that sentry can’t shoot at both of us,” he explained to the wide eyed soldiers. “When I give the signal you all run like hell.”

He turned away, pulling out one of the few flash grenades left in his belt and waited a few seconds before pulling the pin.

“NOW!”

He lobbed the grenade up as it exploded and drew the sentry turret’s attention, the flash temporarily overloading the sensors of the machine. He ran closer to the base, stopping once he was too close for the sentries to target him. Finding a boulder to temporarily hide behind he looked over to see that the troops that had been hiding with him had made it too on the other side, albeit two were nursing minor bullet wounds. They gave him a thumbs up before continuing onward to deal with the enemy infantry coming out of the base on their side. Joey reached for his earpiece and enabled it.

“Took you long enough,” Maya said to him from the Sentinel station they’d set up outside the perimeter. “We were waiting so long here we thought one of those turrets took you out.”

“That’s funny considering I’m still the first one to cross deep enough into the base limits to be too close for those turrets,” he replied smiling as he watched other troops do the same. The multiple doors leading into the base were opening and the Diamondheads were beginning to enter the fray.

“You’re alone on your side so remember to signal if you need help,” Maya replied worried. “The other troops at least have each other and they’re fully kitted out, I doubt even a Gunblade is equivalent to a whole team.”

You’d be surprised he thought to himself watching the base door in front of him open and a squad of Diamondheads started to emerge. They’d started calling this humanoid enemy infantry Diamondheads due to the diamond-like shape of the helmets they wore into battle, there was nothing else to go off of as their bodies turned to ash instantly when they died.

“Well I’ve rarely gotten a chance to try this many out alone,” Joey walked over to the squad, Gunblade held ready to his side.

“Wait don’t charge in-” he turned off the communications and looked over at the one larger Diamondhead in the group lifting his blade and pointing it directly at him.

The creature didn’t fall for the bait and signaled his minions to surround him slowly. They walked quickly, keeping their distance from him, circling him till he was trapped. This was too close to use any of the grenades he had left. The Gunblade seemed to pulse in his hand and he relished this moment. Everything slowed down, the sounds of the battle became muffled, all that was left was him, his blade and the enemies.

“If you’re not going to start off then…”

One of the enemies leaned forward just slightly, breaking the formation. Joey stepped towards him, getting closer to fire. He swung the Gunblade at him, both barrels and blade aimed at the creature’s head and fired. The Diamondhead ducked the very obvious attack. Seizing the moment, Joey stepped towards him as the enemy tried to reorient himself and swung down with the blade passing it through his head cleanly.

The quickness left the two enemies standing to either side of the fallen one staring and in that moment he sliced through their chest like butter, watching them turn to ash beside their comrade. Joey wiped the sweat off his brow and hefted the blade over one shoulder, point trailing lazily behind him.

“Is that the best you Diamondheads got?” he called out to the leader who seemed to be hesitating and unsure.

“See, I told you I got this,” Joey said into his earpiece turning the comms back on. “They still have no idea what to do against a Gunblade.”

The army had spent the initial years after the Emergence working on developing a weapon that allowed for short and mid range fighting as the majority of Archon troops seemed to be of a melee variety that preferred closer combat with reinforced armor and gauntlets. The Gunblade had been the answer, but it required an expertise that only Reclaimers possessed.

“If you’d let me finish talking you’d have heard me say that they have their own champion now, someone who’s been taking out our troops in previous raids,” Maya spoke quickly, annoyed. “They might have a Gunblade of their own.”

That’s not possible, all Gunblades are accounted for even those of the fallen Reclaimers Joey thought to himself. Except for Wesley’s which was lost in the reconnaissance mission he was sent on.

He gritted his teeth. “So these Archon scum kept it? I doubt they know how to use it anyway.”

“Be careful Joey, we don’t know much about this new champion of theirs but he’s strong,” Maya replied before disconnecting.

“Well I’ll deal with him eventually,” he said looking at the Diamondhead leader who with his remaining troops continued stepping backwards slowly. “Oh c’mon guys this is hardly a fight!”

He decided to go for a charge to try to finish them off. Lowering himself to get ready, sword held low behind him, he looked up just in time to see a broad green blade slide through the Diamondhead leader’s abdomen. The creature convulsed in shock before fading to ash, revealing the soldier behind him wearing a different kind of armor, with a specialized dark headpiece. He held Wes’s Gunblade casually, swinging it at the other coward Diamondheads that had dared to retreat against Joey.

The sight of the blade brought back Joey’s memory of sending his brother on a doomed mission and being unable to find any remains other than the crashed surveillance airship they’d used. Wesley was dead and this creature had the audacity to brandish his blade at him like this so flippantly. Joey couldn’t stand it and charged at the newcomer angrily dragging his Gunblade behind him before coming to a stop directly in front of the enemy and putting all his momentum into the upward swing hoping to slice through him in one clean move. But this wretch was skilled, able to bring the broadsword Gunblade down to block the blow pushing down on Joey’s blade as he pushed up.

“You don’t have the right to that blade!” Joey roared putting all his weight into the push up, but this was a losing push and he stepped back swiftly standing and assessing the enemy. This “man” if he could be called that was good, fast reaction, impressive strength and clearly had practice with the Reclaimer weapon.

“I’m looking at him now Maya, their new champion,” he spoke into the comms, keeping a safe distance from the foe as they looked at each other slowly circling.

“There isn’t much information to go off, and Gunblade vs Gunblade combat is strictly forbidden so I have no info to help you,” she replied, sighing.

“Oh thanks yeah that helps,” Joey rolled his eyes, turning the comms off again to focus, just in time for the enemy to swing his sword from the side at him.

He stepped back to avoid the sword strike but as it passed in front of him the barrels were pointed his way for an instant and the enemy pulled the Gunblade trigger.

Joey expected that. He’d stepped back and ducked instantly. The blade swooped in front of him and the bullets flew over his head grazing his hair. The broad swing left an opening and he thrust forward with his weapon firing the gun at the same time as his blade made contact with the armor. It was rock solid, he couldn’t slice through and the bullets he’d fired ricocheted off harmlessly.

So his blade can cut me and his bullets can kill me but I can’t use either against him Joey panted as he blocked another swing. There must be some weakness.

The fight continued in steel ringing against steel as the occasional gunshot sounded from the enemy’s Gunblade. Joey defended and dodged, everything becoming instinct–block, duck, swing, breathe. The floor began to turn red from drops of Joey’s blood from the various cuts and grazes. He never thought of yielding, his brother’s legacy couldn’t be this monster using his coveted blade. The sun glinted off the dark visor covering the face, without thinking Joey swung up and aimed his blade at the face, firing it to hear the bullets bounce off the visor but cracking it. Thrusting forward he hit the blade against the visor and managed to pry it off, he stopped to examine his foe. Human eyes stared back at him.

“Wes?” he said, feeling the world spin as he looked at his brother in enemy armor and a look of confusion and daze in Wesley’s eyes.

Wes swung his blade at him but the moment his lifeless eyes looked at Joey he stopped mid-swing.

“Do I know you?”

Joey dropped the blade to the side and walked over to his brother slowly. “Brother it’s me Joey,” he replied before grabbing his brother and pulling him into a hug, feeling Wesley drop the blade.

“The helmet, it blocks out faces, they’ve been experimenting on my mind for weeks,” Wesley began rambling. “I’d forgotten everything…”

“It’s ok, I got you now,” Joey held him tightly. “We’re gonna figure this out together.”

Wesley pulled away, collapsing to his knees. “I’ve killed so many of my own, I didn’t know,” he grabbed his head and curled up screaming. “I didn’t mean to!”

Joey knelt beside him pulling him up and removing the remainder of the Archon helmet off, the other half of the pendant pair swung free. “Wesley, we will figure this out, do not give in, right now I need you to be the great soldier you are.”

Wes calmed down slightly and gathered himself. “Joey the power generator is located on the south side of the building, that’s where you’d need to hit,” he started.

“I know, my attack on the east was to draw them all to me I guess that included you,” Joey replied. “Just like old times, except I thought I’d have to do this without you this time.”

A loud explosion rang out from the south side of the base, the inferno reaching high into the sky as the turrets and all defense systems powered down. The efficient strike team had managed to accomplish its goal.

“I guess you did have me this time too in a way,” Wesley said, getting up and walking alongside Joey.

A cheer went up as their troops managed to attack the base in earnest with its power systems destroyed and the defenses completely nullified. Today was a win in more ways than one. Joey reached for his earpiece.

“Hey Maya, you’re not gonna believe this but…”