The four Helldivers stood tall in the wreckage of their wake, rubble and all manner of torn bodies strewn throughout the colony. It was a crater of destruction that only the Helldivers were capable of. They took a moment to collectively catch their breath and share the silent relief that everyone was still alive. Benjamin placed a beacon for another vehicle delivery and resupply at their location.
“Easy peasy, what’s next?” Cynthia chuckled and holstered her Auto cannon. She dusted her hands off ceremoniously as she looked out over the shattered Illuminate ships ahead of them. She smiled.
“We don’t have any time to lose.” the sergeant said in a gruff tone. “We clear the remaining camps infesting the outpost on the way to the center in the west and we plant the flag of Super Earth there.”
“Another walk in the park, then.” Mannington laughed again as she observed the falling vehicle. Her smile faded when she noticed dampness on her visor. “Shit.”
“We shouldn’t let our guard down.” O’Deorain quietly reminded her as they all piled into the car. With the sergeant at the wheel again they took off down the road and out of the colony until no road remained. The bumpy terrain and loose suspension in the car jostled the helldivers sitting inside. Sebastian placed his hand on the doll in his pocket, gently checking Miku for damage and letting out a deep sigh when he found none. He watched and listened to the corrosive precipitation as it fell on the temporary shelter of the FRV. A hellish pounding on the roof that downed out the sound of the engine. Cynthia gazed out on the passing scenery with unabashed disdain.
“Why’d they send me to this piss pit anyways?” She grumbled her thoughts out loud while she watched the rainfall rip by the empty window pane. Her foot ached as she imagined the putrid burning puddles she would soon be stepping in. The FRV slowed to a halt. While Cynthia hesitated to disembark into the mire before her, the rest of the squad had left the vehicle. She shuddered as her feet met with the muddy terrain. “God, let's get this bloody over with already.”
“Seconded.” Benjamin replied dryly. Steam was rising from his exposed biceps. Before Cynthia could comment on his melting skin, O’Deorain placed a hand on her shoulder.
“Try not to think about it.” They said, “That’s what he told me.”
“Right then...” Mannington replied, looking down to the soggy stone once more.
Through the waning bleak of the acrid storm, the four soldiers carefully swept the outpost. Each of them systematically slaughtered the scattered voteless, spreading out for better vantage points through the hobbled gray staircases woven through the outdoor complex. The rain began to taper off and the air began to clear. O’Deorain spotted Fleshmobs in the empty crags surrounding them as they lumbered towards their position en masse. They began to disassemble the abominations with their Anti-Material Rifle as they marched, laying the distorted corpses out in the field like bales of hay. Still more voteless began to approach, as if rising from the stone below or the ether itself; their numbers were rising exponentially as they began to flood the outpost. However, no voteless could pass the wall of flames that Sebastian created. He spoke not a word. Simply erasing them as they approached. Mannington covered herself and Benjamin while he scaled high to eliminate the warp ships with his Eruptor.
When the last Illuminate craft had been destroyed, Benjamin turned his attention to his allies. He saw another of the amalgamations charging through the incinerator's blaze. Apathetic to its burning flesh, the creature continued its charge. Flame wrapped appendages enveloped the boy and the two of them toppled to the ground with a thud. The young man disappeared under the corpse collapsing on top of him. There was no movement, a few voteless moved past the smouldering body of the fleshmob.
“Sebastian!” The sergeant’s shout echoed throughout the colony. He began plowing through voteless as if they were hollow, their entrails smeared against his shield and the charred earth, as he desperately tried to make his way to his comrade. An arm reached out from underneath the now-rotting flesh. Benjamin slowed to a halt. The young man pulled himself out from the carnage, smattered with its blue blood. “Are you alright Sebastian?”
Sebastian first checked the status of the doll within his pocket, gingerly patting from the outside before nodding affirmatively to his sergeant.
“Thank Liberty.” Benjamin quietly sighed with relief before shouting, “Let’s get moving! Rally at the FRV! We’ve got squid to fry!”
O’Deorain immediately took to the air in their jump pack, descending close enough to sergeant John that he could feel the warmth of the thrusters on his skin as they landed.
“Sir, yes sir.” The Truth Enforcer replied as they entered the vehicle. Benjamin, Sebastian and Cynthia swiftly filed into the other seats, then they were off towards the suburb center and back to paved streets. Each of them was on alert as they raced through the colony. Abandoned homes and businesses passed them by in a blur of somber gray hues and blue overtaken by the sickly green atmosphere that pervaded the planet. Through the dour ochre of the air they spotted a patrol standing guard at their objective; four Overseers waited at the bottom of a double staircase for a threat to approach.
“Keep your hands and feet inside the vehicle, we are about to disembark momentarily.” Benjamin said with a smirk before turning the wheel sharply.
The car screeched to a halt as it bowled through the unsuspecting Illuminate. Their armor and bodies shattered against the vehicle’s metal shell then splat across the wall, staining it with that familiar blue. The sergeant hopped out of the car with a spring in his step.
“Looks like we’re here kids.” Benjamin casually quipped. He patted the hood of the FRV. “Let’s go.”
“Aw, bloody hell.” Cynthia said, flicking the collateral viscera from her person as she scaled the stairs..
“Literally.” O’Deorain replied, unshaken by the sergeant’s maneuver.
“Now comes the fun part, get ready and watch each others’ back.” Benjamin forewarned as he keyed in the requisition request for the flag. He hesitated for a moment on the final input, looking up at his companions. “Let’s give these calamari a taste of democracy.”
“They’ll choke on it.” The Truth Enforcer responded matter-of-factly.
“Well said, old beans. Let’s give them a right-good thrashing then.” Mannington smiled as she pumped her Sweeper. Sebastian simply nodded and stood ready for the monument’s arrival.
Thud. Click. Whirr.
A steel pole rose from the orbital artillery. An instrumental of the Super Earth anthem began to play from speakers within.
It wasn’t long before the autocrats arrived in protest of the audacious liberty on display. More Illuminate warp ships flew in from outer space.
“The wankers can’t resist, can they?” Cynthia asked with a chuckle, shaking her head.
Cerulean beams of light poured from the glowing vessels and down on the streets. A few flashes in the sky and they were surrounded by enemy reinforcements on the ground. More of Super Earth’s flesh, sent back to kill humanity indiscriminately.
Immediately, the Voteless began their stumbling upward march towards their quarry. As swiftly as they arrived on the staircase, the aberrant mutants were disassembled. Slayed either by blaze, blade, or bullet; none of them reached the top. There were no gaps in the squad’s defense. Waves of bodies crashed against the stairs as the ships ferried more cargo to the streets. Each time, they were wiped out entirely until they stopped coming.
Click. Pop. Fwoosh. The Flag of Super Earth had completed construction and confetti rained down on the helldivers. The banner billowed proudly in the wind as a testament to the team’s domination over their intergalactic nemesises in this colony. Their eyes however, turned to the horizon. Their job wasn’t through here.
