Apocalyptic Returning

Chapter 13: Hells Current

"Yea, you see, I'm just not really understanding what you're throwing at me here." Krejit complained as he swept Captain Ilya's leg out from under him. "You told us yourself, the exosuit users of today are weaker than those of the past. You also said that most of Mariquels members were killed long ago."

"I understand that so let me elaborate a bit." Hallman said as he watched Krejit spar with Captain Ilya, Elise and North. "Mariquel does not function like Infinium does. We depend heavily on our Captains and Commanders. Probably about an eighty percent dependence rate."

"From what I saw during the last war, Mariquel has that rate at around fifty percent. Do you want to know what that other fifty percent dependence rate goes into? Technology!"

"They depend on technology over exosuit users." Krejit slipped beside North and kicked him into Elise. "And what technology can they produce that could possibly trump exosuit users?"

"SCM's, Specialty Combat Mechs. Halfway through the first part of World War Three, engineers at Mariquel discovered how to efficiently harness the energy our exosuits operate off and implement them into Mechs." Hellman explained.

"Fucking Mechs, you've got to be kidding me." Krejit dodged between multiple attacks from Elise, North and Ilya as he talked. "You're telling me that Mech's is what we were having such a hard time with for all those years. Big chunks of fucking steel is what we were losing against for so long."

"A brat like you who's never touched an actual battlefield wouldn't understand." Hellman said while barely keeping his cool. "The technology they implemented into those damn Mechs. You couldn't even begin to imagine."

Standing on the battlefield once again, Hellman scanned his surroundings. Lying around him were the mangled bodies of soldiers. All throughout the battlefield there was fire and ravaged corpses of Infinium and Mariquel soldiers alike. And worst of all, the cause of all that destruction was standing maybe a football field in front of Hellman.

A gigantic Mech standing at nearly a hundred feet left Hellman in a traumatized state. Only moments before, he and his battalion of soldiers were celebrating their victory over their battle against Mariquel forces. Then in the blink of an eye, he was standing in a graveyard consisting of those he considered friends.

In the left hand of the Mech, was the crushed and mangled body of Infinium Captain Techno. A surge of energy activated and ran down the Mechs arm. Upon reaching its hand, a beam of red energy shot out into the sky, disintegrating the Captain's body. The body of a friend that Hellman could not even comprehend was now gone.

Falling to his knees, Hellman could only watch as the Mech turned its attention from its hand to him. With new prey in sight, the Mech took a step forward, shaking the ground in the process. But not even that was able to break Hellman from his trauma induced trance as he still continued to stare down the Mech.

The only thing going though Hellman's brain in that moment was nothing but him wondering whether he was to die or not. Then, the Mech stopped after only a couple steps, its sight set past Hellman. Confused by the sudden change, Hellman turned his head to where the Mech was looking.

Behind him, barely struggling to their feet was Infinium Captain Veneto, his left arm torn off from the shoulder. In his right arm he clenched onto a machete like short blade covered in energized electricity. Taking a moment to gain his balance, he raised his head to face down the massive Mech. And just like that, he began to start limping forward.

Before Veneto could take many steps, the Mech raised its left arm and aimed it at him. A beam of red energy blasted toward him that he decided to stare down. In the moment before the beam would have reached him, he phased to the side. Reappearing a dozen feet to the right, he began to run towards the left side of the Mech.