Happy Hour

[Cazador]

There was static at first, but then the air way started to clear up a bit. He could hear Riley's voice, but then another voice entered the frequency the two were on. It didn't sound like anyone Cazador knew. What was even more surprising was this person was able to hack into the software on his armor. There was only one entity he could think of that could of gotten in. Through rumors and files he read from a research facility, he was able to deduce that it was none of than Vulture's own pet AI, The Red Queen. Sure enough he was right. The AI appeared on the side of his HUD.

"Guess we must of really pissed off your boss if he's sending you in. I'm flattered."

Cazador was having trouble moving in his armor. The systems were going haywire. He was losing control of his suit. That wasn't going to end well, especially with that mech still waiting for Cazador on the surface. While his HUD was flickering between the many visions it had, Cazador was able to catch a glimpse of where Hustler One was when Xray mode came up. The heavy mech was firing into the sewers. At first it looked to be just a random act, but then the sewage and air ignited. The suit wouldn't be able to protect him from the heat with the hazard protection on it malfunctioning. He was going to be burned bad if those flames touched him.

Thankfully, Riley's creative intervention would prevent that. Even if he couldn't supply him with some kind of weapon, that would more than make up for it. Cazador quickly regained control of his suits functions just in time for the flame to hit him. The suit altered the internal temperature to keep him from being cooked alive inside his armor. He let out a small sigh of relief. Any second longer and he would of looked like the cheese on a pizza. He looked at his HUD as it flickered between the image of the Red Queen and... animal porn. Suddenly being burnt didn't seem as bad as looking at those images. He shook it off before turning his attention back to the AI.

"Tell your boss that when I find him I'm gonna shove my metal gauntlet so far up his ass that I'll be able to pull out his spine and force feed it to him through a tube!"

Her image finally dispersed as it was now fully replaced with animal porn instead.

"Thanks Riley. Guess that's another two I owe you... Don't suppose you can get the video and music off my HUD as well."

The Red Queen was dealt with for the moment, but there was still the matter of dealing with Hustler One and now a satellite that was sending death from above. The two were certainly having a run for their money, but the game wasn't over yet. Cazador looked around the burnt up a sewer trying to find some kind of electrical current to use. He X-rayed the area and found a long trail of metal tubing that had wires in it. They must of run all through out the city. He tore the metal pipe in half and exposed the surging wires. Quickly, he bent and wrapped the broken pipe filled with wires around his armored suit. Electricity jolted through out the armor. The hazard protection was working at max now to keep him from getting electrocuted.

With wires running through out the city, he wouldn't have to worry about running out of wires to pull on. Now he just needed to find a way to throw off Hustler One's motion tracker. The rats he was using to cover his tracks in the sewers were all fried from the fire. There was only one thing now he could think of. He would have to create motion all over the area... an earthquake to be exact. Cazador started running at high speeds around the sewers while dropping grenades where ever he could. As he ran, the long electrical pipes were pulled out from their hinges with the end of it all being tied securely to Cazador. With nowhere left to run, he activated his jetpack and blasted through the sewers walls.

"Riley if you're still reading me then don't touch or get near anything in the area that's metal."

Like a gopher, he dug himself through the dirt around the battleground continuing to drop grenades. In no time at all, the explosions littered the underground with non stop shaking. The whole area around them was shaking back and forth. Cazador knew it had to be working as he looked at his own motion tracker, only to see it going crazy. It was time to attack. Using his X-ray visor, Cazador pinpointed Hustler One's location. He waited until he was directly under the mech before bursting forth from the ground. Rather than attack, he latched on to the mech's body and held on for dear life. The long pipe that was filled with city's electricity was still wrapped around him. Cazador used himself as a conduit to transfer the shocking damage onto Hustler One's shields.

The bolts of electricity wouldn't only be touching Hustler One and Cazador. The energy leaped to every piece of metal and electronic in the area. Sparks filled up the whole area. Every piece of electronic equipment exploded into sparks before jumping to the next piece of metal. The battlefield looked like a giant electrical storm.

[Red Queen]

"Guess we must of really pissed off your boss if he's sending you in. I'm flattered. Tell your boss that when I find him I'm gonna shove my metal gauntlet so far up his ass that I'll be able to pull out his spine and force feed it to him through a tube!"

“That won't be necessary,” replied Red Queen knowingly of the deathtrap Cazador was in.

“Well if it ain't the redheaded homicidal bitch herself! How you doing? Riley gotta hand it to you girl, you got spunk. But if you think this is over you're sorely mistaken. Riley has a present just for you.”

“Mr. Riley, for enlisting in several illegal activities you are under arrest. Further resistance on your part will be met with immediate dismissal.”

Red Queen saw the porn begin to fill up her monitors and the music to come with it. It had succeeded in halting the AI from taking over Cazador's systems but other than that a minor inconvenience as already her anti-virus systems were beginning to purge out the pornographic images and cut off the music. By this time Hustler One shields were taken down by the electricity and it was once again forced to fly through the air to get away from the electricity that now cover the field.

[Ayen]

“Mr. Riley, for enlisting in several illegal activities you are under arrest. Further resistance on your part will be met with immediate dismissal.”

Riley whistled.

“Listen to you with your fancy wording. Riley's gonna have to take a rain check on that.”

"Thanks Riley. Guess that's another two I owe you... Don't suppose you can get the video and music off my HUD as well."

“It'll be gone soon enough. Don't worry about it.”

"Riley if you're still reading me then don't touch or get near anything in the area that's metal."

Riley looked towards the metal minicomputer in his hands and tossed it.

“Damn collateral.”

[Cazador]

The electrical storm had done its work. However Cazador knew the cost of such an attack. In all honesty it was the only real option he had to bring down his opponent's shields. He knew before pulling off the attack, that it would fry every piece of electrical equipment in the area. That meant there was a chance that a handicap would be put on Riley. The two of them wouldn't be able to stay on the battlefield forever. Without any reinforcements in the area to assist they have to leave before more Vulture troops arrived to help. For now. Cazador would attempt the final blow to stop Hustler One and allow him, Riley and remaining innocence to escape persecution.

Cazador continued holding onto the mech for as long as possible. The mechanized warrior knew that staying on the ground would make it vulnerable so once again it took to the sky. Cazador refused to let go. He needed to shoot as much electrical damage into the mech as possible. Once the mech reached a high enough height, the long piped wires around Cazador's body snapped. The electrical current returned to the ground while Hustler One remained safe in the sky. Once again the advantage would be on the side of the heavy mech if not for one thing. Its shields were down. At last they were even.

While still holding on the Hustler One, he reached for one of his grenades. One last EMP would surely do the trick and disable it finally. As he grabbed for one a sense of stress entered his mind... empty. He used them all causing that earthquake to get a shot at disabling his opponent's shields. There was only one option left... The F.E.I.T.D. (Fuck Everything In This Direction) missile. With them being so high up, Cazador wouldn't have to worry about any innocence being caught in the blast. The only thing that was a cause for concern was just how much punishment his body and armor was gonna take firing it at close range. It was time to see what he was made of.

"Let's have a race to see who can get to Hell first. Here, I'll give you a head start."

The missile came out of the silo on his forearm. At first glance it appeared to be nothing, but a puny toy. Those who had seen it in action before would know other wise. Despite knowing how big the blast radius would be, the suicidal warrior launched it at close range. The bright explosive light filled the sky of Isafaro. For a few moments the city appeared to have a sun over its head. The shockwave reached the ground once again causing a large earthquake while shattering the glass of all nearby buildings. To those directly under the blast it was blinding, but for those farther away it was a beautiful sight to behold.

The large explosive light began to fade as a mushroom cloud shot up into the sky. Even though it was high up, a small figure could be seen falling from the sky at high speeds. It was Cazador. Some parts of his armor had been nearly blown off, while other parts were dented and had sparks coming out. The glass on his visor was partially chipped revealing one of his brown eyes. As he continued falling a a dissatisfied smile over took his face. He looked at the part of the sky that wasn't covered in the smoke of his missile's explosion. Death hadn't taken him... at least not yet. That would of been a good death though. His senses were fading. The blast really must of knocked him good.

Cazador regained his thoughts for a brief second to activate his damaged jetpack. It wasn't exactly a smooth landing, but it was a landing. He had crashed through several cars on the cracked battlefield before finally coming to a stop. He attempted to get up after falling only to realize how much it hurt to move. He fell back down to the ground. Cazador spoke in a tired and weak voice.

"...I wonder if that did it."

Once again he tried to contact Riley. He wasn't sure if his radio still worked due the electrical storm earlier.

"Riley... If you can still hear this... get these people out of here before more show up... I'm not sure if I beat that thing."

[Red Queen]

Cazador would see Hustler One falling from the sky, caught in a blaze of fire all around its body as it crashed feet first into the ground. An arm blown off and paint melted off by the flames as it continued to walk towards Caz like a monster straight out of a monster movie. Raising up the blade arm and swinging another diagonal swing that launched an energy blast toward Caz. Hell-bent on the man's destruction.

---

The little red dot would return to make matters worse for Riley. Red Queen not content on just letting him drive out. Thirteen more super soldiers teleported right in the path of the van. Acting as a barricade against the van that would crash into them. Their endurance and armor doing more damage to the van than the van would have done to them as they surrounded it and started to rock the van. Making their way to the back to crack it open to get to Riley and the others inside.

[Ayen]

“Shit.”

They were in a bad position now. The armored soldiers had them surrounded and rocked the van back and forth, seeing the back van doors start to be bashed in from their power. There was only one way out of this. The second the doors was bashed open the super soldiers took a charged power shotgun to the face by Riley and his men, being powerful enough to actually knock them back and allow them to escape out the back van and make a run for it.

"Riley... If you can still hear this... get these people out of here before more show up... I'm not sure if I beat that thing."

“Riley's working on it but those damn armored freaks keep coming. Vulture's eye in the sky is going to be the death of us if we're not careful. Riley has a weather control devise in his room inside the tavern. If you can get it we should be able to fuck up their view up there so they can't fire any more freaks or warheads at us. Riley'll get you something to take down that mech in return. Or something else large and annoying for the future. You dig?”

[Cazador]

"Alright. I'll get it done."

Cazador began to get up on his feet. It was hurting like hell to move, but there was still work that needed to be done. He looked back towards the large mushroom cloud in the sky. Hustler One had to of been destroyed by that. It was hard to tell though. The bright light of the explosion blinded him temporarily from seeing whether or not the mech was vaporized. It hadn't returned to the battlefield yet. Maybe he finally did succeed. Cazador gave a sigh of relief. He did it... or did he. Just as he was about to walk off to retrieve Riley's gadget, he could hear something coming for the sky. It almost looked like a comet coming into the atmosphere.

"It can't be."

The closer it got to the ground, the more Cazador could make out what it was. The mech had survived. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. Despite sustaining so much damage from the blast, it was still holding together. The metal of the mech showered the ground before it landed not to far from where Cazador was. Now he knew for sure that this thing wasn't human. Any species would no better to keep sticking its nose where it would hurt. It was nothing but a relentless machine. He didn't know how he was going to keep battling the machine in such a damaged state.



Perhaps the day of his death had finally arrived, but he knew better. He couldn't think like that. There was still a mission to complete and he wouldn't leave it in a half-assed state. A direct battle in his state would be pure suicide. Now more than ever he would have to use his head. As the mech got closer to him, Cazador started to step back slowly. He kept shaking his head trying to get the blur out of his vision, but by the time it was gone, the damaged mech was already with in striking distance. He attempted to thrust back, but his jetpack was far too damaged to make the leap. It only took him a few feet back. He might avoided a fatal blow, but the shockwave blasted him back into a car.

The car was bent in half from the impact. Once again Cazador was down on the ground. He lifted his face off the pavement and looked towards Hustler One. Something caught his eye behind it. Its lost arm. It was among the debris that had fallen earlier along with the mech. He saw his temporary escape. Cazador shot his grapple hook right past Hustler One. At first it would appear he missed to do to his injured state, but he was actually aiming for the mech's ripped off arm. The hook landed onto one of the weapon triggers on the ripped of arm. He shot the weapon into Hustler One's back. Cazador didn't stick around long to see if it damaged the machine at all. As soon as he pulled the trigger, he retracted the hook and made a slow run for the tavern.

His body was really tore up. Moving his muscles was taking alot of effort, but he needed to endure. He shot his grapple hook into a nearby building and allowed it to carry him closer to Riley's tavern to recover to device.

[Red Queen]

Hustler One slashed at the grappling hook cutting the wire before it could finish the path to the spare arm. The mech was in an emergency state and would have attacked a cat if it stepped out in front of it. As Hustler One followed after Cazador, another explosion erupted on its back. Its jet pack was also out of commission meaning it had to travel the old fashion way. Seeing that Caz's next designation was the tavern Hustler One aimed the still functional grenade launcher and fired at what remained of Riley's tavern.

---

While Riley and his companions were running another red dot would greet the direction they were headed in and be filled with thirteen more armored super soldiers activating their chainsaws and charging them with the intent to hack and slash while the other thirteen were still fast on their tail. Looking to box them in and then finish them off from there.

[Ayen]

"Alright. I'll get it done."

“Might want to hurry it along.”

Riley and his crew was forced to a halt when thirteen more of those damn super soldiers showed up. The ammo in the charged power shotguns were limited and they definitely didn't have lots to spare, nor did they have time for a drawn out confrontation so they fired through the ones that mattered in the herd and kept on moving.

[Cazador]

Cazador could hear Riley urging him to hurry. It wasn't like he was taking his time. Moving was already painful enough. Not many people would be up walking let alone running after enduring a blast like that. If not for his armor, he would of been done in a long time ago. As his grapple hook continued to carry him, Cazador looked behind to see Hustler One in pursuit. He could tell the machine wasn't planning on letting him leave alive. Even without its jetpack, it was still pursuing on foot. It was lucky for Cazador that one of Hustler One's explosive weapons was still working. He saw the mech ready its grenade launcher, but could tell from where it was pointing that it would miss him.

It could of meant one of two things. Either its targeting system was messed or it was aiming at something else entirely. Cazador looked back in front of him to see where his opponent was aiming. Not surprising it all, it was Riley's Tavern. Though damaged, the warrior wasn't unarmed either. He reached for his holster to pull out his revolver. He was only going to get one shot at stopping the grenade. He aimed ahead of himself and held his breath. His heart was racing with anticipation as the adrenaline pumped through his body. He could see the grenade fly right by him. He waited a few milliseconds before something in his gut said to shoot.

An explosion. The grenade had been shot. A second later and the tavern would of been more torn up than it already was. Cazador disengaged his remaining grapple hook and crashed through the entrance of the tavern. The painful landing rocked his bone as he let out a yell of pain. He was tough, but no matter how anyone sized it up, he was still human. He found the strength again to stumble back to his feet while trying to make his way into Riley's room filled with gadgets. He probably had less than a minute before the mech would show up. The heavy clunking of the running machine was getting closer. Cazador burst through the door only to see dozens of gadgets all in a mess. He wasn't sure if it had been from the fighting earlier or if Riley was just a slob.

The look under his cracked helmet wasn't too pleasant. Cazador quickly started grabbing items as random and activating each of them. He didn't even know what the weather device looked like. He would of killed to have Relampago's ability to summon a storm at that moment, but that device was his only hope for the time being. Some of the items turned into sex toys while others just played music.

"RILEY! What the hell does it look li... nevermind..."

Cazador cut himself off mid sentence, as he looked to his side to see an item in plain view that said 'Riley's Weather Device.' Cazador narrowed his eyes in annoyance before grabbing it. It would of been a relief if not for the sound of the heavy mech arriving outside.

[Red Queen]

Hustler One put away the grenade launcher and continued to slowly follow Cazador to the now broken down tavern. Never giving up on its relentless pursuit of the wanted hunter who had decided to make himself an enemy of the Vulture. Just more signs that whoever, or whatever, was inside this mech was not human. Nineball finally approached the tavern, its shadow now covering the armored male as it brought up its energy blade for one more final strike. But before it could lower the blade, the mech spontaneously exploded right in front of the tavern. Destroying what little remained of the building as parts came raining down upon the hunter's head.

---

Expecting the shotguns this time the thirteen soldiers moved out of the way and then quickly reformed, acting as a barricade against Riley's forces and forcing them back with their chainsaw if they didn't want to be slice and diced right there and then. The other thirteen soldiers finally catching up with their chainsaw at the ready as Riley found himself surrounded by twenty-six freaks of nature in armor that wanted him dead.

[Ayen]

They were surrounded but not trapped. Some of Riley's men were taken out by the chainsaw. Their screams filling up the street while Riley and the rest of them jumped up on top of a nearby dumpster and then proceeded to climb up the fire escape on the wall right by to get away from the super soldiers. Using their powered shotguns to destroy the bottom half of the fire escape so the soldiers on the ground couldn't follow them up. Making it up to the roof and jumping roof tops.

“Come on... Get that Weather Device working,” he said more to himself than anything.

[Cazador]

The device looked simple enough to use, but there was no point in using a weather device inside. Cazador moved to the tavern to get outside. Unfortunately for him, he was met with the sight of Hustler One. The mech had caught up to him. By the time he was in the door way of the wrecked tavern, it was already outside waiting for him. There was no escape this time as the mechanical monster was blocking his escape route. He was staring death in the eye as his enemy raised its blade up and prepared to strike him down. This was it. He finally reached the end, but instead of whimpering or shaking in fear, Cazador smiled at the fate that was about to be bestowed upon him. A warrior's death.

His life was flashing before his eyes. The sadness, the fear, the wars, the countless deaths, but somewhere in it he saw light. For a brief moment Cazador could see the moment of peace. There they were once again prepared to welcome him home with open arms. His family stood looking at him with warm smiles. One of them had their back turned. It was his fiance. As she turned around to face him, he caught a look at a small baby in her arms. His son. It was time for him to go home... or so he thought. The light he could feel himself being dragged into quickly turned to fire. The peaceful world around him shattered into explosion.

His FEITD missile did it even though it was a delayed reaction. The seemingly unstoppable machine blew up before the blade could make contact with Cazador. The blast blew Cazador back into the tavern while the rest of the building came crashing down on him. For a few moments it looked like Cazador was buried in the rubble. There was no movement or sound except for one... his heartbeat. Cazador gasped and took in a deep breath of air as he used what remained of his suits power to push the rubble off of him. He was laying against one of the support pillars that managed to hold up and could see the the weather device had landed not to far from him.

He removed his damaged helmet and tossed it to the side. His eyes looked so tired from the battle and shell shock he endured. Part of his face was covered in blood from the visor cracking and sending glass into his cheek and forehead. He tried to crawl to the device only to see that his shoulder had been impaled with a long metal rod. It had pierced his armor, gone through his flesh and stuck into the support he was laying against. As the adrenaline started wearing off he could feel the intense pain coming from his wound. Blood shot out as soon as he tried to move. Cazador shouted in pain. He was stuck, but he knew he needed to be free in order save Riley and pay him back for helping.

He looked to his side to see an unopen bottle of whiskey that had survived the explosion. That was what he needed. A little bit of liquid courage to endure the pain he was going to give himself. Cazador could see a shattered broken clock nearby. If the hands were right then he was just in time for Happy Hour. He opened the small bottle and drank it down. He tossed the empty bottle and took in a few deep breaths. Pulling the rod out of his shoulder was going to take too much effort since it was also impaled on the support pillar. Instead he started using the pillar to push himself off. More blood was beginning to pour out the more he pushed himself. It was slow and painful.

His mind flashed back to the past when he was tied down and left to die in a fire. He found the strength before to escape from his shackles and he would do it again. He yelled out in pain the more he pushed off. He knew it was working as the wounded warrior could hear the metal rod grinding against his armor and the sound of his flesh being moved. With all his might, he pulled himself off and collapsed to the ground.

"No... Not yet... Just a lil further..."

He started crawling and dragging his body across the rubble as the trail of blood was left behind from his wound. Each movement took every once of his will to make. He needed to save Riley and what was left of any innocence in the area. Cazador didn't care if he lived or died, but he needed to save them. Just when he thought he could go no further, wounded warrior extended his hand reached the device. Cazador turned around on his back and pointed the device toward sky. With one click of a button, layer upon layer of clouds started to cover the sky. The deed was done. His arm dropped back to the ground as his consciousnesses was starting to fade.

[Red Queen]

The armored soldiers continued to fire at the group as they climbed up the fire escaped and unloaded more shots breaking through the wall of the building up to the roof. Once again the space platform from up above aimed another little red dot on the roof of where Riley and his surviving men were but before the ship could fire the bad weather conditions came in and blocked their signal. The Novalith Cannon was cut off.

[Ayen]

Seeing that the clouds formed in the air and thunder cried out through the area Riley let out a cheer with the rest of his remaining squad. Giving a cruel hand gesture to the sky where Zee Captain was watching from his space platform before leaving the area to regroup.