COH Story # 19 Old Feuds New Consequences part 4

  It hadn't been hard for Tadas Blinda to find him. When he heard that Snow Maiden was again approaching the border he launched six drones. The small robotic planes had spread out and searched everywhere. One found what he wanted: a heavily camouflaged object hidden under some trees.

  It was a short, high speed ride to the place pushing his powerful motorcycle to its limits. By the time he arrived the camouflage nets had been removed. That revealed a large, flat platform made of metal and plastic that was floating a meter off the ground.

  He smiled broadly. "I've been dying to use these!" Tadas aimed the cycle at the flying vehicle and pressed a button on the handlebars.

  WHOOSH!

 A pair of rockets leapt out of the body of the cycle and raced off towards the platform. One raced right past the target and slammed into a tree. The second stuck dead on and exploded with a roar sending debris and wreckage flying in all directions.

  Smoke poured from the platform as it wobbled and fluttered for a moment. Then it crashed to the ground.

  Tadas stopped the cycle and climbed off to examine his handiwork. Smoke and flames wreathed the twisted wreckage that that used to be a flying machine.

  "Going somewhere?" Tadas snarled. "I don't think so."

  The wreckage suddenly shifted and a figure stood up. The figure was over seven feet tall. Flat angular armor covered the person completely making it impossible for Tadas to tell if it was another robot or something else was hidden inside. The coloring of the armor was the red of fresh blood and the eyes glowed with an unnatural red glow.

  "Lithuanian filth. You'll pay for that," the figure shouted in imperfect Russian. The villain pointed to Tadas. "KILL HIM!"

  Four objects floated out of the wreckage. They were each about the size of a person and seemed to be all metal and plastic cut into angular shapes with hard edges. Like an unfinished machine. The four robots hovered for a moment then turned and  raced towards him. Guns blazing and laser beams zipping through the air.

  Tadas took a large yellow colored grenade off of his belt and tossed it at the robots. The grenade exploded with a soft thump covering one of the robots with white, sticky strands. The drone dropped to the ground with a loud clunk.  The other three robots raced right past the disabled one.

  He drew out his twin pistols. The large weapons looked like 17th century flintlock pistols but they were far from that. Made of the latest materials they were fully modern pistols firing 10mm (NATO standard) rounds, both auto and semi auto. They even had 30 round magazines. Years of training and experience paid off. The Lithuanian fired a dozen rounds into one of the robots.

  The robot stopped and fell to the ground showering parts and bit of flaming debris all over.

  His radio suddenly blared to live blasting noise into his ear. "Where are you?" A voice asked.

  A robot charged straight at him. He fired his pistols at it and was rewarded with the robot stopping. Smoke started to seep out. "Who is this?"

  His reply came in the form of the caller cursing in Russian, Lithuanian, English, Spanish and what might be Portuguese. "This is Strela. Where are you? Why didn't you tell me where you were headed?"

  Tadas dodged a red laser beam that cut a good sized hole in the tree next to him. He replied to her with several choice curses in Lithuanian. "I don't work for you Russian," the Lithuanian snarled as he fired at another robot.

  "Never mind I've pinpointed your location." Strela answered. "I'm not the enemy Tadas. I'm here to help. What's the rule about going out? What did they teach you in special forces training?"

  A sarcastic answer came to him but then he also remembered his training."Never go out alone and always tell somewhere where you're going." The words of his instructor rang in his mind.

  Tadas, with the speed born of long training and adrenaline fueled excitement swapped the magazines in his pistols. Out came the ones with regular ammo. They were replaced with ones filled with red tipped bullets - incendiary rounds.

  The Lithuanian concentrated his fire on one of the three robots the deadly missiles ripping through the thick armor. Smoke started to pour from the metal and plastic attacker which simply stopped moving.

  He didn't mind his previous target but looked at the other two robots attacking him. Two laser beams burned through his clothing and armor and he gasped at the pain that seared him. Tadas tried to ignore the pain and grabbed another web grenade and tossed it right at the robots.

  The grenade exploded catching the robots in a web of sticky strands. It wouldn't hold them for long but it was long enough. He emptied both his pistols at the two. A rain of bullets ripped into the two robots. puncturing the armor and ripping through the electronics inside. One of the machines burst into flames and the other exploded sending debris flying in all directions.

  Tadas saw the blast coming at him just before it hit. The beam of red light struck him in the shoulder and sent the man tumbling to the ground. He didn't try to stop the tumble but went with it and rolled across the grass for a few meters before coming to a stop.

  The man jumped up with his pistols in hand and simply sprayed bullets in the direction of his attacker. Most of the bullets seemed to miss the person ricocheting off in various directions.

  His opponent was standing about two meters from him. The figure had a large, wicked looking weapon cradled in his hands which was pointed straight at Tadas' heart. A faint green shimmer filled the air in front of him. Tadas recognized it as some sort of force field.

  "You attacked that ferry last month," Tadas said coldly.

  "Not my best work," the figure responded in flawed Russian. "Only killed seven of you stinking Lithuanian dogs."

  "Will you stop with the fake Russian," Tadas snapped. "You're about as Russian as my sneakers!" He shot at the figure, his powerful pistols barking loudly each time they fired. But most of the rounds hit the green force field and ricocheted harmlessly away.

  The armored figure raised his weapon and pointed it at the Lithuanian. There was a flash of light from the muzzle. A ball of light raced out and leapt towards the hero.

  Tadas Twisted his body and danced to his left and the ball of energy sizzled past. A searing flooded him as the ball burnt through the armor on his right side. "You missed." He brought both pistols up and emptied them both at his attacker in a fusillade of bullets.

  The sheer weight of the fire sent the metal covered figure stumbling backwards for a moment.

  The Lithuanian reached into a pocket and removed a green, colored sphere. He pulled the pin and tossed the hand grenade  at his enemy.

  BOOM! The grenade went off with a roar. Debris and shrapnel went flying in all directions.

  Blinda didn't look at the explosion but with years of practice and skill reloaded both pistols in record time.

  When the smoke and flames died away the figure was still there and still surrounded by that green force field.

  The hero scowled. "You're starting to annoy me." He took careful and deliberate aim at the figure. His first, few rounds bounced off but the shimmer of the force field flickered and then vanished completely.

  The bullets struck home biting deeply into the armor and into whatever lay beneath. The figure seemed to stagger backward a few steps. Then he brought up his weapon. There was a flash of light from the muzzle. A ball of light raced out and leapt towards the hero.

  Tadas dodged to the right but there was a blinding flash of light and a roar filled his ears. He was flung backwards along the ground for two meters before coming to a halt. He shook his head to clear away the confusion.

  The Lithuanian didn't hesitate but brought up his weapons and emptied both pistols into his opponent, reloaded and fired again emptying those as well. When he swapped out the empty magazines for full ones he held his fire. The figure lay stretched out on the ground and didn't move. Either too hurt or too damaged to do anything.

  Tadas leaned against a tree and tried to regain his strength. He never heard her arrival. He closed his eyes for a moment to rest. When he opened them Strela was standing there.

  "Looks like I missed all the fun," she said softly as she stood next to him.

  "You'll be all right,"  She pulled up his shirt with one hand and slapped something onto his bare skin with the other.

  He looked down to see a large blue patch about the size of his hand there. Tadas recognized it as a healing patch, meant to accelerate healing. Already he felt the rush as the medicines, chemicals and nanites started to do their job.

  Then there was a flash of light and four people were suddenly there. They were all standing back to back with weapons aimed in all directions. Each was at least eight feet tall, covered with thick plates of armor and seemed to bristle with weapons of all sorts. They were colored with a black, brown and green spotted camouflage. All were carrying massive two meter long weapons. Each one weighed more than Tadas. Two were carrying M127 rapid fire railguns in their hands and the others M137 pulse lasers.

  "You're late," Strela snapped. "But then again so was I. This fight's over."

  One armored, power suit stepped forward. On the chest plate in barely legible black lettering was the words "U.S. Army." The double black stripe on the back of the helmet marked him as a captain. "Report!" The American snapped.

  Tadas Blinda stood up straight. "When we were alerted that Snow Maiden was headed for the border again. I took a chance and didn't go there. Instead I remained behind and waited for the Drones flying overhead to find something. When they did I moved to engage him."

  "Engaged who?" The American asked.

  "Him," The Lithuanian pointed a finger at the man he had just defeated. The figure was stretched on the ground with a soldier in powered armor standing over him. "He attacked that Russian convoy and the ferry boat last month."

  "That answers a lot of questions," Strela commented. "And brings up others."

  "Who is he?" The American asked.

  The Lithuanian smiled and walked over to the villain. "Let's find out!"

  Before anyone could stop him the Lithuanian reached down and removed the helmet. The face that was revealed was surprisingly mundane. Short, black hair framed a face with gray eyes and an aquiline nose.

  "Doctor Robotnik," Strela commented. The knowledge given to her by the Nanites.

  Tadas laughed. "Doctor Robotnik? He must have played too much Sonic the Hedgehog. He should watch out or he'll be sued by Sega."

  "Robotnik," Strela said calmly. "In Russian it means worker."

  "He's not Russian or Lithuanian," Tadas Blinda said with a shake of the head. "Although he pretended he was Russian."

  "What I want to know is who does he work for?" Strela asked.

  "An excellent question."