Earth´s Sword in action

The Captain stood from his chair, pulling a mic towards his mouth. “Delta Team, move in! Drones, fire and pin him in place.”

“Err, sir… we have orders to take him alive. Isn’t firing directly at him too dangerous?”

“Aim for the legs!”

“You are seriously overestimating the fine aim these things have. And besides, if we hit the femoral artery…”

“…Ugh, fine. Aim suppressing fire around the Target but not directly at him,” the Captain relented, sighing as he already dreaded knowing how this fight would play out.

With his back against a wall of containers, the black-haired man held his ground. The discharge of lead around him seemingly had no effect but make him glare at the drones. Or so it seemed. Suddenly, the camera feed started spinning. The drones stopped firing as they flew out of control.

“What happened?”

“The other drones, the delivery drones, they are ramming our own!”

“I thought you said we couldn’t be hacked?!”

“Our stuff… no. The Solar Express stuff, yeah, they don’t exactly have military-grade encryption. The target somehow turned their drones against ours.”

“Are they a threat to our drones?”

“Physically, no. But, well, trying to aim like this is like trying to shoot a penalty in soccer with a team of preschoolers trying to tackle you into the ground. I can’t guarantee that I won’t slip and hit the Target or incur in unforeseen collateral.”

“Damn. Pull them back then, and have the drones patrol the perimeter. Let’s make sure the Target doesn’t have anywhere place to flee…” The Captain watched as the black-haired man attempted to jump over the container behind him. Thankfully, he wasn’t that superhuman yet. “Delta team, where the hell are you?!”

“Right here, Capt. Moving to intercept.” Delta team had managed to navigate the maze and corner the target. Like before, the gunner shot rubber bullets to pin the Target down as the rest of the squad moved in with stun batons.

This time, however, the Target was ready. Just as the first soldier tried to hit him with the sizzling end of the baton, he dodged it, grabbed the soldier’s arm, and spun around on his axis. He let go, tossing the man at the gunner and knocking them both to the ground.

“That’s impossible,” the drone operator said. “The exoskeleton alone is too heavy to be lifted by a man like that.”

“We saw our target jump out of a moving train. Nothing is impossible. Delta, pull back. Don’t engage him at less than full strength.”

“Negative, Captain. Even if he’s as strong as an elephant, a pencil-pushing nerd is no match for us.”

“No, stop. Damn it!”

The other soldiers kept attacking. The Target tackled one and sent him flying against a container, the metal denting with the impact. The soldier was miraculously still conscious, but the Captain could see his suit reporting several broken ribs. The Target was truly a freak of nature.

The last soldier went in for the attack, and he managed to hit the freak on the knee. The room cheered, but the Captain felt his mouth drying up. That man was on his knees, yes, but he had a look of pure rage. He hit back at the soldier with enough force to break his armor.

The black-haired man retracted his fist, leaving a bloody stump left behind. The soldier collapsed, and even the freak seemed horrified by what he had done.

“Oh god, are those Lt. Dan’s ribs?” The Drone operator removed her headset looking away from the screen.

“Is he still alive?”

“Yes, but barely. Get a medic there ASAP.”

Whatever hesitation the Target felt as he neutralized the soldier disappeared as he took off running again. He went around the perimeter of the installation.

“Screw it. I’m done playing around. Drone team, switch to rockets.”

“But sir-“

“You saw what that freak can do. Do you think a missile will kill him? We can’t keep treating him with kids gloves.”

“Roger.”

The drone fired a missile towards Kensu but purposely aimed a bit farther than he was. The heavy ordnance exploded, and the shockwave sent him to the ground while also blowing a hole in the wall.

“Did… that do it?”

The war room went dead quiet. The Target, that freak of nature, got up to his feet like nothing happened. The only damage they did was add a couple of holes to his shirt and pants. He walked forward, crossing the other side of the hole, but stopped as he saw two unconscious bystanders on the other side.

“Not even a rocket can stop him.”

“Should I fire another?”

The Captain looked at his target. He was kneeling in front of the bodies, checking their necks as if to make sure they were alive. The black-haired man glared at the drones flying above his head. He glared at the Captain himself across the screen. The officer began to feel his head pounding, his chest heaving for air.

The black-haired man moved back inside the compound.

“Why isn’t he running away?”

“Maybe he wants to get away from the crowd?”

“To avoid recognition?”

“Or collateral damage…”

“Sir? You’ve been quiet. Should I keep firing rockets? S-sir?”

“Y-yes, fire as long as you can make sure there isn’t collateral damage.” The Captain was holding onto the table, taking heavy breaths. “Come on, not now…” His old injury was acting up, a souvenir from his tour of service on a toxic world. It was supposed to be under control. Why did it decide to flare up now of all times?

The officer reached inside his backpack. Where was that damned antibiotic?

“R-roger, moving the drones back to the yard, firing from… Drone 1 down! Lost Drone’s 2 signal as well.”

“What? How?!”

The cranes in the gigantic yard began moving wildly. The Target had apparently found their controls and was using them to swat the drones away like flies. The Solar Express drones were small and light, so ramming them against the military drones was nothing but an annoyance. However, not even the military’s top-of-the-line armor could withstand being hit by a multi-ton container.

The five military drones hovering overhead were turned into scrap metal in short order. The camera feed in the war room turned off one by one until the only ones left were the ones from the squad’s exo-skeletons. The last feed the situation room could see was that of the injured soldier gasping for air as he reached for his med kit just out of grasp.

The Target, that freak, stopped moving away as he spotted him. He walked towards the injured man, and the situation room held his breath. Was he going to finish him?

"Sorry, this is going to sting."The black-haired man crouched, grabbed something from the floor, and then did something out of the camera’s view. The soldier howled like a banshee, prompting the drone operator to gasp. Did the Target-?

"Alchols stings doesn’t it? Please, stay still, I have to apply the bandage... There, that should be enough until the ambulance gets back here.”

And just like that, the Target disappeared from view.

"D-did he just apply first aid to-"

“Who cares, we lost him! Do we have any other drones in the vicinity?”

“Negative, the closest drones are on the spaceport still.”

“Captain, what should we do… Captain?!”

Like his wounded soldier, the Captain was on the ground reaching for his backpack. His head was pounding, his blood racing. There was something in his peripheral vision… was that a shadow? He had to get his medicine, but his fingers weren’t responding. His hands felt like lead. He could barely move.

Before the Shadow could claim his life, the drone operator quickly reached for the backpack, found an inhaler, and placed it in the man’s face. The Captain breathed, feeling better already. The pounding stopped. His vision became clear again. The shadow disappeared.

“Are you ok, sir?”

“I am… now…” The Captain got back to his feet, shaking his head. “Thanks, corporal.”

“It’s nothing, sir. So, what should we do?”

The Captain looked back at the last recording of the freak. What a mess he made of his operation, and all because they had to fight him with one arm tied behind their backs. “Everyone, back to the search. But this time, rescind the nonlethal order. If we catch him, we will shoot him with everything we have. I want snipers on the prowl again.”

“But sir, the General said-”

“That thing is a monster, corporal. Delta team was lucky they got out alive, the guys in the lad didn’t. You seen what it can do. It won’t die easy, but we do.” The Captain watched the flames of the drone wreckage, the status of his injured soldiers. “Maybe it’s better if someone put him down before this thing spirals out of control.”