The Megiddo

Lima Niner this is Command… stand by for further orders. Lima Niner this is Command.. stand by for further orders.’

Miyuki’s eyes slowly re opened as she awoke to a slab of metal pinning her down. The radio inside the shattered cockpit played the same monotone lines on repeat. Looking around at the wreckage, Miyuki tried to find the pilot to no avail. The distant sound of gunfire suggested all was not lost, not yet anyway. There was a metallic groan as the ship began to wobble and shake from the crash landing. Miyuki groaned as she tried to wrench the metal slab off of her but her attempts proved fruitless as the slab held her legs in place, although something caught the corner of her eye, a piece of metal in the shape of a crowbar lying next to her. Picking it up, she placed the piece of metal in the small gap between the slab and her legs and prised it up. After a few attempts, the slab gave way and freed her legs from its clutches. Now free, she crawled out of the cockpit, the glass piercing her gloves onto the hard arid ground. As she crawled out, she saw the bisected body of the pilot, his torso lying only a few feet from the cockpit whilst his legs were across the street, his face contorted into a look of horror. She ran her fingers over his eyes to close them before her strength gave out and she collapsed on the ground, fading in and out of consciousness.

‘Gold Eagle this is Osprey 2-1. Be advised we have a visual on objective Gibraltar. I say again, we have a visual on objective Gibraltar, over.’

‘Osprey 2-1 this is Gold Eagle. You are to bring objective Gibraltar to the Megiddo. Out’

‘Well you heard her. Whew, yeah this is definitely her. Help me with this?’

‘Yeah. Coming.’

The sound of leather boots crunching the dirt beneath them moved closer as Miyuki looked up in her downed state to see two Cyntech troopers standing over her.

‘What are you looking at? Help me pick up the girl’

‘Just a second. Found the pilot. He’s definitely dead.’

‘Damn guess we can’t prod him for information.’

The two troopers each took an arm and dragged Miyuki towards the shimmering gold escalator that led into the heart of the ship.

‘W-What are you doing… put me down’

Miyuki used up her last ounce of strength to beg the troopers to let her go

‘Sorry girl, no can do. The Boss wants to see you. Not much further now. You should be proud, only the most elite get to enter the Megiddo.’

Miyuki stumbled as she placed her foot on the first step of the escalator, being held in place by the two men. The Megiddo was the prize ship in Cyntech’s fleet and it definitely looked the part. A golden exterior contrasted with the harsh white interior inside. The ship featured a cargo hold the size of an aircraft hangar, two cockpits, a captain’s cabin, and two fully equipped kitchens. In addition, the ship featured four heavy cannons, and two 25mm flak guns, as well as Cyntech’s new shockwave laser, which was capable of shutting down anything electrical within a 10 mile radius. The long golden rectangle had an oval shaped generator in its heart, powering the entire ship. Staff who served on board were hand picked for their contributions to the company, and some had sacrificed their entire lives just to secure their position as part of the ship’s crew. Upon entering, Miyuki was greeted by two more troopers.

‘Osprey. We’ll take it from here. ‘

‘Copy That, shes all yours Major.’

Miyuki was dumped onto the floor before being picked up and dragged once more by one of the soldiers whilst the other one searched her for weapons. After retrieving her scimitar, the three then went upwards via another escalator that led from the first deck to the second, which featured the two cockpits and the captains cabin, which was guarded by five elite guardsmen and one Goliath class drone, a hulking death machine equipped with two 25mm flak cannons and stood at ten feet tall. The second deck was much less open than the second, with a roundabout featuring a chocolate fountain in the middle. The two cockpits lay on opposite sides of the roundabout, while in the centre a set of steps led upwards towards the captain’s cabin. Miyuki fell a second time as she attempted to climb the stairs.

‘What do you think you’re doing? Up the stairs, NOW!’

One of the soldiers shouted at her before dragging her up the stairs until they reached the captain’s cabin.

‘Halt. What is the purpose of your visit. ‘

One of the guardsmen interrogated the two soldiers. Miyuki caught a glimpse at the guardsman’s crimson red armor, with black shoulder and shin pads and a helmet equipped with steel grey visor.

‘We’re here to see the Boss. We have a package for delivery.’

‘The Boss isn’t in a good mood today Major. Don’t piss her off. You two, get that door open.’

The thick golden carat doors slid open to reveal the captain’s cabin, which resembled the office of the CEO inside Cyntech Tower. The black leather chair spun around.

‘Ma’am, Osprey squad recovered the package. Where should we leave it?’

‘Leave it at the foot of my desk and leave us.’

‘She was also carrying this with her’

One of the soldiers passed Alecto Miyuki’s blade. She ran her fingers over the metal and began to examine it briefly before setting it down on her desk.

‘Leave us’

‘Of course ma’am’

The two soldiers exited as quickly as they arrived, leaving Miyuki on the floor. She looked up to see Alecto smiling.

‘Welcome to the Megiddo. I put a lot of time and money into this vessel, it’s my pride and joy. I put a lot of my well not really blood sweat and tears into it, that goes to the dregs who built this, who I all had killed after they built this so that there could only be one of these in existence. To put it simply, I missed you, after all who else would have the balls to sneak into my stronghold? Or to rally all the scum to fight against me? It takes a special kind of person to accomplish such feats.’

Alecto grabbed Miyuki and hoisted her up, then pushed her face to the glass window overlooking the smoking remains of Devils Park.

‘See that view? It’s.., cosy. Those fools down there misuse you, get you to do things any idiot could do.. but not me. Together, we could be so powerful not even Mikael could stop us. As the life leaves the body of the final defiant man down there, you will come to understand the true power that rules this city. I know who you are, Miyuki of The Guild. I know what you can do. I’ve killed all these people solely for you, and by the end of today you won’t have to worry about them anymore. I only have one request to ask of you. Will you join me?’

Miyuki regained control over body as her eyes were fixated on the smouldering ruins of the city below, as corpses of innocent people were piled up on the street. What used to be a community was reduced to ashes. In the distance, there was constant gunfire and explosions as the last bastion of defence desperately tried to fight back against an opposition better equipped than them. She gazed at Alecto’s outstretched hand before slapping it away.

‘No’

‘No?’

Alecto’s fake mask dismantled to reveal the arrogant look on her face underneath.

‘You think you can entice me with a big fancy ship whilst your men are down there killing the innocent and my friends?’

Alecto roared with laughter.

‘YOUR friends? Don’t you realise? You have no friends. Anyone close to you is doomed to die.’

‘Not yet.’

Miyuki reached for her scimitar, her fingers curved around the blade poised to strike before she felt a sharp pain, witnessing her hand fly in the air. Her arm crackled as the cybernetic hand fell to the floor. Alecto grabbed Miyuki and threw her onto the ground, before leaping on top of her and began furiously punching her face. Miyuki felt each blow like a hammer as Alecto’s blows pierced her jaw.

‘Miyuki…’

The disembodied voice reared itself again and began to torment her.

‘Miyuki… take my power. TAKE IT! Unleash ME! I feast on the blood of our enemies!’

Alecto kept punching harder as Miyuki struggled to breathe.

‘NO! We cannot allow the inheritor to die, we must make the choice for you. At last, I FEED!’

A dark energy surged through Miyuki’s body. Her hand had regenerated, replaced with a hand constructed from the black asteroid, clutching a red version of her scimitar. The blade pierced Alecto’s chest, knocking her back into the desk.

‘The Dark Assassin.., impossible.’

Alecto tried to get back up, putting all her remaining force into her counterattacks as Miyuki effortlessly parried every strike. Black tendrils shot out of Miyuki’s left hand, wrapping themselves around Alecto’s limbs as she furiously tried to cut herself free. The ground began to shake with each step Miyuki took as her heavy boots slammed into the floor with each step, walking ominously towards the trapped Alecto. Miyuki stopped in front of her and wrapped her left hand around Alecto’s head.

‘W-What are you doing? Get your hand off me!’

Alecto screamed as Miyuki ran her fingers over her eyes before her corpse hit the ground.

‘You two! Get the door down, NOW!’

The door to Alecto’s office began to crumple as a heavy object repeatedly slammed against it.

‘Everyone, check your weapons! Door’s coming down… NOW!’

The door broke apart like wet tissue paper as five soldiers stormed inside the former CEO’s office and pointed their weapons at Miyuki.

‘Sir… what the hell is that?’

One of the soldiers asked in terror whilst his shaking hand pointed his weapon at the figure shrouded in black energy.

‘Who the hell cares? Shoot it!’

Black tendrils emerged from Miyuki’s hand, piercing the soldier’s armor and suspending him mid air, before tossing him out of the office window into the raging fires below. Her eyes glowed an azure blue as she mercilessly cut down the remaining 4 soldiers who stood in her way without mercy, leaving behind a trail of blood. Moving outside the office into the deck, The alarm system began to blurt out a message.

‘ATTENTION. CATEGORY 9 ENERGY SURGE DETECTED. ALL COMBAT PERSONNEL TO DECK 2 IMMEDIATELY. I REPEAT, ALL COMBAT PERSONNEL TO DECK 2 IMMEDIATELY.’

Walking down the staircase, she was met with 5 guards.

‘You! Stop right there!’

One of the soldiers ran towards Miyuki mindlessly firing his gun. The bullets bounced off Miyuki’s dark black shadow armor , hitting him in the face. As the other four soldiers began to quiver in fear, Miyuki ejected her tendrils and impaled them all. The floor began to shake as an ominous thud grew louder and louder as it emerged from the escalator. The bright yellow eye of the Goliath stared at Miyuki for a brief second before opening fire, it’s bullets from the 25mm flak gun shredding the floor and the fountain. The Goliath continued shooting until the room was filled with bullet holes, then proceeded to scan the room for its target, who had seemingly vanished. The Goliath’s eye turned green as it ran its lens all over the room before returning to its normal yellow colour. A sound emirates from the fountain, which had been reduced to pieces of porcelain, causing the Goliath to close in on it. It’s eye turned back to green for a split second before a piece of porcelain found itself wedged inside the eye, causing the Goliath to go berserk and mindlessly open fire on anything. Shell casings began to sound like music as a flood of them hit the floor at once in a bullet symphony. The machine continued to shoot before it was cut in half by the scimitar Miyuki wielded. As it clattered to the ground, she ignored the two cockpits and instead headed for the generator room, on the first deck. Leaping from the first step of the escalator onto the floor of the first deck, Miyuki evaded the thousands of bullets that were being fired at her and made her way to the maintenance bay, located adjacent to the cargo hold, where the elevator to the generator room resided. The entrance to the maintenance bay was guarded by two elite guards. Miyuki’s shadow armor resembled traditional Japanese samurai armor, with blades on her gauntlets and shoulder pauldrons erected from skulls, whilst her shins were protected by thick black heavy leather boots with reinforced shin pads. As the guards opened fire, Miyuki dodged each bullet and impaled the first guard, his armor cracking like wet tissue paper, before using him as a human shield and running towards the second, impaling them both with her sword before wrenching the blade out of the gap she had created in their chests. The door to the generator room was blocked by a fingerprint lock, causing Miyuki to pull off one of the guards arms and place it on the panel, unlocking the door. The generator room was the size of a medium size shed, and had one cylindrical generator surrounded by a computer monitor displaying the ship’s current destination, which was set to Devils Park. Miyuki typed in ‘CYNTECH TOWER’ in the computer before shattering the screen and ripping out the heavy power cord powering the generator, causing the ship to go into free fall. The ship rocked from side to side as it headed towards its final destination, whilst the alarm system turned insane.

‘ALERT. ALERT. GENERATOR OFFLINE. NAVIGATION SYSTEM: OFFLINE. DESTINATION: CYNTECH TOWER.’

There was an ear piercing screech as metal collided with metal. The ship had come to a standstill. Suddenly, multiple explosions coming from the first deck sent debris flying in all directions as it crumbled into dust. The floor beneath started to come apart as the ship tore itself in half. Miyuki shoved her blade into the floor as the generator room destabilised before her eyes, sending the generator as well as cargo room crashing down onto the surface below. Using the blade as a makeshift pick, she scaled the floor and hoisted herself up into what remained of the generator room, surrounded by torn wires and metal. The other half of the ship had fallen into the courtyard below and onto the parking garage, while the other half was firmly wedged onto the top of the building on the upper floors. The green neon sign now having most of its letters destroyed began to flicker on and off like a distress signal. Looking down, Miyuki witnessed the chaos as the ship’s other half covered the courtyard and the first few floors, crushing anyone unlucky enough to be inside. Some employees emerged from their cubicles in the middle floors and witnessed the devastation first hand, with some realising there was no way down and jumped to their doom whilst some stayed inside and called for help. The distant sound of sirens drowned out the cacophony of screaming and cries of pain. The scimitar clattered to the floor as Miyuki became delirious and passed out, blissfully unaware of the hell that she had a hand in creating .