Never Fade Away: Kill Kill (ch. 49) (Patreon)

General Lucitus Erasrius gazed upon the human city with a growing sense of disgust the longer that he looked upon it, for there were endless reasons to despise what he saw. The literal mountains of putrid garbage that the Humans left to fester in the streets and alleys. The complete lack of any kind of ecosystem beyond basic insects such as 'flies' and 'cockroaches', which were described as universal survivors much in the same way Krogan were. While the neon lights weren't anything unusual, what they sold violated both Council law and basic sensibilities.

It was a complete failure of a city with nothing even resembling a redeeming feature.

Securing localized supplies of food, water, and electricity was standard procedure, but in this case their destruction was a borderline necessity. The main water filtration system didn't work. It hadn't worked for a number of years based on his scouts' findings when he at first intended to secure the position. The Humans had been drinking unfiltered water that was tainted by all matter of chemicals, toxic run off, and bacteria. Their testing showed that the water wasn't fit for consumption and it was outright fatal with prolonged exposure.

Destroying the food farms was equally necessary because it too wasn't fit for consumption. Protein based meats were processed into sludge that was then given shape. With the added chemicals, preservatives, and artificial flavorings… eating dirt would have been more nutritious. At least then, you would get some necessary minerals in your diet.

Electricity was a tactical decision. Both in the hopes that hot spots would be revealed, marking them as priority targets, and to slow the humans' practice of augmenting themselves with technology.

"I would level this city, spirits preserve me," Lucitus whispered to himself, standing at the command center five miles out of 'Night City' while his subordinates coordinated the invasion that would subdue it within the week. Then he could move on to more important locations along the coast -- Night City was an important base of operations seeing that the humans allowed a self replicating swarm of nanite mines that were controlled by an AI to infest their oceans.

Lucitus had never thought he'd witness such a short sighted and self destructive species before, including the Krogan. At the very least, the Krogan had the decency to stop technological advancement after they nuked themselves, a clear sign that their species wasn't mature enough to handle future advancements. A warning that wasn't heeded when they were uplifted a thousand years ago.

A lesson that would not be repeated.

"General, the artillery has been completed. Awaiting calibrations and delivery of payload," One of his commanders informed him. Lucitus' mandibles twitched, and it was tempting to give the order to begin an immediate bombardment to wipe the city away. They were securing the humans young and noncombatants -- before long, anyone else within the city would be considered a militia, thus approved for targeting.

It would be cleaner. Ruthless, but cleaner. Humans were insane. They allowed high powered military equipment to find its way into the hands of civilians -- weapons, mechs, and to say nothing of the threat of black augmentation. A catch all threat ranking for a wide variety of implants. Lucitus wasn't a stranger to them. He himself augmented his body with skin weave and his spine was partially cybernetic where it had been severed early in his career as a service man against Batarian pirates. But the Humans…

The Humans were almost like Salarians -- always pushing the boundary, but humans lacked the wisdom to stop and ask if they should do something. Or, at the very least, Salarians knew better than to allow incredibly dangerous equipment into the hands of the general public. Humans didn't. They allowed missile launchers to be put in the prosthetics of children, turning an otherwise clean siege into a mess as threat assessment became a nightmare. Was a civilian a civilian? Or was that prosthetic arm going to spew flames so potent that they also violated Council law?

In the end, Lucitus valued the lives of his soldiers more than he valued the lives of potential human civilians. A necessary cost.

The Humans must be subjugated. There was no war with the Rachni that could justify the uplifting of such a… barbaric species. The Punitive Fleet was assembled for that mission -- to explore the activated Relays to find the species that had turned them on, to assess their threat and merits, which allowed Admiral Tacitus a range of permit on the response. And, upon learning that the Humans had not only activated one relay, but a dozen with reckless abandon, often using drones, it was decided that punishment was deserved.

For three months, The Punitive Fleet searched for Humanity. And they found them, barely able to reach beyond their own solar system. What they saw disgusted every Turian to their core. Simple punishment was no longer enough. Humanity had to be remade.

But, to be remade, they needed to be broken. Subjugated to become another client race of the Turian Hierarchy. There, their excesses would be curbed and the Turians would introduce stability and structure to their chaotic race. With enough time, they could go on to becoming full members of the Citadel because, for all of the short sighted stupidity that Lucitus saw, he couldn't deny that Humanity had a spark of ingenuity. They just needed a guiding hand to prevent that spark from becoming a fire that burned them away. Or burned them any more than they already were.

But that was the future. A future he wasn't likely to live to see because, from what he had seen of the humans, it would take centuries to beat their unruliness out of them.

"General, our sensors are picking up a concentration of enemy movements," another one of his logistics men announced, drawing him away from the accursed skyline of Night City. He would do his part in breaking the humans. Let them learn the cost of resistance. Turning his attention to a holographic map of the surrounding area, the ship above the city acted as a satellite to detect enemy movement. He saw what logistics did -- clear enemy build up in preparation for a pronged attack.

They intended to pry them out of the city. They had no military to speak of. Only civilians and private contractors. "They're stubborn," Lucitus acknowledged. He may despise their culture and their chaotic ways, but he could at least respect that about them. He would very well hope to see the same reaction back on Palaven, should there ever be an invasion -- the citizens coming together to fight off the invaders.

"Your orders?" A coordinator asked and Lucitus gave it but a moment of thought.

"Allow them to build. Estimation for the calibrations?" He asked, crossing his arms as he analyzed the display. Night City, ultimately, was a staging ground. The humans hadn't even managed to unify under a single government, with Night City being completely independent. He was allocated twenty thousand troops and several thousand mechanized infantry and all of them could be much better used elsewhere. One of his peers, General Vindictus, was currently waging a multi-faceted war against this 'NUSA.' Most of the nation was sparsely populated, borderline uninhabitable, but he had caught word that these 'Nomads' had been an unfortunate thorn in his side.

Securing the western coast of the landmass would box them in. The ships in orbit could then proceed to bombard the Nomad clans. From there, it was a simple matter of breaking the NUSA-

"Within the hour, sir," the Turian replied, breaking him from his thoughts. He was eager to leave this festering city. Perhaps too eager. It was important that securing the city was done right, even if it was an unfortunate waste of his time.

"Target military hotspots and commence bombardment when ready," General Lucitus instructed. "Let them commit to the assault. We'll destroy their reserves and crush them in the attack. From there, we'll mop up resistance."

"General, the VIs calculate a marked percentage that the natives will be radicalized and prompted into action. They… these humans sell weaponry out of vending machines, sir." The aid spoke up, glancing his way.

He was well aware. "Let them. We don't have time to waste on this city and resistance behind our lines will not be tolerated," he replied coldly. Kill the ones that were brave enough to pick up a weapon when their home was invaded. Kill the ones that were inspired by their bravery. Kill the ones that fought for revenge. Then, when the killing was done, you were left with cowards that would bow their heads if it meant survival.

From there, he continued to monitor the situation that developed minute by minute. The native resistance continued to show signs of build up, a clear sign that they were launching their first full scale assault. He issued orders to his detachments within the city, as well as the reserves that he was preparing to commit to a counter attack. The artillery pieces would blast their way into the city -- collateral casualties were expected and accepted, while the bulk of his army would use the distraction to secure most of the City Districts.

The command room was in a flurry of activity, waiting for the humans to launch their attack.

And with some unseen signal, they did.

"We have movement in quadrant three and nine," One of the tactician announced, and General Lucitus stood back as he watched the humans attack unfold. He had several points of view -- drone footage that played, camera footage from soldiers on the ground, and the data that was fed into the hologram from the ships above the city. He watched as the fighting immediate began, the humans slamming into his defensive lines.

General Lucitus saw then even before they were called out. "Confirmation of Code Blacks," someone said. General Lucitus's mandibles twitched as the camera feeds struggled to catch the movement of a half dozen Code Blacks that seemed to materialize behind their lines. Some dropped explosives that detonated, blasting holes through their lines, others executed every soldier in a position. A 'Sandevistan'. Some had already been procured for research and development, but any insights that they offered would come far too late for his liking.

They didn't have a hard counter to Code Blacks. Their infantry were comparable. Their mechs were comparable. Code Blacks, however, completely changed the battlefield in a deeply unpleasant way. Some moved at speeds that beggared belief. Others' had reflexes that were so finely tuned they could dodge bullets. Some were so armored that their weapons failed to get through it and they could simply soak up rounds as they operated weapons that would make a Krogan proud to wield.

"Estimations on calibrations?" General Lucitus asked, watching as the Code Blacks slaughtered his soldiers. One with prosthetic arms grabbed a Turian by the neck and ripped it right off. Another skewered a soldier with blade protruding from their arms and even legs.

"Five minutes, General," a Turian at his side answered. Five minutes was entirely too long.

"Release orbital bombardment," He instructed. Asteroids had been gathered overhead and with pinpoint targeting, they could send them flying down towards the city. All the rocks were within accepted parameters, making them a lawful weapon. WMDs were restricted on Garden Worlds, but Earth hardly qualified at this point. And, even if it did, there would be no damage to the biosphere or the ecology, making the weapon lawful. Collateral damage to the city and civilians would be high, but he'd rather kill them than watch his soldiers be slaughtered.

"Commencing bombardment," another turian replied, anticipating the order. In low orbit, a mass effect generator and a thruster activated and on the hologram, he could see it starting to fall at high speeds. There would be losses on both sides with the strike, but in the end, he knew that any loyal turian would accept the cost. Just as he had once accepted the cost.

A few seconds later, General Lucitus caught a glimpse of the meteor as it raced down to the city. There was a brief moment of understanding what the noise was as some soldiers looked up in time to see the burning chunk of rock a split second before impact. Immediate, dozens of video feeds went dark as the city trembled from the impact. A building collapsed, falling against another, but not with enough force to topple them both. A thick plume of dust and smoke went up that he could see from miles out.

His forces were prepared to seize the initiative that the strike had given them. Tanks that he had kept in reserve activated, floating above the ruined streets while autocannons fired upon the shocked human survivors. His mechs marched forward, going for the counter attack while his infantry and airsupport helped pave the way. The goal was to make the humans regroup to any fallback positions that they would have established. From there, in a few short minutes, they would bombard those positions into non-existence, ideally killing every combatant there.

That was the plan. However, as General Lucitus was rapidly coming to understand, he couldn't plan around human stubbornness.

A camera feed caught a blur of movement that was only noticed due to the disruption in the dust. That, and something landing on one of the tanks. It took General Lucitus a moment to realize that it wasn't a something but a someone -- if they could even be considered a person because they were nearly entirely made out of sleek black metal. Unlike the other near complete cyborgs that he had seen, the human had normal proportions for one of his species. However, as far as he could tell, only his face remained human, revealing flesh with a natural tanned hue and dark brown fur on top of his head.

The face received a ping in their database -- David Martienez. A Code Black.

General Lucitus thought that meant they couldn't have underestimated him, but when David Martienez grabbed hold of the cannon barrel of the tank and heaved, General Lucitus watched in horror as he heaved, making thick armor rip apart as if it were made of tissue paper. He was more stunned still when he flung what had to be a ton of metal at his battalion of mechs, and it struck with enough force to tear right through them.

"Send additional asteroids on his position and the surrounding area," General Lucitus instructed, sensing something different about him. They might need to create a higher threat ranking for him. In the time that he took to utter the words, the cybernetic human wasn't idle. Five seconds was all it took for him to lose a detachment of tanks and half a battalion of mechs. He wasn't just overwhelmingly strong, he was fast. Faster than any of the other Code Blacks that they had on record.

By the time the other asteroids struck, essentially leveling that district of the city, General Lucitus knew that it was already too late. Those precious seconds were spent slaughtering his men and evacing before impact. His mandibles twitched as his talons dug into his crossed arms. These humans… did they have any more unpleasant tricks up their sleeves? The sounds of reports came in as the Code Blacks, and David Martinez in particular, continued their assault on their positions.

Level the city. It was the first thought that he had. But, as much as he might want to, it was a step too far. Admiral Tacitus wouldn't accept his reasoning, and neither would the Council.

"G-General Lucitus! We have an emergency! The humans have launched a missile!" One of his technicians announced, and above the general clamor of the command room, he heard the fear in the turian's voice. General Lucitus turned his attention to him as he pulled up what he was talking about, and his innards twisted when he saw what was on the screen.

He was a soldier. He was a General. But what he saw shattered his composure like glass.

"In the name of the Spirits, what is that?!"

…

Fury flowed through my veins like fire, rage tainted every thought I had as I made the preparations. It wasn't normal, I knew, to maintain extreme emotion over the course of several days. The human mind wasn't built to endure that. Emotions were meant to level out -- someone's mental state might be higher or lower than the average baseline, but extreme emotion was meant to be expressed in peaks and lows.

Yet, it had been days. Days since I stood over the body of one of my kids. Days since I found the bodies of others. Twenty three of my kids had perished over the course of the invasion. Most of them in the initial salvos, but a few had died in the fighting that followed. It was… different. I had lost people before. Most of the friends I grew up with were dead, and they had been for sometime.

This was… this was watching R die all over again. When we had been on the cusp of escape and I just lost control of myself.

The kids got out of the Orphanage, and they still died.

It was a cold fact of reality that just because I had removed them from a dangerous situation didn't mean that they were safe. In the end, it could have been anything. A stray bullet, a random car bombing, a hit and run… Night City was a place full of dangers. I knew that. I saw it all first hand. Yet, I hadn't believed that, I think. I had convinced myself that after the kids got out, they would all be fine. That I would be able to protect them. That every single one of them would go off into the sunset, living a long happy life, and one day the memories of the Orphanage would just be a bad dream.

But they died.

And all I could feel was hate.

"Emotional resonance," Johnny said as I looked down at the guitar in my hands, my fingers trying and failing to translate the dark violence in my chest into music. We were in one of my bases -- an old train yard in the outskirts of the city. The plan was made and I had my role to play in it. "Kinda like one of those harmonic tuners. Smack one to get it goin' and hold it up to another, and it'll start humming the same pitch. That's what we are right now," Johnny theorized.

It made sense, I reflected, trying to find an outlet. It wouldn't work, I knew, as I filled the train yard with the tortured sounds of a guitar. It hadn't worked for Johnny. I got a look inside of his head, when he had unleashed everything into the mic until his voice was raw, but it only let the pressure out of a boiling pot. It hadn't stopped the pot from boiling.

I said nothing, still trying to find the right combination of sounds to get the feeling out of my chest that had settled like a stone. Johnny watched me, sitting on a desk that displayed the details of my upcoming mission. The operation would be starting shortly. The attack would act as an initial screening before I stole the show, becoming the distraction before the Turians really started hammering Night City.

"I can feel your guilt, you know. What happened to those kids ain't on you. It's on the bluebloods," Johnny tried to reassure, making my hands still. "You gave 'em the best shot they could have gotten and a taste of freedom. Their lives got cut short. Too short. But you're lying to yourself if you think you didn't give them your best."

I nearly broke the base of the guitar with my prosthetic, gritting my teeth. "They're still dead."

"So, you kill their killers. You mourn the loss. You have some bullshit power going on, but you aren't God. Stop blaming yourself for not being almighty," Johnny rebuked, his voice firm. And, logically, I knew that he was right. It made perfect sense. I just couldn't believe it, though. "I beat my fist bloody against Arasaka, you know. Might be difficult to believe but I was a gonk for brains punk like you once, and I dove head first into a Corpo uniform. Honor, glory, valor -- fuck, I didn't just take the bait, I swallowed the hook, line, and sinker too."

He conjured a cigarette and, even though it wasn't real, I could practically smell the smoke coming from it. "Took me too long for me to realize that it was a load of shit. Being in the military is a weird thing, when you're the boots on the ground. Knew guys I wouldn't piss on if they were on fire, but I'd still take a bullet for them in a heartbeat. That's just how it was. You didn't fight for glory or duty or for some greater cause… you fought for the idiot beside you. And… eventually, I was the last idiot standing."

I knew what he was doing, but I felt myself being drawn in anyway. "You deserted."

"That I did. Found myself a hotel room down in Pacifica and spent a good month getting high, drunk, and debating the merits of popping my top with some iron," Johnny admitted without shame. "I've been exactly where you are, L. Thinking about all the shoulda, woulda, couldas that would unfuck reality. But, you can't change the past. If you could, then that little power of yours would have let you by now," he pointed out, and my hands clenched into fists. "What I did was pick up the fight. Against the soul sucking, dream crushing megacorporations that were throwing chumps like me into the meat grinder for the almighty dollar in some asshole's pocket. Picked Arasaka because… well, I picked them because they were convenient and I saw a lot of my chooms get zeroed by assholes wearing their logo. Honestly, it could have been anyone."

I got an alert that the battle had begun, and I set the guitar to the side. "So… take my pound of flesh?"

"That, and more. Do it for them. Do it for you. But don't feel guilty over what ifs," Johnny advised as he flicked the cigarette away as we both walked towards the target that would be getting the Turians attention.

The target was a missile. A big one. Stark white metal with GN Drive thrusters lining the sides while a bubble shield projector protected the warhead at the tip of the missile. The warhead itself was based on the self-destruct sequences that I had embedded in the tank -- the GN Drive was perpetual energy, meaning that the detonation of a GN Drive… well, its scope was only limited by the size of the Drive.  It was currently on the flatbed of a train, but soon enough, it would be in the air.

"All guns are going to be pointed at you. So don't take any surrenders," Johnny continued as I jumped onto the missile, my systems syncing with the warhead. As one, the GN Drives activated, spewing orange particles before the missile began to lift off of the flatbed. "And, I gotta say… this is some of the dumbest shit I've ever seen," Johnny said, but there was a smile in his voice.

The system checks were all green.

The train yard doors opened with a thought while my boots secured me to the surface of the missile.

"I looked at their defenses. They're foolproof, " I admitted easily enough. There was little to no way that the others could reach the main base of the Turians without substantial losses. Five miles of near-empty space, all of it covered with overwhelming amounts of air superiority and artillery. They would be blasted into bits long before they arrived at the gates. Maybe, I could make enough vehicles that were equipped with enough defenses to survive the journey… but, in the end, that wouldn't be cost-effective.

The attack on the Turians positions within the city could use all the help they could get. And, what was more attention-grabbing? A small assault team? Or a Code Black riding a warhead flying right at you?

With that thought in mind, I gave the signal for the rocket to fire, filling the workshop with the thunderous roar of the thrusters igniting. I felt a pull in my gut as I was launched forward, wind buffeting my face. Despite the fury and the rage, with Johnny standing by my side, I couldn’t help the small smile that tugged at my lips as we took to the air.

“But, unfortunately for them… their defenses aren’t idiot-proof.”