----

Outside of the valley, the Vacuo army swarm the surrounding area for any signs of trouble. Standing next to a desert buggy are two soldiers armed at the ready.

Soldier1: Soooo the last squad we just sent in--

Soldier2: Are super dead, yes. Without question.

Soldier1: Right, so why are we wasting manpower trying to capture this target? Why not bomb the area and cave the freak in?

Soldier2: Hell if I know. My best guess is they wanna interrogate/study it before putting it out of its misery. And frankly, after hearing what it's done to our own people, I wouldn't mind planting a buckshot in its knees myself.

As they continue their little conversation, a bullhead flies over them to bring in more soldiers f̶o̶r̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶s̶l̶a̶u̶g̶h̶t̶e̶r to tire out their foe.

Soldier2: Just wanna be done with this and get back to shooting some fanatics.

As if for the cosmic lols, the universe decides to grant his request. Via a missile flying over them and hitting the bullhead. As it crashes to the earth in a fiery explosion, the soldiers' headsets come alive with chatter as more firepower comes flying.

Radio: Contact! Contact! Enemies approaching from the Southeast!

The two soldiers, caught by surprise like the rest of their allies, stumble about before taking battle stations. First soldier takes cover at the hood of the buggy, training his weapon at the approaching forces. Second soldier rushes to the back and tosses his rifle in the back seat, quickly pulling out what looks like a grenade launcher.

All around, Vacuo forces turn their focus from the valley and towards the incoming fight. Off in the distance, Children and bandit vehicles come hurtling towards them with rockets and bullets flying through the air.

Back to the two soldiers; the rifleman takes potshots at approaching enemy buggies, knowing he has a better chance of hitting glass than flying tanks. The now-grenadier, simply lines up his shots for the closest vehicle coming towards them.

A bandit truck with half its inhabitants hanging from the sides open fire on them as they come speeding down the dunes. Most shots going wild, because trying to shoot from the side of a moving vehicle across uneven terrain leaves one's aiming kind of shit. A for effort, though.

Rifleman returns much more precise shots and manages to kill one of the bandits hanging out. Their body flies off the truck and skips across the sand like a hilarious sock monkey. Grenadier, angling his launcher, waits for the truck to be within perfect Micheal Bay range. A few moments later, he lets off an explosive lob through the air and right towards the oncoming truck. A second of nothing but gun fire later...

BOOM

The truck, its inhabitants and outhabitants, are engulfed in a ball of high explosive fire as metal and limbs fly about. The burning carapace of the vehicle skids across the sand before coming to a halt in the middle of the desert.

Both of the soldiers let out a victorious shout as they watch the corpses of their enemies burn in the destroyed truck.

What neither of them accounted for was that they're in an active battle zone, and their little explosion caught the attention of a Children jet. It immediately changes course and flies right at the two, opening fire on them with two rockets. The duo, still celebrating on committing murder, are caught off guard as, while one missed, one of the rockets hits their vehicle. Causing an explosion that sends them both flying through the air.

Grenadier falls flat on his face with some ringing in his ears. The moment he manages to try and shake off the dizziness, is when he suddenly feels a sharp pain in his arm. Looking down, he sees a chunk of metal wedged in his bicep. While it hurts like hell, he knows he'll do more damage if he tries to yank it out. He soon wobbles back to his feet and looks back to the smoldering remains of his vehicle, the ringing in his ears now replaced with the continuous sounds of battle.

He sees some movement not far off from the explosion and spots his battle buddy, Rifleman. Lying in the sand, barely moving his arms. Grenadier, without a second thought, wobbles over to him with worry. The closer he got, however, the more he sees his friend in horrible condition.

Rifleman, lying supine, is covered in blood from the chest down. As Grenadier finally reaches him, he spots a large piece of metal protruding from his friends chest.

Grenadier: Oh Monty, no!

He quickly kneels down and carefully lifts Rifleman's head up. This action causes the wounded soldier to cough up blood.

Grenadier: S-shit--Ok, stay with me! You'll be all right!

Rifleman: H-heh. You're terrible at lying. *cough* I can barely breathe.

Grenadier: It'll be fine! We're gonna get you patched up, we'll enjoy your retirement party next week, and you'll get to see your wife and two kids. Just hang on!

Rifleman: *pukesblood* I... need you to do me... a favor.

Tears begin to well up in Grenadier's eyes as he knows this is the end for his best friend.

Grenadier: *snivel* Anything.

Rifleman: T-... Tell my... wife... tell her...

Grenadier: Tell her what? You love her?

Rifleman reaches a shaky hand up. Grenadier tries to grab hold of it, only for it to grab his shirt collar and pull him towards his dying friend.

Rifleman: Tell her to stay the hell away from my J's!

And just like that, Rifleman goes limp as the last bit of life leaves his eyes. Grenadier just holds his dead friend as tears streak his face.

Grenadier: NNNOOOOOOOO--

Gouken: Move bitch!

A scaly orange hand comes flying and smacks Grenadier out of the way as a mishmash of people come running by. Gouken, the reptilian gaint, takes the lead as Sara, Victor, Mesa, and the extras run like hell.

Mesa: A bullhead will intersect us for a pickup, we just need to get to a  good enough clearing! All we have to do is stay alive!

Sara: Easier said than done! LOOK!

Mesa: Fuck you.

All, except Mesa, look to see a few Vacuo choppers heading towards them. While swerving to avoid enemy fire, one or two manage to open fire on the group in hopes of hitting them. Obviously not, but some are a little too close for comfort. Gouken, with a scaly sneer, whips his big ass pistols out and aims them both at the flying death squad. He pulls the triggers, and a sharp hum emanates from his guns before--

*BOOM**BOOM*

Two explosions erupt from the barrels as streaks of light fly towards two helicopters. The moment they hit, the aircrafts both explode into balls of fire and shrapnel as they begin to plummet.

Mesa: OW, SHIT!

Mesa grabs her sensitive ears from Gouken's loud pistols going off. The giant lizard, however, doesn't care about the possible tinnitus on one of his rescuers as he keeps firing. Each shot is met with another Vacuo aircraft getting blown up. In a matter of seconds, every enemy ship trying to fly towards the group is destroyed with ease and crashing to the ground.

The remaining members that are capable of witnessing this spectacle are left speechless. With the exception of Mesa, who is still cupping her ears and cursing from the loud noises. Gouken soon flicks both pistols to the side, ejecting several glowing hot cylinders and replacing them with new ones. Finally reloading, he waves the others to keep moving as he leads on again. One of the bandits grabs Mesa and helps her along.

After a few more yards of running, and several more Vacuo vehicles getting absolutely destroyed by Gouken along the way, a fast moving bullhead flies through the air and soon makes it's way towards them.

Sara: Oh, thank God! It's finally here!

With Gouken laying down suppressing fire, via blowing anything up, the bullhead manages a safe landing just a few yards ahead. Wasting no time, the six haul ass to the aircraft and practically jump through the barely opening hatches. The large orange lizard leans just over the entry as he continues to snipe at any Vacuo forces he can find. Hellbent on killing just a few more as they begin taking off.

Gouken: Hahahahahahaaa! You feel that, you greedy shisnoes!? That's the feeling of utter failure! Get use to it! THAT'S WHAT YOU'LL FEEL FROM HERE ON OUT!!!

The bipedal dragon keeps laughing and shooting as they begin to fly from the battlefield, gunning down any enemy forces trying to give chase. All the while, Sara and Victor just look on in slight fear as he has a genuine good time.

Holding her nose, Mesa pops her ears as she hangs her head in relaxation.

Mesa: Ease up on the pop shots already, we don't need to draw their attention... Our remaining forces will keep them busy long enough for us to escape before dispersing. As long as there aren't any distractions, we should return to base in a few hours.

Sara and Victor finally relax in their seats as the former lets out a small chuckle.

Sara: Holy crap, that was crazy from start finish! I'm just happy we managed to make it out unscathed.

Mesa:..... Huh. I just had a thought.

Sara: What's up?

Mesa: Why did you even come? You two literally did nothing the whole time, and yet you're supposed to be the reinforcements. Seriously, you were as useful as my eye balls.

The two bandits let out a collective laugh as the two specialists look slightly hurt and annoyed.

Sara: Hey! We're here in case we were needed! You don't need to be an ass about it!

Mesa: Whatever. Next time, feel free to at least shoot at a tank to distract it. Also.

She tilts her head towards Gouken, still leaning near the hatch and looking out to the dunes.

Mesa: Becky said; If you do something this stupid again, we will leave you for dead.

Gouken simply lets out a snort in response as he watches the large mounds of sand pass by. All the while, the sounds of explosions fade in the distance the farther they go.

----

p0zi0ner: War. War. Wa--

Warlider: I CAN ONLY DO ONE THING AT A FUCKING TIME, NANNER! JESUS CHRIST!

The duo, back to back, stand in the middle of their fort-away-from-home as they fend off killer trees that managed to breach their defenses. Many other troops in power armor do their best to fight off the ferocious flora, with varying results.

Meanwhile, on the fort walls, Regret mows down a wave of thorny beings wanting to give him a prick. From behind, a quadrupedal tree monster rushes at him with murder in it's photosynthesis. Regret, being jumped for the twentieth time today, instinctively swings his browning at the beast and smacks it in whatever counts as a face. Knocking it off the wall and plummeting to be someone else's problem. Specifically a red armored space general's.