"LB 39 Meets the Gangers" by A. Craig Newman © 2012
Writer's Notes:
I told my wife I wanted to write a story based on her as any character she wanted to be. She said she wanted to be a Princess Leia-ish sci-fi badass. I put my brain to it and came up with LB-39. I wrote the story in short order and she loved it. Even worked in a role for myself that I really liked. I think there will be more to this story coming. I'll keep you posted.- ACN
I told my wife I wanted to write a story based on her as any character she wanted to be. She said she wanted to be a Princess Leia-ish sci-fi badass. I put my brain to it and came up with LB-39. I wrote the story in short order and she loved it. Even worked in a role for myself that I really liked. I think there will be more to this story coming. I'll keep you posted.- ACN
Lara leaned casually against a tree at the edge of the clearing. She stared intently at the scene in front of her, as she radioed details back to central control.
“LB39 to Central,” she spoke to the radio in her helmet. She kept her voice soft and low. She was a distance from the disturbance, but did not want to take any chances on catching any undue attention.
“Central up,” the radio responded in her ear. She turned down the volume control as she continued her report.
“LB39: EZ acquired.” She had reached the “engagement zone”. “Visual contact made. Opp force 15 strong 10 down.” She has seen the enemy and estimates there are 15 of them in action currently and 10 injured or dead. “Requesting backup immediately.”
She glanced about, ensuring she was still alone, before refocusing on the scene. It should have been a lovely scene of a ranch house in the middle of an open field with the sun having set in the background and the sky on the tail end of its red and yellow explosions and swirls. But this scene was marred by the presence of battle vehicles in the fields and bodies all around the house. About 12 of the bodies hooted and hollered, running around the house and banging on the walls. Three bodies stood back, pacing, watching, and waiting. The remaining bodies didn’t move at all, lying where they fell, probably beginning to grow cold at this point. A shot rang out from inside the house and another Hooter-‘n’-Holler fell, wounded in the leg apparently, but not dying. The pacers ducked quickly, noticed the casualty, and then continued to pace.
“This isn’t right,” Lara said, mostly to herself though the radio picked it up.
“Repeat, LB39,” was the response from Central.
“Requesting immediate backup, Central. Hold.” She muted her transmission as she took in the scene. “This isn’t right,” she said to herself again. Slowly, she started to move, taking a step back into the ever-increasing shadows. Keeping the scene in sight, she assessed what stood out to her while moving clockwise around the perimeter, hoping to reveal more. “Hooting and hollering…banging on the walls…Loud and boisterous, ok…But where’s the breaking down the door? Where’s the berserk frenzy? Where’s the complete insanity? That’s what these gangers do,” she mumbled to herself softly as she moved. “They break in, kill whoever’s around and steal everything…these guys will never get in this way.”
The gangers she saw all seemed to turn towards the direction of the now faded sunset. Lara became aware of a faint motor sound coming from that direction. Seeing nothing when she first focused her attention that way, she turned up the night vision contrast in her visor. The darkening night seemed suddenly awash in green light and she clearly made out a motorbike and rider speeding towards the house. She followed the bike’s dust trail back towards the horizon. The trail grew weaker and weaker until she looked at a ridge her readout told her was about 10 miles away. The ridge seemed covered in airborne dust. To the left and right, the ridge was solid, but tracking back from the biker’s trail, airborne dust.
“Holy shit.” She wasn’t the only one waiting for backup. She resumed the transmission, “LB39 to Central!” she whisper-screamed.
“Patrols have been notified, LB39,” Central responded. “ETA: 10 minutes tracking from west.” She was getting her backup and relatively quickly, but not fast enough and it was coming over a route that would make them run directly into the larger ganger force. And from the size of that dust cloud, no simple backup patrol was going to suffice.
“BREAK! CENTRAL!” She scream-whispered at the radio, interrupting any additional transmission. “Patrols are IN-X. FW! Opp force is FW!” Additional patrols will be inadequate. The opposing force is a first wave strike force.
There was silence on the radio. Her point had been made clear. The first wave forces that were sent out were usually 10% of the force at the most; 5% at the least. She may be able to help the homesteaders turn away the gangers currently at the house, but they would be far outmatched in a very short amount of time by 250 to 500 gangers.
The radio was quiet for some time. Lara focused on the biker, blazing a trail through the fields. He had just reached some of the pacers who had moved to meet him when the radio spoke again. It had good and bad news. “Metal man unit in route, LB39. ETA: 15 minutes. No other units closer.”
She took a deep breath, hoping to keep her focus. “What’s the intercept vector?”
“Thirty six degrees south of east.”
A walking battle vehicle, armored like a tank and with firepower to match. Considering what she was facing, it was a long time to wait, but at least it was coming from a direction she could work with. “Clear. Relay to Metal man: ‘Aim for moving target coming in hot.’ LB-39 down.” I understand. Tell them to expect me to be in motion, probably with the enemy close behind.
Backup was coming, but she had to get through this first wave, get the homesteaders out, get back to the van, and track south east for that to matter at all. First things first, she raised her gun, flipped off the safety, and started out into the clearing. Get the leaders first, she thought, as she made her way towards the pacers and the biker unseen. The biker brought a package, which held the attention of all the leaders who gathered in a circle. Slowly, Lara moved toward them, camouflaged by her suit and helmet, but careful not to make a sound. She was close enough to hear that they were talking but couldn't make out the words when the circle broke.
A flash of light caught her eye, as she saw a flame streak through the sky. Some type of incendiary device was thrown by one of the leaders. Lara quickly brought her gun to ready as an HUD and crosshairs displayed on her visor. She followed the flame through the sky and was able to get off a shot moments before it crashed into the house. The device erupted into flames, but fell short of its mark. Two more flames caught her eye, and she fired two more shots in quick succession. One shot shattered a device in mid-flight, the second blew it out of the hand of one of the pacers. He screamed in pain as the flames intended for the house engulfed him instead. The gangers all turned, some with guns drawn, some with nothing but looks of shock. They all faced Lara.
But none saw her. In keeping still, her suit’s camouflage kept her practically invisible in the open field. They stared intently into the open space looking for an enemy who stood in the open space staring back at them. A shot from the house fell another ganger, and they realized they had enemies on both sides now. More flames ignited and streaked through the air, only to be taken out by Lara’s crack shots. Gangers turned to fight a phantom, only to be shot in the back by the homesteaders. Lara glanced to the west and saw that dust cloud was growing closer and time was running out. She flipped her gun to full automatic mode and let loose a hail of bullets on the remaining gangers. Shot after shot rang from the house and the air turned into a shower of metal as frightened attackers attempted to dodge the shots seeming to come from all sides now. In precious seconds, the fight was over and all the attackers were dead or dying.
Lara took a quick lap about the house to make sure there were no enemies lying in wait before openly revealing herself to the participants. “This is the Light Patrol! LB-39! You’re safe now, but you have to come out!” She shouted to the house. There was a brief pause, and then floodlights lit the front of the house and the area around her. She stood still as she waited for a response. “Light Patrol! You’re safe, but not for long!”
“How come we can’t see you?” was the response. It was a stressed, almost panicked male voice from inside the house. There seemed to be a bit of hope in it, but the shrill aspect of it made it clear that he was very scared for a very long time.
Lara hit a control on her belt and she knew she was becoming visible. The air around her shimmered slightly and her figure, clad from head to toe in her silver close-fitting Light Patrol uniform and clutching her standard issue assault rifle, stood in the middle of the pool of lights.
“You should see me now! You need to come with me immediately!”
Another pause and the door to the house opened. When she stepped through, she walked into a scene of fear and terror. The building had housed what had been a family of five – a father, a mother, a son, and two daughters. The son lay dead in the middle of the floor. From what Lara could see, it seemed that he took a shot in the chest during the fracas. A gun lay under a windowsill, covered in blood from the wall to the middle of the room when the body lay now. He had taken the shot while fighting and probably kept fighting until his lifeblood had run out. At some point, the five were down to four and they still managed to hold off a group of gangers. Lara could not help but feel impressed.
“I’m Lara Newman of the Light Patrol. We’ve got to get out of here immediately."
"We're not going anywhere," the father said. "This is our home."
"This will be your coffin if you don't come with me. We've got at least 200 more of these punks bearing down on us and we are running out of time. Do you want to keep discussing while the gang gets closer, or do you want to get your ass in gear and save the lives of your family?
The wife broke her silence. "Erwin, please."
The plea from his wife seemed to convince the farmer, Erwin apparently, to go with Lara's plan. He turned to his family and said, "Get what you can carry, quickly!"
"No time for that," Lara said. "Get the thing they want and meet me outside."
"What thing?" the mother said.
"Whatever it is that these gangers are willing to take a bullet for. Whatever it is that makes them call out hundreds of reinforcements to take from you. Whatever it is they want, get it and get outside. NOW!"
Lara turned and left the farmhouse. Quickly, she scanned the horizon, made a note of the gang's apparent position, and figured that they had another five minutes to get their shit in motion. She took her assault rifle and switched it to "Mine Mode". She walked to the nearest vehicles and fired repeatedly, forming a circle of mines around all the vehicles. She continued firing, pausing only to reload, until she had completed a circuit all around the house. Lara stopped at the front where the family had gathered. She noticed they carried nothing.
"Let's go," she said. She led them away from the house, into the woods, and over the nearby hill. The Dual-Trak Wildray 3000 waited for them, cold and lifeless, a transport van with a rear dominated by a 50 caliber Mauler gun and tank treads and a front shaped like a bullet with mag wheels. With a flip of a switch on her assault rifle, the engine roared to life and the back and side doors of the van slid up to allow entrance. In a scramble, the family and the officer clamored onto the van.
"Get the women into the seats with the bars down," she barked at the father. "Then, get your ass up front."
Lara ran to the pilot's seat, stowed her gun and frantically flipped switches. Doors closed. The engine roared louder. On the dashboard, screens and lights blinked on. As Lara focused on strapping herself in, the farmer appeared next to her.
"Sit here," she barked, "and strap yourself in. Quickly!"
Erwin sat in the co-pilot's seat. As he attempted to strap in, Lara gunned the engine and the van took off like a rocket across the plain. The sudden acceleration blasted him from his seat and into the aisle. The farmer crawled his way back into his seat and managed to secure himself in spite of Lara's driving the van over hills and through valleys at top speed.
"Jesus, the way you drive, they'll never catch us."
"They'll catch us," Lara responded, evenly.
Explosions could be heard in the distance, even over the engine's drone.
"What the hell was that?" he said.
"They found your house." Lara stayed focused on the task of driving.
"You blew up our house?"
"And saved your life. You're welcome."
"But –"
"But you can rebuild. Now, shut up."
The farmer's bluster went dry in his mouth. He sat back and watched the surroundings pass in blur. "How fast are we going?"
"Not fast enough. What are they after?"
"What?"
"What do you have that they want?"
"I don't have anything, now that that you blew up our house!"
"Fine. That tattoo on your arm – you were in the 54th?"
The farmer rubbed the tattoo of assault rifles crossed. "Gunnery Sergeant Erwin Franklin at your service."
"Look here, Sergeant, you know how to run a Mauler." Lara cocked her thumb towards the back of the van where the man's family cowered and shook.
"Hoe-wah!" he said – army talk for "Hell, yeah!
"Then get in and get ready to shoot at anything that moves. Go."
The farmer responded quickly, undoing his restraints and hopping out of his seat. Unsteady because of the rough terrain the van traversed, he wobbled from side to side as he made his way to the back. He sat in a seat in the center of the van, strapped himself in, and flipped a switch. The chair rose up through the center of the ceiling into a hard glass bulletproof bubble. He thrust a set of head phones on his head and took up the gun controls. The turret came alive in his hands. He was ready.
"I don’t see anything," he said.
Lara's voice came over the headphones. "You will. Be patient, but don't hesitate."
There were several minutes of silence. The van bounced and bounded over obstacles. The farmer saw nothing, though he strained his eyes and moved the turret left and right. He could see nothing on the horizon.
"Brace yourself," Lara said. "Radar says they should be in range."
The farmer saw nothing, until a rocket trail appeared. He turned the turret too late to meet it. The rocket slammed into the rear armor of the van. The armor stood strong against the impact and explosion, but the van skidded sideways for a moment before correcting itself.
"Damnit! I told you they were in range! Shoot them!"
"Shoot what? I don't see shit!"
"Flip on the night vision!"
While the farmer frantically searched for the right control. Two more rockets slammed into the sides of the van. The women of the family screamed. Lara swore and yelled at the farmer, telling him where the switch is. When he found it, the dome lit up with green light. Suddenly, the rear of the van was surrounded by countless figures. Van, trucks, tanks, cars, and bikes – all formed from mismatched pieces and scrap metal plating. None of them were the same size as the assault vehicle, but each seemed to have twice the firepower. All of them trained their guns on the van and fired, peppering the armor with bullets and slamming rocket after rocket into the van's sides. The bullets were no problem, but the rockets would take their toll.
Erwin took aim in the direction of the rockets and fired. The van reverberated with a SHOOM-SHOOM-SHOOM sound. Bright green flashes filled the sky as the Mauler fired again and again. The first shots knocked down rockets in flight; the following blasts blew a hole in the truck with the rocket launcher. He kept firing until he saw a satisfying explosion. SHOOMSHOOMSHOOM – he raked the turret left and right, dropping vehicles in their tracks. He traded blasts with the surrounding vehicles, ripping holes in their sides and gunning gangers down through their flimsy armor.
Rockets slipped past his counterattack and slammed into the sides of the van. They came from all sides now as the gangers began to catch up with Lara and her passengers. Though he tried, the farmer could not catch them all.
"SHIT!" Lara screamed.
"What's wrong?" his panicked voice answered over the radio.
"That last blast seized up the steering controls! We don't have much control left!" Lara gunned the engine and used manual controls where the automatic ones failed, attempting to distribute the power to the left or right wheels in an effort to regain some steering. The awkward, lumbering vehicle swayed and skidded left and right more than it did earlier. "Hang on!" They grew more and more erratic, tossed from side to side under the force of the explosions and overcompensation. The farmer could barely aim under those conditions; most of his shots went wild.
"Brace yourself!" Lara screamed. Suddenly, the van came to a total stop, throwing everyone against their restraints. A little shaken, Lara wobbled out of her seat and picked up her assault rifle. "Erwin?" she yelled, banging on the roof to get his attention.
SHOOM! "I'm fine! How's my family?"
Lara turned to the wife and children. The mother had a bad gash to her head. She needed medical attention quickly. The kids cried but seemed unharmed otherwise.
"They're shaken up, but ok." No use in distracting him from his task at the gun with news of his wife's condition. Lara opened her artillery crate, reloaded the different cartridges of her gun, and wrapped a new belt around her with more magazines.
"Where are we?" he radioed between shots.
"Stuck in a hill. Listen, we've got our own reinforcements on the way, but we've got to hold out here, Erwin. Keep that Mauler hot!" Lara grabbed a new magazine of shells for the Mauler and popped it into place.
SHOOMSHOOMSHOOM! "Don't you worry about that. What are you going to do?"
"I'm going out there-"
"WHAT? But I might hit you!"
"Like hell you will. Just keep that gun going and shoot anything that looks like it needs to be shot. DO NOT HESITATE! You hear me, Gunnery Sergeant?"
There was a brief pause. "Yes, ma'am."
Lara took another look at the family. The mother and her daughters all had their eyes on her. She winked at them and smiled. They smiled weakly in return. She waved as she pressed the control on her belt. She smiled at their astonishment as she shimmered out of sight. Now invisible, she lifted a panel from the floor exposing the ground beneath. She slung her gun across her back, stepped down into the hole, and crawled under the van.
Bullets whizzed by overhead as Lara slinked along the ground. They rattled the van's armor, but none did any real damage. It was cracks in the armor caused by the rockets that bothered her. Too many more of those rocket strikes and that family was going to die. She could not let that happen.
She saw a vehicle preparing to fire more rockets. It stood out because it was still while all the other vehicles around them drove circuits around the van. "Caimer Units," she said to herself. Caimers were more than rockets; they were missiles that packed so much of a punch the firing unit had to be still and stable and secured before it could be launched. Army issue, she thought. Where did they get this artillery? Lara noticed the Mauler firing in the opposite direction. It would only take one well placed Caimer to make the difference. The gangers didn't want to take anything from the family; they wanted to destroy them.
Lara scrambled for the vehicle. She crawled beneath it while the stabilizing struts were moving into position. Hidden to the world, she switched off the camouflage unit on her suit and channeled all power to the electromagnetic manipulation unit. She focused all her power towards the vehicle. The magnetic force she created was so strong the vehicle – struts, missile, and all – began to implode on itself. It lifted Lara off the ground and pinned her against the truck. The firing mechanism of the Caimer overloaded under the stress. Instantly, she reversed the suit's polarity. Lara's body repulsed the machine as strongly as it had attracted it. The vehicle leapt into the air, pinwheeling as it flew and landed on its side. The Caimer fired into the ground and exploded. The blast bathed the area in light and heat and forced everything that wasn't secured down – including Lara – back twenty feet.
"Hot DAMN!" she heard over her radio. "That has GOT to be the work of LB39!"
It took her a minute to place the voice. "Craig?"
"That's Metal Man 420, Baby!"
Just then, Lara heard the signature drone of a Metal Man's machine guns. There he stood atop the hill – a silver figure, humanoid shaped with a Mauler gun and a rocket launcher at the end of each hand. The guns were firing nonstop, SHOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMM- filling the air. Gangers fell, vehicles exploded, and Craig's laughter filled the airwaves over the radio.
"GOD, I love my job!"
"There're too many for us!" Lara yelled.
"We've got an airlift coming! Just hang on!"
"Snatchers?"
"You betcha!"
Lara switched her camo unit back on and she vanished from sight. Crawling, she covered the distance to her disabled van. "I've got to get the van free! Give me cover!"
The gunfire stopped and she heard the WHINE-CLICK of the rocket units on the Metal Man switching into place. FOOM FOOM WHINE-CLICK FOOM FOOM – the cycle repeated and explosions formed craters where gangers once tread.
Lara gripped the bumper of the van and pulled. The suit amplified her strength 20 times. With a screech of metal scraping stone, the van moved. She continued to pull until the van was totally free of the hill's stone.
"Alright, cowboy, we're free and ready to fly."
"Just got to hold on a little while longer until the angels come. Get your ass up here and let's have some target practice!"
Smiling, Lara scrambled up the hill and stood back-to-back with the Metal Man. She brought her gun up and let loose her own barrage of bullets, adding her own rat-tat-tat to the music of war playing around her.
"GODDAMN!" Craig yelled. "They just keep coming! What the hell are they after?"
"I have no clue, but they are mad for it, whatever it is."
A new sound entered the fray. The Thuppathuppathuppa announced the presence of Snatcher helicopters overhead.
A woman's voice came over the radio. "LB39, Angel 1 and Angel 2 are at your service."
"ERWIN!" Lara yelled.
"Yes, Ma'am?"
"Get out off the Mauler and strap yourself in. Angel 1, get the van. Angel 2, get the metal man. Craig, give us cover."
A chorus of "Yes, ma'am" came over the radio. Lara shot her way down the hill, taking a position on the far side of the van. Between Craig and Lara, the van and the Angel Snatcher dropping to pick it up were protected. Angel 1 hovered over its target and dropped quickly but carefully until the metal plate on its bottom rested on the van. Lara suddenly felt a pull on her gun and her shots went wild. The Snatcher had activated its magnetic grappler and seized the van. The engines revved and groaned under the strain, but slowly the van lifted off the ground.
After a few more shots, Lara slung her gun and ran for the flying van. She tapped her magnetic circuit and soon, she was flying through the air after the van. Lara stuck to the bottom of the van like a fly on a wall and crawled along it and through the hole in the bottom just the same. Before replacing the panel, she looked to see Angel 2 lift off with Craig's Metal Man unit.
"YAAAAA!! TAKE THAT, MUTHA FUCKAS!!" she heard Craig scream over the radio. She smiled at his manic antics and dropped the panel back into place. The family members were all safe and secure in their seats, Erwin seated next to his wife and holding a handkerchief to the gash in her head. She smiled at them as she passed them on to the way to her seat.
"You're safe," she said. "You're in the hands of the Light Patrol."
“LB39 to Central,” she spoke to the radio in her helmet. She kept her voice soft and low. She was a distance from the disturbance, but did not want to take any chances on catching any undue attention.
“Central up,” the radio responded in her ear. She turned down the volume control as she continued her report.
“LB39: EZ acquired.” She had reached the “engagement zone”. “Visual contact made. Opp force 15 strong 10 down.” She has seen the enemy and estimates there are 15 of them in action currently and 10 injured or dead. “Requesting backup immediately.”
She glanced about, ensuring she was still alone, before refocusing on the scene. It should have been a lovely scene of a ranch house in the middle of an open field with the sun having set in the background and the sky on the tail end of its red and yellow explosions and swirls. But this scene was marred by the presence of battle vehicles in the fields and bodies all around the house. About 12 of the bodies hooted and hollered, running around the house and banging on the walls. Three bodies stood back, pacing, watching, and waiting. The remaining bodies didn’t move at all, lying where they fell, probably beginning to grow cold at this point. A shot rang out from inside the house and another Hooter-‘n’-Holler fell, wounded in the leg apparently, but not dying. The pacers ducked quickly, noticed the casualty, and then continued to pace.
“This isn’t right,” Lara said, mostly to herself though the radio picked it up.
“Repeat, LB39,” was the response from Central.
“Requesting immediate backup, Central. Hold.” She muted her transmission as she took in the scene. “This isn’t right,” she said to herself again. Slowly, she started to move, taking a step back into the ever-increasing shadows. Keeping the scene in sight, she assessed what stood out to her while moving clockwise around the perimeter, hoping to reveal more. “Hooting and hollering…banging on the walls…Loud and boisterous, ok…But where’s the breaking down the door? Where’s the berserk frenzy? Where’s the complete insanity? That’s what these gangers do,” she mumbled to herself softly as she moved. “They break in, kill whoever’s around and steal everything…these guys will never get in this way.”
The gangers she saw all seemed to turn towards the direction of the now faded sunset. Lara became aware of a faint motor sound coming from that direction. Seeing nothing when she first focused her attention that way, she turned up the night vision contrast in her visor. The darkening night seemed suddenly awash in green light and she clearly made out a motorbike and rider speeding towards the house. She followed the bike’s dust trail back towards the horizon. The trail grew weaker and weaker until she looked at a ridge her readout told her was about 10 miles away. The ridge seemed covered in airborne dust. To the left and right, the ridge was solid, but tracking back from the biker’s trail, airborne dust.
“Holy shit.” She wasn’t the only one waiting for backup. She resumed the transmission, “LB39 to Central!” she whisper-screamed.
“Patrols have been notified, LB39,” Central responded. “ETA: 10 minutes tracking from west.” She was getting her backup and relatively quickly, but not fast enough and it was coming over a route that would make them run directly into the larger ganger force. And from the size of that dust cloud, no simple backup patrol was going to suffice.
“BREAK! CENTRAL!” She scream-whispered at the radio, interrupting any additional transmission. “Patrols are IN-X. FW! Opp force is FW!” Additional patrols will be inadequate. The opposing force is a first wave strike force.
There was silence on the radio. Her point had been made clear. The first wave forces that were sent out were usually 10% of the force at the most; 5% at the least. She may be able to help the homesteaders turn away the gangers currently at the house, but they would be far outmatched in a very short amount of time by 250 to 500 gangers.
The radio was quiet for some time. Lara focused on the biker, blazing a trail through the fields. He had just reached some of the pacers who had moved to meet him when the radio spoke again. It had good and bad news. “Metal man unit in route, LB39. ETA: 15 minutes. No other units closer.”
She took a deep breath, hoping to keep her focus. “What’s the intercept vector?”
“Thirty six degrees south of east.”
A walking battle vehicle, armored like a tank and with firepower to match. Considering what she was facing, it was a long time to wait, but at least it was coming from a direction she could work with. “Clear. Relay to Metal man: ‘Aim for moving target coming in hot.’ LB-39 down.” I understand. Tell them to expect me to be in motion, probably with the enemy close behind.
Backup was coming, but she had to get through this first wave, get the homesteaders out, get back to the van, and track south east for that to matter at all. First things first, she raised her gun, flipped off the safety, and started out into the clearing. Get the leaders first, she thought, as she made her way towards the pacers and the biker unseen. The biker brought a package, which held the attention of all the leaders who gathered in a circle. Slowly, Lara moved toward them, camouflaged by her suit and helmet, but careful not to make a sound. She was close enough to hear that they were talking but couldn't make out the words when the circle broke.
A flash of light caught her eye, as she saw a flame streak through the sky. Some type of incendiary device was thrown by one of the leaders. Lara quickly brought her gun to ready as an HUD and crosshairs displayed on her visor. She followed the flame through the sky and was able to get off a shot moments before it crashed into the house. The device erupted into flames, but fell short of its mark. Two more flames caught her eye, and she fired two more shots in quick succession. One shot shattered a device in mid-flight, the second blew it out of the hand of one of the pacers. He screamed in pain as the flames intended for the house engulfed him instead. The gangers all turned, some with guns drawn, some with nothing but looks of shock. They all faced Lara.
But none saw her. In keeping still, her suit’s camouflage kept her practically invisible in the open field. They stared intently into the open space looking for an enemy who stood in the open space staring back at them. A shot from the house fell another ganger, and they realized they had enemies on both sides now. More flames ignited and streaked through the air, only to be taken out by Lara’s crack shots. Gangers turned to fight a phantom, only to be shot in the back by the homesteaders. Lara glanced to the west and saw that dust cloud was growing closer and time was running out. She flipped her gun to full automatic mode and let loose a hail of bullets on the remaining gangers. Shot after shot rang from the house and the air turned into a shower of metal as frightened attackers attempted to dodge the shots seeming to come from all sides now. In precious seconds, the fight was over and all the attackers were dead or dying.
Lara took a quick lap about the house to make sure there were no enemies lying in wait before openly revealing herself to the participants. “This is the Light Patrol! LB-39! You’re safe now, but you have to come out!” She shouted to the house. There was a brief pause, and then floodlights lit the front of the house and the area around her. She stood still as she waited for a response. “Light Patrol! You’re safe, but not for long!”
“How come we can’t see you?” was the response. It was a stressed, almost panicked male voice from inside the house. There seemed to be a bit of hope in it, but the shrill aspect of it made it clear that he was very scared for a very long time.
Lara hit a control on her belt and she knew she was becoming visible. The air around her shimmered slightly and her figure, clad from head to toe in her silver close-fitting Light Patrol uniform and clutching her standard issue assault rifle, stood in the middle of the pool of lights.
“You should see me now! You need to come with me immediately!”
Another pause and the door to the house opened. When she stepped through, she walked into a scene of fear and terror. The building had housed what had been a family of five – a father, a mother, a son, and two daughters. The son lay dead in the middle of the floor. From what Lara could see, it seemed that he took a shot in the chest during the fracas. A gun lay under a windowsill, covered in blood from the wall to the middle of the room when the body lay now. He had taken the shot while fighting and probably kept fighting until his lifeblood had run out. At some point, the five were down to four and they still managed to hold off a group of gangers. Lara could not help but feel impressed.
“I’m Lara Newman of the Light Patrol. We’ve got to get out of here immediately."
"We're not going anywhere," the father said. "This is our home."
"This will be your coffin if you don't come with me. We've got at least 200 more of these punks bearing down on us and we are running out of time. Do you want to keep discussing while the gang gets closer, or do you want to get your ass in gear and save the lives of your family?
The wife broke her silence. "Erwin, please."
The plea from his wife seemed to convince the farmer, Erwin apparently, to go with Lara's plan. He turned to his family and said, "Get what you can carry, quickly!"
"No time for that," Lara said. "Get the thing they want and meet me outside."
"What thing?" the mother said.
"Whatever it is that these gangers are willing to take a bullet for. Whatever it is that makes them call out hundreds of reinforcements to take from you. Whatever it is they want, get it and get outside. NOW!"
Lara turned and left the farmhouse. Quickly, she scanned the horizon, made a note of the gang's apparent position, and figured that they had another five minutes to get their shit in motion. She took her assault rifle and switched it to "Mine Mode". She walked to the nearest vehicles and fired repeatedly, forming a circle of mines around all the vehicles. She continued firing, pausing only to reload, until she had completed a circuit all around the house. Lara stopped at the front where the family had gathered. She noticed they carried nothing.
"Let's go," she said. She led them away from the house, into the woods, and over the nearby hill. The Dual-Trak Wildray 3000 waited for them, cold and lifeless, a transport van with a rear dominated by a 50 caliber Mauler gun and tank treads and a front shaped like a bullet with mag wheels. With a flip of a switch on her assault rifle, the engine roared to life and the back and side doors of the van slid up to allow entrance. In a scramble, the family and the officer clamored onto the van.
"Get the women into the seats with the bars down," she barked at the father. "Then, get your ass up front."
Lara ran to the pilot's seat, stowed her gun and frantically flipped switches. Doors closed. The engine roared louder. On the dashboard, screens and lights blinked on. As Lara focused on strapping herself in, the farmer appeared next to her.
"Sit here," she barked, "and strap yourself in. Quickly!"
Erwin sat in the co-pilot's seat. As he attempted to strap in, Lara gunned the engine and the van took off like a rocket across the plain. The sudden acceleration blasted him from his seat and into the aisle. The farmer crawled his way back into his seat and managed to secure himself in spite of Lara's driving the van over hills and through valleys at top speed.
"Jesus, the way you drive, they'll never catch us."
"They'll catch us," Lara responded, evenly.
Explosions could be heard in the distance, even over the engine's drone.
"What the hell was that?" he said.
"They found your house." Lara stayed focused on the task of driving.
"You blew up our house?"
"And saved your life. You're welcome."
"But –"
"But you can rebuild. Now, shut up."
The farmer's bluster went dry in his mouth. He sat back and watched the surroundings pass in blur. "How fast are we going?"
"Not fast enough. What are they after?"
"What?"
"What do you have that they want?"
"I don't have anything, now that that you blew up our house!"
"Fine. That tattoo on your arm – you were in the 54th?"
The farmer rubbed the tattoo of assault rifles crossed. "Gunnery Sergeant Erwin Franklin at your service."
"Look here, Sergeant, you know how to run a Mauler." Lara cocked her thumb towards the back of the van where the man's family cowered and shook.
"Hoe-wah!" he said – army talk for "Hell, yeah!
"Then get in and get ready to shoot at anything that moves. Go."
The farmer responded quickly, undoing his restraints and hopping out of his seat. Unsteady because of the rough terrain the van traversed, he wobbled from side to side as he made his way to the back. He sat in a seat in the center of the van, strapped himself in, and flipped a switch. The chair rose up through the center of the ceiling into a hard glass bulletproof bubble. He thrust a set of head phones on his head and took up the gun controls. The turret came alive in his hands. He was ready.
"I don’t see anything," he said.
Lara's voice came over the headphones. "You will. Be patient, but don't hesitate."
There were several minutes of silence. The van bounced and bounded over obstacles. The farmer saw nothing, though he strained his eyes and moved the turret left and right. He could see nothing on the horizon.
"Brace yourself," Lara said. "Radar says they should be in range."
The farmer saw nothing, until a rocket trail appeared. He turned the turret too late to meet it. The rocket slammed into the rear armor of the van. The armor stood strong against the impact and explosion, but the van skidded sideways for a moment before correcting itself.
"Damnit! I told you they were in range! Shoot them!"
"Shoot what? I don't see shit!"
"Flip on the night vision!"
While the farmer frantically searched for the right control. Two more rockets slammed into the sides of the van. The women of the family screamed. Lara swore and yelled at the farmer, telling him where the switch is. When he found it, the dome lit up with green light. Suddenly, the rear of the van was surrounded by countless figures. Van, trucks, tanks, cars, and bikes – all formed from mismatched pieces and scrap metal plating. None of them were the same size as the assault vehicle, but each seemed to have twice the firepower. All of them trained their guns on the van and fired, peppering the armor with bullets and slamming rocket after rocket into the van's sides. The bullets were no problem, but the rockets would take their toll.
Erwin took aim in the direction of the rockets and fired. The van reverberated with a SHOOM-SHOOM-SHOOM sound. Bright green flashes filled the sky as the Mauler fired again and again. The first shots knocked down rockets in flight; the following blasts blew a hole in the truck with the rocket launcher. He kept firing until he saw a satisfying explosion. SHOOMSHOOMSHOOM – he raked the turret left and right, dropping vehicles in their tracks. He traded blasts with the surrounding vehicles, ripping holes in their sides and gunning gangers down through their flimsy armor.
Rockets slipped past his counterattack and slammed into the sides of the van. They came from all sides now as the gangers began to catch up with Lara and her passengers. Though he tried, the farmer could not catch them all.
"SHIT!" Lara screamed.
"What's wrong?" his panicked voice answered over the radio.
"That last blast seized up the steering controls! We don't have much control left!" Lara gunned the engine and used manual controls where the automatic ones failed, attempting to distribute the power to the left or right wheels in an effort to regain some steering. The awkward, lumbering vehicle swayed and skidded left and right more than it did earlier. "Hang on!" They grew more and more erratic, tossed from side to side under the force of the explosions and overcompensation. The farmer could barely aim under those conditions; most of his shots went wild.
"Brace yourself!" Lara screamed. Suddenly, the van came to a total stop, throwing everyone against their restraints. A little shaken, Lara wobbled out of her seat and picked up her assault rifle. "Erwin?" she yelled, banging on the roof to get his attention.
SHOOM! "I'm fine! How's my family?"
Lara turned to the wife and children. The mother had a bad gash to her head. She needed medical attention quickly. The kids cried but seemed unharmed otherwise.
"They're shaken up, but ok." No use in distracting him from his task at the gun with news of his wife's condition. Lara opened her artillery crate, reloaded the different cartridges of her gun, and wrapped a new belt around her with more magazines.
"Where are we?" he radioed between shots.
"Stuck in a hill. Listen, we've got our own reinforcements on the way, but we've got to hold out here, Erwin. Keep that Mauler hot!" Lara grabbed a new magazine of shells for the Mauler and popped it into place.
SHOOMSHOOMSHOOM! "Don't you worry about that. What are you going to do?"
"I'm going out there-"
"WHAT? But I might hit you!"
"Like hell you will. Just keep that gun going and shoot anything that looks like it needs to be shot. DO NOT HESITATE! You hear me, Gunnery Sergeant?"
There was a brief pause. "Yes, ma'am."
Lara took another look at the family. The mother and her daughters all had their eyes on her. She winked at them and smiled. They smiled weakly in return. She waved as she pressed the control on her belt. She smiled at their astonishment as she shimmered out of sight. Now invisible, she lifted a panel from the floor exposing the ground beneath. She slung her gun across her back, stepped down into the hole, and crawled under the van.
Bullets whizzed by overhead as Lara slinked along the ground. They rattled the van's armor, but none did any real damage. It was cracks in the armor caused by the rockets that bothered her. Too many more of those rocket strikes and that family was going to die. She could not let that happen.
She saw a vehicle preparing to fire more rockets. It stood out because it was still while all the other vehicles around them drove circuits around the van. "Caimer Units," she said to herself. Caimers were more than rockets; they were missiles that packed so much of a punch the firing unit had to be still and stable and secured before it could be launched. Army issue, she thought. Where did they get this artillery? Lara noticed the Mauler firing in the opposite direction. It would only take one well placed Caimer to make the difference. The gangers didn't want to take anything from the family; they wanted to destroy them.
Lara scrambled for the vehicle. She crawled beneath it while the stabilizing struts were moving into position. Hidden to the world, she switched off the camouflage unit on her suit and channeled all power to the electromagnetic manipulation unit. She focused all her power towards the vehicle. The magnetic force she created was so strong the vehicle – struts, missile, and all – began to implode on itself. It lifted Lara off the ground and pinned her against the truck. The firing mechanism of the Caimer overloaded under the stress. Instantly, she reversed the suit's polarity. Lara's body repulsed the machine as strongly as it had attracted it. The vehicle leapt into the air, pinwheeling as it flew and landed on its side. The Caimer fired into the ground and exploded. The blast bathed the area in light and heat and forced everything that wasn't secured down – including Lara – back twenty feet.
"Hot DAMN!" she heard over her radio. "That has GOT to be the work of LB39!"
It took her a minute to place the voice. "Craig?"
"That's Metal Man 420, Baby!"
Just then, Lara heard the signature drone of a Metal Man's machine guns. There he stood atop the hill – a silver figure, humanoid shaped with a Mauler gun and a rocket launcher at the end of each hand. The guns were firing nonstop, SHOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMM- filling the air. Gangers fell, vehicles exploded, and Craig's laughter filled the airwaves over the radio.
"GOD, I love my job!"
"There're too many for us!" Lara yelled.
"We've got an airlift coming! Just hang on!"
"Snatchers?"
"You betcha!"
Lara switched her camo unit back on and she vanished from sight. Crawling, she covered the distance to her disabled van. "I've got to get the van free! Give me cover!"
The gunfire stopped and she heard the WHINE-CLICK of the rocket units on the Metal Man switching into place. FOOM FOOM WHINE-CLICK FOOM FOOM – the cycle repeated and explosions formed craters where gangers once tread.
Lara gripped the bumper of the van and pulled. The suit amplified her strength 20 times. With a screech of metal scraping stone, the van moved. She continued to pull until the van was totally free of the hill's stone.
"Alright, cowboy, we're free and ready to fly."
"Just got to hold on a little while longer until the angels come. Get your ass up here and let's have some target practice!"
Smiling, Lara scrambled up the hill and stood back-to-back with the Metal Man. She brought her gun up and let loose her own barrage of bullets, adding her own rat-tat-tat to the music of war playing around her.
"GODDAMN!" Craig yelled. "They just keep coming! What the hell are they after?"
"I have no clue, but they are mad for it, whatever it is."
A new sound entered the fray. The Thuppathuppathuppa announced the presence of Snatcher helicopters overhead.
A woman's voice came over the radio. "LB39, Angel 1 and Angel 2 are at your service."
"ERWIN!" Lara yelled.
"Yes, Ma'am?"
"Get out off the Mauler and strap yourself in. Angel 1, get the van. Angel 2, get the metal man. Craig, give us cover."
A chorus of "Yes, ma'am" came over the radio. Lara shot her way down the hill, taking a position on the far side of the van. Between Craig and Lara, the van and the Angel Snatcher dropping to pick it up were protected. Angel 1 hovered over its target and dropped quickly but carefully until the metal plate on its bottom rested on the van. Lara suddenly felt a pull on her gun and her shots went wild. The Snatcher had activated its magnetic grappler and seized the van. The engines revved and groaned under the strain, but slowly the van lifted off the ground.
After a few more shots, Lara slung her gun and ran for the flying van. She tapped her magnetic circuit and soon, she was flying through the air after the van. Lara stuck to the bottom of the van like a fly on a wall and crawled along it and through the hole in the bottom just the same. Before replacing the panel, she looked to see Angel 2 lift off with Craig's Metal Man unit.
"YAAAAA!! TAKE THAT, MUTHA FUCKAS!!" she heard Craig scream over the radio. She smiled at his manic antics and dropped the panel back into place. The family members were all safe and secure in their seats, Erwin seated next to his wife and holding a handkerchief to the gash in her head. She smiled at them as she passed them on to the way to her seat.
"You're safe," she said. "You're in the hands of the Light Patrol."
