Bronco Squad couldn’t stick out anymore in their western attire and small arms, all while riding on horseback in a futuristic avenue in an abandoned cityscape that is mostly intact. Not much fighting has taken place which gives Stella some uneasy feelings as her squad ride down the wet asphalt street. She moves her twin pigtail ponytails behind her back and tucks in her Stetson hat to keep herself dry from the rain. One of her posse is pulling a cart with another of her squad mates manning a hand cranked Gatling Gun which is mounted on the cart. It’s the one weapon in their arsenal that’s been capable of matching the enemies firepower this entire match. Some of the squad members are lucky to have smokeless powder cartridges which barely qualified Bronco Squad to participate in the match. Stella herself is using paper black powder cartridges which doesn’t leave casings but it’s not something Stella can allow even the slightest amount of rainfall to get onto so they are heavily waxed. Worst case, she can always set aside her Colt Single Action Army for her Winchester Model 1866.
”I don’t like this at all Stella…” Her squad mate murmurs nervously as he cocks his Sharps Rifle with a Malcolm 6X Scope. He pulls his horse to a stop, just behind the cart as he aims down his scope.
”Huey, see anything up ahead?” The rain is starting to pick up which is greatly hindering the squads’ ability to see what’s ahead of them.
”My god….” The sniper lowers his rifle. “The savages…..they…”
Stella takes out her monocular from her vest’s pocket and retracts it to have a look for herself. There’s a glass skyscraper with a patio on the second floor of what is supposed to be a government building of some sort. That’s not particularly unusual to Stella or her sniper Huey. Over the edge is the ragdoll of one of The Agency’s members, dressed in a suit, tie, and shades despite the battlefield being dark with the exception of the street lights and neon signs of the skyscrapers around them. The ragdoll in question is being hung over with rope by the neck over the edge with red paint over his suit in the shape of smiley face with two saber like teeth on the mouth.
From up north, they can hear someone frantically running towards them. Stella and her squad ready their rifles and take aim, prepared to bring down whatever is coming towards them from down the road. They lower their rifles when they finally see it’s the head of The Agency, one of the squads they teamed up with for the tournament, but he’s clearly terrified, holding his PPK in one hand. Parts of his suits have holes in them, indicating he’s been shot at and his right sleeves seems to be completely cut open as if something had tried to slice his arm off. He frantically runs up to Stella who’s still on her horse as she halts her patrol in the rain. “Agent John Smith is it? What happened to your squad?”
”Slaughtered….they’re all gone.” The man in the suit trembles as he falls to the floor, barely able to speak without shaking. “We were going after the nerds in cosplay armor. We’d thought we’d had them in the building over there...but then...they...”
”Come on Agent Smith, spill it out.”
”The vampires...they came out of the darkness. They cut out the power in the building and starting taking shots at my squad mates….one by one...we couldn’t see them, we couldn’t hear them.” His voices starts to stammer more so. “And….then...the ones who were taken alive….their screams….oh their screams…I didn’t know what they were doing to them….so I tried to run out fo the lobby with my last squad mate, but the JarPig squad opened fire on us in the lobby and one of them got close enough to nearly kill me with his sword. By the time I got out of the building...the one member of my agency was one the floor...shot to pieces….I can’t do it….I’m sorry.” He starts to freak out. “You can’t make me go back there! YOU CANT!!!”
”Oh….for the love of….listen Agent Smith.” Stella directly reassures the clearly terrified guy huddled in a fetal position before them. “They are nerds and goth emo dorks or whatever they call themselves. I can’t believe you got your entire squad wiped out like that! Your team was supposed to sabotage their intel….ah forget...why don’t you just surrender so we can do the fighting you were supposed to be doing?”
”No….No….anything but that.” The agent frantically shakes his head. “I’d rather be eliminated than be a captive. You don’t understand….those vampires are demons….they’ll...”
Enough...if your wish is to die like an hombre, then you can come with us and finish the fight you were supposed to put a stop to. Otherwise, don’t get in my way.” Stella motions her posse on horseback. “Anyone else scared of a bunch of dorks and Hot Topic losers?” Her squad mates don’t say a word. “Good, then we can settle this score once and for all. Vamos!” Bronco Squad ride north down the road towards the government building while the agent goes off to hide somewhere on the streets.
John Smith runs hysterically into one alley way to another. It almost seems as the alleys get narrower and narrower. The shops around him no longer having neon lights like those in the main street. It’s dark, lonely, and foreboding. He bumps into a wall, a dead end down the path. He finds a trash bin to hide in and stays there for what he hopes is the remainder of the match. Within minutes, he already hears gunfire coming from the government building a few blocks down. It sounds ferocious. Small arms fire and explosions are going off almost on a second to second basis. But then it stops. All the gunfire and explosions come to a halt. The only thing that’s audible now is the rain and Agent Smith’s own heartbeat. He has no idea who won that firefight, but he’s not going to leave the trash bin anytime soon. He refuses to.
Minutes past and there’s still no further gunfire. Agent Smith starts to develop a gut feeling that perhaps Bronco Squad may have been eliminated. He really wished they would carry some kind of communication device with them. Why did he have to team up with a historical team? He starts rubbing his own forehead in frustration as a worse question starts to come up in his mind. “Why did he let his entire squad down?” He trained for weeks on end, perfecting his craft with espionage and stealth. His team was doing pretty well at the start of the match when his agents took out JarPig’s transport vehicle which they ambushed earlier. Even in this moment of despair, he doesn’t think highly of JarPig’s fighting technique or their squads ability to succeed in the a firefight. It’s their partner squad that’s on a entirely differently playing field. Vampire Squad.
”You must be so shaken for us to live rent free in your head...oh you poor poor thing….” A woman’s voice suddenly comes through his hand held radio which startles Agent Smith the moment he hears it goes off. It’s not Stella’s voice, nor it is any of the other female squad mates on his side. The voice is low and sultry. Almost like she’s teasing him through the radio. “You’re squad is no more….you know that already. Stella’s squad…well...let’s just say those idiots at JarPig actually accomplished something for once. But now…..it’s just you.”
“W...what do you want with me??!! Leave me alone!!!”
”Now now….you know the match is over already. Your entire team is now waiting in the lobby...waiting for you to put an end to this nightmare. You lost. So why bother making us play this hide and seek game with you. I mean don’t get me wrong….I do love a good game of hide and seek. Especially when I am it.” The voice giggles through her radio. “Tell me...John Smith…do I scare you?”
Ah…...Wha….
”Oh don’t answer it...I think I know that answer already. Oh...did you know I can pinpoint your location of your radio fairly easily? I know where you are...in fact, I’m actually right here.
”Oh….crap…..” Agent Smith groans.
The lid of the trash bin opens and from up above him peaks a face. A Persian girl in her mid 20s with long black hair and emerald eyes which are revealed the moment she lifts up her night vision goggles. She’s quite beautiful, especially in her dark gothic dress which is tacked on with a plate carrier and other tactical gear around the waist of her skirt. She lowers her hand down towards him. “Don’t worry my love. It’s just me. Take my hand...and accept your defeat. It’s all over for you. Come on….don’t be shy.” Her voice is almost like a whisper when she speaks to Agent Smith. He struggles to even put his PPK down but he can’t fire back either. He’s too terrified or perhaps too enchanted by her looks. ”Oh….look at that little pistol of yours. Did you really believe you were going to fight your way out of this one?” Of course not. Because you and I both know what will happen if you try shooting me. So drop the weapon...and come out of the bin.”
The girl in the dark dress holds her hand out for the agent for a few more second before giving up on the idea entirely. She lets out a drawn out sigh. “What a shame...you don’t trust me. I wasn’t going to hurt you. But you leave me no choice.” She takes a grenade from her waist side and tosses it into the trash bin before slamming the lid of the bin completely shut with her hands. She can hear Agent Smith screaming and trying to kick the lid off before the grenade detonates inside. The girl loosens her grip on the trash bin and walks away. She can see one of her squad mates, a male dressed in black tactical gear and with a red industrial respirator over his face.
”That’s the last of them, your highness?”
”The match is over. We’re victorious. Tell my squad they all executed their combat duties exactly to my bidding.”
”It will be done, your highness.” The man in the black tactical gear bows down to her before taking out his radio to inform the squad. The girl’s neutral expression sudden shifts to disgust as she see the leader of JarpPig squad coming up from down the alley toward her. She’s not in the mood for his victory speech.
”Asura, My queen, we won the match! And it’s all thanks to your magnificent planning!” He gets onto his knees and bows his head. He’s a blonde guy who is a few years younger than her, dressed in a mix of tactical gear and what appears to be sytrofoam fantasy armor that you would see in a Japanese fantasy role playing game. His hat is also something that wouldn’t be out of place in such a game. His whole getup is absurd. The gesture is enough to make Asura recoil from cringe. “Please don’t do that again Kael. You’re not in my squad.”
”But my queen, we’re working together. This is our victory.”
Asura groans in annoyance. “Whatever...and stop calling me queen. I am Asura. You are not my minion, so stop acting like one. You and I are not the same.”
”But my….um...Asura...I made a good call letting our squads join together as a team. It’s a honor to be serving alongside someone as beautiful and as skilled as you are. Please...I’ll do whatever it takes for us to achieve the grand victory. I’ll spam dozens of Deus Lights into the enemy if it means I have to get blinded too!”
”Deus Lights? Pfft what are you talking about...oh flash bangs.” Asura facepalms her face. “I swear these dweebs are going to make me die from cringe.” She mutters under her breath. “Alright...you want to make your squad useful, then your going to have to prove it in our next match.” Asura’s voice softens as her hand reaches under Kael’s chin to lift his head so that she’s looking directly into his blue eyes. “If you and your squad can prove to me you have what it takes to win the next match, then perhaps I might give you a bit of my time….just you and me.”
”Ha….of course my qu…..errr Asura. I’ll make sure my squad is in top shape before the next match. You have my word. Nobody will bring us defeat.”
”Good boy….because if you don’t…” She squeezes his jaw harshly with her grip, despite the pressure, Kael’s loving every minute of it. “I’ll dispose you and your squad from my friend list…..got it?!”
”Awwww….I won’t let you down...I’ll fight for your sake.”
”That’s what I like to hear. Now…” She let’s go of his chin. “Get out of my sight. You have to address your squad who did most of the fighting anyways.” She walks off into the shadows of the alleyway to regroup with Vampire Squad. All of her members are still alive and in one piece from the match, all dressed in black tactical gear, black capes, and red respirator masks. They have their rifles and submachine guns suppressed and are all equipped with night vision goggles.
”Your highness, we’re not going to meet up with the opposing squads in the lobby? JarPig is over there as we speak.” One of her female minions speaks muffled through her face mask.
”We don’t waste time with freaks or losers. They can enjoy their cope party by themselves.” Asura points to her sapper who is holding a tablet in his arms. “Who’s our next matchup in the tournament bracket?”
”You highness, it seems like we’re going up against Armadillo and Longhorn Squad.” Her minion quotes as he scrolls through his tablet. “They were able to defeat Kraken PMC and Glam Squad.”
”Tsch, I’d expected more from Zander’s PMC. What a disappointment. Looks like we’re not going up against some fresh meat. That doesn’t mean we’re going to go easy on them. Cicero, I want you to study their match stream, find out their tactics, what makes them tick, I want everything about Longhorn and Armadillo Squad dissected to the bones. The rest of you, we have a month until our next match. We’re going to train as if the match is tomorrow. So don’t slack off.”
”It shall be done your highness.” Her squad chants all at once as they bows their heads before her with their hands on their hearts.”
”Excellent. We’re going to make their next match a total nightmare. They’ll never put on that headset again when they experience our ferocity, the likes of which….” Her speech is interrupted and it seems like she’s talking to someone else over her comms. “Mom! I thought I told you to get out of my room while I am gaming! Can’t you see I’m busy right now…..no…..I don’t care….go away!!!!”
”Your highness, your mic is hot.” Her female minion mentions a term used when someone with a headset leaves their comms on while they are talking outside of VR. Asura seems to be too caught up with her argument with her mom.
”I don’t care if we have visitors! I’m busy! I’ll clean my room and do my laundry when I’m done! Just...shoo! Go away already! Gawwhh!” Her squad mates can hear the door slam shut in the background. Asura slips on her headset and is now back in control of her avatar.”
”Your highness...”
”We’re done here….we’ll start our training tomorrow. If you can, train right now in private….dismiss!” Asura orders in a stern voice
”Her squad does not question her orders. They bow their heads and then log off from the game. Asura grabs her suppressed AR-15 and fires into the trash bin, screaming in frustration before logging off herself.”