NOVEL FROG Chapter 127: The Takeover
With a helping hand from Nitro, Panda got back on his feet once again, though he had had trouble walking at first as his right limping leg hindered his movement. While Nitro supported him until he could walk on his own, Saint ran back to retrieve Panda’s weapon from the mud. After a bit of digging, he picked it up and handed it to its owner right as they passed through the entrance and entered the courtyard, where Kiwy and Frost were already fighting.
–Thanks…– Panda said to Saint while panting and trying to pick up his gun. He couldn’t grab it right away due to still leaning on Nitro’s shoulder, but he seemed to regain strength rapidly and was eager to hold his trusty weapon now that the squad was inside the Cloudstar base. He, alongside Nitro, Saint, and Candy, looked around to see that their situation was pretty much the same as the one outside, perhaps even worse due to being in a confined space.
Despite sneaking past the slaughter taking place on the other side of the walls, Crisis found themselves surrounded by danger as they entered the south section of the courtyard, which consisted of a smaller circle between the inner and outer walls made of concrete, like Savepoint, except much narrower. The area was big enough to house several tables and appliances, even greenery in the form of small bushes and trees aligned with the two paths cutting across the circle segment, though they were all now part of the mess caused by the omens. Across the narrow courtyard, even bigger walls shielded the main buildings of the Cloudstar headquarters, located at the center of the base and taking up most of the space, so naturally, the Cloudstars sought shelter inside the facility.
The omens had swarmed the base and were found scattered all over the place, but they seemed to prioritize taking over the walls before breaching the facility. Hence, dozens of enemies could be seen battling Cloudstars both on the ground and on top of the walls on both sides of the path. The rather thin segments behind the walls led to a close-quarters combat situation where the omens were forced to drop their weapons and fight with their knives or fists if they were unarmed since the Cloudstars were putting up a good fight, albeit they were unprepared and unarmed. The latter could only defend themselves with what they had in hand, so they stayed together to block access to the lateral wings of the courtyard. With this strategy, they were constantly distancing themselves from the entrance, leaving corpses at Crisis’ feet as a result, and since the omens used this to rush up the scaffolding stairs to reach the walls adjacent to the gate, the squad was met with many directions to approach.
However, everything but the walls surrounding the courtyard appeared to be visual noise, distracting from the main threat found right in front of the squad. As Crisis ignored the open hallway leading to the facility, instead of heading straight to it, they stayed on the south wing of the courtyard. Panda, Nitro, Candy, and Saint found even more dead bodies leading them to the facility, but they chose to follow Kiwy and Frost, who had split up to tackle both sides and protect as many allies as they could. They caught the omens off guard by striking from behind and drawing their attention away from the Cloudstars to let them reposition, and they didn’t waste the opportunity.
–Should I just blow them up?– Nitro asked hesitantly while aiming his grenade launcher at the mass of omens in front of Frost, who had gathered the attention of everyone on the right side and was suddenly the target of the enemy. Even though Nitro had the target on them as well, Panda lowered his weapon before turning to his left and spotting Kiwy dealing with the same problem. It seemed like they were only distracting the omens to let the Cloudstars fight back, who quickly coordinated a counterattack the moment they recognized their allies. But instead of standing and watching at the entrance, Panda searched for another threat that was more appropriate for the rest of the squad to deal with.
–No, you two go up there and take those guys out, I’ll help out here…– Panda replied assertively, addressing only Nitro and Saint as they were standing on opposite sides, pointing out the stairs of the scaffolding towers to the top of the walls. They both turned to watch omens running up to the walls on their respective sides, oblivious to Crisis’ arrival. While Saint and Nitro looked uncertain about chasing after them, Panda's tenacity urged them to part ways.
–Alright man, just don’t beat them up too hard…– Nitro said lightheartedly before running to the stairs on his side. Panda teased back with a brief grin while looting the nearest ammunition crate to load up his machine gun. He was about to lock on the omens on Kiwy’s side since they seemed to have the upper hand on their allies, but before getting into the action, he noticed Saint was still standing next to him, alongside Candy.
They both looked worried and lost, waiting for Panda’s move, but Saint was particularly skeptical and anxious after checking back on the situation outside the walls. He peeked out the hole in the gate to see that the omens had regained ground, but as Panda stood firmly right behind the gate, he and Candy gave Saint the affirmative nod that encouraged him to follow orders and dash up the stairs. And now that the squad split up once again, they had to keep an eye on each other at all times as they realized the number of omens they had to face was much greater than expected.
Both Nitro and Saint were off to clear the enemies in the watchtowers, taking the left and right sides, respectively, but they first had to take out the omens in their way who were also heading to the top. With almost complete control of the high ground, the omens focused their fire on the ravagers below, mostly on the right side, so Saint and Nitro hurried up while everyone faced that direction to reach the top before being spotted. The scaffolding platforms were rather small in width, with the stairs being even thinner, allowing only one person at a time, meaning the omens were running up in a line, making it easier for Nitro and Saint to catch up to them and take them out one by one.
With a slight impatience to stop the omens quickly, Saint ran up the stairs without hesitation, staying close behind them until he could get an opening to attack. He used his sword to ensure the enemies in his way couldn’t get back up after slashing their ankles and lower legs, always taking cover one floor below to strike from a safe distance. On the other hand, Nitro just pushed the omens out of the way, not bothering to check their condition as he shoved them off the scaffolding platforms. The omens either fell a great height on top of their teammates or splat on the hard concrete. Candy and Panda had to watch out for any omens dropping from above, but even as loud as their bones broke or as gruesome as their deformed bodies looked after the fall, they kept their eye on the enemies in the courtyard since they were starting to notice what was going on.
For a brief moment, the omens ahead shifted their focus from the Cloudstars or Kiwy and Frost to the scaffolding towers, where they watched their teammates falling off or being slaughtered like bugs. They didn’t take it kindly, as they yelled at the soldiers on the watchtowers to warn them about Saint and Nitro. In the process, they were distracted and lost track of Frost and Kiwy, who flanked them to lead a charge with the allies and push the omens back to the center of the south wing. But instead of applying their usual slash-and-dash methods, Kiwy and Frost couldn’t get too close to the enemy once they noticed Panda had every omen on sight, and with a brief signal to warn his allies to get out of the way, he cocked his machine gun and opened fire.
Kiwy, Frost, and the Cloudstars stuck to the inner walls as the omens ran back directly into Panda’s line of sight. There were so many that they crowded his field of vision, yet they barely caught a glimpse of him before Paxinterra ripped hundreds of holes through the horde of omens. Since they were all bunched up together, Panda merely had to hold the trigger and slightly sway side to side to dispatch everyone in seconds. Keeping focus to shoot at the omens in closest proximity first, Panda alone racked up more kills than all the omens Kiwy and Frost managed to slay despite them getting a head start. And he made it look like a simple task, even laughing at the omens and his teammates while shooting down a quarter of the courtyard.
–Hey, really? Don’t waste ammo…– Frost asked with slight frustration at Panda after only being able to watch steal all the kills from him. At least he was effective, as all the omens in the south courtyard were now lying dead in a pool of blood that couldn’t even be washed by the hard rain pouring on the floor. In response, Panda just sneered at Frost before turning to continue guarding the entrance with both his shield and gun, already having to put the latter to good use once again as the omens from outside finally realized Crisis had sneaked into the base.
With the south courtyard cleared, the Cloudstars gathered at the center behind Panda while Candy ran to aid their wounds, which were way too many for only her to handle. Luckily, Kiwy and Frost stayed by her side and protected her while assessing their surroundings. They looked at the stairs behind the walls to find out they still had to dispatch the omens on the watchtowers. However, they soon came to find Saint and Nitro were already on it and handling it pretty well, to some extent, as they had both cleared the stairs and reached the top of the wall but took very different approaches.
As soon as Nitro reached the top of the wall, he found a dozen omens around the closest watchtower to the left of the gate. They were all staring east, trying to support their teammates on that side without shooting them, but they were too far away to engage against the ravagers. However, since they still had sight of the right watchtower and Saint was just heading there, Nitro panicked for a second. Without hesitation, he took cover behind the wall, stepping back onto the scaffolding stairs to poke his grenade launcher over the edge and blindly aim it in the watchtower’s general direction.
Before Saint could even spot his targets at the top, a large explosion on the other side caught his attention. He instantly turned to see the watchtower on the left go up in flames, leaving no sight of any omens, as even a big chunk of the wall was blown off, leaving a crater on the top where the watchtower used to be. It took one brief glance to find the one responsible for the explosion. Nitro had almost blown himself off the scaffolding tower but was casually hanging on one of the rails of the stairs with one hand, holding his grenade launcher with the other, while laughing maniacally as always. Saint stared at him, shrugging in confusion, but to his surprise, he stared back and quickly changed his expression to a distressed one, warning him of what was behind.
Saint turned around to see a few omens looking back at the flames on the other side of the wall as well, but before they could look down and spot him, Saint swung his sword over the catwalk, aiming for their calves. He got a few weak slashes, but they were enough to tear their legs and inflict immense pain. The omens shrilled, drawing the attention of the ones on the watchtower. Without finishing off the ones he just struck, Saint jumped over the platform with Dominion in hand and prepared to face what appeared to be eight or so omens, without counting the one distracted on the turret.
The omens didn’t hesitate to attack, though they simply chose to shoot at Saint, scaring him back into hiding. Without thinking, he jumped backward off the wall, leading the omens to stand in confusion and then turn around again, completely dismissing him. But instead of falling to the ground, Saint had grabbed onto one of the rails a few feet below the top of the wall, and before the enemy could notice, he quickly climbed back up to catch them by surprise. Sticking to his effective method of neutralizing his enemies, Saint stayed covered behind the wall, hanging onto the ledge while swinging his sword blindly in hopes of hitting someone. The shrieks he caused confirmed he was doing some damage, but clearly not enough, as the omens quickly leaned over the edge and looked down to find Saint cowardly hiding below.
For a moment, Saint’s face turned white, frightened to see the wrath of the omens aiming their rifles down at him. He tried protecting himself by holding his sword over his face, though it wasn’t nearly big enough to cover his body, not even his head. However, when the omens opened fire, instead of getting hit, they were the ones that dropped dead, with one even landing right on top of Saint and sending him back to the last scaffolding platform. He looked around frantically, trying to raise his sword to kill the omen on top of him, before realizing he was already dead. He was confused, but after cowering and using the body as a shield, he briefly looked down, where he saw the bodies of the other omens and Panda looking up at him with the barrel of his machine gun still smoking.
–You’re welcome, now take over that turret and help me out here!– Panda shouted, initially nonchalant but still very imposing, as he was getting overwhelmed at the gate, leaving Saint a bit indecisive. The latter appreciated Panda for saving his life and tried to return the favor as soon as possible. He pushed the omen off him, shoving it off the stairs before getting up and running back to the top of the wall, where he only found two omens left inside the tiny watchtower.
Now actually getting to fight them, Saint swiftly slashed a deep cut on the back of one of the omens feeding the ammo belt to the sentry for his teammates, prompting him to turn around in irritation before Saint thrust his sword into his chest and used it to pull him away. He pulled the blade out, killing the omen shortly after. The other one didn’t even realize his teammate died until the gun stopped shooting, which is when he slowly turned around to see him dead and Saint standing right next to his corpse. The omen looked more confused than scared or angry; he even gestured at his dead teammate, still holding onto the ammunition belt, almost asking Saint to pick it up and hand it to him.
But instead of giving him ammo, Saint delivered a swift stab in the gut that left him bleeding out on his knees before falling dead on top of his friend, letting Saint peek through the watchtower windows and see the crowd of omens banging at the gate. Panda had stopped shooting and opted to create a barrier with the bodies of the omens he had slaughtered to delay the ones on the other side of the gate. Saint immediately grabbed the turret and tried to aim it, but he didn’t know how to operate it, so he stepped back to seek help.
–Alright, how do I use this thing?!– Saint shouted at Nitro, the closest to him, as he stayed on top of the wall to start blasting the omens below with his grenade launcher. He could barely hear him from the explosions, but when he saw Saint waving at him, he stopped momentarily to load more grenades and respond.
–What do you mean? Just shoot at them!– Nitro responded without much thought before getting back to blowing omens up. Saint was left with doubt, but after seeing that a large fraction of the omen army was gathering at the front of the base, with only Panda and Nitro defending the entrance, he was forced to help despite not knowing exactly how to.
He got into the omen slaying by first grabbing the ammo belt and trying to load it into the turret. He was jittery, both exalted to be harnessing such power and overwhelmed by the gunfire and explosions below, preventing him from loading the machine gun properly. But after taking a big breath to concentrate, he loaded it, and with a short moment of hesitation, he aimed the turret at the huge mass of omens in front. They began shooting back, but with the safety of the bulletproof glass from the watchtower, he was able to open fire freely and without worries. He was scared and couldn’t handle the recoil, even though the gun was set firmly, but once he saw his bullets connect and take out omens with ease, he turned excited and couldn’t help but smile while shooting down every omen in sight, just like Panda.
With Saint, Panda, and Nitro securing the entrance, they prevented any omens from coming back in, keeping Frost, Kiwy, and Candy safe inside with the Cloudstars, or so they thought at first. Their allies didn’t hesitate to inform them of their situation, pointing at the south hallway to the headquarters to indicate enemies had gotten inside the buildings. And even though they could see some of the omens deep inside the building, Frost held off from attacking them as he took a moment to look around and find any possible nearby threats.
He couldn’t see anything past the south segment of the courtyard, as the entire inner circle of the base was split into four wings, closed off by the same outer walls connecting with the buildings at the center. They had just cleared the south wing, but as Saint and Nitro could see from the top of the walls, there were still enemies on the other wings, even on top of the walls. The other watchtowers were far from Saint and Nitro, and the other omens hadn’t spotted them yet since the two were covered by the watchtower and smoke, respectively. Frost couldn’t see if there were more enemies past those walls, though, but the Cloudstars were very aware of what was going on, and once they noticed him trying to search for more enemies, a few started to speak out.
–Thanks for coming. They took out our dedicated squad, and half our forces are deployed up north. We already called for backup, but they won’t make it in time. We’re all we have... We already lost the north gate, and they’ve taken over our armory! They got access to all our gear and weapons and are already deep inside the base!– one of the Cloudstars blurted out in a mix of concern and frustration, losing hope as Frost paid him little attention at first. He was listening, but he kept looking around for ways to get to the north wing. Once he spotted the pathways circling the courtyard and leading to each side of the base, he apprehensively turned to his squad to change their current objective.
–Pax, you stay here and hold your ground. Candy, stick close to him. If we lose this side, fall back and take cover inside. We’ll be back soon…– Frost ordered the nearby squad members, all of whom nodded without a second thought, although Candy was slightly worried about being left alone. Panda, however, remained fearless, even providing some comfort to Candy as he stood in front of her, giving her more time to treat more wounded Cloudstars and get them back into the fight.
–Saint! You two flank them from above. We are pushing north!– Frost shouted only at Saint, as he was barely heard by Nitro. Saint did turn around, and while he was skeptical, after only a bit of consideration, he got off the turret and grabbed one of the dead omens off the ground to place him on the turret, making sure his fingers held the trigger and aiming ahead. The turret kept shooting, and even though it didn’t stay still and was no longer aiming in the right direction, it still provided some cover fire to distract the omens below.
–WE GOTTA HEAD NORTH!– Saint shouted at the top of his lungs to Nitro, who heard him but didn’t understand until he began running. Taking the opportunity to leave before more omens targeted them, Nitro followed the order and got on the move. Now they began running on opposite sides, both heading north, where there were more omens on the way, with a few more watchtowers to clear on each side. And just when they were about to confront them on their own, some Cloudstars suddenly appeared behind them to support them.
With Frost taking command, he distributed the Cloudstar forces to take on the north wing with even numbers on each path, sending some reinforcements to the top of the wall to assist Nitro and Saint, who led the charges on both flanks. They attacked before letting the omens react, allowing the Cloudstars to claim back their turrets and use them right away to defend their base. Down at the courtyard, Kiwy and Frost had split up as well, and while they had little support from the wounded Cloudstars at first, they managed to save more allies the further they got on both sides, taking out every omen in the east and west wings. Slowly but surely, they were clearing the courtyard and walls, rescuing any Cloudstars on the way to have them secure the ground they managed to regain, all until the north wing.
As the Cloudstars claimed, the north wing was completely overrun by omens, and there was not a sigh of a single ally since they were all dead. But what caught them off guard was the surprising lack of action, as the omens were waiting around outside both armories on each side of the wing. They had no one to fight but were supplying their troops with the stolen Cloudstar arsenal, sending soldiers out of the north gate, which had just been unlocked and opened instead of destroyed. It looked like the omens were about to leave instead of running into the headquarters, and as soon as both Crisis and the Cloudstars had taken enough ground to surround the omens, they noticed something strange.
The omens were no longer controlling the base from the inside; they were seemingly done fighting for territory and were returning to the field. While the team attacked and tried to kill as many omens as possible, they realized their presence wasn’t why the enemy was running away. Frost and Kiwy had reached the armories in an attempt to secure the remaining arsenal, prompting every remaining omen to escape through the gate. The Cloudstars kept pushing forward, but as Frost and Kiwy checked both armories, they found nothing but empty racks and crates. The omens had stolen everything, which wasn’t as disheartening since the Cloudstars reclaimed some of their weapons from the omen corpses littering the courtyard.
However, the weapons and ammunition were not a concern, not for Frost, since he couldn’t ease his worries and kept looking around the north wing, searching for an explanation. Some Cloudstars were already chasing after the omens through the gate, but a small group stayed behind in the north hallway to the headquarters, where they entered a large warehouse and quickly noticed something that they immediately reported to their teammates and Frost.
–Some omens did get in, they were heading to the middle tower! I think they were the squ-...– one Cloudstar next to Frost pointed out after being saved, but he was quickly interrupted by the ones at the end of the north hallway, who were also calling out an alarming discovery.
The warehouse was empty; the omens had stolen more than just weapons, but as the gasps and desperate callouts of the Cloudstars disoriented Frost, he went back to staring straight at the north gate, just in time to see every ally running back to the courtyard, terrified, screaming, and warning the others at the sight of something outside. They were all dubious about going out and seeing for themselves. They played it safe by staying behind to not be exposed, although Frost was heading straight to the gate to see for himself as the Cloudstars up on the wall could see everything clearly, including Nitro and Saint. The two were standing right above the gate and had the misfortune of being one of the first to behold the danger found on the other side.