Ranger
Chapter 210: Exasperated
By Wanderer D
Twenty Years Ago
Their run through the large room before they had reached the end of the lower level had accounted for the deaths of four more chryssalids, six mutons, a mechtoid, and two more floaters.
"Gah!" Sunset growled, her psychic power slamming the last of the floaters onto a wall with such force that it exploded in a mix of metal and meat with a shrill cry. Around her the others staggered and regained their composure from the constant battling.
It seemed never-ending. And their cries… it got to her nerves.
That was one of the things about the aliens. Their cries when they died. It was never a cry of fear, or a cry of pain, or even relief in the case of the obviously injured ones. It was a cry of anger. Every. Time.
Even EXALT soldiers cried out in pain if they got shot before getting angry. The aliens… they were unable to do so. It was all anger. All purpose. Physical pain didn't make them react the way it would anything else.
Even Vahlen's subjects were angry when she dragged information out of their minds with her experiments. Not scared or intimidated. One second they were suspiciously calm, then suddenly they were violent. Reactive, regardless of what you did that didn't knock them unconscious or outright kill them.
Only one alien had shown anything other than anger, and that had been the Ethereal she herself had captured. Even when her own unaided power was more than a match for it, it had exuded contempt up until Vahlen had used her machines to extract information out of it.
It was surreal how, in her visions, she had seen her young self fighting alongside aliens.
Even though their enemies were still the Ethereals, there was choice in the future, and it was a result of this mission. It was in part the reason she was here. In taking down their leader, not only would she help Earth survive… humans wouldn't become creatures of anger and violence unable to think for themselves or make peace.
Even aliens would be affected.
"Let's go," she said, taking a deep, calming breath. "We can't stop. Everyone's future depends on us."
Next to her, ever faithful Zhang grimaced as he finished bandaging his arm.
It was a minor wound, really. But painful, she knew. It stung like hell. She could feel it.
Lionel groaned, pushing himself away from the wall, while Irvine—who had slid down to sit on the floor—forced himself to stand. Elaine rolled her shoulders and cracked her neck.
They had stopped for a rest just below the next level up, right next to the Alien warp fields that would transport them up there.
"What do you feel, Colonel?"
"Plenty of enemies…" Sunset said, blocking off the voices. I sense more sectoid commanders and… mutons. No chryssalids for now but…"
"Yeah… we know," Lionel said, his hand going up to Bor's tags.
The alien "elevator" was an experience all to itself. You stepped into a blue, glowing field that suddenly pulled you up and deposited you up in the next floor in seconds, but there was no additional acceleration you had to fight when you got there.
Vahlen had once explained it had to do with the aliens manipulation of gravity—presumably the same technology which allowed for this monstrosity of a ship to simply float there, immobile without any thrusters they could see.
The upper level they had reached had three building-like structures just past the elevator, with two paths between them. Roughly three stories high, they appeared to be look-out spots of some sort.
Perfect for snipers to nest.
As soon as Irvine was there, she pointed at the one to her right and he nodded, while made her way to the one on the left.
The moment she passed the path on the left, however, she heard the tell-tale sound of massive mechanical feet slamming down on the surface.
"Sectopod! Take cover!"
She barely managed to make it to the corner of the building and jump to safety before a red ray of energy sliced right through where she had been.
Sectopod.
Once, some time ago, she had dreamed she had been sitting on top of one of the things, facing the actual sunset. At the time, the fantasy had been kind of amusing, and Chrysalis had even laughed when she told her about it.
But, that fantasy was less appealing while in actual combat… and when you were inside a giant metal cage, floating above the ocean, surrounded by enemies on all levels, and just when you thought you had gotten past the worst part…
...they proved you wrong. She dared look and felt her heart sink. Not one. Three. The other two hadn't engaged quite yet.
Lionel, Elaine and Zhang had pressed their backs against the middle building, but it wouldn't do much good. They needed to act fast.
She signaled them to stay put and climbed up the side of the building, missing her grappling hook already.
"We can let them live, young one." The Ethereal's voice was a whispering, grating, reminder that they would take any advantage to convince her to quit. Either they could see the future and knew they couldn't escape this one… or they were just playing with her.
"Surrender child…"
"For the last time…" Sunset hissed.
Present Day
"What's going on?!" Central asked as the lights in the room flickered. The computer screens glitched, going to static before turning off for just a second… then they all lit up, with a clearly pissed Sunset Shimmer, sniper rifle hanging from her shoulder and in her psi armor.
The cameras were looking down on her, exactly as the vision they were seeing from the Commander.
"Princess?!" Central asked, turning to stare at Luna and the Commander, but both were frozen in place, eyes wide and glowing.
"Central, what do we do?" Shen asked.
"I—"
"We feel you tire, child. Why fight us? You have proven yourself worthy. You have proven your race worthy. Join us. Let us exalt you. Let us transform you into something new." the voice sounded like some sort of echo from his nightmares.
"FUCK OFF!" Sunset shouted from the screen. "I'm tired of you stupid assholes trying to use me! I'm tired of you killing off humanity for whatever experiment you have in mind! We will never surrender! We will never bow to you! I'm never going to join your side!"
"You cannot win. Surrender. Do it for your people. No more suffering. We will—"
"You will fail! You won't enslave humanity!" Sunset retorted. "You will do nothing! I will not only stop you from controlling us! I will break your hold over everything you take so much condescending pride in controlling!"
The group stared, baffled, at the screen as the horrifying, whispering voice replied Sunset's challenging cry.
"We have traveled the universe. Destroyed and subjugated untold cultures. Taken the strongest, most resilient species we have encountered. Improving them. All for the greater cause. If you will not bow, child… you have already proven the potential of your species. You are disposable."
Sunset's eyes never wavered as she took her sniper rifle and shot the nearest Sectopod, rolling down to avoid the return fire. They could still hear her reply. "I'm taking you down. And the universe will be better for it. Chrysalis and Central… Charles and Moira… the other me. They will finish what we start here. You won't turn humanity into mindless beasts… I don't care what your 'greater good' is! Right now… you answer to me!"
There was a pause.
"So be it."
Several shots flew past Sunset, others exploding against her cover, but despite the barrage, Sunset grinned, picking out her player from her pocket.
"Let's see how you like this one..."
She hit play.
o.0.o End Chapter 210 o.0.o
good chapter
"while made her way to the one"
"while she made her way to the one"?
"Thank you for your patience!"
No problem; hope you're doing well. :)
9398745
Ah, thanks for catching that one; I was listening and must not have been looking when that went past.
chapter one done. 269 more to go... unfortunately
Ooh!
Sunny 1 is tired of your bull shit Ethereals. Prepare to die.
You screwed up now, elders!
For a moment I thought the Sunset in the last part was the equestrian one. That really would be a twist, wouldn't it?
Arriving to this part of the end game is the most horrible due to these three Sectopods.
Can you stop teasing us already, and write a solid chapter, and not one of those 1k words pieces? It's been nothing but them lately, and they don't do anything. Present or past, they are all the same, showing how first Sunset took down the ship. Please, just write 2-3k chapter, that actually GOES somewhere.
9399036
Your in for one hell of a ride.
Kick there asses sunset make them remember you. Tear down everything they created.
I forgot she had known of her dimensional twin....
9399318
With how much it took to get back on this after the funk I was in, this is the length the chapter required of me. Given that I've never written a 99 word chapter or anything under 1k words just to keep it "daily" like others do, and that I go with the flow of the writing, 3k words chapters will only happen when the chapter requires it. This mini-arc is drawing to a close and it's important.
9399395
You had writer's block or something? Sorry about the harshness, but I stand by what I said. It feels like the story doesn't move at all. Find inspiration, and write something substantial. Keep writing.
9399439 I had real life issues interfering with my ability and interest on writing. As I have stated before, I set the rhythm of my writing and my story. I'm not going to write longer chapters just because some people feel they need to be longer. Sorry if this is not what you want to hear, but this is a 380K word story already through consistent effort. I am setting the stage of what's happening in the story, and I'm keeping things moving in a way that enhances the whole story, not just a scene. It's called pacing. I'm setting the motivations of some characters, delving into their backgrounds, explaining their obsessions and closing up hints I've been spreading over those 380k words over a year. Given that this scenario is what inspired the whole story in my mind, I'm not writing more or less on demand.
For the greater Good of Who?
No, you don't get say every one, not for all of the damage you have done. I would bet that asked none of the races you have changed would say that it was for their greater good.
You don't even get to claim that for your own race.
Your ancestors would surely be sad at what you have made your people become, and how much you have destroyed. One thing Humanity has learned, you do not destroy anything in the name of the Greater Good, Especially when you mean only your own.
9399439
If you want longer chapters, just wait until a few are out and read them all at once. No one is forcing you to read them as they come out. You can read at whatever pacing you prefer, so don't complain about the pacing of free and generously given entertainment. It's beyond rude.
9399481
I hope your IRL situations are improving, and will continue to do so.
I am especially grateful for you authors to put in hours of thought and effort to write out free entertainment for anyone willing to read it, so thank you very much.
"Fukkin hax! Reported!"
Wonderful shout of defiance, only slightly lessened by the whole precognition thing. Still, it should enhearten everyone in the present who hears the message... though they need to attend to the Fugue situation first.
9399481
Some people just don't understand how taxing writing can be
Either way, you are doing a great fucking job Wanderer. This story has been holding a place on my Legends for a while now.
Now that I'm almost caught up I'm even afraid of doing so, I hate demanding things from writers when I know how hard and taxing... writing, in general, can be. Or even finding motivation, among whatever was going on in your life at this point lmao
I'm way overdue on saying this but It just irked me, the disrespect :v it's literally your story and I know this type of criticism doesn't even come close to being constructive.
Angel with a shotgun would be nice song about now.
Time to kill the leading cast so proud of itself, than 20 years later give their remaining leadership another devastating blow!