[Mkguild] Another CoH furry story! Old Enemies, New Friends

[Christian Okane]

Hello!

This story is another set in the online game City of Heroes! You do not have
to play the game to understand the story but things do make a lot more
sense. You can find a brief recap at this link
http://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Rikti_War

You can find all my COH stories on my FA site:
http://www.furaffinity.net/user/captfox/


This story goes into more background of Misha's past and shows the other
side of the Rikti war.
 
Enjoy and feel free to send me your comments and thoughts

Chris
The Lurking Fox




Old Enemies, New Allies
by Christian O'Kane and Michael Nastov

Paragon City Rhode Island, July 2007

   Misha could see the smoke long before he got within range. A dozen
pillars of thick black smoke rising quickly into the sky over Paragon City.
He could already pick out several tall skyscrapers that were alight as were
a score of smaller structures. A thick could of smoke hung over everything
like an ominous storm cloud. Talos Island was burning. That image brought
back unwanted memories that he fought to contain.


*****************


 New York City, NY, May 23 2002

    "We'll be over the drop zone in 30 seconds," came the sharp words of the
pilot into Misha's ears.

   "Acknowledged," Sergeant Henderson responded. The tall soldier looked
around at the other rangers standing in the cavernous interior of the C17
cargo plane. "Everyone ready?"

   Corporal Brightleaf gave a nod of the head to his platoon leader and
checked his gear for one last time. He was of average height, (five feet six
inches tall) although his fit and trim body and hair cut very short marked
him as a soldier. He was wearing the standard issue camouflaged uniform over
which he had his armor of kevlar with plates of composite material
protecting the more important parts. Slung over his shoulder was an M16A3
assault rifle. He also had a 9mm pistol, twelve hand grenades and a lot of
ammunition.

   Twenty four hours ago all the Corporal had been worried about was trying
to adapt to being a Ranger. Misha had only been assigned to A company, 1/75
Ranger regiment for a month and he was still adjusting. The day before all
those odd portals had opened up all over the world. Many people had talked
about finally gaining peaceful contact with alien life forms. The military
took no chances and put everything on alert, All the Ranger and Special
forces units had scattered to predetermined dispersal points. For Misha it
meant sitting in a foxhole in the woods close to the Duchess County New York
Airport until how heard  and saw the fires from burning towns. Radios and
satellite communications went down. Even the heavily encrypted channels were
being jammed. So the unit had reacted according to plan and headed to New
York city.

   The tailgate of the transport slowly started to come down. A blast of air
whipped through carrying the sharp tang of burning wood and plastic as an
orange glow filled the plane. Misha cast a glance out the tailgate of the
plane and down into the city. He saw smoke and flames everywhere. Off to the
left was a skyscraper that towered high above the plane. All the top floors
were alight, casting a bright red glow over the whole city. It was burning
like the scores of other buildings around it were.

   "New York is burning," he said out loud.


*****************


   "Any updates?" Misha asked into his communication system.

   "G4 confirms this is a major raid. The War alls and down and at least 8
Dropships are headed this way," came the answer. The nantites who had given
him his super powers were monitoring all the communication channels. They
were also constantly updating the map and information that was being
displayed directly onto his eyes. On that map he saw 8 flashing symbols
moving slowly towards the city. Suddenly one of the symbols stopped moving
and then vanished from the screen. "Score 1 for the air force! Those new
French guidance systems are really working nicely."

   Misha Brightleaf, looked like a superhero. He certainly did not look like
a normal human being. He stood a little over five feet three inches tall and
his trim and muscular body weighed one hundred fifty pounds. He stood
upright, had two arms and two legs and walked erect like a human but there
all resemblances ended. He had the head of a red fox to match the long bushy
vulpine tail and his body was covered with thick fur and markings of a red
fox. Even his hands were covered with the fine, black fur. His legs had the
extra joint and odd bend all canines had and called digitigrade. The legs
ended in black furred paws. He was wearing heavy, composite plastic/metal
allow armor that protected him completely from head to tail. At the moment
the armor was covered with a camouflage pattern of gray and black spots but
could be changed at will. Sprouting from his back was a pair of massive
wings that had a span of over 4 meters. Although covered with feathers these
wings were not a natural creation. The feathers were actually a form of
polymer and the bones beneath the skin were a metal alloy. In his hands he
was carrying a bow that was as tall as he was. It was made of a complex
composite of polymers and plastics carefully formed into a bow. It was a
very powerful weapon and only Misha's cybernetically enhanced muscles could
use it. The special arrows he could shoot from such a powerful bow were
deadly, capable of penetrating the toughest armor.

   Misha increased his speed and dropped so low to the water that his
wingtips were just touching with each beat, leaving ripples on the water.
The Talos Island district of Paragon city was actually a series of islands
large and small connected to the shoreline by roads, ferries and the Paragon
city rapid transit. This meant that no matter where you went in Talos Island
there was always lots of water to cross. He flashed past a pair of navy
gunboats. The two hydrofoils were racing along at speed headed towards Talos
Island itself. Just like he was.

   A beam of energy suddenly raced past, above him close enough to make his
armor sizzle. He stopped suddenly and spun around in the direction the blast
had come from. His bow came up as he nocked an arrow. Fifty meters away he
caught sight of a gray, snail shaped object about a meter in size. He
recognized it instantly. A Rikti drone. One of the small flying robots the
alien invaders used in large numbers.

   He loosed the arrow, drew and nocked another arrow and in seconds it was
racing off after the first one. In moments the arrows connected and the
drone exploded in a ball of flames and debris.

   "The Landers have begun their final runs. They'll be within teleport
range in one minute."

   The super looked around and saw two more of the snail shaped fliers
headed towards him. He pulled out an explosive tipped arrow from his quiver
and nocked it. Suddenly a beam of energy struck him in the chest knocking
him backward for a moment. Misha shook his head to clear away the dizziness.

   "No injuries. Only minor dizziness. That was a level 4 energy blast.
Standard mark 2 drone weaponry."

   "Sloppy! You think they would have made more improvements to their drones
then that. The improved armor is working fine! That blast would have killed
you if it had been in the old armor."

   "The Dept of Defense will be happy about that seeing as they've ordered
500,000 of them."

   "Nice try but not good enough," Misha snarled as he took aim and loosed
an arrow at the approaching drones. The explosive tipped projectile struck
the left drone dead square. A large explosion enveloped both drones. He
watched as the two drones spiraled downward into the water.

   No could understand why the Rikti had attacked earth seven years ago.
There were lots of theories but few really solid answers. All that Misha
knew was that one day they had appeared through their portals and tried to
lay waste to everything.

   "The main rally point for Supers is the small hill to the north of the
New Troy train station."

   Understood," Misha replied and started flying towards the station.

   "Vanguard reports at least 500+ Rikti on the ground already."

   "This is a raid?" Stealth asked.

   "When they went after New York on 02 they had 20 times that number on the
ground," Misha commented.

   "You were in the first invasion?" Stealth asked. "I forgot that."

   "I wish I could forget it." Misha countered. 

   "Where are you now?" Stealth asked. "I'm at the rally point. Come over
and join the fun."

   "Less than a mile out and closing," the fox answered as he flew along. Up
ahead was Talos Island with its rocky shoreline and tall cliffs. Tucked in
close underneath one of the cliffs was a thin strip of beach. It's white
sands showing clearly. There on the sands close to the water a small fight
was going on. One figure, who was obviously a super was dressed in medieval
armor complete with steel breastplate and plumed helmet. In one hand was a
massive iron shield. In his other was a large sword over a meter in length.
Surrounding the super were three other figures. There was no mistaking these
for supers or even human. They were wearing oddly shaped, green, armor that
looked more like the carapace of an insect then anything mammalian. All
three were carrying meter long blades that looked like slabs of metal
roughly cut into angular shapes. Along their edges was the bright, blue glow
of an energy weapon. Misha knew all too well how easily those Rikti blades
would slice through human flesh. The super was trying to fend off 3 weapons
with only a shield and a sword, all while trying to lash out with his own
weapon.

   "They are jamming  communications. Communications channels 1 to 12 are
down or downgraded below 10%. Restrict communications to channels 14 to 20
and enhance encryption to level 42."

   Misha came to a halt and took slow, steady aim at one of the attacking
Rikti.  He took his time carefully adjusting for the wind and movement of
the target. This was a lesser Rikti commonly called a conscript. They were
not as well armored or as skilled as others but still a deadly threat. When
he judged the moment was right he loosed the arrow. The powerful bow sending
the projectile flying through the air. It struck the enemy in the back and
easily plowed through the armor and into the flesh and blood beneath. The
invader dropped to the sand without another motion.

   The super on the beach reacted instantly, slamming his shield into one
Rikti sending it tumbling backward. He spun around with a speed that was
surprising for someone in so much armor and decapitated the second attacker
with a single stroke of his sword. A few moments later he rammed his blade
into the chest of the one remaining Rikti. The armored super looked up at
Misha and gave him a salute with his sword.

   Misha gave the man a salute of his own. "To the train station!" the fox
shouted out and pointed in the right direction.

   The other super nodded and took off at a run and then leapt up into the
air and up and over the cliff.

   The fox morph wasted no time and speed off towards the train station.


****************


   When Misha arrived in the area of the New Troy station he was greeted by
pandemonium. A few hundred meters to the north of the station stood a low
hill usually covered with grass and trees. All that had been blasted away.
The hill was alive with hundreds of people. A score of super heroes of all
types, ages and both genders were locked in battle with an unending stream
of Rikti. Figures were kicking, punching, shooting, slashing and blasting
away at each other. Flames and explosions were everywhere as beams of energy
ripped and slashed through the air in all directions.

   The train station was like all the stations in Paragon city being
elevated twenty feet off the ground and was itself a scene of fighting that
spilled over from the fighting on the hill. There a dozen supers were locked
in battle with a hundred Rikti.


*****************


   When Misha neared the ground in the middle of Central Park all around him
was chaos and death. The trees surrounding the great lawn were burning and
he could hear the crackle and snap of the flames above the explosions and
gun fire.

   In the middle of the drop zone was a pile of burning, twisted wreckage
that might have once been an airplane. Around it scores of little battles
were being fought by desperate soldiers.

   Misha landed lightly and tumbled to the ground with the practiced ease of
many practice jumps. In moments he was standing up and started removing the
parachute rigging. Suddenly IT appeared in front of him. It towered over the
five and half foot tall man and was wearing the massive insect like armor
they would soon recognize as Rikti. Without hesitating Misha brought his
assault rifle up and fired a burst into the chest of the alien with no
apparent effect. The creature charged straight at the man with its massive
energy sword raised for a death blow. That burst would have killed a human.
Frightened Misha took careful aim at the point where the helmet was attached
to the shoulders and emptied the entire magazine. The figure stopped and
it's odd weapon dropped to the ground. Then it stumbled backward and
collapsed. Misha hastily put a new magazine into his assault rifle and then
emptied it into the creature to be sure it was dead and would stay that way.


*****************


   It took Misha a moment to locate his feline friend. Stealth was in the
thickest part of the fighting. The human like figure walked on the same
digitigrade legs as Misha and had a long tail and animal head. But where
Misha was a fox Stealth was a cheetah with the slim feline's head, tail and
markings. He was also wearing armor like Misha was but his was colored jet
black all over. Stealth  had a sword in each hand and was lashing out in all
directions. The feline rushed straight at a Rikti, easily deflecting the
invader's blade with one sword while drive the other deep into the
attacker's chest. He leapt up and over the still falling body of the first
alien and down onto a second one. As the cheetah super slammed into the
Rikti both blades of his sword drove deep into the Rikti driving through the
armor, the shoulders it protected and deep into the internal organs below
that. Stealth pulled the blades free in an instant and lashed out at another
attacker.

   Misha didn't land but instead hovered about 5 meters off the ground. He
remained there, above the fight carefully picking and choosing his targets.
His arrows flew through the air picking out targets.

   Suddenly the Rikti were gone. All that remained of the attackers was the
dead that lay scattered on the pavement.

   "Is that it?" A young, black woman asked. Her hair was bound into a dozen
separate braids. To Misha she looked no more than sixteen.

   "Hardly," Misha shouted out loud enough for all to hear. "They'll be back
in a moment." He looked around at the scattered ground of superheroes
arrayed below him. To the old soldier none of them seemed to be older then
the girl. Was it merely 5 years ago that he was so young and naive? "Stay
sharp!" Misha ordered as his training took hold. "FORM a circle!" he
shouted. "Scrappers and tankers on the edge, blasters and controllers in the
middle."

   The group just looked up at him but didn't move. He slowly came down to
ground level. "MOVE!" Misha shouted in ringing tones of command. "FORM A
CIRCLE NOW! Before the Rikti return!" he bellowed and curled his lips back
revealing a muzzle full of teeth. He stared at them with an intensity that
would have made a statue flinch. Slowly the group shuffled about forming a
ragged circle at the center of which was the young girl with the braids.

   "Keep your cool everyone and stay close," Misha ordered in a calm tone,
trying to sound cool and collected. "Do NOT go chasing after the Rikti.
They'd love to see us all scatter. That way they can swarm us individually
and take us down one at a time."

   "Why are they attacking us?" Stealth asked. "There must be a reason."

   "There is," Misha answered. "We just don't know what it is."

   Suddenly right in front of him a gold, shimmering oval appeared. In
moments a dozen others appeared all around the group.

   "PORTALS!" someone shouted.

   "INCOMING!" Misha shouted as he pulled back up into the air even as he
was loosing an arrow at one of the portals. The first Rikti warrior to step
through the shimmering portal caught the arrow square in the chest and
toppled to the ground dead.

   "WARNING We have a direct attack upon us and the network itself!"

   "This was expected. Defenses are already active and engaging.

   The first warrior had barely tumbled to the ground when three more
stepped through the portal and the world erupted in a firestorm of
explosions and blasting. Misha's bow did it's deadly work taking down target
after target. Sending the attackers tumbling to the pavement one after the
other.

   Stealth was in the center of the largest group of Rikti. The feline was
spinning twisting about like an Olympic gymnast. His swords slashing through
everything within reach, slicing through metal, plastic, flesh and bone with
ease. Parts of bodies, armor and weapons skittered along on the pavement
like so much discard trash.

   "They have penetrated the communications systems using channel 11."

   "Shut down channels 6 through 14 and isolate nodes 2214 to 2811."

   Motion off to his right caused Misha to turn his head. He spotted a
little flying figure no more than a foot tall and looking like Tinker Bell
from an old Disney cartoon. The little fairy flew straight at an onrushing
drone and collided with it. The drone shattered into a million pieces
sending debris flying in all directions. Unhurt and without even a lock of
her tiny, silver hair out of place she rushed a second drone and grabbed it
with both of her miniscule hands. Misha watched as the tiny figure spun the
drone which was at least 500% larger then her around in circles before
tossing it into another. Both of the drones exploded and burning debris
rained down on the street below.

   "Rikti attack programs are making serious assaults on the main defense.
They are VERY aggressive and 235% more efficient than expected."

   Stealth did not notice the burning bits that singed his fur. Instead he
concentrated on the figure in front of him. To the feline he did not look
different at first. His armor and weapons looked the same as all the rest.
But this Rikti dodged the supers first blows easily.

   "That's a Guardian," Misha warned his friend. "The closest thing to an
officer that the Rikti have."

    The feline blocked the Guardians sword with his own and then swung hard
and fast with the other one. There was a flash of light and it felt like the
sword had struck a stonewall. The Rikti twisted his sword faster than
Stealth ever thought someone could and the blade slid along his side. He
felt a searing pain along his ribs.

   "First level defenses have been breached. Second level are already under
determined assault." A loud burst of static cut off any further words.

   Misha had the small tactical map up, displaying everything going on
around him directly into his brain. Suddenly the map flickered and then
"Signal lost," flashed for a moment.

   "Firewall 122 and 123 are breached!" there was distinct tone of panic in
those last words.

   That unnerved Misha. He had never known the nanites to show fear before.

   "Increase personal firewall and protections," Misha ordered. "Restrict
communications to voice only."

   The map in his mind came up again and remained firm but it showed only
the details in the immediate area. The computer inside the fox super was now
running solely off of information obtained from Misha's own senses.

   Stealth pushed his arms outward blocking both of the Guardians arms with
his swords. He slammed his chest into his enemies as he sank his wickedly
sharp teeth into the green and brown armored helmet.

   "PRIMARY SYSTEMS ARE AT RISK! Initiate emergency core data protection!"

   Stealth's teeth met resistance and did not piece the tough composite
armor around the Guardians' head. The Guardian punched Stealth hard in the
chest sending the super stumbling backwards.


******************


   Misha crouched lower trying to get as much of his body as possible behind
the solid concrete of the window frame. He had always wanted to visit New
York but not like this. Not with a quarter of the city in flames. He checked
his M16 assault rifle again and carefully counted the number of magazines of
ammo he had left. Resting next to him was a rocket launcher. It was  nothing
fancy, really just a fiberglass tube with a simple sight attached. What
mattered was the powerful rocket inside the tube. It had a short range but a
powerful warhead. The real problem was they were only meant for one use.
Once a rocket was fired there was no reloading for a second shot. You just
threw away the empty tube and reached for another one. But Misha did not
have a second one. So he had to make sure the first shot did the job.

   He gave a brief glance at the building across the street. In a second
floor window hidden behind and protected by a carefully placed piles of
rubble was a Javelin antitank missile launcher. Scattered nearby were a
dozen other rangers. Some wielding machineguns or grenade launchers, others
just using ordinary assault rifles. The suddenly blast of a car horn brought
the man's attention to the street itself. He was in the ground floor of a
building that was located at the intersection of a large street and a small
alley. From his position he could look a good way down both streets. The
streets had names but he didn't know them. His GPS was not working and any
street signs had long ago been destroyed. Not that it mattered. What
mattered was the Rikti wanted this street and he and his platoon were here
to stop them.

   The small street was quiet but he saw something coming up the main road
towards him. The massive bulk of the Rikti vehicle moved slowly up the
street making no noise in spite of its large size. Its treads crushing the
concrete and asphalt easily as it moved. Its armor was covered with dirt and
debris and pock marked with gouges and black marks that told of countless
hits that failed to penetrate. None of this had any effect on the turret
that swung back and forth. It was surrounded by a ring of Rikti soldiers all
moving just as slowly as they looked all about, their energy rifles held at
the ready. They were like fish hiding in the shadow of a hungry shark that
was looking for prey in the depths of a coral reef as the turret continued
in its slow, deliberate hunting motions. None of them was in any hurry as
they stepped around the shattered bodies of the last group of Rikti to try
and take this block.

   It seemed the Rikti thought that the addition of the tank would make it
easier to take this street. Misha put down his M16 and picked up the rocket
launcher as a smile crossed his face. They were in for a rude shock.


******************


   Stealth tumbled backwards  onto the pavement. The jolt leaving him dizzy
for a moment but that quickly passed. He looked up and saw that one whole
side of the station had collapsed, leaving the station resting at an odd
angle. Suddenly he felt an anger rising in him. He was not going to let
these monsters destroy his home. The feline pulled himself up into a crouch
and gathered all his strength. He shifted all the power he could spare to
the cybernetic muscles in his legs and jaw. Stealth exploded upward straight
at the Guardian with his teeth bared. This time his fangs cut through the
armor easily and sank into the soft flesh beneath. He clamped down harder
and harder ignoring the thrashing of his Rikti prey. He closed his eyes to
protect them from the desperate flailing fists. After a long moment like
that his prey's movements grew weaker and slower until the figure slumped
down and stopped moving. He didn't let go but instead kept a tight hold
until he was sure it was dead.


********************

2002

   "Come on!" Misha thought to himself. "Just a little closer." About a
quarter of the way down the street was the Rikti tank with its infantry
still clustered about. The group was moving with an almost glacial slowness
that the soldier found frustrating. 


   Misha himself was laying rock still with only a small part of his face
showing above the frame of the window. Covered with the same soot, and dust
that covered the store made the man blended in and was almost invisible.
Even with infrared he would be hard to spot with all the small fires burning
nearby. Everyone's fields of fires and been carefully arraigned before hand.
Misha waited for the first part of the Rikti tank to reach the third
lamppost from the corner. A point that was barely 5 meters from where he was
hiding.

   In the three weeks since his landing Misha had long ago lost track of the
what day it was. The days and nights since had been filled with fighting.
For the past week they had been fighting alongside the soldiers of the 42nd
infantry division, the 69th infantry regiment. The famous Fighting Irish.
The regiment had done well and beaten off many Rikti attacks but it had
suffered badly. Most of the regiment lay dead in the city that had been
their homes.

   Finally the massive armored bulk reached the perfect spot and Misha took
careful aim at it. The small rocket inside did not have the power to
penetrate the force field and the armor on the front glacis plate. But no
armor was perfect and he shifted his aim away from the front of the vehicle
and to the flank. The monster tank was so close that aiming was not a
problem. He could pick where he wanted the shoot to hit. "Welcome to New
York!" he muttered. Gently he pressed down on the trigger.


******************


  "They want play rough! We'll play rough! Initiate program Fenrir wolf,"
the nanites ordered.

   "Program booting up."

   " Are those power levels correct? Is that aggression level correct? That
cannot be correct! Please confirm that aggression setting!"

   "CRY HAVOC! And let slip the dogs of war!"

   "Good lord their quoting Shakespeare! That cannot be good!"

   "ARROOO!" the loud howl echoed through Misha's mind sending a shiver down
his spine.

   "Did I hear a wolf howl?" Stealth asked. "What did you little
troublemakers do?"

   "Do? Why we're winning this fight."


*********************


   "Boom!" The entire room lit up with the flash and instantly filled with
smoke and flames.

   Misha discarded the empty tube and dropped flat to the floor as a
firestorm of energy ripped into the concrete protecting him or passed over
his head. He tried to squeeze down lower as a thousand forms of death
slipped past him mere millimeters away. Over that he heard the sounds of
explosions and machine gun fire. That was the rest of his platoon.

    After a long moment he became aware of the silence. Gone was the gunfire
and the strange whizzing noise of the Rikti weapons. Quickly he crawled away
from the window and along the floor keeping as low as possible. When he was
at least twenty feet away from his old position the ranger stopped in front
of another window. Slowly he poked his head over the window frame.

   The first thing he saw in the street in front of him was the Rikti tank.
The massive armored monster was still in the same place as before but it did
not look as intimidating. The entire hull was enveloped in sheets of flames
and smoke. The turret with its plasma cannon was laying upside down  in the
street a dozen meters in front of the hull. It was not burning but a strange
blue-green smoke was pouring from it. The infantry that had been with the
tank were gone. All that he could see of them were corpses scattered around
the burning hull.

   "INCOMING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" the loud shout echoed through the building.
Clearly audible above the roar of the fighting.

   Misha reacted instantly and dropped flat to the floor. He crawled quickly
towards the nearest corner hoping the inherent strength of two walls meeting
would offer him more a little more protection.

   BOOM! He could hear the sounds of the Rikti bombs exploding nearby and
getting closer. Probably from one of the large flyers that seemed immune to
attack and floated over the city ay will.

BOOM! 

BOOM!

BOOM!

BOOM!
 
   The room rocked and dirt and concrete rained down on him. The noise
hammered his ears and mind as hard as it did his body. The floor buckle, the
walls starting caving in as the ceiling rained down on them. It felt like
the entire world came crashing down on him.


***************


   The fighting was at its height. The Rikti kept attacking the small group
of heroes. Some of the Rikti charged at the heroes and fought them with
energy swords and pistols while others hung back and fired powerful energy
rifles. The fox fell back on his training, nocking and shooting arrows
constantly. At first he shot at those fighting in melee but soon he shifted
his aim to those using their rifles.

   Standing near a mailbox was a trio of Rikti conscripts who were shooting
into the group of superheroes. Misha took four arrows from his quiver and
with some difficulty nocked all of them. He had practiced this trick shot
several times but never had he tried to use it in combat. Until now.
Carefully he pulled the bow string back to its full strength and aimed at
the three Rikti. The bow snapped loudly when he released the string and he
was rewarded with seeing two of the Rikti drop to the sidewalk. The third
brought up his rifle and fired at the vulpine. Misha calmly nocked a single
arrow as a bolt of energy flashed past him. Close enough to singe the fur on
his arm. He took careful aim and dropped the one remaining Rikti with an
arrow into the head.


********************


2002


   The first thing Misha felt was pain. Then came the realization that he
had to be alive to feel pain. Slowly he opened his eyes. The neat and clean
room that he had been in was gone. All about him all he saw was rubble and
debris. He heard glass shattering and the snap and crackle of flames. Dust
and smoke filled the air making it hard to breath but slowly the dust
settled. Somewhere nearby he heard people screaming, someone yelling for a
medic and someone crying. Was that him? He looked down and saw a large piece
of metal sticking through his left leg. Oddly he felt no pain. Yet.

   A figure appeared out of the smoke and for a moment Misha looked around
for his rifle. But this person was friendly. Sergeant Hampton knelt down
next to him and smiled. The medic quickly set to work on Misha's leg cutting
away the material of Misha's uniform. Then he started to work on the wound.
"You're lucky Brightleaf you'll live and keep the leg."


***********


2007

   WHAM! Misha saw a bright flash and he was sent tumbling to the ground. He
hit the pavement hard and lay there for a moment trying to recover his wits.
Slowly he stood up and shook his head. The fox picked up his bow and looked
around for his attacker. The super saw a flash and instinctively ducked to
one side. A shot of energy blasted a hole into the pavement close to him.
Concrete splinters pinged off the composite armor protecting his legs.

   The super looked in the direction the blast had come from and spotted his
attacker. This Rikti was different from the others he had fought today. He
was taller and physically larger and unlike the common infantry whose armor
was green and brown his was shades of gray. This was a Chief Soldier. A high
ranking Rikti warrior.

   At high speed Misha snapped off two arrows at the charging alien but both
merely bounced off the armor. In that time his attacker had covered 10
meters. Misha quickly drew an explosive tipped arrow and launched it at the
Chief. The arrow exploded against the chest plate of the aliens armor. The
soldier staggered backward a step but then started moving forward again.

   In quick succession Misha loosed two more explosive arrows at the Chief
who was now getting pretty close. "Let's do this old school!" he snarled and
hastily slug his bow across his back.

  The old ranger lashed out with his leg and his steel shod paw connected
with the Rikti's wrist. The aliens blade went flying to the ground, sending
up a shower of sparks as it skittered across the pavement. It cut through
the leg of a mailbox easily before finally coming to rest against a lamp
post.

   Misha charged straight at the chief and slammed his body into the Rikti
sending them both to the ground with the super on top. "Why can't you get
the point?" he shouted at the alien beneath him. He grabbed the knife from
his belt and jabbed it into the creatures throat. The blade put a deep dent
into the armor but did not penetrate. He threw all his weight behind the
blade driving it through the armor all the way up to the hilt. "This is OUR
CITY! GO HOME!"


********************


   "The Rikti ingress has slowed by 73%."

   "They have nothing to match Fenrir!"

   "Firewall 124 has held. Restoring firewall 122 & 123."

   "Rewriting the encryption procedures. They will NOT get back in so easy
the next time!"

   "All Rikti programs are in full retreat!"

   "Retreat? This is a rout!" the nanites shouted cheerfully.


******************


   The fight slowly petered out. The portals disappeared as quickly as they
had appeared. The Rikti still living vanished as teleports reclaimed them.
Taking them back to the safety of their bases.

   No one moved for a moment waiting for the next wave to appear suddenly,
but none did.

   "Vanguard reports the Rikti transports are withdrawing and the War Walls
are back up. They estimate the Rikti casualties at over 600 dead and at
least three times that wounded."

   "That's it people!" Misha said as he stood up. "This fights over. See to
wounded." He looked up at a tall skyscraper whose top floors were burning.
"Let's get those fires out," he ordered pointed upward.

   A tall man who was entirely blue from head to toe shot upwards leaving a
trail of falling snow behind him. "CHILL OUT!" the man shouted and pointed
his finger at a burning window. A blast of ice and snow shot from his
fingers and there was a loud hissing and clouds of steam billowed
everywhere.. When the air cleared the flames were gone. The man didn't wait
but moved to another window and more flames.

   "All primary systems have been cleared. Communications channels 1 to 13
are now again secure."

   "And we'll make sure they stay that way. Downloading updates to all
systems."

   "He has cleared all systems of Rikti programs and is attacking into the
Rikti systems."

   "Keep copies of all the invading programs. We will study them in detail
later."

   "Shouldn't we call him back?"

   "Will he listen?"

   Misha hesitated a moment before he decided to lower his own personal
firewall. He trusted the nanites but it paid to be cautious. It was then
that it struck, hard. Something slammed into his own firewalls and
protections with a ferocity that made him physically stagger backwards.

    He let loose a string of curses. "MAYDAY! I'm under attack. It's ripping
through to my mind."

   "Triple, no quadruple the protection!" he ordered his own internal
computer. But the attacker ripped through like a wolf ripping apart a sheep.

   "Shut off all communication," Misha said and started shutting down the
internal receivers. But IT would not let that happen. Misha reached for a
knife ready to physically cut out the commo systems when the last protection
fell. He braced for an attack on his mind and his own internal computers but
nothing happened.

   He felt a presence, something lurking just outside his awareness. Like
how the nanites always seemed to be hovering in the background. Never really
there but never fully gone either. He felt a raw, seething, primal anger
that seemed to come from the depths of some tormented soul.

   "It's Fenrir. You are in no danger. You are both clearly identified as
friendly."

   "Does HE know that?" Stealth asked nervously. "Nice doggy! We're on the
same side."

   "That's not a dog! That's a wolf!" Misha added. "That's Fenrir wolf!"

   They felt the anger begin to subside and then slowly vanish. "Fenrir. I
like that name."


**************


   Stealth walked over to where his friend was standing and patted Misha on
the shoulders. "How are you?" he asked.

   The fox nodded and patted the feline on the back. "Fine. Just a few
bruises. How did you do in your first Rikti fight?"

   "Good," Stealth said calmly. "It was a tough fight!"

   Misha nodded slowly. "You did pretty good. All of you did. We could have
really used your help back in 02." Old memories came back to him and rubbed
his left leg where an old scar remained in spite of all the changes the
nanites had made to him. He looked down at the Rikti he had just killed. The
figure lay stretched out on the sidewalk with Misha's blade still embedded
in its neck. Only the smallest amount of blood trickled down from the wound.
It was red. Almost like the blood of an ordinary earth life form.

   He carefully knelt down next to the body and turned the head so it faced
his own. "Hello. I know someone out there is seeing this. Probably sitting
nice and safe in a hidden base somewhere. We know about the camera in the
helmets and that at least one commo channel is still open. Over six hundred
dead and what do you have to show for it? NOTHING. Not one single super was
killed. Wasn't so easy this time was it? Not fun trying to kill people who
are ready to fight. We have all sorts of new technology to kill you with. We
have you to thank for that. My body armor is based on a captured Rikti
armor. The new advanced assault rifles the army uses are copies of your own
energy rifles but with a few special modifications of our own. And our copy
of your teleport technology has saved so many human lives and it lets us
move people about at high speed, to deal with any threat. Be warned. The
tide in this war has changed against you. I killed him today. I'm coming for
you next! And I'm bringing, friends, lots of friends."


the end


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