Back to Gatefold#58 by Travis Hiltz
June 2018 Featuring the Reavers! |
“JOB COMPLICATIONS"
Sometime in the past, at an undisclosed location in the wilds of the American south…
The building was weathered concrete, placed at the side of the dirt road. Its windows bore a thick coating of dust and dirt. The main bay door had every apperance of being rusted shut.
One time it may have served as a garage or storage, now it was just a worn relic, forgotten by the nearby communities.
The wide dirt driveway connecting it to the road had random tufts of weeds sprouting out of it and the grass had grown knee high as it and the nearby woods worked to reclaim the land.
Several dozen yards away, sheltered from site by high grass and low hanging tree branches, a most unsettling trio surveyed the building.
The Reavers were a team of cybernetically enhanced and augmented mercenaries. It was in fact hard to tell upon first glance where the armor and weapons ended and the man began.
The tallest of the three was Skull buster. He wore a sleeveless leather vest, heavy with pouches and ammo belts. His bare arms were veined with bronze-colored metal and circuitry. He was bald and the skin of his face pulled so tight that he looked like a reanimated skull.
He had a heavy sniper rifle slung over one shoulder.
Slightly behind him, using he forest as cover stood Bone breaker. He was broad shouldered; clad in a tight blue sleeveless shirt, white, plastic visor-like goggles and heavy wristbands. His white hair was cut into a short, feathered Mohawk.
From the waist down, Bone breaker was legless, instead sporting a tank-like chassis that served as weapons storage as well as transportation.
Leaning idly against a tree was the youngest member, Pretty boy.
Clad in jeans, denim jacket, gloves and sunglasses, with his pop idol features and flawless black hair, his enhancements were less obvious and he looked distinctly out of place in this trio.
The three stood watching the building for several minutes, before Pretty Boy broke the silence.
“How long we going to hang out here?” He asked, impatiently.
“Don’t know bout you,” Skull buster muttered. “But I’m in no mood to get shot if I can help it.”
He raised his rifle and peered through the scope at the ancient garage.
Bone breaker pressed his fingers against his visor and the two studied the building and surrounding woods for several minutes.
“What you got?” Bone breaker asked.
“Enough.” Skull buster replied. “Place looks older then dirt, but is sporting more junction boxes then seems right, there’s wires coming off the window frames and that side door is definitely re-enforced. How about you?”
“Got movement in the trees on the far side of the building. Could be locals or animals or somebody trying real hard to sneak up on the place.”
They both glanced over their shoulders at their teammate.
“Okay, okay,” Pretty Boy shrugged, pressing a finger to his temple. “Yeah, I got…something…um…weird, this place should not still be connected to local phone lines or something…but, there’s energy there…fine, you guys are geniuses, so what now?”
“Place is on Pierce’s list,” Skull buster said, not taking his eye away from the scope. “We haven’t ticked him off enough that he’d send us on a wild goose chase, but he also isn’t going to tell us more then he wants to…place could just be storage…?”
Bone breaker crossed his muscular arms and frowned at the building.
“Nothing to it but to do it,” He shrugged.
“Your call,” Skull buster said, matter of factly.
Bone breaker tapped at a wristband and a section of his mini-tank opened and he took out a bulky gun.
“Pretty Boy and I will check it out. Cover us.”
"Got it,” Skull buster nodded.
“Finally,” Pretty Boy muttered. “Getting tired of standing around.”
He flexed his arms and suddenly had a pistol in each hand.
“Come on, old man, I ain’t got all night,” He said, walking quickly out of the woods. “I got a date tonight.”
“She got a sister?” Bone breaker asked, trundling along behind him.
“You think I’d get this antsy if I only had one girl waiting?”
Pretty Boy made his way through the tall grass, guns up the whole way, as Bone breaker kept pace, several feet behind him. Despite its bulky nature, the mini-tank generated no more then a faint hum as he moved.
Skull buster, his eye glued to his riflescope followed their progress.
“We got more movement in the trees. Looks like something coming down the road. Might want to get outta sight. I don’t feel like shooting civilians unless I have to.”
The duo raced across the remaining distance between the woods and the building, while Skull buster kept watch on the dirt road. A battered pickup truck, kicking up a cloud of dust, sped by.
“Locals joyriding.” He said. “Crack it and let’s get out of here.”
Pretty boy holstered one gun, and then pulled off a glove with his teeth. He ran his metallic hand along the doorjamb.
“Wow, you called this right, Skully,” He said. “This place is wired! No bubba did this. Looks like Pierce called it.”
“Might want to consider that I got a rifle pointed at your head before you call me ‘skully’ again.” Skull buster muttered.
“You two play on your own time,” Bone breaker growled. “We’re on the clock.”
“Gonna take a minute,” Pretty boy said, holstering his other gun and using both of his cybernetic hands to probe the unorthodox circuits of the door, his forehead furrowing in concentration.
“Definite movement in the trees,” Skull buster announced through his communicator. “We got company.”
“Damnit and more traffic on the road,” Bone breaker grumbled. “Sure that’s a coincidence…!”
“I got the ones in the trees. I’ll try to keep it nonlethal if they’re locals.”
“Pick up the pace,” Bone Breaker told his teammate. “This is going south.”
Pretty boy frowned, but didn’t shift his focus.
Skull buster caught a glimpse of the figures moving closer through the nearby woods. There was at least a half dozen of them, possibly more and they all wore the familiar uniform of Hydra foot soldiers.
“Friggin Nazis in green pajamas,” He muttered, annoyed by the intrusion, but relieved at having a target to shoot. “Hate those guys…!”
Three shots in quick succession and three of the green-cowled heads exploded in a burst of crimson.
“Welcome to the party,” Skull buster said with a grim smile.
“What the hell…?” Pretty Boy exclaimed, reaching one hand into his jacket for his shoulder holster.
“We got this,” Bone breaker snapped, punching him on the arm with his free hand.
“Focus.”
Bone breaker rolled forward, trying to keep an eye out for whatever was coming down the dirt road as well as any Hydra agents smart enough to try and sneak around the other side of the building.
The battered pick up truck came rolling down the hill. Instead of driving by, this time it came skidding to a halt in front of the garage.
Suddenly, the bed of the truck shimmered like heat haze, its holographic camouflage fading, revealing another squad of Hydra soldiers.
“I was tired of sneaking around anyway,” Bone breaker muttered, firing his oversized gun.
Two ping-pong ball-sized projectiles hit the disguised Hydra troop transport with enough force to cause it to rock like a ship on a stormy ocean.
Bone breaker fired off several more shots into the ground, kicking up wall off dirt and debris in front of the charging Hydra soldiers, sending them staggering back.
With his free hand, he tapped fiercely at a control panel.
He rolled around the corner, panels on the side of his tank body opened, and mini-missile launchers emerged.
The truck went up in a ball of flame and shattered metal. The Hydra troops were flung about like rag dolls, several hitting the garage with wet, bone crunching sounds.
“Gonna miss all the fun,” Pretty Boy muttered, struggling along to hack the security system, as he listened to the gunfire.
Skull buster picked off a few more Hydra soldiers, this time choosing knees so they’d have a couple to question, as he was a practical guy and this mission was becoming irritating. He wanted answers.
With the truck gone, Bone breaker made short work of the few remaining battered and dazed Hydra agents.
“Hey! I got it!” Pretty Boy announced, triumphantly turning the knob of the side door. As soon as the door swung open, several laser blasts struck the cyborg mercenary in the chest, sending him flying backwards.
Bone breaker took several shots to the back before becoming aware that new combatants had joined the fight.
They were clad in yellow hazmat-style bodysuits with bucket helmets and all carried high tech laser rifles.
One of the blasts struck a tread on Bone breakers tank body, making it difficult to maneuver. He turned his upper body in order to awkwardly return fire.
“This gets better by the minute,” Skull buster muttered, spotting the new arrivals.
He fired a few more shots, driving the few remaining Hydra soldiers back into the trees and then ran across the open field to join his teammates.
Pretty boy lay on the ground wincing, his t-shirt scorched and torn.
“Well, this sucks.” He muttered, struggling to get to his feet. Soon as he sat up, he had pistols in his hands and was helping Skull buster set up a crossfire that drove the A.I.M. operatives back into the garage.
Soon, he and Skull buster were standing, their backs against the garage wall, on either side of the door.
“Good news is, Pierce wasn’t just yanking us,” Pretty boy commented, quickly reloading. “Must be something pretty damn sweet stored here.”
“Yeah, bad news is every jerk off with a uniform and a gun got here before us,” Skull buster muttered. “How you holding up, Breaker?”
“I can move, just not fast,” The bulky cyber replied, clubbing down a Hydra soldier with the butt of his gun. “I’ll cover you.”
Skull buster glanced a question at Pretty boy.
“We got this,” The younger man said, enthusiastically raising his pistols.
“You are going to get me killed, one of these days,” Skull buster muttered.
He struck the door with his rifle, knocking it open. One after another, the mercs lunged into the building and found themselves in a grimy disused garage.
“What the hell…?” Pretty Boy muttered, guns out, slightly disappointed at the lack of any immediate attack.
“Something wrong here,” Skull buster said, intently studying their surroundings. “All three teams on a wild goose chase…?”
“How’d those A.I.M. stiffs get pass the security system?” Pretty Boy asked. “Why fight so hard for an empty garage?”
“Cause it ain’t,” Skull buster told him, peering at the floor through the scope of his rifle. Switching to infrared revealed footprints heading towards a grease pit. “What’s that crate next to the pit?”
“Wanna shake a leg?” Bone breaker asked through their earpieces. “Hydra is getting their courage back.”
“We got something,” Skull buster replied. “Give us a minute.”
Bone breaker rolled back until he was backed against the garage wall. He pulled out a second gun and activated all his mini-missile launchers ready to reduce any attacker into a small pile of bone and ash.
He cranked up his enhanced senses, hearing only vague sounds of movement, some kind of low machine noise and Skull buster grumbling.
Then the noise level rose to a chaotic level and the main door of the garage shattered like plywood. Skull buster and Pretty Boy came stumbling out, hitting the ground and rolling to fire their weapons.
Bone breaker rolled jerkily around the corner, confused that his teammates weren’t firing at the A.I.M. soldiers also running out of the garage, but rather past them.
Lumbering after the two cyborgs and the dozen A.I.M. operatives was a massive creature, it had to stoop to get through the garage bay opening, reaching an intimidating fifteen feet when it stood upright.
Its body looked as though it was made from grey clay. Its hands and feet only sported three digits and its head was a blank slab of grey. It was clad only in a pair of brown trunks.
It cracked the concrete around the opening of the garage as it squeezed out and stomped across the dirt towards the Reavers.
“What the hell is that…?” Pretty boy shouted, firing repeatedly but with no effect at the grey colossus. “A mutant…?”
“Gotta be some kind of robot, if A.I.M.’s after it!” Skull buster yelled back, firing his rifle until it clicked empty, then tossing it aside and pulling a sawed off shotgun from a back holster.
The barrage seemed to have no more effect on the creature then a swarm of flies, causing more irritation then pain. Some of the bigger caliber guns caused indentations in the giants’ grey hide that quickly returned to normal.
“This is not going well!” Pretty Boy shouted, ejecting empty ammo clips and frantically reloading. “I think I hate Pierce!”
“Join the friggin’ club!” Skull buster added getting back to his feet while still firing. “Aim for the knees! Breaker, you planning on joining us?”
“Gimme a minute!” Bonbreaker said, struggling to move with his damaged tread. He fired at the remaining A.I.M. and Hydra agents, hoping to keep them from getting any bright ideas about joining together to overwhelm the trio of mercenaries.
Several shots from his over-sized guns scattered them, allowing him to awkwardly turn and fire off his remaining mini-missiles. The barrage caught the behemoth behind the knees and it stumbled, hitting the garage.
All three Reavers continued to fire, reloading as fast as they could or dropping guns and pulling out new ones in the hope that they could wear the creature down.
Once down, it wasn’t able to regain its feet, but the grey behemoth did manage to get up to its hands and knees. It then flopped bonelessly to the dirt, and the Reavers continued to fire for another minute, just to play it safe.
Skull buster emptied his last guns and drew two wicked looking hunting knives from leg scabbards, Bone breaker was rummaging through all the compartments on his tank base looking for any remaining ammo and Pretty Boy fired until his pistols clicked and then hurled them angrily at the creatures’ body.
“What the hell, man!” He exclaimed.
“Easy,” Skull buster said, glancing around. “We may be a bit optimistic thinking that thing is dead.”
“Not to mention we still have stragglers,” Bone breaker said, absently as he reloaded with the handful of ammo he’d managed to scavenge. “Those mooks may come back, thinking we’ve done all the heavy lifting.”
“Anybody else hear that…?”Pretty Boy asked, glancing around uneasily.
His teammates were suddenly alert, knowing of their teammates ability to effectively ‘hear’ computer and electrical systems.
“What’ve you got?” Bone breaker asked.
“It’s a…uh…a signal…there…?”
Pretty Boy point upwards at a patch of empty air. The air rippled and suddenly an orb-shaped construct was floating twenty feet over their heads.
“So help me, if that’s full of Sons of the serpent…!” Bone breaker muttered, tightening his grip on his gun.
A door irised open and a slab of metal extended with a figure in a green cover all standing upon it.
“Afternoon, gentlemen,” The genius known as the Mad Thinker said in a casual tone.
“Goddamn…!” Pretty Boy muttered, rubbing at his temple with a metallic fingertip.
“Now, I rember where I’ve seen that grey monster before,” Bone Breaker added, pointing his gun up at the Thinker.
Skull buster stepped forward, knives up, murder in his eyes.
“Let’s not be hasty,” The Thinker said, his tone as low key as if he was discussing buying a new car. “I think we can settle this…unfortunate situation like the professionals we are.
“Talk fast,” Bone Breaker advised, squinting down the length of his gun at the savant in green.
“I set events in motion in order to retrieve my android,” The Thinker explained, gesturing casually towards the fallen grey creature. “A.I.M had ‘acquired’ it during…well, that’s not important…”
“You told Pierce about this place?” Skull buster growled.
“Not him, specifically, rather I let the story of this place being a treasure trove of advanced, illegal technology, knowing it would attract…interested parties, such as yourself to deal with A.I.M.’s security forces for me.”
“And now that we’ve done that, you want us to give you your toy back. Why? Because you asked politely?” Bone Breaker asked, grimly.
“If I find a bullet…!” Pretty Boy muttered, patting his gun belt and various pouches.
“Okay,” Skull buster said. “What’re you offering?”
“I am currently keeping the local authorities distracted, despite your enthusiastic efforts to attract their attention,” The Thinker observed dryly. “And once I have taken my property, you gentlemen are more then welcome to help yourself to an abandoned A.I.M. weapons cache.”
Bone breaker and Skull buster shared a glance, torn between greed and the temptation to put a bullet through the Thinker’s prominent forehead.
Greed won out and Bone Breaker lowered his gun.
“How long can you keep the locals away?” He asked, gruffly.
“Hmmm… perhaps, two hours,” The Thinker said, fishing a pocket watch out of his belt. Clicking it caused a tractor beam from the sphere ship to scoop up the fallen android.
“A pleasure to do business with professionals.” He said, clicking the watch shut. The plank slid back and once the Thinker was in his ship it closed and flew off.
“Tell me you got a lock on his system,” Bone Breaker muttered.
“Oh thank god, I got you around to tell me the freaking’ obvious,” Pretty boy replied, taping his temple. “Got a signal lock…we cross paths with Mr. Thinker again, I’ll know it.”
“Once we get this sorted out,” Skull buster said, rummaging amongst the assorted fallen Hydra and A.I.M. soldiers for ammo, weapons and any interesting tech he came across. “I say we make a point to track him down and have a little chat with the Thinker.”
“If ‘chat’ is a euphemism for ‘shoot repeatedly’, I’m liking that idea,” Bone breaker nodded stashing his gun and adjusting controls on his base. “ Clock’s ticking. Let’s get to work.”
Author’s Note: Blame this one on john cheese.
He’s created this little corner where he writes about bad people with guns. I went from enjoying reading his stories to wanting to write one of my own. I had been poking around, looking for something to write for the X anthology, when I realized I always liked the look of Reavers but was annoyed that they just seemed to be trotted out when they needed a generic bad guy for an X-men story. I thought they deserved a win and a chance to fight somebody besides mutants. When you’re done with this you should go read some of John’s stuff. He actually puts things like characterization in his bad people with guns stories. I might try that next time.
The building was weathered concrete, placed at the side of the dirt road. Its windows bore a thick coating of dust and dirt. The main bay door had every apperance of being rusted shut.
One time it may have served as a garage or storage, now it was just a worn relic, forgotten by the nearby communities.
The wide dirt driveway connecting it to the road had random tufts of weeds sprouting out of it and the grass had grown knee high as it and the nearby woods worked to reclaim the land.
Several dozen yards away, sheltered from site by high grass and low hanging tree branches, a most unsettling trio surveyed the building.
The Reavers were a team of cybernetically enhanced and augmented mercenaries. It was in fact hard to tell upon first glance where the armor and weapons ended and the man began.
The tallest of the three was Skull buster. He wore a sleeveless leather vest, heavy with pouches and ammo belts. His bare arms were veined with bronze-colored metal and circuitry. He was bald and the skin of his face pulled so tight that he looked like a reanimated skull.
He had a heavy sniper rifle slung over one shoulder.
Slightly behind him, using he forest as cover stood Bone breaker. He was broad shouldered; clad in a tight blue sleeveless shirt, white, plastic visor-like goggles and heavy wristbands. His white hair was cut into a short, feathered Mohawk.
From the waist down, Bone breaker was legless, instead sporting a tank-like chassis that served as weapons storage as well as transportation.
Leaning idly against a tree was the youngest member, Pretty boy.
Clad in jeans, denim jacket, gloves and sunglasses, with his pop idol features and flawless black hair, his enhancements were less obvious and he looked distinctly out of place in this trio.
The three stood watching the building for several minutes, before Pretty Boy broke the silence.
“How long we going to hang out here?” He asked, impatiently.
“Don’t know bout you,” Skull buster muttered. “But I’m in no mood to get shot if I can help it.”
He raised his rifle and peered through the scope at the ancient garage.
Bone breaker pressed his fingers against his visor and the two studied the building and surrounding woods for several minutes.
“What you got?” Bone breaker asked.
“Enough.” Skull buster replied. “Place looks older then dirt, but is sporting more junction boxes then seems right, there’s wires coming off the window frames and that side door is definitely re-enforced. How about you?”
“Got movement in the trees on the far side of the building. Could be locals or animals or somebody trying real hard to sneak up on the place.”
They both glanced over their shoulders at their teammate.
“Okay, okay,” Pretty Boy shrugged, pressing a finger to his temple. “Yeah, I got…something…um…weird, this place should not still be connected to local phone lines or something…but, there’s energy there…fine, you guys are geniuses, so what now?”
“Place is on Pierce’s list,” Skull buster said, not taking his eye away from the scope. “We haven’t ticked him off enough that he’d send us on a wild goose chase, but he also isn’t going to tell us more then he wants to…place could just be storage…?”
Bone breaker crossed his muscular arms and frowned at the building.
“Nothing to it but to do it,” He shrugged.
“Your call,” Skull buster said, matter of factly.
Bone breaker tapped at a wristband and a section of his mini-tank opened and he took out a bulky gun.
“Pretty Boy and I will check it out. Cover us.”
"Got it,” Skull buster nodded.
“Finally,” Pretty Boy muttered. “Getting tired of standing around.”
He flexed his arms and suddenly had a pistol in each hand.
“Come on, old man, I ain’t got all night,” He said, walking quickly out of the woods. “I got a date tonight.”
“She got a sister?” Bone breaker asked, trundling along behind him.
“You think I’d get this antsy if I only had one girl waiting?”
Pretty Boy made his way through the tall grass, guns up the whole way, as Bone breaker kept pace, several feet behind him. Despite its bulky nature, the mini-tank generated no more then a faint hum as he moved.
Skull buster, his eye glued to his riflescope followed their progress.
“We got more movement in the trees. Looks like something coming down the road. Might want to get outta sight. I don’t feel like shooting civilians unless I have to.”
The duo raced across the remaining distance between the woods and the building, while Skull buster kept watch on the dirt road. A battered pickup truck, kicking up a cloud of dust, sped by.
“Locals joyriding.” He said. “Crack it and let’s get out of here.”
Pretty boy holstered one gun, and then pulled off a glove with his teeth. He ran his metallic hand along the doorjamb.
“Wow, you called this right, Skully,” He said. “This place is wired! No bubba did this. Looks like Pierce called it.”
“Might want to consider that I got a rifle pointed at your head before you call me ‘skully’ again.” Skull buster muttered.
“You two play on your own time,” Bone breaker growled. “We’re on the clock.”
“Gonna take a minute,” Pretty boy said, holstering his other gun and using both of his cybernetic hands to probe the unorthodox circuits of the door, his forehead furrowing in concentration.
“Definite movement in the trees,” Skull buster announced through his communicator. “We got company.”
“Damnit and more traffic on the road,” Bone breaker grumbled. “Sure that’s a coincidence…!”
“I got the ones in the trees. I’ll try to keep it nonlethal if they’re locals.”
“Pick up the pace,” Bone Breaker told his teammate. “This is going south.”
Pretty boy frowned, but didn’t shift his focus.
Skull buster caught a glimpse of the figures moving closer through the nearby woods. There was at least a half dozen of them, possibly more and they all wore the familiar uniform of Hydra foot soldiers.
“Friggin Nazis in green pajamas,” He muttered, annoyed by the intrusion, but relieved at having a target to shoot. “Hate those guys…!”
Three shots in quick succession and three of the green-cowled heads exploded in a burst of crimson.
“Welcome to the party,” Skull buster said with a grim smile.
“What the hell…?” Pretty Boy exclaimed, reaching one hand into his jacket for his shoulder holster.
“We got this,” Bone breaker snapped, punching him on the arm with his free hand.
“Focus.”
Bone breaker rolled forward, trying to keep an eye out for whatever was coming down the dirt road as well as any Hydra agents smart enough to try and sneak around the other side of the building.
The battered pick up truck came rolling down the hill. Instead of driving by, this time it came skidding to a halt in front of the garage.
Suddenly, the bed of the truck shimmered like heat haze, its holographic camouflage fading, revealing another squad of Hydra soldiers.
“I was tired of sneaking around anyway,” Bone breaker muttered, firing his oversized gun.
Two ping-pong ball-sized projectiles hit the disguised Hydra troop transport with enough force to cause it to rock like a ship on a stormy ocean.
Bone breaker fired off several more shots into the ground, kicking up wall off dirt and debris in front of the charging Hydra soldiers, sending them staggering back.
With his free hand, he tapped fiercely at a control panel.
He rolled around the corner, panels on the side of his tank body opened, and mini-missile launchers emerged.
The truck went up in a ball of flame and shattered metal. The Hydra troops were flung about like rag dolls, several hitting the garage with wet, bone crunching sounds.
“Gonna miss all the fun,” Pretty Boy muttered, struggling along to hack the security system, as he listened to the gunfire.
Skull buster picked off a few more Hydra soldiers, this time choosing knees so they’d have a couple to question, as he was a practical guy and this mission was becoming irritating. He wanted answers.
With the truck gone, Bone breaker made short work of the few remaining battered and dazed Hydra agents.
“Hey! I got it!” Pretty Boy announced, triumphantly turning the knob of the side door. As soon as the door swung open, several laser blasts struck the cyborg mercenary in the chest, sending him flying backwards.
Bone breaker took several shots to the back before becoming aware that new combatants had joined the fight.
They were clad in yellow hazmat-style bodysuits with bucket helmets and all carried high tech laser rifles.
One of the blasts struck a tread on Bone breakers tank body, making it difficult to maneuver. He turned his upper body in order to awkwardly return fire.
“This gets better by the minute,” Skull buster muttered, spotting the new arrivals.
He fired a few more shots, driving the few remaining Hydra soldiers back into the trees and then ran across the open field to join his teammates.
Pretty boy lay on the ground wincing, his t-shirt scorched and torn.
“Well, this sucks.” He muttered, struggling to get to his feet. Soon as he sat up, he had pistols in his hands and was helping Skull buster set up a crossfire that drove the A.I.M. operatives back into the garage.
Soon, he and Skull buster were standing, their backs against the garage wall, on either side of the door.
“Good news is, Pierce wasn’t just yanking us,” Pretty boy commented, quickly reloading. “Must be something pretty damn sweet stored here.”
“Yeah, bad news is every jerk off with a uniform and a gun got here before us,” Skull buster muttered. “How you holding up, Breaker?”
“I can move, just not fast,” The bulky cyber replied, clubbing down a Hydra soldier with the butt of his gun. “I’ll cover you.”
Skull buster glanced a question at Pretty boy.
“We got this,” The younger man said, enthusiastically raising his pistols.
“You are going to get me killed, one of these days,” Skull buster muttered.
He struck the door with his rifle, knocking it open. One after another, the mercs lunged into the building and found themselves in a grimy disused garage.
“What the hell…?” Pretty Boy muttered, guns out, slightly disappointed at the lack of any immediate attack.
“Something wrong here,” Skull buster said, intently studying their surroundings. “All three teams on a wild goose chase…?”
“How’d those A.I.M. stiffs get pass the security system?” Pretty Boy asked. “Why fight so hard for an empty garage?”
“Cause it ain’t,” Skull buster told him, peering at the floor through the scope of his rifle. Switching to infrared revealed footprints heading towards a grease pit. “What’s that crate next to the pit?”
“Wanna shake a leg?” Bone breaker asked through their earpieces. “Hydra is getting their courage back.”
“We got something,” Skull buster replied. “Give us a minute.”
Bone breaker rolled back until he was backed against the garage wall. He pulled out a second gun and activated all his mini-missile launchers ready to reduce any attacker into a small pile of bone and ash.
He cranked up his enhanced senses, hearing only vague sounds of movement, some kind of low machine noise and Skull buster grumbling.
Then the noise level rose to a chaotic level and the main door of the garage shattered like plywood. Skull buster and Pretty Boy came stumbling out, hitting the ground and rolling to fire their weapons.
Bone breaker rolled jerkily around the corner, confused that his teammates weren’t firing at the A.I.M. soldiers also running out of the garage, but rather past them.
Lumbering after the two cyborgs and the dozen A.I.M. operatives was a massive creature, it had to stoop to get through the garage bay opening, reaching an intimidating fifteen feet when it stood upright.
Its body looked as though it was made from grey clay. Its hands and feet only sported three digits and its head was a blank slab of grey. It was clad only in a pair of brown trunks.
It cracked the concrete around the opening of the garage as it squeezed out and stomped across the dirt towards the Reavers.
“What the hell is that…?” Pretty boy shouted, firing repeatedly but with no effect at the grey colossus. “A mutant…?”
“Gotta be some kind of robot, if A.I.M.’s after it!” Skull buster yelled back, firing his rifle until it clicked empty, then tossing it aside and pulling a sawed off shotgun from a back holster.
The barrage seemed to have no more effect on the creature then a swarm of flies, causing more irritation then pain. Some of the bigger caliber guns caused indentations in the giants’ grey hide that quickly returned to normal.
“This is not going well!” Pretty Boy shouted, ejecting empty ammo clips and frantically reloading. “I think I hate Pierce!”
“Join the friggin’ club!” Skull buster added getting back to his feet while still firing. “Aim for the knees! Breaker, you planning on joining us?”
“Gimme a minute!” Bonbreaker said, struggling to move with his damaged tread. He fired at the remaining A.I.M. and Hydra agents, hoping to keep them from getting any bright ideas about joining together to overwhelm the trio of mercenaries.
Several shots from his over-sized guns scattered them, allowing him to awkwardly turn and fire off his remaining mini-missiles. The barrage caught the behemoth behind the knees and it stumbled, hitting the garage.
All three Reavers continued to fire, reloading as fast as they could or dropping guns and pulling out new ones in the hope that they could wear the creature down.
Once down, it wasn’t able to regain its feet, but the grey behemoth did manage to get up to its hands and knees. It then flopped bonelessly to the dirt, and the Reavers continued to fire for another minute, just to play it safe.
Skull buster emptied his last guns and drew two wicked looking hunting knives from leg scabbards, Bone breaker was rummaging through all the compartments on his tank base looking for any remaining ammo and Pretty Boy fired until his pistols clicked and then hurled them angrily at the creatures’ body.
“What the hell, man!” He exclaimed.
“Easy,” Skull buster said, glancing around. “We may be a bit optimistic thinking that thing is dead.”
“Not to mention we still have stragglers,” Bone breaker said, absently as he reloaded with the handful of ammo he’d managed to scavenge. “Those mooks may come back, thinking we’ve done all the heavy lifting.”
“Anybody else hear that…?”Pretty Boy asked, glancing around uneasily.
His teammates were suddenly alert, knowing of their teammates ability to effectively ‘hear’ computer and electrical systems.
“What’ve you got?” Bone breaker asked.
“It’s a…uh…a signal…there…?”
Pretty Boy point upwards at a patch of empty air. The air rippled and suddenly an orb-shaped construct was floating twenty feet over their heads.
“So help me, if that’s full of Sons of the serpent…!” Bone breaker muttered, tightening his grip on his gun.
A door irised open and a slab of metal extended with a figure in a green cover all standing upon it.
“Afternoon, gentlemen,” The genius known as the Mad Thinker said in a casual tone.
“Goddamn…!” Pretty Boy muttered, rubbing at his temple with a metallic fingertip.
“Now, I rember where I’ve seen that grey monster before,” Bone Breaker added, pointing his gun up at the Thinker.
Skull buster stepped forward, knives up, murder in his eyes.
“Let’s not be hasty,” The Thinker said, his tone as low key as if he was discussing buying a new car. “I think we can settle this…unfortunate situation like the professionals we are.
“Talk fast,” Bone Breaker advised, squinting down the length of his gun at the savant in green.
“I set events in motion in order to retrieve my android,” The Thinker explained, gesturing casually towards the fallen grey creature. “A.I.M had ‘acquired’ it during…well, that’s not important…”
“You told Pierce about this place?” Skull buster growled.
“Not him, specifically, rather I let the story of this place being a treasure trove of advanced, illegal technology, knowing it would attract…interested parties, such as yourself to deal with A.I.M.’s security forces for me.”
“And now that we’ve done that, you want us to give you your toy back. Why? Because you asked politely?” Bone Breaker asked, grimly.
“If I find a bullet…!” Pretty Boy muttered, patting his gun belt and various pouches.
“Okay,” Skull buster said. “What’re you offering?”
“I am currently keeping the local authorities distracted, despite your enthusiastic efforts to attract their attention,” The Thinker observed dryly. “And once I have taken my property, you gentlemen are more then welcome to help yourself to an abandoned A.I.M. weapons cache.”
Bone breaker and Skull buster shared a glance, torn between greed and the temptation to put a bullet through the Thinker’s prominent forehead.
Greed won out and Bone Breaker lowered his gun.
“How long can you keep the locals away?” He asked, gruffly.
“Hmmm… perhaps, two hours,” The Thinker said, fishing a pocket watch out of his belt. Clicking it caused a tractor beam from the sphere ship to scoop up the fallen android.
“A pleasure to do business with professionals.” He said, clicking the watch shut. The plank slid back and once the Thinker was in his ship it closed and flew off.
“Tell me you got a lock on his system,” Bone Breaker muttered.
“Oh thank god, I got you around to tell me the freaking’ obvious,” Pretty boy replied, taping his temple. “Got a signal lock…we cross paths with Mr. Thinker again, I’ll know it.”
“Once we get this sorted out,” Skull buster said, rummaging amongst the assorted fallen Hydra and A.I.M. soldiers for ammo, weapons and any interesting tech he came across. “I say we make a point to track him down and have a little chat with the Thinker.”
“If ‘chat’ is a euphemism for ‘shoot repeatedly’, I’m liking that idea,” Bone breaker nodded stashing his gun and adjusting controls on his base. “ Clock’s ticking. Let’s get to work.”
Author’s Note: Blame this one on john cheese.
He’s created this little corner where he writes about bad people with guns. I went from enjoying reading his stories to wanting to write one of my own. I had been poking around, looking for something to write for the X anthology, when I realized I always liked the look of Reavers but was annoyed that they just seemed to be trotted out when they needed a generic bad guy for an X-men story. I thought they deserved a win and a chance to fight somebody besides mutants. When you’re done with this you should go read some of John’s stuff. He actually puts things like characterization in his bad people with guns stories. I might try that next time.