Was unsure whether to make a portfolio for Corporal Allens, since WhiteCrow mentioned she was a fixture.
The Legion's Advance (Reality 1: Teleportation)
“Fire!” Tank Commander Christiana Bellacosa yelled as bullets ricocheted off the large tank destroyer’s hull. With a click of a button, the large 122mm round was sent flying toward the second-floor window of a white, wooden house, pulverizing the machine-gun position that occupied it. Her tank crew continued suppressing the Hadian soldiers dug in deep on the barren hillside, hiding within the rows of trenches that guarded the town’s right flank. The air filled with smoke and fire as soldiers scurried between the thinly-scattered wood and brick buildings, avoiding the crossfire as best they could between Hadian troops and Unionist rebels.
“Reload! Reload!” Christiana cried out.
Corporal Daina Allens had secured herself in a small drainage ditch alongside a few fellow Stormtroopers, hiding from the bullets and shrapnel whizzing over their hats as she slightly peered over the ditch’s edge, observing the developing battle. Private Owen Harport, prone to her right, attached another rifle grenade to the end of his gun’s muzzle and fired it toward the Hadians’ general direction. Christiana’s tank destroyer then fired another round into the same building from before. The force was enough to completely collapse the structure and spew forth a large dust cloud in its wake.
“They’re really going at it out there,” the young private said as he attached another rifle grenade to the muzzle.
“That’s Bellacosa for you, lads!” a middle-aged man next to Owen exclaimed. “One of the best tank commanders in the Legion! Go get ‘em, Miss!” he cheered on.
“Target Destroyed! They’re all yours, Senior!” Christiana gleefully reported over the radio.
Christiana was, of course, referring to none other than Corporal Daina Allens, the famed Stormtrooper of the Legion of Terra through the nickname Christiana gave to her back in training. Daina, annoyed by both Christiana’s upbeatness and her insistence on calling her “Senior”, could do nothing but issue a dissatisfied scoff as Christiana rolled her armor forward into town. Daina picked herself up, cocked the bolt on her rifle, and stated her order to the unit.
“Let’s move,” she plainly said.
And so the soldiers picked themselves off the fine-dirt ground and hastened toward their leading example, as the Legion pressed on in support of the rebels.
[] [] [] [] []
Away from the raging battle a few miles away, Staff Sergeant Eliza Finley trotted her way through an empty road in the outskirts of town, surrounded by the thick foliage of conifer trees that spread out on both sides. Her squad followed close by, sticking to the far sides of the road as the first structures appeared ahead.
“Move it, ya nillies!” Eliza called out behind her. “We’re almost there!”
“Don’t you think we should slow down, Sir?” her second-in-command Corporal Franz Muller said, wheezing as sweat ran down the side of his face. “We’ve been at it for hours, now.”
“The bugga are you talkin’ ‘bout, Franz?” she replied. “I’m not gonna let some stuck-up Corporal take all the glory from me today! That wench... I’ll show her a thing or two about respect when I get my hands on her...!”
“You’re still going on about that, Sarge?”
“Of course I am! That damn Amazon from the Stormtroopers unit has the nerve to flaunt my authority when I clearly outrank her! Oh... just the thought of her makes my blood boil.”
“I’m sure Corporal Allens didn’t mean any harm by it, Sarge. She was probably just looking out for you or something.”
“Looking out for me, my arse! That damn git couldn’t tell the difference between sincerity and sarcasm if it hit her sulking face, that bloody wench!”
As the squad jogged past the abandoned churchyard on their way into town, a small glimmer of light reflected out from one of the church’s broken stained glass windows.
“Look out!” Franz called as he shoved Eliza down on the ground. A hail of bullets struck the long, crumbling low wall to their right as one of the soldiers took a few rounds and fell limp on the side of the road. The squad dashed for cover behind the low wall as their comrade sat in the open road, blood gurgling from his face as a pool of red poured around him.
“Enemy Machine-Gun! Left window in the church!” one of the soldiers yelled across. Bullets continued to pepper the flimsy stone wall.
“Thanks, Franz...” Eliza meekly said, shielding her reddened face.
“No worries,” said Franz. “Right now we have bigger things to deal with.” He gestured to the enemy position hulled up inside the church.
“Guess it can’t be helped. They’ll have to wait a bit longer for us then!” Eliza recomposed herself before issuing her orders.
“I want a mortar team on that church ASAP! Franz, take four men with you and flank left. I’ll head down and flank right. The rest of you, I want suppressive fire on that church as we move in. Do not give them a moment’s rest until the church is ours! Understood!?”
“Yes, Sir!” Everyone shouted.
“Move!”
[] [] [] [] []
“Fire!” Christiana yelled again as the tank destroyer let out a High-Explosive shell onto a high tower overlooking the pathway into the town plaza. The tower head split open with a deafening boom as the large chunks of debris fell atop the buildings down below, crushing their rooftops inward as more dust swirled into the cramped corridors of the inner town area. Unionist rebels, in their signature dark-blue coats, swarmed into the streets as the Hadian defenses crumbled inch-by-inch to their advance.
“Enemy emplacement destroyed!” Christiana reported. “Let’s get this thing rolling! Zach!”
“On it, Sir,” Crewmember Zachary Ingel replied, shifting the gears of the tank as he petaled the tank forward, turning the left corner from where the tower used to stand. But just as he did, a loud bang echoed out from the distance. With a loud snap, a large shell struck at the tank destroyer’s front armor and ricocheted off its slanted metal, hitting the brick building behind them instead.
“Reverse, reverse!” Christiana called out. “That’s an AT Gun!”
With no hesitation, Zachery backed the tank up behind the cover of the street buildings, away from the sight of the anti-tank gun that struck them earlier.
“That was a close one...” Crewmember Elaina Harper uneasily remarked. “It ran right past my viewport.”
“Be glad you’re still in one piece,” Zachery replied.
Christiana clicked her radio on and began speaking. “Hey, Senior Allens... we have a bit of a problem...”
No response.
“Senior?”
Meanwhile, Corporal Allens was preoccupying herself with troubles of her own. Inside one of the many three-story houses stacked side-by-side along the cobblestone streets, Daina was wrestling a rifle held against her neck by a rather large, bearded man in a gray frock coat and peaked cap, pinned against the wall with her own rifle on the other side of the room. Two other men in gray frock coats were similarly wrestling with members of the Stormtroopers with knives and clubs as gunshots repeatedly rang out from downstairs. The large, black metal box sitting atop the low, circular table in the room’s center buzzed obnoxiously with radio chatter.
“You there, Daina?” Christiana’s voice spoke, unaware of what was happening at the other end.
“Die, you damn bitch!” the man violently hollered, a deathly stare in his eyes. Daina gritted her teeth as she desperately pressed away at the firm, wooden stock edging towards her windpipe. Owen was pinned to the ground by another gray-coat Hadian, struggling to keep the knife from jabbing into his heart, while a fellow comrade was busy trading blows with a rather tall soldier with just his fists.
Knowing neither of the two could offer any assistance to her, Daina peered down toward the small dagger wedged inside her boot, anxious to grab it at the opportune moment. The bearded man lunged his body forward, the weight of his body slowly squeezing the breath out of Daina. She needed the dagger. With one last, mighty push, Daina hurled the man back long enough for her duck the man’s stranglehold and reach for the dagger.
“Why you...!” the bearded man cursed. But before he knew it, Daina pounced back up and jabbed him with the small blade, directly underneath his jaw. As the Hadian soldier choked on his own blood, Daina elbowed him away as he tripped and fell over, his two comrades gazing over in shock. Owen took advantage at his opponent’s momentary distraction and threw the soldier off his body as Daina unholsters her pistol and unloads on the other Hadian pulverizing a dying Stormtrooper in the corner with his metal club. The last Hadian picks himself off the ground and tries to lunge for his rifle, but Daina quickly turns and empties her last rounds into him, ending the brawl.
Harport lies on the floor, propped up by his two arms as he deeply exhaled in fatigue, sweat tainting the collars of his uniform. He wipes them away as Daina shoves her pistol back into its holster.
“Damn it, Harport! I thought you said this room was clear,” she said in frustration.
“It was! I swear!” Owen panicked. “I didn’t know there was an attic here!”
“You better make damn well sure next time, or you’ll have more blood on your hands than just him.” She said, referring to their dead colleague in the corner, his now-disfigured face completely smashed in.
Owen simply sat there, muddling over the events that took place just mere moments ago, wondering what he could’ve done to prevent it as his breathing began to ease. Daina, recomposing herself, looked back at the tall Hadian she shot at earlier. He’d toppled the wooden table over when he collapsed, breaking apart the radio set that once sat atop it. Even in death, the man still held the club in his tight grip.
“Did you catch what the radio was saying earlier?” Daina asked, gesturing to the broken radio as Owen picked himself and his rifle off the floor and dusted his uniform. He gave a momentary blank gaze before realizing what she meant.
“I think it said something about a Senior and running into some problems... I’m not all that sure though, with all the Hadians trying to kill us, Sir.”
Daina gave a disgruntled sight. “That must be Bellacosa. We’ll head to her location after we clear this section out.”
She walked over to a part of the room and grabbed her hat and rifle off the bloodied plank floor. Daina flung the rifle’s strap over her shoulder and adjusted the olive-green Stormtrooper’s hat atop her head, its distinct black braid hanging behind her. Daina marched outside and with a glance back, nodded Owen to follow her lead. Gunshots still rang out from downstairs, and there were still many houses to go before they were done. Christiana would have to wait.
[] [] [] [] []
“What do we do, Christy?” Crewmember Gregory York said as Christiana peeked over the side of the building, observing the chaos that was unraveling around the corner.
The wide plaza was littered with bodies and sandbags as the rebels tried desperately to take the large, five-story building overlooking the area. Machine-guns rattled away at the exposed men dashing back-and-forth between cover down below, the hail of fire slowly chipping away at whatever cover they had left. Soldiers atop the roof chucked grenades onto the heads of unsuspecting militia, ending in piercing screams and agony as debris and shrapnel flew across the battlefield. The anti-tank gun that shot at Christiana’s crew earlier still had its sights pointed down the street, holding fire as it waited for the tank destroyer to pop up again, its commander peering through with binoculars.
“If we don’t get in there soon, the militia will be ripped to shreds.”
Christiana rolled her head back behind cover and rubbed the back of her helmet. It was clear she was stumped.
“Well, Commander?” Zachary spoke out, his head poking out the top of the driver’s compartment. “We can’t just sit here all day.”
“Agh! I hate leaving my tank right now...” Christiana began. “I was just getting cozy too!”
“What are you muttering about, Christy?” Christiana’s front machine-gunner, Elaina Harper, asked. She too had her head peering out from her compartment in the tank hull.
“Hasn’t Senior said anything yet!?” she cried out.
“I’ve been getting nothing but static, Sir...” Radio Operator Olivia Watch monotonically said as she listened to the buzzing within her headset. She sat just atop the tank hull near the cupola, fine-tuning a small device with knobs near the antennas, its long wires leading back through the cupola into the tank’s interior.
“Why!?” Christiana pouted. “Why have you forsaken me, Senior!?” She collapsed onto the pavement, clenching the air with her fingers as she moped about in sorrow.
“There she goes again...” said Zachary.
“Well, it can’t be helped!” Christiana suddenly sprang back up. “We’ll just have to deal with them ourselves!”
Her crew simply gave a blank, confused stare at her interjection.
“Everyone, grab your guns! We’re going hunting!” She shot her fist up into the air.
Silence was their response.
“Uh... Christy... you’re not asking us to ditch the tank, are you?” Gregory spoke out.
“Of course I am! How else are we gonna solve our little AT problem? Normally I’d sure have someone else take care of it if only Senior would answer the radio, but sometimes you just have to get your own hands dirty to get things done!”
“You always give everyone else the dirty work though...” Gregory muttered.
“Come on! What are you all waiting for? Up and at ‘em!” Christiana picked up her carbine and proceeded to gesture everyone onward.
A collective groan could be heard from the whole crew as they packed up their gear and disembarked the tank.
Just before Christiana and her crew could assemble, however, gunshots and explosions rang out from the massive Hadian-held building. Repeated explosions bursted from the ground floor as dust and debris flew out from the windows and Hadian troops were sent running outside into the open before getting shot in the back by whomever was causing the chaos inside.
“What’s going on in there?” Phillip York, the tank crew’s loader, asked. “Did someone snap or something?
The chaos made it’s way up the second floor, as more windows exploded and Hadian soldier were sent flying out the window, some covered in fire, then up the third, fourth, and fifth floor, as men screamed and yelled out to each other in the confusion as gunfire was exchanged. Finally, it was the rooftop, and as Christiana and her crew peered over the corner, the Hadian soldiers who were chucking grenades there earlier suddenly was grabbed by a few dark figures and tossed over the side of the roof, the soldiers screaming out of the top of their lungs as they fell to their doom. A small, thin figure propped one of its legs up on the ledge and called out from above.
“You’re all clear now, lads!”
The voice was unmistakable. Christiana’s eyes sparkled as it became clear who the figure was.
“Eliza!” Christiana called out, emerging from the safety of her corner.
Eliza noticed a distinct light-blue figure down below and realized it was her good friend, Christiana.
“Christy! Nice to see ya here!” Eliza yelled as she enthusiastically waved at her. “Give us a few sec’ and we’ll be down with you! Just cleaning up on our end!” A few lone gunshots still crackled from inside the building.
[] [] [] [] []
With the town plaza now secured, Christiana and Eliza decided to take a few moments to talk each other as their subordinates rested for the upcoming assault on the mansion nearby. The rebels began clearing away the area, funneling the wounded into closed-canvas trucks and stacking bodies into neat rows and columns as fellow Legionnaires cleared the plaza of tank traps and sandbags to make room for the tents and supplies to be pitched up. Eliza’s squad hustled a handful of Hadian prisoners out of the five-story building and shuffled them onto another truck heading out of town, while Christiana’s crew eagerly helped themselves to the food rations that just came in after sitting inside a smoldering metal box for hours.
Eliza pulled out a canteen and furiously gulped down its remaining contents, wiping away the leftover drops seething down her mouth and letting out a satisfied sigh as she sat atop a crate next to Christiana, smiling rather cheerfully at Eliza’s spirit.
“Ah, that hit the spot!” Eliza grinned in pleasure. She capped the now-empty canteen and hooked it to the side of her belt. “Water always taste so good after a nice fight!”
“It always does!” Christiana smiled back, nibbling on a piece of chocolate. “I didn’t know you were assigned here. I thought you were still up north with Captain Polk.”
“We finished our mission a lot earlier than usual, so when I heard you were down here with the Amazon, I decided to drop by and pay you a little visit!”
“You didn’t run all the way here, did you? That’s quite a long way...”
“There wasn’t anyone left to drop us off! And I darn well wasn’t gonna let you two have all the fun to yourselves, especially her.” Eliza clenched her fist in irritation. “Speaking of which, where is she?”
“Oh, Senior Allens?” Christiana said. “I haven’t heard from her since I got to the plaza. I’m sure she’s just off doing her own thing like she always does.”
Eliza scoffed. “Avoiding a challenge as usual, I see! Well, I suppose that’s one more reason why I am the better! A good soldier never deflects from her duties!” She gives a haughty laugh.
“You did run all the way to see us, though. Have you talked to Polk about that?”
Eliza’s spirit suddenly soured. “Well... I... kinda... well... sorta... no I haven’t.”
Christiana gently patted Eliza’s head. “Don’t worry. I’ll go talk to him when we get back.”
“Really!? Thank you so much Christy!” Eliza gave a big hug, knowing her reputation would still be intact.
“It’s nothing, really!” she assured.
Just then, Christiana caught sight of Daina walking into camp, looking stoic as usual. Owen strolled silently alongside her as the remains of the Stormtrooper Unit limped a distance behind. Many of them were either exhausted or severely wounded from the fighting.
“Senior Allens...” Christiana muttered.
Eliza caught her words and looked up to see Daina pacing by them, her men in bleak condition.
“Hey!” Eliza shouted. “Hold it right there!” Daina turned to see a short, red-haired girl in a brown uniform approach her. “Just where do you think you’re going!?”
Daina simply ignored the disgruntled Staff Sergeant and carried on, only to be stopped by Eliza jumping in front of herself and Owen. Eliza’s frowning face emanated displeasure.
“Is there a problem?” Daina plainly asked.
“Problem? Of course there’s a problem! What gives you the right to flaunt authority and go about doing whatever ya damn well please!? First of all, you never ignore a superior whenever she addresses you! Secondly, you’re always supposed to address that superior with the title “Sir”!”
Daina gave a tired sigh. “Is that all? Sir?”
“Not at all! We still have a score to settle with each other, and I won’t let ya dodge this one today!”
“Can this wait, Sir? I’m a bit exhausted at the moment and would like to help myself to some refreshments... Sir.” A hint of irritation broke from Daina’s last word. Owen caught on and began to worry whether Daina would lose her composure.
“No, it can’t! This is just another deflection, ain’t it? Well I won’t have it anymore! Corporal Daina Allens, you may not care much about the rank-and-file, but as a subordinate and soldier of the Legion of Terra, you’re fully expected to respect the chain of command as it is. And you, Missy, are severely lacking in that respect! To embarrass me in front of Franz and my men like that is... is unforgivable!”
Daina’s temper began to boil as the refreshments were slowly beginning to dwindle away in front of her.
“You may have a bigger reputation, but I assure ya, respect is due where it is truly deserved, and we’ll prove it right here and now who’s the better today!” Eliza pointed her finger straight at Daina’s face. “Daina Allens, I challenge you to a...”
Before Eliza could finish, Owen jumped in and pushed the little Sergeant away.
“Well Sir, I’m sure the Corporal would love to hear the rest of what you have to say, but why don’t we go have a little chat ourselves while Ms. Allens recuperates?” As he nudged Eliza away, Owen gave an enthusiastic thumbs-up to Daina as he pressed Eliza back toward Christiana waving at them, still sitting atop the crates. Daina could not help but smirk as she placed her hand upon her hips.
Before Daina could even take a step forward, however, a sudden tremble shook the ground. Everyone fell silent as the thin tables and parked trucks rattled and overhang tents swayed uneasily back-and-forth. A murmur slowly rose from the crowd.
“Was that an earthquake just now?” one said.
“We’re not that close to a fault line, are we?” another asked.
“Maybe it was an explosion... or thunder.”
“Those things don’t make the earth shake that bad.”
Then the weather had suddenly grown dark, despite the sky not having a single cloud in sight mere seconds earlier.
“Did Command say anything about thunderstorms happening this week?” Owen wondered.
“No...” Eliza answered. “They said it was gonna be clear all week.”
A strong gust of wind surged through the streets of the empty town as lightning and thunder began to appear from above, battering the tents and tables the soldiers had just set up, everyone rushing to cover and trying to save whatever supplies they could.
“I guess even the Big-Wigs can screw up weather predictions!” Christiana jested, hanging onto her helmet as the gust grew stronger, blasting through window shutters and sending loose cloth flying everywhere.
“Let’s head inside and wait for the storm to die out,” Owen gestured to the five-story building. “Hopefully it’ll be gone in a few hours.”
Another tremble. Only this time it was enough to knock everyone off-balance. And there were visible cracks leading straight toward the five-story building.
“What in the world...?” Owen remarked as he regained his footing.
Realizing what was about to happen, Daina turned toward the three soldiers and yelled something to them.
“Get away from the building!” she screamed.
“What!?” Eliza yelled back, unable to hear through the roaring wind.
“The building!” Daina screamed again, pointing at the large cracks in the ground.
Christiana quickly caught on and realized what Daina meant. “Eliza! We need to get those people outside, Now!”
“People?” Eliza repeated. She gazed back at the building and realized what Christiana was referring to.
But it was too late. The ground trembled violently underneath them, knocking them off their feet, as the large cracks soon grew into giant crevices. It burrowed its way across the plaza, ripping it in half, until it reached the five-story building where most of the troops sheltered in. With a vicious snap, the building broke in half and crumbled into itself, the horrendous screams and cries of their comrades piercing through the winds as they were crushed underneath the weight of the rubble. The building then sunk into the dark abyss below as the ground began to tear the town apart.
“It can’t be...” Eliza uttered in shock, watching as the immense building became nothing more than deep, bottomless pit.
She wasn’t the only one. Christiana, Owen, their teammates, their colleagues, almost everyone gazed in horror as nature ran berserk across the landscape. The pitch-black clouds swirled together until a massive, dark hole emerged from the sky, engulfing the area in a terrifying windstorm, blasting whole structures to pieces with its mighty force and consuming their remains in the spiraling vortex above. The pristine mansion atop a lone hill in the distance, the mansion they were to attack in mere hours’ time, imploded almost instantaneously as lightning struck the hill, igniting it with a red-hot blaze as the mansion’s fiery remains slithered into the vortex, creating a tornado-like whirlwind of fire as it ascended. It was at this point that everyone knew. This was not some ordinary disaster.
“We need to leave. Now!” Daina screamed at the three, snapping them out of their dismayed trance.
“R-Right!” Eliza responded. “Franz! Get our men together and find whatever ya can to get us outta here!”
“Yes, Sir!” Franz saluted before heading off.
“Olivia!” Christiana called out. “Get everyone to the tank and get it started! We’re getting the heck out of here!”
“Roger that,” Olivia saluted before dashing off into the crowd.
“Do you need a ride, Senior? I can give you a lift if you like,” she asked Daina.
“We’ll manage. Worry about yourselves first,” Daina replied.
Owen quickly hustled over to Daina’s side and asked concerningly, “Sir, are you sure?”
“We’re leaving on the halftracks, Harport. It makes no sense for us to intrude on other people’s spaces.”
“Then we’ll see you back at base,” said Christiana. “Stay safe!”
Eliza nervously scoffed. “Don’t get killed, Corporal. We still have a score to settle.”
Before they could part ways, however, a brilliant bright light bloomed overhead. They all looked up to witness a menacingly large lightning bolt zipping its way toward them. With no time to reaction, the four soldiers could only stare in awe as the beam instantly struck them. As the lightning dissipated, the soldiers’ comrades could only stare with wide eyes as nothing but a smoldering crater was left in their wake.