章 4: C4 Echoes of the War Machine

A 30 mm armor-piercing projectile exited my muzzle, Its mini chemical thrusters propelling and spinning the bullet at astonishing speeds while a red-hot cartridge got ejected to the side.

Instantly the bullet went through the militants armored vest, and the next second the high explosive payload detonated Itself ripping the man from inside out.

I continued to pull the trigger, switching between my targets with Inhuman agility, each shot killing a militant In a grotesque fashion.

Finally the holographic count next to my mag In my view reached zero, as It did I let go of my rifle with an under-barrel grenade launcher and pressed It against my chest causing It to stick to my armored chest like glue.

And grabbed my 20 mm smart pistol with a camera sight connected directly to my helmet just like my rifles which was fixed to my right armored thigh.

Only to see that all the hostiles had already been neutralized as I did I attached my pistol back to my right armored hip.

With hostiles neutralized, my AI initiated contact with the UNOE's armed forces on all known frequencies, following military protocol, simultaneously, I began Identifying the corpses.

While removing a relatively intact helmet and mask from a torsoless corpse, I froze for a moment.

The far easterner face I encountered could only be described as nightmarish.

The man had no hair, his ears and nose had atrophied, and his skin and muscles appeared to have melded into a horrifying and nauseating mess.

Seeing this I asked my AI the critical question.

How long was I In hibernation?

I asked Inside my mind.

99 years, 11 months, and 27 days.

The holographic message appeared In my cracked crimson HUD view, as It did I froze once again as a horrifying conjecture materialized In my mind.

When was the last UNOE transmission you Intercepted?

80 years ago.

After receiving this information, I grabbed my fully enclosed helmet with my face plate shaped Into a white human skull, causing the AI to unlock its locks with a hiss of air.

As I took off my helmet the scorching sun landed on my 20-year-old-looking caucasian face.

I was quite the lady killer if you didn't take into account the unhealthy pale scarred skin.

White hair with sides, back, and face shaved clean tied into a small high bun with a string of black falling over my right crimson eye.

Both my eyes pupils glowed ice-blue as a result of my cybernetic lenses, and my irises glowed bloodred because of my extremely augmented body.

My ears were decorated by eight black earrings with four on my right ear's top and four on the bottom with two more covering my left ear's middle.

I let go of my helmet allowing It to fall down onto the blood and body matter-covered radioactive sand that was absorbing the blood like a dried-out sponge.

As I sat down and leaned against the post-apocalyptic armored car's front.

I greedily breathed In the toxin and radioactive air, whose toxins got filtered by my augmented lungs while my augmented cells filtered out the radiation.

It seemed like my duty was finally over, for the past 80 years not counting the time I spent In hibernation I dutifully abided by the oath that I took then I joined the military at the age of 20.

First an army grunt, then a panzer grenadier after that special forces, following that black ops, and finally United Nations Of E*rth Cosmic Marine Core UNOECMC for short, I gave up my family, my friends, and close ones, hell I even forsake my humanity In the name of duty to the flag I served.

Although I was relieved at the fact that there was no one left to give me orders, but at the same time I was at a loss because all I did up to this point was follow orders like a good soldier does.

But now there was no one left to give me orders, I was now an Instrument of war without a purpose.

I don't know how long I sat there aimlessly staring at the toxin dust cloud and radioactive storms-covered sky.

But by the time my AI confirmed that all the UNOE military channels were silent, I came to a decision.

I grabbed the hilt of my straight greatsword sized laser edged combat katana, causing Its blade to light up with a red laser edge, and yanked It off my armored back which was bulging out because of the fusion core.

Decapitation was the only way to kill an abomination like me or total destruction of my hearts or lungs or organs but even then the damn AI.

Would preserve my body so that once recovered new organs could be Implanted and I would be brought back to life like a f*cking F*ankenstein monster or if my body would be deemed too damaged I would be scrapped of everything useful for a new recruit.

I thought as I looked at the crimson laser edge of my combat katana which was so big that a normal baseline unaugmented human could barely lift It.

But just before I decapitated myself, a rift In space and time appeared right In front of me in my blue HUD view which was practically the same as my helmets except the color.

I watched dumbfoundedly as a 1.60 meters tall 20-year-old-looking A*ian woman who had light W*stern facial features with painted white, black, pink, red, and green hair.

With her left side tied Into a high bun and her right side loose falling over her right purple eye, earings dotting her ears.

A black choker on her neck, dressed in a black leather jacket, and a black tank top that barely contained her C-cup-sized breasts.

Black ripped at the knees and thighs, jeans that clung tightly to her athletic legs to the point I could see the shape of her panties and black paramilitary high-heeled boots.

Everything about the woman screamed rebel and delinquent.

Got flung out and landed with her face straight Into the radioactive desert sand causing her ass to awkwardly stick out Into the air.

"Cough, cough, cough..."

The woman coughed out the radioactive sand from her mouth as she stood up and dusted off her clothes.

Only to freeze as her eyes fell on my body, we both dumbly stared at one another for a whole minute.

Before the woman finally spoke up.

"Please don't tell me It's the 41st m*llennium"

The woman said as she studied my power armor, her eyes searching for any noticeable markings.

"It's the 23rd century"

The words came out as a growl because It's been years since the last time I spoke.

"Oh thank g*d, for a moment I thought that you were a c*aos m*arine..."

The woman started saying while looking around only to cover her mouth as she collapsed onto her knees and started coughing uncontrollably.

"Cough, cough, cough, blergh..."

I saw the woman start vomiting blood as her skin started rapidly mutating, as I did, I tossed away my combat katana, Its lazer edge Immediately glasified the sand upon contact.

I didn't know why, but I just did, I quickly picked up the woman as my cybernetic lenses started scanning her body.

The result caused my brain to short-circuit for a moment, the woman had no cybernetic Implants to speak of.

And at least from her scans, the AI had determined that she was a baseline unaugmented human.

This was simply Impossible because by the end of 21st century everyone had received even the cheapest genetic resequencing serums whose costs were covered by E*rth's governments.

I quickly slipped my other hand under her legs, picked her up, and ran to the armored car which based on my helmet scans had scavenged anti-radiation medication.

I quickly laid down the woman on the sand, grabbed the back seat doors, and accidentally ripped them off, without a bat of an eye I tossed them away,