Red vs. Blue - What If?

Carolina Died (S13E11) - Chapter 8

Armonia (RvBluniverse-57)

Charon's men infiltrated Armonia through the Tartarus as the mercenaries watched from the cockpit. Sharkface grinned, noticing they had already cleared the intersection below them. Despite being at a numerical disadvantage, Charon's men had the upper hand when it came to skills. A team of criminals and killers was much stronger than a team of soldiers with only four years of experience.

"In a couple of hours, it'll all be over, one way or another," Felix chuckled.

Sharkface raised an eyebrow at his partner, asking, "A couple of hours? You overestimate their strength. If the three of us go down there too, we could easily take them out in under an hour." His confidence came from his week of training under Hargrove. Sharkface learned he could use two enhancements simultaneously with the same precision as an AI but could run up to four with their basic uses. Hargrove's theory proved almost correct.

"Alright, smart-ass. If you're really as strong as Hargrove says you are, you could kill them all without me or Locus," Felix was already sick of Sharkface's presence. "Tell ya what: If you take less than an hour to find and kill Doyle, I'll give you ten percent of my cut. If not, you give me twenty. Deal?" Felix extended his hand.

Sharkface blinked. Had Felix completely ignored their previous briefing? If Doyle had made it back, he and Kimball would undoubtedly be in the war room, where Locus said they would be. Even without spies, the green-clad mercenary was sure of that. Still, he accepted Felix's bet, squeezing his hand tightly.

When the two let go, Felix waved his hand in pain. "Your time starts now," he said, pressing a button on the monitor and activating an hour-long timer. Sharkface noticed the sword blade attached to Felix's armor. He quickly triggered his temporal distortion unit and paused time around him. He swiftly grabbed the useless sword off the other's waist and latched it to his own. Unpausing time, he walked away to the nearest exit.

Sharkface was the last soldier to jump out the Tartarus. Once he landed, the soldier activated his speed unit and sprinted into the streets of Armonia, quickly shooting down any soldier he found. He only looked up when he heard the ship's engines blaring. He watched as it took off to the northeast. Realizing the duo left for the Purge, Sharkface smiled, patting the inactive sword handle attached to his armor.

Following the mission briefing, the red-clad soldier sprinted toward the largest building in Armonia. Sharkface repeated the path in his head, carefully traversing the building's maze to find his destination. Eventually, he slowed just outside a room where he heard a panicked cry from the radio, "General Kimball, Washington! We're under attack!"

Doyle gasped in fear, "I never thought they'd be so bold! They'd take too many casualties!" Sharkface was excited, knowing he would gain access to the sword after all.

"I guess it doesn't matter how many men they lose. Once they have the sword, it won't matter," Washington replied with a sigh.

"It already doesn't matter. You're all dead anyway," Sharkface mumbled, pausing time and walking into the room. The red simulation troopers were on his right, the blues were directly in front of him, and the two generals were on the left. The red-clad soldier first walked up to his primary target: Doyle. Sharkface grabbed the man's head and twisted it enough to feel the crack of his spinal cord shattering. He smiled, knowing he had completed his mission.

Sharkface left the room for a moment to unpause time. When the Federal Army's leader fell to the floor, Washington was the first to react. "Doyle!" he yelled, rushing to his aid, only to realize what happened. "Everyone stay sharp; someone has invisibility here." The ex-freelancer raised his gun, as did the rest of the soldiers. The simulation troopers rushed to the wall to ensure nothing could get behind them. Washington waited to hear footsteps.

The mercenary activated his new sword and paused time again, entering the room. Smiling, he knew it was time for revenge. Passing the reds, he sliced through their torsos like butter before doing the same to the blues. When he came across Washington, he decided to leave him for last. Instead, he turned to Kimball and stabbed her through the gut.

Finally, unpausing time, everyone he killed fell to the floor, leaving only him and Washington standing. Washington's shock overwhelmed him as he heard the bodies hitting the floor despite his caution. Paralyzed by fear, all he could ask while staring at the mercenary was, "Who?"

"Your past come back to haunt you. You'll pay for what you and your freelancer buddies did to me, Agent Washington. I'll kill you over and over again until I'm satisfied. Should I burn you alive? Crush every bone in your body? Or hear you gasping for air with this sword in your gut?"

Finally understanding the futility of his situation, Washington trembled under Sharkface's strength. Sharkface appearing from thin air told Washington that his adversary had a time distortion unit and would kill him at any point. Still, Washington had to try. As he opened fire, Sharkface dodged before stabbing Washington in the chest, smiling as the freelancer coughed up blood. The mercenary twisted the blade, enjoying hearing his enemy's suffering before turning back time to the start of the attack. Now, he violently snapped Washington's neck, hearing the loud pop echo through the room.

Despite killing him twice, Sharkface still wasn't satisfied. The mercenary activated his healing unit as he kept repeating the moment. He counted fifty-seven deaths before getting bored. Washington's death was now permanent.

Escaping the room, the red-clad soldier monitored his next objective, recommended by Hargrove. Locus and Felix, aware of being loose ends, knew they had to wipe out the population of Chorus—including their teammates—once they were to gain access to the sword. He knew the duo hadn't yet reached The Purge; they would have contacted him about stealing the sword earlier.

He wished he had a teleportation cube to reach his destination sooner but couldn't complain. The combination of the temporal distortion and speed boost—and occasionally using the healing unit for energy—made the trip take significantly less time than if he were to use an M12 LRV.

By the time he reached The Purge, Locus and Felix blocked his path. Behind them stood a large, cylindrical temple in the middle of a ruby-filled crater. Three platforms hovered in circles around it. "I always knew you were planning on killing us once you got the key," Sharkface shook his head, disappointed. "It's not my fault you're not observant enough to notice when I take it from you."

When Felix and Locus took defensive positions, Sharkface rolled his eyes under his helmet. "The freelancers didn't know how to use these abilities to their best potential. You two don't stand a chance," he explained. Sharkface used his temporal distortion to get behind the other mercenaries. The red-clad soldier activated his strength boost and landed a critical kick to his opponents' cores to avoid prolonging the battle. Upon resuming time, the original mercenaries disorientedly fell into the crater below.

Without wasting another second, Sharkface sprinted into the temple and slashed through a holographic lock. The temple made a whirring noise as a white flash blinded the soldier. When his vision cleared out, he looked out a nearby window to see a yellow-orange pulse blast from the temple. He had won, and he was the only person alive on Chorus.