Endless War

XIII

"Link...we all have our fates. Mine is to die young with no family in an unknown land, but even here and now, I do not die alone."

-Joseph Turner

The sun's rays peeked through the window, finding their way into each person's eyes, causing more than a few curses among the soldiers.

Well, it seems the sun is the same in Lorule and Hyrule. Always trying to ruin our sleep.

There was a long sigh as Ghost failed to open a jar of peaches without splattering peach juice all over himself, finally just throwing it at a wall and watching the peaches fall to the floor. Somehow those were still good, as Link took one and ate it as Turner led the day's operations.

Noble Team generally agreed that Turner was the best tactician in the entire team. Unlike the other soldiers, Turner had been educated at the Hyrulean Army's West Point Academy, dedicated to churning out the army's officers. He had graduated first in his class and was then deployed around Hyrule to numerous hotspots, often finding a way to halt the Yiga in their tracks. So while Link was the de facto leader of Noble Team, pushing ahead when nobody else could, it was Turner who pieced together the information and advised Link on what to do next and where they should go.

First, it was imperative to get information, and what better info than the one you can obtain from your enemies? And so, while the rest of the soldiers checked their blades and bows, Turner studied maps and crime rates provided by the CIA.

Even a government agency like that bungler could be helpful occasionally.

It wasn't hard for the college graduate to immediately see a connection: crime had spiked up in certain areas, which had only increased after the fall of the Cabal faction of the Yiga. It was most likely not a coincidence, and the only logical explanation was that the Yiga were setting up their bases there. Thus their first mission - and it would turn out, their first missions - was searching and raiding whatever Yiga warehouse or stockpile they could find.

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"It's not easy to infiltrate this place," Turner said. "For one, it's underground, so there's little light besides whatever they have. Even our night vision provided by our armor can do so much. Second, it's tight spaces. Very little space, not a lot of room for maneuvering, so if we get in shit, we're in deep shit. I've seen those Blademasters. They're no fucking joke either."

Reznov cleared his throat. "So, basically, command has given us a shitburger."

Turner shook his head. "That's optimistic at best. We know the inside and outside of this place thanks to those footsoldiers we killed, but we don't know how many lurk down there. We have to assume that these bastards know these hallways much better than we do, and we have no way of knowing how accurate those plans we obtained are."

The young officer looked at Link. "What say you, commander? Ready to go on a suicide mission?"

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The hard part (the other hard part) was getting to the Scarlet Keep. Being an underground fortress, you could theoretically tunnel down to go wherever you wanted, but Noble Team didn't have that luxury. Instead, they had to traverse the area on foot to the one doorway that linked the keep to the surface world.

It wasn't going to be easy, either. On their regular raids, the squad had noticed that the Yiga had stolen vehicles called tanks, which were massively armored carriages with a cannon mounted on top. It was slow, but every soldier feared heavy artillery. Mobile heavy artillery? That was something new and terrifying and best left to the imagination. But no, these Loruleans, despite all their problems, had invented just that, and the Yiga had stolen them.

And they weren't exactly easy to disable.

"Aim for the back! Drop an explosive in the rear of the tank!"

Link got back up and started running back to the damned tank. They were huge, but they were slow, and Link was fast. Therein lay his advantage.

While the rest of his team was cutting down Yiga footsoldiers, Link was supposed to take out the tank.

But panic had taken hold at first. He had been in many simulations and trials but not combat.

He hadn't ever had to stain his blade with the blood of an enemy.

Only Turner picking him back up from his supine and shocked position had gotten his head back in the game. He had probably saved both of them when the two started running again.

He could feel the man behind him as he ran toward the tank, focused on the roaring Reznov, using his massive claymore to slice through five footsoldiers and send others fleeing.

His life is in your hands. Don't take it from him.

With one final jump, Link landed on the bucking, roaring, stinking tank. It wasn't easy to hang on to; there was a thick coating of grease and oil. But somehow, he managed to hang on and drop the small bomb.

The explosion knocked Link backward, blurring his senses, but he could still make out two Yiga crawl out of the tank, determined to take vengeance on the hero. It was over; his journey ended here.

And suddenly, Turner was there, quickly shooting two arrows at both of them.

The man turned around, offering a hand.

"It's okay. I've got you, son."

Two knives pierced his armor; one in the power core, another in his back.

As the man fell, the Yiga advanced menacingly, taking his sweet time admiring his sickle. Turner had dropped onto Link, pinning them to the ground. Salvation had been at hand; now, it was over for the two of them.

And suddenly, amid the groans of the injured man and the curses of the Yiga, Link saw Turner's prized throwing knives on the side of his armored legs. With a burst of strength and desperation, he grabbed hold of one, took aim, and threw it with all his force at the Yiga, completely surprised as they returned to his hand. He threw again, watching as it pierced the traitor's skull.

Link freed himself and looked down at Turner, who gasped, "I'm not, not going to make it. Leave me."

Link hooked his arms around Turner and started dragging him away with one arm, using the other to throw the magic knives.

"I got you too. I got you too.

"Stay with me!

"Turner!

"I'm not leaving you here!"

Suddenly, Reznov was upon them, shouted something about retreating, and he clubbed Link hard enough to see stars. When his vision finally cleared, he could see the scene before him.

Noble Team retreating. Turner standing. "...hold them..." Turner drawing his bow. One, two, three down. Getting dragged away. Protests. Screams. Cries. Turner pulling out his eightfold blade. Slice, slice, chop. Blade breaking.

Turner collapsing.

Sickle falling.

The world fading...