A Dash of Scarlet In Paradise

ANOTHER

V

The whirring of a descending helicopter awoke Marcus from his doze. He blinked feverishly and learnt that the whirring was coming from overhead. He adjusted his vision to look above and prayed that help was upon him. But it appears that he had already used up most of his luck. A red skull marking on the nose of the chopper made it evident that it was serving under the PAU.

Marcus dropped the empty can and darted aside, into the tall grass. He ducked under the wing of the gunship and remained stationary. His eyes locked onto the sand green hatch on the side of the chopper, wishing it never opens and leaves.

However, not only did it stay hovering in close range of Marcus, but the hatch flipped open and four PAU recon troops hopped out, all bearing the same black armor and the same tactical rail gun.

Goddammit, are you for real...

There existed a faint mumbling amongst the bunch of recon soldiers, followed by the whirring sound again. The helicopter climbed back up to into blue.

By then, Marcus realized that he had been holding his reeking breath for over a full minute. He was backing up unobtrusively when the shrub behind him quavered, then the one beside it, and so on. Still, it was too quiet for the PAU troops to notice.

Show yourself! Whoever the heck you are!

He just couldn't speak, but now he was cornered on both sides. The mystery within the bushes gave Marcus a bigger questioning than the patrolling soldiers heading away from him.

With the Colt pointed in the way of the rustling sounds, Marcus had to take a quick peek at the reconnaissance team to ensure that they weren't anywhere near his hiding spot.

A quick peek, that's all it took for the lurking sounds to transform into something Marcus hadn't seen in quite some time.

It was a hulking figure, crouched under the wreckage next to Marcus, fully protected under a suit of iron, like the shell that fully veneers a hermit crab. Lighting was infrequent on the suit, there was only a peculiar, angular symbol that lighted up on the helmet. Marcus supposed it was the visor for whatever was hidden internally.

Although the thing was looking at Marcus in the eye, the outsized firearm it owned was aimed for the group of enemy troops. It was absolutely magnificent, there were custom decals on the cannon, all in the same shade of yellow. It seemed like it could have been capable of obliterating large transports. Marcus had never seen anything like it before.

The voice that derived out from the suit was amplified and digitalized in a menacing way, "Stay quiet and get down low."

What the heck? It can talk?

Supposing that the machine was on his side, Marcus nodded in agreement. He laid flat on the floor and kept close watch on the clueless squad.

There was a wheel on both sides of the cannon, both rotated until a clunk was heard, a clunk that was probably too loud. The PAU troops soon uncovered their hiding spot and had their rifles all raised. Marcus waited, and waited.

Hurry up! Pull the goddamn trigger!

It was as if the machine heard Marcus' thought. The cannon let off a big bang and an uncontrolled flame shredded the air. As much of a magnet the recon team was, they had no success in stopping the rocket. Seeing that their enemies had been incinerated by the outburst, 'it' spoke up again.

"Your serial number, what is it."

"SG776403, who the heck are you?"

It was then when it shed the thick protective dome on its head, it retracted back into a booth on it's back.

It was dark. Marcus needed to focus terribly hard to make a face out of the silhouettes in front of him. Briefly, he saw a man's face, with brown hair and a beard. Aside from that, the guy had bloodlines streamed down on his face.

"I am Captain Vector of Neptune Squad. And you are?"

"Ranger. Marcus Ranger."

"Well, if you hadn't thought it through yet, I'm on your side."

"I know. I'm just curious about your mech there, what's up with that?"

"Experimental Gunner suits, the only reason I'm still talking to you and not under a pile of scrap."

"Oh...No wonder I never knew about those..."

"Well come on!"

"Where are you heading?"

"Well you don't suppose those men are dead right?"

"But you just..."

"No, I didn't hit them, I just aimed for the ground! You coming?"

Marcus was still glued to the Gunner suit, flabbergasted to know such technology had been already created. The sight kept caging him inside a trance, but he clearly knew his priorities.

"Don't have a choice really."