Penguins of Anarchy III: Edge of Disaster

Five

Another armored vehicle soared through the air in a ball of fire after African troops attached C4 explosives to it and detonated them. Bledsoe Much sighed as he killed the two African soldiers who had destroyed the truck. The Martial Alliance convoy was almost out of vehicles. Omniscion had called for reinforcements, but they were up to a half-hour away. Omniscion, Bledsoe, Vek, and the other still-standing Alliance soldiers might not last that long.

Bledsoe was flanked by Omniscion as they dispatched a clump of Africans. They were fighting on the open plains of the African savannah, surrounded by tall yellow grass, tall enough for the African troops to conceal themselves until Alliance soldiers drew close enough for them to ambush them. Approximately seventy other Alliance soldiers remained along with Omniscion, Bledsoe Much, and Vek. They had no way of knowing whether they were outnumbered or not, due to the native soldiers using the vegetation to their advantage. Either way, they had lost the majority of their force.

Elite soldiers were being cut down by what they considered to be unintelligent rebels. It made both Omniscion and the Executioner grimace in disgust. They were losing. Losing was not something Omniscion was used to. And now, Omniscion used that fury to his advantage as he pulled out his revolver and shot through the neck of an African who had just leapt into view out of the tall grass.

Bledsoe Much sliced the throat of another ambushing African with his knife. A second he killed with his assault rifle. He could hear Vek shouting in fury behind him as the boy killed three soldiers with his own rifle. Vek's relation to Omniscion was beginning to show: They could both be calm at times, but in combat they were more ferocious than any other soldier on the battlefield. Bledsoe almost regretted that he would have to kill a kid with so much potential.

That was another matter that Bledsoe was pondering as he absently snapped the neck of a crouching native: How would he be able to kill Vek but not appear to be guilty? He had decided not to eliminate Omniscion at the same time; he would let the supreme commander become crippled by despair until the Alliance saw Bledsoe Much as a more worthy leader; then he would usurp Omniscion. It was a good plan, but if he screwed up at any point, Omniscion would tear him to pieces before he could make his move.

For now, Bledsoe prayed that Vek would be killed in this battle by one of the Africans, so that there would be no blame hanging over his head for Omniscion to exploit. Bledsoe had not offered any assistance to the supreme commander's son during this battle, and he didn't plan to, so that the chances of Vek dying would increase. And now, even Omniscion was too preoccupied with fighting alongside the Executioner to come to his son's aid if he needed to. Everything seemed to be working in the Executioner's favor. For now.

Omniscion stomped in the head of an injured native and then shot two more with his revolver. "Cover me, Executioner," the commander yelled to Bledsoe Much; "I'm reloading."

"You never told me what the significance of that revolver of yours is," Bledsoe Much said as he stabbed an African in the chest. "Why is that so dear to you, anyway?"

"Because I took it from the most powerful enemy I ever faced," Omniscion replied. He had reloaded and now shot another native through the head. "I met a soldier who was more than a match for me, and I used deception to bring him down."

Bledsoe reflected on how he would attempt to use the same strategy to defeat Omniscion. "Who was he?" he asked. He had read the name engraved on the revolver during the brief time that he had kept it, back when Omniscion was a prisoner of Antarctica; but he wanted to hear from Omniscion's own mouth who the name belonged to.

Omniscion flashed a look of warning at the Executioner. "The penguin who made me who I am today. I would thank him for that if I hadn't killed him years ago."