Injustice League #1- Shroud of Darkness

Chapter 6- Valley of Dark

(Yeah, basically the whole thing with freeing the natives? that was a lie. I kinda stopped halfway through the book and a year later came back, by then I forgot about the natives entirely.)

(Stupid asshole 13-year old me...)

"So where exactly is this 'egg' anyways?" Scout asked, looking at me with doubt in his eyes. 

"I don't know," I replied. "But I'm not going to waste the rest of my life here if there is a way to leave this wretched place". Scout was silent for a minute. "Good point. But there's the native village, with plenty of women..." 

I interrupted him. "Scout, if all you care about is kicking ass and getting girls, then you can leave." Scout stood silent, looking shocked, until Timeist nudged his shoulder. "C'mon man. If you get left behind, we're not coming back for you." At that remark Scout took off to catch up. Meanwhile, I heard noises in the distance. I held my hand open, signaling to stop. 

I crouched down and peered through the foliage in front of us. A few feet in front of us was a slight drop in elevation, and from a ledge on the downslope, there was a structure made out of scrap and what looked like parts from a Shadow naval transport. 

Sure enough, I could see Shadow troops patrolling the open parts of the tower, and the ground around the entrance. I slowly backed up to my comrades, in the bushes. "It's a Shadow outpost. Looks like some of them crashed here, and built a base." Scout came forward. "What do we do?" I thought for a second. "I have an idea." I beckoned at Timeist. "Sniper rifle." He handed me his BFG 50, a very powerful- but silent- sniper rifle. I told everyone the plan. 

"There's a guard on the roof. I'll take him out. When I give the signal, Timeist and Scout will Silently take out the entrance guards. Then we'll infiltrate the base and see if they have any intel on the Dragon's lost egg." We took up positions. I laid down, aiming at the Shadow scout on the roof. I looked through the scope, aiming at his chest. His weapon, an MP5, got in the way of my shot. I moved my aim to his head, and pulled the trigger. 

The gunshot was almost completely silent. The Shadow fell dead to the floor of the balcony he was standing on, black blood staining the wall behind him. 

His gun clattered against the ground, alerting the two guards at the door. They heard the noise, but before they could react, Timeist and Scout quietly grabbed them and beheaded them both. We then burst through the front door to a surprised group of Shadows at a bar, drinking rum.

 Startled, they rushed to pick up their weapons. I shot two with my Magnum, meanwhile three more engaged Timeist, Scout, and Rocket. I picked up a bottle and smashed it against the head of a Shadow running at me with a switchblade. The bartender ran up the stairs, shouting in their language. My Shadoic is a little rusty, but I could tell he was warning the rest of an attack. I shot him in the leg, and he yelled in pain, falling over the railing and snapping his neck on the floor, then going limp. Scout, Timeist and Rocket kept the Shadows engaged while I ran up the stairs, taking down two more Shadows who started down the stairs to help. 

The second floor was a command center, with makeshift monitors on desks, chairs, and a map on the wall. Two Shadows sitting at the desks started to get up, but I put a bullet in both of their heads. I walked over to the wall where the map was. The map seemed to be a drawing of the area island the Shadows had explored. The tower we had infiltrated was an outpost. The map had a line drawn from the outpost to a mountain chain on the opposite side of the island. There was a dot on the end of the line in the mountain chain that was labeled "Egg mine". 

"So that's why the Shadows are here," I said to myself. "They want the egg for themselves. I heard a cawing noise outside. I looked out the window and saw a black falcon sitting on a tree. It was creepily staring straight at me, without breaking focus. It sat there for a while before flying away. I looked away from the window and grabbed the map off the wall, along with a couple extra ammo magazines from the desk. I ran downstairs, where Scout, Timeist, and Rocket were piling the Shadow's corpses in a corner. 

"What's that you got there?" Rocket asked. "A Map. It turns out there's a mountain chain north of here where the egg is buried. The Shadows have a mine there. Apparently we're not the only ones looking for the egg." Everyone in the room was intent on listening. "How do we get there?" Cupa asked. "Well, according to the map, there's a path from here that goes north towards the mine." I said, holding the map up and indicating the path. "Well, let's get going!" Scout said, standing up. "Alright, let's go." I followed up, walking towards the door. "I just said that!" Scout complained, holding his hands up in a questioning manner. "Shhh." Timeist replied, putting a finger over Scout's lips.

...

On the way towards the mine, I studied the map, while Echo sat on my shoulder, pecking flies and mosquitos out of the air. "There's several obstacles on the way, unfortunately." I said to the group. Coming up is a forest area that apparently is home to some dangerous monsters..." I commented, indicating the forest. "Up ahead of that is a river, which goes to fast to cross, so we'll have to take the long way around." I followed up. "What long way?" Scout asked, a hint of annoyance in his voice. 

"We have to follow the river inland towards the source, go around, and follow it back outwards until we find the path again." I replied. 

"Great." Scout complained. "More complications." Scout continued to complain for the rest of the walk.

 We got to the "monster" forest, and Scout was still yapping. I thought I heard a noise in the forest. "Scout, be quiet." Scout looked at me angrily. 

"Oh, so I'm annoying now!? Oh, I understand now. Nobody cares about poor old Sco-" I cut him off. "I'm serious." I said, looking at him. 

"Oh, I'm serious too! I never get any praise!" Scout yelled. 

The noises got louder, closer. "Scout, I will give you six bars of gold if you shut the fuck up!" Timeist yelled. 

Then they started arguing. Scout and Timeist yelled insults back and forth at each other. 

"WILL YOU TWO CUT IT OUT!" I shouted, silencing them. "I heard something moving in the woods." I said, finally. "Oh fuck off. Stop trying to scare us." Scout replied. 

"I hear it too." Crystal commented. 

"Me too." Cupa Replied.

"It's something really, really big." Bella followed up.

"Something big? Well these trees are pretty damn big." Rocket replied. "Shhh!" I shushed, listening. Everyone else went silent.

Then we heard it.

It was the sound of a fallen branch crunching.

Snap!

Then a tree rustled.

We backed into a tight group, drawing our weapons.

I unsheathed my sword.

Scout took out his minigun.

Timeist drew his sai.

Cupa and Crystal brandished their SMGs.

Then it happened.

A huge hand reached out of the thick forest.

It wasn't an animal hand, it was weird, rough, and made out of worn tree branches. It shot out and grabbed Cupa, Bella, Crystal, and Andr.

"CUPA!" I shouted.

"BELLA!" Rocket shouted.

"CRYSTAL!" Jimmy shouted.

"ANDR!" Shouted Timeist and Scout.

I looked skeptically at Jimmy while Scout and Timeist did the same to each other, then we drew our weapons, while the rest of the men did the same. "What the hell was that thing?" One of the men shouted. "I don't know. I think it was a...tree." I replied. "Great," Scout grumbled. "First giant squids, then dinosaurs, then shadows, and now bigass killer trees? What next? Flying lizard monkeys?" Timeist and I turned to Scout. 

"Scout, shut up." We both said at the same time. 

"We can't argue amongst each other." Rocket said. "It'll just make it easier for those trees to kill us." We stood in formation, pointing our weapons in all directions. Everything was silent again.

A bush rustled.

Dirt was blown about the path.

Birds flew overhead.

Then it happened again.