Forget what i just said and read.
Down the road: The Third Horsemen
The Netherworld sky was a swirl of greys, as far as Pestilence was concerned it should've been red in all the chaos that had been going on in the recent years. Monsters called Reavers were quickly thinning out the once well numbered Death Incorporated. The whereabouts of these monsters and how they continue to appear anywhere has put the company in a widespread panic. The only one who seems to not be afraid is Death himself. Then again its not like he has much to be afraid of.
Pestilence was at Death Inc.'s England branch speaking to the head.
"with all the recent Reaver activity, we regret to inform you that we are pulling this branch and relocating you to the main headquarters, as a safety measure"
"now thats ridiculous, Ma'am, you know as well as i do that we are fully capable of handling the Reaver situation as it stands now. we have over eight hundred Reapers on active role at the moment and we have changed our work to operate in pairs. I believe that you can tell Death things are safe and sound"
"you know as well as i do, that too many Reavers have crossed over to the world of the living and done enough damage to nearly reveal us as a whole. we're not afraid of the safety of your staff, we're operating for the good of the planet, and all living creatures. order 98 is going into effect in almost an hour. After that half of the Death inc. staff will be transferred to the world of the living for the next ten years. While the other half sanitizes the situation"
The two of them sat in silence for a moment. The overseer looked over Pestilence as she casually sat. Time had done nothing but good for her, physically.
Her many years in the world of the living have let her grow quite well, the physique of a collge graduate in an old fashioned pin-stripe suit and matching fedora, reminded the overseer of better days, peaceful days. The one thing he couldnt stop looking at were her eyes. although she was calm as a summer cloud, her expression said that she was ready to take on a warehouse of enraged bulls with nothing but a stick with a single leaf on it. Her emerald green eyes were like looking into the soul of rage. The only thing that was more threatening than her were the machines that stood next to her 'Pestilence's army' since she was still mortal, it was requested that she have body guards in case of an emergency.
"hmph... alright ma'am, ill send out an immediate message to all staff that they are to relocate to HQ to be informed of their duty"
"we appreciate the cooperation, unfourtunately we're not having any luck getting through to some other branches about this, we shall leave immediately" Pestilence stood up as did the overseer and she reached out for his hand as an official close of the deal. Just before their hands met they heard a noise at the bottom of the building.
"did you hear that?" the overseer said.
"unfortunately" the overseer dashed to his desk and called to the main floor.
"this is the overseer, tell me what that sound was" there was a panicked voice on the other end, throwing out words like they were an ex-boyfriends clothing.
"just calm down and tell me whats happened" there was a scream and the intercom went silent.
"well this could've been better, wouldnt you say?" Pestilence said as she dropped into the couch again, stretching her arms out and crossing her legs.
"this is insane, how did so many make it here like this" the overseer looked at Pestilence, she looked like she was bored, it was making him angry to see her like that.
"so what do we do now? we cant just walk out of here"
"thats correct"
"so are we just gonna be destroyed here, like moths to the flame?! tell me!"
"shut up and let me make a phone call" she said as she put her phone to her ear. she closed the phone and returned it to its pocket. she leaned forward and took in a couple of deep breaths.
"so whats happening, ma'am, what are we going to do?"
"you are going to put out a message to everyone in your staff to attack the threat with everything you've got, you and me on the other hand are leaving immediately"
"your... not serious are you? you want me to leave my people behind to fight those thing while i leave for HQ? your mad"
Pestilence looked at him with stone cold expression.
"Mr. Overseer, during NWXIII what was your position?" he stood back a little, her hat was tilted down a little and the light in the room made her eyes look like they were glowing green.
"um... i was in charge of field analyzing researching how the Holy Order members attacked in the settings they were in, minimal battle experience"
"then its understandable how giving an order like this seems cruel. In battle its only natural for us to want to make it out alive along with all our friends. But we know better than to think like that. If you dont order your people to attack them now they'll only think negative on your person, the fact that you havent said something already has put you in a poor position. If you dont give the order... i will, and ill make it seem like your a complete coward of a man, with nothing to reflect on, that will make you the 'bottom of the barrel' in their eyes" the overseer thought for a moment then lifted the reciever. He put the message out and dropped the phone.
"well done, we're heading up to the roof, there will be a jump carrier waiting for us when we get there" she held her hands out and two of her guards placed a weapon in each hand. The first weapon was a sawed-off shot gun, but an over-and-under style as opposed to the side-by-side that was traditional for a gangster cut. The other weapon was a grenade launcher, just like the shotgun it too was gangster gut for compact size. She stood up and started for the door.
"Typhus, Cholera, please watch over Mr. Overseer. Influenza, Malaria, your with me" the machines snapped to the orders.
The door was opened and they walked out to the stairs. As they walked there were Reapers everywhere armed as they stepped into the elevator, the door shut and the sound of screams echoed inside the small room. The doors were forced open and multiple Reavers were attacking the Reapers, one Reaver leapt out of the elevator and charged Pestilence.
"Ma'am watch out!" Pestilence stood her ground, the Reaver was a horrifying sight. the creature was a mutated humanoid with many sharp bones protruding from many places, their muscles were exposed due to their extreme strength. and the empty look in their eyes exposed what they used to be. Pestilence drew her shotgun and popped a round in the creatures face, it stumbled backward and Pestilence whirrled around to plug the other round in its back, the chest started to bleed from many of the small holes in its chest. the creature was unable to stand, as the nervous system was ruptured. Malaria came up and crushed the creatures head in one swift stomp. they looked back at the elevator and saw as a dying Reaper, surrounded by Reavers destroyed the elevator cables and sent the small box plummeting to the bottom.
Typhus provoked the overseer to keep moving. Pestilence drew back her sleeve to expose a hidden Bandolier on her arm, she removed two rounds and readied her weapon. in the stairwell more screaming could be heard down below. The overseer looked down to see more people fighting against the Reavers, from all the grey the Netherworld washed itself in, he was bits of red splattered all over the walls. once the reavers looked up from their work they ascended the stairs after their new prey, Typhus extended and arm out of its cloak, producing a gatling gun. it leaned over the side and sent metal rain down the stairs, striking all the Reavers as they climbed.
"Malaria, Cholera, carry us to the top, Typhus and Influenza will hold them off" the overseer was scooped up and the four of them jumped from stair to stair as the other two hung behind. The windows in the stair well were crawling with Reavers, many of which were breaking the glass to get in. many floor above the Reavers got in, they dove towards the group with breakneck speed.
"Influenza!" the machine retreated its weapons and prioritized getting ahead of the group, Malaria produced an LMG and fired at the falling Reavers as Influenza worked to join them. Shards of glass fell around them as did the bodies of the defeated Reavers. The group stopped as the machines calculated the safest possible scenarios. Malaria and Cholera stepped to the sides and let Influenza blast past them with its scythe ready. There was a short segment of slashing and breaking glass. After a moment, the door to the stairwell opened and Reavers were right next to Pestilence and the overseer. Pestilence drew her grenade launcher and shot at the arch of the door, striking two Reavers, leaving Cholera enough time to shift Pestilence in its arms and gun down the two Reavers.
The machines communicated with eachother and started to ascend again. They were almost at the top, the machines clicked and beeped at eachother.
"we need to get on their backs, they need to climb on the outter walls" the two of them rode 'piggyback' as the machines climbed outside.
They were on the roof now, out in the distance a plane was closing in.
"thats our way out, we need to stave off the Reavers till they get here" Pestilence loaded a new round into her grenade launcher and snapped it closed.
"how long till they get here?" overseer said. there was a loud thunderous sound climbing the building. they looked over the side and found a Digger making its way up to them.
"dammit, of all things a Digger had to show up" Pestilence looked at her guards.
"run program 'homewrecker' initiate" the four machines spread out to the four corners of the building and jumped off.
"where are they going?! are you mad? we're fish in a barrel like this"
"their going to take care of the whole thing for us" their going to drop the building on top of the digger so we can escape"
"WHAT?! we're dead"
"they calculated the arrival of the plane to our reaction speed so that when when we're safely aboard the plane the building will tumble"
a handfull of Reavers made it through the roof entrance. Pestilence fired her grenade launcher and hit one in the chest, the other dodged and ran straight for her.
"watch out!" overseer yelled, Pestilence fired into the leg of the Reaver, the monster fell. Before it could get back up, Pestilence punched it in the chest, and something happened to the Reaver. a strange object was coming out of it. Pestilence's hand was retrieving another weapon, pulling it out of the Reaver, she ripped it out and the monster fell lifeless to the ground. The overseer watched as the disgusting thing in her hand shifted into a bigger grenade launcher. More Reavers exposed themselves and she took them head on. She fired multiple rounds into the air, and the area became covered in a bright pink gas. Pestilence knocked the monsters into the gas where they immediately started to dissolve into piles of multicolored goo.
The plane had arrived, the side hatch opened and a figure leapt out and assisted Pestilence.
"Get back Miss" the figure yelled. Pestilence stood to the side and let the figure strike the enemy as she and the overseer climbed aboard. The figure leaped back into the plane as it lifted away from the building.
"Mr. Overseer, i would like to introduce you to the one person who won NWXIII for us" the woman turned around and met him face to face, she had deep black hair and a combination of bright white and dark black clothing, she stood there favoring a leg with a black cane.
"hello good sir..." she held her free hand out and they shook hands. There was a loud series of crashes as the building collapsed the four guards leapt towards the plane and grabbed on, each holding on to the other. The Digger broke through the building and was able to grab onto Cholera, the machine reactively released its grip and confronted the monster.
"get us out of here NOW!" Pestilence yelled, the plane lifted and the three machines clambered in as the doors closed.
"get us back to HQ ASAP, its almost time"
