Lucas dashed through the rubble of the fallen skyscraper as best as he could, trying to reach the cry for help he had heard in the distance. He knew that, given the current state of the District, any one innocent soul would be hard to find. He had to take this opportunity.
Lucas Rhett is among the best of the best. He trained for years under the guidance of the IA's military branches, strategists, and researchers, and had also received extreme advances in perception and reflexes, courtesy of Sven Waternaux, founder of the galaxy-sized city that Lucas was now trying to save. He knew that it would take more than this district to put a dent in the city itself, but this invasion wasn't going to end here, and he knew it.
He hopped over a massive chunk of rock and onto a cleared bit of walkway by the old road, and shouldered his rifle as he made his way to the street corner. "HEEEELP!" came the desperate cry again, and Lucas rounded the corner just in time to see two men standing side by side, one of which had his back turned and the other standing perpendicular to him, over the body of an innocent woman who just had her throat slit.
The rage boiled inside of Lucas almost instantly. "Low-life bandits!!" he cried as he aimed his rifle and fired at the two. The unrecognizable man disappeared instantly after the first gunshot as the second was struck in the head and chest by a round and collapsed. Lucas approached the bodies with his weapon still raised and nudged the man he had shot. He had black hair that poked out from underneath his hooded robe. His eyes were still open, and were a very deep, dark, and almost eery red, Lucas thought.
"Rrrgh. Are there no survivors left in this place!" He grumbled angrily, and he stepped over the bodies. He intended to continue to look for any soldiers or civilians who lived through this massacre; however, he felt hand grasp his ankle, and as he turned around to see what had done it, he was hurled through the air and into the side of nearby wall.
"You're not supposed to be here, soldier man." Came the voice. It had a dark, ominous tone to it, and as Lucas pulled himself to his feet, he saw the robed man floating several feet in the air. "The penalty for trespassing is death."
"Yeah?" Lucas retorted, "Well, I only see one of you. So I think there may be some problems with carrying out that sentence."
"One? You must not know who I am, if you think I'm ever alone." His eyes glowed for only a brief moment, and people start to emerge from the rubble. But not just any people. Some were missing limbs, eyeballs, and other body parts- these were the undead.
"So you are the necromancer who's created the bulk of this army's soldiers," Lucas inferred. This was Graveny, the cohort of the man leading this entire invasion. He must not actually be alive himself either, given the state of his body and the fact that he's still moving around with a bullet hole in his head.
"Great observation, Mr. Holmes. Unfortunately, I don't have time for small talk." As he finished up his statement, dozens upon dozens of the undead rushed at Lucas with amazing speed, uncharacteristic of the stereotypical zombie. He jumped backwards, planted his feet on the wall, and launched himself forward at his attackers.
"Good luck, but the average man can't take down my little ones." Graveny stated flatly, as if he wasn't worried that a man without powers such as Lucas could ever reach him. Lucas pummeled into the lead zombie fist first, then rolled to his feet and unsheathed his knife and handgun. He shot the downed zombie in the face at the same moment that he slashed his combat knife through three of the undead attackers' head simultaneously. He jumped into the air, turned upside down, and spun rapidly as the lightning-fast zombies quickly closed in and surrounded him, pulling the trigger and firing off the 15 rounds remaining in his magazine with pinpoint accuracy and speed that made his pistol sound like a machine gun. He completed his flip and landed on his feet as even more if the bloodthirsty walking dead came dashing toward him, with nothing on their minds except the intent to kill.
Graveny looked on, slightly impressed by the man he saw before him. Despite being without any form of superhuman powers, he was making quick work of the superhuman undead. He needed more...
Lucas sliced his way through his aggressors with amazing speed and efficiency, and it seemed as though the zombies could not get any closer to him than they already were. He found a moment where he had enough time to pull out another 16 round magazine and toss it into the air. This did not slow down his fighting speed, however, and as the mag fell back down, Lucas swiped his gun through the air and caught the magazine perfectly with it. With a quick flick of the wrist, the bullet was chambered and he shot down the few zombies that remained, but much more slowly now, as they were stumbling over the bodies of their fellow re-dead.
"You ready to face me yourself yet, Magic Man?" Lucas asked, looking like he hadn't even broken a sweat.
"I'm facing you right now. I'm right here. Come and get me."
"Heh." Lucas grinned as he started his charge toward the floating Graveny. Just as e was about to leap through the air, he was tackled from the side by something large and metallic. They hit the ground rolling, and the thing ended up on top of Lucas and began beating him down with immense strength. When he got a clear look at this new threat, he recognized it to be exactly what he had expected it to be- one of his own fallen men, wearing the standard Alliance Power Armor.
Lucas kicked the thing off and jumped to his feet, but before he could regain his footing, he was struck in the back of the head by another metallic man. He fell to the ground, rolled over, and shot the armored zombie square through the helmet, and it dropped. He was lucky he had brought the Calzintinium Crystal rounds, he though to himself, just as several more of the dead soldiers charged over the rubble and dog-piled on him. They all started hitting him, clawing him, and grabbing him- he was overpowered.
Graveny looked smug as he watched the scene. Another victory for him. Not that this one was a surprise.
Lucas was struggling to keep the gray armored soldiers from completely overwhelming him. This is it, Lucas. Think. Think or you're dea- Ha! This may be my only shot... But one worth taking at that. He positioned himself and gritted his teeth as he barred the zombies off of him with his one arm, while at the same time reaching down for his EMP grenade with his other hand. His arm was getting weak, and he struggled even more. The zombie wall of zombies were collapsing on him. He could here the growls underneath of a helmet that was now right in his face, when he got his fingers on the pin of the grenade and pulled it off.
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Graveny's men collapsed on the man, and his smug look just became even more smug. But almost in that very same instant, their was a surge of electricity around the mass of dead men and women, and they all suddenly stopped moving. After a long pause, a hand reached up and shoved the metal mass off. Lucas pulled himself up and stood to face the powerful necromancer, breathing very heavily as he rubbed his leg, which stung because of the harmless grenade's explosion. "Any more... tricks?" He asked.
Graveny sneered. "Have it your way," he said as he reached under his robe to pull out a studded mace. Graveny soared through the air and swung straight down on Lucas, but Lucas's exhaustion did not seem to hinder his movement speed or reflexes, and he brought his knife up to successfully parry the strike and stab Graveny in the heart.
"Ack!" Graveny sputtered as he slowly looked down at the blade in his chest. But then he did something Lucas did not expect- he simply laughed. "You can't kill me, fool. That's near impossible for someone even as potent as you." He brought the mace back and swung at Lucas's head, making contact and sending him flying several yards through the air.
"Pretty nice knife" Graveny said, after he pulled it from his chest and examined it. "Shame how the last man it'll kill is its very wielder." He held the knife by the blade and threw it like a professional at Lucas, who was on his knees and trying to stand up at the moment. Just before the blade struck him in the skull, he looked up and clapped, catching the blade between his palms.
"I'm not done yet, Grave Digger." He flipped the knife up, caught it by the handle, and charged the surprise necromancer at full speed, slashing every which way at an incredible speed for the average man. Graveny, however, being in the superhuman condition he was, blocked every single strike with his mace, although barely, and even returned some of his own.
Lucas landed a blow at just the right angle with his unique combat knife, as the blade actually cut straight through the mace and split it in half. Just as Lucas was about to make his final blow, Graveny kicked him in the stomach and bent his arm back, forcing him to release the knife. Lucas then twisted with enough force to break Graveny's grasp and roundhouse kicked him, knocking him into the same wall Lucas had been flung into earlier.
Lucas picked up his blade and walked over to Graveny, and just as he was about to raise the blade and bring it down onto his opponent, a streak of red soared through the air above him, which he saw with his peripheral vision. The figure struck a nearby skyscraper so hard that it had instantly begun to topple- right over Lucas. He forgot about Graveny, and dashed out of the collapsing building's path for safety. As he ran, he turned and saw Graveny up and fleeing in the opposite direction. Then he saw the massive building hit the ground. It created a shockwave massive enough to send Lucas flying through the window of another skyscraper and into a wall.
"Live to fight another day..." he said to himself before falling unconscious.
Neziul