[Dark Elite_H2]

GUARDIANS, THIEVES, AND INDUSTRY--The battle for Last Legs (cont.)

Umi followed closely beside Stranger, as they crept along the wall up left to the first lock to the elevator. She was beginning to have second thoughts on Stranger's plan.
"Maybe...I should take the other side," she whispered.
"No. I ain't lettin' yer on yer own again," Stranger didn't look down.
"But it would be easier, rather than going one by one," she protested.
"No," Umi sighed in defeat. He really was a stubborn bull, even though he was part. He zoomed in on his binoculars attached to his bow.
"You know those things Sekto keeps in 'is office?" a Wolvark spoke up.
"No," one replied uninterested.
"Well, I wouldn't wanna get near them things. They's viscious,"
"Hmm..." Stranger mumbled.
"What is it?" Umi asked over his tensed arm. Stranger ignored Umi, lowering his arm straight out. He placed a Spark Stunk on the left laucnher of his bow. He aimed right below the Wolvarks. He pressed Umi on the wall with his free arm, along with himself and his bow sticking straight out. He shot the Stunk out. A powerful smell fumed out of the excited Stunk, and sucked in the squad of Wolvarks like a nuclear bomb. The Wolvarks clawed at the ground, but not even that saved them from being squashed from under each others weight. Stranger snapped his arm back up by his face, listening to the Wolvarks uproar in surprise.
"What the hell..."
'What just happened?"
"Ger'off me!"
"Is this placed haunted...?"
Stranger quietly placed on double-barrels of Rabid Fuzzles. Their piercing blood-red eyes shot out to Stranger, nipping their two long fangs together at the lip. He waited right when the Wolvarks seemed to have calmed down.
"Maybe...we just got abducted by aliens..." A Wolvark rolled its eyes.
"Oh...you think we aren't?"
"Maybe a whirlwind took us..."
"A stinky son-of-a-gun too..."
"You guys are all morons..."
"'Ey! Look who's talkin'! Yer the onoe who brought up that aliens just dropped us off fer the helluv-it!"
"...S-so? It could've happened..."
"Would you two shut the hell up!? I'm tryin' ter listen!"
It became silent. Stranger slowed his breathing so it would make so much noise. Even the Fuzzles knew to shut up as well, baring their teeth over the wall. The Wolvark grumbled, rubbing its stumpy chin thoughtfully.
"Now, I know that someone could've only done that...but who?"
"The aliens?" a Wolvark snickered, elbowing its laughing partner.
Stranger ignored the Wolvark's uproaring bickering, grinning. The time was right. He swung his arm around the wall, and shot the hungry Fuzzles out to the arguing pack. High-pitched shrills echoed around the empty dome roof of the crane yard. Bloodthirsty growls of the Fuzzles chomped wildly deep in to the ugly yellow flesh of the Wolvarks, ripping the blue cloth of its uniforms off to reach the skin deep. Stranger stepped out with his bow raised to the Wolvarks. Super Stingbees hissed under its sapphire-blue insectoid eyes. Its abdomens lowered down with the three stingers prickled out from its scarlet-orange skin.
"'Ey! It was the Steef all along!"
"Damn! I was 'oping fer the aliens. Then I'd become a famous writer of this crap..." The Wolvarks blinked at its fantasy. "What? I can dream, can't I?"
Stranger shot rounds of hailing Stingbees at the already-wounded Wolvarks. Some Fuzzles hung by their gums at the Wolvark's open flesh. Stingbees cutted through the Wolvarks, sending them one by one quickly to their death. As the scream lofted up, the other walkway on the other side became suspicious.
"Jonny. What's the situation on the guards at lock one?" the leader requested. A Wolvark grunt peered through its binofocals, smaller than Stranger's binoculars, but more powerful. It grinned through its teeth.
"That pecker-headed Steef and human'r attackin' the first dock..." it replied, continuing to spy on them. "It's already taken down the squad...And its heading to the lock..."
"Not good..." the leader growled, turning a nob on its radio walkie-talkie. "Sir, we have a problem,"
"So I hear," Sekto's low hazy voice spoke.
"The Steef has infiltrated the crane yard," it said.
"Let it," Sekto said. The leader choked on its words.
"Sir?
"Open the elevator doors. The Steef and human will have a surprise on the other end," Sekto said. The Wolvark hesitated to reply.
"Yes, sir," It turned to the Grunt. "Activate the lock," The Grunt raised a brow high.
"Huh? What'choo on, sir? That Steef'll get through to Sekto!"
"Don't question me. Jist, do it!" The Wolvark snapped to attention.
"Alright, alright," it wobbled down from its perch, then sprinted up with its short legs up to the lock. He squinted back to the walkway first, seeing that the Steef had already activated the blue lock. It grunted an affirmative, and pulled a lever attached to a tentacle of wires up to the lock light. A loud ring shuddered beside the blue light on top of the elevator. It nodded to the leader.
"Elevator opened, sir," it reported through its walkie-talkie again.
"Good..." Sekto hummed, then chuckled lowly.
Stranger scrambled to a halt right in front of the elevator right when the buzzer went off.
"Huh?" Stranger growled. He moved closer, Umi slowly following as well. The slab door slid up to its coupling slowly. A pair of six claws curved up from the door opening, revealing inch by inch Stranger's new enemy. His jaw dropped, as the door opened up further. A set of two arms retracting from the six claws took a step forward. Tentacle-like flaps covering its mouth moved with its loud ear-piercing squeal. Glowing, blood-shot, ruby-red eyes grinned challengingly at Stranger. A squid-like head revealed the rest of its ghostly-purple hide. It made a low squawk, taking another step forward. Stranger stepped back from the creature. The thing became fast, taking its long claws down upon Stranger. It caged Stranger down between two fingers. The creature also brought down Umi, nearly piercing one claw right in to Umi's forehead. She slithered away, the thing ripping a cut in to her arm. The creature gave up on the human, bringing its claws right above Stranger's head. Stranger grappled two of its claws, its strength extraordinary. More stronger than him. He threw aside its foot, and scrambled away from under its caged talons. He jumped in front of Umi, keeping an arm stiffly in front of her.
"What the, hell is that?!" Stranger growled defensively. A hazy chuckle belched overhead.
"Pathetic Steef," Sekto's devious voice grouched overhead. "Say hello, to my little pet,"
The creature gave a shrill of challenge. The Wolvark guards scrambled up to an earlier sniper's perch above the heated action. Their guns lowered, beginning to grumble in interest. They hooted and hollared cheers to the Gloktigi, raising fists in the air.
"Well, now," the leader grinned. "Things are gonna be intersting, now that Sekto sent his Gloktigi out," It watched the Gloktigi take more steps forward, while the Steef took in to defend the human behind it. "And with it being ready, that Steef and human won't stand a chance. They're so dead," The leader lit a cigar in its mouth, and puffed a smokey ring.
The Gloktigi glared deeply in to Stranger's luminous green eyes. Each waited for each other to make a move. The Gloktigi was first. It spun around like a whirlwind, spewing a green gel out of its pores in little green blobs. The blobs attached around the skin of Stranger and Umi, creating a sticky ensnare around them. Stranger wrangled his arms around, breaking the glop strand by strand. He broke his arms free first, wiping off the goo. The Gloktigi moved slowly towards the entrapped prey.
"Stranger!" Umi cried. She was still stuck in the web. He jumped right next to her, tearing the ensnare off from her arms. It squawked, then spun out another round of green ensnare. The web smacked around Stranger's arms, sliding him away from Umi. He grunted to keep his head up.
"Umi! Shake out of it! Yer almost free!" Stranger shouted. She grunted loudly, moving her arms in a stong motion, but she couldn't break free.
"Damn it," she griped, ripping her arms around in the ensnare. The Gloktigi snorted right by Stranger's legs. He watched it pass by him, right up to Umi's arm. He growled angrily, ripping his arm through the ensnare. He tore off the rest of the web, jumped up, and tackled the Gloktigi. Umi felt the gel rip off her left arm. She popped it out, and slipped off the rest like a sheet. Stranger brawled on the Gloktigi, releasing his fury like a raging bull. The Gloktigi slapped Stranger off with one claw that whipped across his face. He slammed on the ground, feeling the warmth of his heated blood trickle down his furry jaw, right below his eye. That only made him angrier. He wiped the distraction away, and bulled his head down, the long curling horns on his helmet javalined out to the Gloktigi. It stared challengingly at Stranger. He kicked off the cement floor, accelerating with his arms, and his horns still pointing out to the Gloktigi. He closed in, then stuck the horns in to the purple flesh of the Gloktigi. He pulled away, two gaping holes seeping a dark red blood below its tentacle-like mouth. The Gloktigi stumbled away, blood splashing and staining the smooth floor. While the time was right, Stranger unlocked his bow, already loaded on with Super Stingbees. The Gloktigi eyes at the Steef's bow. Stranger shot the Stingbees, but thinking that it was weak enough to dodge. The Gloktigi's eyes grew brighter, regaining balance quick enough to dodge the swarms of shooting Stingbees. Stranger blinked unbelievably, his jaw dropped to his chest.
"How the..." Stranger mumbled. It snorted a quick, deep-like chuckle. It began to spin on two points of its claws, while retracting the rest of its talons out, creating a ripper whirlwind. Stranger grumbled a curse, backing away from the winding Gloktigi, feeling a breeze come closer as it approached. Stranger bared his arms in front of his face and head while backing away. Umi watched them as the Gloktigi brawled quickly. A quick pain swiped in to his tan flesh, and a warm liquid oozed from his arms. The Gloktigi struck, and it was still going. More longer painful slashes bared on his arms. Stranger held in his tears of pain, growling instead. The Gloktigi then slapped its arm across Stranger's ribs, slamming him against the cement wall. It squawked successfully, moving on to Stranger. Umi growled angrily, sprinting at the back of the squid-head. She leaped upon it, strapping her arms around its arms, and twisting her legs around its forearms. The Gloktigi roared frantically, ripping its body side to side. Her frail body whipped side to side, but not breaking her wrap. Stranger regained conscois quick enough to realize that Umi was wrangling with the Gloktigi. He got on his feet, then unlocked his bow.
"Umi!" he shouted.
"What?!"
"When I say now, get off it, and get down!" Stranger demanded. He placed on the launchers Boom-bat Seekers, glancing at the orange barrel of explosive liquid nearby close to the Gloktigi. He gave a groan of regret, but he had to get rid of it beofre it did real damage. The Gloktigi stumbled near the orange barrels, crashing its back in to the stack. It scrambled over the barrels, then tripped on to them, with its back laying on the barrels. Umi grunted under it, writhing from the weight of the Gloktigi.
“Oh, hell no…” Stranger growled, and lowered his arm. He leaped on the Gloktigi, and ripped Umi from under it. He gave a quick slam in the face of it to keep it impaired while he got Umi and himself away. The Gloktigi writhed around, frantically trying to get back on its feet. Stranger lifted his arm up to the pile of barrels under it, locking down his bow. The Wolvarks above growled and hissed at the Steef, encouraging the Gloktigi to stand back up. The leader eyed the Steef for a moment, and what it had on its bow. Then it looked to the Gloktigi with the barrels under it. The leader kept to and fro to each, then its eyes widened.
“Oh hell…” it whimpered, then spun to its team.
“HIT THE DECK!”
Stranger shot the ‘bat down to the barrels. Right when he saw the Boom-bat stuck to the barrels, he leaped down, covering Umi with his body, and holding his head down. The Wolvarks up above, however, followed the leader’s frantic command, and slammed down on the ground, holding their brims of their hats over their heads. The Gloktigi watched the ticking quickly go by for the ‘bat. Its eyes widened and turned to a darker red. Then the Boom-bat went off. The Gloktigi was shrouded in a bolero, a dark black mushroom cloud rising up to the dome-shaped roof, mixed in a fire spin. Stranger lifted his head back up to the smoky smolder of the Gloktigi’s corpse burning with the fire. The Wolvarks slowly retreated back to the edge of the sniper’s perch, staring down at the blackened, ripped body of the Gloktigi.
“Oh…Sekto won’t be happy wit’ ‘dis…”
The leader tapped in to his walkie-talkie.
“Uh…sir? We…we got’s trouble…” he said nervously.
“Do not worry then,” Sekto’s voice spoke so deeply and hazily.
“Why’s that?”
“You’re there to stop it,”
“B-but sir! We-“
“Good-bye. You’re loyalty was appreciated,” Static belched after that. The leader looked up from the walkie-talkie, its eyes wide open with fear.
“Sir?” a Grunt asked. He didn’t answer. The leader secured his automatic machine gun, holding up against his shoulder.
"Boys," he said calmly. "This is a time ter show who we really are. We ain't gonna let some stinky beast, and a pathetic human beat 'r asses down," he turned back to his squad. "Will we!?"
"HELL NO!" they shouted, then bellowed a battlecry. They unlocked their weapons, and stood at the edge of the perch, pointing their guns at the Steef. But Stranger held his arm up with double Boom-bat Seekers on the barrels. He grinned ferally, shaking his head in a no-no kind of way. The Wolvarks grunted in confusion, lowering their weapons. After they did that, the two Boom-bats shot out different directions. One stuck on a Grunt near the middle, and one right on the leader's chest.
"Eh..." he mumbled, looking down on his chest. The Boom-bat Seeker gibbered a quick sentence, looking craftily in its eyes. The Drones snickered as well up to him. A pressure pushed against him so hard, his chest caved in. Fire detonated from the Boom-bats and its Drones. The explosion chain-reacted with the Wolvarks next to him, scorching their moldy yellow skin in to a blackened crisp. The leader's walkie-talkie sqreeched of loud feedback for a long moment. It hissed a small trail of grey whispy smoke from the cold black encasing. The walkie-talkie squawked once more, then died.
Stranger lowered his arm down, locking up his bow once more. He looked up to the elevator, wide open and inviting them in. He then looked down to Umi, she having her hands on her hips.
"Well, kid," he said. "Time ter, git up ter Sekto, and take 'im down,"
"Let's don't have 'im waitin' fer 'is beatin' 'ere, Stranger," Umi nodded. Stranger agreed furthermore, both walking up the ramp to the open elevator. Once they entered, the door automatically shut behind them ghostly. Stranger and Umi stood tensionly, watching in front of them for the next challenge up ahead.