Chapter Text
Qatar
The sunrays glared mercilessly, there was little to no cover for miles and the sand stretched as far as one could see
A team of men stood atop a sand dune, equipped with military gear and a lone child huddled close near them. The boy was visibly shaken. He stood in the shadows of one of the men and hugged his legs close to his chest. He remembered the attack vividly, he tried to concentrate on the men speaking. Confused as he was, they were the ones who kept him safe
“When I took that picture…” Epps paused to take a sharp breath, “I think he saw me.” He looked at Will
“He looked right at me.”
There was a moment of silence as they processed what the dark skin man had said
“Alright, we gotta take this thing back to the Pentagon right away. They've got to know what we are dealing with here,” Will broke the silence as he turned to his team, holding up the object in his hand
“Our radios are fried, I got no communication with Aerial.”
“Hey, kid!” Will turned to the kid he had dragged with them during the attack, “How far do you live from here?”
“Not far, just up that mountain.” The kid said, pointing somewhere
“They have a phone?”
“Yes.”
“Alright, let's hit it!” The team gathered whatever things they had managed to pick up from the attack and began descending from the sand dune they were resting on
They trudged on and on for what seemed to be hours. Soon, a signboard came into view. And then what appeared to be an outpost.
Epps quickly hurried to the outpost, looking for water.
Will scanned his surroundings, muttering aloud, “Let's hope this telephone line works–”
“Heads up!”
No sooner had he spoken, sand burst up into the air and into his eyes. A moment of panic took over him for a second before he crushed it down, he quickly blink his eyes to clear his vision
As soon as his vision cleared, he saw the metal structure beside the outpost falling over.
Towards him
All of them quickly moved away with shouts of surprise. Luckily, everyone moved away in time, hearts buzzing like a bee as they scanned their surroundings for any foe
“What the hell was that?” Patrick muttered
Fig shrugged a shoulder and said something in Spanish
“English, dude. English.”
As the soldiers gathered their bearings, they failed to notice an anomaly amongst their group
Epps turned to the team Captain, a question on his lips, but it was quickly left dry. A metal appendage raised up behind Will, poised to impale him while the man himself was none the wiser
A wordless shout left him as he raised his gun to shoot at the metal appendage. Seeing him, Will quickly ducked his head and turned around, finally noticing the appendage. He quickly dodged its frantic trashing as Epps started shooting at it
“OPEN FIRE!”
“CONTACT! CONTACT!”
Shouts filled as a creature burst out of the sand, thrashing around and moving back into the sand as the men started shooting at it. The area was filled with sand particles and the smell of gunpowder as they frantically searched for the creature
“Everyone quiet! Settle,” Will barked at his men, trying to get a clear view of the area as the dust settled down to the ground. A tense silence filled the air
“Holy Mother…” someone spoke, “what the hell was th–”
Sand filled the air once again as the creature emerged from the ground. Every eyes locked on the scene as they watched the creature raise its tail to strike Patrick in the back. Shouts struck in their throats as they helplessly watch the scene
Suddenly sand covered their vision, shrouding the scene and Patrick's scream alongside an inhuman sound filled the air, sending chills down their backs.
In the moment of panic, Will ordered everyone to retreat. Not noticing the sudden increase of dust in the air. The only thing on his mind was his team's safety. So he buried the grief for his lost friend deep down in his heart. This was not the time to mourn, he had a team that needed him right now.
They, again, failed to notice the presence of other beings in their hasty retreat. Only hearing gun shots behind them.
Fig turned around to shoot, suddenly realising that the creature was nowhere near them. “Captain! Captain!”
Will turned to see the Hispanic man far behind the group, a curse on his lips but it felt short as he saw dust was accumulating quite a distance away from their position and the creature nowhere in sight. He noticed Fig sharply nod towards the dust cloud, his weapon ready. Quickly deciding, he made his way towards Fig. Shouting commands at his team to get the Village and get reinforcement, he wordlessly signal Fig to follow him towards the dust cloud
Both men made their way towards the dust cloud, crouching low and steps quiet. The closer they got, the clearer they heard the shouts of multiple voices ahead of them. Suddenly, the creature was in front of them. It appeared to be made of metal, shining in the Sun, with blasters for claws. It strangely resembled a scorpion. Said blasters were poised to shoot as it noticed their presence. Both men jumped back, guns ready to shoot when suddenly–
“Oh no, you don't!”
A voice cried out as a giant metal hand appeared and clamped down on the creature's tail. The hand tugged the scorpion-creature back with a yell, slamming it repeatedly on the ground. Both men watched in surprise, with their mouths slightly ajar at the scene. However, both the metal hand and creature disappeared back into the dust cloud, away from their sight and the shouts continued to ring out in the area
Two tall humanoid metal creatures appeared out from the dust cloud, their visors glowing against the dust filled backdrop. Their heads turn towards their direction, like some kind of robo-horror straight out of a sci-fi movie. Quickly, Will and Fig readied their weapon which had gone slack in surprise and aimed it at the two metal beings.
The two robots were undeterred and walked towards them. Fig took a step back, his voice faltering, “What is THAT!”
Will ignored him, his eyes locked on the approaching figures of the two robots, “What are you!” he shouted at them, “Stay where you are, or we will shoot!”
He could vaguely hear Fig praying in Spanish behind him.
They paused, looking at the two soldiers up and down before raising their hands up to their heads, indicating they meant no harm, and continued walking in their direction slowly
“We are not here to hurt you,” one of them said in a distinctively feminine voice, “we just want to safely take you away from that Scorpion’s vicinity.”
“And why should we believe that?!” Fig shouted before Will could say anything
“You are in range of fire,” the other one spoke in a flat masculine voice, “just get the hell away from here.” As if on cue, a stray bullet narrowly passed about their heads and impacted the ground behind them, throwing more sand into the air.
A shout rang out into the air, making all of them tense and turn towards the noise. Will couldn't help but notice that the voice sounded very young and his worry shot through the roof
“There is a KID here?!” He shouted
The robot with the feminine voice moved to answer before a yell cried out, interrupting her
“Ajax! Athena! Are you done yet?! I need some help ove–” the voice cut off with a yelp in pain
The male robot turned and ran into the dust cloud, intending to help whoever cried out in there, not even sparing a glance at the soldiers. The female moved to follow but stopped to turn towards the men, her visors seeming to become darker as she stared down at them
“Leave.”
And she also followed the other one into the dust cloud. Will and Fig watched them leave before turning to one another
“Get the kid?” Fig gestured his head towards where the robots ran to
“Get the kid.” Will nodded his head