For Tomorrow

Jace's head was slammed forward into the chair; thankfully he had a hard head that was used to the abuse of being constantly slammed around into things. Jace kicked back and his foot struck what felt like solid concrete. It seemed to throw off his attacker long enough to roll over to the side and pull out his Boltok pistol from his holster and turn around to aim it at his attacker.

What Jace saw confused him: whatever it was wasn't human. It looked similar to a human male, if they were as big and as muscled as a Boomer. It was clad in a pre-war, silk, pinstriped suit: it looked brand new. Something like that would have to be at least seventeen years old. Yet it looked like he had picked it up from the store yesterday. His eyes were covered with turtle shell sunglasses, Jace could barely make out pure black eyes before the thing pushed his glasses back up to fully cover his eyes.

Jace didn't have to figure out this was no friendly, he pulled the trigger and the bullet shot forward and embedded itself in the thing's upper right arm. Jace was startled: as the bullet embedded itself in the top layer of skin of his attacker.

"Shit." Jace said as he rolled backwards again and pulled his Lancer off his back. Hopefully if he could get close enough he could chainsaw a limb off of him.

"Submit and stand by for analytical testing." It rumbled in a voice that could break concrete.

"Fuck that." Jace said as he lined up his sights and shot off a small burst of rounds at the thing. Hoping that maybe some Lancer rounds would slow it down.

"Target is hostile. Beginning submission protocols." the thing rumbled as it charged forward like a very graceful berserker.

Jace rolled out of the way and the thing slammed into a wall. It was phased for a few moments giving Jace enough time to escape.

Running over to Ayers Jace picked him up and threw him over his shoulder. The thing had gotten its bearings once again and tore off towards Jace. Jace ran, slowed down by the extra weight on his shoulder but that didn't stop him from tearing down the hallway, the long hallway.

He felt the fear settling in once again as he sprinted through the hallway. Whatever it was made no sense, he already had something chasing him and it wasn't scary beyond it could tear his arms and legs off and then beat him to death with them.

"Can't fight it…"Ayers moaned out. "Run…"

"Hang on Ayers, I'll figure out somethin'." Jace responded as he began to thumb for a grenade.

Grabbing a frag grenade off of his belt Jace primed it and slammed it onto the doorway that led to the balcony. A few seconds later there was an explosion and the ceiling began to collapse behind them.

Damn, I was hoping to seal the door behind me. How the fuck did I bring the whole goddamn ceiling down on me? Jace wondered as he ran towards the balcony.

"Damn baby, what the hell did you do?" Cole crackled over Jace's TAC/COM.

"Big guy chasing me. Jumping over balcony. See you in three." Jace yelled as fast as he could as the ceiling and building began to crash behind him.

The balcony was a few feet away, Jace reached deep in the tank for that last little burst and sprinted a little more. He reached the edge and hurdled over it as the house collapsed behind him. Jace tucked and landed hard on his side, his ribs making a sickening cracking sound. Pain shot up to his side as he screamed out, it felt like a hot poking iron had been shoved into his side. He groaned as he rolled over onto his back to try and relieve some of the pain.

"Oh shit son! Didn't anyone tell you a little goes a long way?" Cole yelled as he ran over to Jace.

"Fuck! My ribs!" Jace moaned out as he looked around for Ayers. "Cole, where's Ayers?"

"Brett? Shit, did you find him?"

"Just look!"

"Okay, okay." Cole told him as he looked around. Ayers had rolled over and was lying on the ground a few feet away from Jace. "Shit Brett, what the fuck happened to you?" Cole murmured as he looked over all the cuts and scars he had had accumulated.

"Cole? Was that explosion you?" Anya's voice came over his TAC/COM.

Cole put two fingers on the button so he could reply to Anya. "Nah, that was Jace. For some reason the building needed to go boom-boom."

"Do you need assistance?" Anya asked in her cool, collected tone. Something that would go away when Cole told her that Jace was lying on the ground with broken ribs.

"Yeah, we do. Jace got hurt jumping out of the broken building and we also found Brett Ayers."

"Wait, you were in the building when it was blowing up?"

"Nope, Jace was the mastermind behind that one."

"Stay put. We'll regroup in five."

"Aight, over and out."

Cole looked over and then went over to Jace. Helping he leaned him against a nearby wall.

"Hang on now big man, just need to see if your ribs are broken or if you just have a nasty bruise." Cole told him as he crouched down next to him.

"Okay." Jace grunted out.

"Alright now let me run my hand over your ribs, make sure nothing came loose." Cole told him as his hand ran up Jace's rib cage. Jace cringed but Cole didn't feel any major fractures. Just some light swelling for now that would blow up bigger later.

"I don't think they're broken, but Anya will make sure once she gets here." Cole told him as he walked over to Ayers to check on him.

Picking Ayers up, Cole carried him over and placed him next to Jace. Ayers was barely breathing, he needed medical help and soon. Looking at the man who had been missing since Hollow Storm would attract some attention at his differing appearance. This new Ayers had hair that was a fourth on an inch long, old Ayers always had a nice full head of black hair that he always managed to look stylized even if it wasn't feasible for him to do so. Ayers always had a boyish face that sparkled with enthusiasm and wonder, now his face was gaunt and lean. He had a look of hopelessness that most Stranded seemed to have.

There was a sound of moving rubble behind Cole. Cole grabbed his Lancer and turned around, waiting for whatever was coming to show itself. Everything fell silent again, Cole was getting nervous. The sound of footsteps was nearing and Cole tightly gripped his Lancer ready to shoot whoever threatened him.

"Cole?" came Alex's voice from beside him.

Cole lowered his Lancer and turned around to face Anya and Alex. Anya ran over to Jace and began giving him basic first aid to make sure that he was fine.

"What were you doing just then?" Alex asked as she walked over to him, flipping a piece of red hair back into place.

"Some creepy crawly movin' about in the rubble. Thought I heard it move." Cole replied simply as he turned towards Jace.

"You didn't see it, ugh." Jace moaned out as Anya continued to fix him up. "Damn thing was as big as a boomer and tough as a berserker. I shot it with a round from my revolver and the bullet just stopped when it hit its skin."

"I'm sure you did Jace," Alex commented as she gave him her 'I'm totally shitting you right now grin'. "I bet it was a scary monster that's gonna pop out from under your bed tonight as you go to sleep."

Jace responded by raising his left hand and extending his middle finger. He turned back to Anya. "Jesus Anya, it's not that bad. Worry about Ayers, he's the one that looks like hell." Jace told her as he put his hand on her chest plate and pushed her away and began to try to stand.

Something began to shake from the rubble of the destroyed house. Jace hooked his foot around his Lancer and kicked it up into his hands so he could avoid bending over for right now. A big hand shot up from the rock and mortar and clawed its way to the surface.

"What the fuck is that!?" Cole yelled as he pointed his Lancer at the monstrosity.

The thing had mutated and it was much bigger now. About as tall and twice as muscled a berserker. All over its body were spikes of different lengths. It roared before looking at the Gears with an analytical gaze.

"New specimens, female and male. Capture and contain." it spoke in its voice that shook brick and mortar.

"Shit." Jace said as he revved his chainsaw bayonet.

*******
Baird was being shot at. When he woke up this morning that was actually a possibility. He was ducked inside of a fountain, the marble blocking the bullets that were flying all around him. He pressed two fingers into his TAC/COM to open the channel.

"Sam! Need assistance!" Baird yelled as he tried to see where he had dropped his Lancer. He had dropped it when the bullets first started flying and one had pinged off his gun shooting it out of his hand. This is what he got for bringing his tool kit instead of his back up Hammerburst.

"Bloody hell you bludger! I'm trying!" Sam yelled as she took a shot at what she thought was someone with a gun.

"Fuck Sam, just spray them with Lancer bullets and let me grab my gun!"

"You dropped your gun? Dipstick."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm the bane of everyone's existence and all that, can you cover me for thirty seconds?"

"If you don't get shot."

"Har, har. Bitch."

Baird peeked up over the edge of the fountain and found his Lancer. It was at least a good twenty feet from his current location. "Fuck my life." Baird whispered as he rolled his shoulders to loosen up.

"I'm making a run for it in five seconds. Get ready." he told Sam.

"Okay Blondie."

He counted to three and then hurled the fountain. Dropping he began to roadie run to keep himself low. Bullets flying around him, one or two pinging off his giant metal armor. He reached his hand out and grabbed his Lancer before somersaulting behind a wall and crouching down.

"You went two seconds early! No-Hoper!" Sam yelled at him as she fired a Longshot round through the head of one of their attackers.

"It was two seconds after I said five seconds. Plus the three I waited."

"Fuck off you goddamn piker!"

"You really dig into the bag of Kashkuri slang when you're pissed don't you?"

"Just for you sweetie."

"Wow, now I know I'm really in trouble." Baird responded as he fired a few rounds into what he thought was the chest area of his attacker. The attacker shrugged the bullets off like they were nothing and kept firing their gun at Baird.

"Shit! They're armored on their chests!" Baird yelled as he fired a few more potshots off at some various other people.

The sound of two other Lancers joined the battle; Baird paused at this new noise. The sounds of their attackers guns hadn't sounded like Lancers, but some hybrid of a Hammerburst and a Lancer spliced together.

The sound of a chainsaw revving caused Baird to spring into action. He yanked the lever to rev his chainsaw and brought it up to defend himself. One of his attackers brought a chainsaw bayonet down on him Baird brought his up and the two slammed together in a cacophony of metal grinding and screeching on metal. Baird locked eyes with his attacker: it was a young kid, about as old as Jace. His eyes were filled with hate as he tried to bring the chainsaw bayonet into Baird's exposed neck.

Baird didn't want to kill him but he didn't want to die either. Kicking out at the kids kneecap, his dueler dropped his guard: causing Baird's chainsaw bayonet swung down and dug into his neck. Cutting through flesh, muscle, and sinew and shooting out what felt like gallons of blood. Baird screamed in a war cry as blood shot up in the air and rained all around him. After what felt like hours the kid fell backwards onto the ground.

Baird groaned, he was covered in bits of flesh and ten shit tons of blood. He turned around to see Marcus and Carmine walking towards them. Baird spit some blood out and tried to wipe off some of the red liquid off of his face.

"Where you assholes been?" he asked with a little more spite in his voice.

"Carmine tripped a wire and we got caught up in a big sack. Tell ya later." Marcus grumbled without quite grumbling.

"Yeah, can we forget that happened? I'm going to have nightmares for weeks now." Carmine tacked on.

"Whatever." Marcus said as he turned around to look at the corpse that Baird had mutilated. Initial glances told him that it wasn't Stranded. The armor was too uniform and maintained.

The corpse had pitch-black armor that looked like it had been ripped off of a Gear's corpse. But this one was new, which couldn't be possible, nothing new had been made on Sera for a little over a decade. Everything was maintained, attempting to keep pieces of shit running for as long as possible.

"Baird, is that new?" Sam asked as she waltzed over.

"Yeah, still has that new armor smell. With a hint of copper undertone."

"Baird…" Marcus growled.

"Fine, fine." Baird said as he held his hands up and bent down to take a look at it. "No rusting, no patchwork. Looks new. Wait a minute." Baird stopped as he checked under the collar for something. "No serial number. Every piece of equipment has a serial number on it, even shit made after E-Day."

"So that mean?" Carmine asked, urging him to get to the point.

"Someone out there has resources and a functioning factory, and they're gearing up for war."