Revolution: The New World

8 Years Later

Present Day

July 20, 2075

1530 JST

The Ruins of Downtown Rion, Japan

Sonya Grey's Point of View

Duy, I hope you’re ok…

“So, who the fuck was it, Sonya?” Ruby asks in disgust.

Be on constant alert, Sonya. It’s evening, grey cloudy skies, and a few roaming zombies that are of no immediate concern. I see no urgent threat, and yet I feel like we’ve escaped one trap, only to be caught in another one. Damn it! I don’t know when, where, or how we’re going to get attacked, and I can’t stand it. Billy and Ruby are scared shitless right now, so it’s up to you to keep them safe, even though you’re the one who’s worried the most. They’re still too soft for The New World, and I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I can only increase our chances of survival if they’re willing to shoot back when shit hits the fan.

“I’ll tell you two later. For now, we need to focus, keep scanning the streets, stay on guard, and keep your voices down.”

“Whatever,” Ruby says in frustration. “Oh, jackpot. I’ve found your souvenir, Billy,” she says in joy as she kneels to pick up some kind of plastic toy cat.

Wait, a laser sight?! Shit!

“Billy, get down!” I yell as I prepare to tackle him.

Too close! Those gunshots from the rooftops! We’re sitting ducks out here!

“Get the fuck out the street!” I order.

“What the fuck?!” Ruby screams in fear as she follows me.

Dodge the bullets and run inside the… hotel!

“Inside!” I say as I prepare to kick the door open. “Now!”

“Good evening, girly,” a deep voice whispers near my ea-

That was a loud gunshot!

And that was way too close! My ear! Ok, ok, calm down. You have less than a second to deal with this hostile who’s less than a meter from your twelve. Quickly assess. A shotgun, the user is approximately two meters tall, heavily armored from head to toe, most likely a male in his thirties and you’re surrounded by an unknown number of hostiles. Your best chance at survival is to quickly kill this man and escape to a latrine. Phew. Ok. You got this girl.

A deep slash across his left to right arm to stun and disable him.

“Wait, don’t!” He cries out in agony as his disgusting blood spews out from his body.

“Good night,” I say.

A quick stab through his exposed neck to finish him.

“Let’s go!” I order.

*

Inside the Hotel’s Male Latrine

*

“Holy shit, Sonya!” Ruby yells out in disbelief.

This latrine is dank! Ew! Just… gotta make this quick.

“Thank me later,” I say “Minerva said the exit was somewhere underground, and yet we couldn’t find any safe entrances into the sewers that weren’t flooded with water and zombies. So, Ruby, I need you to do what you do best and fast!”

“Um… right,” Ruby says in uncertainty as she prepares her explosives.

“Sonya, what are you-” Billy asks.

“We’re going to make our own damn entrance with Ruby’s explosives. Listen, it’s ok to be scared right now, but the only way we’re going to survive is if we escape into the tunnels of death, and yes, I am aware that it’s a terrible name! Ruby, Billy, the three of us are gonna have to do some crazy-ass shit to get out of this! My left ear is fucked right now, and I can’t do my job if you guys are going to hesitate to shoot back! To put it simply, it’s either them or us!”

“Right…” Billy says in worry.

“That’s not the correct response, Billy!” I say.

“I mean, damn right, ok?!” Billy reassures in confidence.

“Double Rainbow” is ready!” Ruby says. “I don’t wanna kill anybody, but I don’t wanna be killed either! I’m too sexy to be decapitated, so I got your back, Sonya! Ok!” She prepares as we all take cover far away from the bomb. “C major, D major, F…”

A hostile just threw a frag grenade inside here?! It’s going to explo-.

*

Inside the Tunnels of Death

*

Ow… my head. Sewer water? How disgusting. Ok, get your bearings, Sonya. What the fuck happened? You… somehow survived that mass explosion, and then you nearly drowned, but you didn’t. The water brought you down… here. Ok. So now, what do you see? A labyrinth similar to where I was held prisoner by Olympus. Bright orange lanterns are illuminating the walls, there’s tons of debris, water is leaking from the walls, and it’s flooded from the neck up.

“Grah!” A zombie says as it suddenly appears to my twelve from under the water.

It’s going to drag me down!

Underwater and wrestling with a zombie. Just stay strong. Keep fighting! Keep its arms away from you! Don’t… don’t let it bite you! Don’t drown, and don’t freak out!

“GR-A-A-A-H,” a zombie from below me utters.

“You gotta be shitting me. The longer I wait, the longer I sink like a rock, and I can’t let go of Smelly’s arms, which means I can’t reach my weapons. Shit! Don’t panic, Sonya! Think! Fight! Wait! That’ll work, but damn! This is going to be so risky.

Quickly let go and!

Poke its eyeball and puncture the brain with my finger!

M-My wrist?! Too close! Poking the bastard’s eyes out and puncturing the brain wa-.

No! The one below! Get the fuck off my braid!

A splash from above? Beeping noises?

Gotta cut off my braid. Agh. Can’t… breathe.

Ok, my braid has been cut. Now to grab the corpse from above before the explosion happens.

*

2 Minutes Later

*

“Cough cough! Gasp! Holy shit!” I say out loud.

“CPR is a lifesaver!” Ruby says in a cheerful tone. “I am so, so talented.”

“We’re in trouble, Sonya!” Billy says. “These guys aren’t Death Angels!”

“No, they must be mercenaries from Hephaestus,” I say.

“Ahem. You’re welcome, Ms. One-and-a-half braid,” Ruby says in annoyance as she rolls her eyes.

“I’ll thank you when we get out of this shithole,” I say. “Now, where the fuck are we?”

“We must be inside of a rectum, because it’s gloomy, ominous, and filled with shit,” Ruby horribly explains.

“Not helpful,” I say.

“Well, we’re in a t-shaped tunnel from what I can observe. There’s zombies behind us, and mercenaries approaching from ahead, ok?” Billy properly explains.

We have to follow the light to reach our destination, which means we must go right, and the only thing standing in our way is the mercenaries.

“Disgusting rats!” A man’s voice loudly says from above with a heavy German accent, most likely with some kind of P.A. system. “Your leader is dead, and you vill be joining him all too shortly!” He says in an arrogant ass tone. “You’ve killed von of us, which is quite impressive, but I’m afraid that you don’t have enough experience points for this part of the world yet. To put it simply, you Olympians are not in Kansas anymore! You’re in checkmate, and there is no escape, so do us a favor and surrender!”

“Sonya, I still have OBAE,” Ruby says.

“Rion has already been nuked once, Ruby,” I say. “Twice will not only kill us all but is fucking overkill.”

“What’s the plan, captain?” Ruby and Billy ask in unison.

Captain… That’s right. I am the squad leader now. Poor Duy. May you and your family rest in peace. Billy and Ruby took the news surprisingly well, and I can tell what they’re thinking. They’re deeply upset, the same as me, but they understand that there’s no time to be crying right now. Fight now, grieve later. I’m… so proud of them. Ok. The water here only reaches our ankles, which is a significant relief. The secret passageway should be located in some kind of pillar room apparently, and the only way to get there is to follow the orange lanterns.

“The plan is obvious,” I say. “These assholes are trained killers, but so am I. They made me ruin my hair, so now I’m fucking pissed! They obviously know who we are, our strengths, and our weaknesses thanks to the mole, so we’re going to pull a Ruby, and fuck them up with some crazy, unexpected shit.”

*

2 Minutes Later

Inside the Tunnels of Death

*

“Dibs on the redhead. I heard she’s got a big mouth and a sweet ass,” a guard says above me, as he cautiously advances.

“Quiet, you sick fuck,” another guard says above me. “We’re only in this mass graveyard for one reason, and that’s to get paid. You can worry about getting your dick sucked by a bitch after we return home.”

The optical camouflage function on the wetsuit is superb. They won’t be able to detect me as long as I remain flat, stay silent, and not get in their way. Minerva, you’re secretly a genius who acts like a ditzy woman. Ruby, we’d be long dead if it weren’t for your babies, and Billy, I hope you’re ready for what’s about to happen. We’re only getting one shot at this.

A quick decapitation to the freak on the left from me.

“Fuck!” The guard on the right yells out in surprise as he quickly turns around.

Stabbed him. Right in the fucking chest.

“How many of you are there, mercenary?!” I ask.

“Smile, bitch,” he painfully says with a chuckle and a cough. “You’re on camera,” he reveals as he points down the other end of the passageway.

Shit! More mercenaries?!

“Down here!” A merc orders in retaliation.

Get down, Sonya!

“Ruby, Billy, shoot!!!” I order.

“Suck on this, ya stupid fucking soldiers of misfortune!” Ruby yells out in confidence.

The gunfire is so loud! Ow! My ear… just try not to think about it. Stay low and keep… crawling…

“We’re currently exchanging fire with our targets, Greed. We’ll be able to finish these kids off, as soon as you rendezvous to our position,” a soldier relays to his superior as I quietly slip behind their formation.

Four soldiers. All males, heavily armored like the rest. They’ve no idea what’s about to hit them.

A simultaneous double decapitation from me! Only two to go.

“Behind us, Hiroshi!” A guard yells out in horror.

Damn! They react fast! Ok, time to improvise! I’ll start with a roll and then…

Gut them both like a fish.

“No way… n-no… fucking way…” a guard painfully says in disbelief as his insides spill out from his body.

The other guy’s torso has been separated from the rest of his body, and yet this guy is still standing. Damn, I’m out of practice, but I know the perfect way to retrieve my killer instinct. Something tells me that I’m going to need it. First, I’ll kick this bastard’s gun out of his hand.

A takedown to pin him to the ground.

And then remove his helmet so I can look him in his eyes as I choke him with my bare hands.

“You deserve this, Andres!” I yell.

Squeeze, Sonya. Squeeze harder! He deserves to suffer!

“Holy shit, Sonya! Stop!” Billy screams out as he pushes me off of him.

“What the fuck, Billy?!” I yell.

“You don’t have to make him suffer, ok?!” He foolishly explains.

You stupid idiot! He’s reaching for his pistol!

“Billy, get down!” I say as I prepare to tackle Billy out of the way.

No, I’m too late!!

A gunshot?

What…?

“Oh, shit,” Ruby says in a shaky tone, with a look of fear in her eyes. “What… what the fuck did I do?!”

Wow. A clean headshot.

“It’s obvious what you did,” I say. “You saved us, Ruby.”

“I’m… I… I killed someone,” Ruby sadly comprehends as she falls to her knees.

“Murder increases your odds of survival in The New World,” I say.

“This is my fault. I fucked up,” Billy realizes in horror.

“That’s obvious,” I say.

“Damn it, Sonya!” Billy yells out. “You went too far! Where’s your sympathy?!”

“What?! Are you fucking serious right now?! Wow! And here I thought that you were gonna finally man up!” I say.

“You could’ve ended him quickly! He was human! Show some empathy!” Billy shouts back.

“Empathy is the last thing he would’ve shown us if he snuck behind us. Chances are he would’ve killed you, tied Ruby and me up, forcibly shove his nasty, veiny, hairy dick inside us, before delivering us to Angela, where we would meet a swift execution just like Duy, ok? Or did this fact go over your head? People are and will always be shitty, and if you don’t grow a sack and do what it takes to survive, then you’ll die just like Duy!”

Ow! Ruby slapped me?!

“You’re not talking like “The Invincible, Sonya Grey” captain of The Mighty Squad Zeus. You’re talking like Scorpius Sonya Grey of the despicable Black Scorpions. They’re two different people, and I refuse to follow the one without a heart,” Ruby says in tears. “I’m not taking sides, because Duy, Drew, Anna, and Teresa wouldn’t want us to die from our own stupidity. We’re all on the same side, ya dummies, so stop acting like assholes to each other. Luke and Rachel are waiting for us in Inpu, and we gotta warn them that another kingdom is in danger because of us! Now, this ain’t the kind of world tour I wanted, but all of us need to get our shit together if we want to survive this cruel, cruel, smelly, New World. Fight now, cry later.”

You’re… right…

“I’m sorry,” Billy and I quickly say in unison.

You almost lost them, Sonya. You’re better than that.

*

1 Minute Later

Near the Orange Pillar Room

*

“We made it!” Ruby yells out in glee as we carefully rush forward.

Wait, something’s wrong.

“It’s too bright!” Billy says in pain as our eyes adjust to the light.

What is that?! Some kind of… hat flying at us from above at high speed?!

“Hit the deck!” I order as I prepare to block it with my swords.

What?! Alpha and Omega couldn’t cut through it?!

“Careful now, little girl,” a man on top of the pillar says with a chuckle, as the hat circles back into his hand like a boomerang. “Don’t lose your head.”

“Oh, come on! You’re kidding me!” Ruby yells in disbelief as we all hide.

“Quite the contrary, fiery paprika-headed girl,” he says in an arrogant tone as he puts the hat on top of his head. “My name is Lanze Kaiser, of the Royal’s Seven Deadly Sins,” he reveals as I catch a peek of him spinning the brim of his hat on top of his head. “My sin is greed, my objective is to make you three bleed before I send you to Angela, where you shall plead on your knees,” he says as he pulls out a pistol.