The Neverending War (modern war)

"Dont worry, you wont feel a thing," Anna said, all buisness. "The needles are to fine." She glanced at his leg. "Once I fix this" she gestured at the metal piece, "youll have to do something about those that are held by the projectile in your leg." With quick, nimble fingers she snatched up a jar of brownish liquid and a syringe she filled with the liquid. "Try not to squirm," she said slipping the needle into his skin an inch away from the wound. An eigth of the liquid, she pulled the needle out, picked another spot, an eigth of the liquid. She repeated this six more times. "Tell me when it kicks in. SHouldnt take long." Her hands shot into the box again and again with practiced ease pulling out jars, cotton, gauze, needle and thread. Daftly she threaded the needle, then turned her attention back on the lieutenant. "Hold very still. I need to make sure the meatle didnt puncture anything vital."

Andre simply nodded to her as he watched her jab needles into him. Each time she did he winced a bit and fought the urge to run away. Yeah, he was this big bad tough-guy soldier, best of the best, but that didn't change the fact he had a phobia of needles. It really made the process of his genetic alteration a royal pain. Then suddenly he felt extremely light. He lay his head back and let out a huge breath. "Whooooh, there it is." He grunted as the potion kicked in.

Anna placed her hands around the metal inches above his skin, palms face down. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She had never done this before. A white, glowing mist formed around her hands and swirled around the metal reaching cool, calming tendrils down into the lieutenents chest. After a minute or so the mist lifted back to her hands and disapated. Anna sighed, eyes fluttering. What an experience! "You're very lucky lieutenant," she said in a dazed sort of way. "The shrapnel missed everything vital. Its taken a chip from one rib but that will have no lasting effect on you." She shook her head to clear it and prodded lightly around the wound. "Do you feel that?" she questioned.

"Not really." He said flatly. "I don't feel much of anything now." He said with a small chuckle.

"Good." Anna grasped the shrapnel tightly in both hands. "This is going to feel pretty weird but it shouldnt hurt," she said and slowly pulled the piece out. once it was out she quickly packed the wound with blood cloting herb cotten.

Andre's chest spasmed as she pulled the shrapnel out of him. He suddenly felt extremely queezy, but that feeling passed quickly. "Guh... whoah, that was... Strange." He admitted. He took a few deep breaths to purge his sudden nausea for good, then he looked at his leg. "So, you want me to just pull off those plates, then?" He asked her, gesturing at the few plates of what was called Finitium alloy pinned to his leg by the shrapnel.

Anna put a hand on his shoulder to keep him still. "Yes but not yet. I need to finish this one first." The herbal cotton did its job fast. She pulled it out and sprinkled a mix of crushed herbs into the wound to stop it from becoming infected. Finally she picked up the needle and thread and began the stitches.

The second Andre saw the needle, his heart skipped and he once again had to fight the urge to get up and move away. He bit his lip and looked away, then closed his eyes. "Please hurry up." He whined. "Did I mention I don't like needles?"

Anna smiled, working the needle. "No one does," she said. "Though I have to say your taking this a bit better then the little farming boy that needed stitches a few weeks ago," she added. She tied off the line and put the needle away picking up a gauze pad and wrappings. "Sit up to I can bind it. then we'll get to work on your leg."

With an over-exaggerated grunt, Andre forced himself upright. When he found his balance, he sighed with relief. "One of these days my luck is going to run out..." He mused to himself as he looked down at the nice stitched up hole in his chest.

"Lets just hope that day isnt today Lieutenant," Anna said distractidly placing the pad over the stitches and binding it tightly with the wrappings. "All right," she said, "now lets get to work on that leg. And do be carefull not to pull those stitches, we'll have a real nice mess then."

"So long as we don't have too much close quarters combat up ahead I'll be sure not to. Should be smooth sailing from here, though. All forces should have been pulled to the outer walls and the loading elevators, like this one, so the inside should be nice and empty save a few scouts." He said with a hopeful grin before he looked at his leg. "Okay, so tell me what to do now."

Anna gave him a look. "The armor must be removed from around the metal so I may work. I do not know how your armor works so its up to you to remove it."

"Oh." He said simply. He reached down with a grunt and gripped the metal plates on either side. With a quick flick of his wrists, he snapped the plates in two, and tossed them aside.

Anna shook her head, "Well thats one way to do it," she muttered. She walked on her knees to lean over the wound. She prodded lightly with the tips of her fingers, "Oh dear."

Andre's ears pinned back against his head as she said that. "What? Don't say that. What's 'oh dear?'" He asked nervously.

Anna glanced at him then went back to readying another syringe. "It apears that most of your luck went the the one in your chest Lieutenant," she said. "Your leg is broken." She began to inject the brown liquid 1/8th at a time all around the piece of shrapnel.

Andre's heart sank. That was going to make this mission a helluva lot harder. He'd done plenty of combat before with broken limbs. His entire training regime consisted of multiple broken and cracked ribs over a one year period, as well as both his arms broken numerous times, and his ass bone once as well. But never had he broken a leg. They were his pride and joy, in a sense. They were key to his agility. With a bum leg, he couldn't move nearly as agile as he usually did, which made him an easier target, and a much less efficient soldier. "W-what?" He asked, as if he hadn't heard her right, or maybe his mind played a trick on him.

"Your leg is broken," Anna repeated. "My magic isnt strong enough to heal it. ill set it and deaden the pain but that is all i can do here all by myself. To be honest i dont even think Lady Grizen is able to magicaly heal bones." Anna pulled out the shrapnel out and placed her hands and inch our so over the wound now packed with cotton. "Just a worning this might hurt a bit." a blue misty glow formed around her hands and reached their hot tendrils into the lieutenants leg. With a growl and a flick of one wrist the bone reset.

Andre yelped and quickly bit into his arm. "Son of a bitch!" He growled, muffled by his arm. He let go and then shook his head. "Wow... I swear, if we run into any more soldiers I'm going postal..." He grumbled. He was usually a happy guy, but something about pain just instantly sent him into an anger spike every time.

"Sorry about that," Anna said pulling cotton put. "The piece moved one half of the bone an inch or so from where it should have been." She sprinkled the none infection herbs into the wound, sewed it up, and bound it with another gauze pad and wrappings. "There," she said getting to her feet.

Andre looked up at her a moment, then he looked down at his lap. He raised up his wrist and he reactivated his armor. The metal plates that weren't completely destroyed rose into the air then reattached themselves in their appropriate areas over his body. He was quite the site. Bandaged up, his armor half blown to shit, hair a mess. Yeah, it was sexy all right. With a grunt he struggled to his feet, then stood on both his legs, putting all his weight on his good leg now.

Anna sighed and started packing up her herbs. "Which way now?" she asked refolding the 'kit' box and tucking it safely back into her little drawstring bag.

Andre took another deep breath to fight back his nausea, then he pointed to the opposite end of the elevator, roughly 100 yards from where they were. "Over there is the control panel to operate the elevator. We need to go down, and when we reach the bottom floor, we will have arrived at the ferry."

Anna nodded and tied her bag around her waist. She looked up at the lieutenant frowning. "Do you need some assistance lieutenant? The numbness should wear off in a few minutes."

"No, I'll be fine. I'll just have a bit of a limp for... a long ass time." He grunted.

"Once we get back on solid ground Mentor will be able to help and maybe together we'll be able to heal it with magic," Anna said glancing at the bit of wrapping visable on his leg.

"You don't need to. My leg should heal just fine." He said stubbornly as he put his helmet back on. He looked like a real piece of work now. His armor half blown off, his hair poking out from under his helm in the back, bandaged up. 'Like basic all over again.' He thought to himself with amusement.

"It should yes," Anna said walking in the direction he had pointed, "but it will take several weeks of you staying off your feet."

"Well, as of right now, that's not going to happen. We have to get to those reactors and fa-" He stopped as his comm began to crackle with pieces of a sentence barely audible.
"Andre-- hear me!? --ayday! We-- ing down! Abo--ssion! --et out of there!"
Andre's heart began to race. He looked to the mage. "Did you hear any of that?" He asked her, hoping he wouldn't have to repeat the transmission.

"Unfortunatly yes," Anna said, turning back to him, violet eyes shining with worry. "Do we go back, or finish and run like a bat out of hell?"

"We need to keep going. This is going to be the only chance we get. The enemy won't be so stupid as to let down their guard if we don't destroy this ship today." He said with stubborn resolve as he rolled his shoulders and began limping toward the controls for the elevator.

Anna heaved a heavy sigh, roled her eyes, and paded after him. Watching sideways to make sure nothing more went wrong with the leg and make sure her binding held up. This was the first time she had ever worked a 'front line' case. Anna crinkled her nose. How cheesey did that sound but it was true. She had only ever worked on soldiers that had come back to the ground after a battle, never had she been one of those up in the air working on or near the battlefield.

Andre lazily flicked his way through the controls of the elevator until it began to move toward the spire ahead of them. This was the last leg of their journey in this ship, and hopefully the last time they would have to deal with the damned thing. He turned and looked at Anna. "I feel thanks are necessary, even though I am sure you are here against your will, for the most part."

Anaa tilted her head and shrugged. "No thanks are necessary lieutenant. And," she smiled, "while I am learning under Mentor, I have no will of my own. There is only her will." She looked to the wound again, "No pain?"

Andre looked down at his leg and he shifted it a bit. "None at all, but it doesn't feel like responding much at all. I think it wants to nap a bit." He joked, almost seeming as if he believed his leg was an entirely different entity attached to his body. "No will of your own. Sounds a lot like myself." He said suddenly, his ears drooping a bit as he mentioned this, his tail going lax at the same time.

Anaa tilted her head to the other side as she looked up at him with her large lavender eyes. "I guess soldiers and healers have more in common then we thought." She frowned as she noticed her paws were hurting. Anaa lifted one padded paw/foot. "Stripes," she cursed. Little pieces of shrapnel hidden by blood had cut the pads of her feet. She looked for a place to sit so she could treat herself.

Andre looked back at Anna and he perked an ear. "Are you all right, dear Anna?" He asked her as he turned around to face her.

Anaa raised and eyebrow at him. "Dear Anaa?" she questioned. She frowned again and went to sit on a flatish piece of melted metal that wasnt covered in blood. After lifting herself up onto the temporary seat she lifted one bare paw up onto her thigh, dug a thing of water from the little pouch and started to wash the blood away to reveal little pieces of metal that had inserted themselves into the pad of her foot. "I'm fine, just picked up a few hitch hikers." She bit her lip lightly as she rubbed a numbing salve onto the pad, then waited for it to take affect while digging for a pair of tweezers. She gripped one little piece then looked up at the lieutenant. "The squeamish might want to look away," she joked then began to tug the pieces out.

"I've had my fair share of dislodging shrapnel from my body." He said with a soft chuckle. "And think nothing of the dear Anna comment. It was merely a formality shared by my people toward a female ally." He added before he turned back around. The spire was still such a ways off. It seemed as if they would never get there. He carefully maneuvered himself to his on the ground, then he crossed his legs and laid his tail across his lap. He then folded his hands just over his tail, and closed his eyes. "Allow me to meditate for a while. I spent a lot of energy in that last battle, and I should probably regain it before we reach the spire."

Anaa yawned widley and waved a hand in an off handed way. "Go ahead," she said and continued with picking out all the little pieces. Once she had gotten them all out she wrapped her foot and did the whole process over again on the other foot.

It took a decent amount of time for the elevator, now a ferry, to reach the center of the city ship. There before them were the reactors. The whole reason they were in the heart of the enemy. As Andre awoke from his meditation, he looked up at the behemoth structures. It was just now beginning to sink in exactly what he was preparing to do. Millions, perhaps billions of innocent lives were ready to be snuffed out by his actions. But how many of their own had been lost? They had colonized numerous planets, and made thousands more free-flying colonies in space, and the enemy destroyed them without provocation or hesitation. No, it was not the fault of the citizens of this ship, but the consequence they would share with their soldiers none-the-less.
Andre took a deep breath and held back his emotions. The mission came first. He could regret this later, but, for the moment, he had to do it first. He picked his rifle up from the ground, checked to be sure a round was in the chamber, looked at his healer friend, then gave a smile. "Are you ready for the final push?" He asked.

Anaa stood and grimaced as her wounded pads spiked with pain. "Ready as ill ever be," she answered. "Lead the way." Anaa was glad they were almost done she desperately wanted to get back on solid ground and was getting real tired of battle and the smell of blood. A strand of hair fell into her eyes. She went crosseyed and glared at it and tried to blow it out of the way. With a growl she ripped out her tie and re did the knot at the base of her neck. The size of the reactors both surprised and didnt surprise her considering how big the rest of the ship had been. Her ears twitched as she looked up and up, her tail swishing slowly side to side.

Without further conversation, Andre took off at a slow run toward the gate of the walls surrounding the reactors. According to intel, there would be three tiers to the wall, each one with heavier defenses, thicker plating, and the works. One super soldier and a healer was supposed to destroy this? What were his superiors thinking?
But, he had no choice. He was the best. Better than the best. Of all the soldiers in the military, there was not one that could best him in any form of combat. Sabotage, espionage, stealthy assassinations, recon... Even full frontal assaults on heavilly fortified bunkers. He could do anything. Which was why he was sent to do this. He had no choice. If not him, no one else could get the job done without unacceptable casualties. 'I wonder if I would qualify as an unacceptable casualty?' He wondered for a moment, not slowing down to ponder the thought.

Anaa kept on his heels. "So what fun new surprise can be expected from app this?" she asked looking up at the reactors then back to watch where she was going.

"Just a lot of soldiers. There won't be enough room for anything heavier than an armored transport. Maybe some airborne interference, but aside from that it should be all infantry." He said as he skid to a stop and put his back to a wall. He peaked around the corner to check and see if there would be any soldiers. The coast was clear, so he spun around the corner, put the butt of his rifle to his shoulder, and moved forward at a slow and cautious walk. His eyes focused down the sights. He combed his view along the tops of the walls around them, keeping his eyes out for an ambush.

"Wonderful," she muttered. Anaa glanced up to make sure there were no enemies above them and quickly followed the lieutenant. 'Don't want to get lost in this continent sized death ball.' "Now I really wish I'd stayed home," Anaa sighed. She missed solid ground, trees and grass very much.

"You and I both, healer." Andre commented as he lowered his rifle and put his back to the wall to his left as they came to another corner. He peaked around the corner to check for enemies once again, and sure enough, that was where they had bolstered their first barricade. Andre closed his eyes and reached out with his mind. Everything around him began to paint itself into his mind from a wide third person view. He examined the blockade. Ten soldiers, four manning mounted heavy machine guns, the others patrolling their perimeter.
Andre whispered to Anaa for her to remain where she was. He held his rifle tight, tensed his muscles, and took a deep breath. In one swift motion he spun around the corner, the butt of his rifle came to join with his shoulder, his sights lined up with the head of the soldier on one of the turrets, and he pulled the trigger. He watched for a short second as the bullet tore through his victim's forehead. Before the limp corpse even hit the ground, and even before the others realized what had just happened, Andre fired off four more rounds, each one finding it's resting place in the head of their target. Before any fire was returned on him, he whipped back behind cover and didn't move a muscle.

"Oh sure like id go anywhere," Anaa grumbled to herself. All of this fighting and blood, not to mention being very high up off the ground, was starting to make her fur itch and darken her usual good and calm mood. She winced with each shot and raised an eyebrow when he came back around the corner.

He released his held breath and looked at her. "That should make this a lot easier. I'll be right back." His adrenaline was going now, which made him excited to fight. He dipped around the corner and bolted straight for the barricade. Bullets fly past him, barely nicking his armor at times. He jumped over the barricade and put his boot to the face of the nearest enemy.