Shadow Slave

The Rhino let out a disturbing, screeching sound and came to a shuddering stop. Sunny remained on the roof for a few moments, looking down with a grim expression on his face, then jumped down. Landing softly in the snow, he took a few steps away and studied his battered APC.

The mighty machine... had seen better days.

Its armored hull was littered with deep gouges and makeshift patches of scavenged alloy. The wedge-shaped ram at the front of the Rhino was deformed and painted dull red, its deployment mechanism irreparably damaged and stuck in the lowered position.

The six mighty wheels were still intact, but all the additional thrusters were either spent or destroyed.

What worried Sunny the most, though, were the sensitive internals of the APC. Despite the fact that Kim and Samara had been desperately trying to keep them from deteriorating completely, most of the systems were slowly dying. The Rhino had been put through too much abuse, and now, it seemed to be on the verge of failing.

A sad, bitter sigh escaped from Sunny's lips.

'Damn it.'

...Behind him, the rest of the caravan was in a similar condition. The column of dilapidated vehicles stretched for many kilometers, each showing some signs of battle damage and stress. Most vehicles had not suffered as much as the Rhino, which served as the vanguard machine, but then again, most of them were also not as shielded and robust as the custom APC of the Irregulars.

After studying the state of the caravan for a minute or two, Sunny turned around and walked forward. Passing between the massive shape of Abomination and the much smaller, but similarly fearsome shape of Blackie, he stopped and looked at the vast valley below.

As he did, the Crow landed on his shoulder.

Sunny and the three Echoes remained silent for a while.

not hide the upturned soil and the signs of a devastating battle that must have raged here once. Craters and mounds of frozen earth

Nightmare Creatures were

that, thirteen active Gates ringed

"What a terrible place."

reached the crest of the hill. The Nightwalker was looking down with a sour face, his broken arm still resting in a makeshift sling. He had been wounded in a random battle a few days ago and was yet to

Sunny smiled.

to deal with the

that valley well. It was where he had fought his first real battle in the Southern Quadrant, unleashing Saint to defend the mundane soldiers. Looking down, he could recognize the spots where he had slain the Gate Guardians, as well as the spot where the division had burned its

Was he feeling... nostalgic?

it did

did matter was that the valley was only a day's travel away from Falcon

finally made it...

the long night of Antarctica still showed no sign of ending. The world was dark, as always, and full of

a little bit harder than the previous one. The numerous skirmishes and battles they had fought all started to blend into one, at some point, and the names of soldiers and civilians Sunny had

in all, few people died... comparatively. Considering the overall size

people were not

grimaced and looked

to Falcon Scott in one piece, but the hardest part was still ahead

naturally attracted

break through that blockade to