Subsequent Fall Part 7: The Shattered

Adam and the others made it back to the Red Merle, but they had one problem. The damn empire still was together and he needed to change that. Adam was reading the reports from Wolf and Falcon. They had the footage to cripple the empire and God Emperor.

"Adam, Astrid is getting into the capital's main communication network. Anything else for us to know before we upload?" Wolf was talking through his earpiece as both his fireteam and Falcon's were positioned on the middle floor of the building.

"Yes, their response time is bound to be seconds, he is probably expecting something like this. Good luck!" Adam hung up.

"You are fist fucking me aren't you. Fucking fuck!" Wolf shouted as the fireteam looked at him. 

"Contact our escape route and shuttle, tell them it will be hot." Falcon pointed to one of his members as fireteam Angel was securing their exit path.

"What is it now?" Astrid asked as her hand was on a plunger to start the broadcast.

"Adam left us for dead. Nothing major." Wolf buried his hand into his face as he looked around. "Fuck!" One of his squadmates tapped his back and gave him a thumbs up.

"Well, it's too late to turn back." Angel pressed the plunger as the broadcast went live. It cited the empire's hate for alien races, much of which were in the senate. Their ruthlessness versus the others. How truly evil God Emperor is to his own daughter and how manipulative he is to the army.

The glass shattered around them as the broadcast started. The empire's elite black night unit showed up. Wolf fired his rifle as the bullet bounced off. "Great, just what I wanted to see happen!"

"How long do we have to hold out!" Falcon yelled out to Astrid as she held up her ten fingers as she dove behind cover. "Ten minutes! We can't even last one!" All that was heard was mechanical clicking.

"You guys have any heavy weapons that lock on?" Astrid asked as she locked Nyan into sword form.

"Yes, why?" Wolf tossed his grenade at them as they weren't phased by the explosion and implosion.

"Lock on to me real quickly!" Astrid smiled. "Once that happens start exfilling by twos down the path and collapse it behind you!"

"Are you insane!" Falcon shouted.

"Yes it's a part of the programming!" She sat up as the bullets whizzed past her face. She had alerts popping up that they were locking onto her. "Heh, showtime! FIRE" She yelled as the four members with launchers unloaded their rockets as she sped past the nightmen.

They all turned to face her but she had vanished. Hanging on the outside of the window as the explosives level the corner of the building the nightmen were standing on. The nightmen fell to their death, their black suits oozing blood out from them. Astrid was hanging on the top part of the building using a cable as she swung back in.

"Virgil, Dante down the tunnel!" Wolf shouted as they tossed him their launcher sliding down the tunnel they made for evac as fireteam Angel guided them to the shuttle.

Another squad of normal empire soldiers entered the floor being careful of the hole in the wall as Astrid sliced them to bits. "Atlas and Vector GO!" She shouted as she unloaded Astral's magnum into an imperial shuttle hovering in the hole entrance made by them. Three men jumped across as Falcon dropped them right away.

"Nate and Josh it's your turn!" Falcon yelled as his men listened to him. "Make sure to set your charges!" Nate and Josh slid down the tunnel setting the explosives up for them as more night men showed up. Astrid was able to slice them down as on the other side the four remaining were having a hard time with the empire's number until Wolf fired an explosive round from his launcher once more.

"ALL OF YOU GO NOW!" Astrid saw two minutes left on the timer, she could last that long as the remaining four hopped down. Wolf fired one round from the launcher, leveling the one part that could flank Astrid as the final challenger showed up.

"You are causing quite the scene." God Emperor stood there as he saw many of his men dying around him. Stepping into the building the escape tunnel exploded. "I will make a deal with you, stop the upload and I don't turn you into scrap metal."

"You couldn't touch me if you tried." Astrid held up the pistol to him as the upload was one minute and thirty seconds away. Two tech experts walked past her as she tossed Nyan behind her to have her distract them for long enough.

God Emperor forced his hand upward to move Astrid up as she aimed the magnum at him and fired three rounds. Each one moved away from him as he reached up with his fist. Astrid made it clash with hers as bone cracked.

"Well played." God Emperor slammed her downward as she domed the two tech wizards working on stopping the upload, one minute. Astrid got up as Nyan turned into a sword as she slashed at him. God Emperor blocked with a small energy gauntlet. "Do you know why they call me 'God' Emperor?"

Astrid slid back and opened fire on him as the bullets bounced off. "Because I made a deal to appease the gods. And in turn, I am invincible!"

"Likely story that I find bullshit." Astrid set the pistol to her side, gripping her sword in fear.

"If it wasn't true, why does this thing respect me?" A void tendril struck Astrid on the shoulder, disabling her right arm as it lashed deep. She became deathly scared and held her blade up. It was too fast for her.

"I would leave her alone if you don't want to die." The camera's turned on in the background.

"What are you going to do about it?" God Emperor mocked Adam as he spoke through the TV.

"Me, nothing, him?" Adam pointed as a sword of light came down and struck broadside against God Emperor. Astrid jumped from the hole in the wall directly onto the shuttle as they took off.

"Is that Astral or Lone using that claymore?" Overlord spoke to Adam.

"Astral, Lone died in the tournament, you saw it. Evaporation." Adam laughed as the TV was crushed.

"We tell the gods that we can't stop Adam?" God Emperor asked?

"No, give us a little bit more time." Overlord looked back. Jaimie and Astral also slipped from their grasp as well. They would have one more shot at it eventually.

The senate called an emergency meeting to discuss their leader. In an unanimous vote, they ejected him from power, he gave it up but called all of his loyalists to support him. Half the empire's civilians and three quarters of their military joined him.