New Friends

The Stranded must have taken the Jury Rigging perk, cause these guys were repairing their vehicles with parts that frankly made little sense. They finished fixing their trucks and then spent two days stripping the facility for resources. I had to throw back a few Lambent incursions and a Locust probing attack during that time. I vastly preferred the Locust as they were kind enough to leave their meat behind upon death.

The 'grubs' were thicc bois made of very dark red meat that had a natural mushroom marinade taste. I guess that would be imulsion saturation. For anyone else eating Locust meat was just asking for Lambent infection, but my immune system would make a scouter explode. I am pretty sure my blood is the cure for Space AIDs, but would likely be too hardcore for anyone to survive drinking it.

Delta Team showed up at the facility already looking exhausted. They'd been fighting all day and that wasn't going to stop now. The Locust were holding the lower reaches of the drill platforms with more manpower than they had in the game. Turns out losing an elite force recon team and a repelled probing force prompted a hard response from the Horde. Who'd have thought?

"Alright everyone calm the fuck down!" I heard Jack yell as I approached the fortified encampment with the last scrapper team, "I get it. You guys are elitist G-Men working for a defunct government that betrayed its people, and you guys are pissed off scavengers not willing to piss on a COG soldier if he was on fire. I don't give a shit cause sometime in the next ten minutes my husband is going to turn up and if any of you jagoffs shoot him again I am going to stand back and watch as he ties you up and peels open your skulls one by one so he can eat your brains while you are still alive."

"Your married to a fucking cannibal!" screamed Baird in outrage.

"Cannibalism requires the participants to be equals." Jack refuted.

"Don't you dare mix philosophy with cannibalism!" Baird yelled, "That is straight up doubling down on sacrilege!"

"Holy shit!" screamed Cole, "It's some kinda super grub!"

He raised his gun to fire but Jack decked him with a straight right sending the ultra thicc boi down to the ground dazed and confused.

"Everywhere I go you humans scream and run for your torches and pitchforks." I complained, "Get some class you ignorant mother fuckers and act like you've been there before."

"The super grub is sassy as fuck." Baird commented.

"He is only like, five parts grub." Jack explained, "he is still three parts alien and only expresses whatever physical traits he subconsciously wants cause of quantum fuckery."

"That's five eighths grub, girl." Dominic stated the obvious, "And how would that even work?"

"We ate five Therons when we got here during our Post RRE Ravenous Assimilation Phase. PRRAP for you acronym loving types. Gives us the power and knowledge of the people we land on when entering a new universe." Jack answered.

"That is so many shades of fucked up." Baird commented.

"Sounds metal." Marcus stated quietly, "Listen we gotta get this Resonator down into the Hollow so we can launch a big attack on the grubs. We need someone to guide us through the facility."

"Grunt will take you boys down. He's been all over the facility the last couple of days and knows the Hollow like the back of his hand." Jack assured them, "Plus the big guy needs a new group of guy friends. The last crew didn't work out too well."

"What happened to them?" Dom asked.

"Killed by dragons." I stated glumly, "Had to gather up all the pieces for a funeral which was really hard. There were a lot of pieces and I was really hungry."

"We are going to die and be eaten by a giant alien lizard man." Baird despaired.

"Don't forget that he is a super grub hybrid." The recently recovered Cole added, "Fucking five whole Therons. Even I don't think I can eat that much."

"You people worry too much." I comforted the Gears, "This is going to be a kick ass boys weekend and when the dust settles we will all be big fucking heroes."

Delta squad didn't look convinced, just tired.

After scheduling our rendezvous for after I help the Deltas drop a bunch of WMD's on the Locust, I left Jack and the Stranded to guide the Gears deep into the bowels of the earth.

"We are going to get to enjoy the cart ride down because the Locust have pulled back to a strong defensive position on the drilling platforms after the shellacking I gave them. Remember to keep your arms and legs inside the cart at all times as this ride sure as hell wasn't made for human use."

After an invigorating bumper cart ride we arrived at the flashing yellow button that would open the door to the grub's position.

"From this point on expect heavy resistance." I told them, "It is going to be glorious."

I took point for the team, shouldering the self made stock to my modified Hammerburst Assault Rifle. I opened up with a precise stream of full auto pain and devastation on the entrenched Locust, my eyes able to see more clearly in the dark than any of theirs and without the crippling light sensitivity many of them experience. A few bullets ricocheted off of the front mounted shield on my rifle and I started to jog.

Gears of War is a series of cover shooter games, running at your enemies like you would in Halo is a fast way to die, but I am like phase three Demon of Hatred and these guys are still having trouble with Lady Butterfly. I only slowed my jog through the drill platforms long enough to kill anyone I encountered, otherwise I kept on trucking.

"Well damn." Dominic muttered as we stepped onto the weird drill elevator combo that led down into the hollows.

"If you have some brothers available, can we call them in?" Baird stated as he whistled at the destruction and broken bodies left in my wake, "I don't think we need Lightmass bombs if we can sign you guys up for the Coalition."

"I had many brothers and thousands of sons." I told them as Marcus informed their controller, Anya, of our presence on the drill platforms. "Not a one of them is as strong as me, but they could wipe the floor with the grubs."

"When you smashed that boomer to death with a tail strike." Cole said, "I liked that. I liked that a lot."

"This baby was a new addition in the last world Jack and I dropped on, and the middle fingers and claws." I shuddered, "I was born with only six fingers. Two on each hand plus the thumbs. I used to see people flipping each other off and I wanted that. I wanted it so bad. I truly came from nothing, man. Now I have glorious bird flipping fingers."

"Dude…" Cole choked up.

"Are you seriously crying right now?" Baird accused his swole as fuck partner.

"He… he didn't have no middle fingers, man!" Cole declared, "That's so fucked up."

"I… I don't get you people." Baird shook his head as the elevators started bringing us down.

"The fuck you mean by 'you people'?" Cole demanded while very black and very angry.

"The emotionally open." Baird answered, "The fuck you think I meant? You two are both like three beers too intimate and it's freaking me out."

"You know why we can do that, Baird." I looked the blonde COG soldier in the eye, "Because we aren't afraid of anything. We have lots of confidence, organization, clarity, and knowledge. With all that confidence, organization, clarity, and knowledge we can boldly say, 'Be loving and openhearted with my emotions.'"

"The fuck?" Baird requested clarification.

"I guess the wife was right about you soldier boys always needing acronyms. Cole and I have lots of COCK so we aren't afraid to say BLOWME." I explained.

"Damn straight!" Cole agreed while aggressively nodding his head, "Preach, Lizard Homie."

"I think I'd like to die now." Baird muttered.