More Than Meets The Eye 1/21
Story Title: More Than Meets The Eye 1/21
Chapter Title: The Battle in Qatar
Author: sakamotomhira
Rating: R (violence)
Pairing: None
Summary: Kurt Hummel gets more than he expected when his dad buys him a car for his sweet 16. As if his life wasn't hard enough.
Warning: Violence, language
Disclaimer: I don't own Glee or Transformers. I do, however, own an ocarina, a Sonic Screwdriver, a tribble, and a titanium spork.
Word Count: 2,922 *squeaks happily* I wrote more than I thought!
Notes: This is a fill for the Glee Angst Meme. I don't know how to link to users yet. I can, however, link you to the prompt. Le Prompt I was so eager to start this that I typed the beginning of this on my DSi. My laptop broke so I hand wrote this first chapter, watched it on my PS2 with the transcript on my DSi. All the software works it's just my screen that's busted so I'm typing this blind right now. I have to bend a corner of the screen to get things realigned. Alright, here we go! Enjoy!
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Masterlist
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Before time began, there was the Cube. We know not where it comes from, only that it holds the power to create worlds and fill them...with life. That is how our race was born. For a time, we lived in harmony. But like all great power, some wanted it for good, others for evil. And so began the war. A war that ravaged our planet until it was consumed by death, and the Cube...was lost to the far reaches of space. We scattered across the galaxy, hoping to find it, and rebuild our home. Searching every star, every world. And just when all hope seemed lost, message of a new discovery drew us to an unknown planet called...Earth. But we were already too late.
--
Qatar - The Middle East, Present Day
Helicopters flew over the desert, the blades stirring the hot air rapidly. Men dressed in uniform were riding inside.
"Oh, God, five months of this," one man spoke, his skin filthy and covered in sweat. The other men were in similar states. "I can't wait to get a little taste of home. A plate of mama's alligators éttouffée. Mmm."
Stabbing his finger in the air for emphasis, the man across from him said, "You've been talking about barbecued 'gators and crickets for the last two weeks. I'm never going to your mama's house, Fig. I promise."
"But Bobby, Bobby," Fig, or Figueroa, protested.
"I'm never going to your mama's house."
"Bobby, 'gators are known to have the most succulent meat."
"I understand," the dark skinned man replied, nodding.
Figueroa rattled off something in Spanish, Bobby Epps mocking him before scolding, "English, please. English."
The man sitting nest to Figueroa piped up. "I don't-I mean, how many times have we-we don't speak Spanish. I told you that," he said, shaking his head.
"Why you got to ruin it for me, man? That's my heritage," he countered. Spanish poured from his lips again, hands gesturing.
"Fine. Go with the Spanish. Whatever," he conceded.
From further back in the helicopter, a blonde with glasses, Donnelly, spoke up. " Hey, you guys remember weekends? Huh? The Sox at Fenway. Cold hotdog and a flat beer."
"Perfect day," Figueroa sighed. He turned to his friend. "What about you, Captain? You got a perfect day?"
He leaned his head back against his seat. "Nah, I just can't wait to hold my baby girl for the first time."
The soldiers cooed and 'aaw'd'
"He's adorable."
"That's too-"
"Shut up," he said, cutting them off.
The helicopter landed, the soldiers piling out, chatting casually as they went. They walked onto the base, men lounging around in kiddie pools, others competing against each other in friendly games.
Epps was on the basketball court. "Hey, I'm ready to do this. Hey, any of y'all grow some balls, come see me on the court, man."
The base was buzzing with activity, vehicles traveling over the harsh sand, helicopters whirring overhead.
"Watch this crossover, baby," Epps said, trying to psyche out his opponent. "Like Jordan in his prime, pushing through the front line."
Elsewhere, Figueroa had wandered into the showers, shoving two other soldiers out of the way to claim the stream of water for himself. They grumbled complaints as they glared at him.
Sitting on a bench, the man who hadn't seen his daughter yet was writing something when he was approached by a young boy native to the area.
"Lennox!" the boy called out cheerfully, a strange backpack in his hands.
"Hey, what are you doing?" Lennox asked the boy, Mahfouz, kindly.
"Water?" He held the pack out for Lennox to take.
"Oh, thank you." Mahfouz smiled brightly in response. Lennox stood before asking "Are you gonna hep me with the gear?"
--
A black helicopter flew over a bleached white desert, soft dunes sweeping to the horizon.
Back at the base, the movement was caught by an officer in a room full of computers and monitoring technology.
"Colonel Sharp, we have an inbound unidentified infiltrator, 10 miles out."
Sharp leaned over, peering at the radar screen displaying the information. He spoke into his headset, trying to identify who was in the vehicle. "Unidentified aircraft, you are in restricted US military airspace. Squawk ident and proceed east out of the area." Sharp waited for any form of response, grabbing a separate device so he could relay orders to pilots. "Raptors one and two, snap to heading two-five-zero to intercept. Bogie is in the weeds ten miles out, not squawking."
Two small jets took off from the base, roaring into the sky.
"Unidentified aircraft, we will escort you to US SOCCENT airbase. If you do not comply, we will use deadly force," Sharp continued.
The Raptors had successfully intercepted the bogie and began to relay information to the base.
"Copy the bogie. Tail 4500 X-ray," he reported, reading off the numbers on the side of the helicopter's tail.
"Sir, says here 4500 X was shot down three months ago." He handed the paper in his hand to Sharp. "Afghanistan."
"That's got to be a mistake," Sharp said as he took the sheet. "Check again, then recheck."
"I did, sir. A friend of mine was on that chopper."
An officer spoke over the radio to the mysterious craft. "Unidentified aircraft, we will escort you to US SOCCENT airbase."
The jets passed on either side of the chopper, the three airborne vehicles banking to the left to head to the base as ordered.
"Radar, where's the inbound" Sharp asked.
"Bogie's five miles out, sir."
The sun was a bright white disk against the burnt orange sky, the helicopter's inky silhouette set aflame.
--
"My wife on?" Lennox questioned as he ducked under some netting into a room filled with computers and desks.
"Yes, Captain," someone to his left replied.
He walked straight up to a laptop equipped with a web cam and ran a finger over the track pad. "Ahahaha! My ladies!" he cheered happily.
"Look," a beautiful blonde woman said. She was holding a baby and smiling widely at the screen. The little girl in her arms made soft cooing and gurgling noises.
"Oh, my goodness. Look at her," Lennox said, wiggling his index finger at the screen. "She's getting so big. Look at those cheeks. I just wanna chew on them." He shook his head in amazement. "Baby, we made a good-looking kid. I know that people say that all the time, but...Wow, we made one good-looking kid. Nice work," he finished with a playful smirk.
"She has your laugh," his wife said.
"She laughed?" he asked with a smile.
"Her first one, yeah."
"You, I-"Lennox stammered. "You sure she didn't just fart?" he asked incredulously.
"No, she's a lady," she scolded playfully.
The baby started to fuss but the woman continued to smile. "She doesn't know you yet, but she will.
--
The sun was slipping past the horizon as the helicopter finally arrived at the base. Sharp took a closer look at the tail with a pair of binoculars as it passed the windows of the room he was in. "4500 X. Something's not right," Sharp said as he lowered his binoculars.
The helicopter landed slowly, vehicles circling it as it did so. Soldiers nearby were chattering as an officer relayed an update.
"Bogie's on deck."
"Whoa. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa." a young man in radar said, tapping at his keyboard. The screen in front of him flickered and was fuzzy from static. "It's coming from the chopper," he said as he picked up the phone. The lights flickered with a loud click.
--
"Will?" the woman on the screen asked. Lines of static distorted the image, audio echoing slightly.
"Sarah?" Lennox fiddled with the web cam, glancing between the device and the screen as he spoke. "Hey, Sarah, if you can hear me, I love you and I'll be home soon." The image on screen froze as soon as he was finished. He sighed and hung his head briefly before turning to head out the door.
--
Soldiers swarmed the chopper, firearms drawn and ready. Orders were being shouted.
"To the right. Go to the right."
"Check fire."
"Check the wheels."
Sharp tried speaking to the pilot again through his headset. "MH-53 pilot, power down now."
The engine noise quickly cut out as the pilot calmly gazed from side to side. His visage flickered like a mirage, exposing a metallic face and electric blue eye.
"Have your crew step out or we will kill you."
The spinning blades suddenly stopped before shifting and folding backwards with a strange electric whir and echo. The guns kept moving ever so slightly, setting the men on edge.
"Hold your fire! Stand by to engage!"
As the words were barked out, the entire body of the helicopter started shifting and contorting, prompting gunfire from the assembled troops. Mechanical whirs and clicks and hums filled the air as well as the cracks of the bullets ricocheting off the metal exterior.
"My god," Sharp gasped, not sure if what he was seeing was real.
Men in tanks handling heavy guns bombarded the mechanical being. It pushed itself to its' feet before shooting a blast of energy followed by a hail of bullets. Soldiers fell under the heavy assault, running every which way. With a strange sound, a blast of energy was emitted from the being, sending a shock wave through the area. Vehicles exploded, glass shattered, lights and wires snapping in a shower of sparks.
Lennox grunted and panted as he made his way through the ravaged base, the heavy staccato of gunfire and the popping of glass, heat, and electricity filling the air.
"They bombed the antenna farm!" Epps shouted, running as fast as he could. "We're under attack!"
More blasts of energy were being shot. Explosions bloomed wherever they hit, sending fire and debris cascading into the sky. Bullets interspersed the energy blasts and the occasional shock wave blast. A strange whine filled the air. By now people were just trying to stay alive, running from the destruction.
--
The roof of a bunker was brutally torn off with a large metal hand. Sparks danced through the air, electricity snapping. The hand reached down to grasp a metal cylinder that had a multitude of wires plugged into it. It slowly twisted and puled it from its' base, wires disconnection to reattach themselves to the surface of its' hand, electricity, bright blue, jumped between the various points of contact. A strange metallic chatter pierced through the chaos.
Sharp ran through the area, urging people to evacuate as he went to see what the entity was doing. "Go! Move! Move!" As the thing came into view, that same metallic chatter was coming from a nearby computer. Flashes of images, maps, and strange symbols crossed the screen. "It's going after the files!" he shouted. "Cut the hard lines!" Sharp gestured to an officer standing nearby.
"I need a key! It's locked!" he screamed, simultaneously tugging at the switch and the padlock that prevented it from moving.
Papers were flying around the room, the wind blowing sharply. Broken wires sparked madly.
The Colonel ran to where an axe was hanging on the wall and hefted it in his hands. "Move! Move!"he ordered, shouldering the other man out of the way. He grunted as he started hacking at the large cable at the base of the boxes.
--
Lennox was leading a group away from the battle, gun drawn and ready. "Here, come here! Come here!" he shouted over the noise, reaching a hand out to Mahfouz. He picked him up and ran with him on his hip.
Tanks and helicopters flew through the air, crashing heavily to the ground and taking men with them. Fires burned in the wreckage. Noise and voices were coming from all directions, a cacophony of sound that was nearly deafening.
The group reached an intact row of tanks. "Here, hide in here!" Lennox ordered, crouching below the vehicles belly.
"Oh, my God. Okay," Figueroa said as he pulled out a gun and began checking it.
Epps ran straight into the beings path, quickly dropping to the sand as a large foot landed on either side of him. He quickly turned onto his back and lay there, a short shout of "No!" leaving him as he held a pair of binoculars to his face.
The being was making the strange metallic groaning and chattering again. It's gaze shifted with lines and zoomed in on Epps and the device in his hand.
Through the binoculars, Epps could see the thing, impossibly, unbelievably, looking right back at him.
The entities chest shifted, bringing forth a large barrel.
"What the f-" Epps cursed. He stood quickly and ran, casting glances over his shoulder.
Figueroa fired a shot, catching the being in the chest.
It groaned from the hit before locking on to where the shot came from. It shot forth a small burst of energy, sparks and smoke filling the air.
As Epps dropped down next to him, Lennox slapped him on the back to gain his attention. "Epps, let's go!" he said. They clambered to their feet and darted between two tanks.
With a metallic whir, the creature shifted the blades of its' wings out to the sides. A small explosion emitted a shower of sparks and a smaller metal being burst out of it's back, it's body like that of a scorpions. It had spinning claws that drilled into the sand, allowing it to burrow. A spray of dust and dirt followed in it's wake.
Striding past planes, the being let loose a volley of energy blasts, ripping apart the metal structures and incinerating those caught it it's path, their screams being cut off sharply as they died.
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Chapter 2