I am a college student with a passion for Deadliest Warrior.In the blog below you will find many of the greatest warriors, monsters, characters and rulers of History and Fiction pitted against each other in order to find out who truly is the DEADLIEST WARRIOR!
Azula vs. Galen Marek
After two days of prep time who will prevail in a fight to the death between the Dark Knight and the God of War?
When humanity is threatened with outright extinction our species invariably turns to a small elite force to become our salvation. Whether it is the one-man army of Master Chief or the incredibly diverse team that Mass Effect's Commander Shepard put together it appears that our best hope is in fact super soldiers. These soldiers are then forced to beat the odds to in order to save humanity, something they succeed in doing....most of the time. Even when they fail they generally go down like badasses while attempting to, which slightly makes up for the fact that they failed.
This battle will seek to compare two elite squads from two hit xbox titles. Two badass teams who fought incredible odds again and again; the best of their respective armies.
From the Planet of Sera hails the elite Delta-One Squad (often shortened to just Delta). Delta Squad is part of the elite 1% of humanity - with the 99% percent being those that were either killed by the Locust/Hammer of Dawn or turned into stranded (which are considered worse then dead to many Gears). Generally regarded as the best squad in the entire C.O.G. (Coalition of Organized governments) army (though there is a close second...more on that later) almost every member of this special forces team has over a decade of active experience (some two!) fighting inhuman monsters that desire nothing less then the complete extinction of the human race, the Locust as well as the mutated lambent and marauding stranded.
Their opponents have moved past the planetary stage and instead hail from all across the section of the galaxy under United Earth Governments section control, though they are all tied to the planet Reach.. Noble Team was comprised of Spartans; genetically engineered soldiers designed to be the ultimate warriors. It was comprised of five Spartan IIIs and one Spartan II-more on the differences between the two later. Noble Team was arguably the most notable of all Spartan teams, and their opponent was the fantaical, genocidal species of the Covenant.
This will be a battle of the best of the best, of elites going against elites. As my first modern (or semi-modern) battle the categories are a little different then last time...
Squad Bio and brief history of war: Offensive: Super long range: /60 Long range: /100 Mid Range: /50 Interlude: Character Bio 1: Close range:/40 Melee: /20 Grenades:/30 *Special* Lasers: /40 Interlude: Character Bio 2: Heavy Weapons:/70 Captured Covenant/Locust Weaponry:/40
Defensive: Armor:/50 Other Personal Defenses: /60 Interlude: Character Bio 3: Spartan Equipment vs. Horde Defenses:/80 Support:/50
Intangibles:
Health: /60 Squad tactics:/70 Motivation:/30 Leadership: /50 (10 of which is dedicated to Second in Commands) Interlude: Character Bio 4: Training:/50 Experience:/60 Past Opponents: /80 (Its very high because I am making them defeat each other's opponents first). Interlude: Character Bio 5: Weaknesses: -/50 Martial Arts/Hand to hand skill: /20 Encumbrance:/20
Personal Contributions: A unique category, this will not be edges based. Instead points will be assigned based on how much a character's personal traits helps a team. Interlude: Character Bio 6: Marcus :/15 (leader bonus) Anya:/10 Cole:/10 Baird:/10 Dom:/10 Clayton Carmine:/10
Check out the preview thread here....which will explain how so many weapons can exist in one match:
To answer one last remaining question....yes the battle will take place on Sera, as the Gears can't travel anywhere else. Plus Noble team is used to being sent to different planets.
Finally Congratulations to Clayton Carmine for narrowly winning the poll!Don't worry ill have something for the Dizzy fans though....
As Alex Mercer slowly walked over to the escape pod he couldn't help but feel anxious as a feeling of foreboding overcame him. It had long been his policy to get revenge on his enemies- no matter the cost- but something told him that this employer, who commanded armies of space marines and entire planet destroying fleets, may just be someone who he couldn't get even with. In fact, unlike any of his previous opponents, this man could pretty much (and had, according to a report on him the scientist had read) destroy entire planets without batting a eyelash.
So when Alex finally made it to the escape pod, his face only registered a illusion of calm. This veil was broken completely by the next couple of words that came from speaker just as Alex raised his hand to pick it up. The characteristic tone of a upper crust Southern elite spoke the first couple of words
" Good day Mr. Mercer. I have been expecting you."
For a second Alex was flabbergasted, never would he have imagined the first words to come out of the man’s mouth to be anything near those words. He quickly recovered and fired back
“Didn’t take long for you to lose faith in your operative, did it? Is that really the best your interstellar empire could afford to send? A heavy mech and a space hillbilly?”
“In my experience I have found that is best to never speak from anger, especially when it shows no purpose. To answer your question no it didn’t take long for me to lose faith in Tychus, for the simple reason I never had any in him to begin with. After his failure on Char he had become a ….unnecessary loose end if you will. I thank you for taking care of him. “
“So you sent me your old laundry that was no longer wanted to kill me. I don’t know whether to be insulted or grateful”.
Mengsk laughed, but there was no warmth behind the sound.
"I am suprised that you haven't figured it out yet, my agents indicated that you are hyper-intelligent. It was never my intent to kill you, just to set up a place of private, unmonitored dialogue. "
"The purpose of this meeting isn't hard to guess....you never cared about fufilling any of Blackwatch's conditions, did you? "
" Son I really couldn't care less. This whole venture has had only one purpose, the-"
"The death of Sarah Kerrigan, the Zerg Queen of Blades."
"I see now that my agents are correct in their assessment of your intelligence. Sarah Kerrigan must die, and you will be the one to finish her off."
Alex bristled under the arrogance; he did not take orders from anyone.
"Now why would I want to do that? Even if you never intended to have me killed, that Walker of your agent nearly killed me. Perhaps I could find common cause with Sarah...I know your far from her preffered company." "Threatening me is never a wise move, but I will do my best to answer your impudence with civility. The reason you are going to side with is that She can't give you what you really want,while I can." "And what would that be?" "Power my dear boy, power. Think of what you could gain by killing and absorbing the Queen of the Zerg?Think of what you could do to Blackwatch!" Alex's thoughts tingled on the verge of hysteria, so excited were he by the prospect. Absorbing Kerrigan would give him everything he needed to claim this word as his own. Powers, her ghost training, intelligence, memories, control of the Zerg....and with that last thought, Alex's previous ambitions of just conquering a planet began to seem small-time. " What would you gain from having me kill and acquire the Queen's power?" "You are asking why I am not afraid of you seizing control of the Zerg and using them against me? The Zerg are finished son, this incursion is nothing more then the dying throes of a doomed race. I care not if you sieze control of the last vesteiges of them. Kerrigan on the other hand is a troublesome bitch, and will remain a thorn on my side as long as she lives. "
Mengsk's tone registered honesty, which immediatly made him supsicious. There was no way a man like Acturus Mengsk could have taken over his empire without some fantastic lying ability, and the ability to sound sincere even when one was blatently lying was a impressive skill indeed...
From the way this man had just callously used one of his servents, Alex would wager that he had the same intentions for him too. That said, control of the Zerg would foil Mengsk's plans, and allow him to spread his control across the galaxy.
Speaking into the mic one last time, he said
"Very well we have a deal. Just tell me where to look..."
For all his faults, Acturus Mengsk did possess one trait that he considered a necessity for any good ruler. Though in public he lied as much as any other politician (arguably more), in private he was extremely honest with himself, and the few others worth being honest (meaning mainly his son, Valerian).
Thus he could freely admit to himself what type of man he was.
He was a liar, a mass murderer, a narcissist, power-hungry dictator (yes Jim Raynor, I said it. You are correct), a revenge obsessed loony, a manipulator and so much more. He didn't blame his son Valerian for hating him; after all he was the result of a one night stand. Acturus had convinced his mother, the beautiful and kind Juliana, to fall in love with him, have sex with him , and then he never called her back, all the while she continued to believe what he felt for her was genuine love. Acturus never bothered to correct her, and only saw her three times thereafter; when the existence of a son was revealed to him, and then two small visits afterwords. Eventually as the disease took hold she began to see him for what he was, giving her final days a bitter edge. The last time he, Acturus, saw his son and heir was to bury the boy's mother.
So no, the problem with Acturus was not that he didn't know his faults; rather that he didn't care.
At the moment, Acturus has just finished convincing a powerful young man named Alex Mercer to kill his former second-in-command Sarah Kerigan. A second in command who he had betrayed. Whether he suceeded or failed in his task to bring her down, it was a forgone conclusion. Either he would be killed by Kerrigan herself, or he would die from Dominion nuclear bombs.
Lying to Alex Mercer was too easy, and even though Acturus knew he suspected dishonesty, by the time the battle would be concluded it would be too late. His Dominion fleet was on the way, and equiped with more two times more nukes then were used on Korhal. This version of Earth would become a giant ball of radioactive ash, and not even Jim Raynor's harrassment of his fleet would stop him.
He had underestimated her many times in the past; on Tarsonis, when briefly allying aganst the U.E.D., even in recent events. IF she were allowed to live then the Zerg WOULD rise again, and that is not something that Mengsk would ever allow.
And if needed to purge a planet with nuclear bombs like the Confederacy had done to his beloved Korhal to prevent such a occurence, then so be it. He had done worse.
In a long deserted street near Randall Air Force base, a M1A1 Abrams tank was lifted into the air before being crushed with thousands of tons of psionic force. Several yards away Sarah Kerrigan sent a psionic blast at a Blackwatch squad, scattering them like bowling pins.
I must be getting close, the heavy Blackwatch resistance being a great sign
she thought as one of her roaches sprayed acid all over a frantic soldier in the background, killing him in a agonizing way.
More
Blackwatch appeared before her, their primitive rifles immediately opening
fire. Kerrigan smiled as she stopped the rounds in midair, before sending them
straight back at their owners. The conclusion was most satisfying…
As she was
admiring her handiwork one of her overlords came speeding towards her, its
limbs arched back like the ears of a dog with its head out the window on a 70
mph highway. The floating squidlike organism spoke through telepathy.
“My queen, the base is just up ahead.”
Kerrigan, who hadn’t fully gotten used to being
addressed as royalty, nevertheless gave her acknowledgement. However the
overlord was not done talking, and this time a new voice came from it, like a
different caller on a telephone. It was her advisor Izsha, her cool voice
reverberated through the creature.
“ My queen, a large force of infected have been sighted
on your area. They appear to be heading in the direction of Randalf air force
base. “
Sarah
rolled her eyes; these infected were persistent but nowhere near a match for
the Zerg ground forces, even though they currently outnumbered her forces by a
10 to 1 margin(pure irony, as it was the Zerg policy to destroy their opponents
with pure mass). The infected were almost a complete close quarters foe, having
little to no range other then the occasional throwing of a vehicle or object.
Even Kerrigan, the great lover of blades and duels, recognized the importance
of range. Hydralisks, roaches, and infestors had been slaughtering the infected
in droves all day, to say nothing of the various air-
“Izsha! Where are the nearest brood lords?”
“About 25 miles south of your position, my queen.”
Damn, to far.
“Have the brood lords converge on position. Sends
the mutalisks to harass the infected and set up a defensive line around the
base comprising of infestors, lurkers, hydralisks and roaches. Have the roaches
up front and burrowed until the infected close in."
With luck she could get in and out of this city
without a hitch.
Sheltered inside an abandoned apartment building on
its 15th story, Alex had a great perch to view the slaughter of his
infected. Those flying pitcher like mutalisks shot glaive like projectiles from
their mouths that were capable of tearing through multiple infected-some many
yards apart- before dissipating. For the most part they fired with impunity,
though once Alex had seen a couple of hunters leap from a skyscraper onto a
mutalisk. They rode it for dear life like one would a bull at a rodeo, before
ultimately all 4-3 hunters and the mutalisk- crashed into a hotel.
Meanwhile on the ground a combination of
hydralisks and infestors were making mince-meat of the remaining infected. The
corrosive green goo that the infestors shot out of their backs was particularly
devastating, serving to both freeze the infected in their tracks AND slowly
dissolve them. Alex wanted to absorb one of those creatures like a crack addict
needed his next fix. But later. Now he had bigger fish to fry, as soon as
Mengsk showed up on the scene.
Thanks to his absorption of that
Hydralisk earlier, he could tap into the Zerg telepathic network, and he’d know
when the time was right to strike…
“ My queen, the overseer reports that a large
Dominion force has entered the star system.”
Blast! She silently cursed to herself. Mensgk had
shown up to early, much too early for her calculations. This made her send a
mental command to her servants currently scouring the base for both scientists
and materials (at the same time killing the few Blackwatch soldiers in the city). They were to step up
their operations now, and to deliver the materials to Abarthur. The scientists
could be taken to the infestors, who would “extract” any knowledge that they
might posses from their minds.
She turned back to her overlord.
“The native air forces on this planet have been
dealt with. Have the corruptors , scourges and the mutalisks that aren’t
guarding the brood lords go after Mengsk’s men. Hold them off until we can
finish here. ”
“Order relayed my queen.The Dominion forces will
arrive in-“
A telepathic screech cut off the speech, as a giant
tank collided with the overlord, crushing its skull and squishing it as it
landed. Kerrigan instinctively picked up her C-10 sniper rifle and pressed the
scope to her cheek, the movement bringing her comfort. The rifle, repaired many
times before, felt like an old friend to her. In all likelihood it was her
oldest friend.
Initial
glances revealed nothing, but Kerrigan had long ceased trusting her initial
glances. Based on the trajectory the tank had come from a rooftop, and her
psionic sight scanned the roofs. In a move that brought back feelings of
nostalgia to her, she also powered up her cloaking so that the enemy would have
a hard time smashing her with another tank. ….
….
That didn’t stop her assailant from trying, however, and a huge vehicle crashed
into the spot she had occupied prior to cloaking.
On
all sides she was surrounded by buildings, the dense urban environment making
it difficult to pinpoint his exact location. She knew that her assailant was on
the south end of the street based on where the vehicle came flying from-
Which is
why she was shocked when a hail of lead came from the opposite end of the
street. The man carrying a gattling gun
(of Dominion make) stood on top of a building on the Northen end of the street.
Although he didn’t seem to be able to pinpoint Sarah’s exact position thanks to
her cloaking, he was able to get an educated guess. Bullets showered a position mere feet away
from Kerrigan, making huge potholes in the road. Some of the debris showered
her Kerrigan, covering her and revealing her position to the gunman. As her
assailant moved his Gatling gun to her location, Sarah decided it was time to
act.
Alex thought he was doing pretty well; the “Queen
of Blades “ so far had demonstrated little of the ferocity that Mengsk had
warned him about. Sure she could turn herself invisible, but that hadn’t been
anything his thermal vision and a brilliant use of Tychus’s gattling gun
couldn’t solve! With the queen now revealed, he brought the gattling gun to bear
on her.
*Click*
In surprise he turned his head briefly to the gun,
and was rather surprised to see that much of it had melted in on itself.
*PZZZT*
A rifle
round took advantage of this momentary distraction to bury itself in his chest,
knocking him off his feet. The hole was large enough to utterly destroy his
left lung; a mortal wound to a mortal man but something less to Alex Mercer. He
jumped to his feet, another round tearing through the outer layer of his
shoulder as he ran. Alex ran to the next building, leaping and ducking to avoid
the bullets that continued to whizz by. One went straight through his jacket as
he jumped; only narrowly avoiding hitting anything important. Zeus rolled as he
hit the ground, before quickly running beyond Kerrigan’s sight to pick up a
previously stashed grenade launcher.
The
Biological terror of New York paused for a moment to allow himself time to
regenerate. The bitch was tougher then
he thought, but he had fought difficult foes before, and came out on top every
damn time. This fight wouldn’t be any different.
Alex’s super powered legs lifted him high
in the air, and his eyes narrowed down to the streets below of anything bearing
a thermal signature. He got a faint sigh, and then proceeded to bombard the
entire area at the cost of enduring another round to the stomach. A hiss of
rage from down below told him he was successful, but only moderately.
Kerrigan hissed in annoyance as her body worked to
push out the innumerable shrapnel littered throughout her person. More grevious
damage had been done to her gun, which had been nearly ripped in half . After
the mission she was going to have to spend days meticulously repairing it
(again).
She glared
menacingly at the building that he was hiding in, both pissed and grudgingly
impressed by the acrobatic feats. Adopting once again the fearsome voice she
had perfected as the Queen of Blades, she spoke
“I have grown tired of
this game of whack a mole. Prepare to die”.
As soon as
she finished speaking those words a orange clowd materialized over the
building. Alex, not knowing what it was exactly but immediately wary from his
prior experiences with the crusader Dante moths earlier, broke into a run. His
intuition was proven correct as a horde of razors descended en masse on the
structure, tearing through steel and iron like they were balsa wood.
Alex felt his
skin rip n tear, but managed to leap out of the area just in time as the
building was dissolved, for lack of better word, behind him.
Just as he was about to complete his jump and land
on the next building something hit him in midair, knocking him off course and
causing him to crash into the building.
His eyes
closed via reflex as soon as he was hit; now he struggled to open them as a
sticky liquid substance covered them. With a great deal of effort he managed to
bring his arms, also covered in the sticky substance like much of his body, up
to his face to wipe off the gook.
It was a
thick green slimy substance that to Mercer looked like a terrible case of mucus,
one that was nearly impossible to cough up. Alex vainly tried to get rid of the
goo by switching forms but to no avail; the substance seemed to bong with his
skin, inhibiting his movement. As Alex
struggled to wipe it off, the skies began to grow orange around him.
Now panicking, he broke into a painful run as
the shards came alive around him.
Now flanked by two hunter-killer gaurds, Kerrigan
licked her lips as she watched the destruction, before realizing that she was
no longer that person. Still the devastation her storm unleashed on that building was a morbidly
impressive sight.
As the
razors died down she brought her psionic sight back online, peering into the
dust for a sign of her foe. She had a pretty good idea who he was now, as she remembered
a hooded man in the mind of James Heller, a man named Alex Mercer. That didn’t
mean she knew what he wanted though-
“Looking for me” said a cold voice to her side. She
turned to look at him and almost gasped in spite of herself.
Quiet
frankly Alex Mercer looked like the rotted, disease-ridden infected that he
commanded. Much of his scalp ahad been ripped off, and thousands of cuts marred
his body. His right eye dangled from its socket And a zigzagging line ran down
from his crotch to his neck. Below the waist it looked like a dog had chewed on
his legs for a couple of hours, and one of his arms dangled loosely from its
socket. In short Alex Mercer looked like shit.
Before
Kerrigan could take all of this in, her 1st hunter killer was killed
when his uninjured arm extended out an extraordinary length and sliced the beast
in two. The other immediately opened fire as the remains from the first were
pulled towards Alex. Alex gleefully accepted the corpse like a thirsty man
arriving at an oasis, and before her eyes even his most grievous wounds seemed
to regenerate. Kerrigan sent a psionic blast his way in an attempt to reverse
the regeneration.
The blast
knocked him on his ass, and seemed to make his only madder, and he changed
forms rapidly while down. Alex stood back up under a hail of fire from the
remaining hydralisk, his form now black and registering little damage from the
spines. Just as Kerrigan was about to fire another Psionic blast, he did
something that Kerrigan would never have expected.
He arched his chest; his face screwed up in pain, and then began to fire Hydralisk spines at
her.
So
surprised was she that her telekinetic powers didn’t even have time to
register, and she took 7 to the torso and a couple more elsewhere under the
machine gun hail of spines.She collapsed to her knees, and Alex’s attention
turned to her minion. Her remaining hunter killer only got off a few more
spikes before it was covered in its own medicine. The great beast collapsed
into the pavement, never to move again.
With that loose end
taken care of, Zeus focused his attention back on her, but this time Sarah was
ready. A great ball hit him dead on in the chest where he had previously been
shooting the spines.
It wasn’t
another ball of sticky green goo but something far more insidious.For lack of
better term, the Queen’s attack had done something contrary to all laws of
human biology. It had given him quintuplets. And these babies were something
out of a video game designer’s hell. They possessed no eyes; only a horrible
sharp mouth 2 pincers and 4 claws.
They
hatched as soon as they landed, bursting out of their eggs and diving straight
into his chest, bypassing the armor form in the gap that Alex had been using to
shoot spines. The pain was unbearable; multiply the worst chest burn by a
factor of 20. Alex’s hands turned into hammerfists, frantically punching and
trying to tear his babies away from their mother (father?).
One he
pulled away and crushed, showering the left half of his face with gore. Another
he pulled out and punted at the Queen of Blades, who merely ducked and sent a
psionic blast his way. Alex jumped into the air to dodge it before realizing a
solution to his problems, albeit a painful one. When gravity beckoned him back
down he belly-flopped the Earth, crushing the remaining three cretins still
trying to dig into his chest.
His body
gladly absorbed them in order to fix the wounds that they had caused. While
this was occurring the voice of his foe penetrated his ears.
“I’ll give you one thing; you have some impressive
powers, but they pale in comparison to mine. Leave before you die on a fool
errand for Acturus. You’d hardly be the first to end up that way.”
The last
syllables seemed to be laced with bitterness, and it wasn’t hard to figure out
that she had personal experience in that regard.
“ I am well aware that Mengsk is a liar and is
probably on his way here to double-cross me. It does not matter to me, your
powers are the only thing that does. He’ll be taken care of when the time
comes.”
“Fool. Better men then you have tangled with me and
fallen. The great abyss is all that awaits you. “
Alex’s
keen senses tipped him of just at the right time, and he only narrowly dodged a
column from one of the buildings destroyed earlier. Kerrigan was now resorting
to telekinesis and more objects came crashing down towards Alex. It seemed that
she had managed to take control of much of what the razors hadn’t destroyed,
and was now trying to bury Alex in steel. Such a display of powers only made
Alex more determined to absorb her, to acquire them for his own. Morphing his
fists back into Hammerfists, he rushed her.
The
queen’s wings flexed in anticipation for a new battle, and her claws ached for
close quarters combat. Cracking her neck, she met him head on.
First
blood was hers as one of her wings slashed him across the face, however Alex
did not allow such blows to go unpunished, and his fist smashed into the middle
of the wing, bending it and nearly snapping it in half.
His other
fist attempted to smash into her noggin, four of her wings catching it within
mere inches of its target. She attempted to twist as he attempted to wrench
himself free, neither succeeding in their task. Enraged Alex punched her in the
gut with her other fist before the remaining wing had a chance to respond,
doubling her over and freeing the early fist. He swung the other fist upwards,
catching her in the chin and sending her flying from the force behind the blow.
Her own
agility taking form, she recovered gracefully, landing on her feet like a cat
and promptly sent a psionic blast at Alex, which took a chunk out of his chest
and staggered him back. The movement masked his real intent, and she only just
avoided his whipfist’s attempt to impale her. Unfortunately it quickly came
back around, entangling her and pulling her towards him and his remaining claw
hand….
Kerrigan felt her eyes
water as the claw dug into her guts, penetrating may vital organs. The pain was
near unbearable as Alex began to slowly twist the blades, causing her to cough
up blood. In a rage she reached up to his face, and pressed her own claws into
his eye sockets, gouging them and shifting the scales in the fight. Blood
sprayed Kerrigan’s face but she kept up the attack; soon enough she would reach
his brain, and then the real fun could begin.
Alex was
having none of it, and threw her off. The queen’s body impacted with a building
somewhere as Alex frantically struggled to regenerate his eyes, the originals
now shiskebabed on Kerrigan’s nails.
It hadn’t
been the first time his eyes had been disconnected from his body, but it was still
an unwelcome experience.
That
paled in comparison to what happened next, as his head suddenly exploded in
pain. The pain was excruciating, and if he had eyes right now they would
scrunch up in pain. His mind blasted back to his conversation with Mengsk, and
how the old man had warned him that Kerrigan could directly attack brains,
liquefying them.
Now
in desperation Alex quickly opened his deformed eye, getting a glimpse of the
Queen’s position. He charged, his arm turned into a shield as he sprinted
towards Kerrigan.
Apparently she hadn’t been expecting much in the way
of resistance, and it caught her straight in the chest, breaking her
concentration. Though the purpose of the
charge was fulfilled, this joyride was far from over and Alex took her down the
street with him, deliberately slamming into any cars his eye could see.
Kerrigan
had never been a woman who would let a man run roughhouse over her, and would
not make an exception for Jim Raynor much less Alex Mercer. Fuming as he rammed
her into yet another car, she suddenly realized that her newly formed wings
reached over the shield. Sensing a golden opportunity she drove them downwards
again and again, each blow pulling out a bit of him, only ending the barrage
when Alex slammed her into a building.
His arms changed forms again; time resembling
ordinary hands with beefed up muscles. Sarah tried to drive her spears into
Alex’s chest, only for the surprisingly strong arms to stop all six of them,
crunching the tips. Amazed at the strength that power possessed, she attempted
to evade his next punch, only for Mercer to surprise her in speed. The blow
sent her reeling back, but she was able to recover with a psionic bolt that
stopped him in his tracks.
Her Psionic bolt having failed to keep Alex Mercer
penned away, Kerrigan resorted to another power of hers; Pulse. Alex dodged the
burst of energy but that did not bother Kerrigan at all; the effect radius was
too large. Sure enough it landed right behind Alex, blowing him off his feet.
With that accomplished Kerrigan prepared to follow through with
Many millions of miles away, Zerg and
Dominion battled for the fate of the system. The Zerg air outnumbered what
little Mengsk could send, however what he did send was the best, the most
elite, of his space fleet. Though here and there the Zerg managed to take down
a few of the mighty battlecruisers, overall they were taking more losses then
giving them. Such was the Zerg way; however in this battle the aliens couldn’t
afford to use such a tactic, as they were now the ones outnumbered.
Alex did not know what Kerrigan hit him with, only that it reminded him
of Dante’s fruit. His muscles were numb, and he couldn’t move a muscle. His
biomass was still able to get around, however Kerrigan was too far away to use
a devastator effectively.
However just
as Alex was about to panic, his the numbness in his muscles began to disappear.
Relief flooded into him, which turned out to be short-lived as a blue cloud descended over him.
For the
second time in a day, Alex felt his brain being directly attacked, as the blue
shockwave lit up the ground around him.
He struggled
to pick himself up as the shockwave grisly effect became increasingly clearer.
Blood flowed out of the orifices on his head; the mouth, ears, nose and even
eyes. He could feel himself losing….his intelligence as the storm began
attacking the higher functioning area of his brain first.
Desperate now his super adrenaline kicked, gradually phasing out the
numbness that resorted from Kerrigan’s first power. Now in control of his legs
he sprinted, his higher functions now moribund but an animalistic desire for
revenge and to kill driving him straight towards his nemesis Kerrigan.
This feral
Alex was a frightening sight, even more frightening then the skeletal Alex that
had emerged from the razor storm earlier. His eyes glowed red like a 28 days
later infected from various blood vessels being burst inside, blood ran freely
down his face, and he was drooling. A crazed frantic look was engraved on his
face, and would remain such until his brain cells regrew (which took longer
than normal wounds, as brain cells are much harder to regenerate).
Feral
Alex registered the shocked look on Kerrigan’s face and matched it with a grin
of his own, one that unnerved even a hardened woman like Kerrigan.
He leapt
out of the shockwave towards the Queen of Blades, his right arm turning into
the blade form mid-flight. Kerrigan raised her Claws to shield herself from his
attack, as Alex’s blade-backed up by biomass and adrenaline, slashed downwards.
For a few
seconds the result was not known to either warrior. Alex landed on his feet, his blade still
swung downwards. Kerrigan’s wings remained intact, and for a moment it looked
like the blade had no effect.
And then the wings collapsed like flower petals so cleanly slashed
through. Kerrigan stepped backwards and then nearly collapsed. From the looks
of it the Blade had cut deep through her body, almost severing her reinforced
spine. Taking advantage of the situation, Alex kicked his foe into a wall.
Before he
could close in to finish her off his neck muscles tingled and then were
violently compressed in on each other. He gasped fruitlessly as his windpipe
was forcefully closed, rendering breathing impossible. With Kerrigan’s hand
outstretched it wasn’t hard to guess who was behind the choking, and Alex
aggressively advanced on her.
2 steps and
he started feeling dizzy...
6 steps and his vision began to get all fuzzy....
10 steps and it became difficult to walk, and it
finally became clear to his slowly regenerating mind that this wasn’t working,
and that there was a better tactic…..
Summoning all
the biomass into his arms, he shot them forward at Kerrigan. Tendrils pierced the
Queen, impaling her in dozens of places and crashing her though the wall. The
critical pain devastator had been designed as Alex’s most devastating move, and
Kerrigan found that out first hand. The attack had succeeded in what most
couldn’t do, and overloaded her regeneration. She collapsed to the ground,
unmoving.
Alex confidently strode forth now, excited at
the prospect of what the queen’s powers would give him.
*Bang*
Once again Alex was stopped from achieving his
dream, as something blasted him back. His brain nearly fully repaired, he tried
to make sense of what happened.
You know when you get dazed and for a brief
moment afterwards your seeing double? Well this is what happened to Alex
Mercer, except now he was seeing quintuplets.
Yep, there were now five Kerrigan’s
within his field of vision. Four of them were up on the ground, while the fifth
feebly stirred on the ground. One of the standing ones held a smoking sniper
rifle, so obviously these clones meant business and could dish out some heat.
Alex’s whipfist reached out towards the
closest Kerrigan, as the others opened fire.
While in
Space the Zerg were barely holding on, reduced to 40 percent of their original
strength, on the ground the Zerg had had their fortunes reversed. Though the
infected had kept on the ropes with pure numbers for a while, gradually the
Zerg’s range and underground fighting began to reap a greater advantage. The
final edge for the aliens came with the newly arrived brood lords, who rained
down innumerable swarms of broodlings upon the infected. With the broodlings
absorbing all the damage and the hydralisks shooting over their heads, it
wasn’t long until a Zerg victory was a forgone conclusion.
Which is just as well, as a Psionic cry for
help from their Queen penetrated the collective swarm’s thoughts. The Swarm
abandoned its tasks, and rushed with great haste to the sight where their queen
was; which was about four blocks away. Alex’s remaining infected did the best they
could to hamper their movement, but by now they were too few, their force
exhausted on the Zerg line of defense.
Kerrigan’s
regeneration worked overtime to repair the massive amount of damage sustained
from the blade and devastator attacks, as she struggled to gather up enough
energy to get up. A multitude of shots echoed in the background, as her clones
strived to destroy the now armor-form equipped Zeus.
She had
called out to the swarm in her desperation, something she wanted to avoid as
that meant in a sense forfeiting battles elsewhere. They would lose anyway if
she lost, which, she had to admit to herself, seemed fairly likely at the
moment.
The
familiar sound of a blade slashing
through air reached her eardrums, and she looked up to see Alex Mercer,
with more dents in his armor then could
be found in weathered battlecruiser, had
divided one of her clones in two. The Psionic shadow disappeared into nothingness,
and Kerrigan silently thanked whatever deity was out there that Alex couldn’t
absorb them, as they lacked genuine organic parts.
Her wings and lungs continued to heal, but
for now she was too weak to win a fight with him. She hoped that the clones
would buy enough time for either her full strength to return or for her swarm
to come reinforce her, but if it came down to it she still had one more card to
play….
Alex
drove his musclemass enhanced fist into a clone’s face, breaking it in and
causing her to dissipate like ash to the wind. Two more now before the main course.
Raising his claws, he drove them in the Earth, sending a groundspike at one of
Kerrigan’s clones who unfortunately dived out of the way.
Annoyance
overcame him; this was taking way to long, and he suspected he might not have
much time if Mengsk reneged on the deal (Alex heavily suspected that he would)
. He sent his whipfist at one of the clones, only for the other to blow it out
of the air with sniper rifle. Alex snarled, before a rumbling of the Earth
distracted him.
Realizing that the Swarm was coming to join the fray, Alex realized that
it really was now or never. He had to take care of Kerrigan before they
arrived, or the battle was lost.
Alex knew
that a devastator would hurt him, but saw no other choice. Tendrils erupted out
of his body in all directions, impaling the two clones and removing them from
the equation, but failing to do anything to the real Kerrigan, who had backed
up out of the devastator’s range.
Changing his
hand to a blade form one last time, he rushed towards her.
-Unexpectedly his mind reeled back to the
moment in which he was shot to death, giving him the familiar feeling of
agonizing pain and making him briefly forget where he was. His mind was sent
reeling over his execution over and over again, the flashback being so
intensive that he was only brought out of it by the feeling of blades going
through his arms.
Using her incredible strength, Kerrigan lifted her attempted assailant in the air, wanting to finish this now before Acturus showed up. When Alex had been raised to a point higher then herself, struggling all the way, she pulled her wings in two directions ripping his arms off! Alex barely gave a grimace, which would be the last emotion his face ever registered. Her wings bisected his neck, separating it from his body. It bounced a few times on the ground before rolling into the gutter.
“Regenerate that!”
Usually Sarah would say something more, but she was too drained at the moment. Her Zerg had finally arrived, and she needed to get off this planet ASAP.
“Abathur,” she spoke to a nearby overlord,who could relay the message “have you found anything? Time is running out”
“My Queen! One of the human scientists possessed knowledge of the virus that I can use to evolve an anti-body to!”
She was naturally a bit reluctant to trust her fate in the hands of another, but ultimately decided that there was no better option, as there was not enough time. Plus Abathur had never failed her before, never failed the Swarm before in his long existence as evolution master. Suddenly one of her Hydralisks began to hiss and Kerrigan turned around once. To her Horror Alex was actually regenerating his wounds, and had already regrown half a head. Thinking quickly she reached out and grabbed two of her banelings, before flinging them directly at Alex. The acid covered him and burned through the biological monster’s flesh, reducing him in mere moments to green liquid.
Sarah observed him for a couple of moments more, before summoning her leviathan. She needed to get off this rock, and she knew that if she did, Mengsk’s men would predictably follow her, saving the planet.
Been too long since I did a good deed, she mused to herself, I wonder what it feels like?
Epilogue:
In his various lifetimes the entity currently known as Samir Duran had gone by many names, and may forms. He had watched civilizations rise and fall dozens of times over; in fact he had been the accomplice in the demise of quite a few. All had been done in the name of his master, the enigma known as the Dark Voice (Samir Duran was one of the few who knew of his true identity, but he would never tell a soul). For there was no more loyal servant then he, but just like any other dog Duran feared what his master’s wrath would be like when he learned his chief servant had failed.
The plan had been expertly designed; Samir had orchestrated the entire chain of events, from arranging a meeting between Dominion and Blackwatch under his guise as the Dr. Narud, to ensuring that the communication line between Mengsk and Mercer held despite interference. Duran wanted Mercer to kill Kerrigan- and then to die before he could take control of the Swarm in Mengsk’s nuclear bombardment. Duran would have been very surprised if he could have asserted control of the swarm in the time it took for Mengsk to arrive, as it took him months to gain control of the infected (while on the subject, it took a similar amount of time for Kerrigan to take control of the Swarm). Thus all loose ends would have been covered, and the master’s grand plan one huge leap nearer to completion. Such did not come to pass…
Nevertheless though individual plans may fail, the grand scheme carries on. There are plenty of other fights out there; his master had mentioned a few. But what if that was the wrong course of action? What if the policy of finding of arranging for individual fighters to take her down was ….inefficient?
The Dark Voice wanted the Zerg intact , but he said that the death of Kerrigan was of the “utmost priority”. Sometimes higher priorities demanded some sacrifice of the lower ones. The Dark Voice would get his Zerg, but they may not be intact…
Duran knew just the faction to take on the Zerg, one that wouldn’t lose nor be able to destroy them utterly. … Samir concentrated, and after a moment he was where he needed to be.
In an alternate universe on the planet known as Armageddon….
“ Warboss, there be a humie in da camp!”
“What!?!? Why did you boyz let in a blasten humie and not kill it? The pure incompetenenece of ya little ungrateful weaklins . Nevermin, ill kill the vermin myself!”
“ Warboss Ghazghkull, I have a proposition for you…”
Back on Earth a rat picked at the remains of Alex Mercer, or more specifically the head of him. Alex’s pale face stared motionless at the rat as he began to tear through his cheekbone, happy to finally have a good meal in this city. Well the vermin was happy until the cheek regenerated with his still inside. The rat screeched and tried to crawl his way out as Alex’s biomass wrapped itself over him. Alex Mercer may have lost a battle, but he wasn’t done by a long shot. He would rise again from the gutter...
In a titanic contest
between two characters that just wouldn’t die, Alex ended up kneeling over
first. Why? Well it turned out that why Alex was actually the harder one to kill,
Kerrigan had much better means of accomplishing the task then vice versa when
psionics were factored in. That was
probably the most critical edge here, as Alex could not compete with the
supreme amount of powers that she possessed. He fell behind there and never
recovered.
Sarah Kerrigan vs. Alex Mercer: Battle and results:
Category:
Sarah Kerrigan
Alex Mercer:
Super Long Range:/40
32
28
Long Range: /50
38
37
Mid-range: /40
36
38
Close range: /30
24
15
*Special* Biomass vs. Psionic Powers: /80
74
52
Expansion powers :/30 (allies :/10)
/24 (10/10)
/18 (6)
Default armor: /15
9
4 (slight Mobility edge)
Other Defenses: /40
26
36
Mobility: /20
14
20/20
Regeneration:/30
27
30
Miscellaneous Powers: /20
17
14
Personality/Tactics: /30
28
24
Motivation: /20
15
12
Training/Experience: /40
40/40
36
Past Opponents:/30 (Future: /5)
26 (5/5)
20 (3/5)
Last Victory: /5
2
5/5
Martial Arts/Fighting Style: /20
18
14
Psychology:/20
15
15
Known Weaknesses: /-20
-12
-14
Total: /575-555 (if they aced
KW)
468
413
Reasoning behind score: Super Long Range: Both warriors were limited her by the other’s
defenses; speed in the case of Mercer, and Psionics in the case of Kerrigan. Kerrigan’s
extreme skill with the sniper rifle, as well as the rifles superb properties
such as full auto and explosive rounds, helped her immensely in this battle.
Alex’s resourcefulness helped him narrow the lead however.
Long Range: The Psi Blast’s explosions were very helpful in
both setting up the kill and taking it, though the whipfist two could fulfill
both these categories easily, while the groundspike had the capacity to instant
kill. Neither of them had the range nor the reliability of the Psi Blast, which
is extremely difficult to dodge. That is what caused them to lose out to the power.
Mid-Range: Kerrigan’s six spears in one package was
formidable, but couldn’t compete with the blade’s speed, powerhouse cutting
abilities and the Hammerfist’s….scratch that, it was the blade that won a hard
fought edge. The Hammerfists were too slow to do much.
Close range: This is the first large edge in the battle, and
with good reason. Kerrigan’s martial arts, while great helpers couldn’t take on
two effective weapons at once, while Kerrigan’s claws failed to kill Mercer
very much. The Musclemass could just breeze through Kerrigan’s armor, and the
claws were pretty effective too. Of course mid range was vastly preffered by
both warriors
Special: Psionics vs. Biomass: A well-deserved near perfect
score….Why? Because Kerrigan’s powers offer too much range, too many options,
too much lethality for the devastators, which only possessed the last option,
to compete. Don’t get me wrong, the devastators would have done superb in the
battle, but not done enough….
Expansion Powers: Kerrigan’s powers did have limitations: Thermal
vision could probably see through to the real Kerrigan, broodlings could be
absorbed ect. That said she actually got powers, all of which are at least
slightly effective, while Alex really only got the power to control infected
which weren’t that good against Psi storm/the Swarm.
Allies: The Zerg completely outclassed the infected here,
but this category wasn’t that important, as it really only functioned as a side
show that occasionally spilt out in the main showing…..
Default Armor; not very effective armor that doesn’t hurt
mobility much vs. no armor. Gotta go with the real armor, as while it may not
defend from blades/hammerfists/musclemass, it’s still something.
Defenses: This was actually a greater edge for Mercer then
previously indicated, as groundspike could kill her easily while underground (except
for deep tunnel, which digs so deep that this is ineffective, and she could
only use that once). The fact that Mercer’s armor could be omnipresent gives
him a substantial edge.
Mobility: This is like a race between Will E. Coyote and the
roadrunner, with Mercer being the roadrunner. Perfect score for him.
Regeneration: these two were very very difficult to kill and
could regenerate ridiculously fast, but ultimately Mercer’s consumption ability
proved to be his trump card.
Misc. Abilities was actually close due to Mercer’s ability
to potentially absorb powers, however Kerrigan’s telepathy and ability to
induce flashbacks eventually won him the edge. Cloaking also made a impact.
Tactics: Kerrigan has proven that she is a genius in both
duels and pitched battles, and takes this edge even over the hyper intelligent
Alex.
Motivation: Kerrigan is very fatalistic and seems very skeptical
of whether she can make her goals, but she still pursues them with a iron will.
Alex doesn’t nearly fight for as much.
Training/Experience: absorbed training/experience vs. actual
experience/training made this a surprisingly
close edge, but Alex hasn’t absorbed anything like a ghost, who surpass
Blackwatch in methods.
Past Opponents: In the duals with opponents of the two warriors,
Alex was much more likely to fail against Kerrigan’s then vice versa. Kerrigan’s
fought thing’s Alex could never dream of, while Kerrigan has fought plenty of
Alex’s opponents (organic horrors, black operatives) .
Future Opponents: James Heller did well, but Nova/the Dark Voice
maximized this for Kerrigan.
Last Victory: Alex would have learned more valuable lessons
from beating Dante then Kerrigan would have (she loved close quarters fighting
too much, and didn’t learn much from dually similarly armed protoss).
Martial Arts: Kerrigan’s
renowned Martial arts skill, capable of defeating even the Protoss who train
for hundreds of years, gave her the edge over Alex’s absorbed training.
Psychology: This is even; both were fucked up in different
but equal ways!
Known Weakness: While originally coming out as a Mercer edge
(meaning he’d have less points taken away), once I found out that flashbacks
had an extreme effect on infected, I have to give it to Kerrigan.
Now for everyone’s favorite kill chart (Almost everything
here acquired a lot of assist, so I will not go into detail about that) . Reasonings
for why they got such and such score can be found in the edges explanations
above.
Category
Kerrigan
Alex Mercer:
Super Long range:
C-10 Sniper Rifle: 458
Acquired Weapons: 134 Thrown Objects: 78
Long Range:
Psionic Blast: 347
Whipfist: 289 Groundspike: 45
Mid-Range:
Wings: 396
Blade: 576 Hammerfists: 132
Close Range:
Martial Arts: 34 Claws: 67
Claws: 80 Muclemass: 176 Misc: 25
Combined Power sections:
Psionic: 1,400
Devastators: 599
Allies(not a big role):
Zerg: 106
Infected: 58
Total:
2,808
2,192
Well I hope you enjoyed my latest match, and stay tune for
more announcements ( I got a lot of proposed matchups, both real and fictional, that I think you all will enjoy) , as well as the Xbox 360 clash of the decade J
Also I wonder how many of you can guess who is encountered at the end of the epilogue...
