Ambush

Outside of a small house in Atlanta, Georgia, a black van pulls up in the street in front of the house. The back of the van opens up to let out four people. They are joined by people in the passenger’s seat and driver’s seat. All of them in black Shocktrooper armor (real similar to Star Wars’ Stormtrooper armor, but painted black). The one from the passenger’s seat, the one without a helmet, stands back as the others take out assault rifles.

The helmetless one directs as two Shocktroopers begin circling around to the back and three head up to the porch where the front door is.

Across the street, behind a fence, crouch Marcus Anderson and Tarrasque. They watch as the Shocktroopers break into the house while the unhelmed one stands outside and watches. Marcus Anderson taps Tarrasque on the shoulder and begins to whisper.

Anderson: That’s Captain Ionel Stanca. We’ll bag him and-

Marcus looks to Tarrasque, having seen motion out of the corner of his eye. Tarrasque is already on the move. He stalks up behind Captain Stanca.

Anderson: -put him in the trunk.

Captain Stanca feels a presence behind him and turns around, but too little too late. Tarrasque grabs him and bodily throws him face first against the back of the van with a loud thump. He picks up the unconscious Captain and throws him into the back of the van. He turns around and looks at Marcus Anderson, who has stood up.

Tarrasque: You wait for written invitation? Come on!

Marcus sighs in exasperation and runs to the driver’s side of the van while Tarrasque gets in the back of the van and closes the doors. Marcus gets in the van, relieved to find that it’s still running. He puts it into drive and takes off.

Anderson: This is not how we planned this shit!

Tarrasque just shrugs and lets out a bit of laughter.

Anderson: If we get killed doing this, you’re going to be in so much trouble!

Captain Stanca begins stirring, Tarrasque responds by slamming him in the back of the head with a fist to knock him back out.

A few miles later at an abandoned warehouse, Captain Ionel Stanca wakes up to find that he’s been stripped of his carapace armor and is just in his bodysuit that goes underneath the armor. He’s shrink wrapped to part of a rack. He struggles, but can’t break free of the thick layers of shrink wrap around his body. He looks around to see his armor scattered around on the floor with Marcus Anderson and Tarrasque standing in front of him. They look closely at him.

Anderson: We want to know Tarrasque’s real name.

Stanca: What the fuck is this? Why would I know what the fuck his real name is. Tarrasque. See? Name granted. Let me go!

Tarrasque leans closer to Captain Stanca and growls, baring his teeth.

Anderson: I think you can do better than that, Captain. Xian Tsar led the mission that you went on at like nineteen eighty-six.

Stanca: That’s over thirty years ago. How old do you think I am?

Marcus gives the Black Guard Captain a blank look. He had not considered that a Captain would be so young.

Anderson: Umm...old enough?

Tarrasque seizes Captain Stanca by the shoulders and delivers a tremendous headbutt that opens up a tear over the Captain’s left eye that trickles blood down his face.

Anderson: Then who knows? Who has been around for over thirty years?

Captain Stanca glances over at his armor where he notices that Tarrasque has torn the communicator out of the breast plate. Despite this, he grins.

Stanca: Captain Gunther Stallington has been around all that time. Xian Tsar himself has been around all that time. That’s all I can think of. But, why would they share this info with you?

Marcus pats Captain Stanca on the cheek with a laugh.

Anderson: Because they would want to get you back alive. What’s a name against a Captain? Hmm?

Captain Stanca looks from Marcus to Tarrasque, who is baring his teeth in a wide grin. He shakes his head with a laugh.

Stanca: Kill me? Really? I don’t think there’s been a time that I’ve been so entertained. You people don’t have the guts to kill me.

Marcus pats Tarrasque on the shoulder with a grin.

Anderson: You are looking at the upcoming XCrown champion. He’s going to win the Rumble to claim the twenty or whatever championship belts that the XCrown makes up. I think you’ll find that if he can throw out about forty people to win this match that he can easily twist your head around like a chicken’s to kill you.

Now Captain Stanca frowns as he looks at the posing Tarrasque and then back to Marcus.

Stanca: What is this? What are you doing right now? Is this some kind of wrestling promo? Are you promoing for a wrestling match right now?

Captain Stanca raises his eyebrows and looks once again to his armor. He attempts a shrug.

Stanca: Whatever makes your last moments more satisfying. Tell me more.

Marcus looks at the shocktrooper armor laying on the floor with narrowed eyes. He motions to Tarrasque.

Anderson: Go ahead and tell him. What can it hurt?

Tarrasque punches Captain Stanca in the gut a few times, causing the Captain to cough up some blood that splatters onto his chin and down the front of his shrink wrapping.

Tarrasque: Me going win match. Simple. Me throw everyone out. Maybe leave Zoran Sainovic for last.

Marcus places a hand on Tarrasque’s shoulder to let him know that he can stop…

Anderson: You keep looking at your armor. I know what your armor can do and what it cannot. It’s not going to save your life.

Captain Stanca raises an eyebrow with a devious grin.

Stanca: You know all of the capabilities of the Shocktrooper armor, do you? Then, you’ll know all about the tracking signal in the armor. I’m sure you have a few more minutes before my crew find and kill you both.

Marcus blinks and looks at the armor as if it might be a snake rearing up to bite him.

Anderson: We need to get out of here. NOW!

There’s several explosions that rock the building, seeming to come from everywhere at once. Captain Stanca throws his head back and laughs, smacking his head against the rack.

Stanca: Too late. You’re both dead.

Tarrasque jerks his thumb at Captain Stanca with a questioning look.

Tarrasque: Kill him now?

Anderson: No! We weren’t going to kill him anyway. This way!

Marcus Anderson and Tarrasque begin running for the main entrance. That’s where they find two of the Black Guard running for them with their assault rifles.

Anderson: Crap!

The two guards take aim at Marcus and open fire. He ducks under the gunfire, tucking into a roll while Tarrasque seizes one of them. He bashes the helmet with a headbutt and uses him as a weapon to smash the other one to the ground. Marcus gets to his feet, continuing to run toward the entrance where the doors had been blown off of their hinges.

Tarrasque kicks each of the downed Shocktroopers in the head to make sure that they were out and begins running after Marcus.

Tarrasque: This fun!

Anderson: We’re going to have to disagree on what we think of as fun, man. This sucks! Keep running!

Tarrasque stops in front of a car on the road, making them slam on the brakes. He walks around to the passenger side, opens the door, and gets in. He punches the driver in the side of the head, knocking him the fuck out, and motions for Marcus to get in.

Marcus pulls the unconscious driver out and gets in. They begin driving off as one of the other Black Guard gets to the roadway and opens fire on the car, peppering the trunk with bullets.

Anderson: Captain Gunther Stallington is who we need. I would imagine that he can’t just vanish like Xian Tsar. So, how can we get him?

Tarrasque just makes a noncommittal sound, shrugging his shoulders.