The Soldier

“There is another companion who was faced with a crisis of faith. Her bright-eyed idealism died in the trenches of Austin, Texas; along with her mentor Reinhard Scott.”

A video appeared in the sky: a city with smoke pouring from fallen skyscrapers and raging fires. Probably taken by some reconnaissance drone or other aerial vehicle. The banner scrolling underneath read [Machine Army devastates Austin – All contact lost ].

“And she never forgot that the ones pinning medals to her chest and calling her the ‘Hero of Austin’ a year later where the same people that deemed the horrendous casualties the 86th Irregulars ( aka. ‘Scotts Scouts’ ) took in defence of the city to be ‘within acceptable parameters’. But Scouts with an independent streak play well with the media, and when a dozen corporations love disseminating footage of the famous 86th using their newest prototype it is easy to get away with some heroic insubordination. “

Another video opened: spiderlike drones walking down a ruined city street through a hail of bullets, the guns on their back tracking targets and returning fire with mechanical patience. The way the image shook and juddered as the owner of the bodycam raised their rifle to add to the fusilade.

Then there was a flash of bright light, and when the image cleared again a ten-metre line of molten asphalt and fused wrecks was glowing in the middle of the street. The viewpoint shifted as soldier whirled around to look at a woman hefting a massive gun with a cable running to her bulky backpack. The image froze and a 3D model of the weapon appeared at the right corner of the screen to rotate and zoom in on various features of the [Mjolnir Cannon by Mars Macrotechnologies – Bring the Thunder! ]. But Jeff was more interested in the woman holding the weapon.

If the Castaway was the 70s idea of an amazon, this was a more modern interpretation with wiry muscles and too little baby-fat to hide them. Grime and sweat covered her bronze skin and the black tanktop she wore clung to her modest chest. She had a satisfied grin on her lean face as she inspected the destruction she had wrought. It was a very nice face, with generous lips, high cheekbones and almond eyes. It went a long way towards softening the ‘grizzled hardass’ impressionthe rest of her body gave off.

The sides of her head were shaved, and the hair on top was gathered in a ponytail that gradually went from glossy black, to dark blue, to sky blue before ending in a neon blue tip draped over her shoulder.

“Well, the neon streets of Mexico City are not the only place where you can find a lot of inofficial art of this warhero.” Drawings in a wide variety of styles appeared, each featuring the woman from the Mjolnir commercial. In a lot of them she was doing something cool or badass (usually involving a big gun) but there were also a lot of pictures of her in lingerie clinging to curves that seemed a lot more generous than in the video. And a sizable overlap between the two options. “Despite this seasoned warrior never appearing in any episode, the fans have been almost as enthusiastic about plastering her image on every available screen as the mega-corprorations sponsoring her.”

“I am pleased to introduce the fourth companion: The Soldier.”

Something movies and books forgot to mention, was that guns are heavy. Like ‘annoying to lug around’ heavy. The soldier had been tempted to just ditch her rifle more than once over the past day of wandering around the empty city. But right now she was glad she didn’t because target practice was a great way to vent her mounting frustration.

She imagined the face of her old therapist on the store mannequin, as she squeezed the trigger. “How is that for unhealthy attachment.” she muttered as the mannequins head exploded into a satisfying shower of plastic shards. It was a pretty atrocious as pithy oneliners went, she knew. Heck it barely made sense.

And it was unfair to Dr. Parker.

He’d been really nice actually. But also really frustrating to talk to. Because he didn’t understand. Not really. All he saw was a girl not trying to fit into the proper mold. And that meant she must be defective somehow.

It’s not like she had built a demented stalker shrine with Jeffs discarded pencil in a place of honor! Or had any delusions that Jeff had loved her back! Or got his face tattooed on her back!

And there are plenty of weird sex things out there! So is it really THAT bad if you ask your boyfriend if you can turn out the lights and call him a different name during sex?

God! That had been the worst! Her mom had insisted on a crisis meeting with Dr. Parker after that night. Just thinking about it….

A few more shots blew the mannequins torso apart. And what the hell is taking them so long!? I have waited eight and a half years for this! Get a frigging move on already!

She didn’t want to sit her and think about her hypocrite of a mom. She wanted to walk in there and give Jeff a big kiss. Yeah she could probably get away with a kiss at least. It wouldn’t do to come across as ****. But she was supposed to be part of a harem. A kiss was probably expected. All the other girls had probably kissed him.

And that was ok.

Really. It was.

She hadn’t expected to be his first kiss anyway.

But I’ll certainly try to be his BEST kiss yet. She resolved as the door finally appeared.

The woman striding out of the billowing fog, lacked the grime and scrapes of recent battle (and the BFG) but looked otherwise exactly as she did in the commercial.

She threw a crisp salute almost as soon as she laid eyes on Jeff “Present and accounted for, senor.” before breaking out into a huge smile “ I can’t wait to get started!” she declared with a strong spanish accent and practically skipped down the steps.

By the time she reached the bottom of the stairs the smile had visibly diminished “Hey, uhm, is there a problem? Because I didn’t expect to walk in on a funeral.” She asked Jeff.

Jeff really didn’t want to burst the poor girls bubble but …. “Our abductor just revealed that anyone who refuses to play along will be violated by tentacles. “

Instead of being shocked the girl just nodded “Yes. That’s pretty shitty. But only if you get eliminated in the first few rounds. ” she looked to Amora “You said the only people who will get eliminated in the first rounds are the ones who are actively trying to get kicked out.”

“That is right my child.” The host said benevolently “ Eliminations will only be a real threat after you had plenty of opportunities to earn the favour of the Celestial Choir and squandered them all. ”

“Well that’s alright then, I suppose.” The soldier agreed, but much of her earlier enthusiasm had drained out of her voice. For some reason she looked horribly disappointed as she looked between Jeff and the other girls.

“I am always glad to allay your worries.” The host said with a beatific smile “But we do have a schedule to keep.” And once again Jeff was relegated to a silent observer as his hand gripped the sceptre and the introduction-segment plowed ahead