2 Chapter 18: Bear

Laura and Zenesha helped another two Platoons and sent them further south to gather the rest of her soldiers. They had a Platoon with her, which was roughly forty soldiers give or take, Laura didn't have time to count. Once ready they moved through the city very slowly and carefully.

The streets were deserted, except for the occasional squad of officers creating a roadblock. There was even the occasional sniper, but Laura detected those long before they could do anything and silently took them out. None of the soldiers from the Platoon noticed of course, but they didn't need to.

Laura had convinced Zenesha to try to break through enemy lines by herself more. Either by charging ahead or sneaking up from behind. She of course was keeping her safe, but her goal was to make the fox look almost godlike. As if she was far above normal mortals.

Which in the wolf's eyes she was.

"Ho-!"

The officer was cut off as his head was frozen and shattered into sparkling red ice crystals. Zenesha was currently engaged with the enemy at close quarters combat. She had just broken into their ranks by circling from behind and executed a sneak attack.

She chose to do this instead of charging straight into the line of fire because Laura had a sudden idea. She didn't want Zenesha getting into the habit of running into bullet fire too much, so while she wouldn't die, she still felt the impact to a small degree. It hurt and left behind bruises.

Zenesha was still a skilled warrior in her own right and managed to neutralize threats in a daily efficient manner. Plus using her ice powers to not only create unstable footing, but redistricting their movements, or weakening their bodies, she was virtually unstoppable.

Well even for here, engaging in a fight with a few dozen individuals would be impossible.

*Bang* *Splat*

*Bang* *Splat*

The head of an officer aiming a gun at her exploded, along with the head of someone trying to get the jump on her from behind. The viscera of the one just behind her splattered onto her slightly making her scrunch her face in disgust. She didn't understand how Laura was able to just be fine with it.

With her highly trained soldiers and girlfriend she had no need to worry about being surrounded completely. Her people took care of any blind spots she may have. Laura specially made sure she was safe and eliminated any threats to her with extreme prejudice.

Laura watched as Zenesha ducked under attacks and countered with her cyrokinesis abilities. Thanks to her being within enemy lines they hesitated to shoot since there was a good chance of friendly fire. But towards the end, when there was a little over a dozen of them left, they stopped caring.

"Looks like it's time. Team one and two, commence pincer attack." Laura ordered talking to her communicator.

A second later two teams of soldiers emerged and attacked the miniature blockade left and right flank. Laura smiled as she saw the last of the officers attacking her princess get killed. She cheerfully walked over the heavily breathing fox, stepping over the bodies of enemy and comrades alike.

"I need a break." Zenesha said as she composed herself. "Secure the perimeter. We'll rest here for a little while."

After giving out a few more orders, her soldiers quickly moved, and both the fox and wolf walked over to a wall and leaned against it as they sat down.

"I'm almost out of energy." The fox complained, taking a sip of water from her canteen.

"Here." Laura responded by giving her an essence compound. "This should help give you physical energy and replenish the essence in your body."

"Thank you."

"Of course."

"I think I'm going to hang back for a little while now." Zenesha said as she drank the essence compound.

"Good idea." Laura agreed. "It's important not to overdo yourself. I'll take care of any threats, so just hang back."

Zenesha's soldiers didn't even react when she broke rank and charged into the enemy anymore. At first they panicked and tried to get her back, then later they tried begging her to not leave their protection before eventually giving up. Now they looked at Laura as if she was the most impressive person they've ever seen.

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They continued their assault on the city, resistance growing weaker and weaker as time went on. Both Laura and Zenesha didn't like that. They managed to regroup with the rest of her troops that she had come here with. Once she was sure everyone was accounted for, they marched their way to City Hall.

"I see why we encountered less resistance now." Laura commented with a sigh.

"Officer Nove Please take your Small School and circle around behind the enemy." Laura ordered through their communicator.

"Yes Ma'am."

The two of them, along with a small recon team decided to scope out City Hall before doing a direct March on its location. Seeing the government building being turned into a miniature fortress, Zenesha decided she'll attack from two sides. After watching the place for a little longer they regrouped with their School and waited for the Pigeon rank officer to get into place.

Once everyone was in position the assault on the city hall commenced. Laura and Zenesha watched from a safe distance, giving out orders when needed, but for the most part it looked like things were fine. While they did make the place a fortress they were clearly hiring for manpower.

That is until he walked out.

A hulking Bear Arves slowly walked down the steps of City Hall, bullets bouncing off his skin. Laura tried using her own essence weapon, the bolt action rifle, and aim for his head. While her weapon staggered him for a few seconds, they just regained their footing and continued walking towards them.

"What the…." She muttered, her voice full of shock.

"Looks like this guy is bullet proof." Zenesha remarked with intrigue. "I'll deal with him.

Zenesha walked to the front of the formation. To be precise she stepped out of the barriers her people took over after killing the ones who set them in place in the first place. They needed to gain ground, and the enemy was so kind as to provide makeshift cover for them, and for that Zenesha was thankful.

Noticing her presence, the Arves looked at Laura and smiled. His large frame lumbered over in her direction. It was slow at first, but he slowly started picking up speed. The Bear approached faster, and faster, until he was sprinting and was on top of her before she could react.

Laura rolled under the man's large frame and between his legs. She stood up and turned around, pressing her hand against his back. It was only for a few seconds before he turned himself and faced her once again.

He towered over her, like most Bear Arves's did. Despite the fact Zenesha was six feet, he was nearly twice her height. Which meant he punched down at her. Straight down, and the fox sidestepped that attack and grabbed onto his arm.

"What?" He cried out confused before trying to shake her off.

Zenesha however refused to let go; she clung onto the large arm as if her life depended on it. The Arves would've found this bizarre and annoying, but the fact that his arm started feeling cold and numb made him feel a sense of foreboding.

He used his free hand to grab the fox and yank her off. The force used to pull her off the arm was enough to send her flying and skip on the ground before rolling to a stop. In response her soldiers pointed their guns at the Arves and fired.

Despite the fact their bullets had bounced off his form before, their instincts to protect their Queen kicked in and they concentrated fire on his location. Jus like before the bullets bounc-

*Shatter*

"What?"

Zenesha had already pushed herself up and witnessed the man's arm shatter into a glittering red crystal. Ice crystal to be exact. She had frozen his arm, causing it to become brittle. With a rare smirk on her face Zenesha approached the man again.

After his initial shock, the Bear did start to panic as his brain finally processed what happened and sent a shock of pain through his body. The man wanted to collapse on the ground, but he just clutched the stump of his arm as he looked at the fox woman approaching his location.

He wasn't sure what she did, but he wasn't going to let her try again. He turned to run but he found that the ground had seemingly partially covered his paws. The Bear couldn't even process that before Zenesha took advantage of his stillness.

Using the water in her canteen, she splashed it on the man and froze it. This helped expedite her freezing process and kept her from having to make direct contact. The man watched in horror as his body was slowly covered in a very thin sheet of frost.

The last thing he saw, even as his body lost feeling, was the cold glare of the fox watching him die.

=-=-=-=

Laura watched as Zenesha pulled out her gun, a regular side arm, and shot it at the large Bear Arves. He shattered like glass. The red ice crystals fell to the ground, causing some of it to be picked up by the wind. The red Crystals caught the light, reflecting the crimson color in an almost hauntingly beautiful way.

No longer interested in the battle unfolding, Laura focused on detecting for anyone of the Void to be present. So far things seemed clear, but it didn't hurt to be more cautious.

When she looked back towards the battle, the soldiers seemed to have gained more ground again. It'll only be a matter of time before they win.

"I guess I should do my best and do something in front of them." Laura muttered as she took out her fire essence pistol.