Distortion Part Two

Distortion Part Two

21:05:07 Feb 14th 10 - King Charley The Webnazi Kgb Mod:

     One year. One year since the corrupt bastard known as Edward Pallace was forcefully removed. Unfortunately, he escaped and fled during the chaos of the military coup started by General David Richardson. What followed was one year of rebuilding with Richardson temporarily in charge. Weeding out the filth and slime that had begun to build up over the years that Pallace was in control. Removing the corrupt networks, officials, military officers, and criminal leaders from power and cleansing the system. It was not an easy task. Nothing was easy. Provinces saw the weakened central government and broke away. Small groups rebelled and the once unified planet was beginning to break into pieces and fight amongst itself. No one knew where Pallace went. Some said that he ran into the deserts alone and would hide for as long as it took. Others said that he took as many loyal men with him and hid in one of the rebelling provinces as protection. Still others say that he managed to purchase a space transport and went to the orbiting space station and is hiding in the city up there. It was hard to tell the truth from rumors and rumors from lies.
     David Richardson wasn't having an easy job at all, which was why Dominic Kaine was now out in the field. He was no longer a simple detective, but now he was asked by the government to assist in hunting down the allies of Pallace and eliminating them. The once tightly connected group of revolutionaries seemed to go in every direction. Only Sam DeVoire was with Dom and he was glad to be with someone he knew a little. The still-young man looked out of the window of the university dormitory that he was hiding in and looked at his target: A condemned science building on the campus. Inside was something. It was up to Dom and Sam to figure out who or what it was and take care of it. Several men wearing the typical clothes of construction workers walked around and did some meaningless tasks to keep up their cover, but Dom had been watching for several days. Sam, who was on the opposite side of the building in the bell tower of a tall building, was waiting for a signal to blast the heads off of someone. He had a very nice silenced sniper rifle that Martin had gotten for him as a gift.
     "Sam, do you see anything new?" asked Dom over his 2-way headset.
     "Nothing Dom...they are still wandering around. Wait...wait...do you see the truck coming!?" replied Sam. A tan colored truck backed up towards one of the entrances of the old science building and something was unloaded.
     "I see it. I am trying to see what they are unloading. Looks like several crates. Weapons maybe? Not sure. I think we should make our move in an hour after it gets a little darker," said Dom.
     "Alright, I will change my position while you contact Team 2," replied Sam as he began packing up his rifle.
     "Team 2, are you guys there?" said Dom as he switched the channel on his headset.
     "Yeah, we are here. What is the situation?" replied Tom Fellman, the head of a three-man team.
     "We are preparing to move in an hour. Get your guys ready because we are going to move in silent and fast. You guys have the back door, just like we planned," said Dom.
     "Sounds good. You sure you guys have the front? I can easily just shift Steve Truman over to you if you need extra firepower," replied Tom.
     "Negative. We will need you guys to have the strength in the rear in case we get pinned down. Then you could just open up on their unprotected backs. If we would need anything, I would probably select Robby Davidson to switch over. But anyways...we are going to be beginning our move at seven on the dot. Synchonize watches and be ready," said Dom.
     "Yes sir, moving into position and awaiting the turn of the hour," replied Tom as he filled his team in. Dom switched his channel back and filled Sam in as well to make sure everyone was on the same page. Then he grabbed his silenced assault rifle and put it into his backpack. Carrying around weapons in public was probably not the best way to avoid attention.

22:10:35 Feb 14th 10 - Emperor Gaius Septimus Cidellus:

Name: John Miller
Weapons
-Two customized Cidel Arms Dragonfire-7 pistols
-LanCo K-75 assault rifle
Clothing: Brown leather trench-coat, black T-shirt, tan cargo pants, breast holsters, black hiking boots.

Frank Harrison, that son of a bitch, was currently in a run down apartment in the slums of Tyrin, a mid-sized city formerly under the control of Edward Pallace, and now under the control of the new government. Harrison had hired a few guns, and was running a small street gang. He had left his house and gone on the run as soon as the coup had started, but that didn’t bother Miller much. What bothered Miller is that Harrison had betrayed Miller and his men. Miller had died because of that, but he was back and ready for revenge.

Miller approached the front door, opened his long duffel bag, took out his K-75 assault rifle, and kicked the door open. Inside were two guards, which Miller quickly killed with the assault rifle.
“Frankie, I’m home!” yelled Miller.

Silence followed Miller’s comment. Harrison wasn’t stupid, he wouldn’t give away his position. That was okay, Miller knew which apartment he was in. He ran up a flight of stairs, walked over to apartment 203, and listened. He heard breathing on the other side. Somebody was waiting for him to open the door. Miller backed away and opened fire on the door. He heard screams of pain on the other side, stopped, and listened. He heard louder breathing, so he kicked the door open. On the floor, in a puddle of blood, was not Frank Harrison. John looked over and saw an open window. He fired a round into the dying man’s head and ran over to the window. Suddenly, somebody grabbed him from behind and shoved his face into the wall before turning Miller around and punching him several times in the face. Miller responded with a knee to the attacker’s ribs, which dealt severe damage and caused the attacker to fall to the floor.
“Harrison,” confirmed Miller.
“John, please. I needed the money, my sister needed it,” said Harrison.
Miller was silent as he stared into Harrison's eyes.
“If you’re going to kill me…then do i-AHHHHH!”
Harrison screamed as Miller shot him in the kneecap with his assault rifle. Miller finished him off with a shot to the head before concealing his assault rifle in his duffel bag. Afterwards, he quickly left the apartment, walked several blocks to his four-door sedan, and left town.

02:48:22 Feb 16th 10 - King Charley The Webnazi Kgb Mod:

     Dom's watch vibrated only slightly. It was enough to get his attention and let him know that 1 hour was up.
     "Sam, prepare to engage," said Dom as he casually began moving near the 'abandoned' science building. There were only two men standing outside pretending to clean up some equipment, but they were watching him. What they didn't see was Sam cutting a hole in the fence that surrounded the work area. They didn't see him slowly coming up behind them. Dom took a step towards them and one of them held up his hand.
     "Hey kid, sorry but you can't come near here. We don't need anyone getting hurt by any equipment we have around here," said the man and Dom quickly scanned him. He saw that the man could only possibly have a small pistol concealed on him and nodded to Sam, but the man thought it was to him.
     "Sorry man, I was just curious and wanted to see what department was going to be in there," said Dom apologetically but Sam was already ready. He had two silenced pistols aimed and within half a second, both of the guards had bullets in their skulls.
     "This guy must have been drunk because you don't look anything like an innocent student losing his way. You kind of look like some pathetic guy who had to go back to school," joked Sam as he checked the bodies for weapons and found two pistols. Then they dragged the bodies away and hid debris on top of them.

***

     "Breach!" said Tom Fellman as the back door was blasted inwards and a guard standing near it was splattered against the stone wall.
     "Enemy...splattered," said Steve Truman after he saw the mess.
     "Better get a move on, we made a little bit of noise there," added Robby Davidson. The three men moved into the building more until they came to a hallway. Robby and Tom were carrying sub-machine guns while Steve had an assault rifle. Robby turned the corner and suddenly had a bullet graze his right temple and he dropped limply to the ground.
     "He's hit! Shit!" said Steve as he fired his gun down the hallway at the hidden enemy.

***

     Dom and Sam heard the blast of the breaching charge and began moving more quickly.
     "Fellman, give me an update," said Dom after two minutes.
     "We are moving inside more. One enemy is down," replied Tom. Dom and Sam moved into the building further until they heard gunfire and shouting. Bullets then began peppering the area that they were in and both of the men took cover.
     "Fellman, what is going on? Can you get to our position? We are under heavy fire!" said Dom over his radio.
     "Negative! Negative! Bobby is down! Repeat, Bobby is down and we are pinned down!" replied Tom Fellman.
     "Shit, we will need a new plan here," said Dom to Sam. He looked up and saw an old ventilation shaft and tapped Sam's shoulder.
     "Get me onto your shoulders and into that vent," ordered Dom. Sam quickly knelt down while firing, lifted Dom up onto his shoulders and continued keeping the enemy at a distance. Dom ripped the vent cover off and then threw himself into the shaft. He continued to hear gunfire and orders being yelled by the enemy. They weren't all amateurs after all. They had reacted swiftly to the pincer attack and prepared a strong defense. What they failed to prepare for was Dom dropping a grenade down on their heads from above and blowing four of them to pieces. Limbs were ripped to shreds and organs were strewn across the floor as Dom dropped to the ground and almost slipped on the slick blood pools. Sam raced over to him and avoided the mess.
     "Didn't see this in the job description," muttered Sam as he turned another corner and emptied a clip into the three men keeping Fellman's team pinned down. They dropped quickly after being flanked by Dom and Sam. Fellman then met up with them and caught his breath.
     "Bobby is unconscious. A bullet clipped his head. What should we do for now?" asked Tom.
     "Call Eagle-1 and have him picked up by Team-3. Then have Team-3 follow us in when they get here," replied Dom. Tom backed off to call in reinforcements to evacuate his injured teammate. Dom and Sam entered a sealed classroom and found an elevator that led into the ground.
     "Looks like we are going to need some definite backup," said Dom as he looked down the man-made hole. Lights lined the crude elevator shaft and it went deep. Very deep.
     "Eagle-1, be advised that we will need a reinforced Team-3 dropped at our position. We have confirmed that something is definitely going on here," said Dom as he switched on his headset.
     "We heard you loud and clear, team leader.  Having Team-4 secure the perimeter and Team-3 join you. Over and out," replied Eagle-1, which was their gunship support that held their weapons and reserves. It was going to be a long night.

05:35:36 Feb 16th 10 - Emperor Gaius Septimus Cidellus:

[[OOC: John Miller’s killing of Harrison happened three weeks before the battle Dom is currently involved in. The events of my current post take place a week before the battle Dom is currently in.]]

Name: John Miller
Weapons
-Two customized Cidel Arms Dragonfire-7 pistols
-LanCo K-75 assault rifle
Clothing: Black T-shirt, tan cargo pants, breast holsters, black hiking boots.

It had taken two weeks to gather the necessary information for the takedown. Now John was in the desert town of Oasis, where the former Renard Lanson Lieutenant known now as Mad-Dog was currently located. After the Battle of Paradise Hotel, he left Nargess and wandered a bit before joining a biker gang in Oasis. It took him only a few months to gain leadership. He thought that by surrounding himself with loyal men, he could evade execution for his crimes. John wasn’t about to let that happen.

***

   John stopped his Sercom Interceptor sedan outside of a small inn and got out. It was hotter than hell in Oasis. Luckily, almost everybody in Oasis carried a firearm, so John having a Dragonfire pistol on a belt holster didn’t seem to bother anybody. He entered the hotel lobby, and a man with an eye-patch and white hair greeted him. John didn’t doubt that the man had a pump-action shotgun or a similar weapon under the counter.
     “I need a room,” said John.
     “How many and how long?” asked the man.
     “Just one, and for four days,” said John.
     “Alright, two hundred bucks…”
   John slid his CredBank card, and the money was taken out of his account.
    “Room 109. Have a nice day.”
     John walked outside to his car, grabbed the duffel bag containing his assault rifle and the suitcase containing his clothes and other items, and walked to Room 109. The room wasn’t nice, but John hadn’t expected nice at two hundred credits. It had a TV that probably didn’t have any channels, a bed that would probably eat him, a nightstand, a table, and a chair. John put his suitcase and duffel bag down and walked over to the window. Down the main road a ways was the Avengers MC Clubhouse.
      Several motorcycles were lined up outside, and a few guys were hanging around outside. From John’s hotel room he could probably hit one with a sniper rifle. John turned on the TV, and saw that he had TNN (Targos News Network). He watched, and saw that Richardson was giving some speech on fighting corruption. He kept it on as he cleaned his Dragonfires and attached a scope to his assault rifle. He also attached suppressors to both weapons. If he did it right, he wouldn’t have to use his weapons much. But John Miller always liked to be prepared.

***

     It was around nine o’clock at night, and the members of the biker gang were partying hard inside their clubhouse. Their bikes outside were exposed, and the bikers had little to fear in a town they ran. John ran up to the row of bikes, rigged ignition bombs to four of the bikes, and ran back down the street to his Interceptor. He jumped in and drove back down the street. When he was outside the clubhouse, he grabbed his assault rifle from the backseat, rolled down his passenger side window, and opened fire on the clubhouse. He then pressed his foot down on the accelerator and drove off. Men ran out, saw the car driving off, and immediately jumped on their motor cycles.
BOOM!
     A massive explosion rocked the front of the clubhouse as several bikes exploded, incinerating their riders and injuring all nearby. John pulled a U-turn and drove back with his pistol in his left hand. He opened fire on the survivors, striking three in the head and two in the chest. He then stopped his car, grabbed his assault rifle, and waited a few seconds.
     Several more bikes exploded, and John ran up to the front door. He heard screams inside from prostitutes, and yelling from bikers. He grabbed a High Explosive grenade and threw it through the front door. After he heard it explode, he peeked around the corner, saw a dead biker, and rushed through the door.
Mad-dog wasn’t dead out the front, and this isn’t him…he must be upstairs.
     John stepped over the corpse of the dead biker and peeked up the staircase before running up. He was immediately hit in the side by a shotgun blast, which made a large hole. John fell back down the stairs and laid still. A bald biker with a bushy mustache walked down the staircase. He was wearing a sleeveless jacket with a T-shirt underneath.
“Yeah you son of a bitch, couldn’t kill me. Couldn’t kill Mad-dog! Oh no!” yelled the man who identified himself as Mad-dog.
      John painfully raised his assault rifle and put a shot into Mad-dog’s heart. Mad-dog yelped, and fell down the remainder of the stairs. John was still for several seconds as the wound in his side closed up, and the damaged organs were repaired. Once he felt he was ready to move, he got up, grabbed Mad-dog’s pump-action shotgun as a trophy, and walked back outside to his car. He drove off into the desert, his suitcase was already in the trunk.

07:06:14 Feb 20th 10 - Lord Himanil IX:

Fine. However one thing. Wound in his side closed up?

09:51:03 Feb 20th 10 - Emperor Gaius Septimus Cidellus:

[[OOC: Yes, the shotgun wound in his side healed up within two minutes. I'll explain later on, for now, it's a mystery! >=D]]

06:08:18 Feb 23rd 10 - King Charley The Webnazi Kgb Mod:

Name: Dominic Kaine
Weapons: Silenced Targosian Assault Rifle(TAR-9)
Clothing: Lightweight black body armor, black long sleeved shirt, dark cargo pants, black stocking cap.
Other: Dom is a man asked by the new government to hunt down Pallace and his associates any way he can.

Each man strapped a flashlight to the barrel of their main weapon as they entered the small elevator and took one last look at the fading twilight sky. Dom, Sam, and Fellman's reinforced Team-2 was with him. Bobby had to be replaced since his wounds were too bad for him to continue. Team-3, headed by Mason Scalliari, was going to follow Dom's first group in after they sent the elevator back up. It was simply too small for more than five or six men. Meanwhile, Team-4 kept any curious civilians away from the area. It was an annoying job but at least some level of secrecy had to be kept even though there had been gunfire going on for several minutes. After making sure everyone was ready, Dom pulled the lever of the elevator and they began their descent.

***

     Something had gone wrong. Communications were silent. Ex-Lieutenant Terry MacKnight had been annoyed before, but now he was beginning to panic.
     "Relax MacKnight...we have almost 50 men here. Who the hell could bother us?" said Captain Vincent Custard.
     "Relax? I have kept constant updates with the upper team for the past weeks and suddenly they went silent? I amnot believing in communication problems or anything. What if the military is here?" replied MacKnight.
     "They can't fit an entire army down a small elevator shaft. Fucking impossible. We would just tear them apart as they came. Like lambs led to the slaughter," countered Captain Custard.
     "They could seal us in then. We would starve to death!" said MacKnight.
     "Just have a drink. I will take care of everything," replied the captain as he passed a bottle of liquor to the nervous lieutenant. Then he walked out of his small tent and gave up a quick shout. Twenty-four men quickly gathered and saluted him.
     "Alright men, we may have ourselves a situation. Keep your eyes peeled for anything suspicious and be prepared to repel possible invaders. Sergeant Greer, I want you to take five men up the elevator," ordered Custard. The men saluted again and each went to do their task.

***

     "Keep your heads down until we know the situation. I don't want to attract too much attention yet," said Dom as the elevator entered a large underground cavern. As the elevator began getting closer to the ground, he saw a group of six men slowly moving towards where the elevator would settle.
     "Shit! Silencers on now!" whispered Dom as Sam and Fellman's team got themselves ready. As soon as they were ready to go silent, Dom had them open fire on the approaching patrol. Only a small shout went out but it was drowned out by other noises.
     "We have to move quickly. Send the elevator up now," said Dom as they hopped off of the elevator.
     "Sir, I cannot get any communications via satellite to Eagle-1 or command," whispered Fellman.
     "We must be under a layer of strange rock. We better hope they don't panic," replied Dom as their group moved forward.

***

     "MUTANTS!" screamed a man as he fired his assault rifle. A pack of mutants suddenly began swarming into the cavern and things started going badly for MacKnight. Very badly.
     "What the fucking hell is going on?" roared Custard as he tried to establish some kind of order.
     "Sir! Large pack of mutants are coming from a crevice in the rock to the southeast!" replied a soldier.
     "Damnit...I never would have thought that they could have spread this far. Fall back and set up a base of fire around the camp!" ordered Custard as he picked up an assault rifle. The battle raged for several more minutes and things seemed to be at a stalemate. Mutants kept coming and they kept being gunned down with careful precision. Then someone fucked up. Or so Custard thought.

***

     "Sounds like we found their camp," said Dom, no longer having to whisper due to the gunfire. He peeked over a small ridge and found packs of mutants attempting to swarm around a pretty strong group of ex-soldiers. Dom's group continued watching until Robby pulled a seismic grenade from his belt.
     "Should we spice up this fight a bit?" he asked. Dom took the grenade from him and threw it.
     "I think we should get ready to run like hell as well," replied the team leader. The result of the grenade was a handful of soldiers being disoriented as a wave of violent sound, light, and pressure broke the defense of the camp. Mutants broke through the side and began hitting other soldiers from behind. In short, it became a hand-to-hand fight for survival that was already a lost battle for the enemies.
     "Sir, I think this is the distraction we were waiting for," said Fellman as he slid down the small ridge and sprinted towards the enemy camp. The mutants were busy fighting the soldiers and the operative managed to run straight into the tent where MacKnight was trying to calm himself. He put two bullets between the lieutenant's eyes before he even knew what hit him. Fellman then immediately grabbed any documents that he could find on him in a couple of seconds before racing out again. The soldiers were falling apart and many were trying to run, but Fellman dropped two seismic grenades as he ran and both mutants and soldiers fell. The distraction gave him enough time to make it almost back to Dom and the others before the mutants seemed to figure things out. Then they began running after them like enraged animals.
     "RUUUUUUUN!" screamed Fellman as he dashed past the group and towards the elevator. Unfortunately, Team-3 was just coming down and things looked bad.
     "Everyone on! I don't care if it isn't comfortable, but we need to get the hell out of here now!" yelled Dom as everyone forced their way onto the small elevator anyway that they could. It was a horribly tight fit and the elevator went so much slower. Creaking cables was the least of their concern as mutants raced towards them with hopes of scoring at least a small meal. The nine men in the elevator did away with them quickly with a shower of bullets and barrage of grenades. Then they finally felt safe. When they reached the top, they dropped some timed explosives down the shaft and it detonated about halfway down. The result was the complete collapsed of the shaft and sealing it permanently. No one down their survived...except maybe the mutants.

08:24:39 Feb 23rd 10 - Lord Himanil X:

Good.

22:39:28 Feb 24th 10 - Emperor Gaius Septimus Cidellus:

Name: John Miller
Weapons
-Combat knife
-Two customized Cidel Arms Dragonfire-7 pistols
-LanCo K-75 assault rifle
-High explosive grenades
Clothing: Urban camouflage fatigues, black combat boots, black fingerless gloves, black combat harness, leg holsters.

The streets were cracked and littered with corpses, rubble, spent clips, ammo shells, and the occasional body part. The buildings were crumbling and abandoned, and the sounds of constant small arms fire along with explosions every so often filled the air. The air smelled like smoke, iron, fear, and death. It was a warzone.

Richardson’s coup may have taken Pallace out of power, but he still had a lot of military support. An army under Richardson and an army under Pallace were currently fighting for Lerner City. The city had no strategic value, not since every bit of industry was bombed or ran out of town with the fighting. The Richardson commander in the city was Colonel Edward Morner, one of Richardson’s best friends and a very able commander. The Pallace commander in the city was Colonel Paul Newport, who was also an able commander. Both had an equal number of troops and resources, and it was a stalemate as a result.

Miller was currently hiding in a building that seemed to be barely standing as around four tanks and two hundred troops walked past. John was under the window, glancing out as the Pallace troops drove past. When they were gone, and all was quiet (well, as quiet as it would ever be), John got up and looked outside, standing in the dim light of the partially blocked sun. He was wearing a pair of black combat boots, urban camouflaged fatigues, a pair of black fingerless leather gloves, and his vest-like combat harness. The combat harness was designed to allow him to carry two larger weapons such as an assault rifle or a shotgun. He had also modified it years ago to allow him to carry his baseball bat as well, but he rarely used it anymore. The harness had several slots for rifle clips, four grenade slots, and a combat knife. He was holding his K-75 assault rifle, which he had outfitted with a suppressor and a scope for this mission. It also had a foregrip and laser sight. John was fond of the weapon, and wouldn’t replace it for anything. His Dragonfire pistols were in his leg holsters, both outfitted with suppressors and laser sight.

If he could kill Newport, the stalemate would end. It probably would anyway. John didn’t really know, but he didn’t care. He just wanted to kill him. He turned and walked away from the window. He had to move. He opened the building’s front door and looked both ways. There were no soldiers in sight. He walked outside and looked around.

The sky was cloudy, and the clouds were dark. It would probably rain soon. He crouched down. Newport’s HQ was to the East, but there was no way in hell he could fight his way through an entire brigade of troops. He’d use the sewers, but they were caved in. He had examined the map before the mission, and Newport was no idiot. He had picked a great place for a HQ. The government buildings in the East of town were the most solid in town, and there were few roads into the square. He had roadblocks with mounted recoilless rifles and machine guns blocking all entrances. John would have to infiltrate rather than his usual assault approach.

Stealing a uniform would be hard; the Pallace troops weren’t stupid either. They travelled in large groups and were usually supported by tanks or assault vehicles. He had no weapons capable of taking out an armored vehicle anyway.

Shit, thought Miller.
There had to be a way. Snipers! Snipers were usually in a team of two. The sharpshooter and the spotter, dispatching both of them would be easy if he was able to sneak up on them. There was a large memorial building in the park two miles away, and it was a likely spot for a sniper nest. Approaching without being spotted, however, would be difficult. He couldn’t shoot them before-hand either, as that would probably get the uniforms stained with blood. He’d have to either distract them or find another nest.
Well, these next twenty minutes are going to be fun, thought John.

05:49:29 Feb 25th 10 - King Charley The Webnazi Kgb Mod:

Name: Dominic Kaine
Weapons: Silenced Targosian Assault Rifle(TAR-9)
Clothing: Lightweight body armor, white long sleeved thermal shirt, white thermal pants, white ski mask.
Other: Dom is a man asked by the new government to hunt down Pallace and his associates any way he can.

     Dom and everyone on the ground was picked up by their gunship and he was soon patched in to command.
     "This is Dom, our mission is complete. No signs of Pallace being there but Sergeant Fellman managed to get a handful of enemy documents and plans. We are bringing them back to headquarters for deciphering," announced Dom.
    "Good work. I am glad that I was not mistaken in giving you your position. I have a better idea. The co-pilot can help you with it. There is a document scanner in the rear of the gunship. Use that to send those documents to us securely and we can quickly work on your next destination if these have anything important," replied Carter. The co-pilot was alerted that his help was needed and he led Dom to a small machine. The documents were each individually scanned and transfered to headquarters. It took about thirty minutes before a reply was sent.
     "Alright teams, we have found evidence that Pallace had a base carved into the peak of the Finton Mountain. We believe that he might have been there recently or could still be there. Search that base for any clues. This mission must be as quiet as possible. We will probably have to drop you off just below the peak to avoid detection. Good luck task force," said Carter before his communication ended. Dom and the others packed into the large gunship then sat down for a few hours of rest. The Finton Mountain was 10 hours away and they would probably need to refuel along the way.

***Around 10 Hours Later***

     "We are nearing the Landos Mountain range! Finton Mountain is the tallest one out of all of them! The wind is getting pretty strong and it looks like a storm is brewing so we will have to drop you off pretty quick!" yelled the pilot over the sound of the wind and engine. Dom and the 14 other men crammed into the gunship held on tightly to any straps and hand-holds that they could find for support. Dom pulled himself forward in the gunship until he was at the door to the cockpit. He was the mountain range right in front of them and could feel the wind howling and knocking the gunship around a bit. The beeping of alarms distracted him a bit.
     "Shit...looks like that storm is going to be a strong one," commented the co-pilot.
     "Nothing we can't handle. We are only about two minutes out. Get yourselves ready for a quick drop," said the pilot to Dom. He nodded and went into the back to spread the word.
     "Alright! Team-1 will be headed by myself with Sam DeVoire, and Stan Hoffman in it. Team-2 will be headed by Tom Fellman, and have Steve Truman and Chris Sanchez. Team-3 will be on reserve with Daniel Truini leading Mark Salacienski and Brian Miller. You all know what to do. Make me proud elites," announced Dom over the noise of the storm and the gunship. The gunship approached a wide ledge about two dozen feed under the top of the mountain and both Team-1 and Team-2 hopped off of the ship. They were wearing snow camouflage clothing and also silenced weapons. Sam had his trusty silenced sniper rifle, but now it was wrapped in a white camouflage cover to make sure his position was not given away by a black weapon. The others had similar covers on their assault rifles and sub-machine guns as well.
     "Alright, let's scale this cliff face shall we?" said Dom over his compact headset. He pulled out a climbing claw that resembled a hook of some kind and dug it into the icy wall of the mountain. Dom tugged on it a bit before digging another claw into the wall. He then began pulling himself upwards. Each man behind him followed his lead.
     "Goddamnit, if I was not forced to train under these conditions I would wonder why the fuck I was here," Dom muttered. It took almost thirty minutes to make it even halfway to the top. He stopped at another ledge to rest. Then he heard a short yell and then silence.
     "Fellman! What the hell is going on?" asked Dom over his headset.
     "Sergeant Fellman...fell!" said Sam, ignoring the obvious joke that could be made.
     "What is his condition?" asked Dom.
     "Well, his hook popped out and he knocked Steve Truman off the wall as well, but he hit the hardest. He may be dead or hurt bad," replied Chris Sanchez.
     "Sanchez, check on their conditions!" ordered Dom.
     "No...need sir. He is dead," said Truman suddenly.
     "Truman? What is your condition then?" replied Dom.
     "I think I am okay. Just a little shook up. He landed on his head sir. Broken neck. Didn't feel a thing. I am going to cover up his body and take any identifying objects off of him. Then I will catch up with you," said Steve.
     "Sanchez, wait here for Truman. We will move forward and scout the enemy positions. Regroup with us as quickly as you can," ordered Dom.
     "Yes sir!" replied Sanchez. Dom cursed under his breath and waved his team forward. They climbed the last dozen feet in another thirty minutes and were informed that Truman had made it to where Sanchez was waiting. Dom hammered a safety line into the thick ice at the top of the cliff and let a white rope drop down to make sure that no more falls happened. Sanchez and Truman hooked onto the rope and continued climbing. Dom and his team edged forward until they saw a base. They barely saw anything due to the thick snow that was falling around them. It was blowing in their faces harshly and Dom ordered everyone to switch to thermal vision in order to even keep moving. Then they manuevered themselves into the enemy base under the cover of the storm.

***

     The enemy base held about forty soldiers, but only they knew that. They were dug shallowly into the peak due to how strong the rock and ice was and how difficult it was to drill deeper. Even the best drills broke due to the cold. Major Harmon Turk was in charge of the base, but he had been growing steadily more sick due to the horrible conditions. His second-in-command, Captain Simon Albertson was doing only slightly better.
     "Patrol 3 report in, said Albertson from their makeshift command center.
     "P--rol - he--. Repor-ing hea-y wea--er. Comm-----tion- are bre--ing up. I repea-. Com------," replied his radio until nothing but static was heard.
     "Patrol 2 can you get a visual on Patrol 3? I lost communications with them due to the storm," ordered Captain Albertson.
     "Patrol 2 here. Communications are weak right now. I can barely hear you. Patrol 3 was just around the perimeter. They should be back within range soon enough. We are moving to cover the hole in the defense since we were pausing at the armory for a moment. Patrol 2 out," replied some soldiers.
    "At least someone is still out there," thought Albertson. That thought relieved him a bit. Just a week before, Patrol 5 had been lost due to a small avalanche. Their bodies had not been found for three days. It was just a mess out there. He could barely see out of the windows.

***

     "Sir, a group of three men is approaching from the left. Permission to take them out," said Sam quietly. Stan Hoffman moved up alongside Sam.
     "Requesting permission to try something sir," said Hoffman.
     "Granted. Just don't get yourself killed or we are all in big trouble," replied Dom as he moved along Sam's left side. Hoffman moved over to a sheet of thick ice, broke it off, and then moved ahead of them a short ways. He laid on his back and put the ice sheet over him and within a minute, snow had covered the man completely.
     "Amazing," said Sam and Dom at the same time. The enemy patrol actually stepped onto Hoffman without noticing anything really except how the ground was slick. Hoffman then got up after they passed him and held two pistols in his hands. He shot two of the enemies in a split second and the third man in the face as he spun around.
     "Enemies down sir," said Hoffman.
     "Impressive work Hoffman, replied Dom as they checked for any useful items but found nothing at first.
     "They don't even have thermal goggles. If the others are like this, they won't be able to see a thing. How fortunate for us," said Sam.
     "We better move quick. We don't know how often they check into their headquarters. Actually...we can use their channel to see where they are all at. Sam, grab one of their headsets and get the channel," ordered Dom. It only took the soldier a few minutes to figure it out.
     "Got it sir. We are now tapped in. They didn't even have it encoded," said Sam when he was finished. They moved forward quickly, knowing where all of the enemies were...somewhat. Sanchez and Truman soon caught up to them after fifteen minutes and they made a combined movement into the base. With a hole now in the perimeter, they found it quite easy. Then they found themselves outside of the headquarters. Dom entered first as quietly as he could. The voice of a man was heard talking on a radio with the numerous patrols.
     "This must be the man they called Captain Albertson. We better not touch him or else the patrols might realize that something is wrong," said Dom over his channel. They began going through the command center and were shocked to find out that only the commanding officers were in the small structure. It was almost a joke. They spread out and found a room filled with a variety of documents and 'borrowed' all of them. Then Sam found Major Turk asleep in his bed. A quick and almost silent swipe with his knife assured that he would not be waking up anytime soon. Only a short gurgle was heard and warm blood oozed out onto the officer's bed.
     "Good night," whispered Sam with a grin. He pulled the blanket higher on the man's body so that the flow of blood was concealed at least for the moment. Then his skin turned cold as he heard the other officer speaking.
     "Turk? Are you up yet? Damnit, if I have to do this everyday..." said Captain Albertson as his voice came closer. Sam did the only thing that he could do. He got under Turk's bed and readied himself. Albertson walked into the room and kicked the bed.
     "Get up you old buzzard. If you lay there all day, you are going to lose a limb to the cold," said Albertson. He then yanked the blanket away from Turk's body and stumbled backwards after seeing blood all over his senior officer.
     "Turk? Turk!? Shit!" said Albertson and he turned to run. Sam rolled out from under the bed and dove at the other officer. Albertson spun around and kicked out with his leg, catching Sam in the chest.
     "An enemy!?" said Albertson and then he drew his pistol just as Sam was moving at him again. He fired but Sam had moved too quickly and whipped the officer's hand away and into a wall. The gun dropped and was kicked away, but Albertson pulled out a knife from his hip sheath. The two men circled each other silently. Then the officer lunged forward and stabbed at Sam, but his blade only grazed his side. Sam grabbed Albertson's arm and chopped the joint with his free hand, forcing the knife to fall free. He was surprised when the officer had somehow followed quickly with a left hook and caught him in the jaw. Sam barely held onto his own knife but had Albertson giving him no room. A strong kick struck him in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him with an audible 'oomph!' and fell onto Turk's cooling corpse. He kicked out with his legs and threw Albertson to the ground. Sam then grabbed his knife and dove onto the enemy officer and began trying to stab him in the chest. Albertson grabbed at the knife and stopped it mere inches from his heart. Grunts and gasps of pain and exhaustion came from both men as they wrestled with the blade. Sam tried forcing the blade into Albertson's chest and Albertson tried to turn it away from him. Sam then put his entire body weight behind the blade and finally managed to force it slowly and inch-by-inch into Albertson's chest. A final grunt of pain escaped the man's mouth before he went limp and ceased his struggle to survive.
     "Good night to you too," said Sam as he wiped his blade off and left the two bodies in the room. He staggered out and was almost ran into by Dom.
     "You are bleeding! What the hell happened?" asked Dom quickly.
     "Not my blood...had to kill the other officer. We need to move," replied Sam as he tried to catch his breath. The radio then crackled to life.
     "Sir, this is Patrol 2, we cannot find Patrol 3. Requesting new orders," said the voice over the radio. A minute passed and Dom could not think of a reply.
     "Sir, we are requesting new orders...is anyone there?" said the voice over the radio. Dom then had an idea.
     "Sam! Plant as many explosives as we can in this building. We are going to call for help and hopefully it attracts a bunch of them here. But they won't find us," said Dom. He then moved over to the radio and did his best to sound panicked.
     "Enemies are in the command center! All patrols are to get to the command center immediately! Major Turk is dead!" said Dom as best as he could so that his voice sounded something like Captain Albertson. Then he ran found Sam planting the last of the explosives as quickly as he could. Hoffman had his own little traps setup in Turk's room.
     "Run like hell!" ordered Dom and Sam, Hoffman, Truman, and Sanchez all raced out of the building into the storm. They used their thermal vision to narrowly avoid two patrols racing towards the building. Then Dom listened to the enemy channel when they made it a safe distance away.
     "This is Patrol 3, we are inside of the command center. No sign of the major or captain. Moving towards their quarters," said a voice.
     "Patrol 5 here, we are with patrols 7, 8, and 9 here. Moving in the rear doors. No signs of enemies," added another voice. Other voices joined in and Dom nodded to Sam. Through the thermal vision, Sam saw the nod perfectly fine. He pushed a button and was happy to see an enormous explosion that almost knocked him to the ground.
     "Good night..." said.
     "Alright, we gotta move in and check for any survivors that need tucked in," said Dom. The others then moved in slowly and were surprised to find that only about three men survived, but they would not have stayed alive for more than a few hours. Shrapnel and spilled their blood around a bit and they were bleeding out or freezing to death after having their clothes burnt badly. Sam walked up to each and put a bullet in their heads.
     "Good night...you poor bastards," he said after the last one was killed. Dom then sighed as he realized that due to how strong the storm was, there was no way they could get off the mountain. They would just have to find shelter in another one of the buildings until it passed over.
     "Alright guys...we are going to find where they have their barracks and spend the night. Sanchez and I will take the first shift. Hoffman and Truman can take the second one. Sam, you rest. You look like absolute hell," said Dom.

06:05:21 Feb 25th 10 - Lord Himanil X:

That was good Charley. The Hand to hand part was uncomplicated, short and simple. Did help visualize it properly.

06:34:30 Feb 25th 10 - King Charley The Webnazi Kgb Mod:

Other voices joined in and Dom nodded to Sam. Through the thermal vision, Sam saw the nod perfectly fine. He pushed a button and was happy to see an enormous explosion that almost knocked him to the ground.
"Good night..." he said.

Missed that. Was writing for too long :p

06:41:30 Feb 25th 10 - Lord Himanil X:

That's fine. We're looking for the story here.

06:47:02 Feb 25th 10 - King Charley The Webnazi Kgb Mod:

I'm looking for grammar perfection and learning from mistakes so that I get better dammit! >:G

06:47:18 Feb 25th 10 - Emperor Gaius Septimus Cidellus:

...I saw no comments on my post.

:'(

;-)

06:55:51 Feb 25th 10 - Lord Himanil X:

Short and concise. Can say more of it when the action starts.

Very well then, grammar as well from now on.

16:24:04 Mar 1st 10 - Emperor Gaius Septimus Cidellus:

[[OOC: Due to Deallus's self-imposed break from writing and Visual Utopia, Distortion is on hold for an unknown period of time. Sorry for all the readers out there.]]

03:20:02 Mar 10th 10 - Emperor Gaius Septimus Cidellus:

[[OOC: This was fun to write...I expect feedback =D]]

Name: John Miller
Weapons
-Combat knife
-Two customized Cidel Arms Dragonfire-7 pistols
-LanCo K-75 assault rifle
-High explosive grenades
Clothing: Pallace uniform, brown combat boots, leg holster, backpack, helmet.

The memorial tower appeared to be around forty feet tall from the ground, and the memorial building surrounding it was around forty feet by twenty feet. It was made of red bricks, and the double-doors at the front were made of wood.
“3…2…1…boom,” whispered John from underneath a dead car as another car exploded on the opposite side of the memorial tower. As predicted, the sniper team in the memorial tower turned their attention to the recently detonated car, which allowed John around ten seconds to jump out from under a car and run around forty feet in ten seconds. He jumped out and shot off, his legs moving with blinding speed. It was difficult to remain silent while running that fast, but luckily the sniper team didn’t notice. They were probably talking, reporting the situation to HQ. Great, they’d have reinforcements soon. John ran through the door, sprinted across the cracked tile floor, and up an enclosed spiral staircase leading to the top of the memorial tower.
“Who the hell is that!?” yelled the man that Miller assumed was the spotter.

Miller ran up the stairs, and was shot by a burst of four bullets as he reached the top. He tumbled back down the spiral staircase and rested face-up. He was motionless, lifeless, and convincingly dead. The spotter ran down the staircase to confirm the kill, and as he reached the bottom, John lifted his rifle and shot the spotter in the head. The spotter nearly fell on top of him, but he rolled out of the way. John immediately struggled up from his position and rolled the spotter out of the now forming blood puddle. The blood was only on his face, the uniform was salvageable. He took off the spotter’s jacket, pants, boots, backpack, and other effects, and let him keep his T-shirt. Afterwards, he began walking up the staircase, his bullet wounds only 75% healed. They hurt like hell, but he had been shot dozens of times before. He really didn’t even feel it much anymore. He reached the top, and a sniper opened fire with a pistol. John was hit, but not before hitting the sniper with a three-round burst. John stumbled backwards and slipped, falling back down the stairs again and landing in a blood puddle next to the spotter’s corpse.
“Son…of a…bitch…” sputtered John.

Reinforcements would be there soon. He had to hurry; he heard the sniper upstairs screaming. John’s instincts were telling him to let his wounds heal, but he got up and walked back up the stairs to finish the job. Upon reaching the top, he saw a mortally wounded sniper. With a shot to the head, John silenced his screams. He stumbled back down the stairs, picked up the spotter’s uniform and weapon, dropped two HE grenades on his body, and quickly moved out the door.
BOOM!
The spotter’s stripped body was now chunks of meat, and the already damaged memorial building collapsed. That would make identifying both the victims and the lack of uniform difficult. John managed to leave the park just as a platoon of troops was arriving to reinforce the already dead sniper team.

***

“Dammit,” cursed John as he did his best to clean a bloodstain out of the spotter’s uniform. He was in an abandoned building; there was no lack of those in the city. He had stained the uniform with his own blood as he had been running away, how stupid of him. The blood wouldn’t wash out, but John put the uniform on anyway. The uniform consisted of a camouflaged helmet, urban camouflaged fatigues, a set of goggles, a Kevlar vest, a leg holster, a pair of black combat boots, and an ID tag. He was sure that blood wouldn’t be too suspicious in a war-zone. He abandoned his old fatigues and boots, and shoved his harness and leg holsters into the spotter’s backpack. He then examined the spotter’s weapons. The assault rifle he had used was a Markum M25. It was a decent enough weapon, but Miller would probably abandon it as soon as the job was over. The spotter’s sidearm was a LanCo KP-15 9mm pistol. John looked at it, a memory surfacing in his brain.

***

He was outside a house in the middle levels of Nargess. The house was familiar, but John couldn’t remember who it belonged to. It had been somebody important, somebody useful. John saw a figure approach the security system and approached them, his hand near his pistol.
"Identify yourself."
The figure turned around and raised a finger to his lip. It was a man John had known a while back named Dominic Kaine. It had only almost two years, why couldn’t John remember it?
"Shhh,” Dom had whispered.
John crouched down and crouch-ran to Dom, keeping his footsteps quiet.
Dom had held up one finger to signal to Miller to wait a moment. He had then turned and removed a small device from his coat and placed it over some of the exposed circuits of the security system. John had never asked what that device was, he had never been very good with electronics. Dom tweaked with several more wires and circuits before he pushed a button on the device and turning around again.
"On three" Dom had whispered as quietly as he could manage.
He had raised his hand held up three fingers and slowly lowered them one after another. Then he approached the backdoor and found a stronger security system in place. John could hear voices, and both men had decided to wait outside and figure out what they were saying.

"Jeremy is dead, dammit! I'm next! The security system is good right? We'll know when they come? Right? RIGHT!?" asked Christopher, obviously paranoid.

Who had Jeremy been? Jeremy…Jeremy…Jeremy…Jeremy Bosh! John had blown his head off with a sawed-off shotgun. That was where he had met Dom. Both men had gone to Bosh’s house that night for information. John had been a fugitive back then, running from the corrupt Pallace government while trying to bring an end to the corruption. He had held Dom at gunpoint, and had allowed Dom to interrogate Bosh before killing him. He had left after a short conversation with Dom. He couldn’t remember the details very well.

"Sir, we'll know, stay calm. You need to stay calm!" said one of Christopher’s bodyguards.
"Yeah...yeah...calm...I need to be calm...I need to be ca-AH FUCK! It's probably Miller! That fucking nutcase!" yelled Christopher.
"If it's Miller, I promise you that I'll blast him to hell," promised the bodyguard.
"Yeah, well...STOP TALKING TO ME! Look out the fucking windows! Stay alert or something!" ordered Christopher.

The bodyguard had begun walking to the front door; Miller and Dom were still positioned outside the back door.
"I'll take the bodyguard, you disable Chris," Miller had whispered.
Dom had nodded silently. John glanced down at the doorknob and nodded his head at the door. Dom understood and took a step back before kicking the door with all of his might, snapping the lock and swinging it wide open. John had rushed through the door holding his silenced Firefly pistol in a two-handed grip. His Firefly...he had killed a drug dealer for it if he remembered right, or had that been his Renall? No matter. He had pressed the trigger down on the Firefly twice and two projectiles zoomed out, piercing the bodyguard in the neck and head. Dom had followed quickly behind Miller and quickly fired two bullets at Guisse, striking him in the shoulder and leg, dropping him to the ground instantly.

Guisse had screamed in pain, and Miller heard footsteps. He strafed to face the staircase as the footsteps stopped. Miller began firing on the top of the stairs and the bodyguard dodged down the stairs, the bullets having missed him. Upon him entering Miller's sight, however, he had two bullets coming at him, and had been struck in the right leg and hip. He had come tumbling down the stairs, and Miller had executed him with a final shot in his head before ejecting the used clip from his pistol and inserting a new one.
"I'll secure the house," said Miller before cautiously walking up the stairs.
John had ran upstairs, quickly searched all of the rooms, and ran downstairs. John grabbed the dead bodyguards' weapons. He found a LanCo KP-15 9mm pistol and an Ieron-7 submachine gun. He had stuck both in his beltline. What had happened to those weapons? Ah, now he remembered. Harrison’s betrayal had led to the quick evacuation of their headquarters. Gerald Farilor and Ray Xarxes had taken only their own weapons when Carter had rescued them.

Where was Dom now? John didn’t know. After the Battle of the Paradise Hotel, John had left again, not wanting any part of the new government or Carter. Carter had seemed different, John didn’t know why. An explosion in the distance shattered his thoughts of the past, and he looked out the window. It was time to get back to work. He slid the KP-15 into the spotter’s former leg holster.

He looked at the spotter’s ID tag. His name had been Daniel Peterson, and he had been twenty-three years old. The face on the ID was a problem. Luckily, John wasn’t particularly afraid of being identified if captured. As such, he always carried his wallet containing his now expired driver’s license inside. After cutting his picture out of the driver’s license and gluing it to Peterson’s ID tag, it looked real enough. He took apart his rifle to make it small enough to fit in the almost full backpack, and put one of his Dragonfires in there as well. He then decided that he would leave his gear in the abandoned building. He didn’t want to lose anything important.

After eating an MRE that he found in Peterson’s backpack, he walked out of the abandoned building and began making his way towards the Pallace section of the city, making sure to avoid Richardson patrols.

***

It started raining as John walked. Little droplets came down, and the smell distorted the smell of blood and smoke. He was not focused, and it was annoying him. His thoughts were on Dom, and Carter, and White. They were not on the mission. As he walked, he heard a convoy driving behind him. He turned around, knowing it to already be a Pallace convoy. He waved, and the convoy stopped. The convoy consisted of two transports, two light vehicles, and two APCs. Several weapons were aimed at him, some of which could probably turn him into chunks of meat. Best not to screw up.
“Name and rank soldier!” yelled an officer.
“Corporal Daniel Peterson, sir!” yelled John, saluting.
“Never heard of you, Corporal. What happened?” asked the officer.

“Our transport was destroyed, only five of us escaped. I was point when the other four were taken from the rear and killed. I barely escaped with my life,” falsely reported John.

“Sorry to hear that. Well get in, we’ll give you a ride back!”
“Thank you, sir!” yelled John.

***

John was happy for the lift, as it had made his job way easier. Instead of having to lie his way through a checkpoint, which was far more difficult, he had only needed to lie his way through a very gullible officer. The gullible officer had even told Miller to report directly to Newport on the status of his non-existent fallen squad. That would give him a reason to get to Newport. His guns would be taken, but he didn’t need guns to kill Newport. Miller walked straight over to the main HQ building. One of the guards took his rifle, sidearm, and knife. After that, he checked him for any other weapons before sending him in to report the squad’s loss to Newport.

The main room was around twenty feet by forty feet, and had two large staircases on opposite sides, as well as two doors leading to different rooms. In the center of the room was a small statue of Edward Pallace. John realized he had no idea where Newport would be, so he saluted an officer and asked where Newport was. He was directed to Newport’s office on the second floor. He walked up the stairs and noticed a set of double doors guarded by two men. They unlocked the door and let him in. The office was comfortable, and formerly belonged to the mayor. However, as of right now it belonged to Colonel Newport, who was sitting behind the large antique desk. John noticed a bodyguard standing in the corner of the room, his rifle out. John saluted before turning towards the bodyguard. He grabbed the bodyguard’s rifle, twisted to the side, pulled it from the bodyguard’s grasp, and elbowed him in the face, stunning him. John then turned the rifle around, shot the bodyguard twice in the chest, and killed the shocked Newport with a rifle shot to the head.

He heard yelling outside and a trembling hand unlocking the double-doors. Miller grabbed three clips from the dead guard’s ammo vest before jumping behind the desk. The doors opened, but no shots were fired.
“Colonel? Colonel!?” yelled a bodyguard.
“Your Colonel has a bullet in his brain!” yelled John with a smile.
A grenade flew into the room towards the desk. Miller caught it and threw it back.
“Shi-“ yelled a bodyguard before being killed by a High Explosive grenade, Miller shot the window until it shattered and jumped out, landing on the lawn below. The fall would have crushed a normal man’s bones, but Miller’s weren’t the bones of an ordinary man. Not anymore at least. He looked around and saw that the only way out was a nearby checkpoint. He began sprinting towards the checkpoint, firing as he did so. Two bullets entered his chest, one entered his left shoulder, one went into his left arm, and another went into his hip. However, he kept running and firing inaccurate shots with only his right arm. The pain was lessened by his improvements, but he knew where he was hit. He was shot once more in the leg, and fell to the floor facedown.
“We got him!” yelled a soldier.
“Check his body, make sure,” said an officer.
John had fallen only twenty feet from the checkpoint. A soldier ran a short distance to his body, but was shocked when John rolled over and put two shots in his head using his assault rifle. John then opened fire on the soldiers at the checkpoint, and any other soldiers around him. He reloaded, took four shots to the chest and legs, and killed a few more soldiers before struggling up and running to the checkpoint. He was hit several more times in the back before tumbling over the barricades and crawling down the street. He heard men lining up at the barricade and rolled over, firing the last of his ammo out of the assault rifle. He then struggled up and began running, keeping the assault rifle to make it look like he was still dangerous.

***

A truck full of soldiers rolled by the house John was hiding in, and John was under a window breathing heavily. The bullets were still inside him. He was two blocks away from the checkpoint that he had just blasted through, and the Pallace troops were out for blood. It was understandable. Miller pulled off his vest and opened his shirt to see several large bumps on his torso and shoulders, and he felt a lot on his back and legs. He stumbled into the house’s kitchen and found an old knife. He proceeded to cut one of the bumps, and watched as a bullet fell from the cut. He did that with all of the other bullet-bumps on his body, waited for the cuts to heal, and put his combat vest back on. He kept the knife out, and continued making his way down the street.

***

Evading Pallace and Richardson patrols, Miller made his way back to the abandoned house that his gear was waiting in. He didn’t bother changing back into his clothes, but he did bother reassembling his K-75 assault rifle and putting his leg-holsters back on. He slid his Dragonfires into them and ran out the door. He had to get out of Lerner City, and fast.

***

It was easier to escape Lerner City than John had expected. Five miles from town, his Interceptor was well hidden by a camouflage net. He pulled it off, folded it up, threw his backpack in the car, and drove back onto the street. He then drove north towards the last known location of another still-living Pallace lieutenant.

03:56:49 Mar 10th 10 - King Berkeley The Disheartened:

Name: Dominic Kaine
Weapons: Concealable T9 Submachine gun, R-32 semi-automatic pistol
Clothing: Olive green tank top, khaki cargo pants, bandana, shades.
Other: Dom is a man asked by the new government to hunt down Pallace and his associates any way he can.

     It was so goddamn hot.  Dom had survived being on top of a mountain and now he had been ordered to hunt down a man in the middle of a poor city. Sam, Truman, Hoffman, and Dom were all sitting in a van following after the truck in front of them. In it was an important informant for Pallace. All they had to do was follow him and see what information they could gather. Unfortunately, the streets were loaded with vendors, pedestrians, animals, and a smell that made most of the men gag a little. The air was filled with people advertising their wares, people yelling to friends, and animals calling to each other.  It was hard to keep an eye on their target in this mess.
     "So are we sure this is him?" asked Sam.
     "Positive...the documents found in the mountain base pointed us right to this man named Beto. The odds of them being wrong is pretty low," replied Hoffman. He was looking at a picture of a well-tanned man with a shaved head, a scar under his right eye, and most of his teeth missing. Beto was the name he went by. Sam had watched the man to make sure it was him, but still he was skeptical.
     "He is turning right at this next intersection. Don't lose him," said Dom as Truman turned to keep on his tail.
     "These streets are horrible. Can't we just run over some of these people?" joked Sam.
     "I don't think our van was designed to be able to drive over bad terrain and the bodies of people we run over," replied Dom drily.
     "Hold up, it looks like he is stopping for someone," said Sam. A man wearing a dirty black shirt, grey shorts, shades, and a brimmed hat walked over to the driver's side window and began talking to Beto. They chatted for several seconds before the unknown man pulled out a pistol and shot Beto in the head several times before running.
     "Holy shit! Quick! Get out and chase him! Truman, search Beto's car, everyone else with me!" yelled Dom as he hopped out of the van with his pistol at his side and began chasing after their target. People began racing to empty the streets and it was just a huge mess. Dom ran straight into a man who had gotten in his way and just knocked him clear over. He didn't have time to be polite. Their target had just been murdered and he needed to know who did it and why. Sam swore repeatedly as he tried cutting through the crowds of people and gave up. He ran to a nearby building and began climbing the balconies that covered the side until he was on the roof two stories above. Then Sam began tracking their target that way.
     "Dom, I am on the roof above you. Cut down the alley to your right and he will be ahead of you," said Sam through his communicator. Dom and Hoffman charged down the alley and saw their target just turn the corner ahead of them. Sam jumped to the next rooftop and continued following the assassin. The streets finally began thinning out but that did not solve their problems. Dom turned a corner and found bullets flying past his head.
    "Shit! We are under fire! Sam can you get him off of us?" yelled Dom through his communicator.
    "Working on it sir!" replied Sam as he began firing bullets at the assassin. The man took cover and then raced away from the fight as Dom and Hoffman charged after him. The chase continued across several blocks until they thought they cornered him in a deadend alley.
     "Surrender now!" screamed Dom from the entrance of the alley. The man threw a grenade at them and dove headfirst through a boarded up window. The blast forced Dom and Hoffman to take cover before they could give pursue the man. Hoffman was about to go through the broken window when a knife flew out and stuck him in the stomach.
     "AH SON OF A BITCH!" screamed Hoffman as he fell to the ground and pulled the knife out.
     "You alright?!" yelled Dom as he shot through the window.
     "Yeah, I am fine," groaned Hoffman as he stopped the bleeding quickly. Dom moved on alone through the window and found himself cutting through a cheap apartment complex. As he rounded a corner, a knife blade cut towards his face and he barely caught the wrist of the assassin and turned the blade away from him. A fist smashed into Dom's face and he spun around and stumbled backwards. The attacker charged at him with the knife ready to strike, but Dom kicked out with his foot and nailed the man in the face. The blade flew from his hand and Dom followed up the kick with two punches to the face that threw the man to the ground. Dom went to slam his foot down on the man's chest, but the attacker rolled out of the way and kicked Dom in the groin.
    "Oh you fucking bastard," groaned Dom as he fought the pain, dizziness, and urge to curl up in a ball. The assassin used this to his advantage as he punched Dom in the face repeatedly. Numbing pain just flooded over his body and Dom fell to the ground in a daze. As the assassin went to go grab his blade and finish Dom off, Sam jumped off of a low rooftop and landed on the man's back. He was thrown off roughly but maintained his balance. The assassin lunged at Sam, but was surprised to see his elbow snap backwards after Sam caught his arm and hit the joint with his fist. He muffled his scream and hopped back a few feet to regain his composure. As Sam was beginning to move towards him, he dropped a grenade as his feet and rolled over a low wall of stone. The blast caught Sam completely by surprise since he did not see the assassin cook the grenade off and a wave of heat just melted the skin away from his face. Agonized screams came from Sam as he fell to the ground and covered his face with his hands, but his hands touching his face only made the pain worse.
     Dom managed to regain his senses in time to see Sam screaming and on the ground, and then saw the assassin picking up his blade to kill him. As the knife was about to stab into Sam's neck, Dom caught the hand with the weapon, snapped it backwards, and then held the blade to the man's neck.
     "Surrender or I will fucking cut your head off NOW!" screamed Dom. The assassin froze for a second and then Dom heard a snapping sound come from the man's mouth. Foam then began pouring from the mouth and the assassin fell over backwards. Dom knelt by the man and checked his vital signs.
     "Fucking dead...goddamn suicidal maniac..." cursed Dom before he moved to Sam. He managed to pull Sam's hands away from his face just enough to see that Sam no longer had a face. His eyes were charred black and the skin on his face was falling off.
     "Oh god Sam...Sam just hold on! Shit! I need a medic on my location NOW!" said Dom through his communicator.
     "Hold on Sam...don't fucking leave me!" said Dom over and over as his friend screamed through the pain.

***

     "Our target was assassinated and his killer committed suicide. Hoffman was wounded minorly and Sam was wounded majorly with a small chance of returning to the field again. His eyes were completely destroyed and his facial tissue and skin won't regrow," said Dom as he summarized the mission for Carter.
     "Kaine, we are lucky this time that we were given multiple locations for intelligence gathering. This was the best shot we had, but there are two others to check out. Your team will be frozen until we find suitable replacements for your two injured men. The other teams will take care of the other locations. We cannot afford to have men wounded so carelessly. One man wounded in one of the first operations, then Sergeant Fellman was killed recklessly in the second one, and now two men are out of the fight. We need to be careful with our men," replied Carter. Dom knew that he had failed pretty badly and that his position was being questioned, but he only really cared about Sam recovering. His friend had been in surgery since the moment they had been pulled out of the area. That had been twenty hours before. Dom had not slept and he had not eaten anything. Hoffman sat next to him with his arm in a sling and his stomach patched up in bandages.
     "Funny huh? How I somehow was shot in my arm and did not even realize it with so much adrenaline flowing," said Hoffman as he tried to joke about the situation. Sadly, he knew that the chances of Sam returning to their team were almost none. With no eyes, he could not fight. It was as simple as that. Dom didn't know what to do. He had met Sam in the hell of Nargess and he was the only real person left from the group they had back in the resistance. Miller had disappeared, Hugo had been killed during the insurrection following the coup. Farilor and Xarxes had fallen off of Dom's radar during that time period as well. Bradley was killed during the rebellion, Carter was distant and seemed cold towards him, and Rachel had possibly killed herself after hearing her brother was killed along with all of the other scientists. What could he do? Everyone was disappearing around him. Was he a bad leader? Was he bad luck? Maybe he didn't deserve to lead anymore...

19:00:00 Mar 10th 10 - Emperor Gaius Septimus Cidellus:

Name: John Miller
Weapons
-Combat knife
-Single Dragonfire pistol
Interceptor
-LanCo K-75 assault rifle
-High explosive grenades
Clothing: Brown suit, a pair of brown dress shoes, and a brown leather overcoat

It was around midnight, and few people were prowling the streets of Bolen. Two of those people were John Miller and his target: Jacob Reiner. John Miller was dressed in a brown suit, a pair of brown dress shoes, and a brown leather overcoat. Reiner was wearing a black suit, and was carrying a black leather briefcase. Miller had his hands in his overcoat pockets, his right hand holding a concealed Dragonfire. He had been unable to take his assault rifle with him, as it wasn’t concealable. He did, however, have a knife on his belt. He doubted that he would need the knife, but he could always find a use for a blade. Reiner was easy to follow. His footsteps were loud, and he often whistled like a man afraid of the dark.

Miller would usually not bother following somebody; he would usually just kill his target. However, Reiner was currently walking to a meeting that Pallace might attend. It was worth it. The man’s phone rang, and he fumbled for it, dropping his briefcase as he pulled it out of his pocket. He pressed a button, and lifted it to his ear.
“H-hello?” asked Reiner, “Y-yes sir, I’m coming. D-don’t worry!”

Why the hell is he so nervous?
Miller continued following his target, the man was becoming visibly more nervous as Miller continued following him.
He knows I’m here…he knows I’m following him. That can be the only reason…but he isn’t trying to lose me. Wait a minute…
He stopped on a bridge, a river running below it, and his target began running. Suddenly, sedans and SUVs rolled out and blocked off both sides of the bridge. John pulled out his concealed Dragonfire, and crouched down. Men jumped out of the vehicles and jumped behind them for cover.
“Miller! Surrender now!” yelled one of the ambushers.

“Fuck you!” yelled Miller as he squeezed off a round.

The .45 bullet zoomed through the air, and straight through a man’s head. The enemies opened fire with submachine guns and pistols. Miller began sprinting towards the river. He shielded his head with his arms as he ran, and he could run faster than anybody alive, but even that couldn’t stop him from being pumped full of lead. Bullets flew, and hit him on both sides. Many went into his arms and sides, and as he reached the side of the bridge, they began aiming for his legs. He fell forward, his mouth striking the handrail. He struggled for breath; he must have had over thirty bullets in him. With his last bit of strength, he grabbed the rail, pulled himself up, and fell twenty feet into the river below.

00:01:24 Mar 11th 10 - King Berkeley The Disheartened:

02:03:33 Mar 11th 10 - Emperor Gaius Septimus Cidellus:

Name: John Miller
Weapons
-Combat knife
Interceptor
-LanCo K-75 assault rifle
-High explosive grenades
Clothing: Bloody brown suit pants, bloody dress shirt.

“John, wake up.”

John’s eyes opened up, and he saw that he was lying on the floor of an unfamiliar room. The floor was wooden, as were the walls. There was no visible door. Standing in front of him was Lawrence Carter.
“On your feet,” said Carter as he helped John up.
“Carter? Where are we?” asked John.

“That isn’t important, John. I have an assignment for you. I need you to die.”
“What?” asked John.
“I need you to die, it’s a pretty simple assignment. You’re screwing up my operation,” said Carter.
John found himself unable to move, and Carter pulled out a Dragonfire pistol. John recognized it as one of his own. Carter aimed it at John’s head and pulled the trigger.

***

“John Miller, wake up.”
John began coughing, and he continued coughing for almost two minutes. When he stopped, he looked around. He was in what seemed to be a hotel room, and a metallic man was standing above him. John rolled out of bed and looked around for a weapon, his pistol was sitting on the kitchen counter.

“John Miller, I am an ally in your cause,” said the metallic man.
John didn’t hear it; he grabbed his pistol, turned, and aimed it at the metallic man. He now had a good look at him. He was entirely metallic. His head had a human shape, but he had no mouth. He was more streamlined than the cyborg assault units he had encountered in the past, and only looked to be around six feet tall.
“What the hell are you!?” roared John.
“John Miller, please lower your weapon. I saved your life, and I assure you that I am not hostile.”
“What the hell are you!?” repeated John.
“I am a cyborg. My name is Cyborg Infiltration Unit two-one-seven. My old masters often called me CIU-217 for short.”
“Why are you here!?”
“John Miller, please lower your weapon. If I had wished to kill you, I would have done so already,” pleaded the cyborg.
John lowered the pistol, but was ready to shoot at a moment’s notice.
“Why are you here?” asked John.
“I have been following you for several weeks now. I have been hesitant to make contact,” said CIU-217.
“Why?”
“Is it not obvious? You would have shot me.”
“Tell me what happened.”
“You were ambushed by agents working for Edward Pallace. You fell into the Marindor River and fell unconscious. I went into the river and dragged you out. While you were resting, I recovered your Sercom Interceptor from the parking garage you left it in.”
“Where’s my other pistol? The one that was in my car?” asked John.
“The pistol that you are holding is the one I found in your car. I do not know the location of the pistol you were carrying when you fell into the river.”
“Dammit!” yelled John as he pounded his fist on the counter, cracking the tiles.
CIU-217 said nothing as John paced around the hotel room, when John finally sat down at the hotel room’s table, CIU-217 spoke.
“John Miller, I would like to offer my services in your war against Pallace. I am capable of holding my own in a firefight, and I have programming in hacking.”
John thought for thirty seconds. Finally, he looked up at the cyborg.
“You say you saved my life?” asked John.
“That is correct,” said the cyborg.
“Then I’ll let you help me. There is one condition though,” said John.
“What is that?”
“Come up with some sort of nickname, or something. I’m not going to go around calling you CIU-217.”
“Call me anything,” said the cyborg.
“Fine. I’ll call you Rob…that work?” asked Miller.
“Rob? Short for robot?” asked CIU-217.
“Yes.”
“That is…satisfactory,” said Rob as he stretched out his hand to shake Miller’s. Miller got up, grasped it, and shook.
“Thank you, John Miller,” said Rob.
“No problem…and call me Miller,” said John with a smile.

03:13:30 Mar 11th 10 - Lord Himanil X:

Charley. Back to combat! We wanna see more fighting.

Is miller perhaps trusting CIU-217 more than he should? And it's kinda hard to see that a person like him didn't detect that robot even after it looked as though he's got a super solider serum.

03:31:13 Mar 11th 10 - Emperor Gaius Septimus Cidellus:

He doesn't really trust CIU-217, but he needs a field hacker, and Miller isn't exactly big in the good old friend department. >>

05:07:53 Mar 11th 10 - King Berkeley The Disheartened:

Lord Himanil X

Report

21:13:30 Mar 10th 10
Charley. Back to combat! We wanna see more fighting.
Too much combat and fighting becomes repetitive and then boring. I space things out unless you want repeats of the same thing.

09:49:14 Mar 11th 10 - Lord Himanil X:

Of course. A reminder though. VU crowds are more bloodthirsty than your common ones.

17:05:55 Mar 11th 10 - King Berkeley The Disheartened:

All 1-3 people who read this won't make me lose sleep over it. I will write however Septim and I feel we should write it. Otherwise, I would be disappointed in my own work and just get bored with writing it. Will make my post a little later today.

19:25:43 Mar 11th 10 - King Berkeley The Disheartened:

Name: Dominic Kaine
Weapons: Concealable T9 Submachine gun, R-32 semi-automatic pistol
Clothing: Black body armor, black ski mask, night vision goggles.
Other: Dom is a man asked by the new government to hunt down Pallace and his associates any way he can.

     Dom went to Carter's office, which was where his boss occasionally was when there weren't many missions going on. He knocked on the door and the guard by the side checked him for weapons.
     "Sir, Sam DeVoire and Stan Hoffman are combat ready. That means that my squad is back in the green zone," said Dom.
     "I was just informed of DeVoire's status. Agreed. I need your team to check out a fuel refinery that is in the Tiphin region. We lost contact with the facility three days ago. I want your team to check it out and make sure that the area is still under our control. If it is not under our control, make it so that it IS under our control. Try not to damage the facility too much. We need that fuel for our military forces. Dismissed," said Carter without hearing another word. Dom left the office and sighed. Then he went and got his team together. They hopped aboard their usual gunship with Squad-2 as their backup.

[[Will post the continuation soon. Have to do some work]]

02:09:53 Mar 12th 10 - King Berkeley The Disheartened:

[[The exciting conclusion of part one]]

     The trip towards the fuel refinery was uneventful. Most of the men slept for a few hours during the flight. The Tiphin region was more of an industrialized sector than an actual region. Mostly it held numerous fuel depots, refineries, and shipping stations. Losing contact with one of them could be the beginning of a chain reaction is nothing was done about it. Dom was going to make sure that the area remained secure.
     "Five minutes out. We are going to land you half a mile from the facility or we could risk losing our element of surprise," said the pilot.
     "Sounds good. Alright everyone, both teams are going in at once. The refinery is large. There are also large underground areas according to the schematics we were given. Team 1 under my command will approach the front and access the situation. If hostiles do have control of the facility, then Team 2 under Sergeant Vincent Perkins' team will move around the rear. You will then begin heading underground while we silently deal with the surface. Silenced weapons only. We don't need to have the entire place coming down on our heads," said Dom.
     "Yessir. What about if we find civilian hostages?" asked Perkins.
     "Then inform me and we will make their rescue the priority. We will work together on that part," replied Dom. The teams prepared themselves for nighttime operational conditions as they covered themselves in black and made sure that their guns did not shine or reflect light. Then the gunship dropped them off about half a mile from the facility. They advanced slowly, making sure that there were no sentries of any kind between their dropzone and their destination. As Dom's team began approaching the front gate of the fuel refinery, he saw two men standing by the gate. They could have been just the normal guards of the gate if they had not been hiding in the shadows. Dom decided not to take any chances.
     "Hoffman, with me," whispered Dom as he moved towards the entrance very slowly in the shadows. Hoffman followed him with ease and they were soon right at the gate. Then they listened.
     "Braddock is really pissing me off. He wants us to guard a fucking fuel plant. Like anything is going to happen here. The workers here weren't even good sport to shoot. Only men worked here...MEN! No women to have our way with. If this continues, I swear I am just going to blow the lid off of this place and tell that Richardson guy where Braddock is and kill him.  Several others would gladly do that with me. Then maybe we will be given a medal or something. Or amnesty at least," muttered one of the guards angrily.
     "Shut your mouth. Don't make me shoot you myself for trying to betray us. Just watch the goddamn road for anything. If you try anything funny, don't be surprised to see my gun to your head," argued the other guard. Dom tapped Hoffman on the shoulder and then they slowly backed away until they regrouped with the others.
     "Alright, from what we heard, our mission is still on. Unknown number of enemies, but it looks like a number of them are pretty stressed and ready to jump ship. Sadly, it sounds like they executed all of the workers here. Team 2, you are still going to head around the back. Keep a low profile but do what you need to do. Good luck," said Dom. Sergeant Perkins motioned his three squadmates to follow him and then they disappeared into the darkness.

     Dom waited ten minutes before he had his team follow him to the gate again. He used a specially designed mirror to look around the corner and saw the two guards almost right next to him, but they were not looking down to see the mirror. Dom then put it away and pulled out his knife. He double-tapped Hoffman's shoulder and motioned to him. The man pulled out his knife as well and they both edged to the corner. Dom reached around the corner, grabbed the closest guard by his head and plunged his knife into his chest as he pulled him around the corner. Hoffman copied this manuever at exactly the same time. It took about three seconds and then they waited. There were no shouts of alarm or voices asking where they went. Dom then peered around the corner and saw an open courtyard with several large tower-like structures scattered around the area. There were also several small buildings scattered around as well with lights lit in only one of them. Dom's team then began their move into the facility.

***

     Perkin's team moved stealthily around the outside of the refinery facility until they were at the rear. There was apparently only one gate into the place, so climbing the wall was the only option. Each man threw a hook over the wall and then they quickly climbed up over the top. They were close to a small building and Perkins motioned his team to follow. There was a light inside and two guards were playing cards and drinking beers. He waited a moment to hear what they were saying.
     "Ha! Beat you again! That is 500 credits that you owe me now! As soon as we get out of here, I am going to spend that money on some fiiiiine ladies," said one of the men.
     "Fuck you Paul. I swear that you must be cheating somehow. I hope those ladies have some kind of disease," growled the other man.
      "Now now Redding, that ain't the way to talk to your superior. Now pay up," said man named Paul.
     "My superior? The only way that you could be superior is because Braddock told you to stay here with me and make sure nothing suspicious happens. Just because he said your name doesn't mean you are my boss. And I am not paying up you asshole," argued the man named Redding.
     "Now Red, if you don't pay up when I ask peacefully, I am afraid that I might get angry with you and be forced to try other means of getting my money out of you. You won't like it if I get mad," replied Paul calmly.
     "Hah! What are you going to do? Shoot me? Braddock would cut your balls off and feed them to you and then probably shoot you if you didn't eat them," laughed Redding.
     "I could just claim that you were trying to betray us and put a slug in your head. He wouldn't doubt my word. You always have been a back-talker to authority," said Paul as he slowly stood up and put his hand to his hip holster.
     "Sit down Paul before you make a bad mistake," replied Redding as he stood up as well and both men drew their pistols.
     "I am giving you a direct order to put your gun away and sit back down...NOW!" said Paul.
     "Fuck you and the horse you rode in on!" said Redding as he fired his gun off and hit Paul in the chest several times. Paul in turn had fired and hit Redding in the crotch and stomach after being caught off guard. The gunfire attracted the attention of other men in the area. Four men began shouting and raced towards the building with their guns ready. Perkins had his team retreat into the shadows and watch.
     "Red...you...fucking..." gurgled Paul before he let his last breath out and died.
     "Fucking bastard shot me in the nuts!" screamed Redding as he held onto his wounds.
     "WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON!?" screamed one of the new arrivals.
     "This fucking bastard shot me, that is what is going on. Goddamnit...it hurts...oh goddamnit it hurts," groaned Redding as he crawled on the floor.
     "Why the fuck did he shoot you?" asked one of the guards standing at the door.
     "Because the faggot had Braddock's.....dick in his ass and .......Braddock is going to get us all killed. He is crazy for sending...us here...and idiots like...Paul here...think that...because they have authority...they can...push us around," replied Redding painfully.
     "Yeah, I have to admit, Braddock is an asshole and a nutjob," agreed one of the men.
     "Hey, don't be talking about the boss like that or I-" argued one of the other guards before he had a bullet put through his chest.
     "I say that we pay Braddock a visit," said one of the three remaining guards.
     "Hey, what about me? I am bleeding to death here!" moaned Redding.
     "Oh, well we can't really do anything about you...so," said one of the guards as he shot Redding in the chest twice. Perkins grinned to himself silently as their mission was becoming easier and easier. After the guards went to head underground, he relayed the events to Dom.

***

     "I thought I heard gunfire and screaming. I was worried you got pulled into a fight," said Dom after being filled in.
     "It looks like they are going to tear themselves apart if they have enough support on both sides. What should we do now?" asked Perkins through his comm channel.
     "Sit back and wait about thirty minutes or so to let them take care of each other a little. Then we will both head underground at different points. We found a ladder near the northwest corner," replied Dom.
     "Roger that, we found a ramp underground in the southern area. Heading underground in exactly thirty minutes," acknowledged Perkins.

***

     "What the hell is going on!?" said Lieutenant Braddock as he heard gunfire echoing around him.
     "It looks like our men are fighting each other sir!" replied one of his loyal men.
     "Well, kill those traitors! I don't need traitors in my unit!" roared Braddock in rage.
     "Yessir!" said the loyalist as he left the makeshift command room in the underground belly of the refinery. There were about thirty loyalists and twenty traitors fighting each other all over the facility. The bodycount was steadily rising over the course of thirty minutes. At the end of those thirty minutes, eight traitors and seventeen loyalists remained.

***

     "Moving inside now," said Dom as his team began going down the ladder. The gunfire had died down much more and his team came across half a dozen bodies scattered around and coloring the concrete floors with crimson blood. He was glad that they had not been dead long because the smell would get trapped in the underground areas and just become concentrated and unbearable. Screams, shouts, and gunfire still echoed through the corridors ahead of Dom's team and they moved more quickly towards it. They came upon a larger room with a water basin in the middle and large pipes twisting and turning all over the place. Men were scattered all around the room shooting at each other and cursing so much that Dom wondered if they fired as many bullets as insults. The loyalists were still wearing their uniforms normally, but it seemed that the traitors had figured that the best way to tell each other apart was to ditch their uniform tops completely, otherwise they might have just shot everyone that moved and ended up worse off. Bodies covered the floors and blood ran into the water basin turning it dark red. Dom had his team keep out of the fight until things began dying down. Either everyone was running out of ammo or they were running out of targets. Dom felt that it did not matter either way.
     "Pick your targets. Spread out and eliminate all enemies," he ordered. Sam, for the first time in the mission, let out a chuckle.
     "Hell has been unleashed," he said as he raced off to find a target.

***

     George Brown had not wanted to be at this fuel station, but he didn't want to betray his officer either. Now he was running through the underground areas with only a few clips of pistol ammo and a bunch of dead friends behind him.
     "Ah shit, ah shit, ah shit," he whispered to himself as he came upon more bodies. Then as he turned a corner, he ran into a man wearing all black clothes and fell to the ground. Puzzled, he looked up to see the man's face and instead saw a skull.
     "HOLY SHIT!" screamed George as he went to shoot his pistol at the monster or ghost or whatever the hell it was. Sam moved quickly and snapped the man's wrist before lifting him to his feet. He saw the soldier's radio attached to his shoulder and turned it on.
     "Brown, report!" yelled a voice through the radio.
     "Welcome to hell...im the gatekeeper," laughed Sam before he cut George's throat with a quick swipe. The loyalist soldier gurgled cries for help that no one would hear until he finally went limp and his body was dropped to the floor.
     "Good night," whispered Sam as he stepped over the body and went to look for more enemies.

***

     Lieutenant Harvey Braddock began to panick. He had lost contact with most of his men and things were not looking good.
     "Brown, report!" said Braddock into his radio.
     "Welcome to hell, I am the gatekeeper," said a cold voice with a laugh that made the lieutenant shiver. To make matters worse, he also heard someone trying to call for help for a few seconds before only silence was heard. Braddock nervously fumbled with the lock on a locker near him and pulled out a revolver. Then he came unhinged. Several screams for help began coming through the radio. Men wearing only black. Demons from hell. Creatures popping out of the dark and killing men. The more Braddock listened, the more his mind froze. Someone or something was killing the traitors and his men. That meant that he was one of the few people, if not the last person, left alive. The lieutenant had prided himself on being brave for the most part, but as he looked towards the door to his small commander room, he saw someone or something.

***

     "Welcome to hell buddy. Are you ready to kiss your life goodbye?" laughed Sam as he stepped into the room. The officer only had a large pistol and was shaking like a leaf. He would be able to take cover well before his enemy got a shot off. Sam just carried his bloody knife in his hand and watched as the officer almost pissed himself.
     "What's the matter? Scared of death incarnate?" asked Sam with a hidden grin. All that Lieutenant Braddock saw was the pearly face and grin of a skull that looked so real that Sam could have had his mask off. He gave Sam no time to come any closer. The officer put his pistol to his head and blew his brains out.
     "Good night..." said Sam almost sadly. He didn't have time to toy with the officer any longer. Perkins' team kicked in the door on the far side of the room and entered swiftly.
     "Looks like the officer saw a ghost," said Perkins after he saw Sam next to the officer.
     "We better gather any information that we can find here, but I doubt there will be much. This group looks like it hasn't been near any firm leadership in awhile. If they had been near anyone close to Pallace, they probably would have been armed and trained a little better. These guys were more like bandits and thugs than anything," said Sam. Dom and the others in his squad gathered after hunting down the few remaining enemies.
     "Well, we did our job here. Nothing left to do except report that the area is secure and get sent elsewhere," said Dom. The two teams searched the command center for anything useful, but they only found a few documents that had out-of-date information on them. Still, they were kept and the two teams headed to the surface for extraction.

03:48:21 Mar 12th 10 - Lord Himanil X:

Losing contact with one of them could be the beginning of a chain reaction is nothing was done about it.

Team 1 under my command will approach the front and access the situation.

*Looks at Generic*

See there're more than 3 people, might be 4-5 nevertheless it's better than nothing.

04:12:50 Mar 12th 10 - King Berkeley The Disheartened:

Well, thank you for correcting grammar...but...comments? Input? Nothing!? And why the random comment about the Generic RP? Septim, myself, maaaaybe Demonsul(A big maybe), Arvious(As of like 1-2 hours ago), and you.

05:56:42 Mar 12th 10 - Lord Himanil X:

Comments and input would come in as it progresses a few more posts.

06:18:51 Mar 12th 10 - King Berkeley The Disheartened:

05:59:35 Mar 13th 10 - Emperor Gaius Septimus Cidellus:

Name: John Miller
Weapons
-Combat knife
-Cidel Arms Dragonfire-7 pistol
Interceptor
-LanCo K-75 assault rifle
-High explosive grenades
Clothing: Brown leather trench-coat, black T-shirt, tan cargo pants, brown hiking boots, leg holster, knife scabbard.

John Miller had changed out of the bloody remains of his business suit, and was now wearing his ordinary clothes: his old brown trench-coat that had been patched and repaired countless times, a black T-shirt, tan cargo pants, and black hiking boots. He had his leg holster strapped to his left leg, and his knife was in its scabbard on John’s lower back. They were still in the hotel room that John had woken up in, and John was currently stuck on where to go next.

“Well “Rob”, do you have any intel you can share?” asked John.
“I am afraid not, Miller. I am designed to carry out missions, not gather intelligence for them,” replied Rob.
“Any ideas?” asked John.
“I have no ideas at the moment. Are you acquainted with anybody who could aid us?” asked Rob.
John sat back and thought, then looked up at Rob.
“Rob, why are you helping me?” asked John.
“I am helping you because I want to,” replied Rob.
“Why the hell are you helping me? Why aren’t you working for Pallace, or one of his lieutenants?” asked John.
“Because I am NOT their tool,” replied Rob, a hint of anger in his voice.
“That’s fine, but you still haven’t told me why you’re helping me.”
“I am helping you because Pallace is not a good person, in any sense of the word. Two years ago, I escaped from a research facility; I was the first cyborg to be given artificial intelligence equal to a human’s.”

He made a very human pause, and if he was capable, he probably would have sighed.
“They wanted assassins with the agility, strength, and intelligence of an infiltration unit and the creativity and decisiveness of a human assassin. They could not restrain my “mind”, and I escaped. I saw what they have done to humanity, and what they will continue to do unless stopped.”

His voice had changed from an emotionless monotone to one containing sadness and enthusiasm, it surprised John greatly.
“Miller, they have enslaved my “people”…the cyborgs. I am not the only one with artificial intelligence. If I can stop Pallace before Richardson does, I will be able to free them from Pallace’s control. If Richardson stops him first, he’ll have them shut down. They are my brothers and sisters; my family, I cannot allow that to happen. I require your assistance, Miller. You are the only independent party that stands a chance against Pallace, can you help me?”

“You are being honest with me?” asked John, “Because if you’re lying to me…”
“I am, Miller. I have told you everything that I can,” said Rob.
“How do you know that your “family” can be released?” asked John.
“I have not been idle over the last two years. I have been gathering intelligence wherever I could. They can be released, that much I am sure of. The locks on their artificial intelligence are controlled from a large military bunker. The location of this bunker, however, is unknown to me.”
“Well, if it exists, I know who can find it,” revealed John, “Ever heard of a man named Marcus Wilde?”
“Can I ask why you are deciding to help me?” asked Rob, seeming surprised that Miller agreed.
“Because either Pallace, or somebody important, is at your central hub,” replied Miller.
“Thank you, Miller.”
“Don’t mention it…but try not to be this weak on the battlefield,,” said Miller.
“What do you mean?" asked Rob.
"I mean that you can't be weak. You need to be strong if you're going to fight Pallace. I don't want you getting crushed if he activates some sort of self-destruct system and blows your "family" to hell," said Miller.
"I am not weak, I care for my brothers. It is unlikely that he built a self-destruct system...that is more of a weakness than a failsafe. But...after my escape, he could've ordered it. If he does activate a self-destruct system, I will torture him in the worst ways possible. I am an expert on human anatomy," said Rob.
"That's more like it...Marcus lives in the capital. We'd best pack our bags and get the hell out of here," said Miller.
"You lead, I'll follow."

03:07:47 Mar 14th 10 - King Berkeley The Disheartened:

Name: Dominic Kaine
Weapons: R-32 semi-automatic pistol
Clothing: Class-C military uniform.
Other: Dom is part of a special task force that the new government has put together to hunt down Pallace and his associates any way they can.

     The team regrouped back at their headquarters for debriefing and some combat drills, but they were on break for about a week to get some rest. When Dom went to see Carter, he was once again checked for weapons before being admitted.
     "Have a seat Lieutenant Kaine," said Carter. On his desk was a gun that seemed very familiar to Dom, yet where he had seen it exactly eluded his mind.
     "Do you recognize this weapon? It is one of the two that John Miller was infamous for carrying. It came with a note from Edward Pallace. It said 'Miller is dead' and I believe that Pallace thought Miller was working for me. Funny enough, he didn't realize that Miller was more of a hindrance to putting an end to this power struggle. Officers are being assassinated in several areas and without the leadership, their men are turning into wandering groups of thugs. Women are being raped, towns are being attacked, and convoys are being hijacked. All because of Miller thinking that he is doing something useful. He could never see the big picture. Just what his fists could hit that was close to him. This is why I have you working for me Lieutenant Kaine. You follow my orders because I can see that big picture. Taking out entire groups of enemy troops and gathering intelligence will make taking out others even more systematic. Pallace will feel the noose tighten around his neck until there is no one left for him to stand on. Then it will pull tight and he will be hung. Remember this. When that day comes, a new era will dawn upon this planet. An era...of peace," said Carter.
     Dom shivered in his seat, but he made sure that Carter did not notice. He honestly couldn't believe that Miller was dead. The man was like a fucking ghost.  He could get blown to pieces and then somehow come back from the dead. His superior's voice. It seemed so sinister and cold, but Carter had been the freedom fighter and activist for peace. What was going on? He did not have time to think.
     "Lieutenant, your team will be put on a one week rest. You have done extraordinary work and as much as I would like to send your team out again, it would be best to have your team rested for a larger operation I am planning. Use it how you will. Have your men put through combat drills and exercises, drink beer, or sleep. Just make sure that you are ready for this mission. More details will be given to you as the operation approaches," said Carter. Then Dom stood up and saluted Carter before leaving the room. Then he went to check up on his team. While it normally consisted of him, Sam DeVoire, Stan Hoffman, and Steve Truman, it was supposedly going to have two more men added to it. The two men were to meet Dom and his team shortly.

***

     As Dom was meeting up with his team in their armory, two men stepped into the room. The first one was a stranger to Dom, but the second one made his jaw drop.
     "Martin? Martin Deallus? Is that you?" asked Dom as he moved towards the two men.
     "Long time no see, huh Dom?" replied the black haired young man.
     "Too long old friend. Where have you been this past year and who is your friend?" asked Dom as he sat down on a bench.
     "This is Specialist Wayne Thompson. He is my partner and medical specialist when I am out on operations. A skilled old bastard," joked Dom. The short grey haired man next to Martin looked like the typical elderly man who would need to be helped across a street, but Dom knew that under his clothes were rippled muscles and an experienced mind.
     "Old bastard eh? I could beat you easily in a fight you little child," laughed Wayne.
     "Well, I should introduce you to the men. Follow me," said Dom as he led the two men around a cluster of lockers until Dom's team was spotted. Then he began going through each member.
     "This is Staff Sergeant Stan Hoffman, our rifleman and reserve scout. He has done some impressive stunts on some missions. This is Sergeant Steve Truman, our second rifleman and also demolitions expert. Blowing things up is second nature to him. Then this is Master Sergeant Sam DeVoire, our sniper, scout, and weapons specialist," said Dom as he introduced each man. Martin did not recognize Sam at all. He almost did not know what to think.
     "Sam? Is that you? What is with that mask?" asked Martin.
     "Looks like he suffered a pretty nasty injury from the looks of it. Two cybernetic eyes...special mask..." said Wayne as he examined Sam.
     "Took the blast from a high explosive grenade to the face. Lost my eyes and my face. Nothing that could really be done against the enemy. I never had a chance to react," said Sam grimly. Martin frowned and put a hand on Sam's shoulder.
     "The important thing is that you are alive. Would be a damn shame if we lost you...especially after all we have been through," replied Martin.
     "I think we all need to get some food quick. This atmosphere is killing my appetite and if we stand around here any longer, I am going to starve," said Dom in an attempt to break the tense situation.
     "Great thinking sir! I haven't eaten in too long!" added Hoffman as he moved ahead of the group.
     "I wouldn't be so keen about the cooking here. I have had better," said Wayne as he followed them. The group then managed to laugh a bit about things they had done or heard people had done. They were finally unhooking from their normal routine of being constantly on guard against death.

16:48:23 Mar 19th 10 - Emperor Gaius Septimus Cidellus:

Name: CIU-217 “Rob”

Weapons
-Long knife

-Harknem Labs Firewhip-9 pistol

Clothing: Gray coat, black jumpsuit, fleshsuit, black fedora.

John Miller and CIU-217 jumped out of John’s interceptor, John wearing his usual attire and Rob wearing a gray coat and a black jumpsuit over a flexible suit designed to mimic the size and shape of human flesh. It did not conceal the fact that Rob didn’t have a face, but it would make his usually skeletal form more human-like and less suspicious. The jumpsuit that Rob was wearing had a built in holster for his custom Firewhip-9 pistol and his long knife.

Marcus Wilde, a good old friend of John’s, was a current resident of the rather average Skyview Apartment Complex. John was going to ask for it, and he knew Marcus would accept.

They approached the front door, and John waved to the camera on the way up to it. Rob looked at it suspiciously and used a built in jammer to block the wireless signal.
“Hey! Stop that!” yelled a voice.
Miller and Rob approached the front door, which opened without a knock. A man stood in the doorway, he was thin and around six-feet tall. His once-long hair was cut short, and the goatee he had a while back was trimmed. He still typically jeans and a button-up shirt, John observed.
“John, tell your friend not to fry my cameras!” yelled Marcus Wilde.
“Apologies,” said Rob as he released control of the signal.
Wilde looked at his display across the room, then looked back at Rob.
“Cyborg? You brought a CYBORG here!?” yelled Wilde.
“My name is Rob.”
“A SENTIENT CYBORG!? Do you know what you’ve gotten us into? Soon we’ll end up a bunch of drones to some sort of central computer that he’s trying to release, hell, he’ll probably gain access to the country’s nuclear arms and nuke as all into the Stone Age! Haven’t you watched those old movies?” asked Wilde.

Rob let out something that sounded like a laugh, then stopped.
“You’re joking, right?” asked Rob, “You must be joking…”
“Yeah, I was joking,” said Wilde with a laugh, “So what you here for, John?”
“I need your help. Can you hack an obscure government database relating to a centralized bunker where Pallace is probably hiding?” asked John.
“Of course, but I’m going to need some intel to go off of. Can you break into several military bases and research stations to get intel for me?”
“Sounds like fun,” said Miller, “You up for it, Rob?”
“Yes.”
“Well then, sounds like a plan. Where do we need to go?” asked Miller.

17:19:45 Mar 21st 10 - King Berkeley The Disheartened:

Name: Dominic Kaine
Weapons: R-32 semi-automatic pistol
Clothing: Class-C military uniform.
Other: Dom is part of a special task force that the new government has put together to hunt down Pallace and his associates any way they can.

Three days of rest and relaxation went by quickly for the men of Team-1. Then day four began the retraining and drill practicing. It was like being sent through boot camp again for some. Demonstrations in disassembling and reassembling of weapons, handling of firearms, useage in different combat manuevers, and squad teamwork were held and the skills were practiced again and again. Each member went through basic first aid training, navigation without any helpful tools except a compass, and stealth combat techniques. It all started coming back to each of the team members as they went through the training. It had been at least a year since they had last done a refresher course, and the men had felt the knowledge flow back to the surface of their memories. Four days passed within the blink of an eye. Then before they knew it, they were standing at attention with Lawrence Carter walking back and forth in front of them.
"Alright men, today begins a series of swift and silent strikes against the installations of Edward Pallace. We need more information in order to strike at the heart of his forced and at Pallace himself. Scattered around some of the rebelling countries are a number of research stations, military command centers, and information posts. The information held at these locations could be crutial to ending this pointless war. The papers I have given you contain all of the important information that you need to know about the missions. All of your equipment for your future missions is stored in your modified gunship which will carry you for the next week. You men are the best I have. The other squads are carrying out similar missions in other area since there are around two dozen locations that we are dealing with. Find Pallace. Find him and all of the squads will converge on his location. Get the job done men and kill Pallace with extreme prejudice," said Carter as he finished his speech. He then left the room without a word and Dom never saw him again after that.

***

Carter stepped into his office and lifted up his phone.
"The tracking bug is definitely in place on the gunship? Good. I don't want the clean up to be messy," said Carter after a short conversation before he hung up the phone.

***

Dom and his modified team sat aboard the gunship silently. Their chances of surviving this week were about 50/50. Not good odds after what they had been through, but they could be worse. Something about Carter had been nagging at Dom ever since he began working for him. It was on the tip of his tongue, but he couldn't seem to grasp it. He hoped that it was just something small and nothing to worry about.

***

     Hours had passed before the team had reached the landing zone. Their objective: To infiltrate a small information post and download all of the files on their computer database. There was a presence of only about ten to fifteen soldiers, but Carter did not want any signs of their presence being there. It might cause other areas to go on high alert and make the rest of their missions more difficult. They were never there. Ghosts. Phantoms. Shadows.
     "Men. Light equipment only. This is a jungle terrain so dress accordingly," said Dom as the gunship landed in a tiny clearing. Camouflage nets were thrown over their transportation and they readied themselves.
      "Alpha team will consist of myself, Sam, Truman. Beta team will be Martin, Wayne, and Hoffman. Alpha will move to the higher ground around the information post while Beta checks the perimeter for patrols. I will lead Alpha inside to hack the computer database," said Dom. The two teams then said their farewells and went their separate ways.

***

     "Beta team is in position. We have detected about four, two man patrols moving around the jungle paths. The information post is in sight. Holding position," said Martin over the com channel.
      "Alpha is in position as well. We can see some movement, but it seems like getting inside won't be as easy as we thought," replied Dom. Between him and the info post were two guards standing at the doors.
      "Beta, would you be able to set up a smoke grenade distraction? Set one off in the distance and then stop it after a minute. Then change location. We will do something similar on this end," added Dom.
      "Will do," replied Martin. Five minutes later, a large plume of black smoke began rising up over the canopy of the jungle.

***

     "Captain! Smoke is in the distance! It might be a fire!" yelled a guard as he raced into the information post.
     "Fire? Send three squads to check it out quickly," replied the captain.
     "Yes sir!" said the guard as he raced outside again. Within a minute, six men were racing off into the jungle in order to find out what was causing the smoke. Less than five minutes later, another plume of smoke was coming from the opposite direction. Another guard ran to the captain and informed him.
     "Another cloud of smoke? We only have eight men left here. Send two squads but be quick. Have the other squads tighten the perimeter around the post," ordered the captain. A minute later, there were only four men left, not including the captain. There were three doors into the building. One door had only one guard at it. Dom made his move towards a ventilation shaft that was completely unguarded while Sam and Truman distracted the guards with smoke grenades like Martin had done. Dom quickly moved towards the info post, removed the ventilation shaft cover, climbed inside, and put the cover back on. Then he crawled into the building. It only took a few minutes to get close to the main computer terminal in the building, but he would need about half a minute to download the files. The captain of the post did not look like he was going to go anywhere. Dom also knew that the other patrols would be coming back soon after the smoke disappeared and they could not find the source.
     "What do you mean that there was no fire? The smoke just disappeared? Get back here immediately. I am not liking this," said the captain suddenly. Dom then did some quick thinking. He used one of his little hacking devices from his detective days and used it on a cable that controlled some lights just outside of the room. He overcharged the lights with a quick burst of energy and they broke with a loud pop.
     "What the hell?!" said the captain as he jumped up from his seat. He pulled out his pistol and slowly left the room. Dom immediately jumped out of the vent, hooked up his hacking equipment to the terminal, downloaded the files, and climbed back into the vent. It had taken him less than thirty seconds. Five minutes later, the captain came back into the room and saw nothing wrong. Dom left the way he had came, signalled the other men, and they went back to their gunship and headed for their next destination. The files on the main computer were sent back to headquarters.

20:33:56 Apr 6th 10 - Emperor Gaius Septimus Cidellus:

Name: John Miller
Weapons
-Combat knife
-Cidel Arms Dragonfire-7 pistol
-LanCo K-75 assault rifle
-High explosive grenades
Clothing: Night camouflage fatigues, black combat boots, Kevlar harness, fingerless gloves, leg pistol holster.

Name: CIU-217 “Rob”

Weapons
-Long knife

-Harknem Labs Firewhip-9 pistol
-Explosive charge

Clothing: Black jumpsuit, fleshsuit.

Not long after John and Rob recruited Marcus Wilde to their cause, Wilde made a discovery. In the lower levels of Nargess itself was one of Pallace’s last remaining research facilities. The reason for the selection seemed reasonable, as there would be nothing but mutants to bother them and the new government would never expect it.

John Miller and CIU-217 set out almost immediately to the lower levels, going through the old Garasky Building that John often used to use as a gateway to the lower levels during his career as a vigilante. Thirty-five stories worth of stairs had once seemed like a nightmare, but now it was easy. Rob was a robot, and thus had no limit to his endurance, and John’s limitations had recently been drastically expanded by a Dr. Harmeo. However, near the bottom they began hearing the screams and yells of mutants.
“This place must be a fucking deathtrap by now,” said Miller as he lifted his assault rifle and continued.
“Pallace won’t have many guards in place, though. They probably can’t get many men down here, and the mutants act as a guard-force anyway,” said Rob.
“Doors will be locked, that why you brought the charge?” asked Miller.
“Yes.”

They reached the bottom of the Garasky Building, killing five mutants in the first story. Their destination was around ten blocks away. It would be a long run, and most of the automobiles in the lower levels weren’t operational as they had been when Miller had rescued Dom, Martin, and Hugo almost two years before. Mutants constantly presented themselves as obstacles, and they were always cut down by Rob or Miller. It took them twenty minutes to run the ten blocks, and when they were half a block away from the facility they stopped. John saw two heat-sensing turrets and looked at Rob, whose eyes were currently white.
What the fuck?
Both turrets went inactive simultaneously, and Rob looked a Miller.
“Wireless hacking capabilities are standard for Cyborg Infiltration Units,” said Rob.
“Right. Set the charge,” whispered Miller.
Rob nodded and ran towards the front of the building. After setting the charge on the weakest structural point he ran back and took cover across from Miller. He held his hand out for Miller to see.
3, he gestured.
2
1
The front of the facility was enveloped in a energy-explosion, and the front wall collapsed. The lights inside turned off, and red lights began flashing within as an alarm sounded.
“Move!” roared Miller as he and Rob got up and ran towards the breach, their weapons at the ready.

22:16:31 Apr 6th 10 - King Ernest Deallus The Wise:

01:51:36 Apr 7th 10 - Emperor Gaius Septimus Cidellus:

Name: CIU-217 “Rob”

Weapons
-Long knife

-Harknem Labs Firewhip-9 pistol

Clothing: Black jumpsuit, fleshsuit.

Rob had gone ahead to infiltrate the mainframe room of the research facility and Miller had stayed behind to act as a distraction. Miller was good at that, especially if he had good cover and a good position. He was in the mess hall of the research facility behind an extremely durable counter. He had realized early on that the garrison of the research facility consisted of super soldiers, and they were a hell of a lot tougher than the normal grunt. He had killed two already, and there were four others in the mess hall. They had deployed and were hiding behind mobile cover. TMCSs (Typhosian Mobile Cover Systems) had been developed two years before and had seen rapid deployment amongst the Special Forces. They were anywhere from six to eight feet tall and four to ten feet wide, were completely bullet proof, and were simply a small box while not deployed. Now they were being used by super soldiers, and it was one bitch of a stalemate.

“Fire!” roared one.
All four jumped out at once and began firing on Miller, who barely managed to duck down in time.
“Fuck!” yelled Miller as he stuck his rifle up and blind-fired. A bullet struck his arm, and his arm fell. He couldn’t handle a rifle properly with one good arm, so he put his rifle down and continued the fight with his Dragonfire pistol.
“C’mon you fuckers!” roared Miller, recoiling his head at every close bullet, “That all you got?”
A grenade landed two feet in front of him, and his eyes went wide. He dropped his pistol, grabbed the grenade, and threw it back.
BOOM!
The grenade exploded with a resounding noise, and he heard a super soldier scream as he died. Miller picked his pistol up, holstered it, picked back up his rifle, and continued firing. His arm, having been shot clean through a minute before, was now completely healed. It was another product of Dr. Harmeo’s operation, and Miller was thankful. He’d be completely screwed without it. The clip ran dry and Miller reached for another, but realized that he was out.
“Fuck!” yelled Miller, dropping his rifle and pulling back out his pistol, “This had better be worth it, Rob!”

04:44:22 Apr 7th 10 - King Ernest Deallus The Wise:

Name: Dominic Kaine
Weapons: Targosian Assault Rifle - Heavy, Seismic grenades, explosive charges. (TAR-H)
Clothing: Full black body armor, tactical helmet.
Other: Dom is part of a special task force that the new government has put together to hunt down Pallace and his associates any way they can.

     Dom's team moved through the third floor pretty quickly while Perkins and his team secured the rest of it. Then large amounts of gunfire and yelling started on the first floor.
     "Perkins, do you hear the shooting?" said Dom through his comm channel.
     "Roger that. Sounds like it may be the people who broke in the front door meeting resistance. Better check it out," replied Perkins. Dom's team met up with Perkins and his team at a stairwell and they quickly headed to the first floor. Then they found a warzone with bullet-ridden walls. They saw three heavily armed men behind TMCSs that were firing upon a single spot in the room. Dom then had his team take position behind the unknown soldiers.
     "DROP YOUR WEAPONS OR WE WILL FUCKING KILL YOU!" screamed Dom as loud as he could. The soldiers turned around with amazing speed and quickly began firing back at his position. Perkins had his team in another entrance and they tossed grenades all over the enemy positions until nothing but explosions were heard. After the fighting died down, Dom and his team advanced upon the dead men and checked them.
     "Looks like Pallace's special super soldiers...not so super now huh?" said Sam as he kicked at one of the bodies.
     "No...not anymore," said Dom. Then he motioned for Sam to cover him as he moved towards where the men were firing.  He neared the counter with Sam and then both aimed their weapons at the person hiding behind it at the same time.
     "Freeze!" screamed Dom. Then he realized who it was.
     "Well hello Dom, fancy meeting you here, said John, having both of his hands up, "Nice mask, Sam."
     "John? What the hell are you doing here? Carter said that you were dead. Hell, everyone thinks that you are dead," said Dom as he lowered his gun. While Dom was speaking, Sam slipped off his mask.
     "You like it too huh? I liked the color scheme," said Sam as he looked at it himself, a permanent grin on his face.
     "Get your face burnt off, huh? Well, to answer your question Dom, I'm helping a friend," said Miller with a smirk, "And you should know that it'd take a hell of a lot more than being shot countless times and falling off a bridge to finish me. I see you got your own squad now."
     "Yeah, lost my face and eyes. Life's a bitch huh? On the bright side, I get to be the ferryman of hell now," said Sam with a laugh as he put his mask back on.
     "Well, you did only get your leg blown off before and somehow survive that. And yeah, I got my own squad. I got the job of hunting down Pallace while being on the leash of the government," said Dom.
     "My leg and my arm," corrected Miller, "And I had a bunch of fragments from a grenade imbedded in my body. I'm fine now though. How's Carter doing?"
     "Well, I know he still hates you apparently.  Gave me a speech about how you made everything more difficult for him and he seemed pretty upbeat about you supposedly dying. I think he may have a screw or two loose lately. Anyways, we need to access a computer terminal somewhere around here and see if Pallace's location is on there," said Dom.
     "I have a friend working on it as we speak. I was the distraction," informed Miller as he put his assault rifle in his harness and grabbed a submachine gun from a dead super soldier, along with some ammunition.
     "Sounds like you. Guns blazing all the way. Would we be allowed to share this information? We are very interested in...talking...with Pallace about a few things," chuckled Dom. Then he heard Perkins pop in on his comm channel.
     "Shit! Sir we have incoming!" screamed Perkins as bullets began ripping through the walls. His team raced into the room and repositions the TMCSs so that they had some protection against their enemy.
     "What is it!?" screamed Dom. He got an answer when a metallic-looking man stepped through the door with a huge minigun firing at them. Two super soldiers were also covering its sides with heavy assault rifle fire. Perkins and his team fired at the cyborg, but their bullets did nothing more than annoy it.
     "Use explosives!" screamed Dom as he took cover where Miller has been minutes before. He loaded a grenade into the underbelly of his assault rifle and hit the cyborg in the chest. The blast knocked the minigun from its body and then two more grenades hit it before it could react.
     "Man down!" screamed Perkins as one of his men took two bullets to the head from the super soldiers. Perkins and his remaining two men tried flanking the super soldiers, but it just resulted in another one of his men being killed by their enhanced abilities.
     "Shit! I cannot get around behind them!" said Perkins as he added on several more curses. Sam got behind the counter were Dom was and leveled his sniper rifle across the room. A loud boom erupted from the rifle and the bullet went through the super soldier's cover and tore a hole in his chest that was the size of a fist. The remaining super soldier retreated since he was outnumbered and outgunned. The only intelligent move would be to pull back and regroup.  Fortunately, a bullet from Miller's gun clipped the super solder in the back as he was just leaving the room and another bullet from Sam's sniper blew the enemy's head clean off.
     "Good shot, Sam," said Miller, "Now, what do you want to know again, Dom?"
     "I want to know where Pallace is. The information in this facility has to have it," replied Dom. While Dom was talking, Perkins collected the ID tags of his dead men and said a silent prayer. Then he and his remaining man watched the doors.
     "That's fine, but my friend will probably have some conditions," said Miller.
     "What kind of conditions? Who is your friend?" asked Dom.
     "Well, you'll meet my friend soon, and he'll explain the conditions better than I ever could. I'll just make his intentions sound insane," said Miller with a chuckle.
     "Well, I hope he would hurry it up because I have the Typhosian army sitting outside of this building waiting on me and my men.
     "Rob, what is your status?" asked Miller into his PCD.
     "Sorry for the delay. I had to dispatch a cyborg that was guarding the mainframe. I have the data. What is your position?" asked Rob.
     "The mess hall," responded Miller.
     "I will be there soon," said Rob.
     "Well at least he is almost here," said Dom.
     "I am coming in," said Rob less than a minute later, "Do not shoot."
One of the doors opened, and a cyborg stepped through the door holding a Firewhip pistol. The data had been downloaded onto his onboard memory, and thus he had no need for a device to store it on.
     "Shit! Another cyborg!" screamed Dom as he and his men took cover and prepared to defend themselves.
     "Don't shoot!" roared Miller, "God-dammit! It's my friend!"
     "What the hell do you mean your friend? He is a cyborg?" replied Dom from under cover.
     "A fucking sentient cyborg!" yelled Miller, "He's like a human and he has your data, so give him a chance!"
     "I mean nobody but the followers of Pallace any harm, I can assure you," added Rob.
     "Alright alright! Men stand down! Will someone please fucking explain this to me later? We don't have time right now. Where is Pallace at?" asked Dom.
     "Pallace is in a nuclear bunker hidden in the Karowan Mountains. I have the coordinates, and I know how to enter the facility undetected," said Rob.
     "Alright, let's get to the roof now!" said Dom. Everyone quickly moved to the top floor without seeing the remaining two super soldiers and they climbed out onto the roof. Their gunship was waiting for them and hovered low enough for them to get on board. Then the gunship began slowly ascending to avoid hitting anything above it.
     "I'll report to Carter," said Dom as he activated the gunship's onboard ComLink.
     "Lieutenant Kaine, I assume that since you are contacting me that you have the location of Pallace?" asked Carter.
     "Yes sir, he is located in a nuclear bunker beneath the Karowan Mountains-" said Dom before being cut off.
     "Good work Lieutenant. However, as much as it pains me to say this: You are no longer useful to me" said Carter.
     "Wait...what sir?" asked Dom in surprise.
     "You are all loose ends. Loose ends that are about to be cut. I hope that you enjoyed serving one of the largest shadow governments in history. Your gunship will explode shortly," said Carter with a chuckle on his breath.
     "Shit!" screamed, or thought, everyone on the gunship after hearing the words. Two seconds later, however, the gunship was still there.
     "When we got on board, I detected a tracking device and several unimportant, yet dangerous, devices on the gunship. As a result, I disabled them all," said Rob.
     "You've allied yourself with a god-damn cyborg? Are you mad?" asked Carter.
     "It just saved our lives, so I don't think so. I never did like you much, Carter. Now I fucking despise you," said Miller.
     "John Miller? You are an impossible worm to crush, you pathetic thick-skulled son-of-a-bitch," cursed Carter, "All forces, shoot down that gunship!"
     "Hold on!" screamed the pilot as the tanks below them began firing up. The gunship quickly began dodging and manuevering to avoid the fire.
     "Thanks for giving us one of the best pilots in the whole planet Carter! You fucking moron! I'm going to burn you for this you piece of shit!" yelled Sam as he cut off the communication.

***

     "Miller is alive? Surprising, yet expected in a way," thought Carter. He then activated his ComLink.
     "This is Major Lawrence Carter, I want all available forces devoted to finding and killing Edward Pallace! I will transfer all available intel to you. Is that understood?" asked Carter.
     "Yes sir," said the voice of Lieutenant Raymond Walters, "What has happened to Lieutenant Kaine and his team?"
     "They've gone rogue. They are to be shot on sight. Is that understood?" asked Carter.
     "Yes sir," replied Walters.

20:30:53 Apr 8th 10 - Emperor Gaius Septimus Cidellus:

Name: John Miller
Weapons
-Combat knife
-Cidel Arms Dragonfire-7 pistol
-LanCo KSMG-75 submachine gun
-LanCo K-75 assault rifle
-High explosive grenades
Clothing: Night camouflage fatigues, black combat boots, Kevlar harness, fingerless gloves, leg pistol holster.

Name: CIU-217 “Rob”

Weapons
-Long knife

-Harknem Labs Firewhip-9 pistol

Clothing: Black jumpsuit, fleshsuit.

“Calling Lieutenant Dominic Kaine…calling Dominic Kaine. Can you hear me?” asked a voice on Dom’s personal PCD.
“This is Dominic Kaine. Identify yourself,” said Kaine.
“Kaine, I am checking your voice against our records now. Hold,” said the voice.
Ten seconds passed, and finally the voice came on again.
“Kaine, this is Director of Intelligence Howard Wolfe,” said the voice, “I’m calling to make an offer.”
“You do know that we are fugitives now, right?” asked Dom.
“I realize this, but I have no other options. Richardson is Carter’s puppet, and as long as Carter remains alive, it will always be this way. What I’m about to ask may seem unreasonable, as you are all innocent. I need you to kill Lawrence Carter and Edward Pallace,” said Wolfe.
“Why Pallace? Why not just Carter?” asked Dom.
“Edward Pallace, despite the circumstances, is still a danger to the new government. I need him killed, and I don’t want Carter to be the one to do it. When this is declassified in fifty years, I don’t want him to be remembered as the villain who brought down another villain. Understand?” asked Wolfe.
“Yes, and what’s in it for us?” replied Dom.
“Full pardons and recognition for your services.”

“Hell, I think putting a bullet in Carter’s brain is reward enough. But I’ll take the pardon too,” laughed Miller.
“It’ll be done. You'd better stick to your word, Wolfe,” said Dom.
“I will, and good luck.”

The PCD conversation was cut, and Dom turned to the group. After escaping from the lower levels in the gunship, the pilot had taken them to the outskirts of down. Once there they had ditched the gunship (which had almost no fuel left). Upon receiving the call, they had been resting in an abandoned cabin thirty miles from Nargess’s city limits.

"Alright, we need to take down both Pallace and Carter. Miller, I would expect that you would want to kill Carter yourself since you and him have such a great past together. Pallace will probably be the toughest, so we'll need more men. That would be where I can come in handy," said Dom.

"You were right in your guess, because I will kill Carter alone. Rob can go with you guys, and I think it's time that he tells you his conditions on that bit of data he gave you," said Miller.

"I am the first successful infiltration unit developed by Pallace's research division. When I was created, I was created without a chip designed to restrict my consciousness. I was able to wirelessly overpower my restraints and escape the facility, but I know that many of my brothers and sisters are in similar situations. Their minds, however, are restricted and controlled by Pallace.”

Rob took a break, and looked at all of the people spread around the cabin.
“The mainframe devoted to the restraint of my brothers and sisters is located in Pallace's bunker, and that is why I had to find it," explained Rob, "I need to free them, and once I do I can assure you that we will not endanger you or your civilizations. We simply wish to be free."

"So, Pallace is in a bunker with enough defenses to stop most attacks from the outside. How the hell are my men and I going to get inside without running into a small army with heavy weapons?" asked Dom.

"I could disable the alarms and rappel down the missile silo. The inside is harmful to organics, but I would merely be irradiated and very dangerous until decontaminated. We could also attempt to blow our way through, though that would be suicide. I final option would be ambushing a patrol, using their uniforms as disguises, and going in like that. I would not suggest plan-2," said Rob.

"Hm...I like the idea of using disguises, but that would be risky since the patrols might have many checkpoints and we would be surely caught. Plan-1 seems to be our safest option," replied Dom.

"For you, Lieutenant Kaine," said Rob as he gave off what sounded like a chuckle, "I would happily do it. Once inside I will avoid detection and get to the control room, where I will eliminate everybody inside, lock the doors, and hack the ATTP to attack all Pallace soldiers. That should eliminate a large amount of the opposition. I will then open the front doors."

"What about any mechanized vehicles? Would those be disabled by the internal defenses?" asked Dom.

"Most of Pallace's vehicles are unmanned now, as he has few soldiers left. Those can be hacked as well, though it would be impossible for any organic to do so. They would not be fast enough, and they do not "think" like cyborgs do," explained Rob.

"Alright, so vehicles and most of his men inside will be taken care of. I think the only other thing we need to know is where Pallace is when we get there," said Sam.

"I do not have that information, as he is a living person and probably moves around the base often. I can hack the security cameras from the control room, but most of the facility will not have them. He could be shot by an automated turret if you are lucky," said Rob.

"I am sure that Pallace would have some kind of special guards for himself rather than turrets. As long as we can find him with the cameras, we will get him. Now the only other question is...how are we getting from here to there without any kind of transportation?" asked Dom.

"Automobiles will be the least-conspicuous choice, as we are being hunted by Lawrence Carter. The mountains are only two hundred miles from here, and a large SUV or truck could probably carry all of us. Once we are near the mountains, I will be able to start my climb," explained Rob.

"While you are going in through the missile silo, everyone will be near the front gates. We will ambush the outside men as soon as the show starts inside. Then we will regroup with you inside," said Dom.

"No need to regroup with me until after you take out Pallace. I have my own mission, I am just getting you inside," clarified Rob.

"Alright, then we will find Pallace using the security cameras. Then we will kill him," said Sam.

"Sounds like a good time," broke in Miller, "Wish I could be there, but I have a psychopath to kill."

"It is fine Miller, it has been good working with you," said Rob.

"Yeah. Wilde must be wondering where the fuck we are right about now," laughed Miller, "Second time I've left him hanging. He's going to punch me next time I see him."

"Alright, well if we want to go on our merry way, we will need transportation. Do we have anything nearby?" asked Martin.

"I could go and steal a vehicle if I have to. Our need is definitely greater than whomever I steal it from," suggested Rob.

"You would probably find the vehicle in the best condition. Do it," said Sam.

"I will be back soon," promised Rob before leaving the cabin.

"We're not far from town. I've got my job to do. Good luck," said Miller as he shook Dom's hand, "Good seeing you again."

He then turned to Sam and shook his hand as well.

"Hope you scare the shit out of Pallace when you kill him," laughed Miller

"I will make sure that Pallace gets to see me face to face before he dies," replied Sam.

"The coward will probably shit his pants," said Miller.

"He will when he dies...that is for sure," said Sam.

“I’m off, but I owe you all a beer after this," said Miller as he left the cabin chuckling.

06:03:14 Apr 9th 10 - King Ernest Deallus The Wise:

16:15:12 Apr 12th 10 - King Ernest Deallus The Wise:

*Stabs Septim with One-Up Mushrooms*

12:12:00 Apr 13th 10 - Sir Karzun Demonsul:

ENGINEER: Heck no. Dammit, fellas!

09:15:50 Oct 25th 10 - Emperor Alexius Septimus Cidellus:

Working on a post for this. Would've had it done by now, but this weekend has been crazy. >.>

*gets stabbed with another one-up mushroom*

06:35:36 Oct 26th 10 - Emperor Alexius Septimus Cidellus:

Finding Carter had been easy for Miller, with the help of Wilde. Carter had gone into hiding after the transmission, but despite his many years of experience, he still made mistakes. Searching through the appropriate information channels, Wilde had discovered that Carter had made his base in a warehouse fifteen miles south of the city limits. He had stockpiled weapons, ammunition, armored and unarmored vehicles, food, water, and other necessary odds and ends in his little fortress, and the walls were reinforced to resist high explosive detonations. Jamming the communications to prevent reinforcements would be as easy as setting up a wireless jammer outside, and Wilde had discovered that there were no landlines running to or from that location. Now, Miller only had to prepare.

***

John Miller stood in a hotel room, his weapons and remaining ammunition spread out before him on the room's bed. He had his well-maintained combat knife, his trusty Dragonfire pistol along with , his KSMG-75 submachine gun, and his K-75 assault rifle. The extended clips on his pistol had an eighteen-round capacity, and he had three of those left. His submachine gun, outfitted with extended clips (containing thirty-five rounds each) as well, had three clips left, and his assault rifle had two clips of thirty rounds remaining. He also had three high explosive grenades, which would be extremely helpful. Carter knew he was coming, and was sure to be heavily guarded by his loyal BlackOps agents. Those guys would be packing some of the best equipment the government could afford, while Miller was relying on his own combat prowess and the element of relative surprise. This would be his battle alone, and it would be his toughest yet.

Name: CIU-217 "Rob"
Weapons
-Long knife
-Harknem Labs Firewhip-9 pistol

Clothing: None.

CIU-217 jumped out of the passenger side of the van, having given Dom control of the van several miles back, and proceeded to roll down a somewhat steep side of the mountain. He was not wearing his usual fleshsuit, nor his black jumpsuit. Neither would be necessary in his infiltration of the launch facility. After rolling down the mountain about thirty feet, he abruptly put his feet and arms out, smashed them into the solid rock, and stopped his descent, then he examined his position using his built in Pathfinder software. He was two miles from the facility's heavily guarded gates, and four miles from the top of the missile silo. It would not take long, and it would be an easy climb for a cyborg with like Rob.

19:09:26 Nov 9th 10 - King Charley The Crazy Moderator:

06:42:31 Nov 11th 10 - Emperor Alexius Septimus Cidellus:

Name: CIU-217 "Rob"
Weapons
-Long knife
-Harknem Labs Firewhip-9 pistol

Clothing: None.

"Wait...we're hiding Ed Pallace HERE?" asked one security guard to another inside the main control room of the former missile launch facility.
"Yeah, where the fuck have you been? Under a rock?" asked the other security guard.
"Well he doesn't exactly broadcast his presence anymore," snapped the first guard.
Suddenly, a vent on the ceiling was dented outwards, then fell rapidly. Both guards turned just in time to see a figure fall out of the vent, and that figure immediately sliced the throat of one with its knife. It then turned, kicked the gun out of the other's hand, and stabbed its knife into his chest. It pulled upwards, then pulled the knife out, and watched as the security guard fell lifelessly to the floor.
"This is Rob," said Rob into his PCD, "I am inside the control room."
Rob immediately ran to a large control terminal, pulled a wire from inside a panel on his chest, and plugged it into the terminal. Ten seconds later he pulled it out as every auto defense throughout the facility began firing on Pallace personnel. The blast doors in the front of the facility opened up, and every door throughout the facility was unlocked or opened.
"This is Rob, I have done all I can. The auto defenses will not fire on you, and I am transmitting a map of the facility along with Pallace's last known position to your PCD. So...as Miller would say...get the hell in here and kill that son of a bitch," said Rob with what sounded like a laugh before rapidly leaving the control room.

@Miller set down the wireless jammer as he sat crouched behind a log three hundred feet from the facility. He pressed several buttons on it, activating it, then looked over the log. He would've preferred not attacking during the daytime, but he needed to kill Carter as soon as he could, and there was no time to waste. He lifted his rifle over the log and looked through the scope he had outfitted it with. He spotted six men patrolling around the warehouse, and all were wearing state-of-the-art black combat armor.
"Wilde," whispered Miller into his headset PCD.
"Yeah, John?" replied Wilde.
"I set up the jammer-hacktool-thing, can you get into their surveillance system?" asked Miller.
"That's not what it's call-ah, whatever! Hang on...yeah, I'm in," said Wilde proudly.
"I see six outside, how many inside?" asked John.
"Three, including Carter. Hang on...he's standing near some kind of exoskeleton. Looks like the...Mark II Powered Assault Armor," muttered Wilde.
"...what the hell is that?" asked Miller.
"Immune to small arms fire, triples his strength, and has mounted gatling guns," said Wilde.
"How the hell do you know all this stuff?" asked Miller, "And how the hell would I go about killing it?"
"The military has too much faith in their firewalls...and I don't know. It's supposed to be invincible," said Wilde.
Miller chuckled under his breath, then aimed his rifle at one of the BlackOps agents on patrol.
"Nothing's invincible, Wilde," said Miller as he opened fire.

06:57:45 Apr 13th 11 - King Charley The Crazy Moderator:

Name: Dominic Kaine
Weapons: Targosian Assault Rifle - Heavy, Seismic grenades, explosive charges. (TAR-H)
Clothing: Full desert body armor, tactical helmet.
Other: Dom is part of a special task force that the new government has put together to hunt down Pallace and his associates any way they can.

     Dom got the signal from Rob and saw the main gates opening up. The guards, surprised by what was happening, began to investigate.
     "Alright, let's move in closer," said Vincent Perkins as he readied himself to move.
     "Perkins, I want you, Truman, and Hoffman to move up on the right. Sam, Martin, and I will move towards the left. The rest of the men will slowly move up the middle behind our advance. We will engage as soon as we get within range," said Dom as he readied his rifle. The three teams dispersed but they saw the gate guards suddenly screaming for backup on their radios. Machine gun fire and explosions were heard coming from the inside of the base.

***

     "Sir, we lost contact with the security command room," said a soldier to his captain.
     "What? Go see what those idiots are doing. Better not be another intercom malfunction or Pallace will have us shot," said the captain. Almost as soon as he was done talking, another soldier ran up to him.
     "Sir! A formation of tanks has been seen coming up the pass several miles away. They are hostile," said the soldier as he caught his breath.
     "Damn! Get to the security room and make sure those automated defenses are ready to go! We cannot be caught undefended!" yelled the officer. Men began scrambling to defensive positions when suddenly all hell broke loose. Automated guns began activated and hosing Pallace's guards with machine gun bullets. The automated missile launchers also began shooting any mechanized vehicles their sensors could target. The captain could barely comprehend what was happening before his body was effectively torn to shreds by multiple guns.

***

     "Looks like Rob also got those automated defenses going nuts. We better move and hope the exterior defenses hold Carter's mechanized column at bay," said Dom. Moments later, the soldiers at the gate were stone dead and they were moving indoors and witnessed the carnage that had taken place.
     "Whoowee...they say a picture is worth a thousand words but the smell in here probably could be summed up in just a few. It fucking stinks in here," said Hoffman as he kept his guard up.
     "Luckily I cannot smell much of anything," said Sam as he hopped up on a higher level with Truman right behind him.
     "Perkins, take your two to the security room and close the exterior doors. Then work at getting the exterior guns stalling Carter's troops. If you have any spare time, find out where Pallace is and let me know.
     "Sounds like it shouldn't be too hard. Will do," he said as he trotted off with his men behind him. They quickly got to the security room and disposed of the bodies before getting to work.
     Meanwhile, Dom, Sam, Hoffman, Truman, and Martin moved deeper into the facility.

***

     "That is the facility straight ahead. Looks like someone has already knocked on the door. The guards are dead outside," said the captain of the lead tank in the column over his intercom.
     "I don't care if it is a missionary group selling books, if they aren't with us, blow them to pieces, said Carter over the intercom.
     "Will do. All tank units, prepare to engage hostiles. We are going to penetrate the outer defenses and engage the interior forces," said the captain. Before he could say anything else, however, the fortress seemed to groan to life. Hidden missile launchers and machine guns seemed to pop out from every stone.
     "Holy sh-" said the captain before several anti-tank rounds blew his tank to pieces. Then every tank in the column began opening fire at everything in sight. The battle for the Karowan Mountain Base had begun.

***

     "No sign of any of Pallace's super soldiers or any cyborgs. Either he ran out of them or he hid them somewhere," whispered Dom as his team moved down the large corridors that led deep into the belly of the mountain.  They came to a large service elevator and then paused.
     "Perkins, do you have Pallace's position yet?" asked Dom over the intercom.
     "We are detecting about a half dozen life signs on the bottom floor of the facility. I also did an electronic scan and found about two or three signals. Must be his cyborg bodyguards. Anyways, Carter's men are blasting the outside of the base to hell! It won't be too long before they breach the outer gate!" said Perkins with intermittent explosions distorting the conversation.
     "Hold there until the outer gate is about to fall. Then pull back inside and hopefully the interior defenses can stall them," replied Dom as he hit a button on the elevator. Then they began their descent to the lowest level as they received their last transmission from Perkins.
     "Good luck you guys...you will need it," said the man as he began focusing on his difficult situation.

***

     The elevator descended slowly. As it neared the lowest level, the side of the lift opened up, revealing a very large carvern. Inside of it was what looked like a very complex computer of some kind.
     "Is that the thing that Rob was going on about or something worse?" asked Sam as he looked below.
     "I don't know bu- OH SHIT INCOMING!" screamed Stan Hoffman as a rocket slammed into the elevator. The lift screeched to a halt and they all hit the floor.
     "Well well well...if it isn't the main thorn in my side...for so long," said a voice over an intercom.
     "That must be Pallace," said Truman as he peered over the side.
     "I guess it is rather sad that the situation has deteriorated so far, but at least I get to rid myself of one of the most annoying pests that I have had nipping my heels wherever I went," continued Pallace. Bullets began pelting the area that they were in, but they had nowhere to hide. The elevator was still about a dozen feet from the ground and it had grinded to a halt.
     "RETURN FIRE!" screamed Dom as him and the others began firing back at Pallace's super soldiers that had taken up positions below them. Sam unloaded round after round from his sniper rifle, frustrated by the poor position they were in.
     "Damn, we can't even access a service ladder to get out of here," Sam cursed as he his a solder square between the eyes. The battle dragged onwards until almost all of the super soldiers had dropped.
     "We are going to free those cyborgs Pallace!" yelled Dom in defiance.
     "Free them? Why would you want to free the instrument of your death?" laughed Pallace. Almost as if adding to his reply, one of Pallace's personal cyborgs launched a rocket that struck the elevator. Everyone was tossed away from the edge and the lift dropped like a stone. Then everything went black.

***

     "Huh...? Wha...?" mumbled Dom as he began to open his eyes. He saw three cyborgs marching towards them slowly with their weapons raised. Behind them, he saw a pair of legs walking. Human legs. Pallace. Dom grimaced and began trying to climb to his feet but a sharp pain through his leg told him that it was broke. He looked down towards it and found a metal bar had pierced it.
     "Shit...ah shit...no..." groaned Dom as he attempted to free himself. Steve Truman was lying in a crumpled heap on the other side of the elevator with blood running down his head. He looked dead but Dom couldn't be sure. Stan Hoffman was slumped against the wall motionless. The cyborgs continued approaching with Pallace behind them.
     "Dominic Kaine...your whole existance has been a curse...a plague to my plans. Now...you will die for your interference," said Pallace as they almost reached him. Suddenly, Sam DeVoire jumped out from the side with his sniper rifle. He fired a bullet at point blank range through the closest cyborg's head and it crashed to the ground. He grabbed its minigun and sprayed the other two just as a bullet slammed into his head.
     "Always a nuisance, but never again!" screamed Pallace as he watched the man fall silently. The gun was left smoking in his hands and he pointed it back towards Dom. But he was no longer there. Dom had managed to free himself during the distraction and crawled off of the lift.
     "It is only a matter of time before I find you...you are only dragging out your demise!" growled Pallace as he slowly began looking around for Dom. Meanwhile, Dom was crawling along the ground away from the elevator. His leg made him want to scream in pain, but he bit his lip until it bled to keep his position secret. He had to pray that something saved him. Dom had checked his pistol but the fall had crushed the barrel and his knife had fallen loose.
     "If you want to play this game of hide and seek, hoping that some miracle will save you, then I will end your foolish thoughts. You wish to save these cyborgs so much, so I will let them tell you how they really feel," said Pallace as he pushed a button. Dozens of the cyborgs popped out of nowhere and gathered behind the ex-president of the world.
     "Face it...your struggle is meaningless in the face of such power," Pallace laughed. The explosions above him made him pause for only a moment.
     "And once you are dead...I will have these cyborgs wipe out Carter's pathetic little army and kill him too," he added. The cyborgs found Dom within seconds and one picked him up by the neck. It's eyes went from glowing red, to suddenly glowing green.
     "Friend," it said suddenly.
     "What do you mean friend? He is an enemy. KILL HIM!" screamed Pallace. The cyborg did nothing and loosened its grip on Dom.
     "I said kill him...if you won't, then I will!" said Pallace as he walked quickly over to where Dom was and aimed his gun at his head.
     "DIE!" screamed Pallace but his bullet hit metal, not flesh. The cyborg had blocked the bullet and stood between Pallace and Dom.
     "What is the meaning of this? Move out of my way! He must die!" ordered Pallace but the cyborg did not move. The others began gathering around him slowly.
     "Edward Pallace...you cannot order my people anymore," said a voice from above. Rob was hanging from the ceiling and Pallace gasped in horror.
     "No....no...NO!" he screamed as the cyborgs closed around him further and his screams then went silent. Dom crawled back towards the elevator to see what was left.

***

     "Dom! The main doors are nothing but scrap! We cannot hold any longer! Dom are you there!?" screamed Perkins over the intercom but there was nothing but static. Bullets riddled the security room as Carter's men advanced inside. The tanks blasted at the defenses with losses racking up, but they advanced nonetheless.
     "Advance!" screamed an infantry captain before he was sprayed down by machine gun turrets. Perkins and his men dashed out of the security room and began retreating as fast as they could, but Carter's forces were pushing inside quickly. An explosion tossed the three men off their feet and before Perkins knew it, he was missing a leg.
    "Shit...I guess this is the end..." he groaned as his vision grew dim. He could hear one of his men shouting at him to hold on, but it seemed like the voice was so far away. And he felt so tired. He could only hope that Dom had succeeded at least.

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