Forums / Roleplaying / Sericco

[[OOC: I changed the main character's name from John Septim to John Arkon for reasons that I am not ready to reveal.]]

Sericco Research Facility
11:26 PM
February 2nd, 2043

Lead Scientist Alfred Muller ran through the corridors of the Sericco Research Facility, his white lab coat trailed behind him as he looked over his shoulder. Running beside him was Anna Colt, his assistant. He was in his sixties, and his hair was balding. He had a light beard that covered his face as well. Anna, on the other hand, was young. At thirty years o*beep*e, she was one of the youngest scientists on staff. Upon reaching a large metal door, Alfred pulled out a keycard and slid it. The door flew open and Alfred ran through with Anna, in front of them was another corridor. Behind them, the sound of a steel door being banged open could be heard. Alfred shut and locked the six inch metal door behind them before running on with his assistant. Fear was in his eyes, cold fear, the type you received when you weren't sure if death was going to come. Halfway down the corridor, the same sound from before was heard as the six inch metal door crashed open and a load roar was heard. They kept running as they heard massive feet and fists crashing behind them. They reached the door and Alfred used the card. The door came open and inside the room was a set of terminals. Suddenly, a small insectoid creature flew up and stabbed Anna in the leg with a spiked appendage. As the blood poured down her leg, Alfred did nothing as he ran inside the room and turned his head to her.
"I'm sorry," said Alfred before closing the door.
"No!" yelled Anna before the door closed.
Alfred could not hear her screams, but he could imagine them. He quickly ran up to a large terminal and began typing. A large bang was heard, and Alfred turned his head to see a massive dent in the steel. He then turned back and kept typing, four more bangs were heard, and finally, the door flew open. At the other end was a true monster. Over ten feet in stature, its intimidating presence was matched only by its rage. As it roared, Alfred fell to the floor clutching his chest. His breathing was slowing, and his left arm hurt, he was having a heart attack. The creature walked up to him and grabbed him by the neck. Its wrist was fourteen inches in circumference, and it easily could have crushed Alfred's windpipe along with the rest of his neck and spine, but instead, the creature lifted Alfred over its head and roared before ripping him in half and throwing his pieces into the computer terminal. The force of the throw caused the body to go into the terminal, rendering the terminal useless. The creature then let out a final roar before leaving the room with its insectoid counterparts.

Asgard Space Station
12:42 PM
February 3rd, 2043

"Sir!" said Captain Winston Rhodes as General Paul Monroe entered the room. He gave a good salute, and Monroe returned it with enthusiasm.
"At ease, Captain," said Monroe, "Just got orders to send a team to Luna, research station called Sericco hasn't responded. Their antenna probably broke, so you'll be taking a spare with you."
"Anything I need to know?" asked Winston.
"Nothing I know, should be a walk in the park," said Monroe.
"Alright," said Rhodes.
"Your transport is waiting in hangar-4," said Monroe.
"I'll get the men ready," said Rhodes as he saluted and walked off towards the barracks, inside were around fifty men. They were the Stellar Task Force: soldiers trained for fighting in space environments."
"Well, we've got a mission, suit up," said Winston.
"Dammit," yelled one of the Sergeants.
"Can it, Xarxes," said Winston.
Twenty minutes later, they were on a transport headed towards Luna. Winston Rhodes commanded the whole platoon, and he had two Lieutenants and four Sergeants. The Lieutenants were Gregory Farilor and Bill Harris. The Sergeants were John Arkon, Mark Xarxes, Frank Hamilton, and Larry Cooper. An hour and a half later, the transport was approaching Luna.
"Thank you for flying Stellar Airlines," said Commander Jeremy "Ace" Masters, the pilot, jokingly. Everybody but Rhodes laughed.
Rhodes got up without a smile and turned to face his men.
The transport reached the large half-sphere that covered the research station and Ace keyed in a few commands. A large opening opened and the transport flew in. The opening then closed behind the transport and an opening opened in front of them. The transport then zoomed down and landed on one of the landing pads. The ramp was lowered and Winston yelled "Go! Go! Go!"
Master Sergeant John Arkon ran down the ramp with his LanCo K-55 assault rifle at the ready, followed closely by his men. Within a minute, the landing pad was secure and the fifty men were out of the transport. The ramp was raised and the pilot prepared for a bit of relaxation. Rhodes looked around, and cursed.
"Where the hell is everybody?" he asked, "There was supposed to be a thirty man research team, along with ten security guards at this place, and nobody is here..."
"Maybe something happened," said Farilor.
"Maybe," said Rhodes, "Cooper!"
"Yes sir?" asked Sergeant Cooper.
"Take your men in there, find out what the hell is going on!" said Rhodes.
"Yes sir," said Cooper, "Move out men!"
With that, Cooper and his men ran towards the main building. The platoon didn't know that they wouldn't be returning.
***
"Captain!" yelled Cooper over the radio, there was a lot of background noise.
"What is it, Sergeant?" asked Rhodes.
Rhodes heard assault rifles firing, and then Cooper spoke again.
"Roger and Bosco are dead!" yelled Cooper.
"Cooper, what the hell is in there?" asked Rhodes.
"Die!" yelled Cooper over more fire.
"Cooper! What is in there!?" asked Rhodes.
There was nothing.
"Cooper?" asked Rhodes, "Sergeant!?"
There was nothing, Cooper was dead.
"Ready your guns!" yelled Rhodes, "We're going in!"
"Sir, we should call back-up!" said Xarxes.
"Screw the back-up, Cooper might still be alive," said Rhodes as he ran off towards the facility.
The Captain isn't thinking straight, Arkon thought to himself.
The platoon followed him, and they were at the door a minute later.
"Breach!" yelled the Captain.
Xarxes and his squad surrounded the door and opened it; they then walked in quickly and looked around. They saw nothing.
"Clear," said Xarxes after a few seconds.
The platoon went in and looked around, it was clean.
Cooper got in further, thought Arkon.
The squad continued through the lobby and opened the door behind the desk. Inside was a gruesome scene. Cooper was lying on the ground, his chest was ripped open and crimson blood was flowing out onto the floor. His leg was half ripped off as well, and his eyes were picked out. Roger's neck was punctured and Bosco's heart had been punctured. One soldier was still alive.
"Mathews!" said Rhodes as he went down to hold the soldier in his arms. The soldier had two large holes in his chest, one was going through his stomach, which was leaking stomach acid into his body, and the other was through his kidney. He was coughing up large amounts of blood, and was obviously in blinding pain. One of the platoon medics ran up and tried his best to help the man, but there was nothing he could do.
"His death is painful," said the medic.
"I'll...I'll kill him," said Rhodes as he drew his pistol.
Mathews managed to sputter something that sounded like a "thank you" before Rhodes shot him. Rhodes then got up.
"I don't know what the hell is in there...but it's going to die," said Rhodes as he readied his submachine gun and ran through the door and into the shadows.
"Captain! Wait!" yelled Arkon.
Dammit!
Arkon ran after his officer, trying to catch him and pull him back. Whatever was in the facility was dangerous. Suddenly, Arkon heard a noise, and Rhodes flew from the shadows and knocked two soldiers over.
"Son of...a..." said Rhodes as he was lying on the ground, several of his ribs were broken and he had internal injuries.
"Ready weapons!" yelled Lieutenant Harris as he aimed his weapon through, the weapon's flashlight revealed a titanic beast that was ten feet in height. Its massive frame nearly couldn't fit through the double doors. Then, from behind it, several dozen insects that measured three feet in length each flew through the door. The platoon began firing at the insects and the beast. The insects fell to the ground and their indigo blood splashed onto the ground and walls. However, the titan's skin was not breached.
"Fall back!" yelled Lieutenant Harris as he ran, an insect then landed on his back and punched several holes through him, one struck his heart and killed him.
"C'mon!" yelled Harris as he ran. The group ran to the door of the facility while firing, but found it to be locked down. Harris let out several curse words before turning back and firing. Arkon then saw a window and shot it. The glass broke, and Arkon turned to the group.
"C'mon!" he yelled as he ran. He heard the buzzing of an insect and turned with his gun to club it away. He then turned and ran, diving through the window. There was now only twenty left of the fifty man platoon. Lieutenant Harris was on the ground with a hole in his windpipe. Xarxes was the only other Sergeant still alive, with Hamilton dead in the hallway near Farilor. As Xarxes ran, two insects descended on him. He then turned and tried to club them. He clubbed one, but failed on the second, getting stabbed through the arm. He yelled in intense pain before Corporal Tyson Bennet ran up and picked him up. While carrying him, an insect flew down and stabbed Xarxes through the neck, killing him. Bennet then ran and dived through the window. Followed by Corporal David Keller, Private First Class Michael Winston, and Private Philip Lowes. Arkon saw that nobody else had any chance for survival and ran; several insects flew through the window in pursuit. The five soldiers shot them down before running, and finally reached a large blast door. They quickly closed it behind them.
"Holy crap," muttered Arkon.
"What the hell were those?" asked Bennet.
"I have no clue," said Arkon, "Rhodes, Harris, Cooper, Hamilton, Farilor, and Xarxes are all KIA. That leaves me in command. But right now, let’s take a breather."
With that, Arkon leaned against a wall and sighed.
Dammit...all dead...all but these men...this isn't enough...not for those...we'd need way bigger weapons too....what the hell is that ringing?
Down the hallway from Arkon, a screen was ringing. As soon as he looked at it he recognized it as a ComConsole. Arkon quickly ran up to it and pressed the receive button. A middle aged man appeared on the screen. His hair was black, but his hair was graying. Arkon's squad ran up behind him and looked through the screen, but said nothing.
"Hello? Is anybody there?" asked the man, "Oh, hello, I thought I heard firing out there..."
"Who are you?" asked Arkon.
"I am a scientist, my name is Christopher Braun. Those creatures...how did you live?" asked the scientist.
"We almost didn't, there's only five of us left. Where are you?" asked Arkon.
"We're in the labs; these doors are made of nearly two feet of solid steel, which is backed up by a large energy shield on the outside. Even those titans can't break through it. If you can make it here, you'll be safe," said Braun.
"What are those things!?" asked Arkon.
"Those are our experiments...or were. That titan down there used to be a nice guy, his name was Doug, but we gave him too much of our super soldier serum...he's no longer who he once was. Those insects are a result of our experimentation on insects. Also, watch out for the angel, if it sees you, you're going to die..." said Braun.
"Gee, thanks for the warning, we could've done with one before they got stabbed to death," said Arkon.
Braun said nothing.
"Fine, print me a map here, we'll go to where you are," said Arkon.
Braun started typing, and a few seconds later, the printer that was hooked to the ComConsole printed a map. Arkon ripped it out and looked at it.
"We'll be there in fifteen minutes," said Arkon as he readied his gun.
"Be ready for a fight, there's a large concentration of insects, and maybe even a titan outside the lab," said Braun.
"Can anything kill it?" asked Arkon.
"Not that I know of..." said Braun, "Except high intensity lasers..."
"Got any around here?" asked Arkon.
"We have one in the energy weapons development lab. It's mounted to a bar of steel and is used to cut diamonds, metals, just about anything," said Braun, "its a couple hallways down from our lab."
"That's where we'll go then," announced Arkon.
"Fine, but it needs to charge, and only works in five second bursts. If you shoot it, you'd better not miss," said Braun.
"We won't," said Arkon before killing the link.
"C'mon," said Arkon.
With that, the five soldiers ran off down the hallway with their weapons at the ready. They now knew what they were up against; it gave them a small sense of security, but not enough to make them confident.
***
As they turned a corner, they saw four large insects patrolling the corridors. They quickly jumped behind cover, and Arkon looked at his men. With gestures, he told them to go around, each would take one. Arkon would take the one that was furthest back.
"Go," said Arkon as he jumped out and began shooting, the others jumped out and did the same, and the insects were killed in an instant. Arkon then pointed forward and the group ran on towards their objective.
***
Arkon was leaning against a wall; around the corner was the laboratory. He had looked using a fiber optic viewcable and had found that a titan and around twenty insects were guarding the door. They were waiting for it to open, when it did, they would be ready. Keller was in the laser laboratory already, preparing the laser with Braun's instructions over the ComConsole. Arkon readied a hand grenade.
I sure hope this is enough...
With that thought, Arkon threw the grenade around the corner. He heard a clank, and he heard the insects turn, then he heard a boom.
"Go!" yelled Arkon, even though his ears were deaf.
The four ran like hell, and the titan followed like a raging bull. Arkon looked behind him to see the titan ten feet away. They turned a corner and ran into the laser laboratory to see that it was fully charged. They dived out of the way just as the titan entered and a magnificent display of energy came forth from the cannon at light speed, cutting through the titan's stomach, heart, and neck like butter before the charge ran out. Arkon got up and looked at the titan, or the smoking remains, and turned his head towards Keller.
"Nice job," said Arkon before stepping over the remains. A minute later, they were at the door to the laboratory. The door opened to reveal Doctor Christopher Braun waiting for them.
"Hurry in," said Braun.
The soldiers followed their orders, and the twelve inch steel doors closed behind them. Arkon then looked inside, several scientists were in the room, and they ranged from young women to old men. There were also several security guards.
"Well, hello Sergeant," said Braun.
"That titan is fried," said Arkon.
"Jerry? He was a nice fellow," said Braun.
"Thought you said his name was Doug," said Arkon.
"No, that was the one you met when your group was killed," said Braun.
"What the hell is going on!?" yelled Bennet, unable to stand keeping his mouth shut.
"Well...the Highmind managed to telekinetically overpower one of our scientists and used him to open his cage," said Braun.
"What!? Who the hell is the Highmind!?" asked Arkon.
"Well, she's the leader," said Braun, "The one the others look to! She used to be Professor Gertrude West before we...modified her. We unlocked the full potential of the human mind, which also made her quite unstable."
"If we kill her, will it stop this?" asked Arkon.
"It should, but good luck getting to her," said Braun.
"I'll do whatever it takes," said Arkon, "My platoon must be avenged..."
"Well...alright. But in order to have any chance of survival, I suggest allowing us to inject you with the super soldier serum," said Braun.
"Isn't that what made the titans like they are?" asked Arkon.
"Yes, but with the proper balance of mind enlightenment serum and super soldier serum, it will allow you to retain your sanity, but with a few perks," said Braun.
"What kind of perks!?" asked Arkon.
"Well, it may have some side-effects I cannot foresee, but you will gain increased strength, agility, endurance, and quite possibly intelligence," said Braun.
"Are you sure this won't make me into one of them?" asked Arkon.
"There are no guarantees in science, but I can say that I am about as sure as I can be," said Braun.
"Fine...do it," said Arkon.
"Lay on that table over there and let me get started," said Braun.
As Arkon was walking over, he turned his head to Braun.
"Did you invent this stuff?" asked Arkon.
"I can't take credit for it. It was all the work of Doctor Alfred Muller," said Braun as he was getting a machine ready.
"Where is he now?" asked Arkon.
"He's dead," said Braun gravely as he turned to face Arkon, "Lay down, this will take a while..."
***
"Wake up, Sergeant," said a voice.
Who is that? Hello? Who are you? Who am I?
"Sergeant, wake up," said the voice again.
"You alright, Sarge?" asked another voice.
Why? Can't I just lay here? Lay here and rest...wait...rest where? Where am I?
His eyes opened and he looked around, he saw the face of a middle aged man with graying black hair, next to him was a man of around twenty-three with jet black hair.
"Who am I?" asked the man who could not remember his name.
"Sergeant John Arkon, serial number 543-097-239," said Keller, reading the number off of Arkon's dog tags.
Suddenly, Arkon's head felt like it was going to explode as his life before the operation flew into his head. He remembered his parents, his brother, his girlfriend, Rhodes, Xarxes, the titan; everything in his life was unlocked all at the same time. Arkon clutched his head in pain and yelled in agony, then, after what seemed like hours, but was only seconds, he looked up.
"Did it work?" asked Arkon.
"Ahhh, you remember!" said Braun, "Excellent, Gertrude didn't remember, but you did, an excellent sign!"
Arkon got up, and nearly fell, but Keller caught him and put him back down on the table.
"Oh, don't try to walk for a few hours...your muscles are just getting used to the serum," said Braun.
Arkon laid down on the table and looked at the ceiling.
"Is he going to be alright?" asked Keller.
"He'll be fine. He's just had his physical and mental capabilities increased, give him a minute," said Braun as he typed into his computer, "We did great, Webb."
Another scientist approached Braun and looked at the screen.
"His cells...it worked," said the man who was Webb.
"Yes, he's the first," said Braun.
"Incredible," said Webb before turning to Arkon, "Congratulations!"
"For what? A migraine?" moaned Arkon.
"You are the first human super soldier to retain their sanity!" said Webb.
"Got any painkillers?" asked Arkon.
"Sorry, I don't want to put anymore drugs into you than I already have," said Braun.
Right now, Arkon’s muscles felt like they were moving around inside of him, his head felt like it had cracked in half, and his skin felt like it was going to constrict his entire body. It was quite painful.
"Just relax," said Webb.
"Easy for you to say," said Arkon through his teeth.
With that comment, nobody said a word, and Arkon sat on the table in intense pain for the next three hours...
***
"Alright, it's been enough time, you can get up now," said Braun.
Half an hour ago, Arkon’s bones stopped aching, and his muscles stopped moving. Now he just hurt, and he had a headache. As he got up, he realized that he was a few inches taller than he had been three hours ago. He also felt that his limbs were easier to move.
"How do you feel?" asked Braun.
"Like crap," said Arkon.
"No, get around that," said Braun.
"I feel...good actually," said Arkon.
"Good," said Braun, "Run around the room a bit. Loosen up. Then I shall test you."
Arkon followed the doctor's orders and stretched. He then returned to the doctor.
"Good, now...catch!" said Braun quickly.
Arkon seemed to hear the air vibrate as he turned, bringing his hand up and catching a small rubber ball that Bennet had thrown at him.
"Wow..." said Bennet.
Arkon then turned to face Braun.
"Anything else?" asked Arkon.
"Yes...that," said Braun.
Suddenly, Arkon heard another disturbance and turned to block an incoming fist from Keller. He then threw Keller to the floor.
"Excellent, the effects of the enlightenment serum won't catch up to you for a day, at least, but we can wait in here until then. We have enough food to last a couple days," said Braun.
***
Outside the base, Ace sat in the transport. It had been five hours, and yet he hadn't seen or heard anything from the squad.
What the hell is going on in there?
Ace then decided that it would be best to send a signal to Asgard. As he readied the radio for a transmission, he heard a noise outside. He quickly grabbed his pistol and walked out. The ramp was up, he'd be safe. Suddenly, there was a bang against the hull. Ace turned to see a large dent appear. Ace ran to the *beep*pit and typed in a few commands. Outside the ship, the turrets went online. They targeted the titan, and the insects, as hostile and began firing. The titan was sliced to bits by the rapid fire energy turrets, and most of the insects were killed. In the *beep*pit, Ace sat back and rubbed his face before hearing another bang, this time on the roof. As he readied the roof turrets a blade went crashing through the metal. It then twisted, making a hole, and Ace saw the face of a demon, yet the wings of an angel. The creature roared, and Ace aimed his pistol and fired. The creature swung its blade with perfect accuracy, knocking the bullet away. Several more shots came, and all were dodged or knocked away. Finally, Ace ran out of ammo, and the angel picked him up and crushed his windpipe.

Sericco Research Facility
12:26 PM
February 4th, 2043

Over the course of the next day, Corporal Tyson Bennet, Corporal David Keller, Private First Class Michael Winston, and Private Philip Lowes were also injected with the serum; otherwise they would have no chance of survival if they had to leave the room.
***
Arkon, Bennet, Keller, and Winston were all standing close to the table as the scientists worked on Lowes. All of them had gone through the operation successfully, but they were still worried for their fellow soldier. After several hours, the operation was complete.
"Now, we wait for him to regain consciousness," said Braun.
After about thirty minutes, Lowes stirred and got up, looking around at the people in the room. He said nothing for a few seconds; he then looked up at the ceiling.
"Whob...awfa...adofama!" yelled Lowes before his pupils rolled up and looked up as far as he could before he suddenly lunged forward and ran at Keller, Keller drew his pistol and pistol whipped his friend to the ground, Arkon and Bennet grabbed Lowes immediately.
"Oh...oh no," said Braun, "...he must be killed! Quickly!"
"We can't kill him!" yelled Keller, "He'll be alright!"
"No he won't! He'll change into a titan soon!" screamed Braun, "Kill him!"
Arkon took out his pistol and aimed it at Lowes; Lowes immediately stopped moving and looked as if transfixed into the barrel of the gun.
"Are you sure, Doc?" asked Arkon.
"Yes!" yelled Braun.
"No! Don't sir!" yelled Keller, "He's fine!"
Arkon wasn't sure what to do...then, it became clear to him. Lowes suddenly got bigger, and the muscles looked to be readjusting under his skin, without a second thought, Arkon pulled the trigger. Lowes's skin was not yet thick enough to block the bullet, and it delved into his brain, killing him instantly. Keller was shocked at having been wrong about his old friend, seeing change that had happened in the last five seconds of Lowes's life.
"Good Lord...that was close..." said Braun.
"Sorry," said Arkon, "I cannot easily kill a man that I've fought beside..."
"It's alright...you soldiers should rest. Tonight we will try to break through to the Communications Room and see if we can contact Asgard for reinforcements," said Braun.
Arkon holstered his pistol and looked at Lowes, he hadn't known him long, but he had fought beside him. Arkon shook his head, walked to one of the bedrolls in the room, and laid down. Lowes was just one more of his unit to die, along with Xarxes, Rhodes, Cooper, and the others. Just another casualty in the Sericco Incident.
***
"Wake up, sir," said a voice that Arkon recognized as Keller's.
Arkon got up and looked around, most of the scientists were sleeping, but Braun and the other three soldiers were awake.
"We thought you should sleep a bit longer," said Keller.
"Thanks, how are you feeling?" asked Arkon.
"Like every muscle in my body is acting on its own accord," said Keller.
"That’s how I felt at about this time..." said Arkon before he saw Braun walking up to him.
"Good morning, Sergeant. Do this exam, you have ten minutes," said Braun before handing Arkon a large packet and two pencils. Within eight minutes, the exam was over, and Arkon gave back the exam. After correcting it, Braun laughed.
"Excellent, your intelligence and reasoning abilities have increased dramatically! It takes the average person around two hours to do the same exam...how long, on average, did each question take?" asked Braun.
"Less than a second, most of the time was spent filling in the bubbles..." said Arkon.
"Excellent...excellent! I believe that you and your squad are quite ready for the mission ahead!" said Braun, "You will each be given a map of the facility, though with your spongelike minds I believe it won't take long for you to memorize is. After memorizing the map, you are to go to the Communications Room and attempt contact with Asgard."
"Hate to break it to you, but your communications gear is torn to hell. We found that out at Asgard, but we thought it was a malfunction. We brought a new one here in our tran-oh God...Ace!" yelled Arkon.
"Who was he?" asked Braun.
"Our pilot! No way he would've survived...dammit!" yelled Arkon.
"Well...we need food and you need better weapons. You'll need to get to the armory and use this code to get inside," said Braun before handing Arkon a piece of paper, Arkon quickly memorized the twelve digit code and gave it to his squad to memorize as well, "this research station has some of the best weaponry the Coalition has ever invented. Afterwards, you are to head back here and deposit what you can't comfortably carry, then go to the cafeteria and get as much food as possible."
"Sounds good," said Arkon as he walked off to his bedroll, beside it was his assault rifle, his pistol, his combat vest with ammo slots, and his backpack. After he and his squad were geared up, Braun checked to make sure the coast outside was clear, he found that it wasn't, and two titans were outside waiting. Braun cursed.
"What?" asked Arkon.
"Two titans outside...I'll have to activate the defense turrets...I was trying to conserve the ammunition for later," said Braun before activating the turrets. Outside, turrets came from the roof and shot grenades at the titans, they were blown to bits.
"Alright, go now," said Braun as the doors opened.
Outside was a mess of titan body parts, blood, and insides. Arkon and his squad didn't mind as they ran outside and looked around, he was sure that the sounds of grenades going off would attract unwanted attention.
"Watch yourselves, those bugs'll be here soon enough," said Arkon
"Yes sir," said Winston as he aimed his gun around, searching for a target. As they walked down the hall towards the elevator, a strange sound began intruding on the silence. Arkon recognized it from before; it was the sound of supersonic wings.
"Ready weapons! Insects incoming!" yelled Arkon before crouching and preparing his assault rifle; Keller, Winston, and Bennet did the same.
Suddenly, several insects came out of the vents in the walls and time seemed to slow down for Arkon. The insects moved far slower, and Arkon seemed to move a little faster. He shot an insect, then turned and shot another, then another, and another. The four bodies fell to the ground and he turned, hearing something behind him, to see an insect a foot away moving in for the kill. Arkon thrusted the barrel of his gun into the creature, pushing into its sensitive body. It flew back slowly, and Arkon pulled the trigger. Two rounds flew into the creature and ended its life. Arkon then turned again and saw an insect flying at its leg with its spike pointed forward, Arkon lifted his leg and brought it down, stomping the creature into the ground. Arkon then looked around, and saw that his small squad had wiped out nearly twenty insects by themselves.
"Holy crap..." said Keller.
"I agree..." said Winston.
"That stuff works, eh Sarge?" asked Bennet.
"Yeah..." said Arkon, "Move out!"
The four soldiers all faced the same direction and made off down the hall with their weapons at the ready.
***
The four soon reached the elevator and pressed in a code, the elevator then opened and inside was a gruesome site. A male's corpse with two puncture wounds in its knees sat against the wall with a pistol in its right hand. The man wore the lab coat of a scientist and his ID card said "Harold Watson". In its left hand was a bloody keycard, the man's head had been blown to bits by his own pistol. Probably a suicide. Arkon grabbed the man's pistol and examined it. It was a Garrett Arms Fairfield-15, a pistol commonly used by gang members and civilians with an interest in self defense; the ammunition was not interchangeable with Arkon’s LanCo KP-20. Arkon put the pistol down and stepped inside the elevator, picking up the bloody keycard as he stepped inside.
Could be useful...
The rest of the squad stepped into the elevator, and Arkon pressed "B1".
"Stay ready, they can come down the shaft..." said Arkon.
The elevator then went down, and Arkon looked around nervously.
I wish they had stairs here...so vulnerable in an elevator...
The elevator reached its destination without too much trouble, and as it opened, Arkon heard a voice.
"Hold your fire! They're humans!" yelled a man with a Southern accent.
Arkon’s squad was already ready for a firefight when he heard the voice, and when the doors opened, Arkon saw where the voice came from. On the armory floor, the security guards had obviously barricaded themselves. Several metal portable blockade units had been set up outside the elevator, and several heavy machine guns were aimed at Arkon’s squad, several of the soldiers held grenade launchers as well.
"Warm welcome," said Arkon, lowering his weapon.
"Who are you?" asked the man who was obviously in charge.
"Sergeant John Arkon," said Arkon.
"Who are they?" asked the man, motioning towards Keller, Winston, and Bennet.
"Corporal Tyson Bennet," said Bennet.
"Corporal David Keller," said Keller.
"Private First Class Michael Winston," said Winston.
"I'm Guard Captain Aaron Larkon or the Sericco Security Force," said the man in charge, "Where's the rest of you?"
"My platoon got wiped out, we're the last ones left," said Arkon.
"They only sent a platoon!?" asked Larkon, utterly surprised.
"Asgard had no idea what was going on, we got sent out due to the lack of a report," said Arkon.
"Dammit...well...come on in. We got plenty of weapons..." said Larkon.
***
As Arkon approached the barricade, he noticed that most of the guards didn't look like they were good with weapons. Most of them were thinking one thing: I didn't sign up for this.
"So, you're from Asgard?" asked Larkon as he walked with Arkon.
"Yeah," said Arkon, "Were you in the military? You seem more experienced than these men..."
"How'd you figure that one out?" asked Larkon.
"You hold your weapon correctly," said Arkon.
"Pretty observant, aren't you? Sergeant Major Aaron Larkon, Coalition Army, at your service," said Larkon.
"Sergeant John Arkon, Stellar Task Force," said Arkon.
"STF? At least they sent some good men," said Larkon.
"We would've been a lot better if we had known what the hell we were fighting..." said Arkon.
"I understand, had a lot of good battles in my time. Before the Coalition was made," said Larkon.
"I heard some of those first battles were gruesome," said Arkon.
"Fought in Africa and China, both sides did some crazy *beep*," said Larkon as they approached a solid metal door, Arkon went ahead and punched in the code. The door opened, and inside was a large collection of advanced weaponry ranging from target-selecting grenade launchers to armor piercing assault rifles.
"How'd you know the code?" asked Larkon.
"I met some scientists on the first floor," said Arkon, "We stayed there for a while."
"Some of the scientists are still alive?" asked Larkon.
"Yeah, in the labs," said Arkon, "Twenty inches of steel protecting them, they're fine for now. Their only danger is starvation."
"We haven’t been able to break through to the cafeteria yet," said Larkon, "We were going to launch an attack here pretty soon...want to come?" asked Larkon.
"We were going there after getting weapons, so sure," said Arkon.
"Excellent, we needed some real soldiers here," said Larkon before walking inside, "Take what you need, I'm not going to stop you. All my men are armed to the teeth."
Arkon walked in and put his old assault rifle down. He then pulled all the clips out of his vest and picked up a CoTec (Coalition Technologies) APAR-5 armor piercing assault rifle, it was made to pierce tanks; hopefully it would pierce the skin of a titan. Arkon then grabbed a new CoTec SA-3 pistol. It had all the power of a desert eagle with the recoil of a 9mm. Arkon holstered it and grabbed plenty of ammunition for both, fitting as much as he could into his vest slots and putting the rest into the his STF cargo pants. He then put a few more clips of pistol and assault rifle ammunition into his backpack before turning to his men who were all outfitted with similar weaponry, Keller even had some experimental CoTec Adjustable Explosive Devices, or AEDs. Afterwards, they stepped outside, and Larkon looked them over.
"You look ready, let’s go," said Larkon as he turned around and led them to the elevator where five of his men were wearing similar gear.
"Ready?" asked Larkon.
"Yes sir!" said the men.
"Lets go get some food," said Larkon as he walked into the elevator, the nine others got in with him and it was crowded, so he got out of the elevator, along with his men.
"We'll come up after you guys, clear the area around the elevator," said Larkon.
"Fine," said Arkon before pushing the button that said "1". The elevator began moving up, but the squad kept in a combat stance.
***
The doors opened, and Arkon saw a titan, along with thirty insects, all at the ready. In unison the squad began firing, each bullet hitting a target. The titan turned around and saw the group in the elevator, but his legs were destroyed by one of Bennet's grenades. The titan did not die, his massive top half crawled towards the elevator, and Arkon dodged an insect that barely missed his head. Arkon turned, shot it, and turned back just as several armor piercing rounds went through the titan's head. Suddenly, the elevator door began to close, Larkon was calling it. The squad ran out into the room and resumed firing on the insects, which seemed to be moving at the pace of a human walking. After the space in front of the elevator was clear Arkon and his squad waited, and after thirty seconds, the elevator opened, and the security guards ran out.
"Alright, let’s go," said Arkon.
"Holy crap!" yelled Larkon, "Did you guys kill all these?"
"Yeah," said Arkon.
"Good job!" said Larkon.
"Let’s go," said Arkon as he turned and walked off down the hall. The others followed, and within a few minutes, they had reached the cafeteria. After scouting it out with a ViewCable, Arkon discovered those fifty insects, two titans, and a strange creature that held a pole with blades at both ends. Arkon decided to call it a hunter, as it seemed to have skin that changed color with its surroundings. It was large at around seven feet tall, and had a metal mask that covered its face. It also looked to have the remains of hair on the back of its head. It was wearing the somewhat stretched uniform of a soldier. The hunter's sharp eyes spotted the cable almost right away, and it readied its weapon. Arkon dropped the cable and readied his assault rifle.
"We're spotted, get ready," said Arkon before the acrobatic hunter jumped around the corner and stabbed at Arkon with its weapon. Arkon would not have had time to blink without the super soldier serum, but due to his faster reflexes, he dodged and shot a round at the hunter, who sweeped the bullet aside with its blade and cut the barrel off of Arkon’s assault rifle before moving its weapon in a motion similar to a fan, blocking bullets from Keller, Bennet, and Winston. During that time, the security guards were just reacting to the situation. Noticing the manpower of the opponents, the hunter decided to retreat, running off down the halls and away from the enemies. Arkon quickly drew his pistol and fired at it, missing due to the hunter's agility. Arkon then turned to the approaching swarm of insects and began firing, the squad began too, but the security guards were slower. Arkon shot one through the head, and the bullet went through it and into another's chest. The squad's assault rifles cut through many, and within thirty seconds, the bugs were dead. They then concentrated fire on the titans, who were charging at the squad, the two were barely cut down in time to save a security guard from being smashed. Afterwards, Larkon was in shock.
"You guys...just...wow..." said Larkon.
"C'mon," said Arkon.
"STF guys don't messa round," said Larkon as he followed Arkon and his squad. After a few minutes, they had several hovercarts loaded with freeze-dried food, which they pushed back to the elevator.
"Sorry, we need to push these two back to the labs," said Arkon.
"Got it," said Larkon, "Hope we fight together soon..."
Arkon did an index-middle finger salute and pushed the cart of food back to the labs, after a few minutes, they were around the corner, and several insects were outside the door once again. Arkon and his squad wiped them out easily and pushed the carts up to the door. The two foot steel doors opened up quickly, and the squad pushed the carts through. Afterwards, the doors closed, and Braun approached Arkon.
"I see you accomplished your mission," said Braun.
"We met up with some security guards who have fortified themselves around the armory," said Arkon, "Their leader, Larkon, is the only one with any real combat experience."
"I've met him before, a bit rough," said Braun.
"He's alright," said Arkon.
"How did the serum work?" asked Braun.
"It was incredible, everything around me seemed to slow down...it was easy to hit those bugs," said Arkon.
"Good! Exactly what I thought would happen," said Braun, "You guys should get some rest...this food will last us a while."
"Alright," said Arkon as he walked to his bedroll.
After taking off his backpack, his combat vest, and his holster, he turned to Braun.
"We saw this new type of creature."
"What did it look like?" asked Braun.
Arkon described the hunter in detail, and Braun nodded.
"That was probably one of the Covert Soldier experiments. Their skin can change with their environment..." said Braun.
"Ahh...it's fast," said Arkon.
"Yes...it is," said Braun.
With that conversation over, Arkon laid down and drifted off to sleep...
Asgard Space Station
8:42 PM Stellar Standard Time
February 3rd, 2043
After Captain Rhodes and his platoon left, General Paul Monroe sat back in his chair. He was the commanding officer aboard the UCS Asgard, and his office was rather large. He then sat back and remembered when the Coalition was founded ten years ago. The battles had been tough, the United States had allied with the United Kingdom, Japan, Israel, Canada, and most of the European Powers while China had united with most of the Middle East, Russia, and several other smaller countries. It had been a big war, but it had been a war for peace. After the Coalition had defeated the Alliance, a new government had been born. There had been no more countries, the Earth was whole. It was decided that English would be a world language, as it was the most spoken language in the Original Coalition. At the end of the war, the High Chancellor of the Coalition stepped down, and the Council was born. The Councilors were not picked on which country they hailed from, but what their ideas were, and the United Coalition (or UC) became the first worldwide government. Countries around the world that had lasted centuries, or even millennia, were no more. It was something incredible, yet saddening to many. Monroe then looked up as the alarms began to go off.
"Status report!" ordered Monroe.
"Sir, Asgard's systems have picked up a nuclear detonation in Sydney," said one of the officers over the ComConsole.
"Sydney? Australia?" asked Monroe.
"Yes, that Sydney," said the officer, "Wait, we're getting this in..."
Suddenly, the face of General Wesley Grant appeared on the ComScreen.
"This is General Wesley Grant of the UC Army," said Grant, "As of right now, I, along with the men under my command, are seceding from the United Coalition of Earth. No more will the Council rule over us with an iron fist! Earth cannot be united, especially with this type of government. We are taking Olympus Space Station, along with its nuclear *beep*nal, with us. Please, I invite you to attempt stopping us."
Suddenly, the link was killed, and Monroe cursed, smacking his desk with his fist. Afterwards, another channel was opened.
"Monroe, you heard that?" asked the voice of Vladimir Gorov, one of the councilors.
"Of course, sir," said Monroe.
"Do not attempt an attack on Olympus Space Station," said Gorov, "Our SDI systems will take care of any more nuclear attacks, we were caught off guard, we must wait until we can launch a takeover of the station."
"Understood, but I need the Council's approval, not just yours," said Monroe, "I can't just take your word..."
Each of the nineteen councilors recited their passwords, and Monroe confirmed them through a list on his computer.
"Orders understood and confirmed, Monroe out," said Monroe before sitting back in his chair and rubbing his face. The situation at Sericco Research Station was the least of his worries...

Sericco Research Facility
10:32 AM
February 5th, 2043

Sergeant John Arkon sat up from his bedroll and observed the room. Keller was asleep, but Bennet was up and about. Arkon had a pretty bad headache, but he had experienced worse.
"How long have I been out?" asked Arkon.
"About seven hours, want some breakfast?" asked Bennet as he slid a plate with some sausage and eggs across the floor.
After eating, Arkon showered in one of the lab purification stalls and put on his fatigues. Afterwards, he shaved his beard down a bit with his combat knife and approached Braun, who was reading some files.
"We heard some pounding last night," said Braun, "Titans are trying very hard to get in, and they probably have some Akni with them."
"Akni?" asked Arkon.
"We couldn't keep calling them bugs, could we?" asked Braun, "The Coalition is taking a very long time to investigate your disappearance, something must have happened."
"Like what?" asked Arkon skeptically.
"I have no idea...but what I do know is that eventually, those Sericcans will find a way in here, and when they do, no amount of firepower will stop them from tearing us to shreds. Those security guards, however, will be easier for them. Could you go there and escort them here?"
"We can, but we had better secure the entire lab section first, the energy research section, the weapon development section...you know what I mean. How thick are the doors between sections?" asked Arkon.
"Usually twelve inches, but the labs have better security, I would say about two feet thick, just like the door into here," said Braun.
"Good, we'll secure this section, and then we'll escort the guards back here," said Arkon.
Without any more words, Arkon walked to his bedroll and grabbed his gear. He missed his assault rifle, but he would have to let his squad handle the titans. After gearing up, the squad approached the doors. Braun activated the grenade launcher turrets, which blew the two titans and most of the Akni outside to hell. The thick doors then opened, and the squad ran out with their weapons ready. The doors closed, and Arkon led the squad to one of the three main doors. After it was closed, they ran with their weapons ready to the other door. This one wasn't undefended.
Guarding the door was a hunter, but it wasn't the same one they had encountered in the cafeteria. This one only had a single-bladed sword and his mask was different. With its sharp senses, it noticed Arkon’s squad immediately and ran at them. Without words, the squad started shooting. The hunter brought its blade up and spun it like a fan, sweeping aside the bullets with deadly precision. Both Arkon’s squad and the hunter were moving with lightning speed and thinking, and if anybody had been watching, they would have been in awe. Arkon grabbed a grenade from his vest, flicked the safety switch, pressed the button on the top, and threw it so that it landed five feet in front of the hunter. The hunter saw the explosive device and jumped backwards (while sweeping the bullets shot at him aside) as it went off. He then ran forward and Arkon took out his combat knife, holding it with his left hand while he shot his pistol with the right. As the longsword came down upon Keller, he attempted to block with his assault rifle, but the experimental blade cut through the plastic (guns are no longer made out of metal) rifle, but was stopped by Arkon’s combat knife. Bennet and Winston were both shooting at the hunter, but he was stopping the bullets with the plates on his wrist.
Arkon suddenly held his head, the pain he was experiencing was unimaginable; it felt like his head was being smashed to pieces with a hammer.
"Ahhhhhh!" yelled Arkon.
The hunter took advantage of the situation by kicking Arkon down. He then headbutted Keller, which knocked him out due to the metal mask, but did not fracture or crack Keller's skull due to the hardened skeleton. The hunter then grabbed Bennet and threw him before punching Winston in the stomach. The hunter then ran at Arkon lifting his blade. Arkon held his hand out in a futile attempt to stop the blade, but something strange happened. A wave flew from his hand and knocked the hunter back into the wall at a very high speed, denting the metal of the wall. Arkon then jumped up, grabbed the longsword as it fell, and stabbed it into the hunter's chest as he recovered from the impact with the wall. The hunter roared and tried to headbutt Arkon, but Arkon dodged. A shot then rang out and a large hole appeared in the hunter's head. Arkon looked in the direction the shot had come from and saw Bennet standing up with his pistol aimed at the hunter.
"Good one," said Arkon as he pulled the longsword from the hunter's chest.
"No problem," said Bennet as he holstered his pistol and picked up his rifle.
"Winston," said Arkon.
"Yeah...?" asked Winston, he was still recovering from the punch in the gut.
"Take Keller back to the labs, we can't leave him here," said Arkon, "Bennet and I will take the last door. We'll meet you back there."
"Yes sir," said Winston as he picked up Keller and began taking him back.
Arkon then turned to Bennet.
"C'mon," said Arkon as he walked to the second door.
After the second door shut, he began walking to the third. The trip there was uneventful, but the sight at the door would be somewhat terrifying to ordinary soldiers. At the door were five humanoid figures dressed in black combat suits. The suits themselves looked to be made of some strange rubber-like material. Their faces were covered by helmets, and the visors were silver. They held no weapons, though there were holes in the wrists of their suits. The skin there looked like that of a human, though it was very pale. Arkon prepared his pistol and Bennet prepared his rifle and the two moved closer, they got within ten feet and behind the cover of a metal counter before saying anything.
"Freeze!" yelled Arkon.
The five suddenly turned to Arkon and moved their hand back, suddenly, a spike grew from their wrists and they threw it at Arkon. Arkon ducked as five spikes flew at him, and turned to Bennet as they were both hiding behind the counter.
"Holy crap!" yelled Bennet.
"No kidding!" yelled Arkon before grabbing a grenade from his vest.
After preparing it, he threw it over the counter in the last known position of the black suited enemies that Arkon would call "Archers". He heard a cry, and looked up to see that two archers were dead. He started shooting his pistol, and a spike was thrown at him. He barely dodged in time. Arkon threw another grenade, and he heard a yell, but when he looked, he saw that one had only lost an arm. Arkon shot the archer with his pistol as it yelled in pain and jumped back behind the counter.
"Two more," said Arkon, the pain then returned to his head. He gave a long curse as he yelled, grabbing his head in extreme pain.
The two archers then jumped on top of the counter and raised their arms. Through the pain, Arkon raised his pistol and shot one as it finished throwing, and Bennet shot the other before it had the chance to do anything. The archer's last spike flew down at Arkon, and suddenly stopped, floating in the air. Arkon raised his hand, and used it to direct the spike harmlessly onto the floor.
"What the hell?" asked Bennet.
"...I...this...this must be part of that experiment..." said Arkon.
After a few seconds, Arkon got up.
"It can wait, let’s go," said Arkon.
"Yes, sir," said Bennet.
Arkon closed the third door, and after it closed, the two made their way to Winston and the bio-experimentation laboratory. Waiting for them outside the bio-experimentation laboratory was Michael Winston.
"Keller is already inside," said Winston
"Alright, is he going to be alright?" asked Arkon.
"He'll be fine, the hardened skeleton saved his life," said Winston, "That metal plate would have crushed his skull to a pulp..."
"I'm sure all of us would've been dead," said Arkon, "Alright, let’s clear the labs..."
Over the next hour, Arkon, Winston, and Bennet cleared out the labs. There was nothing that was too difficult. By the end, they had killed twenty Akni and two titans. All had been very easy, as the armor piercing rifles made killing titans simple. Afterwards, they returned to the Bio-Experimentation laboratory and informed the scientists and doctors of what had happened.
"Good work," said Braun over the intercom, afterwards, the door opened.
Braun, followed by Webb and the others walked outside for the first time in several days.
"Nice to be out of there," said Braun.
"I'm sure," said Arkon, "We'll go get the security guards."
"Good luck, Sergeant," said Braun before turning to walk away, but Arkon stopped him.
"Wait...a weird event happened while I was fighting. Some sort of telekinesis, has anybody experienced it before?" asked Arkon.
"Well, I thought the super soldier serum would block out those effects, glad to say I was wrong," said Braun.
"You knew!?" asked Arkon.
"Of course! Gertrude and the other scientists showed the same effects," said Braun.
"There was more than one?" asked Arkon.
"Gertrude was the lead scientist before Dr. Muller. We tried the serum on several scientists, but they all went insane. Gertrude was the most powerful," said Braun.
"There were some soldiers dressed in black, they shot spikes from their arms, what were they?" asked Arkon.
"Let me see," said Braun.
Arkon led Dr. Braun down the corridors to the bodies and showed the intact ones to him. After pulling off the masks and looking at their faces, he turned to face Arkon.
"Clones, Gertrude, the "Highmind", and the other telekinetics must have completed the project," said Braun.
"They shot spikes..." said Arkon.
"Yes, you said that. By design, I'm sure," said Braun.
"Dammit...alright. They were hard to beat," said Arkon.
"They were injected with the super soldier serum and mentally programmed to serve the Highmind," said Braun, "That's my guess..."
"I'm going to go get the security guards," said Arkon, "When I come back, we can test my telekinetic abilities."
"I look forward to it," said Braun.
"I'll go with you sir," said a voice.
Arkon turned around to see Corporal David Keller, already up and about.
"Keller, you alright?" asked Arkon.
"Yeah, not even a headache," said Keller with a grin.
"Alright, go get Bennet and Winston," ordered Arkon.
"Yes sir."
Keller ran off, and Arkon waited. Within two minutes, the three ran down the hall to Arkon and Arkon turned to the door. After listening to the intercom, he opened the door and the four ran out. Braun closed the door behind them. Without a word, they ran off down the halls. Arkon and Keller had their pistols, Winston and Bennet had their assault rifles.
***
The elevator doors opened and revealed a gruesome scene. Seven of the security guards were dead. Their corpses were mangled; some even had spikes through them. Larkon had a spike through his leg and was currently being treated to get it out. In front of the elevator were three dead Archers and several bugs.
"Hold your fire!" yelled Larkon's second in command, "It's the soldiers!"
The four walked out of the elevator.
"Attacked?" asked Arkon.
"Yeah, some black suited soldiers that shot spikes from their arms, they were harder than hell to hit. There was also one of those sword-wielding guys, but he ran. And, as you can see, there was also some bugs; those were easy," said the second in command.
"Alright," said Arkon, "Larkon, you alright?"
"Got worse in Moscow," said Larkon with a grunt, "Got my arm blown off, they had to make me a new one."
"Alright, we're here to take you to the labs," said Arkon, "They are far more secure."
"That were the scientists are?" asked Larkon.
"Yes, we just secured the whole section," said Arkon.
"Alright, wait until Patterson treats my leg."
"Will do, can we get some replacement weapons? My assault rifle's barrel got chopped off by a hunter and Keller's was cut in half," said Arkon.
"We should probably take the whole armory with us," said Keller.
"True," said Larkon, "Anybody who isn't wounded needs to grab as much as they can from the armory."
Arkon nodded and walked to the armory with his men. Arkon grabbed a new assault rifle, some ammunition, and some more grenades. Keller, Bennet, and Winston grabbed some weapons as well. By the time the security guards were done, most of the armory was stripped bare. Upon getting back, Larkon's leg was fully healed due to the use of medical gel (called MedGel for short). The miracle substance regrew flesh, skin, and muscle and sped the healing process to what would have been something out of a sci-fi movie forty years ago.
"Alright," said Larkon, "You guys go up first, you're the badasses and I don't want my men getting killed."
"That's fine," said Arkon as he walked into the elevator, Keller and Bennet followed.
Arkon pressed the "1" button and the elevator rose up the shaft.
***
The doors opened to reveal four archers, Arkon’s squad had the element of surprise and took down two right away, the other two got behind cover. Now the archers had the advantage of cover. Arkon then threw a grenade behind their cover and they were both blown away.
"That was easy," said Arkon.
The four stepped out of the elevator, and then they heard a noise. It would have been impossible to accurately describe, but it sounded like a mix between a roar and a growl. Arkon turned in the direction the noise came from and saw, with fear, a figure that resembled an angel. Standing at around nine feet tall, the angel's height was dwarfed only by the wingspan of the dovelike wings on its back. The demonic face was blocked by a metal mask, which was painted with blood. Its flesh was crimson, and over it was a type of metal armor. In the demon's hand was a large sword, and in its other hand was a head. It threw the head in an effort to intimidate and anger its prey; it was the head of Commander Jeremy "Ace" Masters, the pilot of the transport they had arrived on. The squad all aimed their weapons at once and fired, and the angel blocked the bullets with ease. It then ran forward, blocking the bullets with the blade, and made a chopping motion at Bennet. Arkon pulled the hunter's blade from earlier out of its scabbard and blocked the attack, but due to the angel's strength, it only slowed it slightly. That small amount of time gave Bennet a chance to dodge. As Arkon blocked the angel's blade, several shots got through due to the lack of a blade to block with, but even the armor piercing rounds could not penetrate the thick red skin. Keller, Bennet, and Winston immediately dropped their assault rifles and drew combat knives (Arkon had the sword out already).The angel stopped its attack when Bennet began to dodge and turned, slashing towards Winston's neck. Winston took out his combat knife and blocked, using both hands to the angel's one, but the angel used its other hand to punch Winston into a wall. The others could not do much, if their armor piercing rounds didn't pierce the skin, their blades sure as hell wouldn't. All they could do was block as the angel brought strike after strike down upon them. Winston soon got back up and rejoined the battle, but it was still one big stalemate. Then, the elevator doors opened, and the security guards stormed out.
"Back off!" Arkon heard Larkon yell.
Arkon and his squad jumped back just as Larkon shot a grenade launcher at the Angel. Its skin was tough, but not tough enough to resist an explosion. Its right wing and arm were blown away, along with part of its torso, revealing muscle and a part of the rib cage. It yelled with pain and ran off down the hall; it then disappeared around the corner and was gone. Larkon approached Arkon as he reloaded another round into his grenade launcher.
"That thing was brutal," said Larkon.
"Yeah, thanks for the rescue," said Arkon as he picked up his assault rifle.
"No problem," said Larkon, "What the hell was that?"
"I think that was the angel Dr. Braun mentioned," said Winston.
"I think you're right," said Arkon.
"The angel?" asked Larkon, "That sure as hell wasn't an angel."
"Really? Would've never guessed," said Keller.
"Smartass," said Larkon.
"Enough chatter, the rest coming up?" asked Arkon.
"Yeah, should be up shortly," said Larkon.
After a few minutes of waiting, the elevator doors opened again and a few more security guards ran out with several bags full of weapons.
"Alright, let’s move out," said Arkon.
***
"Hey, open up," said Arkon through the intercom.
"Who is it?" asked one of the doctors.
"Sergeant John Arkon," said Arkon.
The doors opened, and the security guards walked through, followed by Keller and Winston. Bennet and Arkon walked through the door last, and the doctor shut it.
"You did it then?" asked Braun as he walked up to Arkon.
"Of course I did," said Arkon.
"Alright, still up to examining your telekinetic abilities?" asked Braun.
"Yes, let’s go," said Arkon.

Sericco Research Facility
6:34 PM
February 8th, 2043

Master Sergeant John Arkon abruptly flew up from his slumber and inspected the room. Keller and Bennet were sleeping, and they had all the reason in the world to. They had been there for almost a week, and there was still no rescue! Had they forgotten about them? After fifteen minutes of laying down, Winston entered the room and saw that Arkon was awake. He sent a look to him that asked “are you okay?”, Arkon  got up and walked out of the room, not giving him an answer. Winston walked out of the doorway and the automatic doors closed. He followed his Sergeant, none of them could afford to have a mentally unstable commander.
“Sarge, you alright?” asked Winston.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” said Arkon.
“There’s something wrong, you can tell me Sarge,” said Winston.
“Come with me,” said Arkon.
Winston and Arkon walked through the halls and walked into the makeshift mess hall. They sat down across from each other and Arkon looked into Winston’s eyes. For the first time, Winston could see that Arkon carried a wound with him.
“I have never really talked to anybody about this,” said Arkon, “But three years ago, I was fighting in the Congolian forests, both me and my older brother, George, were in the trenches under the command of Sergeant Frank Johnson. George was killed by an artillery shell, got blown to bits right in front of me…”
“Jesus,” said Winston.
“Then, a little over a year later, I was the commander of EROD’s Blue Team. My oldest brother, Kyle, had been attacked in Taiga. His whole platoon had been wiped out, he had been the only survivor. He had been in captivity for two months, during which he was tortured into insanity. When we finally got to him, it was too late,” said Arkon, “My oldest brother had been driven insane.”
“How the hell did you live with that?” asked Winston.
“I did it for them, George and Kyle would have wanted me to,” said Arkon, “I finally retired from EROD when my father, Richard, killed himself. I was the last of my family.”

“Your brother, Kyle, he was still alive,” said Winston.
“He’s in an insane asylum right now, he’s a danger to most around him. Only person he doesn’t attack on sight is me and my mother, she died right before my father killed himself, she sort of lost it after seeing Kyle the way he was. He didn’t leave a note, but we think that is why he died. He loved me, but he couldn’t take George and mom dying and Kyle going insane. Tore him apart,” said Arkon, his eyes were beginning to water, but he was holding it in the best he could.
“You’re a lot stronger than I am Sarge…if that happened to me I probably would have shot myself,” said Winston.
“Doesn’t do much good for your dead family, does it?” asked Arkon, “Thanks for listening Winston, I’m glad we had this talk. I’ve been having nightmares the last couple nights.”
“You can’t live with that stuff your whole life, it’d eat you up,” said Winston.
Arkon nodded, got up, and looked back at Winston.
“Anything happen while I was asleep?” asked Arkon.
“The turrets tracked something outside, but it left,” answered Winston.
“How long ago?” asked Arkon.
“Thirty minutes, maybe,” said Winston.
“I’m going to go get my gear on, just in case,” said Arkon.
“West door,” said Winston.
“Got it,” said Arkon.
John Arkon turned and walked off to the barracks.
“Keller, Bennet, get up. We might have company, we might not, I prefer to be cautious,” said Arkon.
Keller and Bennet both got up and began getting ready for battle. After getting his combat vest on, Arkon slid some ammo into the empty slots and made sure that he had grenades. He also buckled his longsword. The three were ready in about five minutes.
“Report,” requested Arkon as he walked into the West door’s entryway.
“Nothing since the tracking,” said Larkon, who was in charge of the West door’s security now that the alarm had been raised.
“Alright…Keller, go take charge at the North entrance, Bennet at the South. Get Winston to take charge at the East entrance. I’ll wait here,” said Arkon.
“Yes sir,” said the two squad members before running off.
Arkon knew that spreading out would be stupid, but he needed a super soldier at each entrance, otherwise the security guards would be taken out very quickly. They were the only ones capable of fighting a hunter after all. After fifteen minutes of waitng, the door became red-hot and began sparking before a laser cut through and nearly chopped everybody in half. Everybody luckily dived to the floor, but that didn’t stop the laser from cutting a hole in the door. A few seconds after the hole was done, the hunters jumped through the hole. Arkon immediately sent a telekinetic wave at the hunters, knocking them back. Larkon and the others opened fire, but the hunters still managed to sweep aside the rounds. They then ran forward, and rather than killing Larkon and the group, they knocked them out. Arkon managed to fight two off with the help of his telekinesis and his sword, but after a minute of fighting, he noticed a familiar roar; the roar of the Angel. He sent out a massive burst of telekinetic energy and turned to see the resurrected creature. It seemed more imposing than the previous times.

The Angel flew at Arkon after they looked into each other’s eyes, and Arkon blocked a flying slash at his chest. The hunters stood back as before, but the Angel turned to look at them and roared. Arkon understood; the Angel wanted them to storm Arkon. They refused at first, but with the second roar they jumped at Arkon. Arkon seemed to see the attack before it happened, and blocked all four attacks. He then stabbed his blade up into a hunter, and it managed to pierce the creature’s skin. He then blocked a strike and dodged another, sensing which attack would come at what time. He predicted each move at least five seconds before, giving him a massive edge over the enemies. Even with the Angel’s strength and agility, he could not hit Arkon. Finally Arkon succeeded in building enough concentration to send a massive burst of psychic energy out at his enemies. The Angel flew back and Arkon did the same as before, he tossed a grenade. After it exploded, however, the Angel got up and ran towards Arkon; the grenade had no effect.
Must have had some improvements…
Arkon blocked two more strikes, one coming from the side. He then saw the laser and smiled, knowing what to do. After another two minutes of combat, he performed another psychic blast and ran behind the laser. He hadn’t been the one to fire it before, but it was like the old one, and he had studied the old one a bit. He pressed a few buttons and it began charging, but the Angel was back up again, and Arkon was once again locked in combat. The Angel was relentless, striking nonstop and without finesse.
Those “improvements” must have screwed with his brain…
The hunters joined it not long after, and Arkon devoted all of his energy to staying alive. With a last ditch effort, he sent out a final psychic blast. The enemies were once again knocked into the wall. His energy was severely depleted, but he managed to stumble to the laser and hit the final button as the Angel got up. The beam flew forth and struck the enemy, causing his body to burn into ash before his eyes. Arkon then fell back, feeling very tired. The Hunters got up and turned to Arkon, who did not have the energy to fight, and did not attack. Arkon had proven, without a doubt, that he was the Alpha over the Angel. Even with five hunters and the Angel, he could not be defeated. The honorable hunters stood at attention, looking at their new leader, Master Sergeant John Arkon.

It was around twenty-five feet tall, like an enlarged titan, and it held a large metal club that was around fifteen feet long. It charged forth like a freight train, roaring the whole way. Arkon and his squad knew that their psychic powers wouldn't work on a creature so large. Winston aimed the missile launcher and fired, blowing a chunk out of the behemoth's chest, though not enough to stop the creature. Then, the lights went off.
"Reload Winston!" yelled Arkon, "Flashlights on!"
Keller and Bennet turned on their flashlight. Then the somewhat familiar night vision aided Arkon's view, but he saw what he didn't want to see. The behemoth held his club above his head as it ran, and as it moved down towards Winston, Arkon yelled.
"Winston! Move!"
Winston didn't have time to "move" before the club crushed him from the top. Even the reinforced bones could not save him as the club crushed his head, turning his skull into dust and smashing his brain. The top half of Winston's body was mutilated, and Winston was quite dead. Arkon had seen his men die, his friends die, he had even seen his brother die, and as such he was able to go on when Winston was crushed, but Keller on the other hand, him and Winston were best friends, they had been since the academy, and Keller was thrown into a blind rage.
"You fuckin' piece of shit!" cursed Keller at the top of his lungs after he saw Winston die. The behemoth turned to the hunters, who had formed a line, and charged them. The hunters had little need for flashlights, as their eyes were perfectly capable of seeing in the dark. They moved out of the way as it charged through them, then one jumped on the behemoth's back, attempting to stab it. The muscle, however, formed an armor that the hunter-driven-metal could not break. The hunter realized this and jumped off, it was up to the humans to slay this beast. Suddenly, another rocket fired, striking the behemoth in the neck. A large chunk was blown out, but the behemoth, surprisingly, kept fighting. It charged towards Arkon with its club back, but Arkon ducked under the swing. He didn't know if the armor could withstand the club, but he didn't want to find out. The behemoth then brought its club back in an attempt to strike Arkon on the ground, similar to the movement of a golf club. Arkon rolled out of the way, however, and the behemoth's club missed again. Another rocket was fired, striking the behemoth in the back, that rocket was followed by another one from Bennet, striking it in the shoulder. It turned, looked at the two men, and roared before charging at Bennet. Bennet dropped the missile launcher and began running as fast as he could, which was about thirty miles per hour due to the physical enhancements. However, the behemoth almost twice as fast due to its size and strength and began closing the gap. Across the room, Keller aimed his reloaded missile launcher and calculated where the behemoth would be when the rocket struck. He had a strange focus about him, he was somewhat distant.
"Take this you bastard..." muttered Keller as he pulled the trigger.
The rocket flew towards where the behemoth's head would be several seconds in the future and struck dead-on into the side of the creature's head, blowing half of the creature's head to pieces. The creature flew forward and rolled due to the momentum before falling to the ground. Bennet looked behind him, sighed, and began catching his breath.
"Good job Keller...I'm sorry about Winston. He was my friend too," said Arkon as he approached Keller.
"Made me feel a bit better killing that bastard," said Keller.
Arkon turned to Bennet and the Hunters, knowing that he didn't have much time left before the cells on his armor ran dry.
"Move out!" yelled Arkon.
How much longer to the Highmind? asked Arkon.
There is only the next chamber, then we reach the control room, said a hunter.
"Larkon!" yelled Arkon.
"Yeah Arkon!?" asked Larkon through the tear across the room.
"Stay here! You won't do much good up here," said Arkon.
"I havn't done much good at all! This is your fight, not mine!" said Larkon.
Arkon snorted.
Bet he wishes he had accepted the serum now...
With that thought, Arkon turned and began ripping open the next door.

rogue??? doesnt seem to fit with sci-fi theme

1. An unprincipled, deceitful, and unreliable person; a scoundrel or rascal.
2. One who is playfully mischievous; a scamp.
3. A wandering beggar; a vagrant.
4. A vicious and solitary animal, especially an elephant that has separated itself from its herd.
5. An organism, especially a plant, that shows an undesirable variation from a standard.

Need I say more?

This is the first story of the Arkon series.

It's fabulous. You've really outdone yourself in this one.

Wow, I've got a lot of reading to do...