–North Outskirts of Meridiana, 4:20 AM–
Four shadows stood in an alleyway, glancing carefully in all the cardinal directions that were common knowledge to every genetically enhanced or engineered being in the city. Slowly, but with increasing speed, the four shadows dispersed, moving exceedingly quickly. Several minutes later, one shadow appeared outside a small suburban house, and walked towards the medium-sized car sitting in the driveway. Twenty seconds later, the car was smashed into twisted scraps of metal and glass, waking up everyone in a hundred yard radius.
The family that owned the car had all awakened, and they had pressed their faces to the large picture window near the front door, but they could see almost nothing. A slightly darker shadow moved slowly, raising what looked like an extra-thick tree branch at the window, but when the branch spouted a huge blast of flame, the family instantly tried to duck and cover before the stinger rocket smashed into the window.
They failed. The rocket hit the window, punching through and into the chest of the father. The subsequent explosion splattered the poor person all over his family, who were shredded into gobbets of meat by the flying metal and bone. The window added to the destruction, sending razored edges of glass through the room, acting like a storm of knife blades caught in a tornado. Finally, the explosive payload of the rocket set fire to almost everything burnable inside the room, which soon spread to engulf the entire house.
The shadowy being then turned from the blazing home, letting the fire reveal that it was about eight feet tall, armed to the teeth, and probably very pissed off. In three other parts of the city, the same thing was happening as the Augmented Fixed Ideas tore through other buildings, trying to draw out the ones who remained thorns in their master’s side.
Cybersix was about two kilometres to the south but was distracted by a group of Fixed Ideas that were trying to shoot at her, Mikae was still grounded, and Data 7 was asleep on top of Julian’s houseboat. There was one thing that responded to the sudden attacks, and the four APCs that tore off towards the now-visible clouds of smoke were packed with people, angry and ready to kill something green and ugly. Wilson was in the first APC moving, and he was already holding his gauss rifle in one hand as he looked through the gunner’s viewport at the pall of smoke two kilometres ahead of him. Also, instead of just standing there, he was yelling through a radio link to the other APCs to split up and investigate the other three areas that had explosions nearby.
Less than ten minutes later, the APC stopped and the five members of the team quickly clambered out only to stare agape at the hideous devastation in front of them. Twelve houses were burning furiously, as well as two police cars, three fire engines, and a milk truck. Standing on an unburned patch of ground was the perpetrator, who slowly turned towards the small group, raising an M-66 rocket launcher onto its right shoulder.
Wilson instantly opened up with his rifle, simultaneously activating his armour to full power as the large being fired its first rocket. The rocket was exceedingly well aimed, and the blast warped the APC’s door permanently shut. Wilson was bowled over by the blast, stunning him for a second, but he watched as the line of gauss slugs stitched their way up the street, shattering pavement as it slammed up into the being’s right arm. Instead of amputating the being’s arm at the shoulder however, the three slugs that hit only jerked the creature’s arm backwards, sending the second rocket into the shattered hulk of one of the fire trucks.
The other four members of the team had already dispersed by the time Wilson got back onto his feet, and crouching slightly in order to create a lower profile, he fired another burst at the creature. The creature fired simultaneously, sending a rocket straight at Wilson as his gun clicked on an empty chamber.
*Oh fuck.* He dodged towards the fire engine, trying to put some twisted metal between himself and the ten-kilo explosive that was hurtling towards him at mach two. Wilson succeeded in that, and heard his team open fire at the creature as the rocket exploded less than ten feet away from him. Shrapnel sprayed everywhere, trying to seek something soft to penetrate and damage. The only thing the explosion found was Wilson’s rifle, still tightly gripped in his right hand. Three chunks of jagged metal slammed into the rifle’s capacitor, causing the system to go into an uncontrolled discharge.
The voltage that was released caused the gun to shatter into its component pieces, and about seventeen gigavolts launched their way up into Wilson’s body. He screamed in pain as the electrical charge actually managed to roast his right hand down to the bones even through the armour. As he clutched at his destroyed hand, he heard the dull crunching as something extremely heavy slowly walked towards where he was. Mentally cursing about everything that had gone wrong, Wilson stood up and got his armour to re-form itself into its combat system, extruding two five-foot long metallic spikes from his wrists.
Looking around the destroyed truck, Wilson saw nothing for a few seconds, but his vision quickly refocused when a green fist the size of his head snapped his head around, sending a spume of blood outwards as Wilson bit through his lower lip. Stunned again, he could do nothing as another giant fist picked him up by grabbing onto his right shoulder, squeezing strongly enough to pulverize his collarbone and shoulder blade without exerting too much effort.
Wilson looked at the heavily scarred face in front of him, blankly noticing the pockmarks where the gauss slugs had punched through the creature’s face as it smiled. He brought his left arm around, ignoring the nerves shrieking in agony as he drove the spike deep into the creature’s lower gut. The creature only smiled again, then grabbed his left forearm with its free hand and squeezed. It totally crushed his forearm, then pulled outwards, slowly stretching Wilson’s arm outwards. The creature had a good two feet of reach on him though, and it had fully extended its arm, tearing Wilson’s left arm off at the shoulder.
Wilson was almost unconscious as he felt his skin and muscles tear, as well as feeling the bone splinter as his arm was stretched beyond the breaking point. The creature looked at him, then hefted his still-twitching arm and brought it down on his head. Wilson felt nothing, but the last thing echoing in his ears was a dull crunch. The other four members of the team, seeing their commander and best friend die horribly, blasted the creature with enough firepower to totally smash a Nazi tank brigade. After sustaining the rate of fire for almost two minutes, the creature slowly tottered, then collapsed to its knees before landing on its face with a thunderous crash.
All four members, instead of leaving the creature alone, proceeded to empty the remnants of their ammunition into the backs of the creature’s head. The creature didn’t flash into vapour, and one of the members started kicking the corpse heavily in the ribs. The other three pried open the door to th APC, and carefully placed Wilson’s mutilated body inside the ten-ton vehicle. After that was done, the ranking survivor called the other teams to see if there were any casualties. There were none, but the other three creatures had all escaped after taking incredible amounts of punishment.
Jenny, as acting commander, sent out an APB for the three survivors of the raids, then called the HQ in North America.
–Undisclosed Location, 5:15 AM–
Vincent rolled out of bed, looking like he had aged about twenty years as he stumbled over to the video screen that doubled as a communication system. Touching a button, he activated the comm system, then stared blankly at the screen when Jenny’s concerned face popped up in a burst of static.
"Well, it seems that you’re as badly wrecked as I feel. Listen up Vincent. We need reinforcements, and fast."
Vincent woke up completely, looking at the young lieutenant. "Who died?"
Jenny looked distinctly uncomfortable, and the screen started to fuzz out at the edges as the signal began to break up. "Wilson. That’s why we need reinforcements. Send Se-*bvzzttt*-na ASAP."
The signal broke apart, and Vincent’s face turned white. Speaking to himself, he stood in the room, and stared at the square of static in front of him. "Wilson? Dead? No way. He was an old-timer here when I arrived, and I know he also went through twenty years of the US military. Maybe I should take a look at the records for what he did."
Vincent walked over to a computer sitting on his room’s desk, and after starting it up, he initiated a search for all of Wilson’s achievements. In less than twenty minutes, he had a list of all the medals Wilson had acquired when he was in the military, and the list was impressive.
"My god. Congressional Medal of Honour, three Silver Stars for destroying the same amount of fighters with only a machine gun, six purple hearts, three campaign ribbons, and several citations for bravery in the face of an overwhelming force. If he is dead, than we’ll have lost one of the best."
Vincent sighed, then got changed into his morning clothes so he could break the bad news to the boss.
–Oroborus, 7:30 AM–
Sebena and her mother were sitting on the couch, playing an old game on an even older Playstation. Just as Sebena once again laid the smackdown on her mother in the game, the cellphone sitting beside the old grey box went off with a sharp trill.
Mentally cursing, she picked up the phone, pressed the talk button, and wedged the phone between her collarbone and her ear as she continued to play against her daughter. "Yeah, what’s up?"
"Bad news boss babe. You’ve been recalled for immediate deployment."
She snorted, and managed to defeat her daughter with a flurry of button taps. "In your dreams. ‘Nother game kiddo?"
"Sebena smiled as they set up another match in the game, while she listened to the response over the phone. "Sorry, but this is real. They want you in Meridiana in less than two days, and it’ll take you a good ten hours to fly there with the chopper."
"So? Send someone else. I’m on leave for another five days. Now stop bothering me."
"I didn’t want to say this, but they need you. Wilson bought it." That stopped her in her tracks, and Sebena quickly pummelled her into submission as she tried to make sense of what she had just heard.
"What?"
"You heard me. Beta team’s leaderless. Now, get down there and try to salvage something into working order!" The person on the other end of the line hung up, most likely snarling incoherent curses into the air at the same time.
"Oh my god." She looked at Sebena, turned off the cellphone, and sighed. "Sorry babe, but my vacation just got cut short, and I hate it more than you do."
"Aw mom! What happened now? I’m sick of you running all over the world."
She sighed and turned off the Playstation. "Well, I think I can get you to come with me, but it’s probably gonna be dangerous."
"Danger? Pfft." Sebena giggled, then hugged her mother.
"Well, this is serious. I don’t want you hurt, especially as someone dear to us has just died."
Sebena nearly recoiled when the words were uttered, and they seemed to hang in the air like knives. "Wh-what? Someone died? Who?"
She choked up, feeling tears threatening to spill down her face as she spoke. "Wilson."
Sebena’s reaction was one of horror mixed with sympathy, showing a maturity that was usually hidden by her lack of height as well as her large blue eyes. "Uncle Wilson? Big Will? No way! You’re pulling my leg aren’t you? Aren’t you?!? Please tell me you’re joking mom."
Her response was to envelop Sebena in her arms and give her daughter a long hug, tears spilling down her face as the two started to cry. Twenty minutes later, they heard the distinctive noise of the stealth helicopter and She left to tell her grandparents what had happened.
Half an hour later, Sebena and her mother boarded the helicopter, with promises that they would stay alive for at least another twenty years. The chopper then jerked upwards, rising to about twenty metres above the ground, then took off towards the south at top speed.