[writing] Project Chaos - Chapter Seventeen

[djtenku]

Title: Blitzkreig
Word Count: 3274
Summary: Orphan. Escort. Reunion.

Roya came upon the second level, slightly out of breath. She put a hand to the wall for support; she wondered what was that weird feeling that came over her earlier. She grew concerned as it nagged at her constantly. She shook her head at it and stepped off the elevator. The lights have long return to normal from the blood color and the sudden loss of electricity.

For some time, she gazed about the large room, sensing the wrongness of the air. She sighted dark blood smeared on the steel wall and eventually, the grey-haired figure slumped against the wall. “Father?” Roya called out, not sure what she was looking at as she approached it. She froze as she stepped on a expanding pool of blood and followed the trail. There was a knife lodged through its chest. But how? There was enough protection to prevent this.

Upon closer inspection and horror, it was his own. But why? Roya attempted to wake her father up, shaking him gently by the shoulders. She was shocked that he was still warm to the touch, and hope briefly came in the form of a faint smile on her lips. But, her father did not respond, but only to slump forward. This can’t be… Roya’s eyes suddenly began to tear up at the realization. Her voice failed as grief snatched it away. Instead, she clutched the body of her father closely, staining her white dress; tears came down in a steady river, silent.

She felt another presence coming towards her, but ignored it. “Just leave me be,” she whispered.

Xiong Lang scoffed at the sorry sight, looking down at Roya. First Sol, and now Taka – the real defense besides himself. “Get over it; your tears can be spent elsewhere, girl,” he said roughly. He sneered as Roya looked up at him incredulously. “A warrior has no remorse for the dead. In fact, you’re useless to me. Get out of my sight before you suffer the same fate as your dearest father, understand?”

Roya took the knife out of Taka’s chest before she rose and apologized. She made no eye contact as she strode past Lang, already dismissing the possible actions against him. It would do her no good anyway. Questions began to surface. Where will I go now? It didn’t take long for the answer to spring up though. Her sense of purpose returned at that moment, and wiped away her tears.

Lang wondered how was this even happening. Perhaps, he underestimated his opponent yet again. He made a mental note of it for his own sake, knowing he will probably put it into use later on in the night.

-

“Rowan!” Shin chirped in surprise, and relief. “Are you alright? Where are you?”

+I’m fine,+ he replied, voice low. +I’m actually outside of the building. It looks like you’re about to get a handful of trouble.+

Shin blinked. “How did you know…in any case, I’m glad to hear from you.” She peeked out from the door, and still heard no sound. “How long can you hold ‘em off?”

+Maybe a few minutes, but I can’t guarantee you won’t run into some,+ Rowan sighed.

“I’ve got a M16 with a couple of clips; I hope we can get out,” she said off handedly. “We’re sorta trapped.”

+Maybe that’s where I come in,+ Kento chimed in. Shin could hear the smile on his face. +I might be a straggler; I ran into some trouble and my back is killing me right now.+

“That’s alright,” Shin replied. “Where are you?”

+I think on the backside… I’ll think of something when I get out.+

+Five minutes is all I can do, I’m afraid,+ Rowan stated. +I’ve got my rifle, but you can do so much out here in this damn weather.+

“Okay.” Shin poked her head further out the door. “In any case, I’ll leave it up to you two. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.” With that, she closed the link and exited.

-

Rowan dropped to his knee and looked into the scope, sighting a dark object in the distance. He fired a single round, and watched as the objected whirled around in alert.

The Screamer started up its night vision and combined it with the already active thermal imaging. “Trajectory.” The visor then sparked to life, showing a white dotted trail and automatically zoomed in on the end of the trail. There was something there, but the temperature reading was low.

Rowan moved, silent in the howling wind. The visibility was starting to let up too soon for his liking; he laid flat against the snow and looked through the scope again. Heavily armed…protection…how strong is that helmet? he asked himself. He fired again, striking the Screamer has soon as he knew he was spotted. Its head snapped back, but returned to his dismay. Plexiglass. He’ll need something stronger. He fired two more rounds; cracking the visor with the first, and shattering it with the third. Before he got another shot in, a inhuman shriek destroyed the scope’s tiny glass, and for a few moments, heard a hissing noise.

Rowan looked up and saw numerous shapes heading towards him. Dazed, he rummaged his pockets for the pipes and dispersed them unevenly before melting into the darkness.

-

The arctic blast bit and eventually froze his fresh injuries, stinging his face and side as soon as he stepped out. Wearily, Kento ventured out, but stopped short as he heard a mechanical mutter and glanced up. He spotted a gun turret just above the lamp light. It squeaked as it laid sight on him, but did nothing further as he went past it to the other side.

Kento looked past the open field, watching dark shapes rushing past, shouting something. Must’ve spotted Rowan. He grinned. He had allowed himself to be seen, he corrected. To his dismay, some were heading in the direction of the sub-building. He ducked back into the corner as two ran by him, and stopped in mid-stride.

+Ken, I’m running out of time here!+ Shin’s voice rang urgently.

“Hang on babe,” he answered back.

As the two turned the corner, he grabbed the first and threw the guard aside, and lunged for the shocked second, stripping that guard of it’s weapon. The weapon itself was unusually heavy in his hands; the recovered first guard charged at him, but collapsed edge of the weapon met its face with a sickening smack.

Kento glanced up and saw no sign of the second, and shouldered the heavy weapon, picking up a two frag tubes. Good enough. He raced to the sub-building, kicking in the door. There were several shouts of surprise and obscenities; he readied the weapon and squeezed the trigger. For a few seconds, nothing happened and he looked up in confusion and horror as shapes began to move towards him. Then, the weapon shuddered, giving off a pale yellow glow before going off. The recoil misplaced him a couple of steps back, but the receiving end was not lucky; there was a small fire, and the shapes were gone. He cringed at the other thoughts that began to surface. “Holy shit,” he breathed.

Kento turned into the hall, aided by the fire, and saw a couple more of shapes surrounding something, a door. “Shin, get back!” he shouted as he squeezed the trigger once more. The recoil was stopped short as he bumped into the wall, and a curse left his lips. Another fire formed at the end of the hall. He saw the familiar shape of Shin and the scarecrow shape of Xander.

“What the bloody hell was that?” Shin asked as she approached him.

“I don’t know,” Kento said honestly, “we’ll find out later. Rowan, go ahead and get to the armory.”

+Alright; let me finish this shot.+

-

Rowan managed to distance himself from the pack of guards, finding a small knoll. He detached the scope and watched in dismay as the glass shards fell out piece by piece. He tossed it aside, disgruntled. The visibility was still rising and he counted the shapes.

Eight…

Seven…

“Damn,” he whispered. He turned and saw three shapes on the other side of the sub-building, almost at the bulky shape of the armory. They were already there. Rowan sighted the makeshift mound and lined his shot up. He rose as the mound exploded, throwing up smoke and the familiar ring of the flash-bang, and paced to join his squad mates.

-

The low frequency was back in full force, and Xander glanced over his shoulder, and stared at the distant shapes. “Uh, there’s something behind us,” he said wearily, “or was.”

“We know,” Kento and Shin chimed. The door was wielded shut and demanded a security card. None of the cards they shared had no clearance.

“Don’t you have a card?” Shin asked. The weapons president shrugged helplessly and she sighed, grumbling a curse.

“Stand back you two,” Kento said, unshouldering the mystery gun. He braced for the strong recoil; the invincible bullet shattered the control box, melting it, and put a good sized dent in the now open steel door.

“You’re starting to enjoy that, aren’t you?” Shin asked as he walked by with a grin.

Xander glanced back again as more shapes came to his vision. He yelped as Rowan appeared, surfacing from the darkness like a ghost, and alerted Shin and Kento.

“Easy,” Rowan said, gesturing mock defeat. He shut the door behind him, and something chimed and a lock clicked. He raised a questionable eyebrow as his eyes locked on his squad mates. “You guys look like hell.”

“Can’t speak for yourself,” Kento retorted with a faint scowl on his face. He gestured to his nose. “No harm, no foul?”

Rowan shook his head. “Might be broke, but I’ll live. I needed it.” He glanced at Xander. “How about you?”

Xander blinked, startled. “Better than I was,” he replied, laughing half-heartedly. At least he doesn’t appear angry at me…

“Will that door hold?” Shin quizzed, gesturing to the door.

“The efficiency is probably cut in half now,” Xander said, suddenly remembering that he didn’t have his glasses on as he reached to push them up on his face. “However, both sides weren’t destroyed; it’s a dual-locking system so- ”

“Thank you, Mr. Xander,” Kento interrupted. “That sounds like we have just enough time to figure out what this gun is and where’s more of it.”

“That is a EMP gun,” Xander started again, with slight acid in his voice. “I’m sure that you know what that is?” After the silence, he went on. “It basically disrupts anything electrical or com-related, but in some situations it can become something of a… mini-cannon, destroying very sturdy objects. You might have experienced a strong recoil.”

“What can it do to a person anyway?”

Xander blinked. “Well,” he said, “we haven’t tested that. I would imagine disrupting the nervous system if they were within the ten foot radius, shatter some bones if actually hit by it…”

Kento raised his eyebrows and slowly nodded. “It qualifies as a BFG, I’d say. Anyway, where’s the rest of the place? There’s nothing here.”

He was right; the armory was empty, except a piece of wall that was off-grey and slightly striped from the otherwise black walls. Rowan strode towards it, and noted an arrow pointing down. “It’s a lift,” he called back as he pressed the button. A red counter came to life and began winding down from thirty.

“Ah, forgot about that,” Xander said off-handedly. “Everything’s below. However…” His words faded as he heard the sound of energy building up and gazed at the door, eyes wide. Then, the sound multiplied by six times, from all sides.

“Move!” Shin shouted, already halfway turning to run. The steel door came flying off at the discharge of the sound, narrowly missing the three. The Screamers were the first to barge through the door, along with many other guards, weapons already drawn.

The counter buzzed as it reached zero, and the grey door yawned. It stopped only halfway, and the counter beeped twice, voicing error.

Kento whirled around, and fired the EMP gun directly at the ceiling. Electricity covered it for a blink before bits of metal rained down. A second later it seemed to groan in protest, and he fired again, this time just above the door. Some of the guards folded, and others seemed to be confused.

Rowan widened the mouth of the door and held it up as Shin and Xander stepped through it; the door began to shut and his arms began to burn at the resistance. Kento finally arrived and jumped over the teeth, and Rowan barely made it as the door shut completely behind him as he settled a foot on the floor. “What were you doing?” he asked.

As the lift slowly descended, there was a loud crack and the sound of metal crashing towards the ground like thunder. The lift shuddered. “I bought time,” Kento shrugged.

The lift eventually stopped and opened again, to a massive white hall, with a silver door at the end of it. Tiny, round sensors chirped, and red lines instantaneously appeared as a thin web of red.

“As I was saying, there are additional security measures,” Xander said with mirth, “The slightest disturbance will set off a block of C4, rendering the weapons in the next room useless, and the intruder…well, dead.”

Kento and Shin looked at Rowan and he shrugged helplessly. “Can’t we disable it?” Shin asked, jerking her thumb at the hallway.

Xander pointed towards the door, and just above it was a green light. “That’s the control. It’s so small though, you’d have to have a good eye.”

Rowan stepped forward, and unshouldered his rifle, taking aim at the light. For several seconds, he glared at it and steadied his finger on the trigger. Xander noted how still how still he was, yet he looked natural.

He blinked suddenly, and saw the red web flicker away. “What happened?”

“We’re not dead,” Rowan replied coldly, glancing back at Xander.

* * *

Kento opened the door, and he stared at the rows of black crates that lined the walls, stacked on top of another. “Guys, during Christmas didn’t you dream that you would get a truckload of presents and they were all yours? I’m thinking that this is what it would feel like.”

Rowan popped open one of the long crates, revealing a silver and white long rifle complete with a black scope. Gingerly, he removed it from the molding and surprised how light it felt in his hands. Upon closer inspection, it had a counter as well- 40.

“These weapons are charged by power cells, that’s why there are no rounds,” Xander explained as he picked up one of the magazine-sized clip. “They are universal, so they can be used by any weapon; the energy are converted to the unique caliber so it still has the same amount of power.”

“What kind of guns are these anyway?” Shin asked, curious.

“Prototypes,” Xander stated, “but they haven’t really been tested as of yet, so there might be some kinks. The Screamers have the same, I think, but theirs are more modified than this.”

Kento opened a crate, and held up a thin black vest, light to his hands. “Are these the same type of armor they have too?” Xander nodded and his eye widened. He beckon his squad over, discarding their old armor - what was left of it anyway – and donned the new, feeling much secure as a whole.

Shin tossed one to Xander and he caught it clumsily. “Don’t want you to get hurt,” she said with a wink. She opened a box that held two small silver and black guns, and holstered one of them to her belt. “How are we going to go about Chaos after all of this?”

“We’ll have to split up,” Kento said after a moment. He gazed at each person, expecting some sort of surprise. To his amusement, there was none. “Rowan, you’ll have to take your da… I mean Mr. Xander out of here and try to contact Oni. There should be some clearings not far from here, or a field.”

“There’s one about three miles south of here,” Rowan said, without realizing it. When he did, he cursed at himself. That was where…

Kento nodded in confirmation.“Shina, you’re with me, since it might take a little more firepower to bring this one down, I’m sure. Hopefully by the time we destroy this thing, the plane will be there and we can finally go home safe.

“Mr. Xander, know how to fire a gun?”

Racre Xander balked at the question, face turning red. “Of course I do!” he exclaimed. Even if it was only less than five times.

Kento nodded again, pleased. “Good, everything’s set then.” He picked up a large Gatling-type gun and shouldered the EMP gun, smiling.

Xander glanced around; Shin was smiling as well, and Rowan showed signs of a smirk. He began to wonder just what he was about to get into, and questioned their level of sanity, as well as his.

* * *

The pile of wrecked steel was motionless before it suddenly broke apart, containing a high-frequency squeal that bounced on what was left of the top floor. The Red Screamer brushed off dust and snow, and perhaps a speck of blood, and immediately activated the infrared system. Most of the guards were strewn about, groaning and uttering the worse curse they knew. They didn’t seem too badly off. Some had the sense to move forward, even though it split them in half completely. An unfortunate few was caught in the middle, beneath tons of steel.

Red Screamer saw a black gloved hand protruding from the rubble and simply shook his head. “Status?” he demanded from the other four Screamers. The answers were dismal.

“Eighty-six percent.”

“Sixty-nine percent.”

“Forty-four,” one said tiredly. Probably forcing himself to keep consciousness.

“Seventy percent,” said the last.

Red Screamer’s still cracked visor displayed a blue ninety percent and a flashing yellow HUD. It read that there was some damage around the upper torso and the whole right leg. He did not mind though. How clever to use the EMP gun like that, he thought.

He signaled for the ones who were able to stand to follow him and ordered the two Screamers to simply use the lift. He will be damned to let them get away again.

* * *

Shin opened the door at the end of the hall, picking up regular canisters of smoke grenades on the way out. The door led to a high ceiling room, with a plain wall that only had four open archways. Shin immediately turned to Xander, with a inquisitive gaze. “Care to explain?”

“Oh, this?” Xander asked innocently. “It’s the final defense, a maze leading to the path of Chaos. There are only four ways out of it, but it’s just riddled with traps.” He shrugged. “This isn’t my doing, really. And don’t think you can shoot your way through it,” he said quite loudly as Kento prepared his gun. “The walls are made from a sturdy alloy, so nothing can really pierce it.”

“Well, that’s fuc…” Kento’s curse was cut off by a thunderous crack that seem to come from both sides. A small group of twelve emerged from out of the hallway they just arrived from, weapons ready to kill.

“There’s no use in running,” one of the Screamers said. “You’re surrounded.”