The five then passed the time talking as they waited for the other cadets to clear the fort. After 8 or so minutes, the cadets exited the building and started walking towards the dropship, with a few slipping on the bloody floor as they seemed out of it.
Wu, after losing a rock, paper and scissors match, starts walking towards the cadets and singles out one of them.
“Cadet, report on your findings.”
The female numan and Wu share a salute before the cadet answers him.
“Sir, the whole place is clear of enemies.”
“Thanks. Now get back to your team.”
The cadet gives another salute before walking back to the others. Wu turns around towards the pilot and the other three, giving a thumbs up to show that everything was ready for the final phase.
[WU: “Alright, everyone form a line in front of us! We’re not done yet!”]
The cadets do as they’re told, standing opposite of their instructors and the dropship. Kasao returned to her fellow cadets as the veterans returned to their commanding tones.
[WU: “Okay, I hope you boys and girls still have some fight in you cause the mission isn’t over. Due to four of your fellow cadets being put out of action we’ll have to redo the squads.”]
[WU: “Starting with the foreigners, you’ll be staying in the courtyard to guard the dropship in case any reinforcements show up. You’ll be under agent Cortez, the pilot.”]
The foreigners sigh in relief, thinking that they’ll have a chance to rest or are just happy they don’t need to kill anymore. Unfortunately for them, Chris had other plans.
[WU: “I’m happy to see you’re all in a good mood. That means you won’t mind if I tell you all to clean the courtyard, right? When the rest of us get back, I better not see a single drop of blood or spleen.”]
Some of the foreigners got dejected while the others started vomiting again at the thought of picking up said organs. He then returns his sights towards the rest.
[WU: “As for the rest of you, you’ll be divided between me, agent McQuoid and agent Mendoza. Chris, you’re up first.”]
[CHRIS: “Asami Kasao, you’re with me.”]
[Kasao: “Yes sir!”]
----------------------------------------
After dividing the cadets into squads of sevens, the agents decided which parts of the fortress they should check. Chris decided to pick the basement, reasoning the likelihood of booby traps below and that his power armor allows him to survive better.
Now he, Kasao and six other cadets are standing in front of a large, reinforced steel door. The door looked to be a new addition around the old, stone walls. Not only that, it was covered in warning signs and hazard marks. Chris wondered what was inside that needed something like this. Good thing he’ll find out anyway.
“Sir, there’s a panel here that opens the door. Should I open it?”
“Not yet. The rest of you, behind me.”
Chris deploys both arm shields and connects them together, forming a larger one. By his order, the other cadets use him as a defensive barrier. With all but one cadet behind him, he turns to the woman at the console and gives her the go.
“Now.”
She nods before pulling a level down. As she sprints to hide behind Chris, the reinforced door opens like a curtain to reveal two heavy turrets mounted on the wall and two mounted heavy machine guns manned by two guards.
As soon as they see the power armor standing in front of the gate, they open fire. The storm of bullets from the four slam onto the EM barrier, creating a massive dust cloud from the projectiles being vaporized on contact. While the cadets use their instructor as cover, Chris calls Kasao through comms.
[CHRIS: “Kasao. The turrets.”]
[KASAO: “On it!”]
Remembering the positions, Kasao uses her power to forcibly yank the mounted turrets from the ceiling. It took great effort but she eventually managed to remove them, stopping them from firing.
She then throws the severed turrets towards the two mounted guns on the ground, knocking the guards manning them. With the suppressing fire stopping, Chris disables the shields and aims his open palms at the direction of the guards.
In an instant, the entire corridor is consumed by explosions that echo throughout the underground. After the end of the invisible barrage, what was left of the guards were the warped remains of what used to be their armor and their smoldering flesh painting the walls.
The mounted guns, the ceiling turrets and even the corridor they were standing on also suffer from the damage given by the palm lasers. Deactivating the optics in his hands, he redeploys the shields and looks behind to address the cadets.
“Listen up. As we head deeper in, we’ll likely encounter more blockades similar to that one. I’m going to need you all to carry your share of the fighting.”
“I’ll serve as the shield, Kasao’s the support and the rest of you are assault. As soon as these shields disappear, you shoot what’s in front of us. Am I clear?”
“YES SIR!”
“Last thing. Keep a meter away from me until shooting starts. Now let’s move.”
Chris starts slowly moving inside the hallway, shields still up. The cadets move behind him, with Kasao in front of them and ready to use her powers when needed.
Reaching the part where the unfortunate guards died, the power armor crushes the pieces of armor and concrete with its weight while the cadets avoid stepping on them else they trip.
[CHRIS: “Stop.”]
Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.
The cadets stop as soon as they hear the command in their comms. Wondering why they did, a few peek behind the agent’s massive frame to see what’s in front.
The end of the hallway splits into two paths. Chris suspects that security would most likely set up an ambush for intruders there. He separates the shields and holds them up to his sides as he advances.
[CHRIS: “Move.”]
The cadets resume their movement, still keeping a meter distance away from their instructor. As the power armor steps out onto the split, he gets bombarded again by gunfire.
The cadets immediately rush in, with Kasao in the middle and the others splitting themselves to deal with both sides. Like before, a turret on the ceiling and a mounted gun below. What’s new however are additional guards also assisting.
Kasao rips the two turrets from their place, throwing the left one first onto the guards. The small window caused by the psion is deemed enough as Chris disables his shield, allowing the cadets to unleash a hail of fiery bullets on the poor bastards and the concrete walls behind them.
The guards on the other side hesitated slightly but did not have the chance to flee as the same thing is done to them after, ripped apart by the assault. With all enemies dead, they advance to the left.
Due to the split pathways and the possibility of attack from both sides, Chris was forced to walk sideways like a crab, with his shields still by his sides. Some of the cadets couldn’t help but snicker at the ridiculous movement, causing Chris to “hit” back.
[CHRIS: “You laugh, I drop these shields.”]
And any further chuckling was swiftly crushed under the threat of turning to swiss cheese.
After awkwardly turning two corners, they reach a cargo elevator shaft. The problem was, the buttons for the lift were prematurely broken to halt any advancements.
Getting a sigh of annoyance from the agent, he disables his shields and moves towards the shaft. He peers his head inside, putting his hands on the sides of the shaft for grip.
He checked above first to see the beams and the rails, indicating they were at the top floor. He looks down and sees the lift down below. He removes his head from the lifts and talks to his cadets.
[CHRIS: “Elevator's no good. I’ll hop down first to clear any hostiles. The rest of you follow after I give the signal.”]
[CADETS: “Yes sir!”]
He peers into the shaft again and looks below. After a small jump, he plummets down to the bottom floor and hits the ground with a loud crash after landing on the lift.
As he lands, two ceiling turrets attack him, only to be dispatched by the palm lasers without problem. This made Chris concerned though, as guards are absent during the defense.
Seeing as he’s cleared the front entrance of what he assumed was the lab, he contacts his cadets to drop down one by one to avoid any accidents.
One by one, they fall until Kasao enters last using her ability. With all of them there, they look towards the steel gate shut by a digital lock.
[CHRIS: “Someone get that door open.”]
A male cadet runs towards the panel that controls the door, opening his console to hack it. Chris moves in front of the door and deploys his two shields again while the cadets move to his back.
The doors open after 30 seconds as the rushes to move behind the instructor’s back. With the steel door fully opened, the Arkham personnel are greeted by...
An empty laboratory.
[CHRIS: “...Fuck.”]
No scientists, no guards, no anything. Papers and folders are scattered around the room, a hint that the people inside were in a rush to evacuate.
[CHRIS: “Stay here. I’m going to check if its safe.”]
[CADETS: “Yes sir.”]
The cadets hide themselves behind the wall of entrance as Chris slowly walks inside, his hands ready to fire at anything that appears. Entering the room, he scans the abandoned lab with his helmet cams and the cameras attached to his shoulder cannons to cover more areas.
As he reaches the middle of the room, he stops. Aside from the elevator door, he also notes three other doors in the room. First was a square, vault door in front of him with warning labels attached. Second looked to be a locker room for the scientists and the third resembled a prison door with a panel beside it.
Seeing that the room is clear and doesn’t have any turrets or hidden explosives, he contacts the cadets to inform them.
[CHRIS: “Room’s clear. Head in and meet me at the middle.”]
As ordered, the cadets flood into the room and surround the power armored instructor, their guns pointed at each door.
[CHRIS: “2 of you, head to the prison door. 3 of you, check the lockers for any hostiles. The rest of you, check the papers and folders for anything useful. Stay away from the door in front of me.”]
[CADETS: “Yes sir!”]
With the command given, the agents divide themselves to the tasks. Chris sees Kasao with two other cadets heading to the locker room. With them occupied, he could focus on the steel door.
He eyes the door and the area around it. He notices a loose panel to the right and pulls it to reveal a hidden panel. Groaning at the sight of the computer, he returns to look at the vault door.
He lifts both of his arms up and digs his fingers onto it, the sound of metal being forcefully bent distracting the cadets. Feeling his fingers are deep enough, Chris starts pulling the door off the wall.
The image of a power armor forcefully removing an entire vault door with its bare hands because he couldn’t be bothered to use the panel was apparently enough of a distraction from their work. As he continues to pull, he ends up severing the wires that connect to the panel, causing it to turn off.
After successfully removing the door, he gently places it down on the ground. Now with the door gone, he looks inside only to get even more annoyed.
Inside was a sort of control room filled with numerous control panels. What he focused on though was the structure in front of the panels. Connected to a walkway was a large, circular platform with a large, cylindrical machine above.
It was a cargo teleporter. One large enough to transport multiple people and objects at the same time. Chris pinches the area where his nose would be before contacting his fellow veterans.
[CHRIS: “Sal, Wu, JC. We got a major problem.”]
[WU: “Don’t tell me. We failed the mission.”]
[CHRIS: “Yup.”]
[SAL: “WHAT!? HOW!”]
[CHRIS: “The scientists and VIP used a teleporter underground to get away.”]
[JC: “Wait, how the fuck did they escape that fast?”]
[WU: “...Shit, the power armors. They probably had live feeds of what’s happening outside.”]
[CHRIS: “That explain why they suicidally threw themselves at me on the bridge.”]
[SAL: “Wait, can’t we use the teleporter to follow them? Hell, just finding out where they exited is enough”]
[CHRIS: “We can, but something tells me they rigged the teleporter room to blow in case we try.”]
[WU: “So that’s it? We’re just gonna give up like that?”]
[CHRIS: “Would YOU like to try and step inside the teleporter room?”]
[WU: “I’ll pass. So what now?”]
[CHRIS: “Let’s head back to the courtyard and gather any info worth taking. After that? Let’s get another team down here to clear the teleporter room.”]
[JC: “I’ll contact the ship. Out.”]
As the call ends, Chris turns around only to see his cadets staring at him, their work finished. Turning off his comms, he decides to talk to them with the mic.
“Alright, report your findings.”
The oldest of the cadets walks up to Chris as the representative, holding a folder full of files. As he hands the documents over to the agent, he starts reporting.
“Sir, the group that checked the locker room did not find any personnel inside nor find anything worth noting. The group that opened the prison door is empty as well.”
“As for the group that you ordered to check the lab, they’ve placed all of the important documents inside that folder.”
“Hmmm... Alright, good job cadets. Let’s head back, your missions are complete.”
“Yes sir!”
With that, the cadets all walk back to the elevator, with Kasao lagging behind in the back. Chris takes one look back at the teleporter room before regrouping with his cadets at the shaft.