As soon as we cleared the craft and fell into the dark the wind immediately hit us and I had to fight to get us oriented. It was awkward having Fox attached and we were catching the wind in ways I wasn’t used to as we moved away from the RAID.

Lake Gratiot had iced over and was a featureless mass of green-white below us through my glasses. The driving snow combined with the predawn darkness made it impossible to locate the shoreline by sight. Normally I would use the GPS on my wrist-comm to check for directions but since I currently had my hands full of Master Sergeant that wasn’t possible.

“Fox, I can’t see much of anything other than snow. Can you point us in the right direction?” I asked Fox while I hovered us over the lake.

“According to my helmet’s GPS, we’re pointed in the wrong direction. Turn ninety degrees to your left and head straight,” he replied using over the comm while pointing in the direction we needed to go.

“Roger,” I replied and turned us in the correct direction. At first, I started flying at a slower pace than I would have liked so I could get a feel for how holding Fox was affecting how we moved in the air. I was also struggling to get a feel for the tree level and I didn’t want to lose my bearings and give our position away.

The wind was awful. It was swirling as it blew down over the lake and with such force that it was constantly ripping at my cape. After a couple of minutes of being relentlessly buffeted, it finally succeeded at blowing my hood down and away from my face before it finally dug into my hair and whipped it all over the place as we flew. Unfortunately, there was no choice but to push forward into it, so on we flew.

Finally, after what felt like far too long of flying completely exposed to the elements surrounded by darkness we could make out the faint glow of a light. Using that as a guide I sped up to get us to what we assumed was the shore. As we approached I could start to make out the shape of a house with what looked like some outbuildings. The light we were following was coming from one of those buildings mounted on a roof.

“Are we in the right spot Fox?” I asked my passenger while hovering us above the snow-covered ground.

“We are. This address is the last house on the road we need so we just need to locate the road,” Fox confirmed.

It took a bit of trial and error in the conditions but we eventually found the property’s driveway and we were able to navigate to the road that would take us to the Air Force Station. It was about two miles to our target give or take which in clear conditions would have been a cakewalk. I was starting to get a better handle on how to compensate for flying with Fox so I took off down the road and quickly discovered that anything over forty-five miles per hour became difficult due to the poor visibility.

After about three minutes of flying with Fox helping with navigation due to the HUD in his helmet, we finally made it to the road that led up to our destination when Fox signaled for me to land in a bit of clearing where the two roads met.

I set us down on the edge of that clearing on what I thought was the road leading up the base trying to use the treeline as a bit of a wind break. We immediately sunk into what had to be eight inches of snow as I brought us back to earth. As soon as we had settled Fox released the strap holding us together so I let go of the handles on his harness. I noticed him roll his shoulders as if trying to loosen up.

I took the slight reprieve from the weather to shake out the snow that had accumulated in and around my hood and clean my glasses. The techs in the R & D department had done a good job with the new uniform as I didn’t really feel the cold and for the most part was dry, but my hair was another story. It was wet, frozen, and windblown to hell making it an absolute mess. I tried my best to shake it out and get some of the ice and snow out of it, and by some small miracle, the hair tie I had used to pull it into a ponytail had stayed in place so I did my best tidy it back up before pulling my hood back up.

“Okay Star, I’ve reviewed the satellite map of the layout of the station and I’ve decided where I want to start. I want to have a look at the old motor pool and that should put you in a good position to place the beacon,” Fox explained.

“Okay, but why there though? Intelligence seemed to think it would be the Admin building or one closer to the old radar positions. Do you think the boy might be held there?” I asked him not quite seeing the logic.

“They came to this Station deliberately and my instincts are screaming that this site has been reinforced. I want to see what’s parked in there,” Fox answered my question without using the comms since we didn’t have to fight the noise of flying.

“Alright, I trust your judgment. If that’s where you want to start, then that’s where we'll start.”

“We’re a bit behind schedule so let's get moving. I’m not using the leg strap again so I can hit the ground moving so if you’re ready just grab the handles and let’s go,” Fox said.

I acknowledged Fox with a simple, “Roger,” before grabbing the handles on his harness and breaking free of gravity again.

We started off a bit tentatively a first but it quickly became clear that we just needed to follow the line cut through the forest. A wall of trees surrounded us to our left and right that was so densely packed that you hardly see between them. To the point that I was concerned that the RAID might not fit.

Very quickly we turned the final corner and the Air Station came into view and Fox pointed to a building I could barely make out through the snow on the northeast corner of the base. I made my way across the open ground in front of us in a looping approach that took us toward a grove of trees that was near the building that would provide some cover. As we got closer I could start to make out more of the details of the target building. It was a long building with a high ceiling which made sense if it was used to house the base’s trucks. I couldn’t quite tell if there was a second floor but the roofline was high enough for one.

As I neared the target building Fox signaled me toward the roof so I angled my way upward as we approached and then set him down as gently as possible on the side of the roof furthest away from the rest of the complex.

Fox handed me the guidance beacon and then pointed toward a wide open space that was big enough for the RAID back the way we came in. I nodded my understanding and started to turn to head toward my part of the mission when Fox reached out and grabbed my forearm stopping me. He held my arm for a moment and gave me a slow nod before releasing me.

I nodded in return looking where I thought his eyes were behind his visor and then as if we had rehearsed it we both turned to our assigned tasks. I dropped down to just above the ground and sped over to a spot diagonal from the motor pool building somewhat behind one of the old barrack buildings. It should provide some cover for the team when exiting the RAID. It was closer to the buildings than I would have liked but the depth of the snow ruled out landing further out.

I dropped into the snow with what has been popularized in the movies as a ‘superhero’ landing; the snow and wind absorbing any sound that I might have made. With my hand and arm buried in the snow, I released a tiny amount of my ability. The energy pulsed into the ground creating a clear patch where I could set the beacon. Fortunately, the beacon was pretty idiot-proof. There was a cover over the switch that would activate the black cylindrical device and that was it. I popped the switch cover and flipped the switch. There weren't any lights to signify it was working so I just had to trust it was doing its thing and placed it on the bare patch of ground that was already accumulating new snow.

I got back to my feet and moved a bit away from the beacon and back toward the heart of the base. Now was the nerve wracking part where I had to wait by myself while the RAID made its way to the Station and Fox did his thing. The wind was still ripping through the abandoned buildings and the surrounding trees making strange noises that had me jumping at shadows and on edge. I knew it would only take the RAID a few minutes to get to our location provided nothing unexpected happened but it was still disconcerting nonetheless.

I decided that standing out in the wide open even if it was in a snow storm wasn’t the best tactical position so I crouched down pulling my cape around me. My head was on a swivel and just when I thought my nerves were starting to finally settle a bit Fox suddenly suddenly crackled across the comm in a sea of static. “Sta…the base….een…reinfor,” was all that I was able to make out before a final burst of static wiped out the communication altogether.

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I immediately turned and looked toward the motor pool building but couldn’t make out any activity nor did I see anything that would cause obvious concern. Still for Fox to break communications silence, and from what little I was able to get from his message, I had to infer that the base had been reinforced like he feared. That was bad, as it meant our intel was even further out of date than we feared. Scanning the area I didn’t notice anything obvious so flipped my wrist and activated my wrist-comm to see if there were any messages on the tiny display. The display was blank so I turned it back to standby before the urge to send a message could take root. I had taken care to make sure I shielded my arm inside my cape just in case the muted glow of the screen could give me away but it turned out I needn’t have worried. My position was already known.

Something smashed into me from behind and sent me skidding across the frozen ground leaving me in a miniature snowdrift of my own making. Whatever hit me had hit me hard enough to daze me and I just managed to roll over and catch another blow on my forearms as I protected my face like Fox and trained me. It was like getting hit by a truck as blows started raining down on me as I lay on my back in the snow. I got a glimpse of a humanoid shape but was struggling to get my bearings when the assailant switched it up and started throwing body blows as they stood over me. Moving purely on training I moved my guard to block the new path of assault and they immediately took advantage by tagging me in the face causing my head to crack against the ground.

That’s when I felt the attacker’s hands close around my throat and their weight settle on top of me. Whoever this was they were strong enough that they were actually choking me despite my enhanced durability. My mind was struggling to engage and fraying around the edge of panic as I started struggling to breathe.

“I don’t know who you are or what you think you’re doing but you’ve made a fatal mistake coming here bitch,” growled a male voice from above me.

I don’t know why but that was like a bucket of ice water hitting me in the face and all the times training with Captain Williams and Fox came rushing back to me. I stopped flailing and grabbed my attacker’s wrist with one hand and pulled it out to the side away from my neck throwing off their balance while striking out with the other hand hitting them in the sternum.

This gave me the space I needed to slip my knee up between us and wedge my attacker backward with my foot. Without giving him time to recover I placed both hands out and unleashed an energy discharge strong enough to crumple the side of a car. It had the desired effect, blasting the man up and off of me. He landed with a grunt and a puff of snow about five feet away. I quickly got to my feet and into a ready position energy crackling around my fists all while hoping my attacker wouldn’t get back up.

I wasn’t that lucky.

The man got up slowly at first but gained strength as he rose and once he was he was at full height I got to see that he had a bruiser’s physique. He was even bigger than Brunner and had to be six foot five at least. I had completely shredded the white winter parka he had been wearing, and it was now hanging by tatters around him as he wiped snow away from his eyes. Underneath his shredded clothes I could see some kind of black bodysuit with three yellow stripes running down it. It had a stripe that ran down his sides starting at his shoulders and encompassing each arm. The final stripe ran down the center of the body suit from his neck until it was hidden by what remained of his combat pants.

“That was a pretty good shot bitch, but it’s going to take more than that to put me down,” he sneered at me.

He had a gruff voice with no appreciable accent other than ‘American’. His hair was short and dark in a military cut and he looked like he’d probably been in more than a few scraps. The fact that he ate my energy discharge and got up was all the confirmation I needed that he was a Supernormal. Now the question was what were his abilities and Supernormal class. If he was just a physical type I felt good about my odds even if he was Delta class. I tensed ready to make a move when he surprised me.

“I’mgonnamessyouup,” he slurred as his form suddenly blurred and he appeared right in front of me launching a punch into my midsection that threw me easily twenty feet to land with a crash into the snow.

I was still wheezing on the ground when he appeared out of nowhere and started kicking me. The first shot got me in the ribs and I let out a cry as pain blossomed all over my side. I immediately curled into myself and brought my guard up to my head and my knee up to help deflect the blows. He was throwing punches and kicks impossibly fast and each one rattled me due to his enhanced strength.

This was a deadly position to be in and while I wasn’t seriously hurt yet it could all change in a heartbeat. I needed to get some distance and get my bearings, so again I leaned on my energy ability and used a move Fox came up with in training. I took another blow trying to time it for the moment when he had drawn back and when it came I put my hand down and discharged right into the ground and blew myself away from him in a flash of light and snow.

It worked as intended with the force of the concussion throwing me a couple of feet away from him. I immediately rolled as best as could and went straight into the air. My attacker's hand missed me by inches as I gained distance between us.

For once I didn’t overthink as I sent energy discharges from both hands down at the man. I immediately discovered two things. One, he was a delta as he blurred out of the way of the energy blast in what looked like some kind of enhanced speed. The second was that he had a gun as I heard the cracks and felt pain blossom in my right hip and left shoulder. My new suit blunted everything and nothing penetrated but the shot to my shoulder caused my arm to go numb and it was now hanging somewhat uselessly at my side.

I fortunately had the forethought to pull my cape up in front of me with my working arm as he unloaded more shots at me a few of which managed to hit the cape which acted as a ballistic curtain. Unfortunately, I’d made the mistake of staying stationary and had dropped closer to the ground while dealing with the pain and the gunshots.

Suddenly I felt the man's hand grip my ankle and violently smash me into the ground. Ha jokes on him, I barely felt that, I thought as I landed on my numb shoulder with a grunt. Before he could do anything else I twisted and mule-kicked as hard as could and was gratified to hear a grunt and felt the pressure on my ankle release. This guy was seriously pissing me off now.

“Ya know girlie, ya got moxie, I’ll give you that,” the brute said before flashing toward me in a spray of snow.

I was ready for him this time. He lacked finesse when he used his speed and seemed to prefer straight lines so that he could use his strength. As soon as I saw him tense I spun and ducked into a crouch while throwing the point of my elbow into the space I’d vacated. I was gratified by his grunt of pain as I folded him in half with the blow. I opened the palm of my hand while my elbow was in his gut and shot a blast straight into his face rocking him backward.

My left arm was still pins and needles and fairly useless although I was getting feeling back slowly so I pushed my advantage and rushed forward while he was staggered and clotheslined him. He went down with a strange POP sound and when I turned around he looked a little smaller and something was different about his suit. The left stripe was missing.

Didn’t matter. It was time to put this asshole down. He was on his hands and knees with one hand holding his face and it sounded like he was growling. No, not growling, laughing. Well, that’s disconcerting.

The big man looked up at me with a grin even though his face was red and raw with a trickle of blood making its way slowly down his chin from the corner of his mouth. “Oh girlie, I got you now.”

“The hell?” I said out loud before suddenly being rocked forward by a blow from behind. I was knocked right into the brute who rose up with both hands laced together and smashed me across the face knocking me sideways to the ground. I landed hard as lights flashed behind my eyes. This time my arm was a liability as I wasn’t able to brace with it and felt the man's arm slide around my neck in a rear naked choke. The pressure was intense and he kept twisting to keep my good arm from finding purchase or being able to release an energy discharge.

My vision was already wavering and I thought I was hallucinating when I thought I heard the man’s voice from in front of me saying, “Well, well, well. What do we have here?”

In front of me seemed to stand a trimmer less bulky version of the man I’d been fighting with a single yellow stripe running down his left side. That couldn’t be the case though, because that man was currently trying to pull my head off. Then I noticed the figure held the beacon.

“No,” I rasped and weakly popped a blast in their direction.

The figure blurred out of the way and I struggled harder to get out of the chokehold. I was rewarded by successfully loosening the grip of the man behind me for a moment allowing me to draw a blissful lungful of frozen Northern Michigan air. At the same time, some lizard part of my brain took note that the man didn’t seem to be quite as strong as he was before. I started twisting and turning trying to break the man’s hold and was starting to make some headway by working my way to my knees.

“Break that…and get…back here. I need…everything,” the man choking me growled struggling to hold me.

The other man, Left Stripe, blurred forward and smashed the beacon into me crushing it and knocking me back on my ass followed by the same strange POP sound I had heard earlier. Suddenly the strength of the man behind me surged and he pulled me back prone while wrapping his legs around my arms and pinning them. My thoughts were getting fuzzy as he increased the pressure on my windpipe. The…beacon…the RAID…have to guide them in.. floated up through the cottonwool currently occupying my brain with a lot of difficulty.

I was barely hanging on, but I put everything I could muster into turning my right palm toward the sky and letting loose a blast of energy that lit up the field around us in fuchsia and neon blue. More importantly, it lit up the sky.

“The hell you think that’s going to do you dumb bitch,” was the last thing I heard as things started to go black.