Everything had escalated quickly. Team Two had run into a patrol sheltering in the rec building, and while they had been able to hold, they were outnumbered. Dani had re-engaged the Supernormal and Captain Williams and Laurel had been playing cat and mouse with a small sentry patrol.
With Captain Williams and Laurel not in a position to help the other team, she was forced to call up Wolves Four and Six to support her team in danger. It was a risk, but she ordered the RAID to skirt Dani’s engagement and deliver Wolves Four and Six as close as possible to Team Two before withdrawing as quickly as possible. Fortunately, Team Three arrived in time to help neutralize the resistance in the rec building.
Unfortunately, it was now a surety that the enemy had been alerted to their presence. Captain Williams watched as the Patrol they had been avoiding started moving to flank Team Two. Wolf Leader was forced to engage, giving up their position, and was now on the defense. One thing that had made itself clear though was the enemy had made Building Twenty their base of operations. Unfortunately, it was a good tactical choice as it sat at the top of a hill.
Inching up out of cover Wolf Leader popped off a few shots to push back the beginnings of an advance before taking a moment to take stock of the team. Wolf Five and Wolf Leader were together and holding down a group of hostiles attempting to flank their position in the civil engineering building. Cover was adequate due to the cinder block construction but firing positions were funneled through the windows, making them predictable.
While she had ordered the rest of the team to regroup on her position, it wasn’t going easy as reinforcement patrols had arrived. Alessa and Andre were in rough shape having been pinned behind the old heating building, but they were holding. Brunner and Heidi were in trouble though. They were pinned behind a dumpster sitting in the open and Wolf Leader didn’t have a vantage point to see them, which was a problem. She needed to get them moved up into better cover, and quickly.
“Wolves Two and Six what’s your situation,” Wolf Leader said into her comm as she ducked from a particularly nasty burst of fire from the enemy position.
“Wolf Six is injured. We took fire getting to this position and she was hit getting into cover. It looks like her uniform stopped anything from penetrating, but she took a nasty hit. I don’t think she’s going to be running anywhere, anytime soon,” Wolf Two crackled back in her ear.
Dammit, of all the times to not have Dani with us. She could have tanked these jackasses and we could have concentrated on getting to the objective, thought Wolf Leader.
“Wolf Two, can you hold that position? We’re all pinned down pretty effectively at the moment.”
“Roger Wolf Leader, but if they bring out anything heavier, we’re going to be FUBAR. Also, we are way too exposed to being flanked here. I hope you’ve got some brilliant idea because I’m getting pretty pissed off being used for target practice,” Brunner growled over the line, punctuated by his heavy machine gun throwing shots at the defenders.
“Wolf Leader, we’ve got a problem,” Andre’s voice suddenly cut through the comm as he broke in. “I don’t know if you can see it from where you’re at, but it looks like the enemy is setting up a fifty-cal. If we don’t do something about it, everybody better say their prayers, 'cause it’s going to get real holy up in here, real quick.”
Captain Williams rolled her eyes at the joke and Alessa’s groan was audible before the mic cut off. Well, this just keeps getting better and better, Wolf Leader thought, before catching the eyes of Laurel who was a few feet away, and mouthing, “You good?”
Wolf Five nodded affirmatively and then went back to cooly tossing shots downrange with her XM7. It turned out that the Intelligence Sergeant was nothing if terrifyingly efficient. She didn’t waste any shots, only what was needed to push back the enemy. However, in their current situation, a fifty-caliber machine gun would chew through everyone’s cover, and being efficient wouldn’t matter. Captain Williams silently cursed Wolf Two for giving the universe ideas.
“Five, Six is injured. Any professional guesses as to where Fox might be,” Wolf Leader shouted to the other woman as they were raked by gunfire causing concrete shards to rain down on them.
Wolf Five responded by shaking her head to the negative causing her dirty blond ponytail to swish back and forth with the motion as she ducked back into cover. Wincing at the dust and debris being kicked up.
Grimacing Wolf Leader tapped her comm, “Overwatch what is Star’s status?”
“Wolf Leader, Star is still engaged with the hostile Supernormal behind the administration building. She’s got her hands full, and the outcome is unclear,” Dreamboy responded. He had taken over local control when Heidi and Andre had been called up.
This level of resistance was unexpected, and the team was equipped too lightly for the engagement they were facing. They had badly underestimated the enemy, which was deeply frustrating to Captain Williams as this left her with options that were less than optimal.
Choosing from one of those less-than-ideal options she toggled her comm. “Fox, the team is pinned down, Wolf Six is injured, Star is already engaged, and we are about to come under fire from a fifty-cal. Our current position is becoming untenable. Are you able to assist?”
Wolf Leader’s wrist vibrated indicating a notification almost immediately. Flipping her wrist, she looked at the screen built into the underside of her uniform sleeve to see a text from Fox that read, “Put flashbang on fifty. Be ready to move.” and nothing else. Cryptic, typical Fox, at least he’s not dead.
Wolf Leader re-opened the team channel on her radio, “Everyone, Fox is in a position to do something about the fifty-cal. Wolf Two put a flashbang on the fifty’s position, and then be ready to move to my position on my mark. Ready…Mark!”
Wolf Two leaned out from behind the dumpster and popped the flashbang on the mercenaries as they were setting up the gunner’s nest. It went off with a flash of light and the loud bang that accompanied it reverberated off the buildings of the Air Station. The sound was enough to create a pause in the enemy firing and suddenly at the back of the enemy formation, Fox appeared.
Alessa and Andre came sprinting into Wolf Leader’s position as fast as they could through the snow and immediately took position to lay down cover fire. They needed to suppress the enemy not only for Fox but for Brunner who was running as fast as his six-foot-two frame would let him, with a Communications Sergeant thrown over his shoulder while holding his rifle. Fortunately, with the added firepower of Wolves Three and Four they were able to pin down the enemy long enough for Brunner to make it to their position.
Brunner, breathing hard placed Heidi down deeper inside the civil engineering building they were using as cover. With the team back together, Wolf Leader went over to check on Heidi while Brunner took up her vacated position with a nod and started returning fire.
“How are you doing?” Captain Williams asked while kneeling to check out Wolf Six visually. Heidi looked to be in one piece but was in obvious pain as tears ran down her cheeks from behind her glasses as she grimaced through the pain.
“I’m…okay, Captain. I just need a minute to get myself back together after Brunner dumped me like a sack of potatoes,” she answered through gritted teeth that might have been an attempt at a smile.
“Good to hear. Now honesty time. How bad is it? Are you mobile or not?” Wolf Leader asked her while looking her in the eyes and putting a hand on her shoulder.
Heidi paused to take a breath before she answered, which just caused her to wince in pain. “I think I have a cracked rib. My uniform stopped the bullets, but I still got tagged pretty hard. I can move but not fast and running any distance is probably out of the question.”
“Ok, that’s what I thought. Alright, stay here and gather your strength, but we’re going to have to move soon one way or another. Don’t worry we got you, we’ll take care of you,” Wolf Leader said to the injured Communications Sergeant.
“Wolf Three, I need you over here,” she called out to the diminutive Japanese American woman who held the callsign Wolf Three. Alessa White the unit's Medical Sergeant was supposedly as good as they came in terms of battlefield medics.
“Roger,” Alessa answered and moved over to the captain’s position while ducking down to stay out of the line of fire. “Time for me to do my thing?”
Wolf Leader leaned into Alessa so that her voice wouldn’t carry, “You’re Heidi’s bodyguard. Your sole mission right now is to staple yourself to Six’s side and keep her safe. She’s hurt worse than she’s letting on and we’re going to have to split up again since she’s not mobile. If we can stash you somewhere safe or redirect the fighting away from here, I want you to see what you can do. She’s admitted to possibly having a cracked rib, but I know from your file you can out stubborn her if it’s anything worse.”
“Roger, I’ll keep her safe,” Alessa replied, the ghost of a smirk visible on her face through the captain's low-light glasses.
“I know you will,” Wolf Leader said touching Wolf Three’s shoulder before returning to cover.
“Alright everyone, we’ve got to crack this resistance. Wolves Three and Six will stay here or move when possible so we’ll be down two, so nobody else gets shot. We can still get control of this situation. Wolves Two and Four take the right and clear toward the middle. Five you’re with me on the left. Move fast, call out targets, and cover each other. Fox has them in disarray so let's not waste the advantage. Go on my signal.
Keying the com she spoke into the receiver, “Fox we’re moving up.”
“Go!”
★FOX★
Fox arrived at building twenty with little difficulty by making jumps using his Supernormal ability, “Shadow Step”, but the building was proving difficult to navigate. Building twenty was a multipurpose building that used to house Operations and Planning, among other things, based on the old plans they had access to. It was an interesting design as a product of the Cold War because it was an existing building covered with a bomb-resistant shell. It was that cinderblock outer shell that was the primary issue as there were no windows and only a handful of ingress points
One of the men he’d run across in the motor pool had given up the location with a little persuasion but was killed by his comrade before he could provide anything further. Fox had been surprised at the move and had been forced to end that man’s life. He had hoped to gather more intel before risking breaking radio silence and keeping an enemy combatant alive would have been helpful.
Fox had set up a position watching the target building in the old height radar facility adjacent to building twenty. He had hoped that by getting an elevated look at the building he could get a good idea of the best approach when he started hearing gunfire. Fox had been monitoring the comms so he knew that Star had engaged a Supernormal after he split off to scout ahead which bothered him. They shouldn’t have known they were coming so engaging that quickly after infiltrating made this whole op feel off somehow. Not to mention the staffed and stocked motor pool.
Dawn was starting to break but with the cloud cover that only meant that it was getting less dark, but it worked against him as he needed shadows to use his ability. Combine that with the predicted break in the weather that had arrived, and visibility was improving by the minute. The wind was still howling through the abandoned radar tower but even it had calmed noticeably swinging the advantage toward the defenders.
“Fox, the team is pinned down, Wolf Six is injured, Star is already engaged, and we are about to come under fire from a fifty-cal. Our current position is becoming untenable. Are you able to assist?” Wolf Leader’s voice came across the com system built into his helmet on a direct line and not the team channel.
After scanning the enemy’s defensive position, he found the fifty-caliber heavy machine gun being set up at the top of the hill giving it a wide range of fire. Not something you just have lying around at an abandoned base, he thought idly.
Quickly formulating a plan of attack Fox responded to Wolf Leader via text, “Put flashbang on fifty. Be ready to move.”
Not a minute later a flashbang went off on the fifty caliber’s position causing Fox’s visor to darken and casting shadows all over the area. In the time took to blink Fox had used “Shadow Step” and emerged from a shadow cast by the flashbang behind the two gunners. Moving swiftly Fox pulled his sword from its sheath on his back the knife from its holster.
With no wasted movement Fox punched his knife through the skull of the nearest enemy while simultaneously reversing his grip on the sword and punching it through the other man’s throat. The enemy position was still recovering from the flashbang, so Fox moved quickly onto the next man. He was rubbing his eyes trying to clear his vision when Fox ran his sword through his armpit piercing the man’s heart and causing him to collapse with a gurgle.
All the patrols he had seen so far had been five-man units, so he spun and located the other two members of the fifty-cal unit. One man was carrying ammunition and still looked dazed, so Fox threw his knife at him and scored a hit as it sunk hilt deep into his throat taking him out of the fight. Not stopping Fox sheathed his sword and pulled the XM17 from its holster on his hip. His helmet’s HUD highlighted his final target who was trying to bring his SMG around, and he quickly put a bullet through the man's right eye dropping him into the snow.
With the element of surprise gone Fox quickly scanned the area to find a deep enough shadow to use for a “Shadow Step”. Fortunately, he found one in a crook of the building and used it to jump away. Unfortunately, he was still exposed so he immediately jumped into another shadow on the old radar tower.
Right then Wolf Leader’s voice crackled through his helmet, “Fox, we’re moving up.”
The sound of gunfire intensified as Wolf Unit opened up on the enemy position. Using the distraction Fox crouched down to watch the enemy when he saw his chance. He slowly smiled in his helmet while thinking to himself, this will, definitely, maybe work.
“Shadow Step relied on line-of-site so Fox couldn’t just jump into a dark space he couldn’t see, but all he needed was a glimpse and a sufficiently dark enough space to hold his mass. In a stroke of luck, one of the patrols happened to be exiting the building and a soldier was holding the door for a straggler. This gave Fox a look at the inside of the very dark building allowing him to sense his exit point. Timing it to when the soldier exited the building he jumped through the darkness.
Stepping out of the shadows and took a deep breath. Semi-blind “Shadow Steps” like that were taxing. It took a lot more effort to pull himself out of it than it did when the landing area was clearly visualized. He had materialized inside a short hallway which was not ideal. With quick practice, he moved down the hallway activating one of his other Delta abilities “Silent Movement”. When “Silent Movement” was active Fox made nullified any noise by creating a dead zone around his body where sound was deadened. The field had a limited range though, and the further away from him the lesser the effect, and it could only deaden so much sound. Still, it worked well for pistols effectively acting as a built-in silencer.
The inside of the building was a mess. Debris and graffiti were scattered everywhere showing the obvious effects of the base's abandonment, but it also there were also signs of recent habitation, because as Fox neared the end of the hallway he could see lights.
As he edged out of the hallway he was faced with two soldiers manning what looked to be a checkpoint. The room looked like an old office or common room and was lit by a dim string of work lights strung across the room with a cord that probably snaked off to a generator. He slid into the room quickly and soundlessly, gun up and ready completely unsure of what he might find. As he entered the room one of the soldiers happened to be facing his direction, and his eyes widened as he caught sight of Fox as he entered. That was the only thing he had time to do before Fox had put him and his partner down.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
★WOLVES THREE AND SIX★
“Shiiiiit, Alessa!” Heidi hissed as the Medical Sergeant probed her injuries while they hunkered down in the old engineering building that Wolf Unit had just vacated.
“Callsigns on mission remember,” Wolf Three replied with a wink while deftly probing Wolf Six’s ribs and earning a fierce glare from the injured Communications Sergeant propped against the wall.
“Fine, but if we get yelled at by Wolf Leader, I’m telling her you said screw callsigns,” Alessa said with an arched eyebrow causing Heidi to laugh and then double over in pain.
“Oh God, that hurts,” she wheezed out with a fresh batch of tears now running down her cheeks.
Alessa steadied the other woman by using “Empathic Touch” while she got her breathing under control. “I know, and I’m sorry I shouldn’t have made you laugh, but from what I can feel I agree with your assessment that you have a fractured rib. You also have significant bruising on both your ribs and your hip that’s only going to get worse as it swells. The best thing we can do is keep your tactical suit on and try not to have you do anything too strenuous.”
Closing her eyes and resting her head against the wall, Wolf Six finished getting her breathing under control before wiping the tears from her face with the back of her hand. For a moment everything went silent before new bursts of gunfire erupted reminding them of their current situation.
“Strenuous…Right. You want to tell them to knock it off and just give us the flux capacitor,” Wolf Six mumbled.
“Flux what?” Wolf Three asked while pulling a device from the medical pouch at her hip.
“Pop culture reference. You know what, never mind, what’s that?” she said, nodding toward the small device in the other woman's hand.
Alessa held up the small white device with a miniature canister attached to one end and a contact point on the other end. “This is a jet injector with a fast-acting pain killer that should help keep you mobile and help with the swelling. Especially, since that hip can’t be feeling too good either, but this is just a stopgap until we can get you out of here.”
“Oh, okay. I don’t love needles but if this will dull some of this pain I’ll take it.”
“No needles, just air,” Allessa explained while waggling the device in front of Heidi before putting the device to her neck and pressing a button, causing it to make a sharp whoosh sound.
“All done, and see that was nothing. You sit here and rest a minute while I go peek outside and see what’s going on,” Alessa instructed Heidi who nodded in response.
Picking up her weapon she made her way over the wall and pulled it into a ready position before looking out the window. The two components of Wolf Unit had advanced about halfway to the target building and were currently covering each other as they leapfrogged each other for cover. The battle was far from over though, so it looked like they would have to sit tight for a bit longer.
★WOLF LEADER★
The team had managed to progress in moving up using various trees for cover, but they were quickly running out of options. With only wide-open space ahead of them. the enemy would have an easy time cutting them down. Wolf Leader ducked back behind the tree she was using for cover.
“Team, there is no clear way forward and our window to the target is closing rapidly. Suggestions if you have them,” Wolf Leader broadcast to the team.
“I’ve got nothing but a new artisanal collection of toothpicks from the tree I'm hiding behind ma’am,” Andre joked over the line.
“MacGuffin is either in building twenty as the resistance would indicate, or is in the old nuclear bunker in my opinion. Tactically the bunker wouldn’t make much sense normally, but as we know, they have a teleporter,” Wolf Five contributed. “My money is on the bunker.”
“Fox, what are your thoughts if you can respond?”
“Inside the building. Heavily guarded,” he replied via text which indicated that he was either hiding somewhere and unable to speak or actively using “Silent Movement”.
Wolf Leader closed her eyes momentarily and wished for a solution to drop into their lap before mentally moving on. Well, if wishes were fishes we’d all eat for free, but opportunities are made, she thought. With that, she made up her mind to do something that she’d hoped she wouldn’t have to do. Especially on their first mission.
“Wolf Two, what do you have for grenades?” she asked her XO.
“Two and Two,” he grumbled in reply. “I told you we should have loaded out heavier.”
Wolf Leader grimaced at Brunner’s response. Now wasn’t the time for his, I can do your job better than you, bullshit.
“That wasn’t the mission parameters, and you know that. Feel free to file your complaints when and if we make it back to base. Until then pay attention, I’m going to do the thing,”
“What thing? Wolf Two responded with more than a little irritation.
“Kuwait”
“Shit,” was his simple reply.
Peeking out of cover to get stock of the situation Wolf One quickly formulated a plan, but it was going to suck. “I hope this works,” she whispered to herself before keying the comms.
“Okay, we’re outnumbered, and we have limited cover and options. If we stay here like this we’re dead. It’s time to level the field. Wolves Four and Five I’m going to do something that’s classified, so I need you to listen and follow my instructions to the letter, and if something goes sideways listen to Wolf Two and Fox,” Wolf Leader said making sure to catch the eyes of her squad mates for emphasis.
“Roger,” came back quickly from Wolves Four and Five.
Wolves Three and Six, I know you’re watching and listening. I need you to stay put for your own safety no matter what you see. Especially you Three.”
Heidi acknowledged the instruction, but Alessa responded, “Captain I must object if you’re planning to do something that will endanger your life.”
“Noted, but I already ordered you to worry about Six, so let me worry about me,” she shot back to the Medical Sergeant. She didn’t mean to be quite that sharp to Alessa but what she was about to do had her on edge.
“Alright, here’s the plan. Wolves Four and Five are going to lay down covering fire for Wolf Two while he puts grenades on the approaches. Two will then follow that up with the flashbangs. When he does that I’m going to deploy my ability which is a gravity ability codenamed, “Event Horizon”. When I step out of cover, Four and Five you are to fall back to Three and Six, and whatever happens, you must stay behind me. Wolf Two will stay close in case I need help while Fox uses the distraction to find out if the mission is blown or not. We go on my mark,” Wolf Leader finished explaining to the team.
Captain Williams got into a ready position and tossed her weapon to Laurel since she wouldn’t be needing it which drew a questioning look from Wolf Five. To Laurel’s credit she clearly had questions but just picked up Wolf Leader’s weapon and slung it across her back before settling back into a covering position. Wolf Leader really didn’t want to use her ability, but they didn’t have much choice and it would solve their immediate issue.
Actually, Star would solve their immediate issue, so Wolf Leader grasped at one last straw. “Overwatch, status on Star,” she asked the RAID for an update on her direct comm channel. She knew she was delaying but if Star was available, it would be a better solution.
“Still engaged Wolf Leader,” Dreamboy replied over the comm channel. Wolf Leader swore silently.
Opening a comm line directly to Wolf Two and Fox, she spoke quickly, “Nick, if this goes sideways and I can’t control it… you need to incapacitate me. Do whatever you need to do if it looks like I can’t get it under control. Remember Kuwait and what happened before Fox was able to stop me? That can’t happen here. Save the team and the boy. You understand?”
“I understand Captain. I won’t let you down,” Brunner replied without any of his usual bluster. It seemed he understood the gravity of the situation.
Taking a deep breath, Wolf Leader changed back to the team channel and gave the order, “Mark.”
Wolves Four and Five immediately started putting burst fire down range on the enemy positions, followed quickly by Wolf Two putting grenades on approaches causing snow and debris to rain down over the area.
Chaos erupted as the enemy position struggled to sort itself out. Right then Brunner showed his skill with his weapon by putting back-to-back flashbangs on the positions deepening the chaos.
Wolf Leader waited for the second flashbang to go off before stepping out and striding toward the enemy as best she could through the snow. A familiar burning feeling started to build in her core. It felt like slowly opening the door to a room that was filled with electrical current. Her vision dimmed as the color drained from the world leaving everything in shades of grey tinged with gold. A feeling of both weightlessness and heaviness assailed her senses as she fought to hold herself together.
It built slowly as the air started to move toward Wolf Leader, then small objects, but soon her ability seemed to feed on itself as a disk of raw golden energy formed arcing and snapping around what resembled an accretion disk. Soon smoke and small objects were being pulled across the space toward the captain, only to be crushed into nothingness. Anything that made it to the disk was quickly crushed under the unyielding gravity of her “Event Horizon”.
Wolf Leader fully in the thrall of her ability floated off the ground arms spread as if in supplication to the awesome power swirling from and around her. Her eyes had turned pitch black, and a grimace of strain was etched across her face. She was losing the battle to control her ability.
The enemy forces were now being sucked toward the accretion disk only to simply vanish as they were crushed by the gravity created by her ability. Soon loose debris and pieces of the surrounding buildings were being sucked toward the Captain.
“Captain! Captain Williams! You’ve got to control it. Jasmine don’t make me do this!”
The voice hazily filtered through to Wolf Leader but it felt so very far away. It felt so good to not have control, to let go. Wolf Leader’s thoughts were foggy as the thrum of power surged through her. She knew there was something important that she was supposed to remember, but it eluded her.
★WOLF TWO★
Nick Brunner had seen Captain Williams use her ability only once before and it had been catastrophic. As he backed away to a safe distance and watched Captain Williams he drifted back to that mission. It was during a mission to suppress a band of rebels in Kuwait that had threatened a strategic oil field. Hound Unit had been called in because the rebels were more organized, possessing better equipment than usual, and the Kuwaiti government kept losing engagements. It was getting harder and harder to suppress that information, so they reached out to the US for assistance.
Of course, the government couldn’t turn down an ally requesting help in suppressing terrorist activity. That it also just happened to protect an important strategic resource was just a bonus. Hound Unit was assigned the mission of tracking and terminating the rebel faction.
When Fox finally tracked them down, they were set up in an abandoned oil field near a small village that had probably grown up around the oil field. It had ended up being a rough fight against an entrenched enemy who had home-field advantage and Hound would end up taking casualties as the engagement drug out over days.
Hound, like most modern special forces, was a mixed Human/Supernormal unit so Captain Williams's Supernormal status wasn’t a secret, but she never talked about it and seemed hell-bent on proving she didn’t need it. Brunner had never even seen her use it until that day when Hound ended up separated when the rebels collapsed part of the facilities.
The story went that Fox saved then Lieutenant Williams's life but was caught in the collapse. Alone and wounded the rebels found her and with little choice, she used her ability. Hound’s Commanding Officer at the time, Major Hanson, must have known about it because he pulled everyone back as soon as he realized what was happening. In the end, Lieutenant Williams destroyed most of the abandoned oil field and half the village.
Major Hanson was so spooked he had called in an airstrike on her position, but the gravitational energy or her “Event Horizon” caused the missiles to go haywire or to be sucked into her gravity field. There was a real fear that she would only stop by burning herself out. Fortunately for her, Fox had survived and used that creepy shadow ability of his to free himself and make his way back to her. He was somehow able to stop her and came walking out of the desert holding an unconscious Lieutenant Willams.
Fox and Jasmine had been friends before the incident but whatever happened caused them to become even closer afterward. Major Hanson knew what happened as well, but nobody would ever share and the specific details ended up being classified.
Seeing those golden energy whisps radiating off Captain Wiliams again caused a ball of dread to form in Chief Warrant Officer Brunner’s stomach as he looked on. All he knew was that they were on US soil, and he wouldn’t let what happened in Kuwait happen here regardless of whether Captain Williams had asked him to stop her or not.
More and more things were sucked in and vaporized as the pull continued to increase as the disc slowly grew in size. The bulk of the gravity was facing toward building twenty, but he could still feel it pulling at him from the edges and when he looked at Captain Williams she was fully engaged in her ability now, and frankly…it scared him.
Brunner was a big man at six foot-two but the power on display made him feel small and he didn’t like that feeling one bit. Captain Williams was showing no signs of stopping, floating in the air with her arms out to her sides like she was in worship to the energy around her, and even more distressing, her eyes had turned black and now looked blank and unseeing.
Brunner wasn’t one for introspection but having been squad mates for years together in their previous unit he felt he at least owed her a chance before making a decision. Doing his best to be heard over the sound of the wind generated by the gravimetric pull he yelled, “Captain! Captain Williams! You did it! You can stop now! Control it, Jasmine, don’t make me do this!”
Getting no response, he keyed his comm to Fox’s private channel. “I tried Fox, but I can’t let Kuwait happen again. Not on US soil,” Wolf Two said into the comm pickup while shouldering his weapon into a firing stance and fighting the gravity pulling at him.
Squeezing the trigger, he fired a burst of automatic fire at the captain before suddenly his world went white and then dark.
★WOLF UNIT★
Watching with wide eyes, Andre began retreating with Wolf Five to the building they had previously occupied as Captain Williams stepped out into the open unarmed and advanced on the enemy position.
It wasn’t apparent at first what she was doing, the only thing visible was some whisps of something that seemed to play tricks on your mind. By the time they had rejoined Wolves Three and Six, it was impossible to miss the golden ropes of energy now swirling around Captain Williams. Slowly she stopped moving forward and instead started to float above the ground with her arms out to her sides. A strong breeze started to pick up and swirl around the captain followed shortly by loose objects. It was an amazing sight.
Andre looked at Laurel eyes still wide and whispered, “Did you know she could do this?”
“Not a clue,” replied Laurel with her own wide eyes
“What about you Alessa, Heidi?” he asked the other two members of Wolf Unit present.
“All I know is that she is a Supernormal. The details are sealed, and now I know why,” added the Medical Sergeant.
“Well, I can guarantee I don’t know, but it’s not like I can see anything from down here either,” grumbled Wolf Six from her spot on the ground. “Help me up Alessa.”
Wolf Three helped the taller woman up and over to the wall while grumbling something about callsigns.
“Whoa,” exclaimed Heidi at the sight of Wolf Leader's ability. “No wonder they classified her ability. That’s nuts. Do you think Dani could stand up to that?”
“We might have to find out. I don’t think Wolf Leader has full control,” Laurel pointed out.
“What makes you say that,” asked Alessa with a raised eyebrow.
“That she’s leading a First Response Unit for one. With a destructive ability like that the government would have her hidden away in some black ops program if she could use it. Another is the fact she never uses it, or even alludes to it, on top of it being classified. Lastly, I overheard her ask Wolf Two to stop her before we retreated,” explained Laurel.
Alessa rolled her eyes good-naturedly before teasing Laurel, “Leave it up to the Intelligence Officer to pull out a completely plausible hypothesis during a firefight. Should we be concerned?”
“I think we should be…prepared,” Laurel answered hesitantly.
“Vous autres, it looks like things are getting serious,” Andre said, putting his attention back on the battlefield. As they watched, enemy troops started being sucked into the Captain’s Event Horizon and the wind noticeably picked up. “The roof fixtures are starting to move! Just how strong is her ability?”
Everyone looked on in amazement as the air vents and the HVAC units started to rock and shake before the gravitational pull slowly started dragging them across the space toward Wolf Leader. After about twenty yards the front end of one of the units started to lift off the ground before breaking free entirely only to slam into the accretion disk and be crushed into nothingness.
“Wolf Six, get ready to contact overwatch,” Laurel instructed Heidi, pragmatic as ever, as they watched.
“Roger”, replied Heidi who adjusted her AR glasses that would show her the data feeds and uplinks built into her communications gear. She opened the hidden panel on the underside of her left forearm that contained a mico-interface screen allowing her to access the suit's onboard computing features. As the Communications Sergeant for the unit, she had a more robust communications suite with extra communication features built in and if the unit hadn’t been rapidly deployed light in a stealth configuration, she would have had a large backpack that greatly expanded her communication capabilities.
“There it goes!” Andre called and pointed as the HVAC unit suddenly sailed across the distance between it and Wolf Leader only to be crushed into oblivion.
“Okay, that thing had to weigh in the tons. Six you’re on,” Laurel encouraged the Communications Sergeant.
Heidi’s hand flew across the screen built into her suit as she tried to establish a data link with Overwatch and the RAID. “There’s a lot of interference but, I think I got a data packet out that they can forward back to Headquarters.”
“Let’s hope so,” chimed in Alessa from where she was watching. “If this is going sideways, we’re going to need some direction.”
Suddenly they could faintly hear shouting from Wolf Two over the roar of the wind.
“Captain! Captain Williams! You did it! You can stop now! Control it, Jasmine, don’t make me do this!” Wolf Two was yelling at Wolf Leader.
Briefly Wolf Two looked like he was talking to someone over his comm channel before suddenly raising his weapon and firing directly at Wolf Leader.
Someone screamed and then everyone was blinded by a flash of light accompanied by a heavy boom, and an explosion of debris. When the snow started clearing aided by Wolf Leader’s ability, Wolf Two lay in a heap, and standing in a small crater seemingly unfazed by the power rippling from the gravity disc was a tall young woman with an athletic build, and golden blonde hair. She was wearing a uniform drenched in the colors of the United States flag with a dark blue cape ripping in the wind.
Star had arrived.