CHAPTER 36: The Raid
“Seriously? Kids?!” A large man in a suit, holding an assault rifle, and carrying a military like pack shouted at Ron and another policeman organizing things. The man was FBI Agent Silvo Smythe. When he had been introduced to the group, Tom had snickered and said, “That’s a villain name.”
“You said you were bringing experienced specialists, and you brought a bunch of tiny high schoolers? What were you thinking?” Smythe continued to shout. He then pointed to Brittney. “Did you just grab a couple of girls coming out of cheer practice?”
Adam mostly ignored him and looked around the group. It felt like a large group, but Adam knew it wasn’t. This was going to be a battle, and only having 35 inexperienced troops to join with his group was going to be more than a challenge. People were most likely going to die. Inside the blacked-out greenhouse could be thousands of elves, or more. They would be under fire as soon as they arrived.
His group had arrived in bunches, those with strength builds helping the police unload weighed down trucks. Unsure of what they would need, the police had decided to bring as much as possible. Most of it was focused on high power artillery and ways to protect the group. They had trolleys for moving the heavier gear once inside, and small wagons laden with food, in case they got bogged down once in the rift. Adam had brought his own bag of food and tossed it on top of a wagon since carrying it would be hard with how he moved.
“Hey, brat! I’m talking to you!” Smythe yelled at Adam, almost poking him. Adam stopped inspecting the group and turned to him.
“Sorry, Adam,” said Ron. “This is Agent Smythe from the FBI, along with his partner Jerry Gershner. Apparently, Agent Smythe doesn’t approve of bringing your group,” Ron added wryly.
Shaking Agent Gershner’s hand, Adam greeted him. “Good to meet you, Agent Gershner. Is this guy trying to test us or serious about what he says?”
“Don’t ignore me!” Smythe bellowed.
“Probably only a little of the first. He used to be in the military so he expects things to be a certain way. As for the second, I think he doubts the authenticity of your videos,” answered Gershner, also ignoring Smythe.
“Does he have a wife or kids?” asked Adam.
“What does that have to do with anything?” Smythe snarled.
“No wife or kids. Just a girlfriend,” answered Gershner with a sigh. “Why?”
Adam raised his voice so everyone could hear him. Quiet descended. “We already have a Meat Shield,” he said, earning William a pat from Tom, “so this guy’s name is now Cannon Fodder. If his voice gets us targeted or he causes trouble when we’re inside the greenhouse then hide behind him or throw him towards the enemy.”
“What the hell, you little twerp,” Smythe hissed as he reached for Adam’s neck. His hand didn’t make it that far as Adam snatched his assault rifle from him and caught his wrist. Smythe grunted as he tried to get his hand back. When he failed to, he snarled at Adam. “It’s a felony to take a federal agent’s weapon.”
“So I’ve heard. Brittney, this man needs a demonstration. Can you show him what our cheer practice is like?” Adam said.
Brittney walked over and looked up at the man towering over her. Brittney was barely 5 feet tall, and this man was probably 6 and a half. Ignoring that, Brittney reached up and grabbed the man’s shirt by the collar, and his pants at the belt. He was flung backwards, flipping over in the air, where he landed in the bed of a truck on top of stacked tarps and drop clothes, padding his landing enough to not get seriously hurt.
Jaws dropped all over those assembled. A show of their power from the smallest person seemed like a good demonstration to Adam, so he didn’t mind Smythe’s attitude. If it became more of a problem he’d just break Smythe’s legs and heal him later.
“I’m not sure what directions you have been given, Agent Gershner, but I would appreciate it if you follow our orders and not endanger people.” Adam then walked away to check out the equipment they brought, with Ron rushing to his side.
***
“This is what we came up with for your group,” Ron explained as they stood in front of the equipment. “Here we have some stronger body armor. It has three layers. Against the skin is Kevlar weave, then ballistics ceramic plating, followed by straight steel plates. Based on the strength your people showed we think they should be effective without preventing moving. We weren’t able to get one for Brittney, due to her size. For you, we also have some thicker steel plates attached to straps for you to put on your arms and legs.”
Adam inspected the armor, tested out the straps, and checked the weight. He pulled the overly thick body armor over his head and moved around with it, testing it. Then he put on the shin guards and wrist guards. They would do for now. “The upper leg and arms won’t work because the straps holding the armor aren’t flexible enough. The rest will do for now, thanks. We’ll need to find sturdier but thinner in the future, maybe with layered plates.”
Ron pointed to some very large and heavy flat shields. “These are actually bomb squad shields, meant to be carried by two people. The handles in the back aren’t close enough for a single arm so we weren’t sure it would work for you, so we only brought five of them. They're too heavy for any of our men to use. They're strong enough to take heavy artillery and medium powered explosions.”
This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.
Heaving up the shield with one hand, Adam was able to move it. As long as he kept a solid hold of it, it would work fine, but if he had to momentarily let go, then gravity would pull it away from him.
“Ok, I’ll use this shield, though I’m not sure it’ll work for the rest of my group. Is there a strap strong enough to tie it to my shoulder?” Adam was handed a long ratchet strap for securing truck cargo. It took a bit to cut it down so that he could loop it around his upper arm and through the second handle on the shield. It was not convenient, but it would probably stop anything the elves were shooting.
“We weren’t sure what to do for weapons. Our men are equipped with the strongest assault rifles we had, and they’re all trained on them. We’ll have to bring tons of ammo with us though, so boxes of it are loaded on those wagons and we’ll probably need to come out to resupply multiple times depending on the number of elves. We had no way to test in advance how they’ll do against the wind shields, but we’re hoping the increased power over the handguns our officers used before will be enough. Unfortunately, that means your group is still on its own for weapons. We did find some long hunting knives that should keep their edge better than your garden machetes.”
Adam strapped two of the knives to his own belt alongside his machete.
“Finally, we have some very heavy shielding. They are in a half circle, but large. It’ll take about three of your people to carry but it will give us a semi mobile shielding to shoot from while we change locations. Mobile being relative. Ultimately this is very far outside of our expertise. We wanted some military advisers, but things are as hectic and scattered for them since the [System] came as they are for us. We gathered twenty policeman willing to kill to level up and who had the temperament to follow your orders. The other fifteen are firemen who wanted to be a part of things, paramedics for medical support, and a few logistics officers to help carry our supplies. Then the two FBI agents. I’m not sure how they’ll do, but we had to let them in.”
Adam nodded in acknowledgement.
“Well, we call ourselves the Sentinel Army. Let’s see if we can be either Sentinels or an Army.”
Adam stood a bit off from the entrance to the greenhouse and Ron gathered everyone up. Lucas, Brittney, Nick, and Abbey stood near him. Once everyone was ready and holding the equipment they would carry, he addressed them.
“My name is Adam Clemens. You’ve all seen me from the news. I will be leading things. You can organize in groups, however overall orders will come from me and my team. Order priority is me, Lucas here, Brittney, and then Nick. If none of us are around or if all of us are dead, then run. Our biggest issue is a lack of intel. We have no idea what’s in this greenhouse or how large the space is. Once we step through it won’t be earth, it’ll be like a different world. We go slowly in the beginning to learn how things work there and then will adjust strategies based on that. If you are ever over classed or weaponless, then retreat. We won’t hold it against you. Keeping your lives is the most important thing, and you are responsible for your own. Since you are all level zero I do expect deaths, especially that of Cannon Fodder over there. I hope I’m wrong. Those who survive will be stronger.
“I will be going in first, my group will follow me with our mobile defenses. Drones and communications don’t work once we are in there yet assume the enemies know everything we are doing, since they do. Keep your head down and we’ll try to get you experience. If you have questions right now then ask Ron, because until we are on the other side of that gate we know nothing. Be ready to kill and defend yourself.”
There were a few normal questions that were asked about formations and equipment, which they would alter when they knew more. Once everyone was sorted out, Adam stood in front of the gate, awkward bomb squad shield covering his left side, sledgehammer on his right, three knives in his belt, and a drone in his arm to activate once through.
“You sure we can do this?” asked Lucas by his side. Adam looked directly in his eyes.
“We'll do this and more. It’ll be different than the goblins, but this is our world and people. We will protect it.”
Lucas nodded.
“I’m heading in, follow in the order we mentioned and if something goes wrong, get out and we can try again later,” Adam announced.
He stepped forward, put his hand against the black opening and stepped into it. Immediately after stepping through, Lucas reached out and stepped forward to follow. A solid wall of black prevented Lucas from moving forward. He stepped back and Brittney rushed forwards trying it.
“Damnit!” cursed Lucas.
“What’s wrong?” Ron asked, hurrying forward.
“It let the boss in but is blocking us,” said Tom, frowning.
“How do we get in then?” asked Ron.
“No idea,” said Lucas. “Bases need to fall, so there must be some way in. Maybe blow up the greenhouse or just keep hitting the barrier until it weakens?”
“Some specialists,” taunted Smythe as he came over, pushing his way through the confused crowd. Adam’s dad and Emily were also there trying to get to the front. “Now that the kid is done for maybe someone with real experience can take charge.”
Tom laughed, catching Smythe’s attention. “You know what makes us specialists?”
Smythe eyed Tom and then asked, “What?”
A small fist from in front of him flew into his gut, sinking deeply. Smythe couldn’t prevent himself from bending forward, and began vomiting blood as he felt more than one thing breaking inside of himself.
“You little, bi…” another punch caught him in the jaw, breaking it. He crumpled to the side as Brittney stepped back. Gershner rushed up to them.
“You can’t just assault a federal agent, or anyone really,” Gershner rushed out.
“I didn’t see an assault,” said Tom. “We were just demonstrating why we’re specialists. Do you want to question it too?”
“Uh, not as such, no,” answered Gershner.
“Good. Abbey, if you would please.”
Abbey stepped forward and touched Smythe while casting her heals. After thirty seconds he slowly stood up, glaring at them all. He opened his mouth to say something and Brittney immediately stepped towards him. His mouth snapped shut.
“There you go. He’s no worse for wear,” said Tom.
“As amazing as that healing was, should we not figure out how to save Mr. Clemens?” asked Gershner.
“Abbey, are you still connected to Adam?” asked Lucas.
“Connected?” Gershner looked confused.
“Yes. Adam keeps a mental connection with us so we can send certain feelings to each other. The connection is stronger with Abbey.” Lucas explained.
“He is concerned,” Abbey said.
“Well of course. He is in a place with no backup against an army,” said Gershner.
“And hungry,” continued Abbey.
“Nothing new there,” Emily said snarkily as she and her dad finally reached them.
“Oh sorry. That’s not quite it. He is concerned about getting hungry,” corrected Abbey.
“Then he isn’t concerned about the elves?” asked Gershner. Tom put his arm around the agent, who looked less than pleased about it.
“It’s the boss. He’s probably more concerned with us not getting the experience than the danger to himself,” quipped Tom. “And missing lunch.”