HUNTER-117
The rain beat down on Hunter 117 and his company. A hindrance, for most. For them? A blessing in disguise.
The thundering and roaring of the clouds, the harsh downpour; hid their approach to the location. Noise from the engines barely audible under the ambience. Truly, the Inquisition could not have picked a better day. Or, mayhaps, it was the blessing of their Goddess that accompanied them. Truly, a most benevolent Goddess.
“Elysium-2, confirm position.” The crackling of his radio, accompanied by the voice of Captain Price, their mission commander, brought him out of his reverie. A most untimely interruption. May their merciful Goddess forgive his insolence.
“Elysium-2, copies. We are in position. Waiting for your signal.” His response was curt and to the point.
“Affirmative, Elysium-2. Elysium-1, 3 and 4, are in position. Breach will occur in 2 minutes.”
Hunter 117 nodded. An unnecessary gesture but one far too ingrained within his psyche.
“Unit-731, place the charge. We're breaching in 2 minutes,” Unit-731 nodded. Hunter 117 would have preferred to have an all human squad. An affront as these robots were to their benevolent Goddess. Nevertheless, similar to each and every squad in the Inquisition, he had been assigned one. A most unwelcome addition. Only initially, however. The robot had proved its worth. Few could hope to reach its level of methodological thinking. Likewise, fewer robots could hope to exhibit the same human nature as exhibited by Unit-731.
He snapped out of his thoughts. Such mental ramblings, were unnecessary. And, in missions of this kind? A folly.
“Elysium company, prepare to breach.”
He nodded at his squad mates. He was rewarded by their nods.
He placed his finger atop the detonator. Waiting for the order. Adrenaline pumping through his veins.
“Elysium company, BREACH!”
The door blew off its hinges in a fiery inferno. The bombastic sound was inaudible, the booming of thunder having disguised it.
Inaudible, to some. For, he was sure that the individuals behind the door had heard it loud and clear.
Unit-731 hurried into the building, his gun already taking aim at a rebel hiding behind a pillar. Hunter 117 and the rest, followed suit.
“Intruders!! Sound the alarm-” The man's shouting, ended abruptly as Hunter 117 riddled him with bullets. The rebel’s subpar armor, incapable of protecting them from their plasma infused rounds.
Hunter 117 rushed up the stairs, where he shot the shouting man, and into a small room overlooking the hall into which they had breached into. The 2 rebels inside had been caught by surprise. Their last mistake. Even before their guns could take aim at him, they dropped dead onto the ground. Their green, the uniform color of the rebels, clothes turning crimson.
The room functioned as their communications array, evident by the communication relay hotwired into the dusty console. A most unsophisticated setup.
Dismissing his thoughts, he began to shut down all communications. The noises of the ensuing firefight serving as a sweet melody.
“The hall is cleared!” Hunter 117 nodded to Unit-731’s report as he stepped out of the communications room. The array was completely shut down. No messages were coming in nor going out. Except, theirs, ofcourse. The Inquisition used a different frequency. Their organization was not one run by fools, unlike the rebels.
“Alfred! Keep watch here. Me, Unit-731 and Isaah will be heading into the building proper!” He did not bother to wait for Alfred’s response; for he knew, it would be an affirmation.
The hallway was barren. Suspiciously so. Had he not known better, he would have taken it as a sign of abandonment. Unfortunately for the rebels, he knew better. A thousand thanks to the Goddess for her bestowal of knowledge upon him.
The hallway was not entirely empty, however. Littered throughout were wrappers of packaged foods. More alarming, however, were the ammunition crates dotted around. He had checked them for any ammunition. A waste of time for they were empty.
Although Unit-731 and Isaah were the quietest of the bunch, he could read them as clearly as he could read the Holy Commandments. They had reached the same conclusion as him. His hand twitched in righteous anger, clearly the rebels meant to taunt them, to discomfort them, to outsmart them. And, they succeeded. For the hastily vacated hallway could only point to one thing and one thing only.
Someone had alerted the rebels…
A traitor, he thought with a scowl. It left an extremely foul taste in his mouth, like that of a rancid egg. But the foul taste stood no comparison to the poison- Clarity that seeped into his mind. Clearly, the Goddess had brought him here for a reason. Truly, a most benevolent Goddess. He shall surely devote himself to her service once he found this traitor, that much he swears on her name.
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“Unit-731, head to the right. Isaah, you head up straight. I'll be taking the left. Good hunting.” His orders were met by nods and they set out to their tasks.
He traversed up the staircase, it was the only way forward from the left corridor, with measured steps. The closer he reached to the second floor, the more dense the silence became. He could hear nothing but his own breathing. It made him uneasy. Silence was never a good sign. Silence was a herald of death and ambush in the Inquisition.
He stepped through the doorway into the second floor. A bullet whizzed past his head. He jumped back into the cover of the doorway as bullets started raining at his position.
He waited with baited breath for the hail of bullets to cease. And, cease it did. He peeked through his cover and opened fire at the rebels. He kept up the firing until his gun was bled dry, at which point he hid behind the cover once more.
5…
4..
3..
2.
1
He took a sigh of relief and switched on thermal vision; no heat signatures, splendid. He switched it off and stepped out into the corridor. The three rebels lay dead in front of him. His Goddess had clearly blessed him with fortune and skill. Praise be to her name.
His thoughts were interrupted by the noises of a firefight. It sounded close by and thus, he sprinted towards the sounds, wishing to help his fellow comrades. As he made the turn into the other corridor, his eyes caught movement ahead of him.
“Chill out, cowboy. Wouldn't want an accident happening, now of all times, would you?” Standing across from him was Captain Price. A distinguished member of the Inquisition and also who, just happened to be his commander for today.
“The Goddess has not decreed your death to be, by my hands. And, thus, you live.” It was sheer luck and the Goddess’s blessings that he and Price had not opened fire at one another. For, if they had, it would have meant treason for whomsoever had remained standing. A certain death for both the victor and the vanquished.
Price scoffed, “Pah! You and your Goddess.”
“Is that heresy, that I hear, Captain?”
Price’s breath hitched for a moment before he replied with confidence, “No, not at all, Hunter 117. Merely an observation. A harmless one at that, no need to get your thoughts in a twist,” He nodded at the captain’s words. Inside however, he sneered at his false devotion. Ever the coward. His kind were unworthy of the blessing bestowed upon them. Were he given the chance, Hunter 117 would do what others struggled to; punish the cowards and non-believers.
“I had thought, you and your squad were meant to rendezvous with Elysium-4 downstairs,”
“We were, until I improvised.”
Price raised an eyebrow at his response, “Improvised?”
“Yes, the rest of my squad is downstairs. I reckon they must rendezvoused by now with Elysium-4. I, on the other hand, wished to clear the upstairs in order to prevent an ambush from descending upon us.”
“Is that the reason, you rushed here to my rescue?”
“Yes, I happened to be in the vicinity and thus, rushed to assist you.”
Price rolled his eyes. Ungrateful bastard. “Liar.”
“What?” Price dared call him a liar? Him?!
Price sighed, “Forget it. Follow me, we gotta clear the rest of this building.”
Price had barely begun to move and Hunter 117 gripped his arm. In Spite of his best attempts, he could not free himself from Hunter 117’s grip.
“The fuck, are you trying to do, Hunter?”
“I asked you a question, Captain. And I would like you to answer it.”
“Well, I have no interest in answering it. Now, let go. We must take care of that ambush, you're so afraid of, should we not?” He tightened his grip on Price's arm in response.
“There is no need. The Elysium Company is blessed sufficiently enough by our Goddess that they can handle themselves without me and you. Besides, I'm sure they've already dealt with the hostiles,”
Price clicked his tongue, “Fine, you really wanna know, what I was trying to say?” He nodded and Price continued with a condescending smirk, “You're a liar, 117. A bloody liar. You didn't wanna help me or whichever fool was stuck in that fucking firefight. No. All you wanted, was to kill some more bloody rebels. I am right, ain't I?”
At his silence, Price got up into his face, his green eyes staring at him. “I know you, Hunter 117. I know you, more than you even know yourself. I have read your file, Hunter,” He chuckled sardonically, “Or, should I call you Jo-”
His sentence was interrupted by a loud beeping sound coming from Hunter 117’s PDA.
“We'll continue this talk later, 117.” With that, Price walked away deeper into the hallways of the building. He clicked his tongue as he watched him go. The man had the gall to mock him. He would look forward to their talk. Even he could lambast people and Price seemed to have forgotten that.
He shook his head and accepted the communication ping coming from his PDA.
“High Command, this is Hunter 117, reporting for duty.”
“Hunter 117, you are to immediately abandon your mission and return post haste to ‘The Trident’,” Had he committed some mistake? Mayhaps Price had reported his improvising to High Command. He shook his head. No, that was too unlikely. Besides, it was unlike Price to report such incidences. He cared far too much about his reputation to do that.
“What of my squad?”
“Your squad will be incorporated into the Elysium Regiment. You may, however, return with Unit-731 at your side, if you so wish. The others remain with Elysium,” Hunter 117 was not one to abandon his missions. He had sworn an oath against such an act. A thousand apologies to the Goddess that he must violate this oath.
“Understood, High Command.”
The individual on the other side did not bother to grace him with a response. Instead, ceasing communication immediately.
Strange, he thought as he traced his steps back to where he had entered. It was an oddity for the Inquisition to recall someone like this. It must, certainly be an emergency then, for him to be recalled in such a manner.
With the thoughts of his recall put on the back burner, he went to fetch Unit-731 so as to depart immediately for The Trident.