Los Angeles, California. Morning. Venicia Luxury apartments.
The stark white rental van rolled slowly up to the gate of the high-rise. The luxurious seventeen story building had a commanding view of its surroundings. It's architecture was modern, consisting of rows of black glass with jagged outcroppings for its many balconies. ISR cyber support technicians, a world away on Salvo Island, hacked the buildings Wi-Fi connected systems, allowing them to gain access to most of the buildings infrastructure. They could not see inside individual apartments or access the electrical system, but they could scan hallways, unlock exterior doors, control cameras and even the building-wide ventilation system. So when the van pulled up all the bored security guard at the front desk saw, if he was paying attention, was a still screen. Such invasive cyber breaches were not desirable. They were hard to clean up and inevitably left many artifacts in the digital substrate; an experienced code monkey could easily identify that the system was breached in an investigation. Such was now considered an acceptable risk.
The van pulled into the entryway for the buildings underground parking garage. When prompted for the key code, the plain-clothes agent in the front seat used a forged copy of one of the tenants to gain access. Once inside, the van made for the silent and empty back of the lot, passing expensive Cadillac SUVs and executive cars as it did so. It backed in near to a service elevator. The rear doors opened and six Freikorpsman in full battle rattle stepped out into the dimly lit garage. They carried heavy sensor equipment for monitoring the cascade. Outside, a sniper team moved into position on an adjacent rooftop. Due to the target apartment being higher than any of its surroundings, the team did not have an optimal sightline.
The elevator doors were opened by the infiltrating team's "Guardian Angel" before they fully assembled. Walker, Kinger, three operators and a combat frame loaded into the elevator. The lift notably dipped when the heavy frame entered. An ISR agent in shades and a Hawaiian shirt was waiting for them inside.
"What do ya got for me?" Walker asked him, cradling a large drum-fed automatic shotgun.
The agent briefed him, "We're working a plan to get everyone out without local authorities becoming involved. Thankfully, the buildings not heavily occupied. There are 34 civilians still inside."
"Not good enough. Tell your guys to try harder." Walker chided him.
The agent was exasperated. "The cyber team is hacking phones and sending out bogus text messages, sending people on wild goose chases throughout the city. It's not working on all of them. One security guard remains. I have my own guy dressing up as a new hire to relieve him and send him home no questions asked."
"What about the target?"
"Top floor is cleared, you can move freely on that floor and the two below it. Risk of exposure to civilians is high if you go lower."
"Understood. OPFOR detected?"
"All clear outside the target area. Unknown within."
"Very well." The Lieutenant turned to his team. "We go in slow, set up the monitoring equipment, get a look at what's inside. Cascades are an ongoing ritual. That means there's something actively powering it. We find it, we destroy it. Any questions?" He was met with silence.
"Tooth and nail!" he said, motivated. The team repeated the phrase enthusiastically.
----------------------------------------
The elevator dinged and opened up to a wide carpeted hallway. The Rifle's proceeded slowly into the more brightly lit space. Their boots thumped lightly as they stalked down the hall towards the mayor's apartment. Within 20 feet of the door the point man's suit's Geiger-counter lit up. He called a halt with a raised fist. Two Rifle's kept their weapons levied at the door while the rest began setting up an array of sensors. Two Ultra-Wide Band radar dishes, the size of a folding chair, were set up; angled so they could scan inside of the apartment. Very carefully, an acoustic sensor was placed on the door itself by the combat frame. A thermal scope was set up further down the hall.
Perelli watched through their helmet cams from the rooftop outpost in downtown. He usually hated sitting out the action, but right now he didn't mind. He loathed CQC and was glad not be be in such a close space with so many corners. Through his HUD, he could switch between their camera feeds and the sensor network they had set up. The cascade appeared as a black circle with a fuzzy blue ring on the radar. He studied the data, not sure of what he was seeing. He was surprised to receive a transmission from his officer over a private channel.
"R1C, Walker, what do you make of this data?" The Lieutenant asked him.
Perelli was confused. "ISR can probably tell you more, sir." He told him, respectfully.
"I know. They said it's an active cascade. It's created by performing a ritual, but if the ritual is interrupted, it fizzles out. They said the wide-band radar shows it's stable, but I'm not detecting anyone, or thing, inside that apartment. I want your opinion. Give me it." Walker ordered.
Perelli licked his lips, unsure. "It's big. There's not a formal classification system for these things yet because we don't understand them. They're right about it being fed by something. The one we saw on Kotlin was small and it required the sacrifice of a human soul. Whatever is sustaining this one has to be big. I recommend waiting. Even a stable one fluctuates. When it does, we might be able to gleam some more data from it."
There was a pause, indicating Walker was pondering his analysis. He finally responded, "We can't wait all day. People will start coming back into the building and our person of interest has to come home at some point."
"Do something to agitate it." Perelli recommended with more confidence. "Flicker the lights, make some noise. Whatever's in there, if there's anything in there, it might respond."
"ISR said not to do that."
Perelli looked over his shoulder, making sure none of the agents were in ear shot. "Fuck ISR." He said plainly. He almost heard Walker snicker on the other end.
"I'll see what I can do." Walker said and signed off.
----------------------------------------------
"Sades? Sadie? Sadie!"
Sadie jolted upright in her seat, awoken from a deep sleep. Seeb was in the driver's seat next to her. The ambulance was rolling down the freeway through light midday traffic. She stretched, feeling like she had been hit by a truck.
Seeb looked at her incredulously. "Damn, I thought you would be on point today, but that's the third time. It's not even been a slow day."
"I'm ok. Do we have a call?" She asked him, worried.
"No. No, no, no. I was just a little worried. You were doubling over onto the dashboard." he told her. "you look like shit."
"I feel like shit." she groaned.
"You sure you're ok? I can drop you off and have someone else cover your shift?"
She considered his offer. She took in a deep breath through her nose. It immediately scrunched when it was overcome with the strong smell of metal, copper and an odd sweetness. It was the smell of blood, something she was plenty acquainted with. Except the cab never smelled like blood. It always smelled like sweat, and old Naugahyde. She realized it was coming from Seeb. He had a slight cut on his shoulder. It was tiny, barely noticeable, probably a simple accident jumping in and out of the back of the ambulance. The smell was overwhelmingly intoxicating. Her eyelids suddenly felt heavy. She was wracked by a stabbing headache.
"Sadie?" Seeb repeated himself. "What are you doing? You're leaning towards me now."
Sadie realized she was so fixated on the smell, that she had been subconsciously leaning towards him. "I'm fine." S
"You're not fine." Seeb insisted. "look at you, you're sweating."
"I told you, I'm fine."
"You're not." He began turning the wheel. "I'm taking you to the ER. You look like you're about to keel over."
"No, I need..." what did she need? She didn't know, she could only feel. Her hand lunged for the steering wheel.
---------------------------------------------
"This is immature." Kinger stated.
"This is science." Walker corrected her.
A Bluetooth speaker had been duct taped to the wall of the apartment next to the mayors. Loud heavy metal music was being blasted at full volume into the apartment. They weren't seeing anything new pop up on their sensors. Until suddenly...
"Aspect change on cascade!" Someone alerted the team, one of the ISR agents manning the remote TOC on a rooftop in downtown. The circular blue outline of the cascade was interrupted, as if something was blocking it, but it didn't stay still. It correlated with heavy footsteps being heard over the acoustic sensor. Walker and Kinger were trying to make heads or tails of the data when the drywall next to the speaker exploded inwards, creating a baseball sized hole. A skeletal fist was thrust through from the other side. The Freikorpsman watched, wordlessly, as the hand slowly rotated in an inhuman manner. It wrapped around the speaker and pulled it from the wall.
"One occupant confirmed inside. Humanoid. Odd, I see no heat sig." Someone reported.
"No shit, it's a fucking skeleton." Walker said, alarmed.
The hand crushed the speaker and the music stopped. The hand slowly retreated back through the hole.
"Confirm, only one?" Walker asked. He promptly received confirmation.
This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.
-----------------------------------------------------
"Stack up! Prepare to breach!" Walker ordered, but before anyone moved, he was interrupted by Perelli.
"No!" Perelli shouted into his mic. "Do not go in while the cascade is active. You'll be irradiated and have nothing to show for it." Ghost was telling Walker the same thing.
"Why not? We have decon equipment with the Foxhounds." Walker asked.
"That's not the power source." Perelli clarified. "If anything that's a guard."
"Ah, ha! So this is the frequency your using." Ghost butted in. The Swedish agent was glaring daggers at Perelli from across the TOC.
Perelli advised him, "Agent, we need to cast a wider net. That cascade must be of vital importance. We might have just sent these guys into a trap."
He glanced at the various consoles setup in his little command center. "My agents report no other threats in or around the building."
"Then it must be outside the building."
Having been quiet for most of the exchange, pondering his datapad, Inquisitor Stavros stepped in. "The Korpsman is right. Cascades are powered by souls. An undead, if we are to assume that skeleton is one, cannot provide the needed power for such a ritual. Only a sufficiently powerful vampire manipulating a human soul can."
"Roger," Walker acknowledged, but was eager to get on with it. He then proposed a plan. "There's still one OPFOR in that room. I'm gonna sic the frame on it. He should be able to handle it. Then we'll scour the place."
"Roger," Stavros agreed with Walker, then turned to Ghost. "Send your agents. Kidnap the mayor and interrogate him. He has to know something."
---------------------------------------------------------
"You're up." Walker told the hulking frame, which toted its own HR-15. "Enter and terminate all hostiles with extreme prejudice."
"Roger." It responded in monotone.
"Go get'em, Bush!" One of the Rifle's encouraged the bot, using it's nickname.
Bush was a quirky Kilo-class. His squad had named him such after a humorous misunderstanding during a training exercise. "We Love Bush" was inscribed on his left breastplate. Instead of busting down the door or using a breaching charge, the frame squared up with the door and raised a robotic hand to the doorknob. With an intense burst of strength, the frame struck the knob with its fist and the knob was blown clear of its mount and into the apartment. The frame then opened the door, entered, and politely closed it behind him. Bush came face-to-face with a similarly sized skeleton warrior.
From outside, the Rifle's could hear the muffled, but furious fighting.
---------------------------------------------------------
Inazumi-Gumi headquarters.
Vespera lounged in her office chair. Commanding mortals was fun. A little show of force and they cowed like the insects they were. The entirety of the Gumi was wrapped around ehr finger and large swaths of rival gangs now bowed to her as well. Everything was going according to plan. In fact, she was several days ahead of schedule. Suddenly, she shot upright and shared a knowing look with her skeletal guard.
"It would seem our plans must be accelerated." She told it. "Get me Ren."
-----------------------------------------------------------
The Yakuza lieutenant bowed deeply before the callous vampire. Vespera appraised the young gangster. He wore simple, inexpensive, clothes. Despite his visible lack of stature, he was one of the Oyabun's protégés. Vespera had tapped him to become one of her thralls, something that had driven a wedge between him and his Oyabun. She liked the youngster. He had all of his teacher's business acumen, but had a much heavier hand in suppressing dissent and enacting the gang's will. And he was very eager to please to boot. Technically, as an executor, she couldn't take her own thralls without her queen's permission. But this would be her own little secret.
Vespera let silence hang for several seconds before starting the conversation. "How is your relationship with your Oyabun, Mister Ren?"
"Not well." He answered tepidly. "I believe he thinks I have come to overshadow him and will replace him."
"Do you truly believe that?" Vespera asked him, already knowing his answer.
"I believe he lacks... ambition." he sidestepped the question, but only barely.
Vespera decided to cut right to the point. "Then it is time, Mister Ren." He looked at her inquisitively. "For the changing of the guard. Out with the old and in with the new."
Ren knew what she was implying. He did not want to acknowledge it. "I do not understand."
"Oyabun Takeshi is plotting against the interests of the Gumi." she told him. "I want you to replace him."
"That would mean..."
"Yes, you will kill him and you will bring me his head."
There was a pregnant silence as Ren processed what she was asking. Finally, he snapped into a deep bow. "It will be done."
"And I have two other taskings for you... Oyabun." Vespera sensed his heart flutter when she called him that. "Send a message to our friends off shore. Tell them... it is time." Ren nodded. Vespera continued. "And send a general order to our soldiers. Drop the mask, engage at will. I want this entire city to be under our thumb by nightfall."
"What of the police?" Ren asked, perturbed by her order.
"They will not be a problem. In fact, they will help you. Just stay clear of them. The other gangs will be fighting you AND them."
"About that." Ren interjected. "The families have asked us to come to the negotiating table. I believe they are asking for a ceasefire."
Vespera's nose scrunched. "I am not interested in a ceasefire. I am interested in domination. I will let you handle the matter as you see fit. Just make sure they die."
"Yes, master."
After her thrall left, the warehouse quickly emptied out as the Ishizumi-Gumi went to war. Vespera stood up from her desk. The skeleton awaited its master's orders.
"We have an errand to run."
-----------------------------------------------------------------
150 miles offshore of Los Angeles California.
A lonesome ship, bobbed in a stationary position outside of any nearby shipping lanes. Its unique twin-hull was not evident to any that saw it. Large metal plates had been welded on all over, and the hull repainted to a light blue to make the ship look like a cargo freighter. The ship broadcasted on AIS, identifying it as the MV Tortuga, a spanish flagged bulk carrier. In actuality, it was the former Russian rescue ship, the Kommuna.
Svetlana entered the foreman's office, its large glass window overlooking the valley that ran down the center of the ship. A deep-diving submersible was in the process of being craned out of the water. Dmitry stood silently, watching the evolution take place.
"Send them back down." She told him. Dmitry's head snapped left to look over his shoulder at her, in reaction to her sudden change in orders, an eyebrow cocked upwards.
"The time table has been moved up. The Vanguard is in Los Angeles." She told him.
Dmitry sighed.
"Never the matter. This one we can control. Awaken it."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sadie realized she had fallen asleep again as soon as she woke up. Except she didn't fall asleep. She had blacked out. She was covered in broken glass. The ambulance wasn't moving anymore. In pain, she leaned back in her seat. Her head had hit the dash, hard. The ambulance wasn't on the highway anymore. It was leaning left, both tires on that side being flat. The front end was smashed in. Smoke and steam poured from the engine bay. The frame sagged from heavy damage. They had crashed. The crumpled ambo stopped after hitting a concrete barrier outside of an apartment complex.
"Seeb?" She called out. Nothing. The driver's side door had been torn away. There was somebody laying on the pavement outside. She realized it was her partner. "Seeb!"
She crawled out onto the pavement. Her legs were week. She crawled next to him. He was beaten and bloody. A large metal rod was thrust into his side.
"Seeb, what happened!?" She asked, panicking.
He responded weakly. "We ran off the road. The ambo plunged off the side of the bridge."
"What? How?" She did her best to apply pressure to the wound, looking around frantically for her kit. His wound was bad, blood gushed from a ruptured artery.
"It was you."
"What?" She was stunned.
Seeb was coughing up blood. "You grabbed the wheel. Tried to fight me for it. Like you were possessed."
"That can't be right.-hey-Stay with me." She said. Seeb was fading in and out.
There was a crowd of onlookers gathering around, some recorded on phones. Several men emerged from the crowd, one wearing a security guard's uniform, another in a Hawaiian shirt. The security guard had a radio on his hip. She heard a strange broadcast as he moved in to help. "Help the EMTs, but make sure that crowd stays back." followed by a long period of static. "We're suppressing 9-1-1 calls. Just what we need, an ambulance crashing into the target building." She looked up at the luxury high-rise. She couldn't quite put her finger on it, but it had an evil air about it. She had never used that word to describe anything in her life. But it was what she felt.
One of the men pulled her off of Seeb. She fought him, trying to do anything to help her friend. The day had started so well. The other immediately moved in with a medical kit. The one holding her back had a hard time restraining her. She displayed surprising strength, pulling against him hard enough that he had to brace himself to stop her. She looked up at the building. Despite its ominous aura, it was calling to her. She had never felt so strongly. Her emotions and adrenaline were running high. She took one last look at Seeb lying on the ground and wrenched herself free from the man's grasp. He tried to grab her, but she was too fast. The paramedic ran into the building.
The building was eerily empty. The elevator wasn't working so she took the stairs, ascending them faster than her normal physiology would have allowed. The bloody paramedic arrived on the top floor, coming face-to-face with several armed and armored men. They just stared at each other.
Perelli saw her through the thermal scope. Her body temperature wasn't ice cold, but it was far colder than would be survivable for a normal human.
Walker was conversing with the Inquisitor when the intruder arrived. She looked traumatized. Blood coated her hands and she had a wild look in her eyes. He was at a loss for words.
"TOC, please advise." He asked over comms. Two of his men covered the woman with their HR-15s. Red laser dots appeared on her head and torso.
"Restrain her. She's in shock." Ghost casually told him. Walker would chew him out later for letting someone access the building and make it all the way up top without being intercepted by one of his agents.
"Wait." Perelli countered. "Something's off. Look at the cascade."
They all looked at the data feed. The circular anomaly was warping oddly. Ripples appeared along its edge. Perelli retriangulated the data and observed that it was changing. The cascade had turned on its Y-axis and was now facing in the direction of the strange woman, as if it could sense her. His eyes widened as realization dawned. "It's her!" he exclaimed. "She's the power source."
"How is that possible?" Stavros said.
"I don't know. I can't explain it." Perelli said, "But the aspect changed when she got there. It's her. Do NOT let her near the target area." he cautioned.
Walker held up a palm towards her. "Ma'am, don't move." He said, authoritatively. Then he told the others over comms, "Her eyes keep darting right. I think she knows what's going on."
Sadie told them, "My friend is dying. He needs help." her voice was distant and inhumanly warped. It dripped with anguished emotion.
"We understand." Walker said, slowly approaching her. "We have people helping him."
"You can't save him."
"Yes we can." Walker didn't know the fine details of the situation outside. He chose to lie to keep her calm. "What's your name?" She was uneasy and frequently looking between him and in the direction of the cascade. "Focus on me." he told her.
"Sadie."
Walker double checked to make sure his helmet was filtering his voice so that his next transmission couldn't be heard by the woman. "What do I do with her? Advise."
Perelli looked at Ghost. He could tell what the ISR agent was thinking, but couldn't give the order. He nodded to the agent, indicating that he agreed.
Using impersonal language, Ghost told Walker, "Terminate the subject."
They all watched with bated breath. The woman was clearly scared and falling apart. When Walker took a step towards her, she took a step back. Realizing how threatening he looked, Walker stopped and lifted his faceplate, showing his pale human face. Cautiously, he approached her. "Ma'am, I need you to do what I say. For your safety, please turn around." She looked familiar. He swore he had seen her face before. He realized it wasn't in this lifetime. She looked just like a young settler girl he had met so long ago. Back on the open plains of Texas in the small boomtown of Gonzales.
"Lieutenant, what are you doing?" Ghost asked him.
"I want to detain her." He argued with the agent. "She's scared."
"She's a threat."
"I'm going to cuff her." Walker said firmly, ending the discussion.
Behind him, Kinger was in the hallway with the rest of the Rifle's, peering down their sights at the paramedic. She chanced a private transmission with Perelli. "R1C, talk to me. Is the El-Tee doing the right thing?" She asked.
"No. He needs to kill her." Perelli said coldly.
"Copy." Kinger clicked off and peered down her HR-15's sights. She had a good angle. Walker was a big man and took up most of the hall. She'd have to send her round dangerously close by to the officer's head to get the girl. She held her breath and pulled the trigger.
The fin-stabilized armor penetrator ripped down the hallway. It passed inches to the right of Walker's head. It would have hit Sadie right between the eyes. Instead, it came to a sudden stop, just inches from her gaunt face. The six Freikorpsman watched in astonishment as the bullet's kinetic energy dissipated. It floated motionlessly, hanging in mid-air. Then it flipped about on it's axis, pointing right back at Kinger.