The room was dark, and cluttered, and judging from the furniture, and decor it probably used to be a grand hotel. Now the rugs were worn, and dirty, and the new residents were rats, and insects.
Major Jean Russel was currently leading a group of men in green crisis suits up an old hotel, that has long since lost it's luster.
The target they were hunting was a member of the Advantis mercenary corps. Russel's men amounted to two hundred, they had spread out observing the battle field; trying too identify possible human targets for their mission.
Judging from the behavioral patterns of a specific target, they considered that the observation subject was a possible human member, and decided to perform capture operations. He didn't know the necessity for the capture, he just knew they were to take the target dead or alive, but preferably alive.
The target was sighted to be around the 20th floor, ten men were allocated to the roof, and slowly making their way down. The entrance was rigged so the target likely had been alerted. Ten men were posted outside in case the target decided to scale the walls, my men would push up, and eventually enclose the target.
Since five men lost their personal barriers they would bring up the rear while me, and four others would take the lead.
We had occasionally run into sensor traps, and trip wires, but they were easily dismantled. As we approached the 13th floor we noticed a shadow run into the reception area.
Immediately I gave the signal, and two men covered both sides of the entrance. Using mirrors we tried to locate any possible resistance, none were found after turning on thermal vision, we couldn't locate anything aside from some rodents.
Suddenly a shadow quickly ran into one of the rooms, we immediately opened fire, with non lethal rounds, it would break a few bones, but not kill the target.
After not receiving a response with a counter attack, we kicked in the door, threw a smoke bomb into the room, and let loose more gun fire, but immediately we heard a loud beep, after that a large fiery explosion occurred.
Three men were knocked aside but only suffered minor injuries as the armor, and barrier cushioned the force.
Jean looked around the room, the floor had been destroyed, and the beds charred, but no body or evidence of another person was visible, he muttered, "strange".
After that, he received a message from the roof team that they had encountered a target on the 28th floor, and suffered some injuries from an explosive sensor trap. Two people were slightly banged up but no fatalities.
"Strange, so there were more than one person in this building?" As they approached the stairs, four shots rang out, two people in the rear immediately collapsed, the people around the two collapsed bodies noticed some debris falling from the ceiling.
Someone shouted, "above!"
Immediately a stream of bullets shot towards the ceiling letting lose and explosion of metal, and smoke, the ceiling immediately started to collapse. As we dodged the debris we discovered no return fire, only a gaping hole in the ceiling, and the floating dust in the air.
Suddenly a small object rolled from the hole above, we immediately spread out for cover, with a loud bang one more person was struck to the ground with the kinetic force, but the barrier had absorbed most of the impact, and he was still safe.
At this point Jean decided to become more cautious, he ordered the men to spread out more, and shoot first; the moment anything suspicious showed up.
As we slowly reached the stairs, three men were ordered to watch the rear of the entrance, one person went ahead to look for traps, and the rest were on standby, and ready to provide cover fire.
I was at the stairs pointing my rifle at the entrance way to the 15th floor, immediately shots rang out from the people at the rear.
A persons shouted, "how did they get behind us? Did the ground team get annihilated?"
Jean shouted, "No! They didn't report any combat, the bastard must have sneaked behind us somehow!"
As they were focused on the rear, three more shots rang out, two people in the front immediately collapsed with holes sticking out from their helmets, and red liquid dripping out.
Russel immediately paid attention to the door, and let loose a stream of bullets, loud sounds of impacts could be heard as Jean fired on the door, and whoever was behind it.
Immediately Jean kicked down the door, and had his team mate cover his rear as he charged into the 15th floor. After shooting first at the hallway he immediately found cover behind a wall, no return fire could be heard.
Jean roared, "what the hell happened?"
The people at the rear explained, "we saw a shadow running to one of the sofas in the waiting room, and immediately fired, the strange thing was we didn't find any traces from the heat vision, or night vision, the figure completely disappeared."
"What the hell! Are we fighting a ghost!" Jean immediately called the people guarding the entrance, and ordered six people from the ground to slowly reach the 14th floor, and clear anyone that was hiding on the lower floors that they probably missed.
The other team members examined the fallen brethren, they could not be saved. Jean's grip formed a fist, as he exhaled, and opened up his balled hand.
Another strange point was how one of the people in the front died, he had his personal barrier on, how can so few shots penetrate the barrier so easily, and kill the target? The shot was from behind the door but so accurate.
The roof team slowly reached the 26th floor, they kept seeing a target but kept losing track of them a few minutes later.
The ground team had finally reached the 14th floor, and reunited with Jean's group, they reported no sighting of any hostiles, after scouring the floors.
Jean finally decided to advance, they reached the 17the floor, the floor was the typical hotel room lobby with massive a hall, and giant chandeliers on the ceiling.
Too bad the Chandeliers now look like graying mounds of dust, and the once white tiled floors now looked like dirty soil.
Jean ordered them to spread out, and search the rooms, eight people were spread out, and scanned the surroundings while four people checked the musty rooms.
Immediately a loud explosion could be heard from one of the rooms, a burst of gunfire, a loud electrical discharge flashed, illuminating the room, and after a few more bursts of gunfire before all sound died down.
Jean left three people to guard the rear, and the rest charged to the room, they found the corpses of four more members.
Jean grimly spoke, "they all had barriers, how can they all die so fast, before we even got here?"
Looking up, he saw a massive hole in the ceiling, with crumbling dust all around. Since he did not sense anyone exiting the room he guessed the target was on the 18th floor.
With an angry shout he ordered three people to guard that hole in case the target decided to slip past them as they climbed to the 18th floor.
Jean led the way reaching the stairway to the 18th floor, they saw a trip wire placed near the stairs, as two people went to disarm it, a single bullet was fired, the bullet exploded on impact, and caused the trap to set off, the kinetic force instantly killed the 2 soldiers who went to dis-arm it.
Enraged at seeing his friends, and comrades who survived so many battles together, die one after another, adrenaline, and blood rushed to his head.
Jean smashed into the 18th floor door, there he saw a lone figure, slim and slightly short. Since he had his barrier on he didn't need cover, he immediately started firing lethal bolts of lasers at the enemy.
The bonds of people who's very survival relied on their comrades on a daily basis was immense. The bonds they shared where their life could be lost at any moment, had made them brothers, the sense of camaraderie was deep.
The opponent was fast, and agile on an inhumane level, each laser fire was immediately dodged through rolls, and jumps, the bastard fired three shots at my head.
Jean immediately lowered his body, and dodged them, before continuously using rapid laser fire in suppression mode.
Before the operation, all of Jean's team took stimulants, and physical enhancing drugs, that improved brain functions, and boosted physical ability. However he was barely enough to keep up with the enemy.
Once again the opponent continued to shoot at his head with three more shots.
The first shot was coming in front of my helmet, it hit the barrier and was nullified, the second narrowly missed, as it almost hit the same spot and nearly went through the barrier as it was weakened.
Jean immediately threw out a grenade at the table in front of the target, The target jumped on the table, and leaped back, before firing 3 shots, once again Jean expected the shots to hit his head so leaned forward, immediately he noticed his body was losing balance.
He noticed two holes on the floor, "that bastard kept shooting at my head so I wouldn't notice the floor!"
As he was falling, two more shots rang out, the first shot hit the barrier, immediately after the second shot hit the same weakened spot, it passed the barrier, and slowly reached his skull.
Jeans life flashed before his eye, the battle fields where he relied on his friends, him being severely injured, and being carried away by a comrade. The beers they shared, the relief from surviving another war, the jokes they had, the same sorrow felt over fallen comrades, and the atrocities he was forced to commit in the name of his superiors.
This was supposed to be his last job, he would get an enormous commission after this mission, and retire.
He knew he wasn't a good man, he did many things that he could not be proud of, but even he had wanted happiness, even he had wanted a happy end.
But eventually he remembered the smile of his wife, how they first met, and how they had married, how he vowed he would retire, and get a safer job.
Tears formed on his face, he had yet to meet his unborn child, and his loving, and caring wife. Even in death he wished he could at least watch over them, the regrets he had, and the feelings he had, were overwhelming.
As the bullet smashed into his helmet, and approached between his eyes the only thing he could picture was his pregnant wife, her long graceful hair, her gentle brown eyes, and her tummy that contained another precious soul. His emotions burst forth like a tidal wave in his mind, he could only recall Shanon, and Sera. I love you, I love you, I love You.
Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.
*BANG* With a small explosion Jean's life ended on that day, the words left unsaid could no longer be delivered, and a small trail of red leaked from his forehead.
Gun fire streamed in to cover for Jean, the hostile immediately back tracked, and fired a few rounds instantly killing three more people who had no barriers.
Darren had been the first to witness the death of Jean, with a loud roar he charged in, but the target had already moved to the next floor, he took command and ordered everyone into the building, reinforcements also arrived, and were coming up.
Eventually the enemy would be surrounded at the 20th floor, the roof team is waiting on the 21st floor, and more people were coming in to stop possible escapes.
Meanwhile a slim figure could be seen near one of the windows on the 20th floor, the person was named Ciel. She had been waiting for a long time to drag in more soldiers, since she wanted to kill as much as possible. To avoid the danger reaching her sisters, and brothers.
She slowly blended into the shadows, and scaled down the building, her gloves, and shoes emitted a small pulse that allowed her to cling freely to the walls.
As she climbed down she noticed three people on the ground, she had emitted a slight silver sparkle, EMP(Electrical Magnetic Pulse) bullet, and 1 HE(Highly Explosive) round and 1 AP(armor piercing) ammo in each of her guns.
The EMP would dissipate the barrier for a few seconds, the HE would explode causing shock, and the AP would penetrate the armor, delivering the final blow if the HE didn't finish it.
With quick successive fire, two enemy soldiers fell immediately, the last tried to let loose a rain of bullets at her body, with a light side roll she fired at his legs, with the same three bullets. The soldier crumpled to the ground, and Ciel sent an AP bullet to his skull instantly killing him.
Ciel watched the 20th floor. She immediately pressed a remote controlled button, and with a loud explosion the building started to cave in on itself.
Three black orbs could be seen floating up to her, there were images of herself being projected under the orbs, with a light snap from her fingers the orbs entered the knapsack on her back.
"Guess I didn't need to call Leon for back up after all," as she looked into the sky a swarm of black steel could be seen covering the area, like a swarm of locusts. The mercenaries in the distance were slowly retreating, but would sooner or later be devoured by that metallic swarm.
If one were to describe Ciel, a sniper was not accurate, nor was calling her Gunner accurate, indeed if she was given a title Crafter would have been the most probable. Her ability was to craft/create firearms, and ammunition. In short she was a specialized crafter, if one were to be more precise she can be similar to a gunsmith.
Her gaming hobbies had led her to using firearms, her addiction towards crafting in role playing games had led her to create items. The blue prints were provided to her by the research and development section, but she had to analyze the design, and structure. She was excellent in math, excelled in map making, very good land navigation skills, and enjoyed shooting as a hobby. She had the makings of a loner, observant, and also very patient. These qualities made her ability suitable for sniping, and using various ranged weapons.
The psychological tests Saia provided shows her fit for the position.
The nano-machines(nanites) memorized the materials, and compounds for each ammunition, and weapon, and Ciel would be able to reproduce them at her will.
The more of a difference in mass of the object with what she already has on hand would be the amount of energy she is forced to use to 'craft', naturally if the materials are missing, and the nanites are forced recreate material, a larger amount of energy is used up. In the end its cheaper to carry guns, and bullets already on hand.
In terms of restrictions, the items must already have a working sample, she must thoroughly understand how the weapons work and the theories behind their creation. The materials must already exist and have been analyzed by Ciel, and finally Ciel must pick and choose what to memorize, as the amount of memory her nanites can store is limited. So she must pick, and choose what ammunition and weapons to memorize before a battle.
In short she couldn't create something with an effect that did not already exist. Currently her ability allowed for five weapon types (modes) and four ammunition types. Due to constantly carrying weapons, instead of crafting them, her evolution was at a lower level compared to the others combat type abilities.
As Ciel was about to leave, a red glint illuminated in the shadows, revealing a silver humanoid figure, with bladed arms, and legs.
"... A blade stalker; military grade, light class robotic soldier."
With a silver glint the android moved, releasing a high pitched screeching sound as a silver blur dove into Ciel. The small gun on her left, hand transformed into a thick shotgun leaking white light. She jumped backward while firing a single blast, the space between her and the bladed soldier exploded, sending her flying backward, and the blade stalker flying in the opposite direction.
The shotgun had a knock back effect, immediately the small arms in her right arm was now a rifle armed with EMP ammunition meant to dissipate energy, and shut down machines. A burst of fire, let loose streams of metal aiming at the human size robot. With a subtle beep the blade stalker continued charging forward, all the bullets were easily deflected by it's bladed limbs, sending the bullets smashing into the concrete, and nearby buildings.
Once again as she was about to send it back using the repel shot gun, the robot cut up the concrete launching it at Ciel, without even batting an eyelash she fired at the concrete storm, sending it back, as she was launched backwards a silver glint could be detected in the corner of her helmet.
The blade stalker had dodged to the side, and used the concrete bullets as a distractions, then it kicked itself from the nearby debris, and launched itself at her. The momentum was so fast, she did not have a chance to dodge and it was already beside her, so instead she dropped down on her back. As the figure launched passed her, a small tear was carved into her helmet almost reaching her flesh.
She bent her back on the ground, and kicked the creature upwards, with her reinforced suit helping her strength. The repel shotgun sent the creature flying higher into the air, and she felt her body smash into the ground from the impact, and recoil. As the metallic soldier was a few metres in the air, she let loose several EMP bullets directly into it's open joints, and limbs.
A terrific nova of static burst forth in mid air, as she rolled to the side, and moved away. The creature crashed unto the ground where Ciel had been, and a small grenade was tossed unto it's fallen body. The giant explosion sent metal fragments everywhere, as Ciel walked away, slowly blending into the darkness.
A few minutes later, a figure could be seen standing in front of the rubble, his body trembled, and his hands were holding unto his face, eventually he collapsed unto the ground.
The man was filled with grief, and anger.
Dark emotions started to seep into his heart, the world started to collapse, as these thoughts swirled into his mind, he muttered, "unforgivable, I wont accept this," he swore in his heart, that until he had to settle this debt, he would dye the world in blood.
Eventually an annoyed sound could be heard in his brain, "hey Leon get back to Galileo, Ciel told me she forgot to call you back, you are the last one here, idiot."
Leon crouched unto the ground from relief, after that his red face could be seen, as he slowly got up, he screamed, "Ciel you bitch!"
Meanwhile Saia had decoded the message, it was apparently a short exchange Elithas had planned to send to him a few days ago, in it were some vague details about how he created a key, the key was used to emit strange particles around the dome, eventually allowing it to travel into the rifts, and reach other worlds.
There used to be many experiments where they sent individuals to explore the rifts, however none came back, and it was only on an individual scale, never before had object the size of a dome been used as a subject.
Saia was now holding a second key in his hands. Elithas had left out the details on where he acquired the materials, and where he had gone these past ten years.
But now Saia was left with a dilemma, going to another world was without question an obvious choice, the problem was that the two keys were connected, if Advantis goes first then Galileo would lose the strange particles circulating the dome, and he did not know how long it would take for the particles to recreate in Galileo.
Elithas had specifically mentioned for Galileo to go to the other world, but did not mention the order of which went first. Saia decided he would go first, and let Galileo go second, the problem was he needed people to manage Galileo in his absence.
In short he would have to report back to Advantis, and hold a meeting for what to do next.
Meanwhile over 1000km's away in a giant floating metropolis, inside a towering building, located at the very top, was a glamorous room filled with richly adorned furniture, and paintings. There in that room lay a frightened young girl covering her naked body in sheets, with her messy long brown hair, and shivering uncontrollably.
On the floor was a man laying limply, and silently there, an expression of surprise, could be seen permanently etched on his face, and a long running red scar across his neck. A small pool had formed, and a figure could be seen standing alongside the corpse.
The figure was wearing a white mask, and a red uniform that belongs to workers in this hotel, the figure turned to stare at the young lady on the bed, and brought it's gloved fingers to the lips on the mask, indicating silence.
"He touched something that did not belong to him."
It was an androgynous voice, that did not sound feminine or masculine.
Instead of waiting for a response, the figure opened the door, and slowly walked out of the room. There in the hallway lay dozens of men collapsed on the floor, and red stains splattered across the walls.
A few days later, Saia brought Elithas' remains on a transport back to Advantis to meet with the others to decide the future.