Gideon came down on his knee hard, hands in front to brace himself. He slowly looked up at the asshole who had cold-cocked him. A trickle of blood ran from his nose and down over his lip. His tongue slid out and over his lip, licking the blood, enjoying the coppery taste.
Gideon gave the man a very dangerous grin.
"That was a mistake mate," he said in a low voice, slowly rising to his feet.
The other man, who seconds before had felt like a badass, took in Gideon's feral grin and the lethal manner in which he stood back up, and when Gideon's eyes shifted from blue to something he couldn't quite put his finger on, he literally pissed himself.
Before he could register the movement, the man looked down to see that his throat had been ripped out, Gideon was now behind him, one hand on his jaw holding his head up slightly.
"And it was also your last mistake."
Gideon threw the lifeless body onto the floor in disgust, and wiped the blood from his mouth as his fangs retreated.
He looked over at Mitchell and spat. "Fucker tastes bad as well."
Mitchell laughed at that and leaned down to pick up Gideon's weapon that had dropped when he'd been surprised by the other man and smacked.
Handing it back to Gideon, he remarked, "I still don't know how you didn't hear him coming up on you."
Gideon shrugged, taking his weapon from Mitchell. "Guess I'm not as focused as I should be eh?" He slapped Mitchell on the back and started moving again.
"Come on kid, let's get this done."
The two men continued down the corridor, searching out their prey. Gideon checked in with the rest of his team for updates, and other than dealing with occasional guards here and there, all sides were moving in on the target on schedule.
Gideon's ear com buzzed with an update.
"Alpha two-one, target is located in a conference room, 30 feet ahead on your three."
"Copy that Prophet, moving in." Gideon relayed the information to the rest of the team and he and Mitchell moved in to just outside the room.
Mitchell closed his eyes, focusing his hearing on the room.
"Target is in there. I can hear him talking. Sounds like four, no wait, possibly six, others. Two may be stationary, north corners. Three others moving around slightly."
Gideon spoke into his com, readying his team. "Alpha team, target is confirmed. Possibly 5 additional tangos. We move on my mark. Make sure to keep target alive."
Checking his weapon and that Mitchell was ready, he spoke into his com once more.
"Go,go,go!"
Gideon and Mitchell burst through the door as the rest of Alpha team burst in through the windows, guns firing. Mitchell placed a round in between the eyes of the person closest to him before he was even able to raise his weapon. Gideon had made his way over to the target and used the butt of his weapon to cuff him up against the side of his head, knocking him out and then securing his hands with a zip tie. A quick glance around showed all hostiles were dead.
"I don't like this," Gideon said, "This was far too easy."
The rest of his team seemed to concur. Even with the hostiles on the ground dead, and their target secured, Alpha team was still very much on edge.
Gideon let his senses roam, trying to pick up on any threats, but was coming up with nothing.
"OK everyone, let's move, but keep your heads on a swivel. Joker, bag our target and haul him out of here."
"You got it boss," Joker replied as he walked over and with no trouble grabbed the target and threw him over his shoulder.
Alpha team made their way back out of the conference room, Mitchell and Torres on point, Joker in the middle surrounded by other two other Alphas, and Gideon watching their rear. Gideon radioed in to let Prophet know they had their target and were heading back out.
As they crept along, Gideon noticed Mitchell and Torres scenting the air, their heads up slightly, nostrils flared. He sniffed, getting the scent of something so faint he almost didn't smell it.
"Mitchell, can you identify it?" Gideon asked, referring to the scent. Mitchell put his hand up in the sign for the group to stop. Looking over at Torres and getting a slight shake of the head, Mitchell turned to Gideon.
"No, there's something there. But I can't pinpoint what it is." Gideon nodded, "Yeah, me either. Let's keep going but I just have a sense all hell is about to break loose."
They kept going, turning a corner and after a few feet Joker cried out and dropped their target.
"Shit, HITs, everyone DOWN!" Joker yelled, throwing himself down on top of their target and dragging Ronin, a member of the team, with him. At the same time Gideon was screaming to initiate their exo-shields.
A split second later a thermobaric bomb exploded, the blast wave screaming down the corridor they were in, the air igniting. Furniture, plants, artwork on the walls, everything was incinerated. Mitchell could feel the pressure on his lungs and the intense heat flowing over him. The only thing protecting him from instant death was his exo-shield.
When it was finally over, Mitchell and other members of the team threw off the melted remnants of their shields and stood up. They immediately put on their balaclavas and goggles to protect their faces and lungs from the remaining heat, ash and soot. Pushing his shield off, Gideon stood up and took stock of their situation. Joker was getting up off of their target and checking his pulse. He nodded to confirm to Gideon he was still alive. Gideon looked over at the charred pile of ash and twisted, melted exo-suit that had been one of his men.
"Johnson, sir. Didn't get his shield up fast enough," Torres said.
Fucking hell, Gideon thought. Gideon called in to his com to Prophet, but received only static. The blast had knocked out their com systems.
"Ok men, we're on our own. We need to hightail it out of here on the double before we get an encore performance. Who still has functioning weapons?"
Everyone looked around. Most of their weapons had been incinerated. Everyone still had their side arms since they had been holstered and therefore protected by their shields. Joker and Torres were the only ones to have assault rifles as they had managed to fall on top of them.
"OK, Mitchell, you take our target. Joker and Torres up front. Ronin with me and stay tight." Gideon instructed.
Taking their positions and after Mitchell hoisted their target up, they began to make their way out. It was only a few minutes when the team began to notice the effect of the blast on them. Everyone was coughing, wiping their eyes. The adrenaline rush of the blast was wearing off. Mitchell stumbled with the body over his shoulder when Gideon suddenly grabbed him and told his team to stop.
"Fuck me, Mitchell, didn't you notice this?" He pulled their target off his shoulders, then reached down to Mitchell's side, right above his hip bone. A piece of metal, possibly from Johnson's exo-suit, was imbedded in his side. Mitchell hadn't, and until it was pointed out, hadn't felt a thing. Now of course the pain hit.
"Shit," he breathed. "Why is it always me that gets hit," he groused. Mitchell's head shot up and just as he said "Gideon!" Joker and Torres also yelled.
"We have incoming tangos!"
Mitchell dragged the target's body over to some cover then moved into it as well. Pulling out his side arm he chambered a round and waited. It was only a second before a threat grenade was thrown their way, lighting them up.
The fire fight started, each side trying their hardest to pick off the other. Mitchell fired, taking out two of the enemy. Gideon was on the opposite side of the hall in a little alcove similar to Mitchell's. He was looking for a way to move positions.
"We need to flank them somehow," he said to Mitchell, trying to find the opening he needed. "How are you on ammo?"
Mitchell checked his gun and his belt. "I've got 6 six rounds left and one clip."
"OK, make your shots count. I'm out completely." Gideon stood up and with two good kicks busted through the door in his alcove.
Mitchell looked at him. "What the hell are you doing? You can't flank them without a weapon," Mitchell hissed at him. Gideon checked the room then came back out into the alcove.
"I have my knife and one contact grenade. There's a window in that room that over-looks that central area we're getting hit from. If I can get out the window and up a level, I can drop down on one of them and take his weapon."
Mitchell just shook his head. "You're fucking nuts man. Don't get yourself killed, I don't want to deal with the Boss if you do."
Gideon winked at him as if to say, 'who me? Get killed? Naw'. And with that he moved into the other room. Mitchell turned back to the fighting. He could see the enemy moving positions and getting closer, but there wasn't a whole hell of a lot they could do except hopefully pick them off as they got closer. One of them stood up suddenly, closer than Mitchell expected and lobbed a frag grenade towards them. Torres tried to grab it and throw it back but wasn't fast enough as it exploded and he was riddled with shrapnel. He cried out in pain as he moved back into cover. "Mother fucker!" He yelled. Any other normal person and he would've been blown to bits. But as it was, Mitchell knew he had to be in severe pain.
"Torres, you good man?" He yelled.
"Yeah, fucking perfect," he yelled back. He was bleeding profusely from all of the open wounds.
Mitchell heard the window from the other room shatter and figured Gideon was making his move, so he trained his sights on the enemy and waited for someone to poke their head up so he could put a hole in it.
Gideon had shattered the window with one blow of his arm. Having meta-human strength was handy. The trick now was to get out and up without being picked off. He sat up on the edge, using the wall for coverage to try and get a look out. He could see some of the enemy. The problem was the ones he couldn't see. He'd have to be damn fast he thought. As much as he hated to waste it, he figured his grenade could be used as a diversion to give him time to get out of the window. He pulled it out of his belt and pulled the pin, waiting a beat before throwing it into an area that he knew at least one tango was in. The second it detonated he jumped up and out of the window, then turned on his heel to face the wall and jumped, higher than any normal person should be able to jump. As he caught the ledge someone had spotted him and opened fire and he caught a couple of rounds in his leg. Hissing in pain he flung himself over the ledge and hunkered down. The rounds had gone through the leg entirely, and the wound had already begun to heal itself.
He army crawled over to his left to try and get above one tango. Looking through the floor grating he could see it was a lone enemy. Perfect. He got up into a squat, trying to stay behind the cover of the rail, and then launched himself up and over, coming down on top of the enemy and with one swift moved snapped his neck so hard he partially decapitated him. He squatted back down and grabbed the dead man's rifle. Almost a full clip already loaded, two more clips on the man's vest. Gideon got in position and sighted down the barrel locating enemy targets. He was able to kill three from this position. He found another lone enemy and crawled out of his spot, sticking behind cover as much as he could, and made his way over. One quick shot and the man was dead. He slithered into his spot and took inventory. Two rifles and 6 clips, jack pot. From here he could see Joker so he whistled at him. Joker looked his way and Gideon caught his eye. Joker grinned at him when Gideon held up the barrel of the rifle to show him and made a throwing movement, letting Joker know what he was about to do. Using his fingers he counted down from three and launched the first rifle towards Joker. It hit the floor and slid right up to him, Joker didn't even have to lean out to get it. Whistling again Gideon showed the second rifle and the clips, and on three the clips went sailing over, one by one. Most made it fairly close to him, one bounced off the wrong way. Gideon then launched the second rifle which unfortunately did not end up near any of his men, let alone Joker.
Using hand signals Gideon indicated he would lay down cover fire so Joker could get the rifle. Gideon opened fire, spraying the area while Joker squirted out, flinging himself across the corridor and swiping the rifle on the way. Once he was covered he threw the rifle to Mitchell and then squirted back to his original spot, picking up the original rifle Gideon threw him and threw it Ronin, one of the other members of Alpha.
His men were now armed with something more useful than a side arm and they began to use them, all but Torres. Gideon couldn't really see him, just a sliver of his side. Slight movements told Gideon he was alive, but not able to fight.
Gideon began to work his way through the cover and saw Joker and Ronin doing the same. Mitchell held back with the target. As Gideon and his men converged on the enemy the fire fight seemed to pick up in intensity. Bullets were firing everywhere but thankfully no Alphas were being hit. Gideon could feel his blood lust starting to rise and felt his fangs appear. Spotting Ronin, he could see he was already well into his lust. He was able to make eye contact with Ronin and then managed to army crawl his way over to his hiding spot.
"Ronin, we need at least one tango left alive. Torres will need to feed so he can heal."
Ronin nodded at him, "Copy that."
Suddenly one of the enemy jumped over the container they were hiding in and landed on top of Ronin. Before he could fire Gideon had wrenched his weapon out of his hand and wrapped an arm around the man's neck, putting him into a choke hold and slowly depriving him of air. Ronin had grabbed his feet to keep the man from kicking him out into the open, and let go only when the man slumped over, unconscious.
"Well looky there boss, you ordered food, it was delivered," he snorted. Gideon looked around but there was no way to really secure him to anything to prevent him from escaping if he woke before they were ready for him, so he just had to hope he stayed down until their situation was secured.
"Let's end this. I want to get out of here," Gideon muttered.
Suddenly a threat grenade exploded and lit the room up. Gideon guessed it must have come from Joker because of where it went off. The remaining enemy were highlighted and the three Alpha members methodically took them out.
After it was finally over Joker found Gideon and Ronin picking up the unconscious enemy.
"Come on let's move back to where Mitchell and Torres are, quickly."
They dragged the body back to where it had all started and dumped him near Torres. Mitchell had at some point dragged the target over to where Torres was, and they found Mitchell slumped against the wall. He was bleeding even worse from his side wound, and his wrist had been split open.
"Mitchell what the hell man," Joker said. "Did you feed him in your state?"
Mitchell just nodded. "He…was..losing…he needed…food," he rasped out. Mitchell had fed Torres to keep him from dying, but in the process almost killed himself.
"Fuck Jack, you almost gave too much kid," Gideon whispered too him, pulling him over to him. Gideon looked over to see Joker had sliced open one wrist on the enemy and held it to Torres's mouth, trying to get him to feed. They wouldn't be able to completely heal him until they could get the shrapnel out, but they could at least get him back on his feet.
Turning back to Mitchell, he saw how pale he was from blood loss. He pulled out the fabric of his shirt and began to work out the piece of metal in his side. It was a lot larger than he had first thought. Mitchell squirmed in pain but said nothing as it was finally removed. Gideon used a fang to slice the vein on his wrist and held it up to Mitchell, cradling his head to him.
"Come on kid, drink."
Mitchell's eye began to swirl, going from the normal shade of blue to a blue so intense they glowed, and when his fangs slid out he grabbed on to Gideon's wrist and drank. As he drank the bleeding from his side began to slow. Gideon pulled up the fabric and confirmed that the wound was beginning to heal over.
"That's it, a bit more kid," Gideon whispered, still cradling Mitchell's head to his chest. Mitchell, sensing he had taken enough from Gideon let go of his arm and let his head fall back. Gideon wiped his mouth off for him and then his own wrist, which had already healed over. Mitchell looked over towards Torres.
"He gonna be ok Gid?"
Gideon looked over and saw they had split the other wrist open and were holding it to Torres, and the owner of that wrist had woken to find himself being sucked dry. Ronin had a hold of him in a vice-like grip while Joker held the arm steady. As he bled out they could see a bit more movement from Torres. Once dead they threw the body away from them.
Joker looked up at Gideon. "He's gonna need at least another round boss."
Gideon patted Mitchell's leg and stood up. Mitchell would need only a few minutes to finish healing and he would be back to fighting strength.
Torres was conscious, but would have a tough time walking without more to feed on. He was still bleeding from the multiple wounds.
Joker walked over to him and said, "Had Mitchell not fed him he may not have made it. Is he ok?"
Gideon nodded back, "Yeah he's fine. He fed from me, he'll be back to 100% any minute now."
As Gideon worked out the rest of their exit strategy in his head, Mitchell stood up and shook himself off. He could feel the energy and strength flowing through him. Feeding from Gideon was intense. The feeling was almost sexual in the euphoria it produced. He wasn't sure why either. They had all fed from each other at one point in time, usually when someone was hurt and needed a quick heal. He'd never had this feeling from anyone else, and had never heard anyone mention feeling something similar.
As he grabbed the rifle and prepared to hoist their target, who was still unconscious, Joker gave a little head nod towards Mitchell while looking at Gideon.
"You ever notice his reaction when he feeds from you boss?"
When Gideon just looked at him, Joker went on.
"I mean, his eyes, they glow. I don't think any of ours glow when we feed, they're just their usual blood lust shade. But his glow."
Chuckling, Joker knocked Gideon in the arm and as he walked away threw over his shoulder, "Must be you just taste really good boss."
Running his hands threw his hair and over his face, Gideon readied his rifle and nodded to Mitchell to grab their target and prepare to move out.
He knew why Mitchell's eyes glowed when he fed from Gideon. He just wasn't ready to share that reason. Yet.