Opening
Rushing towards The White House to inform President Reagan of a possible new threat to America, Larry Bell moved as fast as his little legs would carry him. A round and pudgy man, Bell wasn't much of a rusher. He'd usually prefer to make others make their ways to him, saving him time and effort while also allowing him to sit back and not coming across as weak once he had to begin his job. Bell wore a suit, worth about as much as watch which incidentally wasn't only a very expensive one, but one embedded with a GPS tracking device should he ever need extraction, being Deputy Director of the CIA wasn't all it was cracked up to be. Sure, he enjoyed his job to the degree that he was able to shrug it off whenever he returned to his security protected house and not have to worry about threats. However, the information he had come across had not only proven to be very volatile, but also extremely important.
Moving past the secretary in a hurry, Bell quickly and without hesitation, knocked on the door to the Oval Office, a breach of protocol? Yes. But needed to stabilise the situation? Absolutely.
Before almost being hauled away by Secret Service Agents, Reagan stops them and allows Bell in. Bell, panting and out of breath, quickly feels his own embarrassment creep up on him as he doesn't want to come across as weak, seeing as though that was his one most exhibited trait. Weakness.
Reagan wasn't the type of man to wait for Bell's confidence to raise and decided to quicken the pace. "You have important information?"
Bell, feeling like he had just forgot why he arrived in a hurry, quickly attempted to regain his breath in a noble but rather awkward, "Yes, Mr *breathes heavily* President, sir."
"And I need to know this so can you hurry up and explain why you needed to tell me this in person?" Reagan demanded.
"Because, sir, we have just received information concerning the Russians and the Chinese. A weapon created by the Chinese is about to be, or so we think, auctioned off to the Russians." Bell spoke fast and in a high pitcher and slightly annoying voice.
"What is this weapon?" Reagan asked, almost afraid of the answer.
"Our experts say that it is a computer system that can think! And are currently trying to confirm if it has anything Nuclear or biological within it." Bell answered back, having finally regained his breath.
"Oh Jesus. Shit. Ok, alright, I want this thing in our hands by the end of the week. You tell absolutely no one about this, you come to me and me directly. This gets out and it'll be chaos." Reagan panicked.
"Ok sir, alright, what do you want me to do?" Bell inquired nervously.
"I want you to sit on this, at least until I can get full and complete confirmation of this...what are they calling?" Reagan tried to rationalise his thoughts.
"That's the problem. They're calling it Nuclear."
2 days later...
Major Samuels, a 58 year old, black haired and built figure with a distinctive scar down his hand is on the phone to President Reagan.
"With all due respect Mr President, we should be launching an attack on this site not scouting it."
"Major, I respect your opinion but I never asked it. Scout this site and if this weapon exists, and if the Russian are anywhere near it I will decide what to do with that information. Not you. I came to you because you are the head of espionage. Get it done or you're done." Reagan slammed the phone down.
"Sir, would you ple-" the line went dead.
Samuels held his head in his hands over his smooth and tounge-oiled wooden table, in doubt about the operation but desperate to keep his job.
Three days later...
An American plane flies overhead in Congo, Africa. Samuels had to coordinate this recon mission at speed and under immense pressure. In the cockpit there sat a pilot and Samuels. In the fuselage sat two agents. Samuels had hand picked them both for this mission, impressed by both of their skills, although they were not the first picks, they were the only two available.
One was a 20 year old male, with blond hair, smooth skin, an athletic body and a deep but raspy voice. His name was Slade Wilson. Slade had been working with a HIVE unit, which was a new branch of the American military, specialising in assassination and espionage in which Slade was a very high ranking member. The other was a 25 year old female who Samuels had previously worked with, she had silver hair, an angry facial expression and very piercing green eyes. Her name was Adeline Kane. She was an undercover operative for four years and never lifted her cover, or was even caught. She worked for a very old and secretive branch of the military, Cold Claw.
It was far too dangerous for a landing approach so the two had to HALO jump down, if they weren't already spotted. Samuels had absolutely no idea about the type of defences the Russians might've set up so they were going in blind. Not only blind, but with no allowance to be there.
Samuels walked over to Adeline and spoke to her although Slade couldn't hear it. However, he could see Samuels hand Adeline a knife. Curious, Slade almost opened his mouth but quickly closed it when Samuels walked over to him.
"Slade, this isn't like Iraq. We have no eyes so you will be meeting with a guide, Bill Wintergreen. He'll get you to the base. As soon as he does I want you to kill and bury him, remember, we were never here. You and Adeline will not engage the enemy. At all. Do you understand?"
"Yes Major," Slade replied, "how are we getting out?"
"We will be at the far end of the jungle, there's an immigrant ship there. You get onboard and kill the smugglers. You've got the ship and Adeline will direct you from there."
"Ok sir."
The light turned green. Adeline and Slade stood up. The bay door opened and the light changed again. The two jumped out and fell thousands of feet, plummeting to the ground with speed.
Once they reached the ground, they took off their oxygen masks and HALO gear. They then activated their beacons which drew them together and got Samuels on the radio.
"Samuels? We've landed, can you tell us how close we should be to the-" a footstep behind them.
Adeline turned and pushed the noisemaker against a tree, drawing her blade and holding it to their throat. "Who are you?"
"I'm the guide! I'm Wintergreen!" The man shouted in surprise.
"Shh!" Adeline replied, prove that.
Meanwhile, Slade had been asking Samuel's for defining features of Wintergreen. After managing to confirm that this in fact Wintergreen, Adeline let's him go.
"Jesus Christ, what the hell am I involved in?" Wintergreen spluttered, trying to comfort his crushed tranchea.
Bill Wintergreen was a tall and slender man. He had very little hair on his head but a small and white goatee as well as a very large overcoat. Wintergreen also had a rather sharp but sheathed machete hanging from his belt, along with some water and a compass. Wintergreen wore a hunter hat got over his head and a pair of bright brown gloves.
"It doesn't matter, you're getting paid. Where is it?" Adeline replied coldly.
"Not far from here, we should be there by daybreak." Wintergreen explained.
"Lead the way," Slade signalled, "and stay quiet."
Wintergreen walked down a very narrow and dry path that made it easy to follow but hard whenever he lost his way, which happened often. Adeline's temper grew the more she walked and Slade detached himself completely from emotions.
Wintergreen attempted a conversation at one point, "Let's me guess, if anyone asks, you were never here and I get to keep my money?" Wintergreen inquired.
Getting no reply from Adeline but rather a glare, Slade decides to answer the question, "if we get there on time, now move."
Wintergeeen slowly nodded in agreement, accepting the answer with hesitation. "So what are we doing here?"
"You were paid to get us there. Do-" Slade began.
"Shut up." Adeline snapped, silencing them both.
The rest of the journey was spent trying to avoid speaking. They trudged through the jungle, studying surrounds thoroughly and casing the environment in search of cameras or guards, finding that it's impossible to see anything in the dark especially when it's well hidden in the jungle.
They eventually noticed a small red light on a far tree. This immediately triggered alarms in their heads. "This is as far as I go." Wintergreen quickly stated before attempting to turn around only to have a knife to his throat, curtesy of Adeline.
"You're coming with us." Adeline pushed him along to the dismay of Wintergreen.
Slade noticed that the path was getting more and more narrow, almost signalling an ambush. So Slade, quickly realising where they were heading, stopped Adeline and Wintergreen before using hand movement to signal a climb rather than a walk. They attempted to climb out of the extremely steep and rather dry ridge. Upon the reaching the top without breath nor time, they quickly made their way along the side, keeping low to avoid detection. Until they heard the heavy steps of the possible weapon. They all exchanged glances, rushed to a nearby bunker and then dropped to the ground. The steps were not only heavy and loud, but metallic and unnerving. What was this thing? And why was it stomping about already?
Adeline was the first to move after a full five minutes of silence and slowly but surely follow this sound. However, what they didn't realise is the bunker they were hiding in was a footstep of this monsterous machine. Slade and Wintergreen soon followed suite but Wintergreen snatched Slade's pistol away and held the barrel to his head.
"I know what's down there. I know what your orders will be. I'm gone." Wintergreen whispered in a shaky and nervous tone.
"You kill me and I guarantee you will be hunted down and killed by the US, alternatively, you can give me my gun and I promise you I will protect you."
"Lies."
"It's the only option you have."
"I'll take my chances."
"Would you rather I tell you that my pistol is empty?"
"No it isn't," Wintergreen redirected his attention giving Slade the chance to turn, trap Wintergreen in an armlock and disarm him within a blink.
"Now listen closely. I'm more forgiving than her, but if you try that again I will kill you. I wasnt lying, I want to protect you, I had no intention of killing you but now..." Slade stretched Wintergreen's arm backwards exhibiting a very high-pitched but also somehow quiet groan.
"I get it, I get it, can you get off my arm now?" Wintergreen spat.
Slade let him go. Wintergreen gave him a scowl but turned and continued down the path. Slade picked up his pistol and followed.
Adeline had found a little nest to look over at the site from. Once Slade and Wintergreen had caught up, they saw Adeline already making a call to, presumably Major Samuels.
"-you brought him into this, I don't want t-alright fine. Out." Adeline replied with more venok in her voice than the snake currently sneaking up on her. It moved to bite but Slade stopped it, exchanging a glance with Adeline who turned to see the action. Her eyes were empty and cold, almost inhuman. Slade's eyes however, had a glint of light and colour. He didn't like that Wintergreen had an expiration date but accepted that he would have to fake Wintergreen's death, he never liked killing innocent people.
Adeline and Slade used their binoculars and looked over the terrain at Jiao Li and Dimitri Petrov. The two were discussing something but what really caught Slade's attention was the three people behind Petrov. He recognised them as The Spiders. The Spiders were a group of two males, Vladimir Anatoly and Victor Boris, and a female, Alga Vera. The Spiders were rumoured to have been trained by The League Of Assassins, an elite group of assassins that are part of a sacred order, who Slade had come into contact with some time ago. But Slade also noticed another group of individuals, who Adeline recognised as The Network. The Network were a group of experimental beings that were almost certainly all dead due to a bombing years ago. These were very dangerous forces, and practically ghosts. This had turned from a reconnaissance mission to a profiling mission. Slade made an immediate call to Samuels.
"Major, I call for an abort. Bomb the hell out of this place and be done with it."
"Slade? What's happened?"
"The Spiders are here, and a group of experimental disasters I think are known as The Network. We need to go before they see us, sir."
"No. We need confirmation of the Nuclear project."
"Sir, this is suic-"
"Get it done." Samuels then closed the link.
Slade, rather angry at the prospect of being expendable, looked again for a sign of Nuclear. Although this time, he got an eyeful. A masssive piece of machinery somehow walked off behind a mountain. Slade only got a glimpse at the back of it but it seems to actually walk. Slade tried to look closer but his binoculars must've reflected off a light because one of the superhumans pointed at him and turned invisible. "Shit!" Slade spat before tapping Adeline on the shoulder and rushing off.
"Why are we running?" Wintergreen asked worried.
"Doesn't matter let's get out of here!" Slade rushed.
Adeline followed without hesitation and Wintergreen decide to look out over the terrain and see what they saw. However his shoulder suddenly felt very painful and before he realised it, he was on the ground with a spinning head and blood shooting out of him.
Adeline caught up to Slade as they heard a gunshot, assuming Wintergreen was dead. The two got faster, and when far enough away, ran even faster. They came to a bridge with no cover whatsoever but with the sounds of helicopter blades approaching they saw no other option. They moved across the shaky and unsteady bridge, conscious of time. The helicopter flew overhead but this only further encouraged Slade and Adeline to move faster across the bridge. However, once Slade reached the end of the bridge, a mysterious man walked out of darkness and revealed himself.
The man was 7-foot-tall and carrying an M16 rifle. He wore a grey hockey mask to hide his face and a tight suit. His suit was grey and red, as were his gauntlets. He also had a metal stick with two titanium blades and a ball between them on both ends of it.
The man matched the description of DeadBorn. DeadBorn was the ex-leader of Cold Claw, Adeline's old unit.
Slade drew his weapon for comfort and set his sights on DeadBorn.
"Little help?" DeadBorn said in a blank voice devoid of emotion.
"Why the hell would anyone want to help you out?" Slade replied before realising he might as well not have been there.
"Isn't that right, Adeline?"
Slade turned around only for Adeline to shoot him in the shoulder at point blank range. "I'm sorry Slade, you're out of your depth." Adeline took Slade's weapon and shot him again in the stomach, exhibiting a cry of pain from Slade.
"Why?!" Slade demanded.
"You had potential. Still, you helped us freeze the U.S for a time. I think you deserve something for that." Adeline kicked the hunched over Slade in the ribs and stabbed him in the back, pinning him to the ground. "I'll give you, ten seconds. Ten."
Slade tore the knife out from his back and saw the numbers he was up against. Slade turned and pushed himself up and ran off into the jungle. "Five!" Slade had barely made it a few steps before he saw that he was running into a dead end. "Three!" With some fast thinking, Slade cut the ropes of the bridge and grabbed onto the wooden panels as the bridge swung down through the valley and just before it impacted with the wall of rock, he lightly kicked off the bridge and fell into the valley below, landing in the water with a heavy splash, knocking the consciousness out of him immediately. Adeline looked down at the river and faintly saw Slade's body being dragged away by the current. "Let's go, he's dead."
Operation: Nuclear
I've written the whole story but I would really appreciate if you would review this and tell me what to change.
New chapter every Friday.