Basch stood overlooking the courtyard, arms behind his back and his hands clasped together in a militarian fashion. He could see young men and women walking through the courtyard below, all of them served under his command, the command of Lieutenant Zwingli of the Swiss Special Forces. Right now they weren't fighters though, they were friends, some laughed and kicked footballs around, others spoke in quiet tones with smiles on their faces, and some were even yodelling, an old talent, but still a very present one in this sector of the Union. Though there was one quality, one idea that all of these men and women
They hated him.
Not consciously, none of them knew his dark secret, but they all hated him and all of his kind, which included his little sister. Things had been growing even more tense lately, more and more accusations were being thrown around, and it was more often than not those people were never heard from again… Before they were simply deported, now, nobody knew what happened to them, not even Basch in his high-ranking position could find out.
His little sister was in the same position, but she was gone, he'd sent her away almost an entire year ago now under the claim she was advancing her studies, and while she was, it wasn't at any university he'd spoken of. He had yet to hear from her and he was glad for that, she was only supposed to contact him in case of emergency, but…. to hear her voice, would be the nicest thing right now.
He sighed at the people below, their ignorance depressed him; it wasn't their fault of course, their very government made certain to portray his kind as evil, villainous, terrorists, and all sorts of things that caused one to think negatively. There was a chance they would think differently soon, but no guarantee, only their personal ideals would reflect that much. For now, he had only time… time before things were set into motion.
Though that time would soon be cut short as he heard the march of footsteps outside his room, but he didn't even move, he only continued to watch his soldiers outside as they heard the same thing. This sound could only mean one thing… that there was someone in the complex, someone with so much power that it scared the government of the European Union itself, someone from a group of people that scared every country on earth enough to evoke mass deportation and forced migration of thousands, possibly millions of people.
Basch was one of them, and they were after him.
He heard the explosion go off behind him and his green trench coat flew forward, flapping in the force of the wind, but the man himself didn't move an inch from the explosion. He stared for a few more minutes as he heard the shouting of commands and the stomping of feet, he could hear them surrounding them… and so could everyone else in the compound most likely. He took one more moment to take one look at the courtyard before turning around, staring down twenty rifle barrels, ten shotgun barrels, and one single man with a pistol aimed at his face.
"Lieutenant Basch Zwingli, you are hereby under arrest for suspicion in connection to the race inhabiting New Olympus. You will be taken in for questioning and if you are found innocent you will be released, we have orders to shoot to kill if you resist," the man Basch was looking into the eyes of was a long-term rival of his and one of the few high-ranking officers who had opted not to go under the recent string of surgeries in order to enhance their bodies. Basch did not need it, besides, it would have exposed him, but this man… Ludwig Beilschmidt, had other reasons obviously.
He stood five foot eleven, quite a bit above the short man of Swiss ancestry, and his muscles were that of legend in the European Union, easily the most physically strong without any enhancements. He had blonde hair and blue eyes, signalling his coming from the Northern Areas of the Sector Germany in the Union, even more reason to dislike him… Now he had the support, and Basch was exposed.
The soldiers around him each had half their faces covered, their eyes covered ith goggles that allowed them better targeting, and an optional mask for the mouth for gas, but the fellow Lieutenant wore none of these things, only the Officer's hat and coat as any sort of badge of his rank and position.
"So, will you come quietly?" he asked, shoulderpads specifically placed to make him look larger than he was, but Basch knew this man, he was bloodthirsty and he wouldn't wait for Basch to respond. He could already see his finger going to squeeze the trigger, and their eyes met once more before Basch unbuttoned his trench coat slowly, the gloves he wore not impeding him in the least.
"Fire!" Basch's trench coat was opened up now and he sighed at the relief of cool air on him, he heard the sound of thirty one guns going off over and over again, but felt nothing. He could see the flash of their muzzle and see the men pulling the triggers, but the only result was the flattened bullets falling to the ground in front of him with seemingly no power behind them.
Although he felt no pain, every shot hitting his body felt like a shot of adrenaline, and pushed at his body, causing him to move just slightly. With so many shots at once all over his body he collapsed to the ground, staying there and allowing the bullets to shoot him until he stood up, a series of bulletholes in his clothes and his trench coat, but his skin was overall unharmed.
The men in front of him shook in fear, some of them dropped their weapons in shock at the almost unphased Swissman in front of them. It was lucky for him they didn't know his abilities or they'd have used different weapons, but now their fate was sealed as he stood strong, staring each and every man in the eye "My turn," he brought his leg up, bending it before slamming it down on the ground.
The ground in front of him shook with the power as the energy from every single bullet that was fired into him was sent straight into the ground at that single spot, causing the wood and even the metal beneath it to split due to all the power that had been accumulated into his body. The split shoot the troops in front of him and even shattered the window.
As the troops attempted to gain their footing, Basch threw his trench coat at them and lept out the window, diving down onto the ground three stories below. Most men would cringe at the thought, but Basch had done it many times before, and now he slammed down onto the round, one knee down and his fist steadying himself. He heard shouts from above, but what hurt him most, were the whispers he could hear around him.
"The Lieutenant's one of them!" he heard from one young man.
"Get him, we have to stop him!" he heard from another, but another quickly punched him in the jaw for it and Basch cringed, he would pay for that, be called a sympathizer… he could only hope he could talk his way out of it.
More discontent among the men and women in his service gave him the idea to possibly stay, explain to them that his kind weren't evil, but from what he'd done for them, and how much most of them respected him, just the knowledge he was one of them could be enough to change their minds. For now he had to run and he could feel more bullets coming into contact with his back, and while he moved as someone would when they were shot, he didn't feel any pain from it and he only continued to run.
As the men who had entered his room ran after him he could hear the shouts of fury as some were outraged that they attacked their commander like that, others shouted slurs such as "Freak!" and "Monster!" at him. He just hoped his men didn't try to tangle with the engineered soldiers of the Inquisition, he respected them and their abilities, but he didn't want to see them her or prosecuted for their crimes, despite their loyalty to him. He had to go it alone now, there was no hope for him to try to bring another with him.
He could hear the alarms going off as he sprinted forward, he was wearing running shoes at the moment, and underneath his trench coat had been a black undershirt which allowed the air to cool his body down, and then cargo pants that were unscathed, as they had not been a target of the bullets. His blonde hair flew behind him as others pointed him out, shouting his name in either encouragement or wrath.
Basch continued to run until he was met with a series of troops at the front entrance all aiming high-powered rifles straight at him, he could take the firepower, but it burnt his systems out, and he was already tired from taking thirty one clips straight into his chest. He would have to do it though, there was no other way out….
That's when he was pulled into a corridor which quickly closed behind him and he let out a sound of indignant, but a hand covered his mouth and shushed him. "Quiet Lieutenant!" it was a private, a young girl about Erika's age whom she was rather good friends with… and was obviously loyal to Basch. He didn't know what she planned to do, but he couldn't let her help him. "I'm going to get out out of here!"
He shook his head, grabbing onto her shoulders and looking her in the eyes "Not a chance Vargas, you aren't going down with me!" he stared her down, he'd known her since she transferred from the Italian Sector, more specifically, Seborga. "You know as well as I do Amanda, I can't involve you in this, you've got more ahead of you than I do!" He spoke in a hushed tone, but still with the force that a commanding officer needed to have.
Amanda only smiled at him and patting his arm, kneeling down and removing a damaged ventilation cover "I've used these to move around the base at night, remember when you commended me for sneaking past the guards to get extra snacks?" she smiled and then hunched down, Basch was small enough to crawl in with her, but it would probably be a tight squeeze. "Come on, I'll lead you to the outside and then you can escape, you know the mountains better than anyone, even the inquisition."
Basch stared down at her, he was about to say something, but that look in her eye… he could tell she was intent on this, after all, he'd spent the past year learning that exact same look while she was stationed here with him. He took her by the shoulders and stared her in the eye as he heard soldier's boots pounding outside. Either way, he'd need to get out soon, and if he left now, they'd see her in here with him and wouldn't care, she would be hurt.
"Fine, but only one condition," he pulled a Pistol out of his holster, it was thin, sleek, and a silvery color that blended in with the snow. It was a Laz-Pistol, designed to fire lasers out in both short bursts and a thin stream; it also had settings like an invisible beam, different targeting settings, and even different power levels. Then he pressed it against her back and gestured toward the grate "You're my captive now, at least if they see us like this, you'll be spared."
Amanda nodded and crouched down as the two heard shouts from outside the room and she began to crawl through the vents, then when Basch moved after her the footsteps came straight toward them and he pulled up the grate, closing off their entrance and then he moved after her. Since he closed off the exit he was forced to move backwards until he found a turn and then he did a three-point turn back to follow Amanda, who was smaller and able to move more easily.
Being a main military compound the vents were larger and able to carry more of the necessary air needed for the inside. Most people wouldn't crawl through the vents because of the danger involved, but Amanda obviously knew which way to move as she quickly crawled through, heading to what he assumed was the exit. He held out his pistol the entire time, he didn't know when they would exit and he would definitely not be able to retrieve it in these close quarters.
Basch's watch read fifteen minutes in the vent before he began to feel the cool outside air… the training yard, that's where they were headed. Well, more specifically the training yard armory, but it was connected to the outside, and that's all they needed. Once they reached the semi-outdoor armory Amanda knocked the grate open and it fell to the ground, crawling out with ease. Basch on the other hand wriggled out of the small space and stretched his arms out for a split second before holding his gun toward Amanda again.
There were soldiers around, all on high alert, but most of them were facing outward and on the far side of the training yard. Basch signaled to his gloves and Amanda nodded, and when Basch approached the door it quickly opened for him, they hadn't shut him out of the system yet, good, that was definitely good. He slowly walked out and quickly moved to put himself against the wall, feeling Amanda climbing up onto his back, wrapping her arms around his neck.
His gloves began to heat up and he took a deep breath, placing his boot on the wall and it began to do the same. Then he began to climb, slowly of course, staying flat like a spider, he shivered as he climbed, feeling the hair on his arms stand up from the cold. There was no snow in the training yard, but he could guarantee there was some outside the compound, they didn't go so far as to control all of the weather in Switzerland, that would ruin it's aesthetic beauty. He was grateful for that at least.
Soon he gripped onto the edge of the building and he leaned up, allowing Amanda to climb off his shoulders and onto the building. Then once she crouched down he pulled himself up, his gloves cooling down now and the soldiers on the rooftops not yet noticing their presence. He didn't need to go out of his way to eliminate them, stealth was the most important thing now.
With the he creeped over to the edge of the building, taking deep breaths as he looked to the ground far below. Only just now did it occur to him that on this edge of the base overlooked a steep cliff and he groaned, he'd done this once before, but never with another person… much less from this height. He had no other choice, and he couldn't leave Amanda here, not after she helped him escape, if he left her, she would be under questioning.
She looked to him, unsure of what he was about to do, after all she hadn't seen his powers, but… she had heard amazing things about those like him, that they could fall down mountains and turn out just fine, she heard that even if you shot one they'd get back up. She could only watch him with amazement now, waiting to see what he would do.
Unfortunately Basch's time of thinking was cut short as one of the snipers spotted them and shouted out "I found them, he's got a hostage!" over his com, while he wasn't sure what their response was, his targeting him regardless made it obvious he didn't care. At least they bought his hostage situation… the propaganda around his kind only assured that, now he had only one choice. He wouldn't take Amanda with him, that would be irresponsible of him, and an insult to her, so he did the only thing he could do.
Before he heard the sound of gunfire he backed up, holstering his pistol and running forward, shoving Amanda back to add one final illusion before jumping, spread-eagle over the cliff of the mountain below, and then, the world was a blur.