Chapter 4
(Corporal 'Zero', 0630 EST 4/1/2035, Location: Near city B011)
"Zero, let's go! We got a mission!" The familiar loud voice called into my room from the corridor again.
Groaning as I slowly got out of bed, I headed straight for the bathroom, hand on head as I adjusted to being awake again. I splashed the ice cold water from the sink on my face, and then drying my hands and face in the towel quickly, before rushing back towards my bed, getting out my gear. I was excited to go on another mission, eager to get a little payback for our camps that were burned by Advent, and also because Brick was coming along again. It seems that the Commander intends on making a team out of me and Brick, maybe because we worked well together, or maybe just cause we got along well. I grabbed my phone, checking the time quickly, despite the fact it still had no bearing on what the time was outside. I guess it was a force of habit. I quickly tied around the red neckerchief,
I quickly tied my red neckerchief around my neck, before I rushed out the door to the complaints from the three others in my room as the light filled the room momentarily before the door closed behind me. I dashed down to the briefing room again, ignoring the slight hunger in my stomach. Without breakfast, I was gonna be quite hungry by the time I came back, hopefully in time to grab breakfast. I continued down the hallways of the ship, not passing anyone, as I don't think anyone was awake at the moment. I entered the squad room, heading over to my gear immediately, where Brick was just finishing off gearing up.
"Morning Zero" She smiled at me, as she placed two hand grenades on her utility belt, and turning around to face me, with a brand new gun in hand.
"So, whaddaya think about the new guns?" She asked, with a big grin plastered on her face, from ear to ear. In front of her, she held what looked like her normal canon, except it was white and black, with yellow wires sticking around the sides, and underneath the barrel, and the barrel was also surrounded by what looked like a sort of frame, almost like support scaffolding to the gun. It looked very easy to hold regardless, with three different handles on it, all with plenty of rubber on them.
I looked the gun over a few times, trying to decide whether it looked cool or not. The nozzle was divided into four separate barrels, as opposed to the 3 of the normal canon as well. "Wow...what is it?" I asked, still clueless as to what else made it a new weapon.
"It's the mag weapons, Zero! They've arrived!" She punched my arm, before turning me back to my station. I can't believe I'd completely missed it when I first got here, but on the wall lay my new weapon, fresh of attachments, but in a similar style to Brick's mag canon, and a longer barrel, with wires around the side. I picked it up off of the wall, admiring it myself. It was much lighter than my previous rifle and just felt more comfortable to hold in general. I let out a whistle in amazement of the design.
"Dr. Tygan made these?" I asked in wonder, still admiring my new weapon. I grabbed a new scope from the weapon mods storage container, fixing it easily onto the top, where it just slid on and clicked into place.
"Yup. Finished the designs yesterday, I think. Shen's been working on them all night" Brick loaded up her final clips, grabbing her canon in one hand and heading to the next room. "Come on! I'm not waiting for you all day" She called back as she left through the door. I grabbed my sniper rifle, taking a couple of seconds to drool over the mag pistol that accompanied it, holstering both, and taking a grenade with me, and heading through to the briefing room. Bradford was already stood in front of the squad of five, including me, ready to read out the mission briefing. I noticed Angel, and two other women I had not spoken to before.
"Alright, you can sort out introductions later," He began, as I found a seat. "We've got a lead on the location of a prolific Alien collaborator in Mexico, your objective is to neutralize the target, and extract, preferably with the target captured and in tow. We've had to delay the Blacksite mission for a bit in the meantime, so sorry to dash your hopes on that one. Keep it tight down there people, this needs to be done quickly. Move out" He addressed, hands firmly behind his back as he watched us board the Skyranger.
On the Skyranger I again sat next to Brick, with Angel directly opposite me, sitting next to the other two women, still wearing his black cap. "Alright, Zero, this here is Echo, and Firehawk" Brick introduced almost immediately, pointing to the smaller of the two first. Echo was of Asian descent, with mid length black hair, whilst Firehawk was a bit stockier, taller, Caucasian, and had shaved off the hair from one side of her head, the remaining hair falling onto the other side, with blue streaks running through it, it looked very trendy and stylish. I raised my hand in greetings to them but didn't say a word. Firehawk flashed me a quick smile and a nod, with Echo turning her attention away almost immediately.
"How do you know them?" I asked Brick, who had already resumed to running her fingers down her gun, before snapping back to reality.
"Oh, those guys? They're my dorm mates. 2 of 'em anyway. Both Rangers, both freakin' awesome, and they like to compete with each other and stuff as well"
"Geez, Brick, why don't you just tell him our life stories while you're at it? Names are enough" Echo retorted, her arms folded across her body.
"Lighten up will ya? Zero's a good friend of mine" Brick defended herself, clearly not taking her complaint seriously at all.
Echo rolled her eyes at Brick, turning her attention away from us for a moment. I shrugged, thinking nothing of it, as the pilot spoke over the comms to tell us that the drop zone was in 15 seconds. Immediately, everyone geared up, holstering all of their weapons and checking their armor quickly, before the ramp opened up, 5 ropes trailing down towards the floor. I was closest this time, so I jumped out immediately, grabbing the rope furthest on my left, and sliding down quickly. As I landed, I scanned the area with my pistol, not seeing any movement, as the rest of the squad landed.
"Alright, let's move out" Firehawk announced, quickly making her way up with Echo just behind. The Commander called out over comms to tell us where we should position ourselves to. We had a limited time frame to complete this mission in, so as soon as we went loud, we'd need to run for it.
'Zero, hang back behind the blue car as the others push forward. Brick, take lead, breach door to building' The callouts came. I ran to the car, recovering my breath quickly before I lined up anything with my rifle. From where I was, I could see into the building through the very large windows that marked the corners of the walls of the building, though I could not see in the front, where Brick was. The Rangers had pushed up either side of her, while Angel hung back slightly, but was still closer than I was.
"Enemy spotted!" Echo called out over comms. I could make out the movement of a few Aliens inside as they ran to find cover. Under the Commanders orders, Brick pushed forward into the building, Firehawk running to the side of the building, and Echo holding the door.
'Zero, get the Captain'
I looked down my scope, through the glass window, and I could see the red glint off of the armor of the Captain, who was hiding behind an indoor bench, peeking out of cover to mark out Brick to the rest of his squad. I lined up my shot as he was outstretched, my finger pressing down slightly in anticipation. The gun felt so much better to aim than my previous rifle, so much more comfortable, and the reduced weight only made it easier to aim. My rifle kicked back into me as it fired out the bullets, some sort of projectile, even I could see it travel to the target. I feared that it would miss due to the possibility of the Captain moving from the time I shot it to when the round would have hit him. Thankfully, the projectile was quick enough to hit the Captain before he recovered, his body disappearing out of sight behind the bench.
Brick launched a grenade towards a Sectoid and Trooper remaining in the building, the grenade killing the Trooper, and injuring the Sectoid, whilst destroying all of his cover. With little hesitation, Firehawk pounced on the Sectoid from a flanking position, sword drawn as she swang wildly at the Sectoid, which fell before her and her blade.
"Hostiles eliminated, moving up" Echo called into the comms again, already moving past Brick and Firehawk, taking up a new position against the door exiting the building. "Target spotted, guard patrol consists of Viper and two Troopers" She called out. The other three moved quickly to find full cover before the other squad spotted us, as I moved up towards the building. I was ordered to get onto the roof, so climbed the drainpipe, holstering my rifle across my back as I made my way up, and reloading my weapon as I peered over the edge. I could see a black van down below, with the three Aliens guarding it.
"They've seen us!" Brick called, ducking away as one of the troopers spotted her, firing his weapon at her, missing, but destroying the wall she was behind. The Viper shot her tongue at the now exposed Brick, grabbing her back towards the Van, behind it, and coiling herself around Brick.
"Can't breathe" Brick muttered into comms.
'Zero, take the Viper out' I heard the Commander in my ear, as I already lined up the shot, aiming for the Viper's torso, away from Brick. I breathed in slowly, and then released my breath gradually, applying more and more pressure to the trigger. My shot broke the momentary silence of the battle, narrowly missing its target and slamming into the floor beside the Viper, a chunk of tarmac being displaced by the force of the projectile.
"Shot wide" I called into comms, as I lined up a second shot. I could just see the others moving up towards the van and towards Brick. I took a second shot, again, firing wide of the Viper, who hissed in my direction, trying to find more cover behind the van.
"Zero, did you just miss twice!?" I heard Echo over the comms. I tried lining up a third shot, but stopped as I saw Echo running forward with her shotgun, blasting the Viper in the face, causing it to uncoil from Brick, who collapsed to her hands and knees briefly as she caught her breath, before moving to the back of the van. Angel's gremlin flew over, dispatching some sort of blue spray over Brick, the medkits, to heal her
'Zero, Trooper is flanking us to left, take him out' The Commander called. I spotted the Trooper, moving to take a shot on Firehawk. I quickly scoped in, again lining up the shot. The Trooper leaned out of his cover to fire at Firehawk, and I saw my opportunity. I saw the projectile graze the very side of his helmet, barely doing anything, but it was just enough to cause his shots to miss. Firehawk chased him down with her sword, as Angel opened up the van, disappearing inside for a second, before coming out with a man unconscious over his shoulder.
I can't believe I had just missed an entire clip from my rifle, and they were crucial ones as well. I stared at my gun, desperately trying to look for an imperfection on a design I knew nothing about, trying to find an excuse.
'Alright, head straight to Evac, there's more incoming' Bradford called over comms. I snapped out of it and lowered myself from the roof, rifle on my back and pistol drawn as we dashed to the Evac point. As I ran past the van, only about 10 meters behind the rest of my team, I just managed to avoid incoming enemy fire from my right, more troops trying to shoot at us as we ran. The others were about to hit the Evac zone, which looked to be in the middle of some sort of garden, with a low fence all around it.
I dived behind cover just before the fence as even more fire came in from behind, destroying the part of the fence I was just about to style over. I saw the others grabbing the ropes and ascending quickly into the heavens, I was the only one left now.
'Come on Zero, get a move on!" Bradford again called into comms. I took a deep breath, counting to three, and dashing for the blue flare marked zone I needed to get to. As soon as I left cover, I felt a sharp stabbing pain up my arm, my body pushed slightly to my right. I restabilized my balance, running through the pain towards the last hanging rope. I grabbed it, quickly securing it to my utility belt with my right hand, as my left arm was going numb, and I was struggling to do anything with it, even grabbing the rope. I tugged sharply down on the rope, holding onto it with my right hand, as I was lifted up, just before more shots could find their target. As soon as I got up into the craft, the ramp closed behind me, I saw two upset faces staring back at me, the two Rangers.
"What the hell happened down there. You missed two shots on that damn Viper!" Echo yelled. Her face was red with anger, her eyes piercing through me, intimidating me, despite her being small. I shook my head, unholstering my rifle and putting it on the floor.
"I don't know...I'm so sorry, guys, I really am" I sighed. They were relatively easy shots that I had missed, shots I should be getting 85% of the time. The third shot was harder, but I still needed to hit that. If I had missed entirely, then his shot may have found Firehawk, which could cause serious trouble and damage to her.
"You're not going soft because of the Viper, Zero?" Brick asked, concern in her voice. I knew that one of them would get round to trying to put things together like this, but I hadn't expected it to be Brick. But it didn't sound like she was accusing me of it, just asking about it, but I'm sure it gave ammo to Echo.
"No, no, of course not!" I responded vehemently. " I don't know what happened, I missed the thing twice and then missed the Trooper. I just had a bad day, I'm sorry" I sighed, sitting myself down on the seats.
"Your bad day almost killed me, Zero. We can't afford for you to miss shots like that" Firehawk chimed in, clearly upset, but not angry like Echo was. "I think I'd understand more if you said it was because of the damn Viper"
"Well, it's not because of her. I really don't know..." I responded, holding my head in my right hand, my left arm still completely numb. I looked towards where the clothing on my arm had burned away, and saw that my arm was not bleeding like I had expected it to, but actually had a misshapen piece of metal lodged into it, the skin around it cauterized by the projectile itself. It didn't look too deep, but it was deep enough to not be able to get out easily, I would have to wait until we got back.
"Alright, give him a break. We've all missed shots we should have hit" Brick dismissed the others, sitting down herself, the two Rangers following suit. Brick almost immediately returned to talking to Firehawk about the Blacksite mission that was rumored to be happening sooner or later. Echo joined in as well, all trying to make guesses at the team that was gonna be taken. Echo and Firehawk eventually agreed on a bet of who had the most people correct on the squad, wagering £20 on it. I made a mental note to thank Brick later for distracting them from focusing on my performance in the field.
The journey wasn't long before the ship touched down in the Avenger hangar. Everyone headed down the ramp, leaving me to head out last, to see Bradford waiting there to debrief us.
"Well done today ladies and gents. The VIP is a valuable asset to Advent, now in our possession. Good work today, especially Echo and Firehawk, solid shooting. Zero and Brick you both need to report to the infirmary for your wounds. And Zero, you have done well enough to earn your next promotion. But I want that shooting better before we send you out next time, we can't afford to miss those sort of shots." He walked over to me, briefly inspecting my wound, before placing a new badge into my hand, the Sergeant's sigil. "The Commander requests for you to practice your pistol marksmanship so that you would be able to take a quick shot off with your pistol without affecting your role in the squad at all. It's called lightning hands, we'll order you when to do it over comms. Understood?" I nodded quickly, before looking down at my new badge. I felt like I didn't deserve it at all, considering how crap this mission was, but it wasn't my place to argue it. The others said bye to Brick, before heading out of the hangar. She headed over to me, her gun in one hand while unclipping her armor with the other
"Alright, Zero, we need to report to the infirmary. They'll need to get that out of you" She pointed briefly to my arm, which I still couldn't move much. I followed behind her as she lead the way out of the room, holding the door open for me. We quickly deposited our weapons and armor off at the armory as we left the hangar bay, before heading towards the infirmary.
"Try not to listen to them though. They've all had rough days, but they're all running on adrenaline from the fighting. Just take some time at the practice range to get used to your new rifle, the kick on it is so much different" She advised as we entered into the long hallways of the Avenger, her usual smile returning to her face.
"Yeah...you're right" I agreed, nodding. I would have been a lot angrier at myself if my shots missing had much more of an effect than it did, I suppose I had the two Rangers to thank for dissipating the damages. It certainly wasn't the best for first impressions. Angel seemed to have recovered from his lapse the other day, I just needed to follow his example. Get your head down, and focus on getting back into form.
"I know, I always am," She winked playfully. "Does your arm hurt, anyway?"
"No...it's just really numb, and I can't really move it much. I don't really want to look at it, it makes me feel kind of sick"
"Huh, squeamish, are you?" She teased, elbowing my right arm slightly.
"No!" I immediately denied. "Of course not. I just don't like seeing it on me, because it looks like I should feel pain"
Brick laughed in response, her infectious laughter causing a smile to come to my face. She started coughing though, holding her arm across her chest, stopping in her tracks in the hallway. I was about to ask her if she was alright when she held her other hand up to me to stop me. She coughed a bit more, it sounded very hoarse and chesty, before she resumed walking.
"Sorry, Zero. I think the Snake may have done something to my chest. I suppose I'll be in the infirmary for a bit" She shrugged. I looked up at her in concern, wondering whether it would be best to just leave her to it or to ask further. She didn't seem to want to hear my concerns about it, so I suppose it would be best to leave it. But that's always how Brick had been, she always looked out for others, but never wanted anyone to look out for her.
We finally found our way to the infirmary, being greeted by a nurse as we entered through the doors.
"Zero, and Brick? Bradford sent word you were coming down, we were expecting you" He commented, standing to the side and ushering us towards the beds. Inside the infirmary, there were 6 beds around the edge of the room, in a circular pattern, not that the room was very big. You could stand between the beds and just about touch them with both of your arms outspread. Each bed had machines beeping away, with loads of wires littering the floor. The bright overhead lights also illuminated some sort of stasis tank forming part of the circle of beds. I had heard that it was possible to remove fears through this machine. The thought of the possible applications of this machine was insane.
All of the beds but one were empty, the last being populated by Venom, and by his side, a doctor was stood, asking him questions. Venom looked like he had seen better days, his head heavily plastered, with wrappings around his arms and torse visible as the cover wasn't fully over him. She diverted her attention away from him as she saw us, touching his forearm briefly to signify her leaving, to come and sort us out.
"Hi. Have you both just come from the latest mission?" She asked, a discernable French accent floating in her words, most noticeable by the way she made a soft 'J' on the word just, and missing out the 'H' from have. Brick nodded in response, as the doctor moved over to two of the beds, next to each other and opposite from Venom, removing the cover from the top.
"Alright, you can rest here. I will take any and all action I can to heal you both up, once I have made a thorough examination. This will include x-rays, blood tests, and possible surgical operations" She mentioned, glancing down at my arm as she finished her sentence.
I moved to get into the bed closest to my right, Brick settling herself in the one next to me. Immediately, the Doctor wrapped my left wrist in something connected to the machine to my left, and inserted a needle into my elbow on the same arm, not too far down from the injury. I couldn't really feel it go in, but I didn't want to look too much, I was already recoiling enough from the sight of my wound.
"What is this?" I asked as she headed over to Brick to do the same thing.
"Anaesthetic, and monitoring machine. Monitors you and stops it hurting" She explained quickly. "That stuff will stop the pain until I can cut the thing out of your arm" I shivered at the thought of her pulling out the metal lodged in my arm, whilst I was still awake. "Alright, if you need anything call the nurse, I'll be busy" She quickly mumbled to both of us, before dashing out of the room in a hurry, leaving just us and Venom.
"Venom? How are you holding up man?" Brick asked almost as soon as the doctor had left the room. I could hear Venom grunt as he attempted to talk back to Brick.
"Not too good" A slow, hoarse whisper came from the other side of the room. "Doc says I'll be in here for almost a month"
"Rough. Don't talk if it hurts. Glad you're doing okay otherwise" She responded, shifting around to get more comfortable. Silence hung in the air again, only interrupted by the regular beeping of the machines monitoring our vitals. They were almost hypnotic, their regular timing tempting my eyes closed. That or the anesthetic anyway. There was still a lack of any pain in my arm, but looking at it only made me more squeamish about the wound. Hopefully, I would only be stuck in here a couple of days, the same with Brick.
(Unit 19201648, 1830 EST 4/1/2035, Location: unknown)
Another day locked in the same room, the endless routine of soldiers coming in and watching me without blinking for 2 hours straight, then leaving again never stopped. Some faces I remembered, some looked new. The only interesting part of the day was when one of the soldiers turned on the TV, actually early on in the morning, waking me up in the process. The channel he chose seemed to be linking into the same cameras that I had seen overview the resistance camps when they were razed, now instead showing a group of the five X-com soldiers dropping down into a city. I could just about tell that Zero was one of the squad members, wearing the same red neck gear that I saw him wearing on the day of my capture. They were too small on the screen really, but I could then make a guess at who Brick was out of the five.
I watched them clear the first building with relatively little trouble, working efficiently to take out the opposition before moving up. But as Brick was caught by the Viper, I watched with a pang of sadness in my heart as she was strangled by her opponent. I could only wince as Zero missed both of his shots, and I started feeling horrified, fearful for Brick. Did I actually feel sorry for these terrorists? If I felt relieved when Brick was finally freed from the clutch of my sister, who did I actually support? Such thoughts ran through my head without me being able to stop them. I was happy that Zero missed his shots. I was happy Brick was almost taken. I had to be happy, it was my race they were fighting against.
But when Zero was caught in low cover, trying to evacuate, I found myself hoping for a shot to find him, for a shot to bring him down before he could reach the Skyranger. It seemed that my prayers had been answered when I saw one of the projectiles fly into him, staggering his run. I felt my hood quiver in response to the shot, but he carried on, making his way out regardless. I had to give him some admiration, he didn't even hesitate, even after he was shot. But I was still angry at myself for having the fleeting feelings of sympathy for Brick. Even if she had been one of the only people here that seemed to care for me and my wellbeing, she was still a terrorist.
As usual, breakfast and lunch contained nothing in them that I would be able to eat. I could feel myself getting hungrier and hungrier, to the point where I often found myself staring into nothingness for several minutes at a time, and a constant buzzing in my head making it hard and painful to focus on anything. It got to the point where I was considering trying to eat the cheese sandwich presented to me for my lunch, even if it meant me emptying my stomach, acid and all, for a brief moment of satisfaction of having food.
The soldiers who had been watching me headed for the door as a knock came from the other side, taking little time to open it, letting in two replacements, before they headed out, a small exchange of pleasantries between the former guard to the new one. The 2 soldiers on the new rotation I had met a few times before. From what I had heard, one was called Vandal, and the other called Deadbolt. They mostly left me alone, but Vandal had asked a couple of question before as well, mostly my name, what I did for Advent.
"Hey, Viper" Deadbolt greeted as they headed in. Deadbolt took his usual seat, placing it in the middle of the room facing the TV near my bunk as he switched between the channels. He did this pretty much every time, without fail. He didn't seem bothered at all by my presence, and I presumed that he found the task of guarding me a chore. I paid him no heed, as he continued with his routine. Vandal headed over to me directly, placing another plate by my bed. Before he even brought it over, I could smell my reward, I could smell the blissful smell of meat, of food I could actually eat. I rested myself on my tail as I looked at the food. Meatballs and spaghetti. Well, I wasn't going to eat the spaghetti, but there were quite a few meatballs on the plate, little balls of food that made my mouth water as soon as I saw them, the thought of eating them made me feel even hungrier.
"Thank you, thank you" I praised before I started eating, picking the meatballs out quickly with my fingers. There wasn't any sauce, so it wasn't too messy to do so. Vandal simply shrugged as he delivered the plate, looking towards both of the cameras quickly, before leaving a small container on the side of the table, seeming to cover it slightly as he did so.
"Brick also wanted me to give you the meat. I don't think she thought you were gonna get them. Enjoy" He shrugged. Inside the small, translucent container he had left, was about twice the amount of meatballs I had on my plate. My stomach was going crazy, rumbling at the anticipation of the huge amount of food I now had. It took me a few seconds of stuffing my mouth with what I could find before I took in what he said.
"Hang on, Brick told you to give this to me? Is she not trying to recover from her wounds?" I asked after swallowing my last mouthful.
"Yeah, she's in the infirmary at the moment. Didn't stop her from bringing it up when I went to visit her, though. So you still have Brick to thank" He explained, standing cross-armed at the base of the bunk. He had a rifle strapped to his back, he obviously didn't feel the need to point it at me constantly like everyone else did. The other human held a sniper rifle across his lap, there if he needed it.
"How badly is she hurt?" I asked, purposely trying to sound disinterested. I didn't even realize I had made the conscious effort not to care until I already tried to disguise it.
"She'll be fine in a couple of days, if not sooner. Doctor said it was just because her chest cavity was put under large strain she was just experiencing aching and pain as a result, bruising of some sort, and that rest was all she would need" He explained briefly, his hands reaching into his pockets. "Anyway, I'll leave you to it. Just call if you need anything"
With that, he headed back over towards the other human, both watching the TV. All they were doing was flicking through several Advent broadcasts, mostly news stations. They really did have global coverage, I guess. I hungrily wolfed down more of the meatballs I was provided, the ones on the plate were still warm, whereas the meatballs in the container were now somewhat cold. But I wasn't going to complain about it, I had been starving all day. My only grievance with it was that Bradford may now interrogate me again, now that I've actually been fed.
With its classic jingle, the Advent news network broadcast over the TV, alerting me from my food to watch it. I moved from my bed to get a better look at the screen, putting the food on the cabinet beside me. The Speaker was back on the TV. I believe whenever he broadcasts, it comes over most of the Advent channels to increase its viewership.
'Citizens of Advent, it is to my regret to inform that X-com has made yet another attack on our Peacekeeper forces! This marks the third day in a row where Peacekeeping forces have been the target of an attack, with civilians also being under their scope. While civilian casualties were reduced to a minimum thanks to the bravery of the Advent Peacekeepers, X-com still managed to take the life of a civilian. Don't give in to their terror, fear makes them stronger! We become stronger together, we are stronger united. Nothing will come between the love of the Elders and their people!'
"Just turn it off, will you?" Vandal asked, snatching the remote from Deadbolt and switching channels, watching the same broadcast being played on all of them. "Oh..."
"Yeah, oh" Deadbolt replied, taking the remote back for himself. He turned the screen off, laughing slightly. "No one needs to hear more of his drivel"
The Speaker had a beautiful way of crafting words, it was soothing to listen to him express peace and solidarity. But I watched the broadcast of the X-com soldiers, even though they did attack Peacekeepers, and did take a 'civilian', even I could see the spin the Speaker was putting on the broadcast, to rally support for Advent. I remembered back to their broadcast of the haven attack, where they had outright lied to make the broadcast more favorable to them. His honeyed words didn't seem so sweet coming from him now, now that I knew of his inaccuracy. But he was also right, I needed to be strong, strong for the sake of the success of Advent, for the protection of my species.
Yet earlier today, I had felt sorrow for one of the terrorists, even if she was the one who had essentially kept me alive, she was the enemy. And I actually wanted her free and safe in a fight against one of my own. I felt so ashamed of myself again, guilt washing over me as I forced myself back into the bed, recoiling from my own thoughts. Thankfully, it wasn't long until I was interrupted, by Vandal shaking my bunk to wake me up.
"Snake, Central Bradford is here for you" He muttered as he stopped shaking the bed, after seeing he had gotten my attention. I pulled myself out from under the covers again, seeing the officer waiting in the same place, by the table and chair with an extra two soldiers on top of Vandal and Deadbolt to watch me. He motioned towards the chair with one of his hands as I approached, beckoning me to sit. I followed his orders, trying to find the same comfortable spot as last time, coiling part of my tail into the chair to rest on.
"Good evening, Unit 19201648. As you requested, you've got your food, I assume it is satisfactory?" He asked, taking his place on the other side of the desk, hands behind his back.
"Yes, thank you. I'm glad the Doctor was able to persuade you" I replied, kind of patronizingly. He seemed to roll his eyes slightly but maintained the more professional attitude.
"Yes, Dr. Tygan did a lot of research to find if there was an alternative, under my command. None of which are feasible economically, anyway, so you'll be getting meat alongside your evening meals from now on" He informed, pulling up the same clipboard again, flicking through the pages. "Where were we last time? We ended talking about your patrolling..." He muttered, I wasn't sure if to himself or to me or both. "Yeah, I asked what would happen if you returned, and you told me that they would put you on another patrol"
"Yes, to my knowledge" I responded factually, trying to match his stare with my own.
"Okay. What were you doing before your patrol to the transmitter location?"
"I was on patrol at a separate location, guarding an authority figure" I responded, not feeling the need to disguise what I had done.
"Do you patrol often?" He asked, putting the clipboard down briefly.
"Yes, for the past 20 years I have ...dedicated myself to patrolling under orders from the Elders" I paused briefly as I tried to find the right words. Bradford didn't seem to be noting this down at all, however.
"Escorting people, guarding transmitters only?"
"Supply trains, facilities, towns, a bit of everything" I shrugged. He quickly picked up his clipboard again, jotting something down on the paper. Something I said must have been of interest.
"What kind of facilities have you patrolled?" He asked, pen in hand ready to write.
"Uhh...Advent ones. I've never been inside the facilities, just on the outside of them."
"Did you ever see them transporting anything? Anything unusual going on at the site?" He asked. He sounded almost excited for the answer, I didn't get the whole deal. Were these facilities going to be places they hit? All I knew about them was that they had something to do with the gene therapy stuff, must just be labs of some sort.
"No, nothing"
Bradford eyed me carefully, ordering a soldier beside him to get a second chair. He waited until he was seated, placing both elbows on the table.
"Unit 19201648, if I find you are not telling me the truth, I swear I will sell you straight to the Black Market, where their treatment of you will be worse than here by tenfold" He threatened, his low voice becoming somewhat gravelly and low, I felt very intimidated by it.
"I...I didn't do anything there. I just patrolled"
"Did you see them moving anything. Literally anything at all. Boxes, guns, tanks" He pressured. I tried to think back to my time guarding some of the facilities. There were sometimes a couple of ships in the landing pads, but I never went inside any of the facilities, only around the edges of them. I sometimes saw a few other natural Vipers at these places than I did patrolling towns, but there wasn't anything that stood out
"They would have ships arrive sometimes, providing an extra...garrison while they stayed. Maybe refueled" I answered, trying my best to discern what was going on there myself, along with deciding what to tell him.
The man sighed to himself, making notes on the paper again, before resuming his questioning of me.
"How many Vipers, roughly, are there that Advent has control over, in terms of being able to utilize them as patrols, such as yourself?" He asked, seeming a lot more relaxed now off of the topic of the facilities
"I can only really guess. There's a lot more of Advent soldiers than Vipers, maybe a few tens of thousand? But then our numbers are...supplemented by clones."
"Clones?"
"Yeah. I've noticed a bunch of Vipers that all look exactly the same. Same pattern, same color, same everything. All Vipers have some variation, so it's the only explanation for the similarities"
"Really?" He sounded actually amused at this, writing down a few lines on his paper, turning back to me. "Alright, tell me more about it"
"I don't know much about it. Just that I've seen clones of Vipers, probably due to Advent"
"Does this not anger you?" He asked, not looking up from his clipboard. In some ways, it did, having my own species manipulated by Advent was infuriating on face value, but it was better a clone died than a natural Viper. And Advent operated under the will of the Elders, and who was I to question their decisions?
"No. It is reasonable. Males in the Viper species are few and far between anyway, our species would struggle without the aid of the Elders" I responded, nodding as I was in thought about the Elders.
"Okay. Why were you asked to patrol supply trains and towns then?"
"Supply trains weren't as often, I've only ever done a few, usually to help transport me to a different patrol at the same time. In towns, Vipers are...preferred to other aliens. Our species is intelligent, we are able to learn your English language to a decent level, which helps talk to civilians more."
"Right. Baby steps, Unit 19201648. We'll leave it there for today, I will come back tomorrow to resume" He nodded, getting out of the chair. He walked past me with his two soldiers, heading straight out the door. As soon as he left, I let out a sigh of relief, unaware of how tense the short interrogation had made me feel. I headed back for the bed, again looking at the cameras, as Vandal had done.
If I was correct, the bedside table, and some of the bed and surrounding area was actually out of range of the cameras, maybe as a protocol to reduce invasiveness. This must be why Brick could sneak my food in so quickly. I slithered towards the other bed, earning a weird glance from Vandal before he shrugged and turned away, chatting with the Sniper. The bed was a little cooler, but everything else was the same, the cameras pointing near my direction didn't seem to cover the right side of my bed, as expected, and I wasn't being stared at now because of the TV anymore. I'll admit, having a little more privacy than I originally thought was kind of refreshing.
A long while after I had settled down, my stomach started to feel horrendous, like a build-up of acid below my chest, like I was going to throw up. Maybe eating everything so quickly, and to such a large amount hadn't been a great idea. Not that I could take it back now. I'd just have to remember to vomit on one of the soldiers when I finally did manage to throw up. Vandal and Deadbolt were still guarding, but I doubt for long.
I buried my head in my pillow, wrapping the duvet tight around me, waiting for the pain to go away, which I didn't notice, but my head refused to let me listen to the pain for much longer, as my pain in my stomach resided as I slowly fell back asleep in the new bunk.
(Sergeant 'Zero', 1400 EST 4/3/2035, Location: unknown)
I had spent the last two straight days lying in a bed, unallowed by the doctor to do anything other than eat, sleep and talk. Within the first few hours of being put here, the doctor started the extraction process of the metal in my arm. Since I wasn't injured enough to warrant full use of anesthesia, I was still fully awake to watch her dissect my arm and pull the round out, using some of the gel that forms the medkit to coat the wound after she treated what she could. Medkits had extreme regenerative properties, depending on the type of hemotoxin used could cause instant but often temporary self-repair, or gradual but sustained repair. But with the medkit applied, I was no longer on the painkillers, and I spent the rest of my time here in fairly constant pain, both from the initial wound, and the burning feeling of the medkit as it healed me, it felt as if something was inside my arm, eating away at my skin, even though it was doing the opposite.
But I still had to wait for the wound to begin healing so that I could be properly discharged. Brick was able to leave on the day she arrived, thanks to her pain just being bruising, but Venom was still in his bed, barely moving, whereas I fidgeted constantly. I couldn't stand being inactive this long, I don't know how Venom was managing. Brick visited me each day to check how I was doing, or just to talk. I was glad for her company, I didn't have much to talk about with Venom while he was awake, and she provided good entertainment, bringing some cards along with her so we could play a couple of crude games she knew.
She also told me about Unit 19201648, and that she was finally being fed properly, so I didn't have to spare any of my food for her anymore, and that she was undergoing interrogations every day so far. Which I suppose was a good thing, as I didn't see the Commander keeping her around for the sake of it. If she ceased being useful I'm certain that she would find her way to the Black Market, which I didn't really wish for her either. But it was obvious talking to her that Advent had such a good grip on her mind, she was completely loyal to them and the Elders, so once she ran out of information, I didn't know what would happen.
But now I was out, I was almost immediately put back on duty to watch her again, with bandages wrapped tightly around my arm, I made my way out of the infirmary, heading down towards the armory to pick up my rifle and pistol, and then proceeded up towards the room the Viper was kept in. I was on watch with Samurai today, so I was expecting to meet him at the entrance. But as I arrived, I couldn't see head nor tail of him, only the two guards on watch at the door. I peeked inside, seeing Vandal and a second soldier I didn't know spot me, and begin heading towards me to switch out. I shook my head in response, watching them both stop in their tracks.
"Sorry, Samurai isn't here yet, can't switch" I informed, watching Vandal roll his eyes.
"Trust him to be late. Oh well, if he's not here in the next 5 minutes, then I'll stay here with you Zero" Vandal sighed, turning back around to face the Viper. I noticed she was sat on the other side of the room than she usually did, but otherwise, she wore the same judging expression she always wore. I broke away from our very short-lived staring contest, waiting outside the door with the other guards, all holding new magnetic weaponry as well. Finally, Samurai turned up a couple of minutes later, holding his new shotgun, slightly out of breath as he approached.
"Sorry I'm late...Forgot to pick up the new shard gun from the armory" He apologized, hunched over slightly as he recovered his breath. He headed through the door ahead of me, so I followed him in afterward.
"Ah, Samurai! Glad to see you didn't skip detention, and that you're just late for it" Vandal teased as soon as he spotted us enter.
"Yeah, didn't particularly want to come. Just didn't want you to hog all the time waiting for the Viper to give you a reason to plug her" Samurai sarkily responding, walking past him. "Maybe today's my lucky day" He glanced over to the Viper, who sat watching him. I saw her slowly extend her arm, and then raise her largest claw at Samurai, resembling a middle finger gesture, with a dead expression. Obviously, she had seen the gesture either before capture or from the soldiers using the gesture to each other or at her. I started chuckling at the gesture, but Vandal was full out laughing at the expense of Samurai.
"Ha, that'll teach ya! But seriously, don't shoot the Viper until she does actually give you a reason to. Unless you want to be kicked off ship by the Commander" He warned, smiling at Samurai's stalwart expression, who was clearly unphased by the Viper's response. But Unit 19201648 was sure happy with Vandal laughing, as I swear I saw a small smile flit across her features, though it was kind of hard to tell.
Vandal and the second soldier left out the door, with a mock wave to Samurai as they did so. Samurai walked over and stood somewhat close to the Viper's bunk, holding his shotgun across his body. He turned around to face me, with the Viper at the corner of his vision.
"Long time no see, Zero. How've you been?" He asked, trying to start conversation.
"Not bad. Just got out of the infirmary like half an hour ago. Can't stand it in there" I shrugged as I responded, a streak of pain shooting down my left arm. I had to remember not to move my arm too much, otherwise I might hinder the healing process.
"Yeah, know what you mean. The constant beeping drives me a little crazy" He joked, obvious from his tone, yet no smile came to his face. "I've had to go in there for like 10 straight days once, damn Stun Lancers"
"Rough. Two days is too much for me. Thankfully Brick was there to keep me entertained"
"Yeah, that's pretty nice. Deadbolt and Vandal kept coming in to visit, make it a little more bearable. That was when I was still a Corporal" He let out a small side smirk as he recalled his memory. Without warning he snapped around away from me, pointing the shotgun directly and the Viper, who had barely moved, but had just started getting off of the bed.
"Where do you think you're going?" He asked, not lowering his gun. She continued getting out of her bed, pointing towards the wooden door of the room, which was the bathroom.
"I was just going to take a shower, and change my top" She explained, moving past us, and towards a small pile of clothes lying by the side of the other bunk. She picked the grey top from the top of the pile, which was possibly a bit bigger than the white top she wore at the moment.
"Do you need help to operate it?" I asked, out of genuine kindness. I wasn't sure whether she knew how to use them or not, but it wouldn't hurt to offer help.
"No, I'm not incapable. Plus, I've already used it before" She responded back at me, a slight sharpness was in her voice as she spoke. She seemed to glide across the floor slightly as she slithered towards the bathroom, and I heard the door lock closed. I returned to talking with Samurai, who now holstered his shotgun with the Viper out of sight.
"I'm not happy with that Viper. It's just the way she looks, almost like she's plotting something. Maybe she's gonna try to escape?" He exclaimed, heading to sit on the free bunk. I heard the water rushing through the pipes around us as the Viper turned on the shower.
"She'd be signing a death warrant if she tried. How's she even gonna get off the ship?" I offered my interpretation of the matter to Samurai. I hadn't really thought about it before, but I could understand where Samurai's concern came from. The Viper has had a few days to think about her captivity here, it was entirely possible that she was trying to plan something.
A loud hiss in the direction of the bathroom broke my thoughts, along with some noisy cluttering accompanying the hiss. Samurai gave me a slightly concerned look, as we both approached the door. I rapped the door with my knuckles 3 times, before trying to get the attention of Unit 19201648.
"Hey! What's going on in there? Is everything OK?" I asked through the door, holding my pistol in my right hand. All I heard was silence as a response, so Samurai chimed in.
"If you don't tell us what's happened, we're gonna see ourselves by kicking down the door!" He threatened, annoyance in his voice.
"Fine, aright" her voice called from the other side, followed by another pause. "I'm...stuck" She hissed quietly.
"What?" He shouted back to her, I wasn't sure whether he didn't hear or wanted clarification.
"I'm stuck!" She repeated, but louder. Samurai let out a long sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose.
"Okay. Zero is gonna come in and help then, can you undo the lock on the door?" He asked. I'm sure it was something stupid, that barely required my attention, and I didn't particularly want to argue with Samurai about who had to go in.
"No!" She hastily shouted back. "Sorry, I mean, no, could you send Brick"
"Why won't Zero do?"
"...Well, firstly, I don't want him to help me, secondly, I trust Brick, not Zero." She reasoned, her voice quieter again. Samurai shook his head, exasperated. "Could you just tell us what's happened at least?"
"I'm stuck. In my top" She sighed. An image of the Viper desperately trying to take off a stuck top found its way into my mind, causing me to laugh slightly. Samurai rolled his eyes, clearly irritated by the situation.
"Could you just let Zero do it? It'll be quicker and easier"
"I can wait. Send Brick" She ordered this time. The shower was still running in the background, which was probably just as cold as the shower in my room; stone cold. As reptiles tended to be cold-blooded, not that I was sure whether Vipers were cold or warm blooded, but if they are cold-blooded, then the shower would probably give her hypothermia if she wasn't careful.
Samurai shrugged, rolling his eyes. "Fine, but you might have to wait a while. I don't know where Brick is" He walked over to the front door, standing in the doorway to hold it open, and spoke to the guards, one of whom promptly left. He stood chatting to the soldier outside,
"That's okay. But I can't turn the shower off..." She replied, though Samurai was out of earshot. I holstered my pistol, seeing no use for it at the moment, and waited by the door for Brick to arrive. I decided to break the silence by trying to talk to the Viper, in the meantime.
"So I haven't been on guard for a few days. I heard they finally started giving you meat with your food?" I asked, already knowing her answer would have been yes, but I couldn't think of what else to talk about.
"Yes. What of it?" She answered back, sounding thoroughly disinterested in making conversation with me. I gathered that she didn't want to talk to me from it, but I felt that I couldn't just not respond to her reply.
"Well...you know, it's good. It's good that you're being fed properly" I explained.
"They didn't really have much choice. They wanted me to answer questions and I refused until I had food. I wouldn't have the food if I didn't have... information to give to you terrorists. You're all the same, you use a different agenda to push your own. And I don't know yours, or why you are talking to me now. Maybe it's trying to get me to 'like' you, is it? That's why you 'missed' those two shots on the Viper?! It won't work, terrorist!" She retorted, raising her voice in anger as she continued on. I was outraged at her accusation, especially of her bringing my field performance into it.
"Me missing those shots was my bad aim, and nothing to do with you! I don't care whatsoever whether you hate me or like me!" I yelled back, keeping my voice still somewhat low, so as not to completely alert those at the door. "And it doesn't matter whether I would prefer you to die or live, it's cruel to mistreat a prisoner of war!"
"Zero, why are you shouting at the Viper?" Brick interrupted me. I hesitated, caught off guard by Brick approaching. I had gotten angry enough that I completely ignored her approach me. I felt my face burning, as I looked away, embarrassed.
"Sorry..." I apologized, avoiding her gaze. "She's just winding me up"
Brick laid her hand on my right shoulder, leaning down slightly to make eye contact. "Zero, don't let her get to you then. Just walk away from it next time, yeah?" She smiled, patting my shoulder twice before standing up to face the door. "Unit 19201648, it's Brick. Can I come in?"
"Yes... But no laughing" She responded. I sighed, shaking my head at myself for letting my emotions get the better of me. I left to sit on one of the bunks to give Brick a bit of space, as she entered the bathroom. A couple of seconds later, I heard Brick's hearty laughter through the door. I pulled my rifle onto my lap, just in case the worst happened, though I didn't really feel anything would happen. A short while later, Brick came out of the bathroom, a ripped white top in her hand, which she promptly balled up and chucked on the floor by the bed.
"You had to rip the shirt to get it off?" I questioned, disbelieving that her being stuck was that bad.
"Oh, yeah. She managed to really mess it up, she had it half caught over her hood. Think she was quite embarrassed that someone had to see her in that sort of position. I can understand why she didn't want one of you guys to help though" She explained, sitting down on the bunk with me. "Though I suppose in that respect I'm not much of a better option. But she doesn't exactly know that"
"I think it's just because she trust you a lot more, Brick, you're overthinking it" I chuckled at Brick's expense, earning a slight laugh from her as well.
"Ha, yeah, you're probably right. I heard they're venom sacs anyway, so it's not as exciting as I've made it out to be" She smiled. It was all a little odd talking about the Alien's breasts, a topic I really didn't have much interest in.
"Anyway, how's your chest?" I diverted the topic.
"You're worried about my chest? You still have a huge hole in your arm. Anyway, my chest is fine, doesn't hurt anymore. But I'm not allowed on another mission for a couple more days so I don't upset it again. Doctor's orders. With your arm, do you have to replace the bandage yourself?"
"Nah, Doctor has to do it, I have to got to the infirmary twice a day to get it replaced, and so she can poke around in there" I grinned. Brick pretended to gag a little in response, sticking her tongue out.
"Dude, no need for the imagery. Especially cause that doctor creeps me out a little. Well, all doctors do, really" She said with a shrug.
The door leading to the bathroom opened, the Viper walking back into the room, now wearing a grey top instead. She glanced towards us, nodding at Brick slightly, or at least I think she was nodding at Brick.
"Alright, crisis averted then," Brick announced, jumping up from the bed. "I'm off. See you at dinner" She said as she left the room, turning around and briefly gave a two-fingered salute to me. I returned the gesture, just before she could disappear. Samurai was stood next to the door, watching the Viper closely, shotgun in hands. He seemed to always be a little on edge around the Viper, a bit like I was on my first shift, just less twitchy. Now I had been on a few guard shifts of the Viper, I had got used to it a bit more, and was more relaxed in general.
Halfway through my shift, Unit 19201648 called my name, despite there being ages of silence, with Samurai standing watch, with me watching them both from the spare bunk, the one the Viper used to sit on.
"Zero" She called, her voice somewhat quiet as I wasn't really paying attention. I stood up from the bunk, watching Samurai straighten his posture, watching the Viper for any moves. I headed over to her bed, where she still lay coiled underneath the duvet.
"What do you want?" I asked, in a tight voice, not drawing any weapons as I approached. I knew that Samurai was more than ready should something happen.
"Look...uh... I'm sorry, for...y'know...picking a fight with you. And bringing up your mission" She hissed reluctantly, avoiding eye contact, her right arm rubbing the area between her hood and shoulder as she spoke.
"That sounded hard for you to say," I mocked slightly. "I take it Brick told you to say that?"
"Well, yes. But I still mean it. I was just being defensive" She admitted, holding my gaze this time. I didn't quite believe that she was entirely sorry for what she said, I reckon that in the same situation she would still snap back at me in the same way.
"I appreciate the honesty, I guess. I'm sorry for shouting back" I conceded, trading my own apology for hers. "I meant to ask earlier, but was the shower okay? They're usually stone cold. I was kind of afraid you might get hypothermia or something"
"Zero, you shouldn't get too friendly with her. She thinks we're the worst of the worst, it's all an act for your benefit, don't fall for it" Samurai warned me, interrupting our conversation and stepping closer to me as he said it. I could see the concern in his eyes, but dismissed his notion.
"I can handle myself, thanks" I responded, turning back to face the Viper, awaiting her response.
"The shower was fine. I recover from the cold alright, since we're warm-blooded" She responded. I raised my eyebrows at her response, piquing my genuine interest.
"I thought reptiles tended to be cold-blooded?"
"They are, as are my species, before genetic interference by the Elders. The integration of your human DNA into ours has allowed for our species to develop as warm-blooded, which is much better as a species to allow us to live in more hostile conditions." She explained. "One of the few perks your DNA gives us"
"Right, I should have guessed really. And uh, your scar is healing up well" I pointed out. She instinctively looked down towards the faintish red scar situated down the side of her torso area, running her fingers over it.
"Yeah, the scales are coming back over already. Your medical supplies are very effective" She agreed, sounding surprised. Maybe she had not noticed that the scarring had faded so much since the beginning.
"Alright. I'll leave you to it then. Just say if you need anything" I nodded, heading back away from her, being stopped by Samurai as I passed him with his hand on my shoulder. He gave me a sharp look, and shook his head discretely at me, before releasing his grip, and letting me go.
The rest of the shift was quiet, with Unit 19201648 staying in the bunk, and Samurai at the door. I stood largely in silence, without the TV on either, thinking about how to deal with the Viper. It seemed that after Brick had spoken to her, she seemed to be less hostile towards me. But I didn't exactly plan on getting on her good side, like Brick had already done. I suppose I preferred a more neutral ground where I could still talk to her, but still remember that she was the enemy, and that given half the chance, she would still kill me. I shivered at the thought, as our rotation opened the door, signaling for us to leave.