White frost bit the cruel ruin which was London, alien and human structures standing along side one another as far as the eye could see, all engulfed in the pure whiteness. It was July, and snow on this scale hadn't occurred at this time of the year in human memory as far back as it stretched. It evidently did for the Chimera though, they thrived in the cold.
A Dragoon perched on one of the many half demolished human structures which existed in the city. With a wing span of 30 feet and a cruel bird like face it might be mistaken for a prehistoric pterodactyl crossed with a mythological griffon. Except it had a dozen extra eyes on its head and metal scythes in place of its two front feet, as well as being constructed of the same orange muscle which all Chimera seemed to favor. This new strain the Chimera had developed served primarily as scouts and recon, but they were becoming a much more common sight in urban warzones, their agile and swooping nature allowing them to whittle away companies one by one.
This particular Dragoon froze on its resting place, one of its many bug eyes catching a glimpse of movement. It slowly turned itself towards the direction it thought it had seen something, its gait awkward when restricted to the ground. If it was a threat it would raise a haunting cry which could travel for miles and attack instantly, it had been a long time since it had tasted fresh meat. It hungered for it.
It licked the air with its tongue and sniffed with its nostrils, there was a small anomaly, enough to warrant a swoop. Gathering itself it prepared to spring, only for the noise of a Kingfisher to fill its eardrums. The two craft went roaring past, one carrying a light Sabertooth tank and the other flying escort. With a cry of glee the bored Dragoon leapt after them, ready to send news of this intrusion, or even attack if the opportunity allowed.
From behind the wreckage of what had must have been a British bunker Karl sighed, he had rushed his dash from the alley to where he hid now, and his impatience had nearly cost all of them their lives. He would have to keep a better leash on it in the future. With a gesture he called the rest of his squad to him, the coast now seemingly clear.
They moved quietly and quickly despite the leaving of the bird like creature. They gathered behind the galvanized metal and girders which comprised the shelter, crouched between the cold metal and the colder snow. Misty breath fell from each of their respirators; it must have been -10 degrees.
"That was sloppy Captain." Lina commented crouching with her Fareye held against her knees. She had a new suit now, the VTOL they had taken from the canyons to the subterranean Chimera tunnels luckily carrying a few spares, including another for Karl. The trip had been nightmarish, the caves packed with Chimera of all types and the Black Ops forced to do a clean sweep of the entire system or risk missing their target completely. Several causalities and hours later they had tracked him here, to the outskirts of London.
Karl ignored the remark. Ever since Tom's discovery he had barely said two words to her. Lucky he had his helmet or his shifty looks would have given his suspicions away. It all made so much sense now, their positions being betrayed in the canyons, the failure of her to finish off the Immortal in Northern Command, even her unrivaled ability to tell them where the Grayskin was going next. Some how or other she was working with the enemy, perhaps her infection with the Chimera virus had played a part in that.
He would have had her arrested, but there had been no time during their chase to send her away, and even he had to admit they lacked evidence. Still he knew, and he could keep her with the others and out of trouble. As long as she was still willing to kill Chimera he would play along, until he could safely confine her anyway.
Taking out his trusty binoculars Karl again scanned the area. This had been a regular pattern since they had entered the city, being repeated every block or so. They were heavily into enemy territory here; it wouldn't surprise him if there were over a million Chimeran troops located in London. What British Kingfishers were doing here was beyond him.
Satisfied they again moved out, scuttling like rats from shadow to shadow, stopping and searching for anyone or anything every block or so. They continually moved inwards, always angling towards that mountain of a tower in the center. As Karl stared at it, he realized that whatever happened, it would all end there. He blinked and shook himself, now where had that thought come from? Gesturing to his squad they continued.
They weren't the only Black Ops moving towards the structure. Despite their ever increasing losses two more squads of six were still under his command and proceeding East and West of him. He had expected heavy resistance, but from their own experiences and the regular reports the other X-rays sent him the whole city seemed deserted, only a few drones, patrols and Dragoons being glimpsed at and in far fewer numbers than expected. It was like the city had been emptied. Were the Chimera locked in some battle which had drained their garrisons?
Eventually Karl had had enough. This whole quiet stunk of a setup, and after learning of Lina he had become extremely suspicious of the possibility of a trap and this was one if he ever saw it, unless they had all disappeared for some other logical reason, but he sincerely doubted anything with that much good luck behind it could be associated with the Chimera.
Nearing a red brick warehouse Karl sent Steve up to the roof to see if he could spot anything which might explain the absence of the enemy's presence. The rest of them spreading out on the ground floor incase things went messy. Karl would have sent Lina up as well to cover him, but he didn't want her to be out of his sight even for a second.
Quicker than expected the man returned and without saying another word gestured for them to follow him. They did, the strange manner he was acting in making them forget military discipline. Slowly they walked to the roof and climbing over to the edge peered into a scene from their worse nightmares, Karl without even thinking traced the scar behind his headgear, awful memories filling his head as he did so.
Thousands of Chimera troops were on the warpath, a long unbroken line marching through the streets. Ranks of Hybrids walked in uneven but discernable squares, Titans in pairs shouldered along, lengthy rectangular ground transports rolled by one by one, no doubt they as well packed to the brim. There were so many, surely all of the Chimera in England were on the march, but to where, and why? Then suddenly the thought hit him, the picture of the two British aircraft clear in his head.
He stared at the marching army. No, surely they wouldn't, no couldn't be that stupid? To attack here of all places would be suicide, if the army wasn't enough to wipe the British army off the face of the earth the Goliaths would. Looking to his left he saw Tom leaning over the edge with interest, and recalled the disappointment when he had learned they had betrayed the British. Of course to him this would be a noble gesture, a last stand which would liberate Britain or kill them all trying, he would have to keep an eye on him as well; he may try to sneak away and join them, orders or no.
Stepping away from the view Karl began thinking; he had all the cards in his hand but what to do with them? He almost laughed when he thought of it that way; this should make no difference at all. With the Chimera out there they had a clear shot at the Tower; they could capture the Grayskin and finally leave this cursed isle. He should leave the British to their fate and focus on the objective. The irony that this was startlingly similar to their first misadventure in York and even more so to Captain Fumar's folly at Somerset was not lost on him. But he realized that he was going to do it all the same.
Gathering in his men he gave them his plan, he had glimpsed three possible targets from his brief examination of the landscape. Taking out his binoculars he again studied them, yes they would do nicely. A Stalker refueling station, a small conversion center, and a factory of some sort, if their guards were even half way reduced they would be juicy targets indeed. The Chimera would surely come running if they all went up in flames, battle or no.
"Why?" Lina asked ice in her speech, normally he would have seen it as typical logical her. Always putting the mission before everything else, but now he saw it in a whole new light, of course she wanted them to continue, a single man would hardly be as important as this campaign was for the Chimera. He glared at her from behind his visor, but answered anyway. He had not told the others about Lina for fear of them giving their conspiracy away, and they would see it as unusual if he did not reply.
"Firstly because this silence while so convenient for us," he began "Also allows our target plenty of room to hide and maneuver, bringing the Chimera back into the area will pressure him into revealing himself, he can avoid us, but not that." he finished nodding towards the convoy. He was rather proud of that point, it had occurred to him just moments ago and went a good deal of the way to justifying his plan.
"Secondly," he continued "Those targets are exposed and can be breached easily without loss of life or time, and what's more will help out our British allies, which struggle is ours." It actually went down a lot differently to that, Command were more than willing to sacrifice all of Britain if it gave them more preparation and Intel, but he would never tell Tom or any of the others that.
"And thirdly," he finished with a gleam in his eye which none but he could picture "Because I say so, and if you disobey I will have you shot right here and now, we are on a dangerous mission in hostile territory. I don't have time for people second guessing my command." He wouldn't have shot any of them short of them shooting him first, but they didn't know that. Or at least he hoped they were unsure, command was often a balance between fear and respect.
Lina nodded as if conceding the point, but she seemed to go a little rigidly about preparing her self. Or was he just imagining it?
He relayed the plan to other the squads. Blue team would hit the conversion center, Green team would strike the factory and they the Red team would launch an assault on the Stalker refueling bay. All teams had a few demolition charges on them, and with all the petrol at their target they could blow it up faster than lightning.
"Go, go, go!" Karl whispered into the com line. And in front of him he heard the sounds of gunfire. The place was manned by two Steelheads and eight Hybrids, along with however many Menials. It was enough to make a direct assault for them difficult, but Karl knew it was a mere skeleton crew to what the station would have normally held. The building was an open circular courtyard surrounded where the waiting vehicles were reenergized and refueled. It was surrounded by a set of catwalks coliseum style with a pair of watch towers and an outer wall thrown in. The security detail had all grouped together in the centre though, meaning the X-rays had virtually free run of the outer area. It would cost the Chimera dearly today.
The squad of Hybrids and Steelheads went straight for Lina Daniel and Tom, not even considering the possibility of a diversion. The trio upon gaining their attention withdrew, laying down cover fire as they retreated. Their goal was to lure them out into the open and god willing flank and eliminate them, or at the very least hold them. Everything seemed to be going to plan so far, his men retreated and the Chimera followed. The rest was up to them.
Nodding to Steve and Jack they burst into the courtyard, using Magnums they moved through the mess of Stalkers and Menials, clearing out the latter as they came across them. Reaching the center he gave another nod to his squad mates and began working on removing the grate below him, if this bay held true to others he had encountered then this would be where the petrol would be kept, but he would be dangerously exposed while placing the bombs and had to rely on the other two to cover him.
Managing to get a grip he lifted the steel mesh placing it to the side. Below as he had hoped were the fuel vats. Three of them, each one probably holding more than a 100 litres, a small charge in each would blow this place sky high, there were over twenty Stalkers sitting around him, a sizeable loss for the Chimera. He tried not to focus on the gunshots coming from Jack and Steve's Magnum's and set to work.
Pulling out the first hose he set the timer on all three charges and put the foremost explosive into the dark oily pool, reattaching the hose as he did so. Using a similar method he set the second charge and was just preparing to place the third when things started to go seriously wrong. From another entrance several more Hybrids came in, perhaps to relieve the forces already stationed here or just on patrol. They froze when they saw the three Black Ops out in the open, and immediately moved into combat formation, making grabs for their Bullseye's.
"We've got hostiles captain!" Steve shouted pulling out his Hailstorm as they lost any semblance of stealth. He poured fire onto the Hybrids, forcing them to scramble for cover. Jack lacking a long range weapon kept up the pressure with his magnum, for once not wasting time with a sarcastic remark. Karl gulped and tried to not to rush the third bomb, but it was hard when bullets were flying above his head. Finally he got it done and leaped to his feet, pulling out his carbine. But things had only gotten worse in the few seconds it had taken him.
"Those Hybrids are going for the Stalkers Captain!" Steve bellowed with a particularly vigorous stream of green bullets burying themselves into the bowels of one of the monsters. Some were indeed climbing into the vehicles, no doubt planning on using them on this new threat. There were too many to stop them all and to make matters worse another squad was coming from another of the side entrances, and above all the clocks on those charges were ticking away. He had only put three minutes on them.
Eyeing the closest Stalker Karl leapt onto its side and clambered up, opening the cockpit as he did so. He jumped into the drivers seat and quickly glanced at the controls, there was the locomotion, rotation, speed, power levels, fuel, where were the guns? Noticing the seat behind him he leaned over the edge of the controls.
"Get in here!" he yelled at Steve ducking as a flurry of Bullseye shots bombarded his vehicle. Steve looked at him as though trying to understand and failing, but leaped in anyway, quickly seating himself in the gunner's seat, figuring out the controls. That left Jack, still firing shots from behind them.
"Jack," Karl called to him "Cover our rear from that new squad, then punch out of here and meet up with the rest at the fallback point." Jack looked at him and nodded. Truth be told Karl didn't want to leave him in such a position, he was by far the most hotheaded of them all, and couldn't entirely be trusted. Still there was no time to swap places, what was done was done. "Make sure you get out of here in time," he cautioned just before he sealed the hatch "In less than two minutes this whole place is going to blow." With that he activated the power and set the thing moving, already two opposing Stalkers were closing in.
Through the display he watched the two green dots approach them, they turned red instantly as smaller red specks began speeding towards the blue orb representing them, data being fed by the two viewing ports. He waited until the last minute and then pushed hard to the right, cleanly dodging the two missiles. Keeping an eye on the display he moved forward, dodging left and right to avoid and spread out the damage. It felt strange to not be in control of the weapons, and even more to feel so detached from the battle. The hits which landed were barely a shudder to him.
Looking through the display he saw the first of their adversaries detonate in a violent explosion and quick to press their advantage charged the second one, moving crab like from cover to cover Steve firing all the while. With one last push Karl rammed the opposing Stalker, sending it crashing to the ground and Steve firing their weapons point blank into its crumpled wreck.
But they had no time to celebrate. Three more Stalkers had been manned and were coming around near the vehicle entrance. Karl turned to face them but his squad mate was faster, a trio of missiles blew the centre one up before it even knew what hit it. The other two Stalkers after a second's pause turned and began moving away, heading out the entrance. Did they know about the bombs? Or were they just retreating after the massacre of their allies? Either way they had best get out of here, with a bomb about to go off and two Stalkers to hunt they set off after them, clearing the facility.
Their foes did not retreat quietly. More missiles and bullets flailed against their hull as they gave chase, and despite Karl's eagerness to finish them he had to admit they weren't invincible. The indicator put their armor at about 60%. But finally they got a lucky break, one of the Stalkers stepping over a piece of rubble got stuck, and its teammate wasn't willing to stick around. Alone Steve and Karl butchered the machine, which while putting up an admirable fight couldn't compete with next to zero movement. The next one was finally brought down when it strayed too close to a building, a long range blast knocking a wall down on top of the spider mech and crippling it.
Karl sat silently as the smoke wafted up from the last kill, despite barely moving a muscle he was covered in sweat. And he hadn't even been in significant danger? Amazing what adrenaline would do to in the heat or battle, emotional stress could often be worse than the physical. He knew, he had experienced it, he had never forgiven himself for letting his fellow men down at Norwich, it had taken weeks of counseling to get as far as he had now. To know that the Chimera had been expecting them in advance, that there was no way he could have spotted the reserves waiting underground.
On the radar something caught his eye, a small red dot moving across the display. It was too small to be another Stalker, it had to be infantry. Taping a button he made the viewing ports focus on the man, and indeed it was a man, badly pixilated but still a man. His gaze narrowed as he recognized the clothes, haircut and build of the 'Grayskin', he had evaded them this far. But fate had brought him to them again; there would no escape this time.
"You see him?" he whispered turning them around to face the man, making sure to do each step slowly and carefully. He had not noticed them yet; they were half concealed behind a snowy rise, and easily a hundred metres away, but he still whispered, paranoia at its finest. Their target was in some kind of a square, a nearby improvised Bunker might allow him to hide for a while but overall the space was lacking cover, perfect.
Gunning the motors he urged their Stalker onwards, charging over the top of the slope, finally hitting the banks surrounding the square and Steve training his gun turrets on the man. He had seemed so tough back in the duel between them near Bracknell, but now he was little more than an insect. Dwarfed by the enormous machine they rode in, but all was not well. Despite their charge the Grayskin ignored them. Focusing instead on two steadily approaching planes, the same two Kingfishers Karl had glimpsed earlier. They were bringing him a Tank!
"Fire," Karl ordered his voice cold. Behind him Steve froze, no doubt considering the sickening logic behind the order. If they managed to get the armor to the Grayskin he would be all but untouchable. Their Stalker would be trounced by its cannons in seconds, the human's heavy vehicles one of the few areas where they had the upper hand.
"Do it now or we risk losing him forever!" Karl commanded his voice growing firm. But still Steve hesitated, his sights resting on one of the two approaching aircraft. Snarling Karl reached back violently and pulled the trigger, sending a missile speeding towards its target. It struck the one flying escort dead center, going down in gouts of flames. He noted sorrowfully that there was no chance of survivors; the cockpit had been completely bashed in. But the damage had been done, and the other helicopter was breaking off, please let those pilot's sacrifice not be in vain.
Pressing forward the Stalker slid down the bank of snow, and without hesitation Karl pushed it into battle.
The Grayskin fought back, equipped with a multitude of weapons he gave battle with everything he had. LAARK rounds slammed against their armor, Hailstorm bullets bounced off their cockpit, and grenades were presenting a serious danger of obliterating one of their legs. Karl was a competent pilot, and knowing the weakness of the power core kept them facing the enemy for the most part, but the man was relentless. He moved with a grace Karl had never seen in a soldier before, and the few wounds Steve managed to inflict on him healed over in seconds.
Almost subconsciously Karl went on the defensive, trying to maximize the distance between them, swooping in behind the shelter in an effort to find some relief from his enemy's ammunition. But if anything this only heightened the man's aggressiveness, he moved closer, punched harder, draining their vessels health faster and faster. Eventually Karl hung his head in defeat, this man…was…just…too…good!
Activating the self destruct he opened the cockpit and grabbed Steve by the arm, hoisting him up from his seat. The groaning from the Stalker while it prepared to explode had warned the Grayskin to flee, and he did so ducking for cover behind a snowdrift, not even sparing a glance for the doomed machine. They had about five seconds to make themselves scarce, and not just because of the soon to blow up vehicle.
Practically picking up the man he chucked Steve into one of the large windows in the building opposite from where they had come in, following suit he grabbed his magnum and lacking time for his other firearm leaped after him. Breaking yet more glass and landing roughly next to his comrade, restraining the man's movements as he attempted to stand. Had the Grayskin heard the gentle tinkling of the glass? Only time would tell.
The Stalker blew up the next second, and he flexed as the noise and shock wave surrounded him, instinct taking over where rational thought ended. The firestorm ended and he lay still, if they wanted to survive they had to play possum. If a Stalker had been unable to take the man down a lone magnum would hardly do the job.
He heard the crunching of boots and the sound of the bolt of a rifle being rammed home. He closed his eyes, trying to prepare for the pain a bullet would inflict when unloaded into his skull. Instead more footsteps and the sound of rotors came into his awareness, the Kingfisher making its drop. He risked getting up and looked out the window; the target was already getting into the tank and for now beyond their reach.
Grimly he and Steve made their way back to rest of their squad. Their hearts were heavy not only from the once again failure of their mission, but because of the fellow human beings Karl had been forced to murder. 'What is this war turning me into?' he questioned mentally as they proceeded down the wreckage filled alleyways. The answer was something horrible, a monster who thought of nothing beyond the next mission, the next objective, like Lina. The thought that he may be becoming something remotely like that cold hearted backstabber almost made himself sick. He fumed as they ducked into a building to avoid a roving dropship. Now that their infrastructure was threatened the streets once again seemed to be alive with the enemy. Though not in the numbers he had glimpsed at the convoy, evidently at least some of the army was continuing to the warzone.
The Chimera presence meant it took half an hour for them to get back to the meet up point, sticking to the shadows and at one unlucky instance forced to gun down an ambushing Dragoon with all of Karl's remaining ammo. Finally though they reached the school they had chosen as a meeting place when the mission was done. Moving into the darkened class room Karl saw that Jack was there, kneeling in a pool of blood. After a second of frozen indecision he ran forward pulling his gun free and searching the room for an attacker, but there was none.
Dropping the weapon he ran to young Sentinels side, only to see the blood was that of another one of his squad mates lying at Jack's knees. The Australian was trying to stem the bleeding; sobbing quietly behind his helmet, knowing it was not enough. Removing the head covering he saw that it was Daniel, his shaven head sickeningly pale. His eyes still shone with life, but not for much longer.
"Lina." Karl whispered with all the malice he could muster. Quickly pulling out his med kit he tried to see if anything could be done, but the wounds were too many and too deep. Knife wounds were everywhere, chest arms legs even his wrists were slashed. Several gunshots were also in evidence, Karl counting at least three on his chest. Whoever had done this had either been unforgiving or Daniel had put up one hell of a fight, probably both. But there was nothing he could do; even the best surgeons in the world could have bought this man less than minutes.
"Karl." His friend struggled to speak, his voice dry from lack of saliva, he retched and coughed, specks of blood flaking his mouth. Karl tried to quiet him, but he would not be quieted even in death. With great effort he spoke "Got me from behind Captain, caught me by surprise, traitor…" he stopped there, another bout of coughing silencing him, but the dutiful words brought Karl back to reality, this was still a military situation, and he needed every word he could get from the man while he still lived.
"Daniel, where did she go?" he asked his voice trembling, immeasurable sorrow and anger were building up inside of him, but he needed to know, needed this answer, to gain vengeance, to gain purpose, to unleash the maelstrom within him or die in the struggle. But Daniel just looked at him with a mystified look on his face. "She?" he said questionably as thought trying to grasp the word, his condition obviously sapping his thinking power.
"She," he stated resolutely, trying to be the rock which held him down from the heavens above. "She who betrayed us, she who has been working with them, she who," he brought his hand down to dip into the crimson pool of death around his friends body "did this too you." showing the blood trickling down his fingertip and onto his body armor.
"Lina?" Daniel asked his voice growing fainter with every breath, his eyes beginning to dim and breathing becoming ragged. "Heavens no Karl, Tom was the bastard who did this too me." Karl stared at him as though he had sprouted an extra head. Slowly he turned around, looking for Tom. Surely he had just missed him in the rush, Daniel must be delirious. But there was no silent figure, short stout frame walking towards him, ready to explain everything. He looked back at Daniel with a new light in his eyes.
"Took Lina hostage," Daniel went on, either missing Karl's surprise or not wasting the time to acknowledge it "She made him work for it, but he got her, he left me alive on purpose Karl, he wants you to follow him." Another noise rose from his throat, gurgling. The man was drowning in his own blood.
"Where," Karl asked softly taking off his helmet and looking into the man's eyes, trying to hold the man's attention. He had but seconds left, and he needed this answer. "Where did Tom go Daniel?" he answered almost pleading, "Daniel you have to tell me!"
Daniel tried to speak but couldn't manage it; instead he raised his hand, and drawing on every last drop of his remaining strength pointed through the window to the colossal building in the centre of London. It had many names, Pandora's Box, the tower, but the most fitting by far as Karl felt as watched the last action of his dying friend was the Red Structure; the blood dripping from Daniel's gloved hand. With a gasp he lay back, falling to the floor again.
"He said he would wait for you there," Daniel so faintly that it could also be mistaken for the wind, "That it would all end there." And after those final words he laid still, his breathing and the blood welling from his gashes ending in unison.
Karl stepped up from his comrade's body; they had known each other for five years. Daniel had always been the rock at his back, the helping hand at his side, and now he was gone. Walking away he looked into his own helmet still resting in his arms. Gazing into the black voids which were its eye slits he saw his reflection, something was running down his face. Tears, the essence of sadness and pain, he smiled sadly as he thought that he had been wrong, he was nothing like Lina, and she was nothing like he had thought she was.
Looking out the window Karl gazed at the tower which his friend had pointed to, so big it almost reached the clouds. Yes he thought as he remembered Daniel's last words, it would all end there.
