Etrius carefully glanced around the corner, trying best not to be seen by any of the guards. He subdued a groan of disappointment when he saw there to be eight of them, and heavily armed. Security cameras stared at every inch of the next hallway. Turning back to Lloyd, who stood behind him, gripping his sword tightly, he shook his head.
Lloyd's tense face fell, "So, what do we do?" He whispered, "That bomb is set to go off in an hour, and take all the hostages with it. We still haven't even found the control room."
Etrius rumbled a grunt from the back of his throat, demanding an idea to come to him, as time was slipping away, like sand falling between his fingers. Observing the guarded hallway again, he looked at the security cameras, and clenched his teeth. They'll have to do this the long way.
He whispered, "We'll have to shut down the cameras, first."
Despite all the other missions that have been easy for Etrius, this one was the most complex. It was probably, because the hostage situation was led by the most dangerous criminal wanted by the FBI. What he wanted was simple; "Five barrels of water or the hostages die." Look at what the Resource War has done to us. Bombing an entire building, destroying hundreds of lives for a few casks of water. The thought send him a fuming chill down his spine whenever he thought of it. As this problem had first sprung up, it was obvious the Elite Team was going to be needed for this specific mission. Finding a way to sneak into their HQ, Lloyd and Etrius were sent in through another part of the building that was believed to have the control center nearest.
"We won't have enough time to find the source to shut down the cameras. By then, it'll be too late." Lloyd argued quietly.
Etrius' fists tightened their grip on nothing in rage. Although Beecher and Boomer were working on finding the building and getting the hostages out, Etrius and Lloyd had to find a way to stop the bomb's countdown. Shit, what can he do?!
Letting go of his tenseness, he came to a decision, "The fastest way is to just burst through and find it quickly. We have to forget about not risking being seen. He won't detonate the building with the hostages once he sees us, since he knows we have what he wants."
Lloyd nodded in understanding and they charged.
The sound of their heavily running footsteps brought the guards to their full attention. Instantly, they raised their rifles and started firing.
Lloyd, having been trained especially for accuracy, was able to dodge most of the bullets no problem and he didn't waste a minute before lashing out with his sword. Etrius clasped the two pistols and started firing nonstop.
Lloyd plummeted to the guard nearest to him and gave the second one a roundhouse kick, knocking them both out promptly. His foot collided with another's stomach, causing the air in his lungs to be forced out, and he fell to the floor from the sudden impact.
Another guard behind Lloyd, which he didn't notice, aimed for a headshot. Etrius had other plans. He unsheathed his sword and slashed at the guard's back in a blur, and finished the attack with a few rounds from his pistol. The guard stumbled back in surprise and howled in pain, faltering, and unable to stand any longer.
Not wasting any more time looking at the fallen guards, they ran on to meet what other problems dared to face them next. Etrius risked a second's glance at the security cameras as they watched them run to the next hallway.
Etrius' eyes wandered from the General back to the top of the pyramid. The stairway seemed to stretch on forever, and this triggered his impatience. Even so, he gave no reaction.
Ten steps left. He counted them down until he reached the top.
Three…
Two…
One…
His paused on the final step and he beheld down at the power source. The General stood beside him, gazing at the black orb that stood in the center of the floor. Etrius uttered a low groan from the bottom of his throat. All this shit for a fucking orb? The General's words snapped his attention back to authenticity.
"Excellent, now let's take it home, Etrius," The General and Etrius' eyes met, giving off expressions of bitter antagonism, "Give it to me."
Etrius hesitated for a second, and as much as he hated it, he knew better than to argue. Walking over and cautiously plucking it from where it lay, he was surprised when the artifact was lighter than he thought. A strange, cold sensation radiated from the orb.
Dr. Romanov carefully studied the hieroglyphics and translated them in a whispered tone, his finger lining the ancient words as he read, "It's taken me."
Etrius clasped the power source protectively in his hand and walked back to the General, aware of the usual hatred that seemed to burst off him and stab his soul. The General eyed him with impatience and determination.
"It's…" He squinted, trying to read the worn out words more easily, "Using me." Dr. Romanov continued to translate. His tone growing higher in elevation, "It's eating me."
Etrius held out the power source to the General, but stopped short when he saw a light emit from the orb and vibrate up his arm and into his mind. His eyes slowly bulged and his iris thinned as he saw flashes of images.
He saw it all.
Etrius couldn't tell where the hell he was, or why he was there in the first place. Light filtered in from the clear window, and a wooden desk stood on the other side of the room. The faint lingering smell of cigars expressed the General's office, and he knew exactly where he was standing, but, why? He was in the altar room just a second ago. He touched the orb.
Six men in front of him, seeming to be deep in conversation caught his attention. He recognized one of them as the General and the others as his superiors.
"You know we need it." One of the taller ones said in a hushed tone, probably trying to keep the conversation secret, as he heard footsteps and muffled chattering outside the door.
"I know, I know. But, there just seems to be no other way," The General replied, the distance in his eyes exposed his depth in thought.
Glowering at the confusion, Etrius walked up to the General, "Want to tell me what the hell's going on? How did we get here?"
The General paid him no attention and continued on with the seemingly vital conversation.
"Hey!" Etrius barked, louder this time, "I said-" Placing a hand on the General's shoulder in hopes of getting his attention, he muted himself from gasping when his hand sank right through it.
Slowly processing what was going on, he comprehended that this was a flashback. Seeing nothing else to do, he listened into the conversation, wondering what was so important about the General and his superiors.
"Right now, the Elite Team is the utmost solution, despite their expulsion." Another said immediately after the though entered his mind. Etrius gradually presumed the date of the flashback: Before his recruitment.
The General seemed to ponder this, "You want them recalled?" He said each word carefully, trying to process what they thought they were asking for.
The superior nodded, "Starting with the infiltration expert."
Etrius felt like he had to show the General some tolerance, since the original idea to recruit him wasn't entirely his. The thought was ripped to shreds when he heard the next subject they had to say.
"If our intention is isolating the power-source on behalf of ourselves, what should we tell the soldiers working on the project once they don't see any changings in the resource war?"
Silence settled over the room, despite the lazily spinning fan on the ceiling. The looks on their faces told each other they were stuck without an answer. The tallest superior broke the silence, "We'll think of something soon enough."
Etrius was too shocked to even move, and black tinged the edges of his vision. The words rushed at him too fast for him to digest. He felt his mind as if it was working slower than usual. Did they just say that? He revisited every word of the conversation to make sure he wasn't hearing things. Rage and fury plummeted inside of him. They want the power source all for themselves?!
His mouth gaped, and his eyes ogled, baffled, into distant space, as if looking for something lost, and he dropped the power source. It landed on the floor, soundless. It didn't break, and the General leered at him in confusion.
"What?" Etrius said suddenly, shock and confusion circling his voice as he stepped back in surprise, keeping distance, as he could now feel the General's cold breath as if it were running down his neck, "Did you know about this? …Of course you did." Etrius shut his eyes, wishing the lingering images would fade from his memory.
"I felt its touch."
"You knew about this all the time, all these deceits… You've lied to all of us," Etrius continued as his eyes opened. It seemed to him that whenever he looked at the General's face, all he saw were the details that justified a deceiver and betrayer.
The General noticed a spark of light emit from his iris. He passed it off as a trick of the light that poured down from above them through an opening in the ceiling. Etrius' voice quaked with rage and despair, as he realized the true reason they were sent on this mission, "We're not here to save Earth!"
"Son, I don't quite follow you. Now, hand over the artifact." The general ordered coolly.
"I felt it grow, and it consumed me."
"No, you're being brainwashed," His breathing grew heavy in a panicking mode, "They're just using you as a puppet to get their hands on the power." He pressed his templates in stress, but jerked when the General pulled out a pistol and aimed at him. That tears it. The General thought in irritation.
"Etrius, I will put you down if you don't cut this shit out and hand over the artifact, now." He threatened with an annoyed and angry expression. The sharpness in his voice seemed to cut the air. Although on the outside, he was performing confusion on what Etrius was saying, on the inside, he was puzzled by something entirely different. How?
Etrius glanced down at the orb he was holding. The thought of what the General was going to do with it wouldn't show itself into his thoughts. Despite that, he knew that if the General wanted the power-source, not to save Earth, and keep it for himself, then millions would die, and millions more later. He wouldn't allow the General to just take the only hope of ending the resource war.
Etrius looked back up at the General, whose face now wore that usual impatient appearance. "I can't." Was his only response.
"Goddamn it! I'm doing this for Earth!" He shouted almost immediately. His right hand clutched his pistol, his left gripped anger. "Don't you understand? If we can take control of the resource war, it will come to an end!" He paused, "Yes… A war to end all wars… Don't you want it to end!? Millions of lives could be saved with that one artifact. Now, just give it to me, so we could leave!" He didn't hesitate in shouting, knowing nobody downstairs could hear them, as it was too far down.
When Etrius didn't answer, the General added, forcing resolve into his voice, "I don't want to do this, Etrius, but you're leaving me without an option."
No. Etrius wouldn't believe his lies.
"Death will slay with wings. Whoever disturbs it… Beware." Dr. Romanov finished. Then, he realized something so mystifying, yet so simple, he couldn't help but decipher it.
"The Wise One… He has… Repeated it all over again, and again. It's all over the place! Just look! Wait, h-he did this for a reason! It's-" His eyes rapidly ran along the engraved walls, "It's a warning!" He whizzed around and shrieked; his body arching forward as he yelled, "GENERAL! WE HAVE TO GET OUT OF HERE!" His breathing grew heavy from panic, "WE'LL GET SLAUGHTERED!"
After he got no response, he turned to Beecher in hopes of getting the responsiveness he urgently needed, "Beecher, they're not listening. They're fighting over something. We have to hurry!"
Beecher didn't bat an eye, and turned his head away; ignoring anything else he had to say. Although deep inside of him, he wanted to take his warning seriously, he knew he had to stay in position until the General gave him the order to move.
"It's important!" Dr. Romanov tried unsuccessfully to get the any of the soldier's attention. Realizing that his warnings wouldn't do any good, he ran to the exit he came through and saw two soldiers guarding it, "You, you! Over there! Come with me if you want to live!"
The soldiers looked at each other in confusion. Their visors on their helmets blocked their eyes, but it was obvious their expression.
"Those fools have no idea what's going on!" Dr. Romanov continued as he sprinted through, "Do the smart thing, and come! Come with me!"
The soldiers acted on instinct and followed.
"Hurry!" He shouted back to them as they ran.
As the soldiers eyed the doctor and the two privates leave, one of them announced he was going to tell the General what was going on. He didn't really pay attention to what Dr. Romanov was trying to warn them about. Nevertheless, whatever it was, it sounded important enough to interrupt whatever it was that was going on at the top of the altar.
Pushing his valor, he ascended up the stairs.
"Last chance, Etrius." The General warned, raising his pistol higher, securing the aim between Etrius' eyes.
"I can't!" Etrius repeated as pull focus clouded his vision between the General and the pistol. The General's raging facial features defined his hatred towards the unchanging answer.
Etrius still couldn't- no, didn't want- believe what he had just saw. He knew the General was hiding secrets from the world, but he wasn't expecting this.
"General," The soldier said, "Romanov just left."
The General showed no sign of interest.
Realizing that the General wasn't thinking of how important the situation was, he added with a slight tone of panic, "The situation looks pretty bad. He took two of our men. He said something about-"
Etrius cut him off short, "Shut-" he thrust his hand out, "UP!"
The soldier's head and limbs were ripped off by an invisible force. The blood and plasma gushed and sprayed, showering the altar with red stains, and the General swore in astonishment.
The General took a moment to stare in awe. Finally, something amazed him.
Etrius stared at what he'd just done, and looked at his hand. Did I do that? With anger overwhelming him, and taking the power to his advantage, he looked at the General and focused on his powers, his eyes glowing even brighter than before. The look on his face screamed the words, You're next.
Dead-lock.
Acting out of panic, the General freely pulled the trigger. Etrius saw the light from the barrel of the gun flash out and a bullet collided with his forehead, and he fell.
Downstairs, the soldiers raised their rifles in question and alarm, "Hey, a gunshot?" "What the fuck was that?" "You heard that too, right?"
Beecher felt a spark in the back of his mind and it quickly faded as he looked up the pyramid. Ignoring everything, he started running to Etrius and the General.
More questions sprang up from the soldiers, "Beecher, where're you goin'?" "Hey, Beecher." "Beecher! Where are you going?"
Red blocked Etrius' vision, but he could make out the silhouette of the General bending over and picking up the orb. He felt his blood run dry as it trickled down his forehead, and ooze out of the gunshot wound. Forgetting the striking pain, and throwing the shock aside, he focused on trying to get up, knowing he had to tell someone about him. Tell them what he knew he was really doing behind their backs. He threw the thought away when he realized all his failed attempts to get up wouldn't do any good.
The General looked into Etrius' dying eyes, as the light slowly faded from them. The General's words sounded distant as he said, "What just happened, Etrius?"
Etrius fell into darkness before his eyes closed.
The General held the orb closer to him as he made his way down the stairs. A strange feeling filled him to the brim, a feeling he couldn't decipher. Confusion? Relief? Both? He was just glad for now that the situation hadn't gotten too much out of hand. Still, questions that demanded answers ran across his mind; how did Etrius rip that soldier to pieces by pointing at him? What was with that light in his eyes? And lastly; How did Etrius know?
His slow, lagging footsteps were met by a much faster paced set of footsteps when Beecher's eyes connected with his. Their feelings matched- Rage. And, they knew they were sharing the same thought.
The General ignored him and continued down the steps. When Beecher made it to the top of the stairs, he stopped and stared in disbelief at the ghastly scene, and the bullet wound between Etrius' eyes that could only have been created by the General's pistol. The first word that struck his mind was: Traitor. He felt as if he were looking at the world through another's eyes, and an icy detachment settled over him like frost, and limited his words to a succinct.
Whizzing around, he shouted out, cold rage bubbling up in his voice and sharpening his tone, "Lloyd! Stop him!"
Dr. Romanov ran out of the tower and back to the stair pathway with the two soldiers. A slight guilt crept up behind him, but he ignored it when he realized that it was their choice to stay and get eaten alive. The cold stung his face, but he didn't stop, much less slowed down.
He indistinctly heard the soldiers shouting questions behind him, "Doc, what the hell's going on?!"
A distant reverberated bellow sounded from the skies, and he reeled his head up, viewing above him, "Look. It has begun." The soldiers turned to where he was looking. Two black, winged figures darted across the gray sky.
Beecher aimed his sniper at the betrayer from the top of the pyramid. Lloyd, having known what the General had done, unsheathed his sword aimed the tip at the General's heart, "Hold it!" Two soldiers at his left and right saw what he was going to do and aimed immediately raised their weapons at him.
The General's eyes roamed from the sword to Lloyd, "What do you think you're going to do?" He asked, not showing the slightest sign of fear, "Kill me? It's not what you think." Lloyd was able to hear his heartbeat in the solid silence.
The General's words, so distinct from his familiar voice, grinded against his ears, "Think about what you're doing."
Through the dead silence, Beecher could hear what the General was saying to him, trying to talk into Lloyd with his lies of persuasion, "Lloyd, don't listen to him!" Beecher felt the anger grip him. First, the General murdered his top soldier in cold blood, and now he was trying to slip out of it, without so much as a sinking expression of guilt.
"Sir?" One of the soldiers asked the General with a tone of uncertainty.
Lloyd's eyes fixed on the General's. Beecher kept his finger lightly placed on the trigger of his sniper, itching to press, aware of Etrius' limp body behind him.
A thick, stone barricade fell between one of the archways. Before any of the soldiers had time to react, barricades fell between all five archways. Lloyd and Beecher gave no reaction. Lloyd's heartbeat pounded faster, but he kept his eyes on the immoral traitor.
Without anyone noticing, glowing eyes opened up on the shadowed ceiling. One of them made a noise of pleasure and hunger as it looked down at its prey.
An Evil unsteadily walked out of the shadows with it's arms outstretched in front of it, stretching for it's food. It sneaked up behind a soldier and hurdled on him. The soldier screamed and the flash of teeth and glowing eyes was the last thing he saw.
Lloyd jolted at the sound and lowered his sword, looking around in confusion. Boomer gritted his teeth and looked up at the ceiling. Hundreds of Evils stared back at him. Fangs and glowing eyes occupied their faces. Their bodies were similar to humans, but more advanced, more humanoid, paler. The Evils let themselves fall and attack the soldiers.
The militias didn't hesitate in shooting at the Evils. One of them grabbed a soldier's neck from behind. The soldier grabbed it and flung it over his head. The body collapsed to the ground with a soundless thump over the loud noise of the Evils as they attacked freely. Another soldier beside him shot countless headshots. If they didn't get a headshot, the Evils would still animate. They couldn't live if they didn't have a working brain.
An Evil plopped down from the ceiling and began to attack Lloyd from behind. The General raised his pistol and delivered a headshot to it. Lloyd looked from the lifeless form to the General. Eyes unforgiving, he growled, "This isn't a very good time to screw around, Lloyd." He turned to Boomer and shouted, "Boomer! How many more explosives you have?" His order rang out in echoes.
More Evils were crashing their way inside through the walls and poured in.
Boomer jumped the rifle in his arms, "Enough to blast our way out." He gritted his teeth in a smile and fired headshots at the Evils. Somewhere in the back of his thoughts, he imagined Dimmu Borgir's soundtracks playing in the background. Regretting not taking his IPod with him, as it was his main source of adrenaline, he lodged bullets into Evil's brains.
"Move! Move! Move!" The General ordered to his men as he gestured them to the other side of the room.
At the top of the gray pyramid, Beecher kneed the ground and watched over Etrius' lifeless body. Traitor; He's going to pay for what he's done! But, then he wondered what happened up here in the first place. Despite all the other questions and concerns surrounding his thoughts, he wasn't going to let his best friend die like this.
Back in the action, more Evils poured in and chased the soldiers. A large crack started to form on the floor. It opened up five feet, revealing a thousand foot deep trench. Four transparent tentacles wormed their way out. They were invisible, but, noticeable each time they moved.
One of the tentacles shot forth and spiraled it's way through the mass of Evils and soldiers. It chopped a head off a soldier's shoulders and went for more. The body flopped lifeless to the ground, the rifle flying out of it's arms, and the blood stain was seen on the tentacle.
"RUN!" One of the soldiers screamed and they ran to the other side of the room.
Upstairs, Beecher stayed by Etrius' side. He tried placing a hand on his chest, but winced when he didn't get as much as a heartbeat. He just stared at the body, as if he expected it to burst back to life.
Etrius' body felt feverish and heat poured through his clothes, and Beecher's jaw tightened with venomous hatred towards the General, as he had made an immense, unjustifiable mistake. Even so, looking at Etrius' body pushed aside the seething rage, by a consuming mourn.
With a strange, horrific growl within his earshot, he whipped his head up and saw an Evil running his way on all fours. Dodging the attack by leaping into the air, he a dismissed bullet into it's brain.
His feet landed with an almost inaudible thud on the stone ground and he was met by fifty more Evils running up the stairs. He had no choice; he had to leave Etrius behind. He jumped up, and his foot hit an Evil's head. He jumped again, and his foot hit another's. He kept this up, jumping on Evil's heads as he quickly made his way down.
An Evil leaped on a soldier and he was pinned to the ground with a solid, crushing blow to his back. His rifle skidded into the shadows, and he swallowed down panic. Keeping his palms on the Evil's face, he tried to push it off, "Get the fuck away from me!" He hissed, sharply. His hard gaze fell on his knife. He unsheathed it and jabbed it deep into the back of the Evil's head. The Evil threw itself off him and tried, unsuccessfully to dislodge the knife, uttering ghastly snarls.
The soldier scrambled to his feet and removed the knife, only to stab it again into the side of the Evil's head. The blood that gushed on his arm felt cold. This time, the Evil slopped to the floor, first it's knees, then the rest of it's body.
Beecher made it down the stairs just in time as another Evil grabbed the soldier's arm. It twisted it, ready to sink it's teeth in. "My arm!" The soldier shouted in pain. Beecher aimed his sniper and fired. The Evil flipped over and fell, the blood flying out in thin lines.
Lloyd looked behind him as an Evil rushed out of the shadows and attacked him. He swiped his sword through it's body and sliced another's in half- from skull to toe, not really paying much attention to it's brain and internal organs that were now visible. He glanced up and was met by a mob of Evils running his way. His grip on the sword tightened and he ran fearlessly into the crowd, lashing out with it. The trail of his sword was noticeable in the air as he slashed, stabbed, and hacked his way through.
The General looked back at Boomer to see him preparing the c4 timer at the nearest closed door. He backed up when he saw Boomer running out of range. The timer hit zero and the explosion blasted the door open. The debris flew into a large trench, and light poured in from outside.
"Okay, let's get out of here!" The General exclaimed over his men. They all ran through the door without seeing what was on the other side.
Beecher ran as fast as his legs could move. He had to look down to make sure his feet didn't leave the ground. Everything around him was a blur, but he could see the trench as it rumbled and grew wider. This quickened his steps.
No. He wasn't going to stop. He needed to make it to the other side to get answers from the General.
Kicking his heels in the ground, he jumped. He saw the floor rush up to meet him as his feet hit solid ground. Boomer saw him make it, but where was Lloyd? They both looked back at the same time, and saw him skid to a stop on the other side of the trench. No way for him to make the jump.
Boomer and Beecher stared at him, mouths gaping, as Lloyd stood in front of the army of Evils behind him. They were forced to keep going when the ceiling was about to collapse. Boulders and rocks fell and they ran for the exit. They saw the General's silhouette against the light, kneeling on the ground and gesturing to them.
They jumped through the archway and landed on the ground, hunched over, gasping for air. Large stones fell and blocked the exit, trapping Lloyd and Etrius inside.
Author's note~ Ok, I literally upgraded each and every sentence, and I'm trying my best to make the thoughts of the characters more palpable, and enlarged, but I don't think it's working as much as I wanted it to :P
I'm also going to add flashbacks for each chapter that explains Etrius' retirement, and possibly flashbacks in the other chapters for Repercussions, explaining the past of the characters in each one, or their POV of the castle, or...
Well, plz review! It's free!
