Chapter 10
Alpha Team had fanned out on the main floor of the factory, waiting for their backup to arrive.
As Kagome wandered, she made note of the machines around her. The machines were large and took up the length of two football fields. As she investigated further, she noted the stamp size circuits that were lined up on the machine's tread. They matched the ones that Anatomy had pulled from the two soldiers they took down several weeks ago.
So this is Tsuki Industries circuit production plant? Is that why the ultimate soldiers are attacking it?
It appeared that boxes of the circuits had been stacked in piles near the factory's front entrance.
Looks like they're here trying to stock up on these parts. She concluded. Guess buying them was probably getting to be too expensive. She thought sarcastically, as she noted the sheer volume that had been gathered.
How many soldiers are they hoping to create with this massive supply?
"Two bodies are approaching the front entrance." Trace shouted, the advisement echoing through the large structure.
"Trace, show us the direction they are coming from. Everyone, draw your weapons. Don't take any chances."
Alpha Team made their way over to the area where they had heard Trace's voice, going to back him up.
Soon, a knock rang out against the factory's metalic front entrance door.
"Probably our reinforcements if they're going to go out of their way knock." Frisk muttered, looking over at Kagome for permission to unlatch the large metal door.
Kagome nodded and he set to work, lifting the large lever that held the door in place.
As the large sheet of metal swung open, two females wearing red armbands stepped forward.
One of the women had long flowing blonde hair. She was wearing a ninja mask that covered most of her face with exception to her light sparkling blue eyes which were reminiscent of the ocean. She was tall, thin and lean and was covered in dried blood. The black handles of two katanas protruded upwards, over each of her shoulders, from the holster that was strapped to her back.
The second woman looked exactly like the first. Only she did not wear a mask and her hair was tightly braided down her back. She did not wear the standard R.O.O.T tactical clothing either. She had on a skin tight, black rubber suit that was stitched in zig zag fashion with copper colored thread. She also wore matching copper colored gloves over her hands.
"I am agent Wraith. Please tell me your codenames and abilities." Kagome ordered as she looked the women over.
"We are Deception and Bolt from the Assassination department sent in to assist you." The ninja looking woman answered. "My name is Deception and I have the power of invisibility. I am exceptional at using my two Katanas and can be of great assistance in reducing enemy soldiers to pieces." She said, proudly.
"My name is Bolt." The second woman said. I am also from the Assassination department and can generate large electrical currents and drive them into the bodies of enemy soldiers, completely incapacitating them." She said, seriously.
Kagome smiled. "You two are perfect! We thank you for your assistance." She said, warmly.
Both women bowed their heads in gratitude.
"We have three hostages one floor beneath us. One of which, attempted to invade our teammate's mind. We had to knock her unconscious as a result." She advised, as she pointed over to Mystic's unmoving form that was slumped over Quake's large shoulder.
"We also have six unidentified people moving about two floors beneath us. Upon approaching that particular floor, my sensory powers warned of great danger. As body count on that floor outnumbered us, we called in for your assistance." Kagome advised.
"Are you two, twins?" Frisk asked hurriedly as he looked the two women over.
Seriously, Frisk? We're on a fucking mission right now! Kagome thought, as she shot Frisk a dirty look.
Both women exchanged glances with each other before responding. "Yes we are. Why does that matter?" Deception said, harshly.
"We have twins on this team, too!" Frisk said stupidly as means of an answer. "What a coincidence!"
"Shut up!" Kagome shouted. "Frisk, I need you to focus right now. If you don't have anything mission related to say, then do not speak!" She demanded, before abruptly turning her attention back to the two women.
"Now that you two are here, I'd like you to accompany us as we secure the bottom floor." She instructed as she turned to make her way back to the stairwell.
"I will give you a quick synopsis of our team's abilities while we walk."
Deception and Bolt nodded and immediately flanked Kagome as she set off in the direction of the stairwell. Kagome quickly updated them on the working details of her team as she devised a plan on how to approach any hostile threats that were waiting for them on the bottom floor.
"When we get to the door, Trace is going divulge the positions of the people who are scattered about. Once we know everyone's locations, I will send the wolves in to surround the perimeter." She quickly advised.
"Frisk, tell them that they are to come forth to assist our team if needed."
Frisk nodded as he began quietly barking and growling to the wolves.
"Terrain, I want you to stay behind in this stairwell with Mystic. If she wakes up, knock her back out. If anything happens, jump onto our frequency and alert us immediately"
"Will do."
Quake immediately interrupted. "I will stay behind and look after her."
Kagome scowled. "No, you will not. You cannot be trusted to make sound decisions when it comes to her. If she tries something, you will not be able to use force on her. You are the strongest member of this team, Quake, we need you to be out there fighting, not babysitting."
"But, I'd be the most likely to get through to her." He pushed.
"I used to think that way once, same as you do." Kagome whispered angrily. "And we almost lost Frisk because of it."
Quake's eyes quickly dropped to the floor and he made no further effort to argue.
Kagome noted his submission before she continued with her directions.
"We will enter this floor in a straight line and will break away from each other, one by one, as we encounter each of the people that are in there. The order will be Quake, Deception, Frisk, Bolt, me and Trace. If one of you encounters a hostage during your turn, guard them, if you must touch them; make sure you are wearing your gloves. If you see that any of your teammates are in need of support, then you may use your own judgement to break away and assist as you see fit."
"Understood." Whispered all of the agents in the group, as Trace approached the door at the bottom of the stairwell.
"First body is twenty feet to the East, next is thirty five feet North…" Trace rambled, as he identified the six locations within.
"Understood. Let the wolves in. We'll all set off to the closest location to the East." Kagome commanded, as they pushed their way, single file, through the door.
Trace led them silently in the dark around the large boxes that were scattered throughout the floor.
It did not take very long for them to encounter the first body.
The large soldier was working to drag two large pallets over to the door.
Quake immediately broke away from the group as they continued on towards the next closest body. Who turned out to be another soldier, who was, very much like the first, packing away hardware into the factory's many boxes.
The group looked on as the solid image of Deception completely faded away signaling her leave from the group.
That's so fucking cool. I wish I could do that. My life would be so much easier. Kagome thought enviously to herself as she continued on, following Trace.
The team soon discovered as they broke off one by one, that all of the bodies on this floor were soldiers. All of them were working to move large quantities of computer circuits towards the door. Apparently they were not aware of the situation outside and were working to move items so that they could easily be transferred out of the factory.
Kagome hid behind a giant rack as she broke off from her position behind Trace. She would give him a few minutes to meet up with his target, before she would engage her assigned soldier.
The minutes ticked off before Trace's voice came through the Alpha Team frequency.
"I'm ready."
Kagome pushed on her ear piece. "Let's go."
Immediately rounds of bullets began to fill the factory, the loud sounds of the blasts becoming deafening as they echoed across the room.
Kagome quickly removed her bow and positioned two of her arrows against the cord.
She took a moment to aim before she quickly fired at her soldier's face, perfectly piercing each of his eyes in one sweep.
The soldier flew backwards onto the ground. His two hands immediately flew up to rip the two arrows out of his skull, resulting in a sickening tearing and grating sound.
He quickly rolled over and stood up, reaching for his machine gun, and blindly spraying the area, left to right, in a flood of high powered bullets.
Shit!
Kagome launched her shield, enforcing it with as much spiritual energy as she could muster, as she dropped down to her stomach, flush against the floor. She released her twelve inch Marine knife from its holster on her back, fisting the weapon as she quickly army crawled on her stomach over to the soldier's position.
Her shield held up against the few bullets that had managed to hit her. As she got closer to the soldier, who was still spraying outwards into the room, she soon fell outside of his chaotic range. Upon arriving at the soldier's booted feet, she rolled to her side, and slashed her knife out with all of her might against the soldier's Achilles tendon, ripping through the delicate tissue.
The soldier fell backwards and Kagome scrambled to her feet, cutting the strap of his machine gun and tearing the weapon away from the confused soldier.
She immediately used the weapon to spray an onslaught of hot bullets into his face, completely decimating his head at the close range.
The soldier's body began to twitch as she studied it.
As soon as she felt the man was no longer a threat, she walked away, summoning her powers and following the thick cord that led over to Trace's position.
Trace had climbed up one of the large shelving racks and was using the height advantage to fire down at his soldier below. The soldier was trying to empty the entire magazine of his machine gun, into the rack above.
From Trace's nest high above, he was able to see the glow of Kagome's blue protective shield from down below. He met her eyes for only a moment, before he went back to firing upon the soldier.
Kagome snuck around behind the soldier's firing position. She forced a heavy amount of spiritual energy into her shield, and slowly began to creep up behind him, her knife still clenched in her right hand.
When she was two feet away from the soldier, she quickly jumped up, onto his back, wrapping her left arm around his neck while squeezing her legs around him, locking her body into place. Her knifed hand immediately flew up and began to hack viciously at the soldier's right eye. She could hear the crunching sound of the bone as the man's eye socket began to crumble from the assault. This signaled her to focus her attention over to the next one, stabbing her large knife harshly around the general direction of his one remaining left eye.
The soldier's hand reached upwards, swinging around frantically as he attempted to grab a hold of her.
Trace tried to assist by attempting to shoot at the solder's ankles. It took a few tries before he landed the shot and the soldier began to fall backwards.
Kagome immediately jumped off of the soldier's back. When he hit the floor, she quickly studied his face.
She had succeeded in relieving the man of the use of his eyes. The soldier seemed unperturbed as he rolled over and quickly worked to get back on his feet. Kagome fell flat to the floor, aiming her Glock an inch away from the soldier's ankle and pulled the trigger.
The blast shattered the connective bone and the soldier dropped. She jumped back up, and swung her confiscated machine gun over from its position on her back. She immediately began to fire upon the soldier's face until she, much like the first soldier, obliterated his head.
She heard Trace quickly running over to her as she studied the soldier on the floor. She leaned forward and took the soldier's machine gun, hurriedly passing it over to Trace.
"Let's make our way over to the others." She commanded, before she took off in a stealthy run, with Trace falling in line behind her.
Apparently Bolt did not need any help. Kagome found her looking over the smoking and charred body of her assigned soldier. She immediately fell in line with them as they passed her, working their way back to the door.
Frisk was firing on his soldier, while two wolves worked to drag the man down to the floor. If it weren't for the soldier's huge form, the ferocious animals would have succeeded. Before the group could assist Frisk, the soldier's head fell neatly from his neck, rolling across the floor and stopping eerily at Frisk's feet. The group watched on as the soldier's arms were abruptly disconnected from his body at the biceps.
The head on the floor levitated and Kagome held back a scream. She quickly became thankful that she did, as Deception reappeared to the group, holding the head in the air by the hair, in her clenched hand.
"Such a shame. This one was cute." She said devilishly, before throwing the head up into the air and splitting it in half with one quick sweep of her katana.
"Only one to go." Kagome muttered as the group made their way back to Quake.
When they approached Quake's area they found an immobilized soldier twitching on the ground. Apparently his arms and neck had been broken.
You're definitely the strongest man on our team, Quake. You did that with your bare hands? Kagome thought to herself in awe as she scanned around for Quake.
"Where is he?" Bolt whispered.
Kagome launched her tracking powers, the thick cord leading away from them and back to the stairwell.
"He's in the stairwell?" Kagome said.
You idiot! God damnit, Quake. You abandoned us again! Kagome's mind chided, angrily.
Kagome briefly met Frisk's eyes before she made her way over to the doorway.
He understood her unspoken thoughts and began to shake his head.
"Call the wolves back."
"Roger." He muttered dejectedly, before he began to growl.
Kagome got to the door and opened it. She took a few steps before she froze; attempting to figure out what she was looking at through her night vision eyewear.
Frustrated, she ripped the eyewear off of her face and forced her powers up around her, the soft blue glow providing her with enough light to confirm what she couldn't understand initially.
Quake and Terrain were lying in a pool of blood on the floor and Mystic was missing.
"Frisk!" Kagome shouted as she dropped to her knees before her two downed teammates. "I think Mystic took out Quake and Terrain!"
"What?!" Frisk shouted from behind her.
Trace immediately forced his way to the front of the group and dropped to his knees in front of his sister. His hands shaking as he scrambled to check her for injuries.
Terrain had apparently been shot twice in the chest and was struggling to breathe.
Kagome quickly found that Quake had been shot in the stomach.
"I messed up." He muttered, as Frisk pushed his way over to his position on the floor.
Frisk applied pressure to his stomach, attempting to slow the bleeding.
Kagome immediately took to the shared frequency. "This is Wraith. We need medical support immediately." She shouted. "I have two down who are badly injured."
"Understood. We can only spare two medics for a short time. We have completely cleaned up out here, but we have a ton of injured ourselves. Do you need any other type of support?" Cover said, roughly.
"Yes. We have three hostages here. We will need help getting them over to the pick-up area. She said, becoming frustrated.
Kagome's team already had to carry the two bodies of their teammates, one of which was huge, outside for help. She didn't want to bog the rest of the team down with the removal of the hostages. Honestly, she didn't even want anyone on her team even touching them. Plus, Mystic was missing.
Kagome launched her tracking powers, focusing everything she had on Mystic's spiritual presence.
A thick cord formed and snaked up the stairwell.
"Trace, are you able to carry Terrain outside?" She barked, trying to ignore the muffled sounds the man was making as he tried to suppress his tears.
"Yes." He muttered.
"Everyone else, I want you all to help carry Quake outside."
"Understood." The balance of the agents said softly, as they positioned themselves around the large man, each taking a section as they lifted him up.
Kagome took the lead up the stairwell, following the cord and launching her shield over the large group behind her.
As they passed the landing for the first sub level, she noticed that the cord diverted through the door.
She's with those damn hostages. She thought, coming to a stop.
Kagome pushed herself against the wall, allowing the rest of her team members to pass by her.
"Once you get outside, and once medical help arrives for Quake and Terrain, I want whoever is available to meet me back here." She said softly, as her eyes shifted to the door.
"She's in there?" Deception whispered.
"Yes. But it's not her. She's being controlled."
The group continued up the stairs while Kagome guarded the door, watching the invisible cord that reached through the door as it shifted gently about.
Alpha Team hurriedly exited the front of the factory, walking over to the open area that was filled with people. Apparently, all agents had convened here.
Twelve hostages were grouped together in the center of the area. The few medics that were around were rushing about attempting to treat their comrades.
Two of the medics rushed forward once Alpha Team pushed their way through the commotion.
Quake and Terrain were gently placed on the ground as the medics attempted to treat them.
"I'm going back for Wraith and Mystic." Frisk grumbled. "Trace you stay here."
Trace nodded his head as he watched on as the medic removed Terrain's Teflon armor and worked to cut through her vest.
"Would you two ladies mind assisting me?" Frisk requested.
Deception and Bolt exchanged glances before they nodded their heads, quickly turning to follow Frisk back to the factory.
"Whatever happens, don't kill the woman in there." He ordered to the two women behind him.
"I know killing people is a shared specialty between the two of you, assassins. But I'm ordering that you to try to subdue her or knock her unconscious. You can't kill her."
Neither woman said anything in response.
The small group of three soon met Kagome back in the stairwell.
Kagome immediately covered them in her shield as she turned to open the door.
"What's the plan?" Frisk whispered.
"We're going to take her by force. Expect that she will try to kill us. We need to work around that and the hostages at the same time." Kagome said before turning.
"Deception, I'm really counting on your invisibility in there." She muttered.
Kagome opened the door and pushed her way inside, following the energy cord that she had tied to Mystic over to the middle of the floor.
She quickly found Mystic attempting to drag the male hostage that had touched her earlier across the floor and to the doorway.
Kagome raised her Glock and aimed the weapon at Mystic's shoulder.
"Let him go, Mystic." She demanded.
Mystic's head flew up as she studied her.
"You won't shoot me."
"I will if I have to. Let him go!" She repeated.
Mystic ignored her, dropping her attention back to the man and continuing in her efforts to drag him across the room.
Kagome watched her for a moment, before she shifted the aim of her weapon.
"Let him go or I'll kill him." She barked.
Mystic once again looked up, noticing that Kagome had shifted targets.
"You can't."
"Oh yes, I can. Accidents happen all the time on missions like these. I don't give one shit about that guy. I will not hesitate to kill him." She promised, smiling widely.
Mystic froze and began to search Kagome's face.
"Don't. He needs our help. We need to get him out of here."
"No, he doesn't need our help. Quake and Terrain are the ones that need our help. They're outside dying, Mystic. You did that to them." She spat.
Mystic stared at her.
"You should be able to feel it. The man you love, out there taking his last breath, all because you shot him…" She trailed off.
Mystic's hands immediately flew to her head and she hunched over her knees, squeezing her eyes tightly shut.
"Shut up!" She screamed. "Get out of my head!" She roared, as she grabbed her gun from its holster and aimed it at Kagome.
Whatever she had been trying to do was interrupted as her head swung backwards and she was lifted up into the air.
Mystic's hands flew up as she struggled to pull an invisible force away from her neck.
Kagome rushed forward, witnessing in slow motion as Mystic's armed hand flew upwards in an attempt to shoot at the invisible attacker.
Kagome swung her own gun back over to the male hostage and shot him, without hesitation, in the head.
The act instantaneously forced Mystic's hand to drop lifelessly at her side.
Deception revealed herself immediately afterwards , her right arm was snaked around Mystic's neck. She carefully released her hold on the woman as she went limp in her arms.
Frisk rushed forward to carry her.
Kagome looked over the two hostages that were left.
"I know you assholes can understand me. So I'm going to make this quick. You can either stand and walk out of here and possibly have a life after all of this, or you can sit there and continue to be a massive problem, in which case I will not hesitate to execute you both."
A few moments passed and the hostages began to attempt to move, lifting upwards shakily, as if they haven't walked on their own in some time.
Kagome released her second Glock from its holster and positioned both of her weapons at the hostages, one gun aimed at each.
"Frisk, go on ahead. We three will get this garbage outside."
"Yup." Frisk muttered as he took off.
It was twenty or so minutes before Kagome, Deception and Bolt made their way back to the gathering place in the front of the building.
Kagome had forced the hostages to hobble to the area on their own and both were panting frantically for breath.
"Go and join the rest of your group." She hissed at them, as she motioned to the twelve hostages that were huddled together in the center of the grounds.
Upon seeing Kagome, the six team leaders quickly made their way over to her.
"All accounted for?" Cover said upon his approach.
"All except for one hostage casualty." She muttered. "Time to call in the Airbus for a pick up. What is the status of the injured?" She said, as she turned her attention over to the leader of the Medical team.
"We don't have any casualties…yet." Pulse curtly replied. "The sooner we can get back to base the better." She advised.
As the leaders were distracted by the information exchange, they didn't notice as a stitched up and bandaged Quake lifted himself up off of the floor and slowly shuffled his way over to hostages that were in the center of the grounds.
No one noticed at all, as he stepped over the twisting and twitching bodies of the soldiers that littered the earth beneath him in his efforts to get to them.
And certainly, no one noticed, when he released his Glock from its holster and began to shoot into the huddled grouping of bodies.
At the sounds of the shots, the entire field erupted into a state of panic as agents from all sides attempted to tackle Quake and disarm him.
Kagome and Frisk ran faster than they thought was possible over to the commotion.
Once Quake was restrained, several agents rushed over to the hostages to investigate the extent of the damages.
"Quake! What the hell do you think you're doing!" Frisk screamed.
"How could you?!" Kagome shouted, out of breath, as she arrived in front of him.
Quake wouldn't acknowledge or respond to either of them.
"We have two dead." One of the agents shouted over at them. "And apparently another is on the way!"
Kagome turned and ran over, her eyes sweeping over the bloodied hostages. She watched as the third victim quickly succumbed to her injuries, her eyes rolling back into her head as she took her last breath.
As the woman died, two solders that littered the floor next to her feet stopped twitching.
That's odd. Kagome thought, wondering if there was a connection.
She was interrupted from her thoughts as the sounds of the Airbus could be heard overhead, the large airship making its way to the east side of the factory, preparing to land.
"All agents, it is an order that everyone assist in helping the injured and the hostages onto the plane first." Wraith commanded into her earpiece. "Let's wrap this up quickly and go home."