"Does this suit make my butt look fat?"
"That suit makes your butt look sexy," Kasper assures her boyfriend, who in turn wraps her into a hug. The two lean in for a kiss.
"Can you two get a room? If you hadn't noticed, we have a mission," Kaishi scolds half-heartedly.
Our voices echo off the cavernous ceiling overhead. The hangar is twice as large as the gym used to be, and easily holds vehicles of every variety; motorcycles, jeeps, scooters, and even jets and huge armored tanks.
We are currently being ushered onto a parachute plane. The back of the vehicle is lowered into a ramp so we can all climb aboard.
Each of us wears our uniforms provided by Mr. A, and I have to say, mine is very comfortable. It even makes me look kind of nice, in a military-tactical sort of way.
I am the last one to clamber up the ramp after Comrade. She decided to go rogue on her tactical suit after all. Instead of the uniform black that the rest of us wear, Serik-Zauresh dons a ragged olive army jacket over a black t-shirt. Her jeans are tucked into old army boots. She does, however wear the belt and gloves from her original suit.
Once we enter the plane, we sit down in seats lined against the walls of the plane, facing each other. The ramp retracts back into the flying vehicle, and I can hear the elevator bringing us to the surface world for take-off.
Once the plane is above ground, somewhere inside the secret warehouse, it's engines start with a mechanical whir. We move forward, picking up speed until we are off, into the air and towards our final destination.
Everyone is surprisingly silent, though whether it be from nerves or the loud engine of the plane is questionable.
Personally, I'm flipping out.
So many things could go wrong. I could mess up in so many ways. Mr. A reviewed the battle plan with us at least two times everyday this week, but I still feel like I hardly know it at all. What if someone gets hurt? Or worse, what if someone is killed? Then what? Abort the mission? Keep moving forward? How could we?
Even though Mr. A assured us that security on the F.E.A.R. building would be limited, I still have such a bad feeling, like I know someone is going to get hurt.
As the plan stands now, all we have to do is escort a team of hackers into the building through a sewer system, break into the archives center, blow up the generator room, and slip back out before we are caught. Seems easy enough. Except for the fact that I'm freaking out.
Somehow, Kaishi appears to be asleep in his seat. I envy his calm.
Before long, the pilot radios back that it's ten minutes till landing. The Department was very clear on exiting procedures. Apparently we are going to be dropped off at some local airport, and from there transported by car a few miles away from the base. From there, we walk.
The landing isn't too rough, but it does manage to wake Kaishi up. I make sure I haven't left any of my weapons or other equipment on the plane before I jump down the exit ramp.
I pile into a nice olive jeep after Kasper and Dante. The seats are leather and soft. The cars seat about four comfortably, including the driver, so ours is full. I take shotgun so the couple can stick together. I turn around to see where my teammates have gone. Liam, Emma, and Comrade pile into the jeep behind ours, while Kaishi sits with Myra and other agents in yet another car.
The car ride is only supposed to take around ten minutes, but I can already tell it's going to feel like hours.
"You ready up there?" Dante asks, patting my back.
"Uh, yeah!" I reply. My voice breaks though, so I probably don't sound very convincing.
Dante turns to Kasper. "How about you babe?"
"As ready as I'll ever be. You guys remember the plan right?"
"How could we forget? We drilled over it for hours!" Dante laughs.
The driver gets the cue to move, and we zoom off, down a large road through the airfield, then out a gate.
"You guys understand that this is the real deal, right? We could be injured, or even..."
"We know. We're ready, all of us are. No matter what happens." Dante assures his girlfriend.
We sit the rest of the ride in a grim silence. It's almost unbearable, the quiet.
"End of the line, agents. I can't take you any further," the driver says, stopping the car.
"Ok. Let's go," Dante says. He opens his door and hops out, followed by Kasper, then me.
"Everybody out?" Myra asks. She is dressed like the other agents in a black Kevlar vest, and a matching hat and cargo pants. On her hip is a pistol. In that outfit, without makeup, she looks like she could be as young as Kasper. But there's something else about her. She looks like someone else I've seen before...
"Everyone is accounted for, Ma'am," one of the agents barks.
"Very good. We should get moving. We want to be in the perimeter of the base by nightfall, which should be in about a half an hour."
We move in a large group into the forest with the unarmed hackers on the inside and the agents on the outside. My friends and I lead the way, alongside Myra. Our entire group numbers about twenty.
"Hey, no hard feelings about me trying to pet you, right Liam?" Dante asks.
"I guess not. That doesn't make it any less weird though," the albino boy responds before drawing up his hood over his head.
"Hey, Dante, Kyle, come here," Kaishi whispers out of earshot of the others, motioning for us to come.
"Yeah?" Dante says when we've come closer. Kaishi's face looks pained in the fading light of the evening, now that the sun has set.
"I- I'm getting a bad feeling about this mission. Like a premonition. I get them sometimes, like some kind of horrible feeling I can't ignore."
"Should we tell Myra?" Dante asks.
Before Kaishi can answer, Myra stops the group. "Ok everyone. Absolutely no talking from this point on. In a few yards we will arrive at the infiltration site, so I do not want anyone ruining this mission on the account of idle chatter."
Dante shrugs to Kaishi and goes back to join Kasper a little further ahead. We stalk through the trees on the outskirts of the F.E.A.R. base in complete silence, save for our footsteps crunching the through the dead leaves.
The ground slopes down ahead, and Myra gives a series of hand-commands to the agents behind her. I don't understand, so I just follow the young agent as closely as possible.
A concrete circle protrudes from the ground ahead. A metal covering is placed over the protrusion. Myra waves two of the bigger agents over to push the lid off of the concrete. After some grunting and straining, they have it off, revealing a dark hole in the ground.
Myra pulls a flare out of her belt. She strikes it on the ground, setting off a red flame, then drops it in the hole. It falls a few feet before smacking into the ground below. Thankfully, a rusted ladder is bolted into the side of the concrete entrance. Myra heads down first, and I follow. At the bottom of the ladder I stand on a slim walkway that borders a stream of slow-moving water and waste. The smell is disgusting, like rotting cabbage and death. I pull my shawl up over my nose, but the stench permeates even through that.
Once everybody is down the hole, we get moving.
"Ugh, it smells like Liam in wolf form down here," Dante complains. Myra promptly shushes him.
The pathway ahead splits in two directions, but Myra points to the left with her flashlight. The sewers here are so dark and the side walk is so thin and the stench is so bad, that it really makes this whole experience less than enjoyable.
The end of tunnel comes into view under Myra's flashlight. Another ladder leads up a chute through the ceiling, presumably into the F.E.A.R. base.
"Shoot to kill, gentleman," Myra instructs, allowing the armed agents to go ahead. "And good luck to you, special agents."
Myra gives our little group a nod, then sends us up the tunnel. I'm second in line, following Kaishi. And I'm still flipping out. My heartbeat roars in my ears, drowning out any other noise. I grip the cold metal rungs of the ladder with shaky hands.
The room the ladder leads to is illuminated only by a faint yellow light. It appears to be some kind of boiler room. Generators and pipes fill the space, making a sort of maze. I can't see any walls for the machinery in the way, so I just hope Myra knows where we are going.
The agent is the last one up the tunnel, straightening her glasses before taking the lead once again.
"According to my research, the archive vault should be down the hall from this generator room. After the hackers break into the system, which will undoubtedly trigger an alarm, we will need to haul ass back here before we attract too much attention."
Myra ducks under a pipe and around a large generator, and heads towards a door that I couldn't see before. She opens it as slowly as possible, which makes a loud creaking noise. I visibly flinch, but it doesn't seem like anyone hears.
Myra waves for us to follow, and she runs out the door, keeping her body low to the ground. She pulls her pistol out, so I do the same. I've been practicing shooting a lot over the past few weeks, but my aim still sucks.
The hallway is dim, but not pitch black. The floor is tiled, so I have to be extra careful when I walk so that I do not make any noises. Myra pauses at a blue door at the end of the hall. She twists the knob and pushes the door open. This one makes no noise.
I find it hard to believe that there is no lock or swipe card needed to get into the room. Where are all the security measures? Isn't F.E.A.R. supposed to be some sort of high-tech organization?
The inside of this room is dominated by rows of computers, much like the Hub back at base. The five hackers we brought with us sprint to the nearest monitors and type away, planting whatever destructive virus they have into the machines. The armed agents form a defensive barrier around the only door, pointing their guns at the entrance. Dante whispers something to Kasper, who giggles and blushes.
Then the sirens go off.
A few of the agents call out.
"We're compromised! Should we abort the mission?"
"No!" One of the hackers shouts over the din. "We only need two more minutes."
"Myra, what's your call?" Dante shouts. "Myra?"
"We stand our ground. Agents, prepare for battle!" Myra shouts. She flips a table, knocking its contents all over the floor. She ducks over the other side.
"Almost finished over here!" A hacker shouts.
"I don't see anyone coming, but keep your eyes open!" The agent closest to the door commands.
I join the rest of the group behind Myra's table. Comrade, Liam, and Kaishi have their weapons drawn. Dante and Kasper argue in hushed voices, something about Dante wanting his girlfriend to run if things go south.
"I'm not going to leave you here!" Kasper says loud enough for me to hear.
Emma looks a little shell-shocked, but once she sees that everyone else's guns are drawn, she pulls out her own too.
"We're finished!" The lead hacker shouts. His partners gather around him.
As he speaks, I hear a strange clinking noise from over by the door.
"Smoke grenade!" One of the agents shouts.
The grenade starts to hiss, releasing an impenetrable fog throughout the room. Guns start to fire, flashing through the smog. The agents shout commands back and forth. Some scream as a bullet smacks into their body.
Liam rocks back and forth, looking ready to pounce, or more likely, ready to shift into his other form. Dante peeks his head over the table to try and make out targets in the fog.
The smoke begins to clear, but before I can discern anything through the chaos, someone grabs me roughly from behind, knocking my gun out of my grip, and presses their hand against my mouth. I kick, scream, hit, but my captor doesn't budge. The hood of my shawl is forcefully tugged off my head, and I feel something terribly sharp pierce my neck.
I scream and hit, but the strength seeps from my body. I struggle to keep my eyes open, but it's a losing battle. The last thing I see before my eyes close is wolf-Liam howling in rage...
–~–~–
"Wake up." Some voice calls to me from far away, miles away. I'm underwater in the arctic, the cold water paralyzingly my arms, my legs. "Wake. Up."
Something pulls me through the water. A voice.
"Come on. Up."
"Myra?" I say, but it comes out more of a slurred whisper. I feel like shit, my bones like lead. My head pounds in protest, but I open my eyes anyways. "Where... Where am I?"
"Safe. For now." Myra says.
I try to stand up, but I can't. I look down. My arms are zip-tied together and my legs are bound to a chair.
"Myra? What's going on?"
"First, my name isn't Myra. It's Sabrina. Funny how dying your hair and putting on glasses can fool a bunch of teenagers into thinking you're an entirely different person."
"Sabrina? As in Sabrina DeArgentine, the F.E.A.R. agent? You're the one who attacked the Department!"
Myra, or Sabrina, laughs a little. I look around the room. Concrete floors, walls, and ceilings, illuminated only by a hanging yellow lightbulb. It's like some kind of cell or interrogation room.
"Took you long enough. I mean really, you kids are gullible!" Sabrina taunts. "Here's the deal, Kyle. I like you. You're cute, smart. Not like those other kids on your team. As you know, my agency specializes in advancements in technology and biology. We are looking for ways to enhance the human genome. We have tried extracting animal genes, radioactive cells, gamma ray mutation; you name it, we've tried it."
"However, we haven't been able to replicate the abilities that you and your comrades have shown. Gravity manipulation? Impossible for our agency. That is, without a source or test subject it would be impossible. You see, we need you and your bratty companions. With your sacrifice, we could do any number of things! Cure diseases, create the ultimate super soldier. Advance humanity for the better..." Sabrina trails off.
"So your saying you want to test on us? So you can, what, extract our abilities? How the hell do you plan on doing that?" I shout.
"Simple. We cut you open, see what makes what happen. I mean, you are expendable Kyle. Well, that is unless you can cooperate. You are a very powerful individual. Such psychic powers as you exhibited on the day of the attack could destroy entire armies."
"We have an offer to make you Kyle. If you join F.E.A.R. as part of a special security corp, we will leave your friends alone. Your choice. I'll give you three days. Oh, and one more thing. Serik-Zauresh is in the cell adjacent to yours. If you decide that you do not wish to work with us, she's the first to die. See you in three days, Kyle."
XxXxX
Who saw that coming?! If you guys remember the mystery woman from the attack chapter, that's Myra/Sabrina, and yes, she is a double agent! How'd you guys like that plot twist? Please review your thoughts for this chapter, and thanks for reading!
P.s. The next few chapters will be very different than the previous ones. I have a secret surprise planned... MWAHAHAHAHA