The Peninsula
October 9, 2558
"Son." Carly Odgers sat down opposite Desmond, "What's wrong?"
"The UNSC has just found out what happened aboard the Sub-Aqua. They sent teams to raid our Tampa headquarters." His voice, normally a stern fatherly one was now crackling and full of panic.
"It happened a few minutes ago. My secretary called me on her comlink with a seach and seizure of all our financial records. I'm so relieved that Karin managed to escape during that, but it's only a matter of time before they find her. Mother, they're onto us!"
Carly stood straight, "Calm down! You realize that they're only using intimidation tactics? They know nothing and if they did, both of us would be in cuffs with coordination with the Sigma Octanus government to raid this facility as well."
"It's all falling apart." Desmond's eyes were now dull as he rested his head on his palm with an elbow propped on the table in the center.
"You're making a big deal out of it."
"Easy for you to say. You get to merely hide in obscurity not under arrest while I'll be the scapegoat and taking the fall."
"Then I don't know. Unless you and Karin have done something completely stupid, they have no proof or leverage against us. They may know we are plotting something, but what is unknown to them. You have paid your taxes right?"
"Of course we have."
"Then you need to stop worrying like a spoiled child." Carly looked at her son in the eye. She had always mentored him for the position he held now. She was the driving force behind the entire growth of the Societea and to fully dedicate herself to its progress, she'd thrown her famed life down the drain so she could protect what she and Desmond's father had created.
"Okay." His voice quavered but he remained rigid, "I'm putting petty worries above everyone. What matters if I'm arrested? Our virus will be released, stemming humanity's reckless growth and we will step into a new golden age. In time, they will view us initially as madmen, people far too zealous for their own good. Soon, they will realize the error of their ways and then know that what we did was for the better. Statues will be erected and books about our philosophies will be written by famed biographers."
"Then what will we do?"
Carly's eyes sharpened, "Perhaps your man Verdoorn is right. The company this Rayson man hired has done all of this devious work. Once our virus has been released, we will make sure that they suffer for their sins against us. I will head back to Florida and make sure Karin is safe. Is Verdoorn onboard our first target?"
"He is. Due to check in within the hour."
"Good. Have him lock down the ship and cut off any further communications."
All it took was one wrong move and your entire escape would go to hell.
Drew had sensed the gunman's approach and froze in the shadows. The sky was dark with night, so his movement would have been easily concealed.
He forgot the factor that the hostile was wearing night vision gear.
"Who the hell do you think you are?"
Drew's heart nearly jumped out from his chest, "Me? Oh I'm the janitor. Can't find my cleaning supplies."
"It's Drew!" Tongju cried, looking at the display when an overflying drone caught movement. He zoomed in and saw a pair of armed guards hauling a third beaten figure out of a small area.
Trip's adrenaline began to spike once more. "Maverick, get your ass to the Hornet and spool up those engines as fast as you can!"
He was already in his MJOLNIR armor and sprinting down the long corridors to the main hangar, the long legged Maverick barely keeping pace behind. His mouth was set in a tight line, but his body betrayed his emotions right now, being very relaxed and loose. His hip holsters had a pair of M6C handguns and he already had other pieces of his equipment necessary stowed inside the craft. Earlier, he had briefed his team and set a small guerilla force to the front gate to keep at a distance, but mainly distract the opposition. He and Maverick were going after Drew.
"Vasili?"
"Yes Commander?" Suvorov and three other ODSTs were leading the distraction at the front gate in a pair of warthogs. They kept their distance from the primary emplacements and several of the Societea's guards utilizing marksman rifles. When one of them shot, it easily showed their location thanks to the bright muzzle flashes and the Blades' night vision. The gunners would pivot and then spray their location with automatic fire, easily suppressing any counterattack the sharpshooters would have temporarily.
"Keep your distance in case they have explosives. We're moving out of the hangar."
"Roger that." Vasili jerked to the side after being hit by a stray bullet. He centered his aim on the guard and squeezed the chaingun's trigger. The storm of lead peppered the area with multiple rounds hitting the prone guard. He jerked as the bullets went straight through his body, dying from the shots before he had a chance to scream.
The Hornet accelerated out of the hangar, where the Ballista remained at nearly two thousand feet up, hidden in clouds to help protect it from visual anti-air defenses.
"Weapons and helm do you copy?" He got an immediate response from the two personnel manning the stations.
"Okay. Helm, transfer it over to the computer and take over our drone flight. I'm going to use the laze our targets so nail them with our light cruise missiles."
"Roger."
The Ballista's cruise missiles were actually not integrated into her hull and ran along her flank, about midway down the dorsal side of the vessel. The cruise missiles were either light or heavy and the airframe that carried them had to be changed in order to switch between types. The launcher could carry seven missiles at a time and could be withdrawn inside the ship to be reloaded or maintained. Her larger cruise missiles were made for counter-ship purposes and launched from silos at her sides.
Ballista neared the Peninsula, giving the entire crew their first and last look at this place. Seeing it gave Aegis even more vigor to minimize their action here. After all, he still had Leah and Luke to worry about.
Aegis gripped the sides of the Hornet as it skimmed over the water and the land became even closer.
"Let's fire off our debut."
"Get on your feet." The guard snapped, drawing a machine pistol from his belt and aiming it straight at Drew's head. He was kicked when his effort made him too slow.
"Just take it easy mate." He held up his hands, "You got me."
Had he been thinking clearer, he should have gone around the longer way out. Even in the dead of night, he could still get away and avoid any thermal sensors in the open areas by covering himself in wet sand. The experience would be quite uncomfortable, but at least he'd be able to get away and follow the road to a nearby town.
He heard a light whistle and his hope began to surge. Looking up, he saw two stars descend from the clouds above.
Normally, a distress signal was three evenly spaced flares fired into the sky to attract rescuers.
Only they weren't flares. They served as both a welcome and a message. The two missiles halted just above the water and raced down the line. Aegis was telling him the cavalry was here. Drew wasn't surprised at all, but that couldn't keep him from flashing the annoyed guard a taunting smirk.
He was oblivious to that, speaking into a radio. "Mr. Odgers, this is Charlie Four. We got him."
He jabbed the barrel of his gun into Drew's back. "You move."
Drew gritted his teeth in mock pain, "Can't."
"Why not?"
"I'm cramped up."
The guard scoffed, and fired a round that hit the ground less than three inches by his foot. "Now it's not so cramped."
The second guard waved them over. He had caught sign of the lights.
"What the bloody hell is that?"
Drew's smirk returned, "You guys are fucked."
"Shut up!" The guard raised his gun in another attempt to hit him.
The missiles slammed into the structure's sideline, lighting up the night with an explosion. The force was reckoning and the noise briefly deafened the trio.
"Charlie Four!" A voice came back on the radio, "What the hell is going on?"
"Missiles sir!"
"This is Golf Seven! We're under attack at the front gate! Two machine guns!"
"Bloody hell." The second guard said with an English accent, "We're under attack."
The radio was then filled with panicked chatter and the Societea guards who were all caught off guard from the attack.
"It's them."
Odgers had just came on the radio.
"Sir?"
"It's the damn company Rayson hired. Destroy them now!"
Maverick brought Aegis into a low pass above the beach area where they had taken Drew. A few guards along the shoreline fired RPGs, causing the pilot to weave about as he closed the gap like a boxer avoiding jabs. Aegis gave him a wave and then jumped off in the twenty foot drop.
He hit the sand in a roll, drawing his magnums and laying low in the sand. Drew and his captors were thirty feet in front.
A flash caught his eye and on instinct, he armed his armor ability, just in time. His fist slammed into the ground and he went into a crouching position while white energy emitted from his back. The Armor Lock granted temporary imperviousness to most attacks, being an overshield that shrugged it off, but he remained immobile and it took a while to recharge. The rocket slammed into him and deflected off into the sky. Meanwhile, he barely felt the effects.
Breaking out, he never gave the man slinging the rocket launcher another shot. Snapping up one of his magnums, he put four rounds into the guard in the post, easily toppling him over.
The guards by Drew had dropped him and opened fire. Aegis' shields flashed as they shrugged off the rounds, but he had no cover. Returning fire, he managed to wound one of them.
Drew had used the distraction and moved away as far as he could. It took the English guard a second to realize that his prisoner was escaping. He veered around, bringing his own weapon to bear.
Trip was on him like a professional wrestler. Using his superior speed, he had closed the gap within seconds and rammed the butt of his pistol right into his gut. His eyes bulged and Aegis heard a few cracks, most likely rib bones breaking from the force. He collapsed to the ground screaming in pain.
"You Spartans?!" He coughed as he tried to reinflate his lungs. "You're all little pansies hiding in those suits. Take that away. What are you then?"
"A master strategist, proficient in commanding, combat of all ranges and former ONI officer." Aegis grinned, "Also with a good taste in weapons and justice. You're lucky I let you live."
A gunshot caused the Englishman to jerk and blood suddenly splashed up from a bullet hole in his neck.
Drew held Aegis' second handgun with smoke curling out of the barrel. "He's not lucky today."
Aegis accepted it back. "Good to see you. Your face is a mess."
"Yeah fuck you too man." Drew's grin was among the brightest he had ever seen. "It feels worse than it looks."
"Nice reunion." Maverick said over the radio. "I'm coming in for a pickup."
Drew steadied himself on the armored giant. "Did you get my message?"
"We did." Aegis checked the timer, "This place is going to be gone in less than four hours. So we best be going. Is Chase and Hope still inside?"
Drew shook his head, "Long story. Chase is somewhere safe back on Earth and…" He grunted, "I'll tell you everything once we get back."
The hornet returned to the beach, lowering itself down and kicking up a whirlwind of sand.
"Look out!"
Aegis' cry jolted Maverick out of his landing checklist, while temporary. The rocket seemed to come out of nowhere. He steered the VTOL sideways, just enough to avoid a direct impact.
Both men felt the heat even though they were still forty feet away. Maverick grunted over the radio a the explosion cleared and they saw heavy damage sustained. The pilot ascended and fired a burst of machine gun into the top of the building, where the launcher operator was processed into ground beef.
"Gah! Heavy damage! I can't hold her!"
"Maverick get out of here!" Aegis yelled, switching channels he went to Plan B. "Vasili! I've got Drew. Over to the beach now!"
"Affirmative."
Gunfire suddenly came from the building's high ceiling and about a half dozen gunmen were over, opening fire. Drew and Trip ran over to the bottom of the cliff, causing them to peer over and fire directly down.
Both men now had their backs to the wall with the rain of bullets less than a foot in front.
"Damn it!" Aegis popped out to fire a couple of shots. He got one of them, the sudden loss of control over his corpse sent the body over the edge and hitting the ground next to them with a wet smack.
The concentrated gunfire quickly drained his shields and forced him back into the makeshift cover with very little shielding left. The alarm was going off inside the suit.
A new sound of automatic gunfire drowned out the rest of the assault rifles from the gunmen above. Vasili's pivoted the chaingun again and dismounted, sprinting over.
"Good to see you."
"Thanks Vasili." Drew accepted his gesture and slung an arm over the other Spartan.
Aegis let them go and took a small purple cylindrical object from his belt. He twisted the top and punched in four buttons on the small holographic pad. Once that was done, he took out his pistol and shot the glass apart in one of the rooms above the balcony. He then applied a packet of a sticky gel to the device and lobbed it inside in a perfect throw.
The beacon went inside and stuck to the building's ceiling, beginning its transmission signals back to the Atrocious Wrath warhead every ten minutes.
Aegis clambered back inside the warthog, taking a second to survey the columns of smoke and fire raging at the Societea base.
He looked at Drew, who was slumped over in the passenger seat and being tended to by Wheeler, one of the ODSTs and the driver for Suvorov's warthog.
"Alright." He breathed a sigh of relief, "One kid down, two to go."
Hooray! They got Drew back and the place is close to being destroyed!
A big thank you for your patience. I hope it's worth it. This may end up being my largest story ever posted. It already rivals the incomplete Havok across Unova with it being 78.5k words spanning 50 chapters.
Thanks for reading and reviewing. You give my writing purpose.