Chapter Twenty: Smokescreen
May 10, 2016. Grand Central Station, Empire City.
By the time the unmarked black van pulled up, almost the entire station had been cordoned off by the ECPD. Officers held back curious civilians, while armed SWAT members aimed their weapons at the doors, should the hostiles try anything funny. The vehicle stopped, and several armored BAINE troopers stepped out.
Their leading operative walked over to a man in a trenchcoat and a bushy mustache, evidently the police commissioner. "Glad to see you got here on such short notice," the man said.
"So, what's the situation?" the commander asked.
"A bunch of gun-toting lunatics are holed up inside," explained the commissioner. "They took just about everyone inside as a hostage, and refuse to let anyone in. We haven't even been able to get a motive or demands out of them. They just keep babbling on and on about 'Homeworld' this and 'Gems' that."
"They're getting bolder," said the commander. "Don't worry, we'll take it from here."
"You're telling me you've seen these guys before?" he asked.
"A few times. Just your typical doomsday cult, nothing to lose sleep over." Once he was back in front of the other soldiers, the captain took on a much more serious demeanor. "I won't lie to you all, this is a bad situation."
"You're telling me," said Ichigo.
"We're at a clear disadvantage here," he continued, ignoring Ichigo's remark. "We don't know enough about the situation to placate them, and going in guns blazing would only put the hostages in more danger. We'll have to play this smart if we want any chance of getting those people out of there."
"We're all ears," one of the three captains present said.
"Here's how we'll divide things," he continued. "Fireteam Bravo will guard the outer perimeter, making sure all exits are covered. Fireteam Victor will secure the station, and drive the assailants into a corner. Once they do that, Fireteam Delta will escort the hostages to safety. Any questions?" None were raised. "Good. Let's get this done before anyone gets hurt."
The Fireteams split up. "Alright, here's how we'll handle this," said Bridge. "You four will make your way into the station through the subway tunnels. Vargas, no offence, but the last thing we need right now is sheer firepower.
"Meh, fair," Vargas said.
"Once you're inside, Hester, get to higher ground. Ichigo, James, Luke, you try and disrupt the Children. Get them away from the hostages. All clear?"
"Crystal, Captain!" said Luke.
"Good. Then move out!"
As the four soldiers made their way through the subway tunnels, all Ichigo was concerned about was the idea that a train could catch them off-guard at any moment. "I'm just saying, it happens all the time in movies," he said.
"Ichigo, there's a hostage situation. You don't think they wouldn't have shut down the trains?" Hester said.
"I don't trust that," he said. "There's always one that doesn't listen!"
"I think I'd be more worried about the Children," said Luke. "How are we supposed to deal with them? For all we know, they'll shoot the hostages the second they see us!"
"Then we won't let them see us," said James.
"Easier said than done…" Luke mumbled.
The team walked for a few more minutes, before reaching the location of the subway stop into Grand Central Station. But before they could get close, Hester held out her arm. "Stop," she whispered. "Hostiles right in our path."
Several Homeworld cultists clad in blue, yellow, and pink robes were blocking the staircase into the station. A quick headcount revealed about five or six of them, each one carrying a rifle.
"Anyone have any ideas?" asked Ichigo. "We can't take 'em out from here without alerting the rest."
Hester pulled a cylindrical object out from her vest. "Lucky for all of you, I came prepared!" Making sure she wasn't seen, she leaned just far enough out of cover to chuck the object right in the middle of the group of guards.
"What the?" one of them said, as the object, which happened to be a flashbang, clattered along the floor, coming to rest beside the stairs. Before any of them registered what it was, it burst-their senses were scrambled.
"Now!" yelled Hester. With the guards momentarily blinded and deafened, the BAINE soldiers charged. Each of them knocked out one of the Children before they were able to come to their senses. One of them remained, however.
Just as the effects of the flashbang were wearing off, the last conscious cultist aimed his rifle at Ichigo. He was aiming for his head, but he couldn't see so well, so the shot instead connected with his shoulder. Ichigo cried out, falling to the floor.
"Ichigo!" yelled Luke. He ran over to his wounded comrade, while Hester took care of the guard. She slugged him in the stomach before following up with a blow to the head, knocking him out. She and James then turned their attention to Ichigo as well.
"Ow!" Ichigo exclaimed indignantly. "Son of a...biscuit, that hurt!"
"He's not bleeding," said Luke. "Did your armor block the bullet or something?"
Hester, however, noticed the armament laying on the ground next to him. She picked it up, realizing something odd about it. "Rubber bullets," she said. "They're using non-lethal rounds."
"Non-lethal, but not non-painful!" said Ichigo, gingerly touching his shoulder and winching. "That's definitely gonna bruise."
"Why would they suddenly switch to non-lethal?" asked James. "It isn't like they cared about that before. So why now?"
"Beats me," Hester said. She pointed to Ichigo. "You two get big baby here on his feet, I'm calling this in. Daniel will want to know about this." She walked off, pulling out her radio.
"Hmmph. She wouldn't be so cocky if she'd been the one to take one to the shoulder!" said Ichigo, as James pulled him to his feet.
"Yeah, yeah," said James. "We'll deal with that later. Right now, we need to think up a way to get these hostages out of harm's way."
All of a sudden, a burst of static from one of the guards caught their attention. The noise was coming from his hip: a walkie-talkie. "Defense team, respond! We heard noises down there, is something going on, over?"
Luke stood up, making his way over. He looked back at the pair: James shook his head, whereas Ichigo nodded. Luke picked up the radio. "Yeah, everything's good down here. We just ran into some, uh, big rats. Um...eternal glory to the Diamonds, over."
The longest short pause followed this. The three of them were incredibly tense, until the other end finally responded. "Understood. Yes, glory to the Gems, and all that, over."
Luke sighed in relief, placing the radio back on the ground. "Crisis averted!"
Hester walked back over. "Okay, Daniel says to proceed. He suggested that we still be careful, though."
"I mean, it's not like we weren't going to be careful," Ichigo said.
"Alright, I think we're in the clear," said Luke. "Now what?"
"I think I have an idea," said James, who had been staring at the cultist's walkie-talkie. "Hester, let me see your radio."
"Sure," she said. "What exactly is it you're planning?"
"Bluffing them," he replied. "Captain Bridge, this is Rook," he said into the radio. "I have a plan, but I'll need you to play along, over."
"'Play along'?" Daniel responded. "What exactly are you going to do, over?"
"You'll see," he said, turning to his squadmates. "I'm going up there. Keep me covered, but stay out of view."
"James, what are you doing?" said Luke. "Don't do anything stupid!"
"Relax," he said, beginning to ascend the staircase. "I know what I'm doing."
Within the station, armed cultists covered just about every entrance and exit. The hostages were clustered near the center of the room, on their knees with their hands over their heads.
Near the hostages was a cultist dressed in white, the only one present in that color. James assumed he was a lieutenant of some sort. "Hear me, non-believers, the Gems will soon return!" he said. "All of this world will soon belong to them! All will be their slaves!" James couldn't help but to roll his eyes.
As dangerous as it could have been, James simply strolled right into the main hall of the station, in clear view of the guards. He had made a point of leaving his weapons downstairs with the others, coming armed with only the radio. As was to be expected, the Children immediately pointed their weapons at him. "Intruder! Freeze!"
Unperturbed, James slowly raised his hands above his head. The lieutenant strolled over, standing just feet away from him. "Is this all BAINE sends to protect the lives of these innocents? Just one man, unarmed?" He produced a pistol from within his robe, levelling it at James' head. "How foolhardy."
"Trust me, I'm not alone," said James. He held down the button on the radio. "Rook here. I'm in position. Are the snipers ready?"
No response. He could tell the lieutenant wasn't impressed, so he tried again. "I repeat, Rook here. Are the snipers ready?"
A few seconds passed before a reply came. "Roger that, Rook," said Daniel. "Snipers are present, and have eyes on the targets. Just give the signal, over." James looked directly at the white-clad figure, as if to say 'your move.'
"Preposterous!" he said, gun still aimed at James. "Even if you did have snipers, you wouldn't possibly put so many civilians in danger!"
"Neither would you, apparently," James said. "Since you're using rubber bullets, you obviously don't want to hurt these people. At least, not badly. So why don't you do us all a favor, and drop your weapons?"
"You're bluffing!" he said.
"Even if I am, you still sound pretty nervous," James said. "Are you really ready to take that risk?"
"Just do what he says already!"
One of the hostages had spoken up; James recognized that voice. He looked over to see a familiar face. It was the same man he had seen at Polaris Headquarters. Jermaine Fitzpatrick, Barnabas' head of security.
"Fitz?" James said in genuine confusion. "What are you doing here?"
"Haven't we all been here long enough?" Fitz continued. "Just let us go home!"
Surprisingly, the lieutenant seemed to listen. He faltered for a moment, before speaking into a hidden communicator on his wrist. "All units, drop your weapons. Stand down." He lowered his pistol to the floor; likewise, the cultists all around the station began placing their firearms on the ground.
Law enforcement and BAINE troopers began flowing into the building. The three of James' compatriots walked up the stairs. "Huh," said Luke, looking around. "I honestly didn't think that would work."
"Me neither," James said.
The situation was swiftly placed under jurisdiction of the ECPD. The perpetrators were taken into custody, and the hostages were being treated for injuries. For once, it seemed like everything turned out alright.
"At the risk of sounding repetitive, I can't thank you enough for your help," said the police commissioner. "I won't pretend to know anything about this Gem stuff, but your team really saved the day here."
"Don't mention it, commissioner," said the commander. "It's BAINE's job to protect the people of Earth. We're just doing our job."
"Only thing is, we still don't know why the Children of Homeworld did this," said Daniel. "We don't have any sort of motive."
"Oh yeah, funny thing about that," said the commissioner. "We ran some background checks on the perps. Turns out that all of them worked for Polaris Industries, every last one of them. Weird, eh?"
Daniel's face went pale. "Did you say Polaris?"
"Yup. We think they were disgruntled employees or something, but we don't know for-hey, where're you going?" Daneil had run off to confirm something.
The Captain quickly made his way over to his soldiers. He grabbed James by the shoulders, turning him towards him. "Where's Fitz?" he asked, the urgency in his voice clear.
"What, Captain?"
"You said Fitz was in there. Where is he now?"
James only shook his head. "Haven't seen him. Did you check with the paramedics?"
Daniel ran off, leaving James and the others behind in confusion. He checked with everyone, giving a description of the man. Almost nobody had seen him, and those who had had lost track of him at some point. Even the few former hostages were unable to recall when exactly he had arrived, or where he had come from. He checked and rechecked with everybody, but he couldn't find any trace of Fitz. Before long, he was left standing dejectedly in front of the starion.
Hester was the first to notice him. "Captain? What's wrong?" she asked.
"Polaris," he answered. "St. Augustine, Echo...they played us."
The Children of Homeworld did not know where Mr. Echo had obtained enough cargo planes to carry their whole army from Europe to the States...and neither did they care. They may have had some questions if they knew that he had acquired them from Polaris, but what they didn't know didn't hurt them.
The Radiant One clutched his sceptre close to his chest as he sat in the back of one of these planes. Near him were several crates, each one containing dozens of Cluster Gems. When they were opened, these monstrous Gems would surge outwards into BAINE's stronghold, under the Radiant One's command.
The cult's leader steeled himself. "Soon," he said to himself. "This will all be over soon."