Ice
By Harris, Mitch, Shaine, and Shatterclaw
It was 6am, and already two hours into the Ravens' day. Sealed in the comm room, most wore typical civilian clothing, but six of them were already in cold weather gear.
Crimson walked into the room and picked up the handheld remote for a projector on one wall. "This is Lieutenant Robert J. Amster," he said without preamble. "He disappeared a week ago; at the time he was using a new military-grade hardsuit. He has an outstanding background, top of his class at West Point; it's believed he's still alive."
The image on the wall was of a young man in his early thirties, with light brown hair and brown eyes.
"Hey, kinda cute, huh?" Shaine said, sounding half asleep.
"His family has posted a very large sum--"
"Yeah, bet he has at least four girlfriends..." Shaine glared at Belladonna.
"Of money..." Crimson continued wearily. He stopped again just long enough to glare at both Bell and Shaine. "If we can bring him back alive. The USMC has also posted a large sum of money if we can bring the suit back in one functional piece. I will not kid you, people. This is going to be a drag-down fight...everyone and their brother wants this suit."
"And our orders concerning these people?"
"Lieutenant Amster comes first, Mr. Harris. Anyone getting in your way can be stopped by any rational means. I ask only that you try not to harm the US troops. All else is up to your good judgment."
"Good judgment, eh? So be it..."
"If any member of the team comes under fire your first and foremost concern is for them. Then to the mission. I want all of you back alive."
"Now, a quick rundown on what you can expect to find down there. Genom has been selling Boomers to all sides so you can be sure that every model of combat Boomer will be on hand... The US forces have the new M278a cold-weather tanks; those have 125mm cannons and a crew of five. We believe that the Soviet Bloc has as many as ten units of comparable tanks."
"And how does that concern us directly?" Jim asked. "We do have the cloaks if needed."
"Simple: they all want the same thing, Amster. The suit is a top-of-the-line black ops unit."
Shaine raised an eyebrow. "Any idea where it came from?"
"This is where things get interesting. It is said to have a working cloaking device, and it is slightly larger than a man.
"Sound familiar people?" he asked dryly.
"Well, then," Jim said, "There should be an advantage if it's one of ours."
"That's a pretty big if; so far all of this is unconfirmed. But it has a lot of people nervous."
"Why are we even bothering to talk about this? We have our orders. Let's carry them out as quickly as possible, before we lose our chance to recover the suit."
"So be it. The jet is waiting and your new suits are on board. For this mission Rai is pilot and Lark is top kick; everything else is left up to you. Now go and bring him back."
///
Rai, Lark, Jim, Mitch, Belladonna and Shaine stood beside the large black and red plane, with Crimson beside them, helping them with the new suits.
Harris scowled suddenly and asked, "Who's in charge if things go bad?"
"Lark, then you if it get really bad."
"All right..."
"You get to pick who comes after you."
"I don't think a third choice will be necessary."
Harris looked at the other two nestlings, shaking his head.
"It had better not be, or I come into the afterlife and kick your ass!"
Mitch laughed as Jim walked away to get into his suit. It was cold, and felt damned odd...he still hated it. But he was getting used to it.
At the same time, Shaine began to check the tracking devices. They were hacked together from a dozen different Starbright programs, as she'd never been that good with anything remotely hardware-related, but they worked.
After all five had their suits adjusted, they were loaded into the AR and then into the plane, which soon started moving.
Mitch looked over the systems on his suit and smiled. "New toys! I love it!"
"Yeah, Mom spent weeks on this stuff. Just don't go and lose any of it or she'll really flip out! So, um...does anyone else feel like a sardine?"
Mitch laughed.
"Hey yeah, all we need is some olive oil...maybe some salt...and we could be Raven brand fresh-packed meat!"
"Okay, guys," Rai's voice came over the intercomm, "Just to let you know, we're going into some rough weather. The cloak is working and we have clear skies till a mile before the shore. After that, I set you down and try to play keepaway with the friendly fire."
///
Before long the armored transport was on the ice. "Okay, people, time for recon!" Belladonna said much too cheerfully. "Whoever gets the short straw gets to go make snowmen!"
Go out, already? Hell, with my luck it's almost assured I'll get the short straw... Watching Lark and Mitch breathe a sigh of relief as both drew their straws, Shaine stepped forward nervously.
She was right.
"C'mon, Harris, it's your turn!" Bell grinned devilishly and held out the remaining three straws. He also proved to have bad luck, and Shaine glanced at him nervously out of the corner of one eye. Well. Looks like this is it.
"All right, so you two got the cold weather gig," Bell said, grinning even more widely.
"Of course," Harris muttered. "Let's go."
Outside, a strong wind howled across glacial ice. The two could only see about five feet ahead of them, without the suit's built-in enhancements. There was a firefight about 45 feet away and roughly to the south, plus an unidentifiable radar blip. The blip was moving away from the fight, and after a few seconds it was almost directly beneath them.
Harris felt the ice beneath him begin to crack. What...? He looked down, then back up and around, and moved away, engaging his cloak.
Shaine, noticing that something odd was happening but not fully understanding, backed up a step. "Huh?"
Large chunks of ice erupted from the previously stable place where Harris had been standing. It was quickly transformed into a massive sinkhole, at the bottom of which could be seen a blocky figure.
The thing began to move. Shaine engaged her cloak. "Shit! What is that?"
The four-legged Battlemover, marked with Genom insignia, lumbered out. It was a new model which neither had seen before, massive and carrying what appeared to be two guns.
"Hmmm. Do you want this one, Shaine, or should I take care of it?"
"It's all yours, Murder Machine."
"No, please...I insist."
"This is a test, isn't it?" She sighed. "Fine.
"I just hope you enjoy this."
Harris stepped away to the left, watching and trying to figure out where the pilot (if any) would be.
There was a bright flash of light as two blue-white streaks issued from Shaine's suit. The beam missiles hit dead center, and the Battlemover was knocked over onto its side.
"Good shot. Now finish it."
Shaine stepped forward to scan the Battlemover. The shots had ripped through its six-inch reinforced armor plating; the driver was still alive and crawling out of the cockpit but would soon die from the cold anyway.
Heading toward the Battlemover, she went into the cockpit. As she got closer she could see that the outer shell was pockmarked and covered with scorches. A few strange lines marked places where the armored hull had been partially melted.
Once the copy was complete, she destroyed the original and swiftly climbed out to see Harris watching her. "Find anything of use?"
"Yeah I got a copy of the data recorder."
"And what's on it?"
"Yeah...um, it's got the last known location of this Amster, plus a vid of his suit. Whole bunch of other things too." She sounded unenthused. "Looks like the jackpot."
"Well, then. If you have the information we need let's get out of here."
"Okay..."
"Then shall we see if we can find Amster, or pick on Genom some more?"
She sighed. "Let's get it over with. However you think that ought to be done."
"Then let's go get Amster."
///
Mitch stared out the window at a howling inferno of snow. "It's getting below negative twenty degrees out there!"
Belladonna frowned. "They sure have been gone a long time..."
"Yeah. ...Let me check something..."
"Um, okay..."
"Don't worry, Bell. James and Shaine will be back soon. Why don't you go see what Lark is up to."
As Belladonna went to the front of the RV, Mitch activated a radio link to Shaine. "Freefall, this is Wolverine, over."
"I'm here, Wolverine." Her voice was dull and flat. "What's the problem?"
"What's your status?"
"We just ran into a Genom Battlemover and destroyed it. The data recorder had some information on Amster, and we're headed toward his last known location."
"I was just wondering how the suits are holding up."
"Yeah, they're fine."
"Good. Let me know if you two see anything."
Shaine could hear Belladonna's voice in the background: "Is that them?"
"Yeah."
"Ooh, ooh, are they all right? What's taking them so long?"
"They're fine, Bell!" Mitch grinned.
"Why don't you ask them if they want us to meet up with them?"
Shaine activated a private link to James. "Hey, Harris, you want backup?"
"Want to talk to them, Bell? Make it quick, they're busy!"
She ran over with all the speed and enthusiasm of a puppy who's spotted a squirrel. "Hello? Freefall?"
"Hi, Bell."
"Hey, do you want us to hook up with you? This Amster guy could be dangerous."
"I'll ask Harris" She switched over to the private comm again. "Harris, they need an answer."
In the background, she could hear Mitch again: "Relax, Bell! If they need help they'll ask."
"Tell them what you want," Harris muttered.
"We're fine out here, Bell. No need to worry."
"Ooookaaaayyy...Raven base out!" She cut the signal.
///
The Battlemover's records led James and Shaine to a hole in a rock face. "This is where he was last seen. In there."
James nodded and made his way into the tunnel, looking around cautiously. The walls had been blasted smooth by some incredible force, and after about twenty feet the twisting passage gave way to a circular room.
"Freefall, Snakebite, come in!"
"We're here. We've just entered a man-made room about twenty feet below the surface." The signal was staticky.
"A plane and three Battlemovers just headed past here. They're headed for you. --Correction: five groups of seven planes. Four groups of Battlemover Boomers, four to a group."
"Acknowledged." Shaine muted the radio signal. James was standing in the middle of the room, seemingly doing nothing. "Sooo...are we just going to stand here and wait for the Black Oil to get us?"
The room was a mess. There were empty plastic wrappers that had once held Green Foods ration bars, more wrappers and boxes from MREs, odds and ends of mecha parts, clothing, wires...
"It's a battle between Japan, the US, New USSR, Iraq...and Genom," Mitch added.
James shook his head. "This is a waste..."
He spotted a map lying next to a pile of dirty clothing. There were a few splotches of blood on it, fresh...maybe a few hours old. He picked it up and studied it carefully.
"Hey, Freefall...you know that little battle I told you about?"
"Harris?"
He unfolded the map.
"Hey, Snakebite!"
"Come in, Freefall, over."
"I'm here, Wolverine." She walked toward James.
"You know that battle I told you about?"
Her eyes widened when she saw the map. "Shut up."
There were large, red circles on the map, each marked with a name: Point 1, Point 2, Point 3, Point Charlie 2, Alpha Point 1... And Point Charlie had a huge "X" on it.
"It's headed straight for you two from the west. Check your radio."
"Headed for us?"
"Confirmed. Maybe two miles away. You need to get out fast."
James turned to Shaine, handing her the map. "You remember what you said about not wanting to die just because I couldn't get off my ass?"
"Yes."
"Well...now it's my turn."
He shook his head. "Getting worried now?"
"You're lucky I don't deal with my problems the way you do." She frowned. "Freefall to Wolverine. Is there a way back to the transport which is clear of enemy troops?"
"Why? Do you think you could actually kill me?"
"Affirmative, but the battle will cross over the path soon."
"Damn." She seemed not to have heard James. "Tell me how to get out then."
"Go around the Japan encampment. It's the long way, but it's safe."
"All right." She walked toward the tunnel.
"Shaine."
"What?"
"Come here."
Not this again...
"Take this map and see what you can do with it. I'm staying behind; we can't let anyone else find this place."
"Then you're stupid and you'll die."
"And you have a problem with that?"
"No."
He shook his head as he watched her leave.
///
Harris armed his missiles, then headed for the cave's entrance. Wonder how much time I have before the assholes show up... He sighed and fired into the cave. Backing away several more yards, he fired again to make certain nothing could get past the rubble.
He heard a low, growling noise behind him...
Turning around quickly, his cloak still engaged, he moved leftward. There was a wave of movement near where he'd been, and it slowly resolved itself into a humanlike form. A partial Boomer body hung from the back of the other hardsuit, tendrils reaching around the body and penetrating the suit's chest near the heart. Dried blood and shit covered it in places. Amster...?
I wonder if it can see me... He stared back at it, not moving. The other suit raised its arm, a large tube extending out toward him. A clicking sound issued from it. He dodged left swiftly, the weapons barrage from Amster's suit flashing just over one shoulder.
"Ge-om must diiiee..." it hissed.
"I'm not Genom!"
///
"Freefall, come in! We're two miles from Harris's position; that's as close as we can get without running into company. Can you see us on your radar?"
"Yeah. But Harris isn't coming."
"Is he all right?"
She clutched the map tighter. "Yeah, if you call being that fucked up in the head all right... He's juuuust fiiiine..."
"Zoom in on our position." Mitch changed comm channels. "Snakebite, come in!"
Still eyeing Amster warily, he snapped, "What is it?"
"What is your status?"
"Obviously fine for the moment..."
"I've got the RV two miles away from your position and Freefall is headed there.
"Come on, James! There's a battle headed your way, and they're all interested in whatever it is you've got there."
"Ge-om must die..." Amster croaked again, and began to aim with another weapon.
James stepped forward quickly and launched his slingers at Amster. The other man...if it was still a man...was entangled and began to waver on his feet. The eyes of the Boomer's head glowed a fierce red.
///
Shaine glanced at her suit displays. Harris just fired his slingers? Damn...he's got to have something heavy going down over there... Biting her lip, she turned and made her way back to where the cave had been.
///
Pulling back with all of his strength, James dragged Amster to the ground, then triggered the slingers' shock pulse. Amster struggled against the cables until the pulse hit, then went limp. His head lolled to one side. The suit fired a grapple and began to pull away again. It - he? - was too weak, however, and all it did was drag James along with it.
"Freefall, come in! Do you need backup? Over."
"Negative." She raced through the tunnel, finally reaching the ruins of the cave's entrance. "Shit, Harris, you just get into the strangest situations..."
Amster whirled around at the sound of her voice, then went limp again.
She fired her grapple, shivering at the sight of the Boomer head behind Amster's own. It was trying to look at her...
"So are we gonna have to drag him back or what?" James continued to use the shock on Amster, and Shaine followed suit. A small wisp of smoke issued from beneath the suit's collar.
James let one cable loose and aimed his sniper rifle at the Boomer's head. He hit it dead on, sending it reeling backwards. Sparks flew and a black goo began to spread across the white snow. He pulled on the suit with the cable he'd left attached. Amster was heavy; even with the added strength of his own suit he could feel the strain.
Amster felt it and his head jerked. He started to look around.
"Hey, take it easy. We're all friends here."
"H...ep...ma..."
"Yes, we're going to help you. We're going back to our base, and you'll be able to get some medical attention there."
"Si...tt... Nob...ith..."
"What?" Amster fainted. "Damn."
"Shaine, get him out of here." A small trickle of blood began to form underneath the rogue hardsuit.
"Dammit...!" She began to pull on the cables, trying to drag him toward the surface.
"Remember why you left in the first place? Well, there's no time left..." He let the second cable loose and began examining his radar and other scanning systems. There was an army coming up from the east, with no visible identifying marks...five miles and closing... Two miles away, a US force was forming up.
"Wolverine, come in! We have Amster."
"Yes!"
"I'm headed back to base with him but he's wounded. And Harris...I don't know about Harris."
"I'm staying. You get back there with Amster."
"I'll have the med kit ready, Freefall."
"I think he's going to need more than a medkit!"
"What do you need, then?"
"I don't know. A Boomer fused with his suit. Extent of the damage unknown."
"Pull out the medbay," Lark called. "I know enough to patch him up...I think..."
"He's bleeding through the suit. Not sure how bad it is. And he fainted."
She grunted, unsure how much faster she could go with the second suit in tow. Fast enough. That's all I need to think about.
///
There were fifteen anti-tank Boomers headed his way, along with twenty air defense and five commandos.
The unit had five squads of ground tanks, probably air cover to go with it...
He chuckled. "Here kitty, kitty..." Targeting the front line with his missiles, he fired the last two rounds. They hit, turning the front line Boomers to slag and creating a trench of melted ice where the war machines had stood.
The US forces fired at the trench, sending shells flying over his head. A wall of snow and ice flew into the air.
///
"I need some help here!" Only a few feet away from the RV, Shaine was barely able to keep dragging Amster along. Another suit appeared and lifted the Marine...had to be Mitch. Shaine detached the cables and followed him into the RV.
Leaving her suit on, she watched Lark and Mitch lift Amster onto the medbed. "I'm not sure how much damaged the Boomer did," she warned.
What the...? The hardsuit seemed to be regenerating where the Boomer had torn at it. Can our suits do that?
"Oh, yeah, and if you check the radar...there's a big-ass tidal wave of snow headed our way. Looks pretty bad. Just thought you'd want to know..."
Lark left Mitch to tend Amster and headed for the front of the RV. "Wolvie, do you want to pick up Harris?"
///
"Snakebite, come in!"
The troops seemed to be following him, but were drifting off to the north. If they kept that up they'd lose him before too long...and maybe head toward the others instead...
James turned toward the US forces and fired his lasers, aiming them just short of hitting anything. They fired back in his general direction, some close but none too near to worry about.
"Lieutenant Amster, this is General Douglas. Do you copy? ...Damnit, Amster, come in!"
///
///
Harris stopped firing. He stood still, watching the approaching army...then, when they had closed to only a few hundred yards he cloaked again, heading north. Powering up his lasers, he hoped the increase in energy output would be enough for the US troops to be able to track him.
"It's about time! Get your ass over here, Lieutenant!"
"Who...you?"
"Damnit, Amster, this is General Adam Douglas...you mother brother..."
"No...you...Ge-nom. Must kill..." He cut the comm and fired at the front line.
Air cover began passing overhead...they were dropping nets. Damn. He cloaked and began moving, engaging his laser sword.
A net hit the ice, and an energy field crackled where it had hit. It looked like EMP.
"Shit..."
He opened the comm to the RV again. "Snake has been bitten...north 1000 feet..."
///
Amster's eyes fluttered open.
"Call me when he wants us to pick him up."
The short one - probably the same one from the cave, he thought, tensed. She's not happy about something...
"Lieutenant Amster, this is General Douglas. Do you copy? ...Damnit, Amster, come in!"
"Sir, I can hear you! Over." No response. "Sir?"
Amster began to pull on the restraints. "Damnit, is that you out there?"
The tall redhead activated a jamming signal. "Shaine, he's up!"
"Yeah, I noticed." That was Short Woman.
"Help me!"
Amster relaxed a little, but Tall Red still tightened the restraints. This wasn't going to be fun.
"Ease up," Short snapped.
"Who are you?"
"We were hired by the US Government to bring you back. We're part of an independant agency...it's not important for you to know our name."
"Call me Woverine," That was Tall. "I'm going to get you out."
"Shut up." Short - Shaine - sounded like she'd been left in charge when Other-Tall from the cave stayed behind. Couldn't have a very high rank; she was clearly not prepared for this at all. "You're not helping."
"You need medical attention," Wolverine said. No shit. ...What is this, the Men in Black?
"What rank are you? What branch of the Service are you from? --Did they fix the problem?"
"They didn't tell us about any problem." Shaine shook her head. "Damned groundpounders!"
"So what is this problem?"
"The synchronization system...did you find a way to fix it?"
"Not until I get him out of this monstrosity!" Wolverine interjected.
"Wait. We don't know if we can trust him. ...So, Mr. Amster...are you going to cooperate? Or go running off again? Shoot at us?"
"I can't move. Crippled." He grimaced. "Legs were replaced..."
"Let him out."
"Lung...Boomer did something to me... It's inside me now... Suit's done something..."
"Damn! Never mind. We've got to figure out how bad the damage is before we can think of cutting him out."
Shaine must have run a bioscan on him...seemed the suits' tech were just as good as his own. "His lungs are fused with the Boomer's weapons control! We'd better leave him tied down until we can find a way to disconnect it. What's Harris's status?"
"He's still playing hide and seek with the USA. Keeps firing on them." This was a second woman's voice, the one who'd helped get him onto the bed.
"Great," Shaine moaned.
Wolverine looked at her. "It'll take an hour of microsurgery to save him, and we can't do it here."
"How long does he have if we leave him like this?"
"He also needs a doctor and a clone tissue generator...a day at best."
"Great...and Harris still has his comm turned off?"
"We could do a laser tight beam," said another female voice, "And override his comm."
"Do it."
"But if he ignores us, it'll be the same... I need time. Maybe ten minutes?"
"Fine."
Just then, a voice came over the radio: "Snake has been bitten...north 1000 feet..."
///
James engaged the cloaking device on his inner suit. Crimson is going to bitch...but let him... Waiting until the tanks had fired he ejected from the outer suit and was thrown away from the blast. The shell of the suit went up in a plume of smoke; moments later, the reactor blew and it billowed into a fireball.
"Come in, Snakebite!" It was Bell...seemed to be coming over the comm system.
"I'm here."
"Do you want pickup?"
"Eventually...if you have a moment?"
"Fuck, that was dumb! ...Okay...where?"
He turned to look at the US forces, who were slowly moving in on the remains of the heavy suit. Four flashes of light glimmered overhead, and a door opened. He looked up...
A small figure in a heavy suit stepped down from the door. It could have been Belladonna, but somehow he knew it was Shaine.
A while later he'd been hooked up to a heater and they were headed for Chicago. Shaine was nowhere to be found. Damn...you'd think she'd have a smartass comment the second I got here...
He shook his head and sighed. I find him...help catch him, keep the enemy away from him...then make the enemy think he's dead...figures.
Life's a bitch, then you get chewed out for trashing the hardsuit.
Crimson came to see him in the medbay, but never said a word about the suit. And later, as the day drifted away into evening, he thought he felt a small hand against his cheek but he was too far gone into sleep to be sure.
The next day, he found a note from Crimson next to the medbed.
Better get this out of the way.
///
"You wanted to see me?"
"Yes, sit down. ...Would you like something to drink?"
"No. Thank you."
"Your losses on the mission...would you say they were justified?"
"Depends on how you look at it. I was given my orders..."
"I'm asking how you look at it. You took a big risk - but saved the whole team. And Amster."
James said nothing.
"Damnit, Harris, you make me wonder... Half of the time I think you don't want to be here. I'm not sure how you truly feel about the others, and in most respects I shouldn't give a damn. You're hired guns, right?"
"Yes."
"But you did good." Crimson turned his back to Harris. "One day, there were seven of us. Seven brave...stupid...young fools. Each of us were 'hired guns.' Then we began to die.
"Of that seven, there are only two now.
"You did good, Harris. Take a few days off. Get some rest."
"Thank you, sir, but that's not why I'm here. I'm no good to you resting."
"I know."
"And I would feel even less good about it if I were actually doing so."
"You want another mission?"
"If you have one, yes."
"There are a few...nothing major."
"Whatever you feel I'm ready for."
Crimson handed him a palm pad. On it was a profile of a Boomer shop owner...and his illegal sales of recycled parts. Harris read it, then looked up at him.
"The ADP have overlooked him due to a possible contact at Genom."
"How shall I deal with him?"
"Find him, find proof...I'd like to see him go to jail."
"Jail." He shook his head. "And when he gets out he'll do the same thing again..."
"He's guilty of hurting a lot of people...justice should be played out...but he won't go easy."
"If he doesn't slip through the cracks along the way."
"That's where we come in. There's something we saved of his... Get me whatever you can find, then leave the stuffed pig on his desk, hogtied. He may go to jail, but in all likelihood you will have to kill him."
He nodded. "So find him...get whatever evidence...then kill him."
"Just remember, his kind needs to know about this. If you kill him, take his body to Julian Luna, the local mob boss. Rumors have it Luna pays this creep to kill people."
"Why?"
"I want him to know he's not safe. Genom knows we're out here; so should Luna."
"Why not go after Luna as well?"
"Oh, but we will...I just need to clear the path to Luna. He has too many people in his pockets."
"I see."
"Then we can go in with guns blazing."
"Well, then. When I meet Luna I will try to refrain from killing him..."
"We'll never get to Luna...unless we make his people see that there's no way away from us."
"I'll make sure they know."
"Think you can do that? Good, man." Crimson smiled. "We have a new hardsuit for you."
"Oh?"
"One that will let you use some of your talents to the best. Faster, more power, with built-in sniper guns. I'm afraid it won't be ready for another day or so.
"But you will be able to 'cloak' yourself into other people..."
"Useful indeed!"
"You'll have to tread softly, of course. You do still make noise in the damned thing."
"How does it work?"
"We have a new type of scanner. It can read in the face, the body movements... The cloak itself is light bent around you, and this molds it into a humanlike form."
"All right."
"Good. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a few phone calls to make." Sylia...
"Of course." Harris stood and left.