The night was dark and gloomy. The city streets were deserted, cars still remained in the roads; some of them with their former drivers still clutching the wheel. No signs of life could be found anywhere. The silence was soon broken by the steady whine of a jet engine. In the skies above an aircraft was passing over the cityscape. It was shaped like an axe, a flying axe, cutting through the night sky. Then four silver shapes were ejected from the ship and they plummeted to the city streets. Falling at high speeds, the four shapes suddenly launched green beams at the floor. Each beam splattered against the ground creating a mattress of green gel for the shapes to land on. With their landing softened, the dark silver shapes were revealed more in the fluorescent glow of the green gel. They were humanoid in form, each about 5 to 6 feet tall with bulging bodies, arms, and legs. Each held a long heavy rifle, wore a silver helmet, and each had bright blue eyes. As they stood to their feet, they brought their rifles up and scanned the area with both their eyes and computer scanners. Their leader, whose shoulders were clad in red, looked up at the sky.
Jamal looked up to see their transport fly off. "Radio me when the buoys have been planted, skipper." a female voice said on Jamal's helmet comm. "Roger that Angel. All right guys, target building is a few blocks away. Let's mark it and get outta here." "Yes Sir." the other three soldiers said in unison. Beginning their trek to the building, Jamal's spine was frozen with fear. Was it a fear of dying, or just the cold wind blowing on the cold metal of his powersuit? He didn't know. His group, Unit 113 Archangel-Bravo Team, had one of the worst jobs in the entire military. Unlike the grunts in Barrier City (BC) New York whose purpose was to simply repel Phantom attacks, groups like Unit 113 were the City Clearers; soldiers who were sent into Phantom held cities and Phantom nests to mark them for bombardment so the cities would be safe for workers to begin construction on extensions of nearby BCs. Not exactly the safest job, most of the soldiers that were killed in the war (besides the wasteland patrols) were City Clearers. Jamal's eyes soon turned to his map, which told him the target building was only a couple blocks away.
Logan saw his skipper was a little on the edge tonight. Although it was just another routine marking mission, Jamal hadn't been as twitchy as he was tonight. Even the new kid that had just transferred into the unit was more stable then Jamal was. "A bit further guys. Keep your eyes peeled though; Intel didn't give us an estimate on skinny population." Logan began looking at dark alleys and abandoned cars. Skinnies loved to pop out of walls and sneak up on their prey. Just as they neared the corner, Logan's scanner started beeping. He looked at the map and saw a red hostile blip appear on it. He turned around and in the distance he saw one. A Phantom, its bright orange skin could be easily spotted in the distance. It was coming out of a car and it began searching for a meal. Logan aimed his rifle and switched its safety off. "Skipper I've got visual contact, one skinny behind us." Jamal turned around and asked, "Do you see any other hostiles?" "Negative." "Leave it, best not to give ourselves away while we're in the open." Logan lowered his rifle and caught up with the rest of the group. The Phantom never detected them. But a few seconds later Logan heard it. The eerie wail they cried out. The same wail he heard in BC New Orleans, when it fell. The same wail he heard before his wife and daughter were killed.
They reached the target building and soon found the garage. According to Intel, the nest was at the lower garage level. "Damn, couldn't these things ever build a nest right in streets or something, that way we don't have to climb steps after marking it?" Ariel thought to herself. They began the long trek downwards. Level by level they passed skeleton after skeleton, some still in the parked cars. All victims of the Phantoms. Ariel knew they were getting close. As they went lower and lower, the hostile indicators on her map grew larger by the number. More and more red blips were appearing on the map and she began to hear the eerie moan the Phantoms normally gave off. When they reached the 3rd to last level, she looked over the railing and saw it. There was no ground, 1st, or 2nd level. At the bottom level was a large orange bulge of mass. It gave off an eerie humming noise and pulsated every few seconds. Ba-bump…Ba-bump…Ba-bump. There were hundreds of Phantoms there. Maybe even thousands. The Phantoms didn't notice them. It was the nest. "All right, prep the buoys. Four should be enough." Both Ariel and Ricky began unloading their backpacks and began prepping the buoys. The buoys were needed to give the larger bio-etheric lasers a target. The large lasers were carried on the Unit's dropship and the lasers were the only things powerful enough to wipe out the nest. "Mission's pretty much done guys," Jamal said, "Now all we have to do is…" Jamal abruptly ended his sentence when he saw the exit out of the building. Ariel looked up and nearly had a heart attack.
A small group of Phantoms had gathered at the only exit out of the garage. There might have been ten or fifteen but more then they could handle. The fear then entered Ricky's heart. He was only 19 and had willingly volunteered to join Bravo Team Archangel but he never had a clue that the jobs would be so dangerous. He had only been with the team for almost a month now and he was going to die. There was no way to escape a Phantom nest alive, and he had a feeling they wouldn't be lucky. Suddenly Ricky's fear was temporarily driven away by the sound of Jamal's voice over the team's commlinks. "All right guys listen. Ariel, you and Ricky finish prepping those buoys. Logan, we've gotta by em' some time. You open up with a few bursts of fire. I'll follow with a charge shot. That should take out most of them. Got it?" "Yes Sir." everyone said. Immediately Ariel and Ricky continued setting the buoys while Logan began to aim his rifle at the nearest Phantom. A loud whine came from Jamal's rifle as it began charging for a charge shot. Almost like a grenade launcher, the charge was the strongest attack the bio-etheric rifle had. It sapped 1/3 of an oval pack's power to launch a blast of energy that would explode and destroy any Phantom particles in its radius. One phantom began to lumber towards them, tentacles beginning to appear. Then the fun began.
Logan opened up with a three shot burst to the nearest Phantom's chest. Small impacts could be seen on its chest but it kept walking. Logan aimed higher and fired five rounds into the Phantom's head. Two rounds pierced its small pulsating, visible orange brain and splattered it against the wall in an orange and green glop. The Phantom gave a painful cry and fell over dead. Logan fired a short burst into the next Phantom, slowing its walk. Then a loud cry came over his commlink. "FIRE IN THE HOLE!" Jamal cried as he aimed his rifle, the barrel glowing fire red. He fired and sent a ball of pure energy at the group of Phantoms. It exploded and the Phantoms were engulfed in the blast, vaporizing them, splattering their blood, an ectoplasmic green goo, on the walls. "HURRY UP WITH THOSE BUOYS!" Jamal yelled. By now the Phantoms knew that fresh food was in their nest. "DONE!" Ricky yelled as he tossed his buoy over the railing into the nest. A steady beep began in their helmets, letting them know the buoys were set. "Angel, we need dust-off now. Buoys are set, over." Jamal said. "Roger that, buoys detected on my scanners. Proceed to this waypoint, I'll be waiting there." Angel said. "Roger that. Okay Archangels, LET'S MOVE!" Jamal yelled.
Flights after flight of stairs were climbed as Bravo Team made their way to their pickup point. The moans and wails of the Phantoms grew louder and louder as the aliens awoke from their slumber. Logan led the way with Ricky and Ariel in the middle and Jamal at the end covering them. A few shots from Jamal's rifle let Ricky know that the Phantoms were beginning to follow them. His heart pumped with fear, adrenaline, and fatigue. He was excited that he was on his first mission, scared shitless that he might die, and tired due to the heavy suit and rifle he carried and the fact that it was nearly 1:00 am in the morning. He saw Logan turn the corner to climb the next flight of stairs. What neither he nor Logan saw was the Phantom hiding in the shadows waiting for Logan to come to it.
Ariel saw it though and raised her rifle. "LOGAN," she yelled, "STOP AND DUCK!" Logan stopped and saw the Phantom in the shadows and instinctively ducked, barely missing the Phantom's deadly tentacles searching the air for a body to steal. Ariel aimed right for the creature's head and for a split second made eye-contact with it. Its cold eyes stared back at her. Eyes that showed no knowledge, no fear, no remorse, no pity. Eyes that only showed death, destruction, and the desire to take life endlessly. But it was only half a second. The other half, she pulled the trigger and emptied 1/3 of her oval pack into the Phantom's head, splattering its brains against the wall. It let out a wail and phased through the wall were it later died. Logan looked back and gave her a nod and continued his trek up the stairs. "KEEP MOVING!" Jamal yelled as he emptied the last of his 1st oval pack into a Phantom trying to follow them. He ejected it and popped in a fresh one.
The waypoint was on the roof, or what was left of it. An earlier bombardment had destroyed the top half of the building, exposing the 4th to top level. Angel left the ship in hover mode as she waited for them. Searchlights shone on the waypoint from her ship, its ramp was opened and rescue lines were ready to be dropped to pick them up. Meanwhile the laser on the ship's tail was nearly charged to full power as it continued a steady humming noise. "Ares laser charge capacity, 87 ." The ship's female computer said. "Thank God this isn't a wasteland," Angel said to herself, "or I'd be dealing with Banshee Phantoms by now." The flying Phantoms (nicknamed Banshees) were common in the wastelands and loved to sneak up on hovering transports, kill the pilot and let the pilot-less ship crash. Then she saw a large silver figure appear in the waypoint. It was Logan. Angel began to lower the rescue lines as the other three came into view. They were firing their rifles.
As Jamal connected his rescue line to his suit, he fired his rifle from the hip trying to hold back the coming Phantoms. Ariel and Logan were doing the same, their lines were already secured. Finally Ricky connected his and Angel, seeing this, raised them up into the ship. Jamal looked down and saw the Phantoms come into view as Angel lifted them and pulled the ship away from the building. "Thank God they can't fly." He thought. Once aboard he ran into the cockpit and radioed BC Washington D.C. Command. "Command this is Bravo Team Archangel 113. Buoys planted and team aboard; do we have permission to level this place?" "Roger that Captain, blow em to hell." "All right Angel, you heard him. Let those bastards have it." "Aye aye Skipper." Angel selected missiles and pulled the trigger. Immediately four missiles screamed away from the ship to the building and put it in flames. The building collapsed from the bombardment and after the dust settled, the Phantom nest came into view. By now the laser was charged and Angel selected it. Jamal heard the tail section of the ship twist around and aim towards the nest. Its barrel opened and began glowing yellow and then orange. Sparks of yellow exploded across the barrel as it began readying to fire. Jamal looked down and saw Angel lock onto the nest. She pulled the trigger and a bright orange beam flew towards the nest. Impacting, it exploded and the nest was engulfed in a pink mushroom cloud, purple dust covered the entire area. When the dust settled, the nest was no longer there. "My scanners show no signs of Phantoms in the target area sir." Jamal removed his helmet to reveal a middle aged African-American with a loving face but cold brown eyes. He managed a smile. "Good shooting Angel. Let's go home." Angel turned the ship around and headed back home. Their home, BC Washington D.C.
This is Bravo Team Unit 113 Archangel and this is their story.