Chapter 32: Taking Out the Trash.
T'Shara watched as her now metal encased ooman life mate patrolled the grounds of the camp endlessly, the mecha suit he was encased in was utterly incredible looking, it utterly bristled with weaponry, it was part assault platform, part rescue system, in a firefight there would be little that could hold its ground against it, and with those scythes she could see why Grim Reaper fitted perfectly, she just wished she could talk to her beloved male inside it, but any attempt at communication just got her stares or scripted answers.
Macha said she could still feel him inside the suit but it was like a big part of him was missing or trapped somewhere, something that T'Sall confirmed when he spoke to him, he said he could feel Aiden's dormant mind locked away behind his cybernetics and Paul Twenty said that it might be possible to bring him into full control of it with a modified AI processor but that would require pulling him out of the suit and using a cerebral net mapping system to map his neural net and essentially copy it onto the chip, it would be like having two Aiden's living inside his own head, one who was utterly organic and a second who was AI.
But for now that was a moot point as they had none of the equipment on hand to perform the process required, plus, until his mission was complete the system wouldn't release Aiden from it, but it was nice watching what she knew in her heart was the heart of her beloved male breaking through the hard coding at some points and reminding her of who it was that was in there, like when a little Felenis girl ran right up to him, bold as brass, and when Shey panicked and went to try and stop her Grim simply stopped and looked down at her before very gently picking her up like she was made entirely of glass and placing her atop his huge shoulder cannons and letting her ride on him around the compound, which resulted in a trail of kids of all races following him, hoping to get a ride too, it showed her that, no matter what, the spirit of the man she loved was stronger than anything.
"We need to get moving on the assault plans with the West Side boys, there is utterly no way that they missed that fucking fireworks display and they will most likely be gathering to mobilise on us, granted now we have the GRIM Reaper on outside and going up against him is like going head on against a walking tank, but he's not invulnerable, he gets hit with enough heavy artiliary like those rocket launchers we know they have, thanks to Picasso's report, and he's going down, same as any of us, but we have a duty as protectors of the innocent and guardians of law to get those civilians out of there, so we need to move fast before they hit us," Spike said.
"Agreed, laddie, but how do we bring Reaper along for the ride? He's not going to waver from his protocols?" Tank asked.
"Two choices, the way I see it, either we use his protocols to our advantage and allow him to enter the fight, or we leave him here to protect the civilians while we go and take the fight to them ourselves, I mean, what better guardian could we have? Only Problem is we'll need to leave both Macha and Inferno here as well," Spike said.
Inferno snapped her head around to him and glared at him, "I NEVER run from a hunt!" she snarled angrily.
Spike held up his hands defensively, "Whoa, simmer down, big girl, you know I would never suggest you would, but if you go so does he, and he'll bring you back here just like he did Macha, now, as much as we all know you'd love a free ride on his shoulder with his big hand clamped on your butt like Macha got, not exactly what we need in a fight," Spike said, and Inferno let out a humph noise and folded her arms over her chest, she knew he was right.
"Fine, then myself and my two beloved ones will remain here to protect the camp and oversee the continuing defence upgrades, i will ensure that by the time you return each and every civilian is not only armed in some way but trained in its use," T'Shara said, determined to be useful.
"I will be useful too! I will speak to my brothers and sisters who have reached safe harbour with us, maybe they know where my sisters are, then we maybe able to either assist them or at the very least speak to them and see if they are open to a truce to bring them here, if they are still alive that is," Macha said.
"Good, ok, now we're getting somewhere, ok guys, we need two teams to assault that place, me and Mark have been going over both satellite pictures and live CCTV and I believe we have a way to do it, team one will hit the main compound and go for the hostages, team two will hit the Hub located nearby and clear it so we can bring down the air defences and finally get off this fucking rock, without that it doesn't matter how many people we save, we're all just stuck here waiting to die, so that, I'm afraid, is priority number one, we need them down or no one leaves," Spike said, and the rest of the team nodded in agreement.
Spike spent the next hour going over the teams and the plans he'd come up with for both teams, Moodstone was going to lead team one, which would assault the compound, it consisted of her, Tank, Shey, Xia, Paul Twenty, as well as Adamson, a member of the SWAT team.
Team two was Spike, Ice, Picasso, and T'Kell, overwatch was going to be provided by Mark and the CCTV from the camp, plus Whisper from an adjacent tower, where she would be watched over herself by T'Sall, both decided to use this as an opportunity to see if they could locate Mark's parents after an impassioned plea on his behalf by Xia while he stared on in embarassed joy that she cared so deeply for him and his happiness that she would ask for it on his behalf.
After the plan was agreed the teams split up and prepared themselves for the task at hand, which didn't take very long as they were already geared up and ready after the Xeno invasion, so once the teams were geared up and ready they set off, leaving T'Shara, Macha and Grim Reaper behind to protect everyone, along with a few of the SWAT team.
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As soon as they were gone Macha and T'Shara headed off to the infirmary where Zachee was now keeping an eye on the patients and working on the virus, or rather so she thought, when she arrived she found Zachee working on the virus with the four Xenos, who now appeared to have recovered from their mad run, looking over her shoulder watching what she was doing.
She couldn't help but smile, it was probably odd for them to find other species who weren't scared shitless of them, but thanks to her they were no longer afraid of them, they instantly sensed her presence and that of T'Shara as they both entered.
"Queen! It is good to see you! Thank you for granting us sanctuary in your hive, after ours was lost and our beloved queen taken by this scourge we had nowhere to go, and with our fallen brothers and sisters chasing us all we could do was run, if you had not sheltered and protected us we would surely have fallen too!" one of the female Xeno's said, falling to her knees before Macha.
"Rise, child, you need not bow to me," Macha said, smiling as she lifted the smaller female Xeno up, the female Xeno and the other looked very unsure of themselves.
"But you are a hive queen! And we are Xeno ronin! Xenos who have no hive or queen, please! We beg you, let us join your hive! We cannot live alone!" the second female Xeno said, and both the males nodded in complete agreement.
Macha cocked her head curiously, "You wish to join my hive? For me to adopt you?" Macha asked curiously, and all four nodded in unison.
"Yes! You are a strong queen! We see it in you! You are different to all others, it is as plain to us as your deviation, but your strength shines from you like you are touched by the gods of the void themselves! Please, queen, let us join you, we will be loyal subjects, we swear it!" one of the males said, and Macha nodded.
"Very well then, but there are conditions, accept them and I will grant you the kiss of adoptive binding and you will join my family, you will be one with my hive, refuse and you will be forever alone, understood?" she said, and all four nodded in eager unison.
"Good, first of all, you are to respect all sentient life, we treat them as we would treat each other, they are under the protection of the hive and we use our strength for them, you will protect them as you would one of our own, understood?" she said, and they nodded, curiously looking around.
"Our beloved queen believed this also, she took only evil doers to birth us, and even then she granted them the eternal sleep so they would not suffer pain during our birthing," one of the females said.
Macha looked them up and down and nodded, "You are of the evolved genus correct, those that have their own reproductive systems?" she asked, and they nodded.
"And names too, our queen gave us all names, she loved us all equally, I am Jet, this is my sister Ebony and my two brothers Shadow and Liquid," she said.
"It is very good to meet you all, I am Macha, and this is my beloved female life mate, Inferno, you will have seen my king walking around outside inside the large metal body, you will call him Reaper," she said.
All four of them looked at T'Shara with confusion on their faces, "You have two mates who are not of our kind, Queen Macha?" Shadow asked, looking confused, and Macha puffed herself up, looking incredibly menacing in her armor.
"I do, and that is the next rule of my hive, all are free to love whom ever they please, as long as they love you and can take that leap you are free to take a mate of any race, but you will not, and I cannot stress this enough, force them, if I even suspect you abuse this freedom to sully someone the consequences for you will be dire, this I swear to you, you defile, you die, you love and you live, that is my rule," Macha said, and all four looked at one another and then nodded.
"I have never even considered such freedom, my queen, it sounds...beautiful," Jet said, and T'Shara smiled broadly.
"It is, young one, it is," she said, and Jet watched as T'Shara and Macha both removed their facial armor and kissed right before them, huntress and queen, natural enemies, now pure lovers and their mouths dropped open.
"Beautiful," Liquid whispered.
"I want this," Shadow said.
"Me too," Ebony said.
"Me four," Jet said.
"And you can have it, all the beauty, grace, and gentleness of a kind human, or maybe the fire and pure passion of a beautiful Yautja, or a graceful and lithe Felenis, or a strong and powerful Scalathor, or any of them, the possibilities are endless when you're part of my hive, my hive does not discriminate, male who wants a male, go for it, female who wants a female, done, or maybe one of each to wrap you in a cocoon of joy and pure happiness then make it yours, and make them as happy as you can, that is what I offer you, freedom to be whom you want to be, along with the protection and security of the hive," Macha said.
"I would do anything to have this," Jet said, and the others agreed, and Macha smiled.
"Then step forwards and be bound to your new queen, my adoptive hatchlings, let me embrace you as if you were born of me, today you honor your mother and embrace the new life that awaits you," Macha said, and one by one the four little lost Xenos stepped forward and took the kiss of binding, an injection of Macha's royal jelly that bound them to her as if she hatched them herself, made her will theirs.
After the bind was made the four young Xeno's were bound to Macha as if she brought them into this world herself, she was their adoptive mother and queen, she asked them about the other queens and was distraught to find out that all the other hives had been destroyed and her sisters were among the living dead, she was the last living queen on the planet, this brought her heart such great sadness.
"At least some of my sister's kin live on in you, and as long as you live so does she, and all your brothers and sisters, because we as Xenos know that, wherever we are, we carry our hive with us always, even when they are gone, they are us and we are them," Macha said, which seemed to cheer up the four down cast young Xenos.
"Now, come along, leave poor Zachee to her work, I'm sure she doesn't need you looking over her shoulder and distracting her," Macha said, and the four Xenos waved to her and thanked Zachee for taking such good care of them in their time of need, which made Macha happy, their manners were a testament to their mother.
"Actually, my beauty queen, I do believe your new adoptive hatchlings may be able to aid us with something that we've been too busy to attend to that may assist our comrades," T'Shara said, and Macha cocked her head curiously.
"Do tell, my huntress?" she asked, and T'Shara gave her a dark smile.
"I'd rather show you, my beauty queen," she said, and she took her by the hand and began to lead her.
T'Shara swung open the shipping container that was continually banging, "You can't keep me in here!" a female voice bellowed from inside, right up until T'Shara stepped into the dimly lit crate, which had a singular light source and, instantly, Macha got what T'Shara was doing, she sent instructions to her new hive and they moved as if she was controlling them directly and they melted into the shadows around the prisoner as T'Shara marched forwards.
"About fucking time, I..." the female prisoner yelled, marching forward until she came face to face with both T'Shara and Macha, and her face froze, she began to back up until her body hit something hard and she turned slowly and came face to face with Shadow, who instantly hissed at her darkly as his siblings emerged from the shadows to surround her.
"This is going to be simple, you are going to tell me everything I want to know or I'm going to take away that little light you have there and I'm going to lock you in here with them, and I'll let them pry it out of you" T'Shara said, grinning darkly.
The woman looked utterly terrified and her dinner plate shaped eyes swiveled to T'Shara, "Y-Y-You wouldn't dare!" she exclaimed, and T'Shara snapped her fingers and the light was instantly extinguished and, despite the fact that not a single Xeno moved, the woman began screaming like they were pushing bamboo splinters under her finger nails.
"No! Please, don't give me to them! I didn't want to! I didn't want to work for them! They made me! They've got my family, please!" the woman yelled in sheer terror, and, with another snap, the lights came back on and this time T'Shara's demeanor was different.
"What is your name, young one?" she asked, and the young woman looked up at her with fearful tear filled eyes.
"Max, Max Carver," she replied.
"So, tell me, Max Carver, why are you working for them? How did you wind up in this position? And I urge you not to lie to me, because my friends here have a real talent for spotting liars, they can smell it, you see, one little white lie and the results will be both painful and lasting, understand?" T'Shara said, and the woman nodded frantically.
T'Shara smiled in an almost motherly fashion, "Good, then begin, and I urge you to hold nothing back," she said.
"I-I-I'm a competition shooter, I'd been away at a competition on Ulrea 3, you know, the Felenis colony, I'd just got back when all this went down, me and my family, me, my mother and father and my little brother tried to hide from it, to seal ourselves away, but then they came knocking, robbing houses and apartments for food and supplies and they found us, they took us prisoner, took us to their compound, well, one of them recognized me because my picture had been all over the web and in the news after I placed second in that bloody competition, so they tried to force me to work for them as a sniper, I told them where to stick their job offer, so this black woman, one of their captains, they call her Lilith, comes walking up, real slow, asks me in this really soft sickly voice to reconsider, I tell her to go fuck herself and she just laughs at me, then sticks an ice pick in my dad's ear right up to the handle like it was nothing, like the life of the man who helped bring me and my little brother into to this world was nothing..." she said, before her voice trailed off into pure hate, disgust, loathing both for herself and this Lilith person.
Both T'Shara and Macha felt their hearts beginning to burn as they glanced at one another, it was showing in the faces of the Xenos as well, "Continue, young one," T'Shara said, and Max sniffed a few times and did so.
"...She took us to the compound, told me that me and my little brother were going to work for them, for her and if we didn't my mother would and her job would not be as nice as mine, or maybe they'd just kill her just like my father in front of us, then...then she took my little brother and she told him that he belonged to her now, that he was going to do exactly as she said and that if he did that he wouldn't be hurt, that she would feed him and take care of him, but if he didn't he'd be...punished, and she hit him with one of those whips with all the tails on it, he's just a boy! Just ten years old, he didn't know what was happening, didn't understand, all he knew was he'd just seen this woman kill his daddy right in front of him, his hero, mine too, now he's looking at his mom and he's being told that if he's a good boy they won't hurt her, so, of course, he agreed, what choice did he have? What choice did I have? Do what they say or they'll rape and kill my mum, hell, she is probably doing that to my baby brother right now..." she said, before her voice trailed off again and a look of both fury and pure sadness flickered through her eyes.
"Oh god, Reggie, Reggie, I'm so so sorry, I should have protected you, but I-I-I couldn't, please god, please, if your listening, please let him be ok," Max said softly to herself, and T'Shara looked at Macha who nodded, Macha waved her hand and the Xenos moved forward and lifted Max up to her feet and a look of panic crossed her face.
"Don't worry, Max, they won't hurt you, we're going to help you," T'Shara said, and Max looked utterly stunned now.
"Help me? Why would you help me? I was going to kill your people," she asked, sounding confused.
"Because we understand that there is nothing that good people won't do to save the lives of the one they love, to protect them with everything we have, this is not your fault, we have people on their way to that West Side boys compound right now and they're going to storm it," T'Shara said, and suddenly Max look panicked.
"You can't! It's a fortress! Your people will be killed!" she exclaimed, and T'Shara gave her a wide smile.
"We are Spirits, young one, pulling off what others say is impossible is what we do for a day job, but any help you can offer will be most welcome indeed, tell us about their defenses, their strong points, their weak points, tell us what we need and I promise you that if they are still alive my team will bring back your beloved ones alive and well to you, you have my word, and a huntress never breaks her vow," T'Shara said, without a seconds hesitation Max agreed and instantly began talking.
After she was done T'Shara got on comms and relayed the info to Spike and Moodstone, "Roger that, Inferno, message received and understood, this helps, thanks, Moodstone out," Moodstone said through the comms.
"Roger that, Inferno, I got a portable micro jammer on me, I'll make sure to set it up on the way past and I'll key it into Moodstone's wrist comp, that way she can trigger it and fry their comms when she needs to, it's only short range though, omni directional for about two hundred yards in every direction, should be enough, but people on the upper levels of the tower may be just outside the range, but I'll put it as close as I can, Spike out," Spike said.
Max looked at T'Shara and Macha, "Please, bring my family back alive," she said, and T'Shara nodded.
"We are the best at what we do, and this is what we do all the time, don't you worry about anything, now come, young one, let's get you something to eat, you must be hungry," T'Shara said, and her kindness had a profound effect on Max, the young woman just broke and once the tears came they wouldn't stop, but her comfort came from a strange place, it was Shadow, one of the Xeno boys, who stepped up and gave her the shoulder she needed and the hug that she craved and Max was either too far into her well of pain that she didn't notice or just didn't care but she clung to him like he was the last being she would ever hold in her life.
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Whisper stacked up on the door and motioned to T'Sall, who gave her a silent nod before testing the handle, he gave her a thumbs up and turned it, flying in with it and rolling to clear the way for Whisper who was following him, his plasma casters spun around him, finding no targets.
"Clear!" Whisper hissed as she checked the other room.
"Same here," T'Sall said, checking the small bathroom.
"Are we going to call in what happened to Mark's parents?" Whisper asked, looking at T'Sall, and he looked at her through his mask, he shook his head.
"Not now, the kid is our eyes and ears right now and it won't help anyone if he learns right at this very moment that his parents didn't make it, even if they did find more peace than most by taking those pills like that, still, going to mess with his head, and right now he doesn't need that, there will be plenty of time for him to grieve and come to terms with it after the battle is done, and at least now he has Xia to help him through it," T'Sall said, Whisper nodded silently.
Whisper set up her rifle on a table a few feet from the window so she wouldn't be seen, and she hoked in her scope so she could sweep the building, "Ok, got em, got clear sight lines right the way up, this spot is perfect," Whisper said, adjusting the scope.
"Roger that, I'll stand guard, or do you want me to spot for you?" he asked, and she shook her head.
"Nah, I got this one gorgeous, you just watch my tail," she said, and he chuckled softly.
"Been trying not to do that all the way over here, damn thing is just so cute and distracting though," he said, running his hand over it, knowing that she'd still feel it through the armor, and she did, judging by the quiver.
Before he could respond, Moodstone came over the comms, "Team in position, sniper team, what's your status?" Moodstone said.
"Eyes on and ready on your go," Whisper said.
"Good, roger that, assault team moving in, by the numbers, people," Moodstone said, and, from her vantage point, Whisper watched as silent shadows moved up on the compound and took out the perimeter sentries silently.
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"Four tangos neutralized, clear to proceed to the fire doors," Moodstone said, and everyone moved forward through the darkness to the doors at the side of the huge building, they were chained shut from the outside "Tank, my love?" Moodstone said, and he moved up and, pulling a laser cutter from his belt, popped the lock off in ten seconds flat before silently unwrapping the chains.
"No movement on the other side," he said, checking the movement scanners and Moodstone nodded before silently cracking the doors and, as one, they entered and spread out, into what appeared to be a closed in stairwell filled with doors.
"Ok, people, floor by floor, do this as quietly as possible, Tank, you're holding the exit and securing the hostages as we send them your way as you're the only one without a suppressed weapon," Moodstone said, and he nodded, everyone knew that if he had to open up with Bertha in here shit would come down like a fucking hail storm.
"Everyone else on me, pick your targets, make sure there's no back splash, we don't want any civvies getting clipped, now, according to our intel we got two night bunk areas where ninety nine percent of the hostages are held, so we hit those first, then we go for the personal slaves they got stashed in the captain's quarters upstairs and we take them out at the same time," Moodstone said, and they all nodded and with one motion of her hand it truly began.
They swept through the door in a practised, fluid motion, the team were through the door with their guns in the shoulders moving like they'd been doing it their whole lives, no more than ten steps down the dimly lit green and yellow corridor with flaking, cracking paint and gang symbols everywhere Moodstone held up a balled fist and they froze, they heard laughing voices around the corner, "god, did you see the way I made that bitch gag on my dick? She was blowing my cum out of her nose for a fucking hour, man!" one voice said, and two more laughed loudly.
Moodstone inched forward with the team against the right hand wall and she peeked out, there were four guards sat at a table playing what looked to be a card game of some sort, all human, she held up four fingers, then five which she counted down and on zero they all stepped forward and each fired a triple tap into the chest of each one, causing their bodies to spasm and fall down dead, knocking their table and game over, "Gag on that, rapist," Moodstone said.
The corridor lead to two things, one was a barracks for the foot soldiers, who were, at this time of night, blind drunk and sound asleep, Tank had wired up a little something for this just before they'd left base camp and she utterly adored how that male of hers could make something incredible out of utterly nothing, she pulled out the box and wired it to the door handles that led into the barracks and pulled the pin in the side, now if they started shooting and the soldiers came rushing out to help they would have a hell of a surpise the moment they opened the doors.
There was another set of double doors around a left hand corner further down, the way their prisoner had explained it, this is where all the low level prisoners were held and the new recruit foot soldiers, the higher you were in the gang the higher up the tower you lived, the captains lived in the suites at the top with the leader living in the penthouse.
They reached the corner that lead to their first stop, according to their prisoner there would be only six guards at night, Shey tapped Moodstone's shoulder to indicate that they were ready and she nodded, each target had been picked and assigned so they didn't wind up shooting the same guy and missing one, the guards were just stood next to the chained doors chatting and smoking, Moodstone counted down again and then on zero they all moved as one, rounding the corner in pairs and fanning out to take their shots at the wide eyed guards who dropped their smokes and fumbled for their slung weapons before all of them hit the deck, dead in a hail of plasma and ballistic fire.
Moodstone, using Tank's laser cutter, cut the lock holding the slave quarters off and opened the doors without worry that there was a guard in here, they weren't likely to lock one of their own in a place like that, the team moved inside and instantly Moodstone's anger turned up a few notches when she saw how the slaves we being housed.
Cages, that's how the people they took who did their work, who cooked their food, who warmed their beds against their will were treated, locked in small cages like animals, hell, animals were treated better than this, the people inside forced to sleep on the cold concrete floor, dressed in disheveled rags and looking weak and broken, the people inside the cage shrank back into the corners of their metal worlds, Moodstone could only guess at the horrors a night time visit meant for these poor people.
"By the great tree! How can anyone do this to innocent people!?" Shey breathed, and Xia looked like she was seriously having to swallow a fury Moodstone had never expected to see on the gentle Feleinis's face.
"Let's get em out and get em moving, we got a hell of a long way to go yet," Moodstone said, and instantly the team went to work popping cages and reassuring people, a wave of realisation and emotion reverberated around the room like ripples in a pond bleeding into one another as the thirty or so people realized that these were not monsters coming to prey on them, but knights coming to save them.
As soon as every last one was free the team lead them back, trying to keep them quiet as they made their way to Tank, the plan was simple, Tank would shuttle the people over to the place where Whisper and T'Sall were located, now that their exit was secure T'Sall would move from Whisper's side and guard the freed prisoners with Whisper providing overwatch above them.
Moodstone and the others moved back to the building and, rather than use the stairs, decided to speed things up by using their grav ascenders inside the elevator shafts, they only had two so the team could only ride up two at a time, but since this was a rescue mission and not a kill them all mission that didn't matter, this was more about stealth than speed, once the innocent were out in the clear then they could unleash hell, but till that time they were ghosts shadows.
Acording to their intel the next spot was at the fiftieth floor, about half way up the building, it was only a short ride on a the grav ascender which latched onto the cables for the elevators and sent the person holding it shooting up the shaft like a bullet up a gun barrel, at the top they forced the doors open while balancing on a narrow ledge and the escape ladders once the doors were open they guarded them, waiting for the next two to come up, and once they were all up they left the ascenders where they were as this was how the civilians were getting back down.
Now, according to their intel, the second lot were in a set of knocked through apartments that had been barricaded off and given a single door in and out, "On floor fifty, proceeding to hostage site," Moodstone said into the comms.
"Roger that, be advised, there is a a heavy hostile presence at the door, count twelve, all armed, give me a mark and I'll lay down fire," Whisper said.
"Roger that, we're moving," Moodstone said, and she motioned for them to stick close, the team moved close and suddenly Whisper came back over the comms again.
"I've just spotted a situation about six rooms ahead of you, there's three of them, looks like they've got a hostage out on the balcony, oh shit, I think they're going to throw him over, I'm opening up, but you gotta get there fast, he's hanging on by a thread!" Whisper yelled into the comms, and instantly Moodstone's group began running.
The shots from Whisper's rifle were devastating, the huge plasma shot didn't just kill the men she hit, they blew them in half and blew out the windows beyond them, but the three men weren't the only ones in the room and Moodstone heard the shouts even before she hit the door with enough force to shatter the lock, she dove into a forward roll as the team rushed in past her, fanning out, presented with six men all turning from the windows only to get shot in the back by either Whisper or them, but not before they got off a few shots that smashed through the silence like someone ringing a gong.
"So much for quiet! Now we do it fast! Shey, get the hostage! The rest of you with me, we're going for the others, on me!" Moodstone yelled, and they spilt with Shey rushing toward the balcony while the rest of the team turned and ran for the hall, "Whisper, weapons free! Weapons free, take em down, girl!" Moodstone yelled as they ran.
"Thought you'd never ask," Whisper said, and windows began to explode from up ahead of them as her shots punched through the building like it was made of paper.
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Shey sprinted out onto the balcony just in time to see the teenage human male who was hanging on to the balcony rail by his finger tips fall, she didn't even hesitate for a single second, she dove head first over the side and tucked herself into a high speed bullet dive.
The teenage human who couldn't have been more than eighteen screamed as he fell, his hands clawing desperately at the sky, reaching for her as she dove at him, "I'm coming, honey!" she yelled, and, with a whoosh of breath and force, she grabbed his clothes and wound them tight into her hands and, with a whooshing pop and a sharp crack, her wings snapped open, god, it had been a long time since she'd flown, and she'd never flown carrying someone before, "I got you, sweetheart, you hold on to me now!" she yelled as she desperately tried to even out her descent so they didn't plunge head first into the ground, she got a close up look at the young human's face and his look of relief was mixed with utter fear, but, boy, did he look handsome, jet black hair with bright wide green eyes and gentle features took her breath away and vey nearly made her close her wings, until she remembered she was flying and that would be a very silly idea.
It wasn't the softest landing in the world, but they both survived it as they bumped down in the street outside the place that T'Sall was guarding, in fact, she saw him rushing out with his plasma casters swiveling, "An angel! An angel saved me!" the boy cried in purest joy and relief as she folded her wings back in and lifted him back to his feet and she smiled.
"Not an angel, honey, just a regular old Draconis girl," she said with a smile, the boy flung himself at her and threw his arms around her, pulling her into the tightest hug of her life, causing her freeze up, she literally didn't know what to do, "Thank you, oh god, thank you for sending me this angel," he said, his voice racking with sobs.
"Shey," she said, softly taking him in her arms and he lifted his head from her shoulder and looked at her with confused eyes.
"What?" he said.
"Shey Snowscale, that's my name," she said softly, smiling at the pretty young human and he gave her a smile that set her heart on fire.
"Leon, Leon Lancaster, my friends call me double L," he said, smiling, and she nodded, her mind foggy and swirling, suddenly, T'Sall broke the spell by grabbing him away from her and she very nearly lunged to keep hold of him.
"Come on, kid, let's get you inside with the others," he said, and he took him away, leaving Shey alone in the street but just before he vanished through the doors he turned and gave her the most beautiful smile she had ever seen.
"Double L," she said silently to herself.
"Shey, can you get back up here?" Moodstone's voice in her ear called, snapping her out of her trance and she shook herself clear.
"Yeah, enroute to you," she said, spreading her wings and taking to the sky, flying right up the side of the building before diving in through the windows that Whisper had shot out and charging down the corridor to rejoin the team.
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"Somehow the top floors haven't heard anything, floor you're on and the ones above and below look like a hornets nest that got kicked, looks like Spike's jammer is doing its job, they can't communicate," Whisper said through the comms as the team sent the twenty hostages down the lift shafts two at a time, Tank and T'Sall were running them across the street towards the temporary safe house.
"Roger that, we're going after the one on the top floor now, what's the count so far?" Moodstone asked as the last two came down and they themselves went back up on the grav ascenders to rejoin everyone.
"We got sixty three in here," T'Sall said over the comms.
"Roger that," Moodstone said, and, with that, the team double teamed riding up the shaft four at a time now as the ascenders were rated to take someone Tank or Inferno's size without issue, so two normal sized humans or Scalathor was no problem.
"Lot of guards up on that floor, and they are real spread out, looks like they haven't got wind of what's happening yet but that might change soon, you need to hurry, I can't get a view through the penthouse windows themselves as they got them boarded and my heat and xray only ID how many bodies are in there, unless there's guns on them, wait one... do me a favor start with the far right hand suite, and make sure the person in the chair dies screaming, I'd do it myself but I can't get a clear shot without hitting an innocent," Whisper said, and Moodstone heard a very distinct note of rage in her voice, that was all she needed, if Whisper was angry she was too.
The guards up here were a lot more alert than the ones downstairs, but these were still gang bangers, not professional soldiers, and, hell, even professional soldiers that weren't special forces slacked off from time to time, so these guys were fuck all, but a gun doesn't care who pulls its trigger, only that it gets pulled.
Both Moodstone and Paul waited against a wall, waiting for two guards to step around them, as they did both stepped out and as one snapped two necks with two sharp cracks and even before the bodies hit the floor the team was moving, "Once we hit this room the whole place is going to light up, no way to do this quiet, so, fuck it, let's do it as loud as fucking possible, Whisper, we're breaching, watch our backs," Moodstone said, noticing the bracing bar through the door gap, no way to kick it in, but that never stopped a Spirit.
The entire outer frame of the door disentergrated as the breaching paste exploded, it was a small can that each of them carried that was a form of spray foam explosive, real nice stuff for taking down awkward doors with bracing bars by circumventing them completely.
As the door was caving the team were moving, and no sooner had they stepped through the gap than instantly Moodstone saw what Whisper was talking about and her own rage went up to eleven in a split second she blew out the naked woman's knee caps and elbows with four rapid and accurate shots, making her scream in agony and fall back into the chair, before her, bound in chains and leather bondage gear was a boy of about eleven, forced down on his knees, and it didn't take a genius to work out what she'd been forcing him to do, and, judging by the plethora of scars and angry red welts that criss crossed his back, he'd either tried refusing or she just enjoyed hurting him for the fun of it.
The team instantly found three more like him in a back room, "No time, we gotta move!" Moodstone yelled, and they spun after shooting the angry black woman in the head, so close that her eye was staring right down the barrel of her gun, they protected the boys and moved them to a safe spot near the elevators, "Shey, guard em, the rest of you on me, these fuckers are gonna burn for what they've done," Moodstone snarled, just as the bullets began to fly like angry wasps looking for targets.
"Left side!" Xia yelled as guards began spilling around the corner and opening up with what appeared to be real old AK47's, suddenly something snapped over her head and two of them utterly folded in half like they'd suddenly just imploded, and glass exploded all over her, "Whisper," she said to herself in a hiss.
"Push forward, don't give these fuckers an inch!' Moodstone yelled and actually stepped into the hail of fire, bullets pinged and thudded off her armor as she fired on them and scared the living shit out of them by walking towards them, it worked, the gang bangers panicked, they were not used to people actually walking to their gun fire like they were using water pistols, it took all of five minutes, but under the weight of the sniper fire from Whisper and the teams unending barrage, even T'Sall's plasma casters put in an appearance, hovering outside the windows and ripping shots into the backs of the gang bangers, leaving huge smoking holes through them, the team cleared the floor and found a total of sixteen sex slaves of a variety of ages and races, as well as genders.
"Last one!" Whisper yelled as she raced out of the door holding a nine year old human girl in her arms who was clinging to her for dear life, heading for her beloved Tank, who was now firing on the building as the explosions had really pissed off the hornets nest.
"Roger, Tank to Queen bee, Tank to Queen Bee, requesting fire mission at my location, target building is clear of friendlies, bring these fuckers down!" he yelled into the comms as his beloved one raced past him and into safety.
"Oh, Tank, you say the sweetest things, no wonder Moodstone loves you, you always know the way to a girls heart," Queen Bee said, and even before she'd finished speaking, blue trails were streaking down from the sky.
"Catch this, motherfuckers!" Tank roared, giving the whole building the finger before diving into the cover of the building just as the first plasma shot hit dead centre at the middle of the tower top, blowing the penthouse to atoms, hopefully taking the gang leadership with it.
From inside the building as they heard and saw what was happening to their prison the hostages whooped and cheered loud enough to be heard over the massive blue explosions, Queen Bee's fire turned the whole building into rubble and molten slag, "Ladies and gentlemen, my name is Corpral Moodstone, I'm with Spirit Team Six, we're here to rescue you, if that isn't obvious by now, we have a safe place set up not far from here and we're going to take you there right now, so please pair up and walk with us, we're getting you the fuck out of this nightmare," Moodstone yelled, and the cheering hit a fever pitch that melted her heart.
"You did good, sugar tail, you did good," Tank said, embracing her from behind and just holding her smiled and nodded.
"Come on, you handsome hunk of human, we ain't done yet, let's get these people home," she said, and he nodded, and, with that, the team spread out in a defensive formation around the happy but still scared civilians and they began the long walk home.