Prologue
The full fury of winter blasted across the surface of the old ruins within the base of a mountain side, the howling of the wind and the heavy snowfall giving it a feeling of desolation and abandon. The ruins laid dormant with its doors slightly ajar and crumbling from the constant snow and lack of care for hundreds of years. Surrounding its location was a large forest, further secluding it from any sort of society with only a small dirt path to guide anyone brave enough to enter, a path now buried beneath the snow and eroded away by time. One might question what the purpose of the ruins serve or what secrets does it hold. Secrets perhaps to remain undiscovered. Until now that is.
The sounds of engines grew in the distance, lights shining in the forest in the direction of the ruins. The noise and lights grew closer and closer as something unnatural approached the location. Any wildlife was startled away by the somewhat alien invaders to the region. The machinery was close as it emerged into the opening of the treeline where the ruins entrance was located. The vehicles in question were bobcats and a few snowmobiles with winter clothed people riding them. The riders would disembark with submachine guns and assault rifles in hand while the bobcats would pull up to a halt once they were in the clearing, headlights shining upon the old ruined doors. There were about five snowcats in total, three carried equipment and personnel in the back while the other two carried armed men who would disembark and spread out rapidly to secure the area. From two of the snowcats, two men emerged to meet each other. The first man was a tall individual wearing a dark grey set of fatigues underneath a large black overcoat with a heavy scarf around his neck and mouth, a grey officers cap on his head and goggles over his eyes. On his torso was a grey plated vest, serving as makeshift body armor for the man. He would lift away his goggles as the winds were starting to die down and removed his scarf to speak with the approaching individual.
"Well this is definitely not on any maps from the pre-war era like you said, Doctor Pineda. Then again, might be an old mine shaft for all we know." The man responded with a hint of unamusement in his tone. This man was in charge of the higher up sections of a division called the Department of Science and Technology, or DST for short. More or less, he was the overall Director of the DST in the region and held quite power for his role, commanding a unit of specialized elite troops called Rangers to do whatever he ordered them to without hesitation. A man who often handled anomalies himself and preferred to have no one else in DST or the military DST worked in the know about. Doctor Pineda was the current exception only because he was considered more valuable alive than executed out back like a dog.
"Director. With all due respect, I did my research about rumors on this place and confirmed with some old reports of patrols of the past. This is the place we need to check out and research." Doctor Joaquin Pineda replied as he removed his scarf and goggles to speak. Pineda was a Hispanic man, about late-20s or early-30s, clad in grey DST fatigues, a white winter coat with a hood and a grey fatigue cap with a basic olive drab web gear over his torso. He would reach into his pocket to pull out a set of tinted glasses. He flicked them open and placed them over his eyes to see clearly. As he examined the entrance, a smile would form on his face. "Oh my. This is the place indeed. Perhaps we should set up and start exploring inside."
"Eager aren't we? Then again, probably the only excitement you'll have in a long time...or your last if I decide you have wasted our time over trivial things. Especially when you pissed off that cult back in Prøven over that floating cube a few years back." The director replied as he looked at the entrance of the table. He would glance around to see several other DST personnel with the tools and equipment needed along with his Rangers at the door. He would turn back to see a few regular soldiers from the main army assisting with unloading equipment. These were the unlucky ones as after they were done here, they were gonna lined up and executed to keep all anomalies that were found a secret to only the DST and the Rangers. They were expendable after all by his beliefs. "You soldiers. I want you to start moving that gear inside once the Rangers go in. If you damage anything when you move it, you will be shot on the spot."
He would turn to one young looking soldier disembarking from the snowcat. He held the rank of E-4 which was Corporal. Corporal was a Non-Commissioned Officer rank so seeing someone this young with an NCO rank was a bit odd. Nonetheless the Director cared not about his rank or potential but his usefulness. "You. Corporal. Stay in one of the snowcats and man the radio to listen for traffic. If you pick up any chatter about any movements by the Outpost or hostile activity, radio us or start honking that horn. I don't want us getting cut off or ambushed by some mutants or fucking Europeans who think they are militarized police officers."
The said Corporal would nod his head without saying a word, moving over to the said snowcat to climb inside. The Corporal was a young Hispanic, either seventeen or eighteen judging by his youthful appearance. He wore a white winter jacket with a hood and Alice Rig over it like the Doctor but wore olive drab fatigues of the army along with olive drab fatigue cap that had the logo of the military on the front of it. He had a classic M4 Rifle on his back as he climbed into the snowcat, slipping his rifle off its sling and placing it into the seat next to him. Once he was in and comfortable, he gave the director a thumbs up. Seeing this, the director turned to his ranger unit. "Alright! Rangers and soldiers! Move in! DST behind me!"
The Rangers in question moved up swiftly with their weapons ready and hot. They would move towards the door and stack up for breaching. One of the Rangers held a sledgehammer in his hands as he moved towards the door. He would use the sledgehammer to bust the handle off and force the doors open, allowing the Rangers to storm inside. "Go! Go! Go!"
The regular soldiers followed next with weapons ready but nothing impressive like the Rangers with their training and skills. These soldiers were basic infantry units after all so they knew their basics and that was it. Some did have experience over others but nothing on par with the Rangers themselves. Plus clothing wise, it was easy to tell the Rangers apart from the regular soldiers of the Provisional American Army after all. The Rangers wore winter or woodland camouflage uniforms depending on the location with the best equipment, armor and weaponry to use. Optics, suppressors and other toys were the gifts they can use. Meanwhile, regular infantry units used olive drab or white winter fatigues with regular helmets, old vests, Alice gear, or fatigue caps with the basic M16 or M4 platforms in contrast to the Rangers.
DST would follow after when the Director began to move forward, holding a large machete or sword of his own and a pistol in the other. The Director of the DST held a reputation of being a fighter and badass on his own which is why most of the DST personnel followed behind him. Not Doctor Pineda though. Pineda, despite appearing like a nerd with his round glasses, held himself in high regard and was no slouch to combat either, something that made most of the DST hierarchy concerned about him due to how he often took risks or stepped out of line. The Cube incident was the first of many clashes between the Doctor and the Director with his Rangers that followed after. As a result, some of the DST was divided between those who supported the ideas of Doctor Pineda that all of DST should be involved with anomalies while the old hardliners sided with the Director and planned to find a way to get rid of the loose cannon that was Pineda.
While the group walked inside, watching as the Rangers and soldiers secured their way deeper into the ruins, the Doctor was smiling at how things were going. The DST personnel were setting up tents, cots and research equipment near the entrance but not too close where it could be damaged by the weather or an attack by hostile forces or creatures. The Rangers and Infantry were making decent progress, clearing out the ruins without any encounters with hostile forces or mutants. It was perfect and going well to his plans. After all, he dedicated a lot of his time into researching this location after a chance encounter with a special individual he had the chance to meet with. An individual who believed in his ideas and wanted to help him get what he needed. The thoughts of it made him continue to smile as he walked alongside the Director who noted Pineda's expression.
"You seem rather happy with yourself, Doctor Pineda. I think you might be celebrating too early now." The Director responded while they moved deeper into the ruins, noting the architecture to be interesting and unusual for a location deep within former Greenland. It looked like it was a combination of Celtic and Roman styles within the ruins, raising the question of how old was this location and how long it had been abandoned. As far as records and whatever historical textbooks showed, the Romans nor the Greeks made it to Greenland. The Vikings could have Celtic origins but this wasn't from them. This was something entirely new and perhaps the Doctor was onto something that the Director had no idea of. He had to give Pineda credit, he knew how to make himself worth being kept alive rather than killed by the DST hierarchy and Rangers. Not that he would openly say that statement to his face for the Doctor to rub it in. "What is it you believe these ruins house anyway?"
This made Doctor Pineda smile wider to the point it was a bit on the edge of creepy with how his glasses seem to hide his eyes behind the frames. "Why, Director. Call me crazy but I believe these ruins contain a powerful artifact that could change the world or power within a region. An anomaly no one has ever seen before. A chance to be a god if in the hands of the wrong person."
"A god?" The Director snorted at this in disbelief, rolling his eyes at the statement. It seemed like the stress might be causing Pineda to either lie or embellish the truth a bit to entice his attention. "Please, Doctor Pineda. While I believe whatever you found might be potentially worth the Departments' time and resources, I highly doubt it could make someone a God. That's just preposterous. Absurdity or even borderline insane. Perhaps you are just stressing yourself in hopes that this will keep you alive longer."
"Oh, Director. Ye of little faith. I am a dedicated scientist. Not some crazed cultist who worships a cube or some satanic-following cannibal. When I make a bold statement, I mean it." He replied back calmly with his ever-slightly creepy smile. Just then a Ranger would jog over from around the corner, his face concealed by his goggles, face-wrap and helmet.
"Director. Doctor. We found something big in the next room." He informed the two DST members to which Joaquin seemed to smile at. The Director ignored this smile as he turned to the Ranger who informed them of this development.
"What did you find, Ranger?" He inquired with his authoritative tone in his voice to which the Ranger had to respond. He would turn towards him while standing at attention without hesitation.
"Sir. I cannot describe it accurately but it looks like a massive glowing red door with white symbols all over it in light. All of it. It's something we have never seen before." He responded to his commander, describing the discovery to the best of his ability. Doctor Pineda beamed at this with a smile as he chuckled at this, earning a look from the Director.
"It would seem my research is about to pay off massively, Director." He replied as he moved forward with the Ranger leading the group over. The Director was taken off guard at this reaction, never expecting such a reaction from the doctor at all. Perhaps he should prepare to eliminate the doctor once work here was done, discovery or not. After all, the doctor was the loose end here. He recomposed himself before following the Ranger soon after, secretly making sure his pistol was still loaded. He turned the corner and what he saw down the end of the hall into a new room made him freeze up. In the end of the room along the wall was the largest door he had ever seen, glowing bright red with strange white lit markings all over it. The Director had never seen anything like this before in his entire career or life. It screamed anomaly alright and much to his discomfort, he never would have found it in his life if it wasn't for Doctor Pineda. With caution, he continued to walk down the hallway, listening to what Doctor Pineda was saying to himself as he seemed excited by it.
"...more magnificent than I could ever imagine! This is a doorway to a new realm! One that no one could ever imagine! The gateway to new worlds and unimaginable powers within them! Anyone could become God or Death itself with this!" He exclaimed as he was observing the anomalous gateway with a creepy grin on his face. Some Rangers seemed unphased by the gateway and doctor's ramblings. Others were glancing around in search of other objects of interest as per standard procedures. A few were in awe and worried about both the doctor and this anomaly. The same was true with some of the soldiers though others remained quiet and somewhat calm despite being regular infantry. Too quiet and calm to the Director's taste. Having heard enough from Pineda, the Director decided it was time to use his authority and get rid of the thorn in his side. He would draw his sidearm and approach.
"Well as much as I love to hear you talk and speak, Doctor Pineda, I believe I will be handling MY expedition now and make sure your body is recovered for proper burial. Whenever we decide to go back for it that is." He replied as he aimed towards Doctor Pineda's head. The doctor turned around and faced him with the same creepy grin on his face as he laughed at this. The Director, unsure about this, assumed that he was mad or something. "Hell. Might have to move my men back since it seems like you have gone mad."
"Oh Director. Quite the opposite in fact. I believe that some of your men no longer listen to you. Rangers and soldiers! Aim at anyone who isn't with me and make sure they don't try anything or are able to harm me!" Joaquin ordered loudly much to the Director's confusion. Did he really try to order HIS Rangers to obey him? He would aim the pistol at the doctor and pull the trigger. A loud shotgun blast rang out as the Director's hand and part of his arm was blown off by a pump action shotgun held by one of his most loyal Rangers. He looked in shock before loudly screaming in pain, falling to his knees while holding his mangled remains of his arm.
"Sergeant Atkins! What the hell are you doing, you traitor!?" He shouted in a mix of rage and pain from his position on the ground. The named Ranger's shotgun seemed to shake slightly as he pumped out the spent shell to have a new one chambered.
"I'm sorry, Director, but I have to obey him. I just...have to." He got out with his eyes a bit off underneath his goggles. A few Rangers in the room along with some of the soldiers found themselves being aimed at by their comrades who seemed to be siding with the Doctor now. The said doctor was grinning as he approached the fallen director, kicking away the machete and sidearm out of reach of the wounded man.
"Don't worry, Sergeant Atkins. You are just an obedient soldier after all...to me." Joaquin replied as he crouched down in front of the Director with an evil looking smile. "My my, Director. It seems like you are in need of a hand now after that shotgun blast and new change in command. I will be taking over for you now. But I just need something from you first."
With a grin, he would take off his glasses and reveal his eyes to the Director. His eye or eyes seemed to change from their blue color into a tinted blue with a weird emblem on it, like the one on the door. "Obey all of my commands to you! I think it's time for you to announce my position as Director via radio to our fellow Department heads back in Upernavik. Give them a call and tell them that you have selected Doctor Joaquin Pineda as your replacement after you have sustained life threatening wounds and will no longer be able to return alive due to the entire expedition going mad and turning on each other."
The Director wanted to resist but however, he seemed to slowly nodded his head as his own eyes had a red outline to them, signifying that he was now under Joaquin's control. The doctor smirked at this, seeing his plan coming together so far. He got back to his feet and turned to the men under his command. "Start attacking everyone not aligned with me and let the director get outside and try to flee. He's gonna bleed out soon but I need that call placed by him. Once most of the hostiles are dead or wounded, round up any survivors and bring them here. Have fun, everyone."
He smiled as the chaos ensued. The director began to run down the hall as those underneath the doctor's control began to fire upon the other Rangers and soldiers within the room. Gunfire echoed loudly down the hallway for the DST and some of the other soldiers to hear. Grabbing their guns, the soldiers moved before the Director rushed past them, keeping his shot up arm close to him as he stumbled towards the radio telephone set up at the main doorway. During this, Joaquin would start laughing loudly as he watched the soldiers, Rangers and soon DST scientists start to kill each other in an all out free for all.
Outside in the snowcat, the lonely Corporal was currently unaware of what sort of chaos was going on inside the ruins. The snow storm had kicked up again and he was currently tuned into several different channels on a few radios set up inside the cat. One radio was listening in on 22 Outpost group which so far seemed very dull as there was not much reports going on aside from basic hunting trips and scavenging runs. Nothing that screamed danger inbound towards the current position of this expedition. The second radio was listening in on various PAA activities and radio chatter. Again, nothing interesting or any intel updates so far. The third and final radio was tuned into one of Greenland's rare working civilian radio stations which was currently playing some nice country music with a guitar and all the works. He would have his feet up on the dashboard as he looked at the entrance barely visible due to the storm. So far, it had been at least twenty or so minutes since they had gone inside and considering how long it takes for shift rotations to be enacted on the first hours of an expedition or new post assignments, he was probably going to be here for some time inside the snowcat.
"I wish I was back in Upernavik." Corporal Juan Rico finally spoke out loud in the bobcat, moving his feet off the dashboard and onto the floor. He glanced over at the passenger seat next to him where his M4 rifle was currently resting with the barrel pointed towards the side window and away from him. "Yeah. You and me both huh? This expedition is probably gonna be either a waste of time or requires a possible no witnesses deal so I'm hoping for the first. Otherwise if it's the second, I'm dead and either you are left behind or get a new owner."
He got quiet again as he pretended to hear the gun speaking to him due to how boring it was to be alone in the bobcat. "Well of course you'd miss me but depending on how many people you have been with, you are already used to it...No! No! I'm not saying you're loose! I'm just saying you have been issued to multiple people before in the past probably. And you are still looking good for a weapon that's been around for two hundred or more years. So no worries."
He remained silent for a moment, looking at his M4 and nodding his head for a few moments as if he was listening to it speak again. He finally would stop and sigh, resting his head back against the seat. "Yep. I'm definitely too damn bored now. It's been only a half hour and I'm already holding conversations with my own rifle."
Just then, the PAA radio buzzed to life as an emergency call was coming in. In the background, Juan could make out gunfire and screams of something as the voice spoke. "This is a message to all...DST personnel located in Upernavik...I'm hit bad...Something went wrong on the expedition...Most personnel went mad or something...As current director of the Department...I offer my replacement to be Doctor Joaquin Pineda...should he survive this madhouse...God help us a-"
A loud shotgun blast echoed before the radio was cut off. The Corporal paled as he realized shit was going on inside the ruins without him realizing it. He would glance up and shine the snowcat's high beams at the entrance to see if anything was happening. Radio chatter was starting to get busy as there were requests from the PAA higher ups for the director to respond along with demands of coordinates and locations to send aid. Juan was able to reach for the radio when he noticed a Ranger of all things start to rush out of the entrance, holding his arm and limping towards the snowcat. Seeing this and recalling the report of people going bad, the Corporal grabbed his M4 and made sure the safety was off and the weapon was hot and ready to use. He would open the door and climb out of the vehicle, his face instantly taking the full force of the snow storm. He would pull up his hood over his head and cap while having his M4 ready in case of trouble. The Ranger would approach as best as he could before falling to the ground in pain. The Corporal rushed over to examine the Ranger in question. The Ranger used his free hand to grab the young soldier's jacket collar and yanked him down to his face level.
"Corporal...You have to get help now...Doctor Pineda...he killed us all..." He moaned before fading away and letting go. Juan crawled back from the body, a bit startled by how the Ranger died right then and there. He grabbed his M4 and rushed back to the bobcat. He got in and started to pick up the PAA radio, making a call towards Upernavik.
"Mayday! Mayday! This is Corporal Rico of the expedition force under Director Anderson and Doctor Pineda! I'm calling for immediate supp-" He would look up to see a Ranger aiming an assault rifle from the entrance towards the snowcat he was in. He dropped the radio piece and ducked as the Ranger blasted away at the front of the snowcat, destroying the engine. Rounds would be fired into the dashboard and above, destroying the windows and radio equipment, effectively cutting the unit off from support or aid. Juan cursed to himself as he grabbed his rifle from the seat and readied himself for a possible attack. The rifle fire stopped as the howling of the wind could be heard.
"You! In the snowcat! Come out with your hands up! I'm only saying this once!" The Ranger shouted while slowly approaching the vehicle. He took a moment to reload his rifle, ready to kill the soldier in the vehicle if needed. He would keep aim at the said vehicle, remaining alert despite the fact that his eyes had the same effect as those underneath Doctor Pineda's control. He moved up towards the driver's side door and prepared to fire into it as he aimed at it."Time's up."
Bullets ripped through the door of the driver's side and right directly into the upper torso of the Ranger. The man looked a bit surprised before he dropped to the snow covered ground like a sack of potatoes. The door of the snowcat fell off its hinges to reveal a panicked looking Corporal holding his rifle in the direction of the range, barrel smoking from his recent shooting. He could only stare at the body of the Ranger as blood began to pool in the snow around it. He had to shake his head for a moment as he quickly looked around for any other possible hostile soldiers or Rangers trying to kill him. Seeing none, he slowly crawled out of the ruined snowcat with his rifle in hand. He kneeled down and glanced around, unsure of what he should do now. The radio was shot to hell and the only other long range radio was inside the ruins with whatever the hell was happening inside. And even then, there was a chance that that was also destroyed by whatever fighting is still ongoing judging by the faint sounds of weapons fire within the ruins. The idea of taking another snowcat to leave and get help crossed his mind but only the Director, Doctor Pineda, and the drivers knew the route back and had maps for it. Thus his only choice now was pray and move inside to find a map or working radio.
He took a few deep breaths, his breathing visible with every exhale he took in the cold weather. Gripping his M4, he started making his way towards the door of the ruins. The closer he got to the entrance, the louder the gunfire and screams grew. It sounded like a full on firefight within the ruins, one in which he had to enter himself. He reached the doorway and used the frame for cover, not wanting to be exposed to a line of fire in case someone fired upon the door. Using his foot, he pushed the door open and pulled back his leg as gunfire riddled the said door apart. "More hostiles inbound! Protect the Doctor from them!"
He cursed to himself, reaching for a pouch on his gear. He got it opened and withdrew an American made frag grenade from the pouch. He would use his thumb to hook on the pin once he pulled the tape off and ripped the pin out. He used his right hand to lob the grenade around the door into the main entryway of the ruins. He barely made out a few curses and a shout of grenade before it detonated loudly. He used this chance to peek out with his rifle raised, seeing several Rangers and soldiers still moving around behind some cover. He quickly removed a second grenade from his pouch and, with the pin removed, tossed it over the makeshift barrier the turned PAA personnel used. Several curses and shouts of panic were heard before the grenade exploded, taking out about five of them. From what Juan could see, only two were alive now and both were wounded to his advantage. With a few bursts from his rifle, the remaining two hostiles in the room dropped to the floor like sacks of potatoes.
With the room cleared, the Corporal moved inside to look around for a radio or possibly the Director to recover a map if needed. So far, the place was ruined with tables and equipment tipped over and bodies all over the place. It looked like a slaughter house with blood everywhere. Juan glanced over and his heart sank at the sight of a shot up radio with a trail of blood leading from it into the next room. It seemed that someone dragged the director's body away into the next room. That meant the Corporal would have to move deeper into the ruins to find the map. He gripped his rifle tightly in his hands as he slowly approached the hallway the drag marks led into.
In the middle of the hallway was the Director's body, mangled and shot up. Part of his right arm was blown off and judging by some of the blood flow, it could have been bleeding out that got to him. However the sheer fact that his head was utterly smashed open could be another cause of death. He silently cursed as he glanced around the hallway, tightly gripping his rifle. He approached the body and crouched down, taking a moment to glance around the room to see if he was in the clear. Seeing no movement or hostile activity in sight, he reached in the Director's coat pockets with his left hand in search of the map. He managed to find what was left of the map in his coat pocket. The map was ruined by the blood as it had been placed on paper rather than something more durable. With a sigh, Juan tossed the map aside as he started to move to his feet. This meant he had only one choice now, locating Doctor Pineda and recovering his map or the doctor in question. Of course, given the Ranger's dying words, chances are that he might have to fight or kill the doctor to get the map.
He started to move down the hallway once more, bracing himself for whatever might be thrown at him. The hope for him was that he could survive long enough to get the map and get the hell out of dodge to report what actually happened to his superiors back at the nearest PAA outpost or base. Of course, there was the question of whether or not the DST members will just kill him for being a witness, but he could worry about that later. He had his current priorities to focus on now such as survival. Unfortunately the corporal made a mistake when he stepped into the next hallway and soon found himself with two rifle barrels against his back. In his haste and focus, he had forgotten to check his corners when he entered, thus missing two soldiers who were waiting for him to round the corner. Unlike the other rangers and soldiers, these were considered the more loyal to Doctor Pineda that they had their own orders. With a groan of frustration, he held his rifle out to the side to which one of the soldiers took it from him. He then moved his hands above his head to make it clear he was unarmed.
"Start walking." One of them ordered, jabbing his rifle barrel into Rico's back. He started to move forward for now, not wanting to be killed at this point by the traitors. They escorted him down the hallway and into the room with the strange glowing red door. Juan was taken a bit by surprise at the doorway for a few moments before the two shoved him over towards it. Around the room, several Rangers were dragging bodies aside as several DSTs were examining the doorway with Doctor Pineda at the center with a grin on his face. He stood by the strange door, holding a journal in his hand and a pen in the other. Upon hearing the movement behind him, the doctor turned and seemed to have an even larger grin on his face once he saw the Corporal.
"Ah. The Boy Corporal survived the ordeal after all." The doctor replied in a mocking tone as he examined the young corporal in front of him. The Corporal, despite being officially listed as at least 19 or 20, was almost seventeen or eighteen judging by his actual appearance up close. Perhaps when he was about thirteen or fourteen, he lied about being fifteen in order to get recruited into the PAA as a non combatant role until he reached 'seventeen'. Not that it mattered considering what the doctor had in store. "And a good thing too. You see. I'm in need of a test subject and I think, with some of your 'luck', you will be able to make it into that doorway and emerge unscathed."
Juan glanced over at the menacing looking doorway before facing the doctor back. He had a look of defiance in his face as he decided to simply spit right at Doctor Pineda's face. The doctor moved his hand to wipe the spit away and grinned. He didn't strike back at all, a bit impressed by the defiance of the Corporal. However, all resistance in the end would crumble underneath his glare. With a grin, the doctor removed his tinted glasses and looked into the eyes of the Corporal. Once Juan looked into the Doctor's eyes and saw the strange symbol appear on it, it was too late. With a grin, the doctor gave his order.
"You will go and enter through that doorway." He ordered, pointing over at the strange doorway. Juan was planning to tell the doctor to stick it where the sun doesn't shine but started to struggle a bit. For some reason, he couldn't help but start to actually listen despite the logical part of his mind screaming at him to not move forward. As a result, he was slowly beginning to stagger towards the doorway as ordered. He could have resisted all he wanted but because of whatever power the Doctor used on him, he had to obey it. Thus he was internally panicking as he staggered, a result of trying to resist.
The Doctor watched the entire ordeal with a grin, failing to realize that one of the Rangers wounded from before hadn't been properly disarmed. The said Ranger pulled out a grenade from his vest and, with the pin removed, tossed it right at the doctor's feet. Seeing the action, one of the DST cursed loudly and shoved the doctor forward to take the blast of the grenade. The Doctor, taken by surprise, would stumble forward and collided with Juan, sending them both tumbling towards the doorway. The grenade went off with a loud boom, killing the DST that shoved the doctor and a few others. Fighting broke out once more as the surviving PAA members began to fight against the Doctor's subordinates and brainwashed troops. The Doctor, while somewhat alive thanks to the sacrifice of one of his followers, took some shrapnel which sent some blood splattering on Juan's jacket and parts of the door. The door glowed brightly as the two ended up tumbling against it. With a bright red light, the door seemed to open and the two fell inside, leaving behind the chaotic scene.
Given that the command given had been accomplished, the red glow in Juan's eyes vanished as the two continued their tumble down some set of stairs. The door closed with a loud boom before its glow faded away. Soon, the two PAA members reached the bottom of the stairs, a bit battered from the fall. Joaquin groaned in pain from his wounds and his tumble as he opened his eyes. The Corporal had managed to recover first, already on top of the Doctor. He grabbed the DST's collar before slugging the doctor across the face with his fist. The doctor went out like a light, his eyes shut now and a bruise forming on his face.
The Corporal got off of him and sat there, trying to catch his breath. However, he froze when he heard the sound of rifles being charged around him. He would slowly turn to see multiple laser sights on his torso along with grey armored figures aiming black rifles at him. Slowly he raised his hands above his head as they approached him and the doctor. The approaching armed men the two, keeping their weapons trained on the Corporal rather than the doctor. Once in the light, Juan instantly could tell that they were soldiers of some sort judging by the same standard grey uniform and blue colored armor. Their heads were covered by a grey or light blue helmet that almost looked like some caricature of a man with a mustache and a black visor around where their eyes should be. It was nothing like Juan had ever seen before in his life.
Moving with the soldiers was a rather large man in some sort of fancy formal uniform. The said man towered over everyone with a bald head and small sharp looking eyes with a monocle over the right one. He looked at the scene in front of him as two of the soldiers moved around to check on the doctor while the rest kept aim at Juan. The two checked the doctor before one spoke. "This one is wounded but alive. We can treat him on the transport."
"Excellent." The large man in uniform replied upon hearing this, looking over the scene. "Get the doctor there to the transport immediately and have our doctors start to treat him. As for this one...maybe Clovis's team could find some interesting research to do."
Juan glared and instantly tried to reach for the Doctor's sidearm as fast as he could. However, he took a blow from a rifle stock to his head, knocking him out cold. His cap fell off as two new soldiers walked over to pick him up. They grabbed him by his arms and prepared to drag them away. However one of them grabbed his cap and examined it as they started to drag the knocked out Corporal. On the cap was a black insignia picturing some sort of eagle with a vertical striped shield next to it surrounded by a circle of thirteen stars. He simply shrugged and placed the cap roughly onto the captive's head as they carried him away to his new fate.
Update: Had to make some edits. Really would appreciate reviews so I can make adjustments or work more on my writing style.
Update Two: Went back to do some more basic corrections. Gonna see if I can continue with the first chapter.
