Zootopia: Project Paradox

by SR2Turoka-1

In the not so distant future humanity finds itself under the tyrannical oppression of a globally reaching organization known as Vanguard. Enter one Nate Roberts a resistance fighter born in the age before Vanguard. On a mission into a research facility where things go terribly wrong Nate finds himself taken to a new world. Crossover with Warframe. Oc x Oc and wildehopps.

2. Operation Undying Oracle

Chapter 1: Operation Undying Oracle

The world that Nate was just in had faded to black and he felt his eyes shoot open, slightly blinded by the uncomfortably bright lights around him on part to the fact that he had been sleeping. Nates vision was a bit blurry for a few seconds as he sat up from his slouched position in his seat with a small groan as he had a neck cramp due to the position his head was in.

"Ugh, come on Barry. Why'd you have to wake me up now? I just fell asleep" I complained to the soldier on my right clad in a sneaking suit of black material. The soldier to my right held the barrel of his ARX-160 in his right hand, the barrel pointing up to the roof of the C-130 we were in as the stock rested on the floor. In response, his left hand found its way to his cheek.

He made a mocking gesture with it and said teasingly, "Aww, did I wake sleeping beauty from his nap?"

I rolled my eyes and then mockingly laughed, "Ha Ha. Fuck you too."

Barry laughed at my remark and said, "Well, if you want to corporal…I didn't know you rolled that way."

To this, I sat up and stretched as I popped my back and said, "I don't, not with your sorry ass anyways."

Barry and I, despite what we seem like to others, were best friends and have known each other for 5 years in the rebel group "Fires of Sovereignty." Fires of Sovereignty was the most widespread and powerful of the rebel groups in the world, an organization committed to restoring liberty, peace and free-rule to all the peoples of the world. In essence, we would carry the torch of freedom through the night of tyranny and oppression and would emerging bringing the light of the values in the old world back to this dying one. I myself have been a part of Fires of Sovereignty for the last 10 years, ever since the unfortunate disaster in my life when I was 13. I was too young for most of those years for any sort of combat, but I spent those seven years in intense training and various positions in FoS to help as best as I could, however I could. Then, as fate would have it, I put my newly acquired talents to the test for the last 5 years, my training in various firearms, hand to hand combat styles, and learning to drive most land vehicles that FoS used in operations against Vanguard, lent an even bigger aid to anti-Vanguard operations.

Barry feigned a look of hurt as he put his hand to his chest and said, "Oh, that's cold Nate. Anyways, while you were napping, the pilot announced that we're five minutes out from the drop zone."

I then grabbed my rifle that was leaning next to my seat on my left and picked it up in my hands. I was assigned the SCAR-H for this operation. I tapped the eject on the side of the gun for the magazine and slid the clip out to check if it was loaded. The sight of a couple of visible 7.62mm NATO rounds met my gaze as I confirmed what I had loaded the rifle earlier back at base. I slid the mag back in, the plastic magazine clicking into position with a solid snap.

I put the gun between my legs and kept the barrel aimed at the top of the C-130 cargo hold as I leaned back against the netting cover metal wall and looked at Barry and said, "We still going in with a HALO jump?"

Barry chuckled and said, "Hell yeah Nate, should be fun. Just make sure you don't have to pick bird out of your teeth afterwards."

Then, one of my other squad members of our 5 man fire team, Rebecca, said, "Don't forget, Barry, that we are HALO jumping into a fortified enemy research facility. This ain't going to be some fun and games shit."

Barry rolled his eyes at her and said, "Yes, mom. Seriously, liven up a bit Rebecca. Live in the moment, it gets your adrenaline pumping."

Rebecca's eyes narrowed as she then pointed at Barry and said, "Watch who your addressing Lance Corporal. It's Sargent Campbell to you."

I was inwardly laughing at Barry's behavior. If there was one thing I knew Barry was it was a smartass, a caring smartass, bust still a smartass.

Soon, another voice came on over the loud speakers of the cargo hold. The speakers emitted feedback for a second or two before the voice coming in clearly. I winced at the high pitched noise the speakers emitted.

"Zulu infli. team, we are now approaching the drop coordinates. Stand by for jump in T minus 15 seconds" stated the pilot with a slight distortion over the aging loud speaker system.

I stood up from my seat and grabbed my rifle in my right hand and reached into a pocket on my vest and pulled out a suppressor for my SCAR-H. I put the suppressor on the end of the barrel and screwed it onto the barrel. My squad was doing the same thing right now as well.

The pilot then spoke again over the loud speakers and said, "Current wind speed and velocity will have your team land one mile out from the research facility."

Suddenly, we heard the whirring of hydraulics as the cargo door for the C-130 opened up as air rushed out from the plane due to a pressure drop. I felt myself almost be pulled off my feet from the action.

The darkness of night and the twinkling of stars greeted us as the inside of the plane was now bathed in eerie red light from the warning lights that signaled the plane's door was open.

The pilot started counting down, "15…14…13…12…"

Barry cracked his neck as he shouted with a whoop, "Whoo, come on. Feet first into hell guys."

One of our other squad mates, Corporal Xander said with a shout over the roaring wind, "Hey Barry, I know you're excited, but try to remember to take your safety OFF in the AO."

Barry shookmhis head and shouted, "That was one time in basic man, just let it go already."

The pilot meanwhile was still counting down, "4…3…2…1…Mark! Go! Go! Go!"

My squad ran out the open door of the plan and leapt into the high altitude air with our breathing masks already equipped and our wind blocking goggles on.

I could help myself in the rush of plummeting through the night air and let out a loud, "Whooooo!" I knew we were way too high up for any Vanguard forces to hear us. I was exceptionally grateful that FoS had a stockpile of old military equipment and weapons circulating through our organization, most of it bought from the very few black market contacts around the world that were still operating. Without our oxygen tanks and breathing masks, a jump such as this would be impossible. What we couldn't buy under the table and out of Vanguard's eye, we outright stole from Vanguard by hitting supply convoys, raiding depots, that sort of thing.

Air whipped past my body as we speed through the air. I struggled with considerable effort to move my arm past the air currents around me to reach for the side of my goggles and went to hit a small button on the side.

Suddenly, my vision changed from near pitch black to a grainy green as night vision kicked in on the goggles. I could see past various clouds speeding around us the form of a complex not too far away from where we would be landing. I could barely make out fortified walls, guard towers, lights and vehicles in the research base, on part due to the distance from it, but also due to the light from the base washing out part of my night vision.

I looked to my right and left and saw my squad still falling with me at different heights around me. I then spoke over my mic in my breathing mask, "Zulu, prepare to deploy chutes on my mark." I looked back at the ground as it was steadily approaching and started counting loudly, "3…2…1…Mark!"

I heard the zipping of fabric and the wisp of material as my squad had pulled their parachute cords and the chutes caught wind from our fall and opened up. I was the last to pull my cord as I was yanked upwards by the sudden deceleration in velocity. I grunted from the movement as each of my hands held onto a handle on the parachute so I could steer the chute for a safe landing zone in the forested area beneath us.

We scanned the area for a clearing and found a lucky break with an irregularly shaped clearing in forest where our chutes wouldn't snag on tree limbs…hopefully. We steered towards the location and touched down one by one. I hit the ground first and rolled on impact, the chute collapsing around me. I fought with the dark grey canvas material to free myself from under it and eventually succeeded, unbuckling the chute from my chest and letting it fall.

I heard thuds and fabric crinkling around me as my squad landed one by one. I kept my goggles on for the night vision, but unbuckled the breathing mask from my face and the small oxygen tank from my right hip as they handed on the ground with a thud.

My squad freed themselves from their own chutes and met up around our squad leader, Master Sargent Zhang.

We crouched down in a circle of sorts as Zhang said to us in a low enough tone to not draw attention, "Alright, all bodies are accounted for. Zulu, synchronize mission time on my mark for evac."

We all looked at our military grade watches and changed them to the timer with the time for our evac arrival already programed into them. We had only three hours to complete our operation.

Zhang then said, "3…2…1…Mark."

We hit the button that began the countdown for on our watches for our evac arrival.

Zhang then spoke, "Alright team, you know what we're here for. Our spy on the inside says that Vanguard is working on a prototype weapon system that is of substantial danger to FoS and friendly rebel operations. Our orders are to either retrieve the weapon system or destroy the weapon system before Vanguard can mass produce it. Any questions Zulu? Now's the time for it."

Zulu shook their heads no. The Master Sargent was just rehashing what command had already told us in the briefing room back at Eagle Nest.

Zhang smirked and nodded as he said, "Great Zulu. Let's get a move on, and keep your eyes open for any active patrols. This forest could be ripe with traps and ambushes."

We stood up and readied our weapons as we took the safeties off of our weapons. We took off in a slow and cautious walk towards the forest edge where the research facility would be.

I was right behind Zhang as I kept my head on a swivel for anything out of the ordinary, or rather for any form of movement. The sounds of leaves rustling in trees and insects chirping and buzzing filled our ears in almost a quiet melody, punctuated by the occasional owl hooting in the dead of night. We tried to avoid stepping on any of the more than couple handfuls of fallen twigs on the ground, afraid of noise giving our position away. I scanned the area with my night vision goggles still on, and I was grateful that I was paying attention to my surroundings.

I spoke up in a quiet tone in my throat mic and said, "Zulu, hold position. Eyes on hostile anti-personal mine ahead, 2 meters."

Zhang held up his hand in the hold signal as we crouched down.

Zhang then said to our explosives expert, Sargent Campbell, "Campbell, you're up…and be careful."

Rebecca nodded and said, "Rodger that, sir."

Rebecca treaded lightly over towards the mine dead ahead, a Mk. 4 Bouncing Betty. She stopped next to it and pulled out her bomb defusing tools she needed from a pouch on her right hip. She leaned near the bouncing betty and, with the skills of a brain surgeon and steady hands to boot, carefully pulled the detonation charge out of the top of the disc shaped explosive. We all held our breaths as she took the charge away from the mine and then took a foot of hers and stepped near the mine.

The sound of a click was heard as the disc was launched into the air. The disc flew up and then just fell back to the ground, completely inert.

Rebecca turned around and I could see in my night vision that she had a smirk of accomplishment on her face as she said, "What? Were you guys expecting the top bomb defusal expert at Eagle Nest to put her squad in actual danger doing that?"

Barry spoke up with a slight stutter, "Um…will you hate me if I say maybe?"

Rebecca shook her head and said, "Oh Barry, you need to have more faith in people." She turned back around forwards for a second before she looked behind her and said with a smirk, "Oh, and I hope you didn't piss your pants too bad."

Zhang then said with a stern and commanding voice, "Alright, cut the chatter Zulu. We got a job to do and 2 hours and 45 minutes to do it. Let's get in gear team."

We readied ourselves and continued towards the research facility, all of us now being extra cautious for any form of a trap.

Finally, after another 30 minutes, we had crept our way through the forest and made it towards the forest edge that surrounded the research facility. We ducked prone near the crest of a hill as we examined the area. Hostile Vanguard guard movement was all around the perimeter of the facility as armed soldiers and light armored vehicles both patrolled and stood guard at points along the wall. Along the wall were concrete guard towers with searchlights and machine gun nests, both scanning the surrounding fields and the forest edge. Barry looked to left and saw the light from a searchlight start sweeping towards them.

Barry then whispered loudly, "Light. Heads down."

We lowered our bodies as far into the ground as we could so as to minimize our presence. The light swept over our heads, which were the only part of us being exposed. It just continued along its search path afterwards, signaling nobody had spotted us.

We raised our heads and examined the complex from our angle. We couldn't see past the wall, but we had already been informed by command where the prototype weapon system was being held. Several multi-story buildings, some as high as 6 stories, were visible beyond the wall. A few buildings had arched roofs, while one noticeable one had a glass top to it.

That was our building…and it was near a perimeter wall. The only problem was that there was no notable weakness that we could see in the defensive wall…other than one.

On a dirt road that led up to a gate, a truck was currently stopped as it was the second of three vehicles in line waiting for entry to the base. The other two vehicles were an open top patrol vehicle similar to a jeep, while the other vehicle was an armed HUMVEE with a 50 cal. Turret.

Zhang noticed the vulnerability and immediately said, "Zulu, we're going to sneak into the base on that truck. Xander and Lopez, I want you two to find an elevated position out here where you can provide eyes on the inside of the base. The rest of you, follow my lead and be prepared to run when I say go."

Xander and Staff Sargent Lopez crawled down the hill as I heard Lopez say, "Hey, I saw an old forest lookout station on our HALO jump down, Xander. Its west of the base, follow my lead."

Xander acknowledged his statement with a, "On your six, Staff Sargent."

The rest of us slid down the other side of the hill, which was made of loose dirt and scattered rocks with short and controlled movements. We reached the bottom of the hill and crouch walked over towards the idling black truck with a canvas covering over its bed.

Zhang looked to his right and said quietly, "Spotlight! Hit the dirt Zulu."

We slowly dropped to a prone position and laid as still as possible, our bodies completely exposed now in an open area. I held my breath as I didn't even dare to give into the urge to breathe, afraid even the smallest movement would give away our position. I could only hope that our black and dark green camo sneak suits would allow us to blend in enough to the surrounding environment.

The light moved over us with a slow and careful motion. It passed over us, not stopping to double check anything suspicious.

We gave it a few seconds before we got up to a crouched positon once again and made our way towards the vehicles. We arrived at the HUMVEE first and we took cover behind the vehicle. Rebecca had her MP7 aimed out on the right side of the vehicle as she was crouched in cover, waiting preemptively if anyone were to go to walk back behind the HUMVEE on that side. Zhang looked around his side on the left and made an owl call twice into the mic. This was our Zulu's covert signal to "follow lead."

We crept along the back of the HUMVEE, turning ourselves to start walking along the left side, walking low and slowly. Zhang peered into the window of the HUMVEE cautiously to see that nobody was currently at the wheel, or in the passenger's seat. He motioned us forwards again until we were at the back of the truck. We climbed into the bed one by one and lied down on the floor, thankfully just in time as a few Vanguard soldiers came walking past the Truck, talking to each other. I saw through a gap in the canvas fabric two of them go to the back of the HUMVEE to do something, while one of them threw an ammo box into the back of the truck, hitting Barry in the shoulder with it. Barry looked like he was going to scream from the pain it inflicted on him. Thankfully, Rebecca covered his mouth with her hand as he let out a quiet, muffled scream of pain. I heard the solider that had thrown the ammo box in the truck stop in his tracks as he was walking away from the truck. I felt sweat running down my forehead, panicking that our cover had been blown.

I heard steps approaching the truck as footsteps sounded on dirt. I whispered to Barry, who I was right next to, and told him to put his gun in semi-auto. I made hand motions at Zhang to tell him what my plan was to handle the guard, quickly walking him through my plan with a sort of brief show of charades. The flaps of canvas opened up as the guard stuck his head in.

The world seemed to move miles in seconds as Barry fired a bullet into the guards head. The bullet entered his skull with a dull thwack and thankfully didn't over penetrate his brain. The guard almost fell limp to the ground, if not for me and Zhang grabbing his arms and pulling him into the back of the truck with great difficulty and speed so as to not draw any suspicion. Just as he landed in with a dull thud next to us, the two soldiers behind the HUMVEE came back around front to the cabin of the HUMVEE, one of them carrying a flashlight as he said, "Damn Central not putting spare tires in our HUMVEEs anymore. We're lucky we made it here before our tire gave out completely."

The other solider said as the two of them climbed into the cabin of the HUMVEE, "Do they expect us to push…" his voice was cut off by the doors for the HUMVEE shutting closed.

I found out that I had been holding my breath and let it out with an unsteady quivering breath as I whisper, "Oh god…oh god..."

The Truck we were in soon started up as it soon began to drive forwards through a now presumably open gate to the facility. Rebecca took advantage of the noise of the engine to grab a tarp in the back of the bed and to try to hide the dead Vanguard soldier with it. After successfully doing so, she shicpered to us with gritted teeth, "I damn near shit my pants when you three did what you did."

I responded with a sharp whisper, "As opposed to what? Letting him see us and all of us getting killed or captured, Campbell?"

She slunk her shoulders in realization that she knew I was right. It was reckless, but it had paid off greatly in the long run…we were in.

The truck made a few turns as it kept on driving along, engine droning as the back flaps of the canvas top fluttered in the air current, allowing light to shine in periodically from the inside of the well-lit base.

Finally the truck stopped and the engine shut off. We remained motionless in the bed as we waited for the driver to get out of the truck. I could only pray that the guy we killed was not part of this convoy, or our success may be quite short lived.

Eventually, we heard the sounds of the truck doors open and two people step out. The doors then shut as the guards sounded like they were walking away, talking with each other as they went.

Zhang then spoke into his throat mic quietly, "Xander, Lopez. You two in overwatch yet? We need eyes on enemy movement around us. We are in the back o…"

A voice then came in over our throat mics responding, "No need Master Sargent, we found an abandoned forest lookout and saw what you were doing. I'm not seeing any movement through the my sniper scope around you. Standby for confirmation. Over."

We waited for a few seconds for the clear, before Lopez's voice then came back and said, "No tango movement around you. If you want to get out of there, I suggest you go now. Over."

Zhang then said, "Zulu-6, where is the target bearing from us? Over."

Lopez then responded with a small hesitation as he said, "Uh, bearing from your position is Southeast of your current location. Rangefinder shows it's an estimated 13 meters from you. How copy, over?"

Zhang then said, "That's a solid copy Zulu-6. We're moving. Be ready to provide overwatch and sniper fire if compromised. Over and out."

Lopez then said, "Copy that Zulu lead. Over and out."

Zhang then whispered to us, "Alright, let's get ready to move." Zhang then pulled out a pocket compass and looked at it briefly to know the bearing ahead of time for the building.

He put the compass away and motioned us to move. We started climbing out one by one from the truck. My heart sunk when I realized where we were.

We were in a well-lit paved area next to the target building wearing black and dark green sneak suits. We were highly exposed.

Zhang looked around quickly after he noticed our situation too and finally pointed to an electronically locked door that led into the target building as he said, "Team, double time to the door at 12 o' clock."

We started a mad sprint for the door, when we heard a voice shout, "Hey, we have intruders!"

I spun around and saw a soldier that was standing by the HUMVEE from earlier, off way away from our current location. If we could hear him shouting from here, then I could only imagine how many other soldiers heard him.

I aimed my SCAR-H at the soldier and fired the weapon twice, aiming for his head. My bullets drilled into his skull, blowing his brains out and causing him to fall the ground with a surge of short convulsions for a few seconds. This caused him to fire his AN-94 into the air, causing gunshots to ring out in the base.

I heard voices then shouting all around as some soldiers started to pour out of various buildings around the facility.

My heart then sunk as I heard a loud blaring alarm sound, piercing the night air with a blaring warning.

Zhang then shouted, "Fucking hell, we're compromised. Zulu, door. NOW!"

We sprinted to the door that led into the target building. We took cover behind whatever was available, which to say wasn't much. I dropped behind a concrete road barrier as I heard shouting barely able to match the volume of the alarm in the base.

Zhang yelled to Zulu-4, our technician Corporal Vastov, "Zulu-4, get this door open on the double."

"Yes, sir" responded Vastov with a yell of his own.

He ran to the door for the building and started pulling the cover off of the electronic lock for the door as soldiers started running to our location.

Zhang then shouted through the throat mic, "Zulu-6, Zulu-3, we have been compromised. I say again we have been compromised. I need sniper fire on my location now. All Zulu callsigns, you are weapons free. Light them up."

Our squad peeked out of cover and opened fire on the approaching soldiers. We didn't even have time to take our suppressors off to conserve them. Several of the enemy soldiers fell dead to our outgoing firepower. Meanwhile, their fellow living companions returned fire towards us as they kept running in our general direction, attempting to find cover to fight us.

I ejected an empty mag in cover and pulled one out from my sneak suit vest and slapped it into place. I then heard a sickening crack as I looked to my left and saw Rebecca fall to the ground, a bullet hole in her head.

I screamed, "Fuck. Zulu-2 is down. I repeat, Zulu-2 is KIAed."

Zhang then shouted, "Zulu-4, how's the door coming!"

Zulu-4 replied over the mic, "Fucking Vanguard encryption is top notch here. Every bypass is pushing me out of the system."

Zhang then shouted, "Alright, all Zulu callsigns, give them everything you got."

Zhang stood up out of cover and aimed his M468 at a few soldiers and sprayed them down with a full clip from the assault rifle. The soldiers grunted and dropped down from their bullet wounds.

Zhang then took a bullet right into his shoulder. I heard him scream as he dropped back into cover, blood seeping out of the wound onto his sneak suit.

"Zhang" I cried out!

I dropped into cover next to him and looked him over for a second. He just grabbed me with his good arm and said with gritted teeth, "Roberts, forget me. Cover Vostov. He's our way in."

I let go of Zhang and crawled back to my SCAR-H, which I had dropped by the concrete barrier I had taken cover by before. Bullets whizzed over my head and slammed into the concrete cover, chipping away at it. I grabbed my gun and peeked out of cover and fired off short bursts at the enemy soldiers. I dropped a couple of them before I had to eject the 20 round magazine.

Vostov then yelled through the mic, "I GOT IT! Doors open."

Vostov then started to sprint over towards us, presumably to help Zhang, whom was still bleeding.

Vostov however, was shot in the leg and fell down screaming. He rolled on the ground for a few seconds before another bullet hit him in the bottom of the jaw, going up into his brain and killing him.

"Damn it" I yelled in anger over the losses we were taking!

I then yelled to Barry, "Barry, we got to get inside. Help Zhang. I'll cover you guys."

Barry dropped into cover and slung his gun around his shoulder, so he could carry it and fire it with one hand.

Zhang pushed Barry away, which seemed to take a lot of effort from the Master Sargent, when Barry tried to help him and said, "Forget about me you two. The sniper team can hold them off, but they can't for long. I'm just dead weight."

Barry shouted over the gunfire, "But your our leader, Zhang?! We can't leave you!"

Zhang grabbed Barry's right arm and made him look him dead in the eyes.

"Jensen, this is not a debate" he said with a grunt of pain from moving his injured shoulder wrong. "I've lost too much blood, and it won't stop. I can barely move my shoulder, and soon I won't be able to stand."

Barry just stared shocked at Zhang as Zhang then looked pleadingly at Barry and said, "I'm done for Jensen. The mission must be finished, and you two are the only ones left who can do it." Zhang then pulled Barry closer, although very shakenly, "Please do this old man a favor and let me die know it wasn't for nothing."

Barry let out a quivering breath as he said, "Yes…sir."

Barry and I took off in a mad serpentine dash towards the open door…or gateway to success of the mission…and safety from the soldiers shooting at us now.

I didn't dare look behind me as I could feel Zhang looking at me as he wheezed into the mic, "I'll buy you some time guys…good luck."

We reached the door as I ran inside and peeked around the open doorway to see the mob of enemy soldiers approaching where we were before, and I could see part of Zhang looking up at three soldiers aiming their guns at him.

I heard him speak one last time…

He looked up at them with a weak smirk as he kept his other arm behind his back and said, "Surprise."

He dropped something behind his back as I heard a soldier yell, "Gren…."

Then an explosion rung out from Zhang's location as the three soldiers, as well as several others, was torn to shreds by the fragmentation grenade.

Barry slammed his palm on the emergency release for the door next to the inside of the doorway. The door slid shut with a loud slam, sealing the soldiers outside from us…at least temporarily. Barry and I looked at each other and we both knew what the other was thinking…

FUCK…

We collected ourselves and made our way down the corridor we were in, looking for the lab that was containing the project we were after…Project Paradox.

After a while of combing through the building, we came across the right lab that our intel provided.

Barry tried to pull the sliding door open for the lab, but it was sealed shut. Barry groaned and raised his gun and fired into the glass window walls for the lab, shattering the glass for the laboratory.

When he let his finger off the trigger, I pushed him and shouted, "You idiot, what do you think you're doing? You could have shot the weapon system."

Barry looked at me with a blank stare before he pursed his lips and let out a soft, "Oh..."

We entered into the lab through the now blown out glass windows that Barry so brilliantly decided to shoot out.

We combed around for what the intel we were looking for had described to us as the project that was so dangerous to the resistance groups.

We eventually came to a tall, floor to ceiling tube container. I typed in the code that the spy had given us, hoping that it still worked.

The tube slid open with a hiss as Barry and I looked inside to see what this project was.

It was a suit…a bright grey and red suit with a visor of some sort on the head. The visor was shaped like a "Y", and appeared to be dark blue. The suit also had several weapons hanging in the tube with it, some futuristic weapons that I've never seen Vanguard use before. One was what appeared to be a sword of some sort with a flowing, amorphous blade. It was rippling like water, but was held in a perfect shape of a blade. The other weapon appeared to be a pair of pistols of some sort. They were short pistols that didn't have a barrel for bullets to leave, so one could only wonder what they actually fired. Both pistols had the same bright grey and red camo of the parent suit.

Barry looked at it with curiosity and said, "This...is it?"

Barry then looked at me and said, "Hey, Nate? Why don't you put it on?"

I gave him the look of disbelief.

"Barry, we don't even know what this thing is capable of doing, and you just want me to put it on like its nothing" I said?!

Barry then said defensively, "Nate, we are hopelessly outnumbered and outgunned. Right now, those soldiers will be looking for us. If this thing can give us any advantage right now, I say we take it."

Nate and Barry then both heard a loud crash as metal groaned and what sounded like a door fell to the ground, followed by voices shouting.

Barry then whispered to me, "Nate, we don't have much time. Come on!"

I caved into Barry's suggestion and decided to put on the suit. If it killed me, I'm dead. If I didn't, then we're dead. What have I got to lose?

I walked over to the tube and ran my hand cautiously over the materiel for the suit. It felt unusually comfortable for a piece of military gear. Upon me touching it, the suit split in half, with no visible means for it to have been able to do so. The chest flowered open, along with the head, upper arms and shoulders as well as the thighs. I was caught by surprise as there wasn't any zippers, buckles, or anything that could have allowed it to do this. I turned around and started to slid my body into the suit, leaving my SCAR-H on the ground to be picked up later. The lining of the suit felt silky smooth and lighter than air. As soon as I was inside it, the suit enveloped me inside itself like a cocoon. My vision went dark as a display flashed in front of my eyes. A light blue tinted room I was just in, along with Barry and all of the equipment was still there.

I suddenly screamed in agony as what felt like a dozen tiny needles drove their way into the center of my back. The pain made me nearly puke, it was so intense. The burning pain of needles faded as quickly as it happened, and I suddenly heard a voice of some sort inside the suit. It sounded male, but was electronically synthesized.

"Presence of Operator pilot detected. Neural link established and synchronized. Warning: This suit is of prototype design and damage or destruction of this suit is punishable to the highest extent of Vanguard jurisdiction" said the artificial voice.

"What the fuck…" I asked rhetorically in shock?

The voice then said, "On board suit motion tracker online and displayed on HUD."

A display popped up in the lower right of my vision, showing a three dimensional holographic display of the room I was in, as well as surrounding corridors and rooms. I tried to focus my vision on the display down there, but it was too small. I wished it was bigger.

Suddenly, without any effort on my part, the display replaced my current field of view and showed the room I was in with a deep orange color. Everything in the room was a deep orange, including where Barry presumably still was. Way down the corridor where we came from, I saw blue figures moving down the corridor, sweeping their guns into rooms as they checked each lab and room for us. When I had enough of the display, I wanted my vision to go back to normal and my previous view of the room returned with its light blue tint.

The voice then said, "Releasing magnetic restraints from storage unit."

My body dropped a bit as I landed with a light metallic thud as the soles of the suit impacted the tube I was in.

I stumbled a bit as I then said to Barry, "Well, this thing hasn't killed me yet, so I think we're good."

Then more shouting of "Room clear" and "No rebels here" assaulted our ears again, but rapidly approaching us this time.

I then said, "Um…or not."

I then turned behind me and reached for the sword that was still attached with the magnetic restraints to the tube and pulled it off with a bit of effort. I looked it over quickly and found a switch on the handle of the sword. I flipped it and the rippling metal blade retracted back into the hilt, almost appearing to be melting in the process. I then slid the hilt onto a holster in my right thigh.

I grabbed the two pistols in my hands and pulled them off the tube as well with the same effort as it took for the sword. I held them tightly in my grip as they were a bit heavier than a regular pistol of the same size would be, like that of a Desert Eagle.

I held them in my hands as I looked to Barry and said, "Okay, I think it's time to exit stage left here. We got what we came for."

Barry nodded and we ran back out into the corridor we entered from. I heard somebody yell, "I got tangos near lab 13!"

I whipped to my right and saw a soldier further down the corridor looking at us, dropping to one knee as he raised his assault rifle. I instinctively raised my right pistol and pulled the trigger without even thinking twice as to what the weapon was even for or what it would do.

A ball of red energy shot out of the "barrel" of the weapon slower than a bullet would, but still fast enough that the enemy soldier had no time to dodge the incoming projectile. I watched in shock and awe as the baseball sized ball of energy impacted with his chest and appeared to explode on impact with a crackling of energy and the sizzle of burning flesh. The soldier's chest exploded apart out through his back, leaving a gaping hole where his heart and lungs would be. The soldier stared back in wide eye shock for a second before he fell to the ground dead, small amounts of blood oozing from his corpse from the exposed, non-cauterized flesh.

I felt like marveling in what had happened, until I heard another voice shout, "Weapons fire in sector 17C. Moving to intercept."

I yelled to Barry, "We need to move! Now!"

We took off down the hall past the dead soldier as we ran down the seemingly maze like corridors of the building. A few engagements with soldiers here and there prevented us from being able to leave the building twice through two separate entrances. Barry and I were slowly being boxed in by the Vanguard soldiers, and eventually this cat and mouse game would end with either two dead mice, or the mice finding their freedom from this high stakes game of death.

Barry and I were halfway down a corridor when Vanguard soldiers whipped out from both ends of the hallway and started shouting, "Hostiles pinned in sector 19F" and "You have nowhere to go. Return the Vanguard property at once and surrender yourselves."

I whipped my head around frantically as I tried to find us an avenue of escape, anything to get us out of this. My eyes then rested on a shut door that was not under the effect of the security lockdown that was put in effect on the building during our attempts to find an escape. The door, while closed, only needed to be opened with a terminal on the wall.

I ran over to the terminal to hit the open command. I then heard a few reports of gunfire as I whipped around to see Barry fire off a couple of rounds at the enemy soldiers. The world seemed to move in slow motion as one of the Vanguard soldiers was shot in the head from one of Barry's bullets. Barry moved to another target and aimed at another Vanguard soldier, when a soldier behind him lined up a shot with Barry. I let out a scream, trying to alert him to what was behind him, only to watch as the enemy soldier pulled the trigger and sent a bullet into the back of Barry's head. Blood and brain matter shot out of the front of Barry's head from the over penetration of the round as Barry's body fell to the ground in a slow fall.

My mind felt like it was going to explode from everything that happened in this fucking operation and everything that had happened. I had lost almost all of my team, and my best friend, in the span of only an hour.

A bullet flew past me and brought me back to reality as I slammed my fist on the open command for the door, causing the door to slide open with a hiss. I sprinted into the room and shut the door behind me. I could hear faint yelling from outside as I looked around the room I was now in. The room held what appeared to be power generators, whether for the building or for the entire complex, that was unknown.

The whirring or electrical motors being driven by whatever fuel Vanguard was using filled the air, almost to a deafening volume. I ran about the room, trying to find another exit, but there was no other way out. I was stuck in a dead end, emphasis on the word "dead." I heard the door to the room slide open as soldiers came into the room.

I knew that there was no way out, and if I was going down, I was going to take down however many of these fuckers with me I could.

I raised my right pistol and fired at a soldier, the red crackling energy caused the soldiers head the weapon was aimed at to explode like a ripe melon. He fell to the ground dead as the other soldiers returned fire at me. I rolled behind one of the generators and took cover from the soldiers. The enemy gunfire riddled the generator with bullets (not very smart of the soldiers) and caused the generator to groan and spark as part of the generator exploded as fire started to consume it. I was thankfully unhurt from the explosion. Whether that was due to the suit itself protecting me or my positon behind the generator was unknown, but I was knocked off my feet from the pressure of the explosion. I heard shrapnel land around me as soldiers started to yell out about a fire. I still heard the humming of another one of the generators in the room, which thankfully kept the lights on for me to see what was going on…only I soon saw things get far worse then I imagined.

Suddenly, sprinklers for the room came to life to try to suppress the fire. Water cascaded down my visor and suit as the floor started to get wet. I could only imagine the stupidity it takes to put a sprinkler system in the same room as functioning electrical equipment, or at least that's what the situation felt like to me right now.

I stood up and stumbled a bit on my feet as I saw the Vanguard soldiers running out of the room. I was quite confused at what drove them away…until I heard the sound of crackling electricity.

I looked up quickly and saw electrical wires dangling from the ceiling, apparently having been damaged and knocked loose by the generator exploding. I watched in horror as one of the restraints that kept the cable attached to the ceiling came apart, probably due to its own damage taken from the generator.

I took off towards the exit for the room to avoid what I knew was coming, but it was too late. Once the wire contacted the water covered floor, the ankle deep water started conducting electricity and it started arcing through me, aided by the fact the suit was saturated with water itself. My body tensed up as I fell to the ground, my muscles refusing to respond. I thought for sure I was going to be electrocuted to death.

I then heard the same male, artificial voice from before say, "Warning: Temporal instability in Chronotomic field generator detected. Suit power supply overloaded. Temporal anomaly detected."

I could only listen with agonizing pain as I heard a crisp humming coming from not the generators, but from my suit. I saw blue energy of some sort start to distort and move around me, growing brighter and brighter. I waited for what was surely my swift death from either electrocution or whatever the fuck this energy was to come.

The light from the field grew brighter and brighter until I was blinded by the light. Then my vision flashed to black in an instant. I thought for sure I was dead. If I was indeed dead, then why did I still feel agony in my muscles from being electrocuted?

Suddenly, my vision returned in a flash as bright light blinded me. I blinked several times, before squinting to try to filter out the blinding light.

I laid there for what felt like forever, my muscles refusing to move for a while. Eventually, I slowly regained control of my muscles as I rolled over onto my belly to try to stand up. Slowly, the bright light started to fade and I felt my eyes get adjusted to the light. I looked around as the world around me was washout, but slowly returning to full view to me.

I could now tell that I was standing in a forest…A fucking FOREST!

I could hear insects buzzing and birds chirping as I tried to mentally take in everything that was going on.

There was no sign of the research facility I was just in, nor an Vanguard forces or anything I'd expected to see.

I felt around my body to see if I still had my weapons that went with the suit. I could feel the hilt for the sword on my thigh and I still had one pistol in my left hand, along with the right pistol lying in the grass next to me. I reached down and picked up the pistol, only to realize that I wasn't standing on grass.

I stumbled back in shock and fell on my butt. I crawled away a few feet from where I was before and started breathing rapidly at the sight before me.

In about a 2 meter cubic space around me, there was no grass, but rather concrete…tiling. However, it wasn't just any tiling…it was the same tile for the generator room I was in before. I looked around and could only find one thing to say to myself.

Where the fuck am I?

I would soon find out that what happened to me was far more complex, shocking and disturbing than anything I could imagine right now. It wasn't just a where…

It was a WHEN…

(A/N: Here we have it then, the first two chapters for my new story, Project Paradox. I hope you liked the world I'm trying to set up. I wanted to try to do a somewhat more reasonable way of humans coming to Zootopia than some other stories, while still being Sci-Fi. Any questions you may have now will most certainly be answered as this story progresses. If you're wondering if Vanguard will come back into this story, or what time travel has anything to do with this, trust me. It will all be answered as the story unfolds. The truth to Vanguards existence will be answered, the truth behind the suit and tech that Nate has now will be explained, and ultimately the shocking Fandom truth about how mammals came to evolve and why they never encountered humans before in the world of Zootopia. There will be some questions that will push Nate to his limit as he desperately seeks answers to a slowly unfolding mystery around him, a mystery that will threaten a world he has never known and will ultimately entwine the history of three worlds. All the while, an epic story of love, loss, morality, identity and destiny will bring this story together. Let me know how I did and please be helpful with your comments. If you think the story is bad, that's fine. You have the right to, but at least, however, let me know how I can improve this story by leaving actual feedback on what needs work, where I'm lacking details in and what I need to focus on. Doing so only helps the writer improve their craft. Until next time, stay safe and creative my fellow readers and writers.

(SR2Turoka-1)