"In the Earths Come Hell"
Josie – Getting knocked out of a battle and getting captured hasn't been my greatest plan. ATLAS was smart enough to ambush us all. Why? Well… Let's just say they had trackers on us this whole time. I'm the very special one in the world who's deserved the extra attention. And now?
Well, let's just say things haven't been going smooth on my end…
Josie felt like she was in a liquid capsule of sorts. She was breathing, not natural air but oxygen that keeps her body regulated as the capsule water takes the natural perspiration off her. She didn't feel awake, but her minimal surroundings tell her she was re-captured by ATLAS. She recognized the water's temperature and the feel of the mask she wore is all too similar.
Who knew that explosives would damage me? Wait… It was the explosion or the force of hitting a wall that knocked me out completely…
Some time ago at a lookout point next to that Commercial Transport System in Siberia…
"Fuck…!" Rex mutters to himself. "Doctor Boyd, she's in trouble." He was carefully looking through his scope and saw that Josie was only recovering. He then tried to contact her. "Josie! Get out of there! It's a goddamn trap-!" He tried to wait, but he was seeing she was only being fired on at one direction. She was seen using her shield, but was greatly overwhelmed before she eventually got knocked off combat. Not seeing blood spatter, he doesn't completely believe she's dead. She's too valuable to be dead if the grunts like to be that close when they engage. "She ain't dead, but she's definitely powerful..."
Nizio then finished packing his small bag and wears it on him. "Should we be going?"
"Best if we-" Rex spoke but stopped as he saw a grenade being thrown. He saw the shape and the type of grenade it was. A flashbang. "Shit-!" The nine-banger released a series of flashes that mostly blinds anyone who has a direct look at it. And Rex himself got blinded even if he wanted to cover his eyes. The door to the apartment was busted open. And even with his hearing temporarily compromised by the flashbang's blinding and deafening effects, he was at least able to hide behind a bed using his instinct. Breathing and trying to get his bearings quick, he was eventually able to restore some his hearing for a few seconds. He hears gunfire, and Nizio who was hiding and groaning in pain for some reason. "GET COVER! NOW!" He shouted that just as he draws a sidearm pistol and prepares himself. He peeked his head out to see Nizio in cover, but there would be an unfortunate incident. He heard machine gun fire from the other side of the wall and the higher caliber rounds were piercing through it. Nizio didn't stand a chance. He groaned in pain briefly before his lifeless body filled with bleeding holes falls to the floor. "Fuck…! No…!" Rex muttered that to himself and watched the door, aiming his pistol.
It wasn't easy fighting out of the room. Rex was able to take out his first grunt that time and grabbed his light machine gun before proceeding to the nearest corridor. At least two more squads were sent after him that time before all of them were eliminated. Barely surviving since one of the men was wearing an exo-suit, he's thankful he still has his survival skills to help him. Nizio Boyd wasn't so lucky as his life could have meant some more info could be given to Sentinel besides what Rex is looting the scientist's body for… a flashdrive. Pocketing it, he runs out of the room… And before he knew it after descending from an elevator, he ran out of the building he was in, heading to the place Josie was last seen from. Then he saw an ATLAS Warbird flying away from the location. Then he realized it himself. The way her attackers moved at him seemed calculated. And with only a single Warbird in the area, he had the strongest feeling she'd be taken from the spot, not killed. But why? Is it because of the magic she possessed? Or something. In any case, Rex lost her completely from that day…
I didn't know how long I was out... But I heard it from him which I trust… It was a trap, probably set mostly for me. I hope Rex and Nizio came out of it unscathed. Now I'm pretty worried...
At present time… Josie's eyes started to slowly open…
Witch-ATLAS Chronicles: Marsdog's War of the Worlds
Arc 3: "Warfare unchained"
I then knew that my hunch was right. I couldn't tell what's past that class in the capsule, but I know that if I act suspicious, they'll be able to see me awake. My eyes only appeared partially opened to them while my body was bare in that contraption… Plus… hoses and sensors were connected to my body. They've went through lengths to get me connected to the capsule. I had the strangest feeling that time, feeling the strength I have in the capsule isn't mine. If I'm busted out of here, which was something I wanted, I would lose my feeling over my body, even if these bastards were maintaining it.
It made me question that Project Magic really is. Using me here now and maintaining me while they had a plan over magic gateways? I don't think it's a separate record. Whatever it is, I hope it's found quickly. If there's a way to come after Jonathan Irons, any way can be taken. But for now… I'm just stuck in that capsule…
Josie could feel her body wasn't that cold. It was probably because the temperature of the water was changing constantly. 'What are they really doing to me?' She thought of that just as she looked left and right.
She began to listen to voices. She guessed they were voices of scientists or workers in a lab, some male and some female. "Thermal Respirators are complete. Romagna stronghold still needs those fluctuation reports or we'll never be able to maintain power input."
"Would you relax? There's no problem with the Nuclear power plants and their peripherals. What the-?"
"Oh shit…! Look at Monitor 3!" That same person said that and paused before the worker continued to speak. "What in the hell?! How did she-?! Get security!"
"She's already being engaged by rotating security forces! Open the armory vault… Now!"
Josie then felt the water shake a little. Then she even confirmed the ground shook a little, but the source of the vibration came from above in a muffled effect. 'Fighting from above? Am I in a basement of a building or something?'
"All of the security is dead! Goddamn it… Cover the damn door! Who the hell saw this coming?! There was another one with a launcher?! These bitches are-" The worker stopped talking when there was an explosion at a distance, straight ahead from Josie's perspective. "Crap! Fire at them!"
Josie could hear gunfire briefly exchange between who she believed were the workers, and their attackers. 'Now I'm freaking out a little.' She opened her eyes, trying to get a view past the glass. Trying to move her hand with the lessened strength, she lifts her hand and eventually she got it to touch the glass.
After a minute of gunfire exchange, the workers were heard groaning in pain. "Just give it up!" A girl's voice was heard from the other side of the room, presumably from the attackers' side. "You're not doing yourselves any favors."
"You… You heard her." One of the workers spoke up and Josie was later hearing that things were being dropped on some metallic floor of sorts. She recognizes the thud of materials clashing together. The floor should be made of refurbished marble, and the things dropped should be heavy enough and recognizable that they were automatic weapons.
"Clearing this side! Check over there!" Another girl's voice, somewhat a bit more mature in her tone said it. Josie assumed this other voice was superior to the previous one, having more battle experience.
Josie could sense that the workers fell silent. She could tell there could have been casualties, but the ones who surrendered probably had enough and decided to just stay out of their attackers' way. 'Now I'm curious. Who's attacking this lab.'
The previous voice from before spoke. "Nothing here. Just the workers now on their stomach and scared straight."
"Understood." The more mature girl's voice was heard from its softest volume, and Josie could tell it was from an amateur-ish earpiece, not a louder radio. "Anything else?"
"I…" The voice was getting closer that she could be assumed to be in the same room as Josie's capsule. "This… This is it. The water… the… Hera! Get over here!"
Josie then saw a figure of a girl outside the capsule she was in. 'I see her… Who is she…? Wait… What are those ears over her head?' She slightly gasped in her breath. She had a feeling of what that girl is, but that wasn't the time. Josie put most of her strength, remembering her morse code studies and readied two fingers. She couldn't speak, but this has to be a way of communicating. And as she began to tap with her two fingers and hitting with her nails, she saw the girl trying to listen with her human ears. 'That's it.'
"Wait, wait! Quiet!" The voice from the girl sounding curious was joined by the other personality, the superior of the two-man squad. After a while of Josie repeating the same morse code taps, she then figured it out. "Break Glass… Stop. Let water drain. Stop."
"Seriously?! " The superior girl's voice said, probably protesting the idea. "Don't you see she's got hoses attached to her body?!"
Josie chuckled silently as she was in her thoughts. 'That's the point. I don't really care. Plus… With what ATLAS is doing? I don't believe they'll be reckless in how they remove me either.'
"We gotta give it a try. I'm gonna try to bust her out!" The younger voice said this just before she was briefly seen looking around. And coming back, she was hitting the glass with something metallic. A broken bar of sorts… probably debris from the explosion that happened earlier was what is being used to break the glass.
"Let me," the superior girl's voice said. And so the younger one hanged back behind the superior, before she continued to bash the glass. Her hits were working better as Josie was seeing cracks on the capsule glass. "Hang back! It's about to break!" And it was matching what Josie is seeing… with the cracks spreading sideways, then upwards. A few more bashes happened, just before a strong one had finally shattered a part of the capsule glass, forcing the water to drain out.
Josie's hoses connected to her suddenly detached to her. She didn't know it, but her strength was about to fade without whatever is being supplied to her. But that wasn't the least of her problems. Her body was weak that by the moment her body was thrown off the capsule along with the water and laid still on the floor, she felt her own consciousness slip again. Turned to lie on her back while she felt the marble floor, she looked at her rescuers… a silver-haired girl with a length up until her shoulders, and a black-haired girl looking older and with a memorable scar over her head and eye. Josie opened her mouth, trying to speak, but she was about to fade.
"Whoa, whoa!" The younger silver-haired girl tried to shake Josie awake, but it couldn't help her stay awake. "Stay awake! Hey!" And Josie eventually slipped unconscious again. "Damn it! She's faded, but… I think she's okay."
"A waste of time if you ask me. We took longer than we should-"
"We're taking her back with us."
"What?! Absolutely not, Eila!"
"No. Not a matter of discussion! We're all she's got!" The younger voice had said this before Josie continuously fell into slumber.
That's where I slept and thought I felt asleep in minutes. Thing is with perception of time… one would always think it's just a few minutes of time that passed when they take a nap. Truth is… Perceptions could get curved.
Josie then awakened suddenly and sat up, still feeling her vision kind of blurry while her eyes were wide open. Her awareness had suddenly come back. She was in some bedroom with mostly wooden walls while she was sitting on a bed with a thin mattress. She breathed furiously in an out, putting a hand on her chest and feeling her heart work as it should. "What in the fuck is going on?!" She muttered that to herself.
"You tell me," that familiar younger girl's voice from before spoke and Josie turned her head to see a female teen with silver-white hair wearing ordinary civilian clothing. Though something was off. Josie could identify it's what boys wear and it wasn't exactly for a modern time. "You know that it took about two days for you to wake up?"
"Two days…? You mean… the capsule." Josie sighs. "Should I thank you or-?" Then Josie remembered something. "Hey. I gotta ask something. You wouldn't happen to have… ears on your head… would you?"
The girl raised her eyebrow. "Huh? You mean you never saw a witch before in your life?"
"W-witch…?" Josie repeated the girl's words. "Hold up! There's something you should see. Um… I'm not sure if it'll be shocking to you but…" She sighed, closing her eyes before she started to concentrate, letting energy flow before a set of wolf ears and a tail were shown from her body. Opening her eyes, she looked at the girl, clearly shocked of what she's seeing. "So… Does that make me-"
"YOU'RE A WITCH!" The girl approached Josie just before she smiled with a grin. "I can't believe it… And you didn't even know the word for it?!"
Josie winced at it, now confused. "Okay, you're confusing me for someone you think-!" Then she stopped talking when the girl she talked to was doing the same thing she's done, concentrating for some reason before a set of ears and a tail is shown from the head and just above the buttocks. Unlike Josie's wolf features, the girl has features related to a fox of sorts. "This is getting weird now…"
"I know!" The girl said it excitingly and offered her hand for a shake. "Eila Ilmatar Juutilainen! Nice to meet you!"
"Josie Franz." She reaches Eila's hand as she said her name. "So… How often do witches come around from where you're from?"
"From Suomus? I guess it's meant to be genetic so it varies." Eila replied this and got another puzzled look from Josie. "What?"
"Suomus?"
"Um… It's the nation I'm from. What about you?" Eila asked this, and she instantly got a glare from Josie, who then stood up. "Um… Josie?"
"I'm not in Siberia anymore, aren't I? In fact with all the mumbo-jumbo you've been telling me, I could tell I'm not from just anywhere, aren't I?!" Josie then started to walk slowly towards Eila. "The only thing I could remember was that I was still in Siberia, hitching a ride out to a town that has a plane, or just anywhere I could contact SENTINEL! You're telling me you don't even know how I got to the capsule?!"
"I don't have all your answers, Josie! It's not as though I got everything out from a vision I saw!" Eila answered, matching Josie's pace as she backed away from the Liberion witch. "Could you try and calm down?! Tell me where you're from!"
"I'm from Earth! That's what! Year 2061!"
"2061?! Don't you mean 1945?!"
"What the literal fuck?!" Josie grits her teeth in anger and paced so quick she was able to pick up Eila's shirt collar and lift her up with both hands. "You better have something to tell me or-!"
"THAT'S ENOUGH!" The superior voice girl from that rescue came from that girl Josie had seen back at that laboratory. Closing the door to the room, the black-haired girl with a scar approached slowly. "Put. Her. Down. NOW."
Josie just glared at the other girl, before looking back at Eila. "What is this?"
Eila uneasily laughs at Josie. "Josie… I might have an idea where you're from with how you're reacting…" She looked at Hera who seems to be confused. "I think she has an idea of what crossed into our world."
"You mean who." Hera said this and looked at the girl named Josie. "The name's Hera Kuhn. And… There's… something you should know."
It took a few minutes later and Josie sat on her bed, staring at the floor feeling dreaded. "In… a matter of hours? So what opened from New Baghdad…"
"…ended right at the City of Rome." Hera replied this, sitting down next to Eila on individual chairs. "Casualties mounted up to an estimate of a few hundred civilians, and an estimated figure of 900 protecting and reinforcing armed forces. It also counts the armored units that were supposed to be enough but… Not even they stood a chance. And the casualties kept climbing when the rest of the army's remaining reserves were getting capped right after Rome was taken."
"I arrive in another world to hear a whole city was taken over and more are in danger of being destroyed or taken by ATLAS…" Josie looks at Eila. "Where were you when it happened?"
"The 501st Joint Fighter Wing, the unit I was in, took part of the defense operation over Rome, but we failed. Enemy forces held the city strong with major casualties recorded from an allied joint fighter wing... The 504th. So many witches dead… I almost lost my will to fly straight that day."
"And all because of Jonathan Irons." Josie looked at Hera. "Righteous man… righteous prick who brought Hell on Earth. Can you believe it?"
Hera and Eila looked at each other before they looked back at Josie. "Now it's your turn."
"Sure." Josie sighs. "Hope you brought your popcorn."
"Popcorn?" Eila asked.
"Ugh…" Josie face-palms right away. "You gotta be kidding me…"