Chapter 2: Revelations
Andre woke to find the room he was in buzzing with activity, as a few people were taking guns from the the rack, picking up armor plates and taking some kind of black canisters, then attaching them to their belts.
Andre attempted to get the attention of one of the men, a short stocky person with cropped brown hair who was picking a gun from the rack with a wave. "What's going on?"
"We're getting ready to deploy," the man replied, strapping an auto pistol to his belt.
"Already?" Andre frowned. "It's only been four day. Don't your soldiers need rest?"
"Rest is a luxury that soldiers can't afford to have especially when at war," the man said gruffly, pulling on some gloves. "If we attack now we can catch them while they're rebuilding."
He pulled a radio from his bag and looked to a number on the wall. "In order to maintain the volume of attacks, we're coordinating with a small group of guerrillas called Die Freie Germanische Bruderschaft or 'The Free Germanic Brotherhood.' They were a radical political party of German…" his face contorted in distaste. "Nationalists, before ADVENT took Earth."
Andre recalled the previous existence of German nationalists and shivered. "How radical are they?" He asked cautiously.
The man looked at him grimly. "Very radical. They believe that they are gonna create the Fourth Reich and free the world."
Those words made him wince. "Do they believe in the Aryan master race?"
The man looked up at the ceiling as he answered. "There are definitely some at the top of the group that are like that. But from what I have heard from some who are in it is that this is the only way they found to actively rebel."
Andre was mildly shocked at just how calmly this was being explained. "Why do you ally yourself with a group of radical nationalists?"
The response was almost instant. "We will take all the allies we can have as long they want ADVENT off the map." He glanced down at his gun. "And if they become a problem...we can step in."
A light on the wall of the room turned from green to red. The man glanced up and then looked at his watch. "I have to leave now. By the way, my name is Roger."
"I'm Andre. It was interesting to talk with you." Roger nodded farewell as he walked up to a group of armored men by the armor rack and then left the room.
A few minutes later the tall man with dark hair walked up to Andre. Upon closer inspection, Andre noticed that the man's veins were disturbingly engorged, with some kind of pink fluid flowing through them.
"Have you made a decision yet?" He asked after a few moment.
Andre thought for a second. "No, I need more time to think about this. It's a...major decision."
The man's face remained impassive. " I'm going to be gone for a couple of days, and I would like for you to make your decision by the time I get back."
The tall man started to walk away but Andre quickly reached out to stop him. "Wait. I didn't catch your name."
The man stopped and narrowed his eyes at Andre. "No. You didn't."
With that he walked out of the room.
Minister Erwin sat down at his desk and logged onto his computer to check on recent events. It eventually led him to watching the armor cam from one of the many patrolling soldiers. He saw an Officer stop a citizen just before he died. He switched to the respective Trooper's cam to see a wounded terrorist on the ground shortly before the Trooper was murdered.
Erwin looked up to see a tall man with curly light blonde hair entered the room holding a data pad and reading from it. "Ah, Major Riley, what do you have for me?"
He looked up from the screen when he was before Erwin. "Minister, I have some more information on the recent attacks in Vienna."
Erwin looked at Riley, puzzled. "They hit Vienna too? That's very far south compared to the other attacks. Are you sure that it was the same insurgents?"
"Yes," Riley explained. "They share symbols with the perpetrators of the attacks in our area. The insurgents have been identified as FGB terrorists. However, based on footage acquired from similar attacks, we have been able identify symbols engraved on the armor." He consulted his data pad. "After running them through our database we found that the symbols engraved on their armor match symbols from a group of terrorists known as the Templars who are primarily based in the American sector."
"The American sector?" Erwin frowned. "That is very far away. Why attack us if based in America?"
Riley shrugged. "This might be because a new cell has appeared and the Templars are expanding their operations."
"That is what is most probable." Erwin agreed.
Riley looked down at the data pad. "I've informed Governor Watson of this development and he has came to the same conclusion we've had." He paused and tapped on his data pad. "There is a meeting that all the ministers of the sector are required to attend in order to discuss what to do."
Erwin nodded at that. "Understood; I'll be there."
Erwin stepped out of the ADVENT transport and walked down into a small garden in the center of the complex. He looked up at the large palace which was reminiscent of a cathedral called the Berliner Dom.
Erwin walked to the building only to be greeted by a pair ADVENT Lancers waiting by the entrance. Erwin pulled out his ADVENT I.D. and showed it to them, who then opened the door.
The interior of the building was gorgeous. The walls were golden and many paintings hung from them. There was an elaborate pattern of tiles on the floor resembling a pattern from the Palace of Versailles and the ceiling was covered with paintings with golden borders.
Erwin walked into a common room and saw three sculptures, one on each side of the wall. On his left was a knight wearing armor from the teutonic order; holding a shield that had a cross in the middle.
On the right side of the room was a man in similar armor except no helmet and the figure had a small cape on his side. The man held a short staff with a jewel on the end. The man had a curly beard and wore a simple crown. At the bottom of the sculpture was an inscription "Emperor Frederick Barbarossa."
In the center of the room was a large sculpture of an Elder. As Erwin moved to take a closer look he felt someone tap his back. He turned to find a young man in a cadet's uniform facing him. "Are you city minister Erwin?"
"Yes."
Without allowing Erwin any time to ask anything, the man continued. "Governor Watson is having this meeting in the war room. Follow me." He turned and started walking down a hallway.
Erwin followed the man as he went down the hallway he noticed a particular painting of Julius Caesar standing over Vercingetorix. The man abruptly stopped and motioned towards a set of doors. "This is the war room. Please step inside." Erwin complied.
The war room was a polar opposite to the rest of the building. The only things on the wall were maps, and the walls themselves were bland and grey. In the middle of the room was a holotable displaying a map of the sector.
Erwin walked up to a tall man with short blonde hair and blue eyes looking down at the holotable. The man noticed him and walked towards him. He gave Erwin a cold stare before giving him a hard handshake.
"Governor Watson" Erwin greeted coldly.
The man in question stared at him for a second and gave an emotionless reply. "City Minister Ytterboe."
After a few minutes the room was full of people, and Governor started the meeting when everyone was seated. "Gentlemen and ladies, we all know the reason for this meeting. A new threat has appeared in this sector."
He tapped a button on the table and a 3D image of a Templar appeared on the table. The Templar's armor was faded and had many scratches and small dents on it. "From what ADVENT Intelligence has gathered from other small terrorist cells, we are dealing with a group called the Templars. They are a group of terrorists who managed to acquire psionic powers. They are now our number one priority."
The Templar ignited his blade as Watson continued explaining. "While most of the terrorist use conventional weaponry there are a few who have somehow created a gauntlet that is capable of harnessing psionic power."
Governor Watson continued "At the moment, we don't know how these terrorist managed to acquire these abilities and weaponry. Figuring out how this has happened is a priority. It is imperative for us to take one of the psionic Templars alive."
Mutterings broke out at that before the Governor lifted a hand, and continued once it was silent
"A new group has also appeared known as the Free Germanic Brotherhood. While not as dangerous as the Templars, they're still a threat that must be dealt with
He paused briefly to let that sink in. "We must stop this before it grows into something bigger. That is why I have requested the support of the ADVENT Elite Lancer Corp. I have also started to ask certain colleagues in ADVENT High command to allocate more funding to the Priest program ."
"Will we have access to any alien forces?" Erwin asked.
Governor Watson took a second to respond. "We won't have access to advanced alien forces, but we will be allocated Sectoids and Vipers."
After a few moments of internal discussion, Governor Watson continued. "Should this situation get out of hand, ADVENT High command may allocate more advanced alien troops." He looked at a data pad briefly before continuing. "This threat must be dealt with immediately. That is all. Dismissed." He placed a fist over his chest. This gesture was repeated by all in the room and then walked out of the room.
As Erwin was walking out of the room he got a high priority alert and quickly tapped his earpiece. "Yes, what is it?"
"There has been an attack." A frantic voice from the other line quickly blurted out.
"Sorry," Erwin interrupted. "Say that again, you spoke too fast!"
After a short pause Riley took a deep breath before continuing. "There is an attack in progress at the north fuel depot."
Erwin gave a heavy sigh before asking: "Do we know who is attacking us?"
But he already knew the answer before he even asked.
Amos ran next to the car and ducked down. He surveyed the battlefield and saw multiple ADVENT Troopers lined up by the second checkpoint of the fuel depot.
The rest of the garrison was now moving towards their position. He noticed a tower in the corner of the complex then ducked down again. He heard a loud crack and looked behind him to see bullet hole in the wall.
"They have snipers!" Amos called out to Fredric.
His friend looked at him.. "Not for long." He replied, nodding, before going back to looking down his sniper rifle. Amos then looked at the other soldiers by him and motioned to two of them.
"You two on me." As they ran up to the car he peaked out of the car and saw two ADVENT Troopers behind cover. He looked at them "I'm gonna run up there. I need you to suppress them for me."
As he heard them fire, he pulled out a flashbang and threw it at the troopers, then immediately got up and sprinted up to them. He ignited his Templar blades and slashed the first trooper across the chest. The second trooper was recovering from the flash bang and once he was lucid enough, pointed his rifle at Amos who had the other trooper as a human shield.
The trooper pulled the trigger and a hail of gauss fire hit the corpse square in the chest. The gause fire stopped; silenced by a volley of bullets. Amos noticed the soldiers that were suppressing the troopers for him ran up the cover he was at.
He gave them a quick nod and proceeded forward, then heard an explosion on the other side of the depot and gavea small smile. As the other people in his squad caught up to him he walked over the the sealed door and pulled out a small explosive and placed it on the door.
The explosion destroyed the door and in the room behind the door was an ADVENT Officer flanked by troopers. Gauss fire rang out and one of the soldiers with him fell. Amos looked behind him and found Fredric looking down the scope. He heard a loud BANG and then saw another trooper fall.
He pulled out a grenade and motioned to his squadmates. "I'll throw a grenade in there to flush them out. You guys have to take them down once they move!" They all nodded and got into positions. He held the grenade and threw it into the room.
He saw several Troopers dive for cover forcing one to expose himself and as a result was quickly gunned down. He also heard a scream and assumed that another trooper was caught by the grenade. Amos ignited his blades again crossed them. After a few seconds, a small veil of energy spread from the blades and formed a bright diamond in front of of his body. That done, he then ran into the room.
Amos moved to a wounded trooper and finished him off with a decapitation. He stopped, looked around, and found a group of troopers to his right. Gathering his focus, he started to concentrate hard and began to feel heat arise in his arms; he kept concentrating and then turned the corner and let the energy free. A purple bolt of lightning erupted from his fingers streaking towards the startled soldiers.
The ADVENT troopers fell to the ground, dead. He then ran to the Officer who seemed shocked at the raw display of power. Before the Officer could react, Amos had gotten close and slashed his chest open.
Amos suddenly realized that he didn't kill the Officer who had pulled up his rifle. He quickly pushed the gun up and bullets hit the ceiling. The Officer kicked Amos in the chest but before he could do anything else, the Officer was shot down by a sniper.
He still heard combat in the distance near the other side of the compound and ran towards that direction. He soon came upon a large fuel tank surrounded by barrels of fuel. He smiled and pulled out his last explosive and placed it on the tank. In the background, the sound of gunshots stopped leaving only silence.
Amos ran outside to the second checkpoint and waited for everyone else to join him. He pulled out a radio. "Charges are planted and everyone is here and waiting to leave."
After a couple seconds a gravelly voice broke the silence "Acknowledged Grafen One, the evac point is just outside the fuel depot." Amos then proceeded to detonate the bomb causing a large portion of the fuel depot became a magnificent explosion.
As Amos ran to the first checkpoint he was horrified to find three ADVENT weaponized trucks in a semicircle supported by multiple squads of ADVENT Troopers. He immediately moved into cover, slowly pulling out his radio again. "We have a problem."