Chapter 3: Capture
The sound of gauss fire filled the air. Amos heard a scream and saw one of his squadmates collapse. Overhead, two ADVENT Dropships circled the depot with search lights periodically shifting from soldier to soldier. Amo's radio buzzed. "Grafen One, what's going on down there?"
A bullet hit the wall that he was behind. A prompt update was in order. "ADVENT reinforcements have us pinned down at the entrance of the fuel depot."
Amos saw Fredrick pop out of cover to take a potshot, but accomplished nothing. He also noticed that the ADVENT Lancer squads moving on their position, their stun batons at the ready. As one of the Lancers was advancing, one of his squadmates managed to fire a few shots that hit the Lancer, who stumbled, then shot back in retaliation, killing the offending fighter.
"Grafen One we got a priority report from the FGB," the voice informed over the radio. "The squad that was sent to help you destroy the depot has failed." At those words, Amos came to the horrific realization that they were caught between a rock and a hard place.
"There may be a way to escape," the voice advised. "You could try to leave through the entrance that the FGB tried to use. It should be weakened." Amos heard the loud clanking of the ADVENT armor and pulled out his SMG. He saw a shadow turn the corner followed by a Lancer, he unleashed a volley of bullets at the Lancer, stunning it. After that he quickly stabbed it in the jaw just under the helmet, and the Lancer collapsed, dead.
Amos took a breath, finally addressing the voice. "That wouldn't work! It's too far and if ADVENT has reinforcements in this entrance, they probably reinforced that one to and any guards that were killed would've been replaced."
"You could try the shipping area of the depot," came the answer. "You could probably find a boat or you can try to swim away."
He recalled that in the briefing they talked about this. In the northern part of the depot, there was a small port that led to the baltic sea. The port was the main supplier of fuel for the Norwegian counties.
Amos looked over to see a Trooper fall from the the turret on the weaponized vans just to be replaced by another one. He looked over to his remaining squadmates "You guys got all of the that?" He asked. After hearing all of them confirm, he continued. "We need get away from the vans! Russel! Throw a smoke grenade at the entrance." The stocky man tossed a smoke grenade in the suggested direction, covering the entrance in a thick cloud of smoke.
"Now!" Almost all the men behind cover sprag up and started to run towards the second checkpoint while the rest shot through the smoke to try and suppress the Troopers that tried to pass the wall of smoke. He saw gauss round fly into the smoke as the vans tried to stop anyone who thought of running.
He heard a scream and turned to see Russel, who was with the group suppressing the Troopers, succumb to the hail of gauss fire. He saw the ones who ran back find some cover and suppressed the Troopers for the ones in front who took the opportunity to fall back.
As they were getting to the main entrance to the depot, which was relatively unscathed from the explosion, there were a couple of Troopers sitting down at the end of the room. One of the troopers wore a strange white suit of armor and was the only one with a helmet on. The group seemed to be bathed in a faint red light which was probably just blood reflecting of the lights.
Seeing a great opportunity to catch them by surprise, he sprinted towards the group. He thought he heard a shout but disregarded it. When he got past the door he felt a cold metallic object hit his head and as he was falling, the last thing he saw was an Officer standing over him.
Amos woke up to find himself on the ground with an Officer standing a few feet away from him in what seemed to be a different part of the room. He heard the sound of combat and tried to move but found that his hands and feet were bound. The Officer noticed that he was awake and gave him a quick kick in the ribs causing him to stop moving on the ground.
The gunshots outside kept getting louder and he saw the Officer stop and grab his gun to get behind cover along with a group of soldiers. As the officer was walking away he noticed his gauntlets were hanging from his waist. The soldiers that were resting repositioned themselves around the various vehicles with the soldier in white behind the rest with parts of the suit glowing red.
Amos positioned himself so he could see out the door and caught a glimpse of a figure running past the door causing the Troopers to fire at the door but were too late to catch the figure. He saw flashes of light from the door and he heard loud thuds and saw a red barrier. After multiple rounds hit the barrier he noticed small cracks appear on it.
He saw some of the Troopers shift nervously and the Officer gave the order to fire. The red barrier disappeared and the Troopers opened fire before he saw a grenade lobbed into the room causing the Troopers to scatter and he saw the squadmates who fell behind catch up. The Officer was quickly killed by Fredrick and the Troopers soon fell back and he saw the soldiers move past him and Fredrick untied him and helped him up. " Stop running so fast. Not all of us can keep up."
Amos nodded a took a second to take his gauntlets back then tried find his SMG to no avail. He looked down at his gauntlets and ignited his blade.
Emma changed the channel to the Hallmark movies and mysteries which was airing a show called Psych. The main character was in the middle of explaining the solution of the mystery to all of the other characters.
Sighing, she flipped the channel again this time it was to Ion television which had some new show she never really followed. This continued, channel after channel until she found herself on the ADVENT Public Network, watching some documentary about the formation of ADVENT and the wars before it.
The screen shifted to an image of one of the fuel depots from the perspective of one of an APN helicopter. To her horror she saw most of the depot in flames and noticed figures on the ground frantically moving around the area. When the camera zoomed in she recognized the ADVENT peacekeepers moving to find people under rubble and directing others. The camera shifted and revealed ADVENT medics helping the victims in a makeshift hospital and emergency vehicles entering and leaving the area.
The screen then turned to the to two people sitting down at the desk a large middle aged man with a black hair that was obviously dyed sat on the left and a small young woman with long blonde hair.
The man was fiddling with a datapad on the desk. "This is James Rodney from APN joined by Jullia Brenard. The videos that were just shown are from the Davison Feller fuel depot. It appears that there has been another terror attack."
The screen shifted back to the videos and while Jullia started talking. "The reports have said that the northern side of the depot was attacked an hour ago. We have the video feed from the outside cameras. Warning: Please be advised that this content is graphic."
There were figures in the distance that grew and soon she could see the strange clothes that were almost like robes and bags that they were wearing. An ADVENT Officer moved towards the group and started to talk with them. Suddenly the closest person reached into the bag and pulled out a short gun but the video cut.
But Emily already knew what happened to the man. All that was going through her head was the pictures of the wounded and those killed. She looked down and felt tears start to form in her eyes.
"The Justice Branch has notified us that they have the terrorists trapped in the depot with no possible way of escape. We would like to thank these brave peacekeepers for putting their lives on the line in order to protect us."
James looked away from the camera and tapped the radio on his ear and mumbled something. After a couple of seconds he turned back to the screen and it was easy to see the concern on his face. "It has been confirmed that this wasn't the only terror attack that happened today. There have been four other confirmed locations that have been attacked. The other cities are Vienna, Munich, Hamburg and Frankfurt."
Jullia picked up her data pad and picked up where Jake left off. "As of right now the Justice department has released little about the other locations. When the situation is completely contained, we are expecting a statement from the Justice department. That is all for now on this special report, we'll be back in the 8:00 P.M. news with updates and more."
Emma just sat there for a few seconds in shock all she could think of was the pictures from the news broadcast.
Why would anyone do this? It was wrong; disgusting. Why attack those who are just trying to get by, those who don't want to hurt anyone?. Just because ADVENT used violent methods to unite the world didn't mean attacking innocents was right. Placing the burden of rebuilding on the common person was more justifiable.
Uniting humanity itself wasn't a bad idea, and the world almost united during the invasion. But ultimately, humanity under the aliens was a perversion of that idea. Letting out a heavy sigh she turned off the TV and went to check on Maggie who was fast asleep.
Ryan stood over the corpse of an ADVENT Officer, looking down, and admiring the destruction that had just occurred. He looked over to find a woman dressed in black with her face concealed by a black bandanna and a hood. The woman picked up a rifle and stared back at him.
A tall slender man wearing the same black clothing walked up to the area, and in a stern voice that commanded attention, gave his orders. "Volander twins, break is over. The charges are set. Get your asses in gear."
The women looked at him he nodded "Rosie. Ulrich is finished it's time we head out, wouldn't want ADVENT to catch us." As they were leaving Ryan looked down at the Officer, reaching down and taking the dogtags. This one will definitely make the quartermaster happy, he thought before putting it in his belt.
Once they left the room Ryan felt cold air fill his lungs and took a look at the bustling city of Vienna. While this section of the city was quiet for the most part, he could make out a lot of activity in the other sections.
He watched as a black van pulled up and they boarded the van. Once inside, Rose pulled her bandanna down revealing a pale face with a carefree smile. "Well, that was a hard one. We were lucky that they only had a couple guards posted at this outpost. They'll be sad once it's gone."
Ryan shook his head and pulled of his bandanna and hood revealing short golden hair and a small mustaches forming on his lip. Rose looked at him and after a couple seconds of her staring, finally asked. "What do you want?" While giving her a hard look
"Well," she began, tapping a finger on her chin. "I think that you need to shave. That mustache doesn't suit you very well and from what I've heard, the girl from the supply core doesn't like facial hair."
Shaking his head, Ryan changed the subject. "Did you hear about the new alliance that the northern cells made? They call themselves the Templars, apparently they've have harnessed the psionic powers the aliens use."
"Those powers shouldn't be tampered with," a third voice interjected. "The last time humans were entrusted with that power they betrayed us for the aliens." Ulrich took off his bandanna off and revealed a scarred face and on his forehead was a tattoo with an iron cross.
"They're fools for trusting anyone using psionics, they're digging their own graves and they'll bring us all down with them. The northern cells are overstepping their bounds." Ulrich shook his head and pulled out a book that he left in the van. With a weathered cover on old pages and the the faded title that read Infantry Tactics.
The van came to a stop, and after exiting the van Ryan was greeted by the smell of smoke and saw a small fire in an old rusting barrel with many people hunched over it. To the left were old buildings with faded red bricks and that remained locked and with no one left to open them.
Motioning to the others Ryan stated to walk towards the right which was a mess of faded roads that cracked in many places. On the corner was an old shop that once housed sporting goods. But it now housed an alien pod and an array of green figures trapped with the pod in the store.
Looking around he spotted a elderly man standing next to a door outside a large warehouse surrounded by rusting fences. He gave a brief nod to the man who opened the door. The inside of the room was relatively bare, with a couple of chairs and a water cooler. In the corner of the room was a reception desk with a young lady with long braided blonde hair.
Ulrich walked towards the blonde lady and started to talk to her quietly. After a few minutes of talking, she got up and unlocked the door behind the desk. The ground floor was a maze of crates, shelves and tables. In the heart of the maze was a common area where many people could be found milling about. The also was a staircase that led to a basement area.
The stairs led to an underground labyrinth containing many rooms, most of which contained guns, grenades and armor while others housed beds and couches. One of the rooms in the maze was a big room with a large table in the center of the room. Standing in the room was a tall muscular man with a shaved head. Ulrich looked at the man and greeted him with a salute.
"Sir! Mission objectives achieved with minimal casualties, they didn't expect a thing." The man nodded and looked at the squad and nodded. "We will debrief in two hours, until then take time to rest."
Amos ran into the next room to find a large warehouse that housed a huge unfinished tanker that seemed to be abandoned. The ground was littered with wooden pallets, metal beams, and coils of rope. In the corner of warehouse was a makeshift workshop hosting many different power tools.
He looked over to the ship which had its inner skeleton exposed and saw behind it was a ramp which lead to the ocean. Next to the ram was a dock and which had ADVENT patrol ships tied up. He looked to find what little squadmates he had left and motioned them to join him.
As they were running towards the dock a loud hum could be heard and overhead three ADVENT dropships shot towards their group. He saw a soldier in black armor peek out of the ship and pulled a side mounted machine gun. As the ships came closer thumping could be heard on the roof and out of the corner of his eye he noticed shadows cross the window.
Amos ignited his blades and called the others to back into the interior of the building. As they entered the building he heard loud footsteps behind him and he moved to close the door.
Before the door could close several objects flew through the doorway and landed in the center of the room. A thick yellow gas erupted from the canisters and a loud crash could be heard as ADVENT Lancers rushed through the door. As the gas filled the room Amos could feel a hot pain erupt all over his body and he heard screams of pain from the other people in the room. The Lancers advanced quickly, subduing the soldiers in their path and before Amos react and light his blades he felt a hard hit to the head and saw the ceiling before the world went black.