I have blood in my mouth.
It coats my tongue, my teeth, warm and salty, with a tang like iron, like seawater stewed in an oil drum.
It's not my own.
I pull my teeth out of the man's neck, slowly breaking the seal between my lips and his skin. He's trembling, I'm not.
I spit the blood out, not abruptly in his face as he'd expect, but slowly, pushing mix of blood and saliva out over my tongue as I bring it up the side of his face. He doesn't understand this, this wasn't in his training.
He doesn't know what I'm going to do to him, he doesn't know why I chose him out of all the possible candidates.
He does know what I want. "Tā zài nǎ?"
My voice is a whisper in his ear, my words are soft, like the caress of a lover, just as soft as the hand that trails down his arm in just the same way his wife does when he's comes home for the day.
"Wǒ jiào zhāng dé, shì zhōnghuá rénmín gònghéguó jūnduì zhǎng." I pull away from him, leaving my hand where it is. He thinks he can fight me, he's trying to hold out, he doesn't want to betray his country, but he doesn't know how far he can go.
I will show him that however far that is, I will go farther.
I offer him a small smile, a amused mother gently chiding a recalcitrant child. "Xiànzài, dé, wǒ zhīdào nǐ de míngzì, nǐ zhīdào wǒ xiǎng yào shénme."
I cup his cheek with one hand and stroke his arm with the other, raking my claws along his skin, leaving centimeter deep wounds up and down his arms. "Zhǐyào gěi wǒ wǒ xiǎng yào de, bùyào zài tuī zhègele."
He grits his teeth, the wounds are small, each one insignificant in itself, but at this point, there were hundreds of them. Parts of his arm were now shredded down to the bone.
Lingchi was a horrible way to die, he knew it, I knew it, yet still he resisted. "Wǒ jiào zhāng dé, shì zhōnghuá rénmín gònghéguó jūnduì zhǎng."
I click my tongue in disappointment, sliding off the man's lap and shaking my head like a disappointed school teacher with a failing pupil. "Wǒ bùxiǎng zhèyàng zuò, dàn xiànzài nǐ qiǎngpò wǒ de shǒu."
This scenario was carefully designed to keep him off balance, tapping into firmly ingrained memories and confronting him with strange and terrifying new threats, hitting him with the familiar and the alien in equal measure. That has not been enough to break the captain, thus it was time to play my ace.
From a hidden pocket, I produce a set of photos, I hold one up to his face. This one depicts an older woman in a drab green Mao suit. "Nǐ de qīzi liú zài jiāzhōng, shì xià yī bō hōngzhà de zhòng zhōng zhī zhòng."
It struck something in him, I could see it in his eyes, but it wasn't enough. I held up a second picture, this one of a pretty young woman a few years younger than myself in a flattering cheongsam. "Wǒmen yào jiāohuàn nǐ de nǚ zhǔrén, háishì yào yòng zǐdàn cuīhuǐ nàgè piàoliang de liǎn."
He closed his eyes and tried to look away, but I grabbed him by the chin and forced him to face me again. "Wǒ hái méiyǒu wánchéng ài."
I hold up the final photo, a beautiful little three-year-old girl beaming at the camera without a care in the world. "Zhè yīgè... Zhège tài guìle, bùnéng kuàisù zuò."
He looks at me, shock and horror dawning in his eyes. I smile, as wide as the little girl's and as devilish as hers was innocent. "Shénme? Nǐ yǐwéi wǒmen bù zhīdào? Wǒmen jiāng dàizhe tā, jiù xiàng wǒmen dài nǐ yīyàng."
Suddenly the smile dropped and I seized his jugular, the tips of the claws barely piercing his throat. "Nǐ huì gàosù wǒ wǒ xiǎng zhīdào shénme, huòzhě wǒ huì qiǎngpò nǐ zài nǐ de xiǎo tiānshǐ de yǎnjīng lǐ kàn wǒ, ér wǒ de yǎnjīng."
That was it, that was as far as he could go, any level of resistance he had remaining crumbled before the threat and the knowledge that I could and would back it up. I knew he would. A father will do anything to protect his little girl, even betray his country if necessary. After all, mine had.
After he had broken down, after he had given me every bit of information that I needed, I turned and stepped out of the room. I removed the set of metal teeth from my mouth, they were quite similar to a set of costume vampire teeth, only more fitted to my teeth and far sharper. Then I went through the process of rinsing my mouth out, both to make sure that all the man's blood was gone and to clear the compound that covered my tongue and made sure I didn't contract anything from the blood. Then I removed the fake nails, another little work up from R&D on request.
After I had finished getting out of the costume, I picked up the phone and dialed the number I'd memorized what felt like a lifetime ago.
"Mikhail, I found her."
In a blink, I wasn't at FOB Knockout in the Jiangsu province anymore.
I'm in a bunker complex, surrounded on all sides by thick walls of smooth concrete.
And I'm running.
I've been in the suit too long, I can feel it. Muscles tearing, bones fracturing, veins and arteries straining to pump blood to keep up with my movements, nervous system overworked, I could almost smell the neurons of my overclocked brain burning.
The machine gun fire striking me feels like so many mosquito bites, barely noticeable. The men with the guns are screaming at me. Yaomo, strange demon, that's what they're calling me.
They fear me, they should.
Normally I would enjoy that, I would revel in the terror they felt towards me, but not tonight.
Tonight, I don't want their fear.
Tonight, there's only one thing that I want.
And they're in my way.
Before they know what's happening, I'm on them.
The first one tried to fight, tries to jam the bayonet of his rifle into my gut. I grab him by the elbow and with a flick of my wrist wrench it to an unnatural angle. The imitation Kalashnikov went flying as the man started screaming. With a hard kick, I broke his shin bone, when he dropped, my foot came down on his head with a wet crunch.
The second one stared at me in shock, I rewarded him by driving my fist through his face, caving his skull in around it. He collapsed back against the wall, falling into a slump as his body caught up with the death of his brain.
The third one was the smartest, he tried to run. If he were smart enough, he never would have accepted this assignment. I throw myself at him, slamming into him with all the force of a flatbed truck at forty miles an hour. I planted my knees in the man's back and clamped my hands around his head, wrenching it away and chucking the severed head down hallway.
All of this happens in the span of ten seconds.
The visceral display has convinced their comrades that their political officers are less of a threat than I am. They've turned tail and disappeared in any direction they could find. My path is clear and I continue through the facility unmolested. It won't last though, as I move I'm more than aware that the political officers are executing the most senior of those in flight in order to coerce their subordinates to attempt a second attack. It will work, but it will take time.
Time they do not have.
My goal is right in front of me, sealed behind a six-inch hermetically sealed steel door that makes a sound like a mix of a car crash and a giant soda can opening when I tear it off its hinges.
There she is, after a month of hell, I've found her.
She'd beautiful, even in this horrible place. Even as she lays naked, bound to some strange cross between medieval rack and an electric chair. Even with the IVs and tubes stabbing her and dozens of fresh wounds all over her body. Even with her face half hidden behind the bastard child of a breathing mask and a force feeder.
Off to the side, in front of a bank of computers, stands a tall spindly man sporting a Fu Manchu with the bearing of a cat and the collar of a PLA colonel commandant. When he saw me, he showed none of the panic of his underlings, He merely turned with a feline grace, threw a switch and punched a button.
An electric current suddenly ran through the strange contraption and Ming began to scream, muffled by the mask but still a shard of glass through my heart.
In the blink of an eye, I'm across the room, an iron grip around Fu Manchu's neck. I threw the switch back and punched the same button I'd seen him push, nothing happens.
"How do I disable the machine?" I half scream through gritted teeth as I slam him against the nearest wall.
Somehow, the colonel is serene. His expression is the same as a grandmaster playing a game of Go, and winning. "I'm afraid you simply can't."
Unable to think of another option, I take the direct approach, putting my fist through the electronics multiple times. By some miracle, it works, the voltage cuts out and I drop the tormentor in a heap and lunge for the machine, tearing off the mask, touching my fingers to her neck.
Thank god, a pulse, weak but steady.
"Ming," My voice is a whimper, barely held back from devolving into a sob.
But her lips don't move, her eyes don't open, she just lays there, limp in the restraints.
Behind me, I hear the man begin to laugh, and I turn to him, hate burning in my eyes.
He only laughs harder, descending into a full on cackle ringing through the small room.
The cackling never stops, even as I rend the bastard limb from limb.
I blink and again the world changes, I'm not in the suit, and it's deathly cold.
I'm back in the cryopod, watching as the two scientists and the merc open Nate's pod.
I know what's coming, just like last time, I start pounding and kicking on the door, as I had the first time.
I knew it was worthless but I had to do something.
Just as before, when the hazmat suited woman tried to take Shaun, Nate resisted, and just as before, the merc raised his pistol. This time, I couldn't watch.
"Really Madison, the lad's expendable, so why the histrionics?"
I opened my eyes to find an unwelcome surprise staring at me from the other side of the glass.
My eyes burned, I was in no mood for this . "Get out of my head Charlie."
His expression of bored distaste didn't shift one bit. "Gladly, now will you drag yourself out of this somniumatic pity party and wake up so that we can speak like professionals?"
The next thing I know, I'm blinking the sleep out of my eyes.
We're in the vault, in the little area that used to serve as a security station. We'd moved the lockers and filing cabinets, along with the desk, and replaced it with an AutoDoc Mark X that had been stored in Mikhail's bunker. He had gotten a larger one than mine, and thus by mutual agreement, my bunker stored most of our mementos and smaller items while his held the big ticket items.
We'd put the AutoDoc where the desk used to be, I was sitting in a folding chair in the opposite corner.
And He is leaning against the wall in between us, a cup in each hand.
He looks the same as the day I met him two hundred and twenty years ago. Two parts Sean Connery's James Bond, one part H.P. Lovecraft, with just a dash of Nikola Tesla's mad genious in the eyes. His suit is black and immaculate, as always. His face is a mask of disinterest in the world around him, a good sign, if he's smiling then someone's about to die in a horrible and ironic way.
Charles Thoureau Louis, Charlie only to his friends and those who wanted an aforementioned horrible and ironic death. Chief field operative in the most dangerous department in the sea of dangerous departments that global covert operations encompassed. He was an expert in covert operations, history, mathematics, and a slough of other arcane areas of knowledge. Not surprising considering that he'd ran with the likes of Colin Gubbins and Lawrence Grand.
He was also a gentleman, in loose terms, that I tried my damndest to avoid. "What the hell are you doing here Charlie?"
He offered me one of the teacups, I didn't know what it was, but it was hot and caffeinated, so I took it. "You shouldn't blame yourself for the lad, he wanted to be a professional. This sort of thing happens to professionals."
His accent is English refined pronunciation with a background of something celtic. "Still, all the signs were there, it could have been prevented."
He shook his head, "Damn your eyes girl." He was silent for a moment, "I'm sorry about Nate, was a fine man, just not strong enough to make the calls that had to be made. He deserved better than a bullet in a bunker."
I took a sip, English breakfast tea, another of the affectations from Charlie's appropriated homeland. "Drop the sympathy act Charlie, it's not a good look for you. You're here on business, you know it and so do I. My side of the house is fucked, what's your side looking like?"
He took a sip of his own tea. "Quiet, but more difficult to keep a handle on. CASE NIGHTMARE GREEN came and went after your kind sent the world tits up."
I looked up at him seriously, "Charlie, if the end of the world was some Hawk's idea to avoid GREEN, then you and I are going to have a problem."
He raised an eyebrow, not many people threatened him and lived more than a few seconds. "No, not as far as I know. Though it could have been the result of a CASE NIGHTMARE RED that was recently repulsed."
That got my attention, "How did humanity repulse a RED in its current state? Our projections were that we'd be toast even at peak military strength."
"Not humanity as such," He held up his index finger, "One human for the most part, just finally abducted the wrong one. Got out of their custody and wreaked havok aboard their ship. You should be seeing one of the results of that engagement rather soon."
My brow furrowed in irritation, cryptic old bastard. "What about BLUE HADES?"
Charlie shrugged his shoulders, "What about them? They're still going about their business, if anything, they care even less about humanity now than they did before. Though the treaties still hold."
Well, I suppose it was optimistic to hope the Great Old Ones might get off their watery asses and lend a hand for once in their miserable immortal lives. "And DEEP SEVEN?"
He stirred his tea with a tiny spoon that just seemed to appear in his hand. "That is what has been keeping me busy these past few years. We've had three near breaches on the east coast in the past decade alone, and lacking the global network we had before the War, I can't guarantee that one hasn't fully emerged somewhere and has gone to ground since. Without the old systems, I'm stretched pretty well thin."
Great, so not only did humanity nuke themselves back to the stone age, but the horrors of the earth's interior and the outer realms were still getting uppity and needed people to stop them. "You hold sway with BLUE HADES, any chance you could use that to make an argument for them to help us rebuild civilization."
Charlie paused for a moment, thinking the proposal over. "Perhaps, it hasn't worked before, but the fact that someone they know is back in play might help convince them."
"Or you could just pop back home and pick up a few pieces of hyper advanced tech." I was only half joking.
He stared at me with an utter deadpan. "The day I go back to the city is the day it rises, not before, and we both want to put that off for as long as possible." He pulled a silver pocket watch out of his suit jacket. "I'm afraid my time is up, I just wanted to check in and apprise you of recent developments. I will contact you if you need to be contacted."
I nodded in response and he turned and stepped out of the room. I already knew that no one would see him leave.
Ours was a strange friendship, as befitted strange friends.
In any case, I looked at the AutoDoc, it was time to move on to more immediate matters. I pulled my personal terminal from my bag, which was leaning against my chair, and opened it. Booting it up and beginning to type.
REPORT DESIGNATION: AFTER ACTION MISSION REPORT, Operation Bloody Mary
Commanding Officer: Madison Victory
Secondary: Mikhail Volkov
Authority: ISA Remnant Operating Under MX-CN91
Operational Protocol: Clear & Hold
Preface: In the case of this report being reviewed at some future point, this report will be informal, as will all future reports until such a time that an official format has been developed and standardized.
On Octobet 24, 2287, the location, formerly known as United States Air Force Satellite Station Olivia, henceforth referred to as Echo Site, was identified as a priority target along with others by subject Asher. The site would be reconned that evening by Col. Mikhail Volkov. Reconnaisance showed that the site was occupied by hostile forces, colloquially known as raiders, corroborating the intelligence provided by Asher. This, along with the discovery that the satellite connection was still functional and the likely amount of salvagable communication and computer equiipment, made Echo Site a Nexus Target, that is, a target of the highest priority in order to fulfill the securing of the region. Preparations were initiated for the seizure of the site.
On the afternoon of October 25, 2287, the hostile element launched a raid on the nearby settlement, Abernathy Farm, a civillian attempted to confront the hostiles and was gunned down by the hostile leader. This led to the expediting of the operational timetable. That evening the assault was planned. Our forces were divided into two elements, Wolf Pack Alpha, consisting of myself, callsign Gray Wolf, Mikhail, callsign Dire Wolf, and Asher, callsign Timber Wolf, acting as the primary assault force, and Wolf Pack Bravo, consisting of Preston Garvey, Goris, and Sturges, acting as the secondary assault force. Wolf Pack Alpha would separate into three individual elements. Dire Wolf was to provide overwatch and sniper support from a nearby elevated position east of the site. Gray Wolf, myself, was to infiltrate the Site from the west and secure the entrance to the bunker, known as the Burrow. Timber Wolf was to infiltrate the site from the east and secure the ventilation unit, known as the prey, and introduce a chemical agent, known as Lima Victor, into the ventillation sysetem of the bunker. The chemical agent would be pumped into the bunker, eliminating all hostiles within, after which, Wolf Packs Alpha and Bravo would rendesvous at the Burrow and a team would be deployed to clear the bunker. If at any point an element of Wolf Pack Alpha was discovered, Wolf Pack Bravo would provide emergency cover and commence a full assault with the hope of securing the Burrow before the enemy could block it.
The first half of the operation went exactly according to the plan, Wolf Pack Alpha was able to secure the Burrow and introduce Lima Victor into the ventillation system without breaking stealth. Wolf Pack Bravo rendesvoused with us at the signal, after which we waited for Lima Victor to do its work. It is at this time that I would like to note that a more suitable chemical agent would have been pure nitrogen gas, as we held abundant reserves and asphyxiation rather than poison may have prevented the later problems.
Goris and Sturges were left on the surface as a rear guard, I led the remaining men into the bunker. Immediately on insertion, we discovered a large number of enemy dead. Lima Victor's potency, along with the psychological effects of the sight of someone suffering its effects, lead to an attempted, and failed, evacuation. Thus the majority of hostiles died in the exit stairwell and the lobby. Upon clearing the stairwell, we secured the lobby. Let it be noted that the terminal in the lobby was later shown to contain data that could have prevented the problems in the latter part of the mission. It is my reccomendation that during future clearing operations, when time and other situational factors do not prohibit it, terminals be hacked and their contents be reviewed as they are encountered.
After clearing the lobby and the siderooms therein, our team split into two groups to clear the two hallways that emerged from the lobby. Mikhail and Preston took the stairs and cleared the lower siderooms while Asher and I took the upper siderooms and the catwalk. Both of which proved to be clear of survivors. It is here that I must make absolutely clear that I take full responsibility for what happened to Asher, though the maintenance room fell under Mikhail's responsibility, it was my decision to secure the primary objective, the satellite control terminal, before clearing the final room.
Though we were successful in securing the primary objective, the immense strategic value of which cannot be understated, and were able to activate a number of contingencies that cannot be elaborated on in this report, what happened next was utterly preventable. As I was logging into the network, the leader of the hostile element, known as 'Ack-Ack,' burst out of the maintenance area with her minigun blasting. It was later discovered that the maintenance area, before the nuclear exchange that comprised the Great War of 2077, was slated for fumigation, thus all ventillation shafts had been sealed beforehand. This meant that Ack-Ack was able to lock herself in the maintenance area and wait for the Lima Victor to dissipate. While Ack-Ack was put down within five seconds of her appearance, she was able to fire anywhere between twenty and thirty rounds, five of which struck Asher in the back.
While his injuries were severe, we were able to stabilize him. However, two of these rounds struck his spinal column, doing a great deal of damage and leaving him comatose. It is for this reason and the potential that Asher has already shown that after returning to base, henceforth known as Sanctuary, we proceeded with surgery to outfit him with a standard ISA tactical cybernetic rig. Once again, I take full responsibility for his injuries.
It is also my full reccomendation that, once again, barring any situation necessities such as time factors, in future operations, areas be fully cleared before moving on the objective. As there was no time factor on this operation, I have nothing to justify my decision other than faulty intelligence and my own impatience. Despite this mistake, the low casualty rate and the strategic benefits gained lead me to consider this operation a success.
Signature
Madison W. Victory
…
Hey guys, ok, multiple things on this chapter.
First, I know that the chinese parts are annoying, but there's some really spoilery stuff there if you feel like working out the translation.
Second, I'm not sure if I'm going to want to do more of these after action reports, they're a bit tedious to write, what do you guys think reading it.
And thirdly, to those of you who get what this chapter was referencing, I love that book series, I just got into it, and it is awesome. Don't worry though, I'm not totally going down that road, just keeping my options open in case I want to delve into some of the lovecraftian horror that Fallout is sprinkled with.
Only one chapter this week.
R&R people