Never had so much blood drenched the arena. How could this be followed? The crowd cried out for more. There could be no end to the spectacle now.
- A much better author than I.
After an hour and a half of walking, the edge of the city was in sight. Roving packs of wild animals and glass shards the size of a man had barred their way, but nothing had slowed their pace. Much.
"Sarge!" A soldier yelled.
"What?"
"I can see the building from here"
"And?"
"It doesn't look good sarge"
"Why?"
"It looks like it got hit by a bomb or something"
"This is news?"
"I mean recently, probably shortly after we got here"
"Dammit". He had hoped that they would just be able to poke around and leave.
Before that, though, Jensen was discussing leaving with his newfound Scientist refugees.
"Absolutely not! Our research here is unmovable. All of our devices would have to be left behind, and god knows those raiders that have become so common would pick this place apart in an instant!"
"You can't stay here. Like you said, those raiders will pick this place apart, with or without you inside."
"I don't care! I will not allow my research to be jeopardized!"
Jensen was getting tired of the scientist's objections. He understood wanting to stand by your work, but damn if this guy wasn't a little bit crazy.
"We can get you out of here and lock the building down. Don't you have automated defenses?"
"No! this is a laboratory not some military bunker!" The man was about to launch into another tirade when one of his assistants spoke up.
"Actually sir.."
"What!"
"All the buildings in this compound have a mixture of protectrons and turrets. They were afraid rioters or illegals would try to break in"
"Why was I not told about this?"
"The board knew you didn't like robots, especially with guns. They installed them when you went to D.C to present the weapon."
"Bastards!"
Jensen finally had an opening to exploit. "Where is the activation room for the defenses?"
"It's in the security office on level three I think."
"Then that's where I'm going. I'll be back in a bit."
Jensen was glad to finally be able to do something instead of just listen to that scientist complain. Then he got a message over the intercom.
"Jensen?"
"Yeah?"
"The team tells me that containment has been broken on some of our specimens. Specifically the ones with musculatures resembling certain Greco-Roman deities."
"So there are a bunch of mutants running around down here, and you didn't think to tell me?"
"It wasn't pertinent to the situation"
"You wanted to stay here with them!"
"I expected the government to come and fix it."
"..."
"Do be careful, they are quite capable of killing a man"
Damnit.
The squad was finally nearing the entrance to the E.P.A.
"Finally! Sarge, can you believe all the shit we just killed?"
"Stow it. We just need to get in here, and we're home free."
They advanced to the building, when a voice came over the speakers mounted on the building
"Who are you?"
"I'm a Sergeant with the United States Military, and ask that you let us in"
"What was your other operative's name?"
"Jensen."
"What did he look like?"
"Tall, brooding, robot arms and legs, mask like a giant bug"
Jensen was testing a newer mark of powered armor, though his "condition" made the leg, arm, and torso armor relatively useless. The helmet was actually a very comfortable fit, and meshed with the armor he did wear very well.
"One second"
"Mr. Jensen?"
"What!" The aforementioned Jensen was wrestling with mutants at the moment, holding one down while trying to headbutt the other into submission or unconsciousness. Preferably both.
"There are some men here, they say they are with you"
"Ask them if Friday was good. They should answer Probably, I wasn't there"
"Ah, thank you."
So it was that Jensen finally crushed one mutant's windpipe, and then caved the other's skull in with his helmet. He would have to clean it later, but it was nothing compared to how long the technicians would complain.
The intercom crackled to life once again.
"Was Friday good?"
"Probably, I wasn't there"
"Step inside please."
They heard the door click, and they moved into the building, each waiting for an ambush of some sort.
The president was at his office, currently looking over forms to set his newly (re-)formed country. Even though it was only Navarro, he still had to set things such as Taxes and funding allocation to the various military departments. It was his least favorite part of the job, because he could never make everyone happy with such things.
" ?"
"Yes?"
"I've got the reports you asked for, as well as Navarro's mayor on the phone"
"Tell him I'll call him back."
"Right away sir"
He looked at the newest in a long parade of papers on his desk, these ones representing the military research and development side of the science wing. They were pitching an idea for an entirely new suit of powered armor, it would theoretically provide complete protection for the user from small arms fire, as well as having advanced CBRN protection. Hell, even the power source was a group of fusion reactors. The resources to make a single suit were nearly triple that of the current armor though, and materials for fusion reactors that were scarce as of the apocalypse.
He had to give it to the techs though, they knew how to make imposing armor.
The entire thing was pitch black except for the eyes, which glowed like some sort of demon. The main torso was wrought in the shape of a muscular man's chest, the greaves and boots thickening the arms and legs, with the former adding three inches to a person's height. The back had a shell coming up over the soldier's shoulders, removing their normal head profile and providing additional cover to the head.
Then there was the helmet.
The eyes glowed (as mentioned before), and the cheeks tapered around the mouth grille, making it seem like a human couldn't possibly fit inside it.
His secretary walked in again
"Mr. president, the Mayor says that it's an emergency"
"Fine, put him through"
His terminal lit up with an image of the mayor, while he picked up the phone to begin to ask about what the hell was so important.
"Look, this had better be-"
"There are people inside our town! They've killed all the radio operators, they had people inside! They're trying to breach my building as we speak!"
"Slow down, what do you mean people inside? Who is attacking?"
"They came an hour ago, our radios shut off, and then a couple hundred people just came out of the hills with assault rifles and shotgun fists or something! They've killed most of the guards, and now I'm locked in my office. I can hear them shooting and screaming and laughing right now! Send help!"
Then the video cut out, and the president heard a blast, then laughing.
Then came the screaming.
Jensen finally killed the last of the mutants, and came across what was left of the security team. If he still had guts, he probably would've lost his lunch right then and there.
They had been staked too the walls, rusty chunks of metal crucifying them. Their bodies desecrated, and their blood having been used for some sort of rituals. Jensen's head began hurting.
He had a job to do, and damn if a little headache was going to stop him.
Entering the security office, he finally found what he was looking for- the security activation terminal. A few seconds later, and his implants had cracked the passcode. He turned the defenses on, changed the code and IFF markers, then began to walk out of the room.
He saw something move out of the corner of his eye, and turned to face it.
A man watched him, tattered suit covering a bony frame, with a dark glow about him. Then, the man ran.
Jensen moved to follow, chasing him around several corners, when he hit a dead end.
"What the fuck?" Jensen breathed.
There was text on the wall here. It said "Abandon all hope, abandon all reason. For HE walks amongst us again."
He turned, and began his journey back to the surface, unsettled.
"Send forces to Navarro immediately. Our best soldiers, our strongest guns, hell, even throw in that prototype helicopter. We need to stop this now."
The president was less than pleased with the current developments, though he couldn't say what was worse. The city being attacked, or it falling so quickly.
Not to mention the mayor's last few minutes of life.
"Yes sir, but what about Jensen and the others?"
"They can wait a few hours until we've secured Navarro." He hoped they could, anyway.
God help them all if there was anything Jensen couldn't take.
Sorry about the wait, my brain refused to write all week. No excuse other than that. Thanks for coming all this way in my story! Side note, This chapter breaks the 10k word landmark I had set when I started. Yay!- THE Captain