The walk back to the base was silent. Curtis led the way while his squad of seven formed a protective circle around the Commander and his group. It was a pointless gesture as the soldiers had little chance of surviving a Siren attack, but no one wanted to point that out.
From the clothes they wore, to the weapons they carried, it was easy to see that this was a militia and not a trained group of soldiers. It confirmed the Commander's suspicious and reinforced the idea of how bad things were outside of the safe zones.
They soon reached an empty car park building and the group watched as Curtis made a bird whistle. Moments later and two doors rose up from the ground then opened up. From there emerged a few men and women who were all carrying a gun of some sort.
Seeing the new faces, they instinctually pointed their guns at them. Curtis gestured for them to lower their weapons then said "trust me, James will cut your hands off before you could even pull the trigger."
A strange claim to make, yet the message hit the right note. The group that came to greet them lowered their weapons, but eyed them with doubt and suspicion.
The team descended down a slight of stairs built into the ground. As they reached the bottom, they saw the area open up to reveal a large hall with several paths leading in different directions. Looking at the painted ceilings, white-tiled floors and overall polish, it was easy to see that this was an elaborate bunker built by a rich tycoon with paranoia.
The large and active hall grew silent on seeing the seven of them. Curtis led the way while the people opened up. Marie in particular shrunk under the stares and grew increasingly nervous. Seeing this, Alexis moved closer to her friend to provide some form of moral support.
Curtis then led the group to a small room with a set of bunk beds, a sofa, and a wooden table.
"I'll go tell the leader about your arrival," he said, "she'll want to meet with you James."
With that said, he awkwardly bowed to the Commander and left the room.
"Whoa," said Blake, eyeing the room "I've only seen places like this in movies and TV shows."
"This isn't normal in your world?" asked Warspite.
"Definitely not," replied Alexis "you'd have to be incredibly rich to build an underground apartment complex."
"Um, by the way," said Marie, nervously raising her hand "there's only two beds available so…"
"I'm fine with sleeping on the ground," replied the Commander, looking for a place that wasn't too dirty.
"You know son," suggested Friedrich "this would be a good time for you to throw your weight around and claim one of the beds for yourself."
At this, the Commander could only let out a wry chuckle and say "you and I know I'd never do that Friedrich."
"Well then I think I shall also take the floor," said Friedrich, "those beds don't look like they'll fit someone as tall as me."
"Commander," said Sandy, pointing towards the entrance. The group turned around just in time to see a few heads immediately move away.
"You can come inside, we don't bite," he said with a slightly raised voice.
The statement was followed by half a dozen children slowly and cautiously entering the room. Almost immediately, their gazes turned to Friedrich. Friedrich caught on quickly and gave them a warm smile in an effort to quell any fears they had.
"Who are you mister?" asked one of the kids.
"I'm just a normal guy trying to help people out," he replied, a reply that made the six members of his team stare at him in confusion.
Before they could ask him why he answered like that, Curtis returned. He saw the children and was about ready to tell them to leave when Warspite caught his attention and quietly shook her head.
"James," said Curtis "the leader would like to meet you."
With a nod, the Commander rose to his feet and followed Curtis. Before he could leave though, he turned back and said "try not to cause too much trouble."
As the Commander followed Curtis through the many corridors, he noticed how many of the people were staring at him. They were either staring at his metal fingers or the sheathed sword he carried. Curtis soon led him to a room where a woman with short grey-hair sat face down staring at a piece of paper.
Curtis entered, cleared his throat to make his presence known. The woman raised her head and said "close the door behind you Curtis."
The man nodded and left the room, doing as requested. Now that it was the two of them, the woman slowly rose from her feet, all the while maintaining eye contact with the Commander.
"Commander Harper," she said in a low voice "I've heard quite a lot about you."
"I'm glad that the information network is still working," said the Commander "and thank you for providing us with that info on the Siren stronghold."
"Don't start singing my praises son," she said, raising her right hand "when we sent that information, I expected you to arrive with your whole fleet. Instead, I hear you're here with only three members and three newbies from the Human Resistance's new Valkyrie unit."
"I have no intention of giving you my soldiers for this mission," she said, crossing her arms "I can't… I won't risk their lives."
"I wasn't going to ask for their help," said the Commander "all I need is any additional information you gained and a bomb with a remote detonator. With that, I'll have everything I need to."
Once again, the woman remained quiet. Though she was quiet, the Commander understood that she was studying him. Carefully analysing him from top to bottom to see if his words were boasts or if he could back them up.
Whether or not she had the answer, he did not know. All he did now was that she turned around and said "I'll have Curtis send you an update on everything we've gathered to your room."
Nodding a little in appreciation, the Commander opened the door and left. Once outside, he saw Curtis standing a few feet away. The Commander quietly walked to Curtis and asked him to take him back to the room.
As they neared, they saw a crowd of people around the room. When they saw the pair, the people rushed to the Commander, all of them saying things at once, making it impossible to make out anything.
Thankfully, Curtis helped the Commander to the room and closed it behind them.
"I'm sorry sir," he said, apologetically "word must have spread about your identity. I imagine they all want you to take them with you."
"I'll get rid of them and have the information sent to you shortly," he added and left after that.
"Commander," said San Diego, "is it that bad out there?"
"Yes, it is," he replied, taking a seat.
"One reason why the main branch of the Human Resistance is like that is thanks to Alec's organization skills and the help from the Northern Parliament and Iris Libre. That and the lack of an anchor makes it easy for humans to expand. But out here, where the war still rages, this is how its like in the other parts of the world."
"It reminds me of how the Eagle Union were like during the second war," she said, lowering her head "running every day, struggling to find food and living in constant fear that they might find us. Every time I kept looking at the sky, I wondered if I'd see one of those ships appear above us."
"We were also in a similar state," said Warspite, sitting cross-legged "being chased by that high-ranking Siren made every day a fight for our lives. Sometimes, she'd almost catch us and a few would stay behind to help the rest leave. KGV, Duke of York…"
"That's why we're here now," said Friedrich, taking control of the conversation and steering it in another direction "once we bring down the anchor, the humans here won't have to live in fear of looking up."
"Do you think it's possible to do that?" asked Marie "with just the six of us?"
"Of course it is," replied Friedrich "my son has seen us to victory many times before and he will do the same now. I'm sure he's concocted a plan to take down that Siren monstrosity."
In response, the Commander quietly nodded.
"Um, J- Commander," said Blake "there's something I need to speak to you about, in private."
As they were about to get up and leave, the door behind them opened and through it came Curtis, holding several pictures. He quickly closed the door and laid the pictures out on a nearby table.
"This is what we've managed to capture in the past few days," he said, pointing to the pictures. As the group came around him and examined the pictures, the Commander's attention focused on two. One picture showed the device firing up into the air and the second one showed several panels opening up along its body.
"These two," he said, pointing to the pictures "how far apart were they taken?"
"Ten minutes apart," replied Curtis "we figured that it'd be some form of ventilation."
"Exactly," said the Commander, his lips curling into a devious smile. This action seemed strange to Alexis, Blake, Marie, and Curtis, but to Friedrich, Warspite and San Diego, it was almost commonplace.
They knew that when their Commander smiled like that, it meant he had something in mind.
"Thank you, Curtis," he said, patting the older man on the shoulder "this information proves my suspicions."
"You've done enough, now leave the rest to us."
Although Curtis appreciated the kind remarks, the Commander could tell that it wasn't enough. The man wanted to fight on the frontlines, take back the land from the Sirens and not watch from a distance. Reality can often be disappointing though as Curtis' team lacked the training and weapons needed to help. If they were to join, they'd only serve as meat shields or distract the others.
Seemingly coming to the same conclusion, Curtis forced a smile, said thanks, and left the room.
"Right then," said the Commander to the group "here's what we're going to do."
"We'll divide into two teams. Team one will consist of Friedrich, Warspite, San Diego, and myself. The second team will consist of Marie, Blake, and Alexis. This team will head to the Siren anchor and plant the bombs that Curtis and the others will be bringing to us."
"Wait, what?" asked Marie, her eyes going wide on hearing this.
"I thought we'd be fighting with you," said Alexis.
"That won't help," said the Commander "someone needs to head to one of the vents found around the anchor and detonate that for the plan to work."
"Rest assured, we'll be drawing the enemy's attention away from you so you won't have to worry about any shooting."
"But we're still taking a big risk here," said Alexis "wouldn't it make more sense for James to go instead?"
"The Sirens know that if there's ever any attack, I'm on the front lines," said the Commander "if they go out and see I'm not there, they'll realize something's wrong."
"And it's not like you'll be going in blind or anything, Blake's experience as a soldier should really come in handy."
"Jam—I mean Commander, I really need to speak to you right now," said Blake and quickly took the Commander out of the room before he could say anything.
Outside and away from any prying ears, Blake wasted little time in telling the truth.
"YOU WHAT?" he shouted, while Blake gestured for him to lower his voice.
"What the hell do you mean you're not a soldier?" asked the Commander, barely managing to contain his anger.
"I joined the military, that much is true," said Blake, "but as far as training goes… I never completed it."
"How far?" asked the Commander and Blake was silent.
"How. Far?" he asked, raising his voice a little.
"One month," he replied weakly and the Commander rubbed his forehead.
"When we get back to base, I'm going to kill Bryon," he added, then looked at Blake "if that's true then how did you really lose your arm?"
"I… I was trying to impress some girls," he replied "some friends of mine brought in a few local girls and we all took a look at a tank in the motor bay. I was showing off and put my hand between the wheels. My friend pulled a lever and my arm got wedged inside."
While the Commander covered his head to hide his disgust, Blake continued "so that's why it isn't a good idea for any of us to be on this mission. Sending us on this mission is tantamount to suicide."
"Too bad," said the Commander "you had ample time beforehand to tell me and instead you choose to do it now, right before the mission."
"There's no other options here Blake, I'm sending the Valkyries into those vents come tomorrow."
"And what if I disagree?" asked Blake, taking a step towards the Commander.
"I'm using my words Blake," he warned, cracking the knuckles in his left hand "don't make me use my fists."
The threat seemed to work as Blake immediately backed down and retreated to the room. When he was out of sight, the Commander rose his head to the ceiling and cursed fate for putting him in this situation.
He did his best not to let his emotions show when he returned. Though the other occupants in the room knew something happened, none of them asked what. It wasn't long before the group turned in with Alexis, Blake and Marie sleeping on the three beds. Warspite, Friedrich and San Diego opted to sleep on the ground, forming a protective triangle around the Commander.
Though their move was similar to the one Belfast and the maids pulled on their mission, they were not as cautious as the maids. This was clear when the Commander woke up later and left the room without alerting any of them to his disappearance.
Outside, he made his way out of the bunker and to the abandoned parking lot. There, he went to the top and took a look at the anchor. It was wildly different from what he had seen so far, thanks mostly to the new super weapon Omega attached to it.
He didn't doubt that his team could complete the mission. The trio weren't called the Big Three as a joke. No, his fears lay with the other trio's capabilities. None of them had any combat experience and this was a life-or-death situation they were in.
All he could do now was have faith in the plan and wait for tomorrow.
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When it was time to wake up the next day, the team went about doing their own thing. Friedrich helped the people with the food, Warspite stood guard, San Diego took to singing with the children and the Commander surveyed the area a little closer.
Come sunset, the group returned to their room, checked their equipment and left shortly after. The Commander said goodbye to Curtis and the leader, the latter simply nodded to him, silently wishing him good luck.
As the team made their way through the ruins of the city, the Commander noticed how Alexis, Blake and Marie were trying to keep calm.
"Do you remember the plan?", he asked and they nodded.
"Good, once the fighting starts the bulk of the enemy forces will be focused on us," he continued "that'll give you the time needed to plant the bomb, move to a safe location and detonate it."
"Don't worry Commander, we'll do our part," said Alexis.
Soon enough, the teams parted ways and it was time. The Commander activated his boots and rose to the sky. In the air, he quickly flailed his arms about to get their attention. It worked, as a pair of Siren drones flew towards him.
"Halt, you are in unauthorized territory," said the drone, it's yellow eye fixed on him "identify yourself before you are captured and sent for processing."
"I'm James Harper, but you can call me Commander," he replied and darted forward. The drone did not react in time and paid for it as the Commander drove his sword into the thing's eye.
The other one quickly made alarm sounds and flew away. Not long after that, they heard a loud mechanical voice speaking.
"Target sighted, threat level: red. Begin annihilation."
On saying that, numerous Siren ships started appearing in the sky and from them fell even more Hybrids. Meanwhile, the Commander went to the ground and met up with the rest of the team.
Warspite, Friedrich and San Diego formed their weapons and got ready for one long night.