In The Netherlands
If you were to walk along the coast of the North Sea, and right at the tip just south of the West Frisian Islands, you would find a small seaside town, named Hennie, that houses the small population of the peaceful Dutch.
The harbour of this tiny hamlet is bustling with activity, always something to do around here.
There was the fish processing plant on the edge of the harbour. Fishermen would leave the village for weeks and return with bountiful loads of precious fish that would make their way to be processed, warehoused, and sent away to continental Europe and beyond.
Then there was the port itself. Since, being close to Britain, the port would constantly be receiving goods from across the strait and around the world. To the locals, they called the place 'The Port that never sleeps' due to the work that happens there around the clock.
Today, however, the once bustling and peaceful village is eerily quiet, void of the once noise of organized chaos of the harbour.
The buildings and houses were in ruins. Rubble and blown holes mostly filled the abandoned town.
The street, damaged from the battle, contained so many craters that it made the landscape look like the moon, the only difference is it is covered with hastily built barbed wire fences everywhere.
The surrounding air smelled like gunpowder, covered in mist with a slight hint of dust and soot. The atmosphere did not fare much either, with grey skies and surroundings robbing the place of any expression, and the scent of explosions detonated long ago still can be smelt. It was the perfect way to describe the ruins of a battlefield in the middle of the town.
The whole Dutch town was an empty shell of its former self. The lively atmosphere and the peaceful folks that once resided in the town were now long gone.
Now replaced by multiple companies of onmics in all shapes and sizes, whose only function is to cause mayhem and destruction. They made their way through the streets, cutting across houses, cars, shops, and whatever stood in their way of seeking their goal.
Their goal?
The small, yet once-busy town of Hennie, hides one of the Dutch's bases of military might.
Azay Plant Air Base.
The army airbase, despite its massive size, is hidden away from sight if you were to just casually go past the town. This army facility is located far deep in the village, right up to the edge of town on a hillside, and very close to the Strait. The only thing separating the seaside and the base is the massive forested cliffside that overlooks the buildings and runway of the army facility.
These metallic beasts have already neutralized the base's defence system and have unleashed their counterattack. The invaders' attack was so swift and powerful that the state of the base was well beyond recognition and attacked the seaside village look like a festival tore through town. Both the runway and taxiways are completely demolished by rains of artillery fire, most of the vehicles left stationary have been destroyed and bodies of former soldiers are left scatted everywhere, while their invaders walk on. No sense of care of the bodies is felt by them as they trampled over them.
They have already penetrated the two-metre metal mesh fence that surrounds the perimeter, and are making their way into the biggest building at the centre of the whole army base, its Headquarters.
The building itself seems that it is far in worse shape compared to the hangars and other facilities in the base. The exterior is completely covered with bullet holes, faded soot from explosions that rocked the building, and not to mention the massive gaps that the onmics had managed to blow through. Now they were moving in for the kill on the inside.
And from the scale of how many robots were pouring in, whether from the main entrance door to windows or even finding their way in with explosives and knowing the capabilities and weaponry of the enemy, he knew that anyone inside the facility wouldn't stand a chance of surviving.
The onmics, unknown to them, are not alone.
Perched and hidden away within the trees in the cliff that overlooks the Army Base, a strike team looked on as the onmics made their way into the headquarters.
Right on the very edge of the cliff, a red-masked vigilante was looking at the massive sea of onmics that were all converging on a single building.
While distracted, a black mist flowed through the trees, dissipating right beside the man with the 76 logo on his jacket, leaving a man in a black leather hood with a skull-like mask in its place.
"How's things down there, Jack?" The weary voice in the hood asked.
"The people inside are going to be overrun very soon, Reyes," Jack replied, still watching the robots pouring into the distant building.
"We need to get a more in-depth inside look and from where we are, I can't see them from here. Think you can get more inside look, Gabriel?" Jack looked at the hooded figure, who was also looking at the chaos at the base.
Gabriel just looked at Jack, his mask covering his facial features making him expressionless.
"Unless you want me dead, then yeah." he jokingly said, leaving Jack to scoff at this. Using two of his fingers, he reached to his left ear, pressing into his comms. "Not the first time anyway."
"Hey Widow, can you get a visual inside?"
The cliffside that looks upon the base from above is not a big stretch of land. Not very wide since on the other side is another cliff that looks into the ocean, nor is it very dense, but enough trees that cover the high ground.
In the middle of the quiet and peaceful ecosystem, the purple-skinned individual, otherwise known as the Widowmaker, overheard her colleague's request asking for her to help get a visual.
Setting her sights up on one of the taller trees in the forest, she raised her right hand and fired her grappling hook. The grappling hook managed to grasp onto one of the highest perched branches. Without further hesitation, her grappling hook reeled in and she flew up in the air and landed safely without any accident, though tree branches weren't her comfort zone. She would rather be high on top of rooftops, cranes and skyscrapers, looking down her scope and her would-be soon dead targets.
Nevertheless, she scoped into her transforming rifle, Widow's Kiss, and alongside her recon visor, Widowmaker was able to see through past all the trees and buildings in the base.
Scoped in, she has managed to get a closer look inside the base. Her visor zoomed in, only managing to track the many omnics surrounding the place. Not satisfied, her visor clicked into heat-seeking mode, hoping to find any signs of life within the building.
Until she did.
One, two, three heat signatures.
Possibly more.
However, it was not good news.
The human-like signatures seemed to be all crowded in the basement of the building, and from their actions, fighting and holding off the omnics protecting whatever was down at the basement. This meant that the omnics had fully surrounded them and had little chance of getting out. At this rate, they won't stand for another two hours before the onmics storm the building and kill everyone.
"The omnics have penetrated the building and are starting to make their way through to the basement," Widowmaker whispered into her comms. "The Army is managing to hold them off but not for long."
Jack and Gabriel just looked at each other, both worried by this. They knew it was time to take action. Jack quickly pressed into his ear intercom.
"Teams, get into position. Get ready to strike."
Before arriving in town, a main strike force was needed to carry out this important and dangerous mission. These two teams were made up of the brightest, most intelligent and most destructive beings on the planet. Ranging from Ex-OverWatch agents to Talon operatives, soldiers and freedom fighters to destructive mercenaries.
The strike force was all lined up along the cliff overlooking the base, hidden away in the treelines. Each team is separated by abilities which should make the upcoming strike easier.
The first team consisted of a small strike team that would lead the charge into the base, take out the onmics inside and rescue the remaining survivors in the base.
The four-man strike team assembled right behind Jack and Gabriel in the trees.
Among the heroes assembled here, was the cheery and energetic young woman with a device called a Chronal Accelerator strapped to her chest. Tracer is one of the first few heroes that will lead the charge. And despite the nerving task of taking on a familiar foe, she was nevertheless eager to get the battle started. She lay behind some boulders, pistols out and ready for action.
"We're ready!", Tracer announced cheerfully into her comms.
The other was just adjusting her Valkyrie suit and her staff, making sure it would keep her companions in the fight.
"We're right behind you." Mercy declared as she prepared her staff and wings.
The main team consisted of a defensive supportive team that would assist the first team. They will also move in with them during the strike but will build a perimeter around the building as well as take out the invading Null Sector onmics, most of whom are all in the base as of now.
Leading the main team was a woman with white drills that were tied into ponytails. And her limbs seemed nothing out of the ordinary, but take a closer look and you realise that it is all machine.
"Sojorun to Jack and Reyes. The Strikeforce is ready and on standby." At this, the strikeforce readied themselves to descend into the chaos below.
With both teams ready, Gabriel looked at Jack, awaiting his call. Jack just looked at Gabriel, his visor meeting his mask.
"I'm ready." Gabriel nodded.
Jack knew it was time. He stood up and got ready to run to the impending mayhem that was about to be unleashed.
"Let's move out!" Jack shouted into his comms.
With loud battle cries coming from both teams, they emerged from the clifftops and fell into the unsuspecting onmics below, taking them by surprise.
Unbeknownst to the fight that was about to take place on the main floor, the soldiers trapped down in the building's basement had their battle against the onmics. However, unlike the strike team that had special skills and abilities that could give them an advantage in battle, the soldiers were merely normal men, only armed with guns or anything that could hold off the enemy.
It was no surprise then that the battle was not in their favour.
The onmics have now made their way into the entrance of some sort of gigantic laboratory testing facility down below in the basement. Firing back at the onmics before taking shelter behind one of many lab tables, a man in a formal uniform knew they had to hold their ground until the strike team arrived. He had overheard that the strike team was on their way before those rogue machines took down any forms of communication they had.
The once pristine and tidy workplace was now in disarray, with most of the lab equipment destroyed and thrown around during the fighting. Laboratory tables used to conduct experiments and make future weapons of war became temporary shields as the remaining soldiers and survivors were taking shelter behind.
In the middle of the battle-scarred lab was a small bomb-like weapon. Its size wasn't enough to strike fear in the enemy. However, the soldiers in the lab seemed to be fighting to the death to protect this thing, until reinforcements arrived.
"Sir!" cried out a soldier, who was hiding behind one of the countertops of the lab. "Why are we protecting this thing?"
One of the armed soldiers, firing at the wave of robots at the entrance of the lab, overheard his call. He was dressed to the nines in his once pristine uniform attire, now covered with scratch marks and gaping holes. Most notable was his torn left sleeve, only hanging on by his high-rank insignia still stitched to his uniform.
"I'm not a scientist! But whatever this thing is, we mustn't let these Onmics get their hands on it!" Was all the high-ranking man could shout, before quickly hiding for cover behind the pillar.
"We need to protect it until the strike team arri-!"
He couldn't finish his sentence, as an explosion sent him a metre into the air and right back down, just right in the middle of the lab.
"Sir!" cried the soldier to the general, before screaming in pain as she got shot by one of the robots.
Slightly blurred out, the general coughed as he lay on the ground, gunfire still ringing the lobby of the lab. Hazy as it is, all he could hear was muffled cries of his soldiers screaming and shuffling of boots, indicating that they were falling back deeper into the lab.
Blinking and regaining focus, he could see one of the onmics standing above him, his cold metal feet on his chest. This Onmic looked the same as the army of Onmics attacking the lab.
The menacing Onmic gave an expressionless look back down on him. Its stance alone was giving off an impression that it was ready to kill him.
"General Niccle Alldic.", the weart robotic voice spoke softly, taking his foot off him and kneeling right down to face him. "Surrender yourself and the weapon and we will leave peacefully."
The general just stared back at the robot in its cold red LED eyes. Then, he coughed out a small chuckle and gave a tired smug look to him.
"In your dreams, tin can." he blurted out.
While all of this was taking place, the army of Onmic spared no time and rushed deeper into the test facility, still fighting off the remaining few that were still protecting the weapon. Making their way through the facility, they were passing many labs that were abandoned when the invasion of the base began.
None did not realise that one of the laboratory rooms began acting bizarrely. The busted and broken lights started to flicker, not due to the attack, but rather an unknown presence.
Then out of thin air, two individuals beamed into existence, the swirls of energy around the both of them fading once in place. One was dressed up with a light padded vest with dark long sleeves and armed with a recurved pulley-powered bow and what appeared to be foam-tipped arrows. The other individual was decked out in full padded armour up until her shoulders and thighs. She was armed with a long plexiglass shield with the words 'POLICE' on it and a sword that glowed bright white, something that closely resembled a lightsaber.
One of the Onmics attacking the retreating soldiers suddenly felt the new presence on the makeshift battleground and suddenly the whole battalion immediately turned their attention to the two unknown individuals, now standing in their midsts, they began firing directly at them.
"Get behind me!", cried out a voice, bringing out her shield, protecting both herself and her partner as the rain of pulse bullets came down on both of them, hitting her shield.
Her partner moved out of their cover, he fired his foam-tipped arrow at the closest enemy. The arrow, immediately upon landing on the robot, gave a powerful recoil, sending an Onmic backwards. The arrow, after being recoiled, ricochets off and hits the next enemy, followed by the next enemy, all having the same effect of being recoiled off by the arrow.
With most of the close enemies eliminated, both of them switched to their melee weapons, mainly her lightsabre and his bow as a makeshift melee, they both charged into the fray.
Meanwhile, the expressionless Onmic just looked at the general, unsurprised by his response. The proud onmic, who was oblivious to the other fight that was happening, gave a weary chuckle.
"Very poor choice of words, Mr Alldic.", the onmic grimly said to him, his voice taking a much lower and rougher pitch. The onmic, now with a knife in hand, raised his arms to stab him.
The general did nothing. He was tired from the very long clash between them and these Onmics and whatever organisation they belonged to. He just proceeded to close his eyes and brace for the fatal swing to hit him.
The swing which never came.
Grazing up, his potential murderer's head fell straight to the floor. Looking at it, he could see that the severed neck was cut off by something hot, telling from the melted metal where the cut took place. General Niccle then looked up to his saviour.
Or saviours, because standing in front of him were two unfamiliar individuals, the one with the bow offering a lending hand.
Getting up, he saw that the two figures had taken out all of the onmics in the basement. He breathed a sigh of relief as the skirmish was over, for now.
"Thanks for the save." He breathed a heavy sigh. He stood up, dusting himself clean, then nodded to both of them. "What are your names?"
"You can call me John", said the one with the bow and arrow weapon.
"Vale", the one with the glowing lightsabre declared.
"Call me Alldic." He looked around to see the once gigantic sea of militarized robots now reduced to nothing but scraps. "I'll take it you're the strike team, yeah?"
The two figures stopped and then looked at each other.
"That's one way to put it." Vale shrugged off the question. "Anyway, what can we help you?"
Alldic just looked at the two after Vale's response, but he decided to shrug it off. There were other important matters to attend to.
"Welcome to the Azay Plant Air Base here in the quiet coastal town of Hennie, the Netherlands." He gave them a warm greeting. "This place was spick and span when you weren't here, but you came in good timing too."
Moving into the lab, Niccle brought them to the small device that they were busy protecting.
"This is it." He showed them. "This is not the final idea we had in mind. But has proven itself in early tests."
"Get this prototype bomb out of here and bring it to the United Nations' hands." He showed the weapon to them. "Hopefully, they will help reproduce this bomb in greater numbers to armies and fighters around the globe. This will hopefully help bring the Second Onmic Crisis to an end."
John and Vale took a second to digest all the information they were given.
"Right. Bring the bomb to the… United Nations, okay." John said as he was trying to replay what the General said to them.
"Yep. I know it's a lot to take in for the two of you, but better take the chance to leave while you still can." He told them as a distant explosion rocked the building. "I'll explain to you and the taskforce in better conditions." General Niccle just looked up to the ceiling as they knew the fight wasn't over yet.
"Sir looks like more onmics heading our direction! It sounds like they are coming from the main floors." shouted one of the soldiers who went to inspect the main lobby. The lifts were now up and running, with the overhead signage showing that they were moving down and fast.
"Okay." Niccle quickly turned his attention to the duo. "Take the weapon and head through the emergency door, right next to the lab. It will lead you to the main level with a Loading-Unloading zone. That place should be empty." He pointed to where the door was located. It was completely boarded up with all the things and equipment that was in the lab.
"Better get moving." he added as he quickly got into position behind one of the pillars in the lobby outside of the lab." We will help cover you."
John was a bit hesitant with the man's answer, but then Vale rested her hand on his shoulder and gave him a reassuring nod.
"They will be fine." Vale then turned her attention to the weapon on the table.
"Bring Eve out. We can keep the weapon with her." John insisted, looking back to Vale. "Come. I cleared the door. Let's go."
Vale nodded and reached into her utility belt and brought out a small flat circular communicator-like device. But while it seemed to be a harmless device at first, it soon glowed into life and a smooth female robotic voice soon spoke.
"Hello again Vale! What can I help you out with?" The device spoke out.
"Hey Eve, mind if you can keep something for me?" Vale looked at the device cheerfully. She has always liked Eve. She was like a cheery AI companion for her.
"Sure thing boss!" Eve giggled. Vale went to the bomb-like weapon and placed her AI companion close by. Vale watched as the weapon disintegrated into many small white particles and her device.
"There we go! Item 'Bomb' is in our inventory." Eve exclaimed, showing a hologram of the weapon.
"Thanks, Eve. Mind if you can stay with us a bit longer? We are on a mission now and may need your guidance." Vale questioned Eve.
"Alrighty!" Eve cheered on as Vale clipped her to her utility belt.
"Lead the way, Vale. We're right behind you." John reassured Vale, readying his bow and his foam arrows.
The duo ran out of the lab and into the emergency door, opening it with brute force and slamming it as they ran upstairs to the Loading-Unloading Zone.
General Niccle just watched from his position from the pillar, impressed as to what he had just witnessed. He could now watch them escape through the door with the important device with them. For now, he can only hope.
"Man, I gotta get myself one of those devices," he muttered to himself.