Hello people, I'm not dead yet. Well, I oftentimes felt like it whenever I'm coughing.
Anyway, I'm sorry for my long absence. It's just my school schedule is so jammed up that I can't find time to write once in a while, even on weekends. Then the staircase of life fell when I was diagnosed with the new variant of COVID just a week ago, causing my waist to hurt like hell while I cough so much that I didn't get enough sleep which then caused my head to be in sharp pain oftentimes. So yeah, that summed up why I haven't published any more chapters.
That, and the fanfiction bot was somehow deleted for me so any notification doesn't arrive in my Gmail. But don't worry, that was fixed a couple of days ago and now we're rolling again.
Now the ranting session is over, it's time for the reviews! Which are:
GyroJapster
Definitely a Thaumiel, no doubt. She's been showing nothing more than loyalty to the foundation and actively taking action to combat any threat to the organization, which is fighting the Chaos Insurgent. And for your second comment, Arkhangelsk won't die. She's too based for that XD. And don't worry, I won't be mad if you make a request to me.
semsas
First of all, thank you for your suggestion. At first, I thought of exactly doing that. Taking things slow before going up to the conflict mountain. But then I realized, where's the challenge at that? So I decided to just ball it and threw the conflict while trying to describe Arkhangelsk's personality through crumbs here and there. Now, for your wet dream, the CI will unfortunately won't make the cut. Partially anyway, I already planned for a ship affiliated with them to be with Arkhangelsk soon.
And that's the wrap for reviews. Now, to the chapter!
08:21 Local Time
Jdfchs "Phoenix" Ddxjipluz
If there's one thing Phoenix hates the most, that would be CQC. Even after her upgrade she always finds the prospect of fighting in an enclosed position to be dreadful. Unfortunately, Aleph had caused quite the stir on the subterranean level that required her and her team to hunt the anomaly down. Pholux and Thera could only do so much without any cameras and sensors to guide them to Aleph's position since she'd destroyed all of them, then it was followed by her plowing through the generator room defenses before cutting it down.
Therefore here she was, hunting down an anomaly with her team inside the dark corridors of the lower level of the site. Their footsteps on the metal grates echoed around, bouncing off the concrete walls, and every now and then, the loud clicking of their gun being readied broke the tense silence. Phoenix led the way, the green hue of her night vision goggles filled her eyes. Upon reaching the threshold of a threeway, Phoenix raised her arm which caused the rest of the seven-men team to halt.
"Anko, which way?"
The man in question looked at his device, a heartbeat sensor, as he looked around in place before stopping at an angle.
"Right, ma'am. Got a positive around ten meters more"
Phoenix nodded and resumed her walk with the rest following suit. As their feet step on the metal floor, Phoenix can't help to feel a sense of being watched, even though some quick observation reveals none. It can't be from the cameras since all of those were blown to pieces, nor it could be from the ventilation shafts since those were too small for anyone to go through. No, this feeling is akin to being watched by an unseen. Nevertheless, that didn't stop her from moving on through the cramped environment.
Some more walking later brought them to quite a spacious security checkpoint filled with bodies of Chaos and MTF alike sprawled across the floor alongside munition crates here and there. The place itself had seen better days with bullet holes, sprays of blood, and broken glass everywhere.
The team then spread out in a classic room-clearing motion, surgically moving and carefully looking at every nook and cranny for any potential danger, which fortunately they found none.
"Rally on me," Phoenix announced through their comms.
"All clear, ma'am. No sign of anything" Report one of them.
"All clear as well in here" Another responded.
But just as she uttered an order, bursts of bullets stormed the entire hallway, and only thanks to her reflexes she managed to dive behind a stack of crates and avoid the fate of becoming Swiss cheese.
"Fuck!" She cursed as some bullets ricocheted into pipes, railings, and others, causing her and her team to stay behind cover to avoid stray rounds. Some were less lucky however as two of her men were cut down like wheat.
Amidst the chaos one of her teammates presents a flashbang in his palms, waiting for the order. Phoenix nods without hesitation as chunks of concrete walls and metal panels surrender to the storm of bullets. Pulling the safety off he throws the flashbang into the hallway as its fuse burns almost instantly in the air. The result being a blinding flash and loud crack fills the hallway, causing a short yelp and grunt to be heard by Phoenix who took the cue to step out from her cover.
Around fifty meters or so from her position is a figure crouching down on the floor. One hand is clutching their head in pain while the other is grabbing at their weapon loosely, which is a modified Pecheneg. Their torso is covered by a plate carrier and with an altyn helmet covering their entire head. Curiously enough, Phoenix could also see strands of wooden-brown hair behind them.
She'll be damned, that is Aleph.
Without hesitation, Phoenix sends a burst from her SOPMOD at Aleph's center mass, to which unsurprisingly the entity tanked said burst with only a mild stagger.
Realizing what happened Aleph rose to her full height and then carried her LMG two-handed Rambo style before unleashing some surprisingly accurate bursts at Phoenix and her team while slowly falling back deeper. Some of her team including her tried to return fire yet were unable thanks to the pinpoint accuracy Aleph displayed to them which caused her to successfully escape from their clutch.
"Damnit!" Phoenix cursed before reaching for her radio "This is Alpha 1-1 to all Bravo elements. We've made contact with Aleph but she escaped. I repeat. Aleph had escaped deeper. Over"
[Solid copy Alpha 1-1. Be advised, Bravo 1-1 had made contact with multiple SCP-049-2. No casualties. Proceed with caution. Over and out]
[Bravo 2-1 copies all. We'll try to block her from the-] A loud shriek then could be heard on the other side before the sound of metals crashing with each other filled her ears. [Shit! Defensive formation!]
Gunshots were heard alongside panicked screams, animalistic screech, and sounds of flesh being torn apart mixed together in a symphony of chaos.
[Alpha 1-1, we need back up- AAAHHHH!] The transmission then cuts to static as Phoenix tries to regain contact with her counterpart multiple times yet to no avail.
"Damnit…" Phoenix sighs "Bravo 2-1 is KIA. Stedfield, you take point. Anko and Max take the middle with me while Tyson is on rear duty. Move"
Without any pause, the men swiftly moved to their designated position before moving on and continuing their hunt. Again, the eerie darkness and tight space are the only things they can see along the way, yet Phoenix can't shrug off the notion of being watched just like earlier. Though this time the feeling is closer, as if the watcher is just right beside her. Despite that, she could hear some voice crackle on her radio. No, more like on the radio wave, her men also reported the same.
The watcher is indeed close then if that's the case.
Suddenly, a muffled clang was heard by her ears coming from one of the air ducts. Swiftly she whipped her SOPMOD towards it and widened her eyes slightly at what she saw.
A group of tiny humanoid creatures dressed in full combat gear, complete with their own set of firearms ranging from ARs to SMGs. Their helmets, vests, NVGs, everything are seemingly accurate to the last detail, and Phoenix couldn't help to be frozen in place at the absurdity, even her men couldn't help to do the same when they realized it too.
Unfortunately for her, those little creatures seemingly didn't feel the same and opened fire with their little weapons. Despite their size, the bullets were real when Stedfield took one to the helmet, sending him dead on the metal floor while Phonix and the rest rushed to hug the wall just below the air duct. After spending around ten seconds of continuous fire to keep her and her men at bay those little gremlins slowly stepped back into the maze of air ducts, but not before throwing a nut-sized grenade into the grate floor.
Fully knowing its capability despite the size, the now four-man team scrambled to reach for the small object in panic. Though Phoenix eventually gives up before giving the order to run, and just in time for it to explode which caused the entire floor and walls to collapse followed by serious pipe leakage, but that's not her problem.
"Anyone got scratched?" Phoenix asked her dwindling team, to which answered with a series of "No", "I'm good" or thumbs up.
Phoenix let a some ragged breaths. Ten men had died in less than thirty minutes in this fucking hole, all for a goddamn HVT.
"Feels like Ranger school all over again" She muttered under her breath. "Oh, what would I give for a smoke right now…"
[]-[]-[]-[]
{Team 2 had safely retreated and is currently en route to rendezvous point} Arkhangelsk's new advisor announced inside her head as she put a new belt into her Pecheneg.
"Team 1?" She asked
{Keeping tabs on the other squad, as you requested. Wants their POV?}
She nods while pulling the bolt back before releasing it. Satisfied, she then takes off her Altyn helmet and inspects the beating it had taken. It had seen better days, evident by how much the paint had chipped off and metal bent from the ricocheting bullets. The visor also cracked, meaning that seeing through it is no longer possible. With a sigh Arkhangelsk threw the helmet to the side, now being a piece of junk rather than a piece of combat equipment.
A second later a small screen appeared on the top right corner of her night vision, showing a view from her forward scouts that were currently hiding in the air duct and silently observing the insurgent's fireteam. The view's a little bit obstructed by the ventilation cover but that's okay, she could still see what she'll be up against, which is a seven-man team equipped for close-quarters, meaning that SMGs and Carbines if she would dare to guess.
Who would've guessed that her previous crew also came back to life just like Aleksey? Though, they aren't in the form of what she expected at first. Glancing at the end of the corridor she could see some of her… ahem… engineering Fairies who are currently setting up trip wires for the claymores Arkhangelsk's looted from various bodies. Where the fairy nickname comes from Arkhangelsk doesn't know but Aleksey was persistent on it so damn it would be what she would call them from this point on.
"It sounds weird, Captain. Fairies?"
{Look, it's either that or Manjuu. Do you think that's even better?}
Arkhangelsk recoiled mentally in disgust. That's a simply terrible name.
"Yeah, none of that Asian language, thank you. But still, anything besides Fairy?"
{… Gremlin?}
"… I'm a goblin then, is that what are you saying?"
Arkhangelsk could feel her Captain tilting his head left and right as if unsure of what to answer, he then shrugged at it though.
{Depends. Do you feel like a goblin?}
"not quite?"
{Then that's your answer. Anyway, Fairy or Gremlin?}
"Eh, I'll take the Fairy. Sounds cute"
Her Captain barked a laugh inside her head, and Arkhangelsk couldn't help to let a slight smile at his happiness. By the time he's done laughing, her little fairies were done at setting up the traps, ranging from simple trip mines up to a crude gun turret made from her Pecheneg, some circuits, a tripod stashed inside one of the closets for some reason, and a laser sight.
Wow, they've done more than what they can pull in a literal sense, who would've thought?
Anyway, said Fairies then retreating back into their ship, which is her, by phasing through into her body entirely. To this very second she still can't wrap her head around that fact. Shaking that thought away, she moved to a comfortable cover behind a crate, slapping the bolt of her "borrowed" MP5SD6 to the front to arm it. To maximize her stealth, she draped herself with a black cloth she found inside one of the crates. Now, she just needs to wait for the enemy to come. Patience and self-control would be the key here.
Fortunately, she didn't need to wait long as multiple green lasers aimed everywhere in erratic movement, followed by a well-armed and armored squad tactically filing into the corridor. Arkhangelsk is tempted to open fire, as well as allowing the turret to do the same, but she withholds. After some steps, the person leading the group stops, then crouches and points his laser at the tripwire her fairies had set up earlier.
It's expected, to be honest, The Kirov wouldn't really expect a group of trained soldiers to fall for an easy trap like that. No, that would play its role later. Back to the squad, they opted to bypass the tripwire entirely instead of defusing it. Big mistake on their part, because the moment the last person skipped through the wire Arkhangelsk let the turret sing its deadly symphony at the unfortunate squad, filling the quiet and dark corridor with loud and bright muzzle flashes.
With little to no cover, most of the squad was easily cut down by the Pecheneg's 7.62 rounds. The ones that do find cover were in for a surprise when Arkhangelsk picked them one by one up to the point of what's left of the squad dares not to peek. This is where the trap from earlier sprung its deadly payload upon getting shot by Arkhangelsk, causing a blastwave that filled most of the corridor and killing what few remained of the squad. Just in time for the Pecheneg to click its empty chamber after spitting a squad's worth of ammunition.
Just like that. Less in a minute, maybe thirty to forty seconds max, she'd just killed a squad of armed and trained soldiers. Reloading the H&K-made submachine gun Arkhangelsk then let out a laugh.
"Well you look at that, another squad killed. That leaves only the one that team 2 had abandoned right?" Her Captain nods.
{They aren't an immediate threat at this point, but I suggest you handle them quickly before returning the power back on.}
"Understood" She then changed her radio frequency before speaking through it. "Jackal, come in. This is Hyena. I've taken most of the insurgents down here and going to turn the power back on. How's the situation up there?"
For some seconds nothing came through, which was to be expected since she was underground and the floor was lined with lead if she remembered correctly. Fortunately, the reply came not long after, a little distorted but still coherent enough to be understandable.
[Excellent work. And it's going well up here, we've managed to link up with the rest, and are now en route to attacking the priority target.] He then chuckles. [It would be helpful if you're here, you know? Tanked up all the bullets for us while we pushed on, how's that sound?]
Arkhangelsk couldn't help to shake her head in amusement. Damn Brit. If he survived this she would buy him a drink, if she had the money that is. Maybe stealing again wouldn't be a bad idea. Pushing that thought away she replied to the former SBS.
"Thanks for the offer, but I'm not interested. Still have two SCPs in here and a squad of insurgents left to deal with, and then I need to turn the power back on after all of this shenanigan. You do your job, I do mine. And how are the two doctors, by the way? They alright?"
[Still holed inside their hiding after Limburgh's last check-up. Nothing interesting came their way he said earlier. Can you believe that man?]
She snorted. That's Victor alright.
"Of course I do. I can already picture him passing out of sheer boredom. Anyway, good talk but I still have some more people to kill. Hyena out"
The smoke, gunpowder, and blood fill the quiet air apart from the sizzling of flames and her breath. Either way, she still has a job to do and that job is currently on the move. From the right side of the wall, an air duct cover is suddenly opened, exiting from there are her small forward recon teams to which Arkhangelsk gently scooped up and returned safely inside their "Mother". With a slap the SMG's bolt racked forward with a click, and with that she moved on to the last of the insurgents.
[]-[]-[]-[]
It was after around thirty minutes of finding bodies and dodging booby traps Phoenix and what's left of her team managed to reach their destination, the generator room, and only a simple double door separates them from the interior. With the traditional breaching technique the team stacked up at the right side of the door, slowly opening the door before spreading out when fully entering the room to make sure their footing is clear.
The generator room is... unique if Phoenix dares to say. Unlike other rooms on this level, the generator room is located right at the bottom of a big cooling tower, meaning that sunlight shines in the room uninterrupted. This room is also a massive one, housing four giant generator pieces with supporting infrastructure to keep it running while catwalks stretched far and wide across the room for ease of access. Obviously, the generators are now deactivated thanks to a certain anomalous entity, and Phoenix doesn't exactly care about it. She's here for Aleph, not the generators.
Phoenix then took off her NVG and readied her AR, while the rest of her team did the same. This place is big and there are only four of them, Aleph could easily slip past them and pick them off one by one if she wants to, therefore the best strategy is to not scatter by themselves. Moving in single file the now four-man team slowly pushed their way through the maze of machinery, aiming their guns high and low to prevent any unwanted surprise. Phoenix could hear her heart beating hard upon approaching a corner and with a deep breath she quickly peeked out of the corner, finding the spot to be clear.
But just as she was going to let out a relieved sigh a sudden burst of bullets riddled the wall beside her causing her to retreat back into her cover. Phoenix's about to peek out again to fire back but the bursts are persistent, so instead she brings her gun to the open before firing blindly in hopes of scaring whoever firing at her right now. To her surprise, it worked when the burst was no longer present, and her teammates used that opening to clear out from the corner and take on their respectable positions in various spots.
Without warning, Aleph suddenly peeks out from the catwalk above and starts to pepper burst after burst at them, each being either narrowly missed or hitting the cover. Phoenix leaned her SOPMOD against the corner and fired off some bursts at the catwalk, most were ricocheting against the railing while the rest hit Aleph's armor plate, causing her to stagger slightly. Despite that, Aleph takes that as a signal to retreat and promptly retreat into the generators.
"Everyone, on me!" Phoenix ordered as she bolted into a sprint towards a nearby stairs.
Ahead of the rest of her men Phoenix climbed the stairs and ran off to the last known position of Aleph. She then heard loud steps coming from the other side of the room, and without hesitation, Phoenix moved her legs as fast as she could toward the source with her men not far behind. She'd lose too many men, she'll be damned if she wasted this opportunity. Upon rounding the corner of a generator time feels slowed down as a fist suddenly launched directly at her torso. Without any time nor room to dodge Phoenix slammed her body to the fist hard, causing her to fall to the grated floor.
With that, she lays down on the floor writhing in pain, groaning and grunting to subsidize the feeling. But her attacker isn't done yet, because in that moment Phoenix saw her attacker, Aleph, stand tall above her. The woman's face is slightly obscured by the shadow but she could tell that Aleph's scowling hard at her, her long hair draped behind her back just above the black cloak she wears. However, that won't save her from a hard stomp directly to the face by Aleph.
And that's the last thing she would see for a while.