Chapter Eleven: Home Invasion

Daniel felt and heard the crack as he drove the butt of his pistol into the Rhinestone's gem. The construct's body distorted with its core damaged, but it didn't fully vanish until he finished it off with one more strike. As a second one came up behind him, he began to wish for a melee weapon. Still, the gun proved more than useful, as he whirled around and shot it down.

Had his body not been running on autopilot, he would have had a million questions. How had Echo managed to find this place? What reason did he have for invading? And most importantly, how many more of these things did he have to kill!? "Any chance their numbers are thinning?" he shouted.

"Sure doesn't look like it!" replied Hester. With the Rhinestones too close to snipe, she had traded her usual rifle for one of the assault variety, spraying lead into their approaching numbers. "Remember, aim for their gemstones!"

To her right, Luke was armed with a splintered piece of wood, swinging away at any Rhinestone that came too close. "You say that like it's so easy!" Like a wooden stake, he drove his weapon's sharpened edge into one of the intruders' hearts, breaking it into pieces. He tried to do the same to another, only to miss by mere inches. The Rhinestone scratched at him with its hands, until he was able to force it away. A volley from Hester finished it off.

All around them, the peaceful settlement had turned into a warzone. The entire small town was crawling with Rhinestones, which had seemingly crawled out of the woodwork. "We need to get inside!" shouted Daniel. "We can create a defensible position from within!"

"Don't need to tell me twice!" Luke replied, having taken cover behind a mailbox. Under a barrage of lasers, he sprinted towards the entrance to one of the houses, making his way through a door that Daniel was covering. After Hester and a handful of others entered as well, the captain closed the door behind him.

From there, it was a race to barricade the windows and doors. Without much to work with, they resorted to shoving furniture against the entrances, using tables and chairs to create makeshift barriers.

"Here, help me with this!" Daniel said, trying to lift up a couch. Hester and another agent aided him in pushing it up against the front door, successfully sealing it off. "We need more weapons–there should be guns down in the basement. Somebody go and load up!" Without a word, Luke ran down the stairs.

Rhinestones pounded against the walls, trying to get in. Taking cover behind some of the furniture that hadn't made the cut to be used as a barricade, the agents watched for signs of entry. The glass panes of the windows shattered, but they were unable to force their way in. This did give them enough space to fire at the inhabitants, with hot plasma streaking across the room. Everyone shot back, hoping to stop them before they could squeeze through the small openings.

As it turned out, there was one entryway that they had neglected to block. A thumping sound came from above as some of the Rhinestones climbed up onto the roof. "Crap–this place doesn't have a second floor, does it?" someone asked.

Fortunately, it did not. Unfortunately, it did have a chimney. Noticing where the noises were heading, Daniel turned towards the fireplace in anxious anticipation. Sure enough, one of the invaders forced itself down the brick tube, breaking through the glass. He opened fire as the soot-covered Rhinestone stumbled to its feet, taking aim at him.

This incursion forced the group to retreat into the living room, ducking back as beams were fired in their direction. More Rhinestones began pouring out of the fireplace, with one heading over to a window to remove the chairs blocking it. Before it could, however, a booming shot rang out, and its shattered pieces fell to the floor.

Tossing a duffel bag stuffed with guns down by the others, Luke reloaded the double-barreled shotgun he had found. "Extra firepower, as requested!" Everyone went in to lock and load as he focused on the Rhinestones. Already amply armed, Hester assisted, peppering them with short, focused spurts. Luke was able to force himself up to the fireplace, which luckily for everyone was gas-powered. He turned it up to full blast, retreating as a shot from Hester set it alight. "Ho-ho-ho, bitches!"

While the burst of flame seemed to cook the Rhinestones that were still within, one that had just exited stood back up, set aflame. The burning figure charged towards Luke, the sight unnerving enough to make him miss his shot. Fortunately for him, Daniel opened fire with his newly-acquired machine pistol, destroying it as its fire faded away.

Now that everyone was equipped, the fight began to turn. Barricades were thrown aside as the party surged out of the house, blasting away at the Rhinestones. "Hester, secure the other houses!" said Daniel, wielding a gun in one hand, and a flaming table leg in the other. "Luke, you're with me! Time to drive these things out into the cold!"

Thanks to many more stashes of guns in the other houses, the rest of the BAINE personnel were soon armed as well. The Rhinestones, which had once seemed to be coming in an endless wave, finally seemed like their numbers were thinning. But they refused to back down, climbing onto rooftops and firing down from above, trying to force groups of soldiers apart, and even charging right in as a distraction.

Their new tactics weren't quite enough to turn the tide back in their favor, but they did slow BAINE's advance somewhat. Luke blasted a hole clear through one, quickly turning to do the same to another. A third fired down on him from up on a roof; he reached for his ammo, only to find that he had run dry. Taking cover as its shots zeroed in on him, he was surprised to hear it suddenly fall from its perch, shattering on contact with the street. Peering out, it became apparent that it hadn't fallen, but rather been pushed.

"I think I got 'im!" declared Ichigo, before lowering himself down to the ground. He lightly kicked some of its shards. "Yup, I did." Ducking through the gunfire, he hurried over to the canvas bag, hauling it over to Luke. "What did we miss?"

"Oh, just more of this," Luke said, nonchalantly reloading. "You three picked a great time to go for a walk, huh?"

Vargas and James made their way over, the former covering them with his pistol. "Ah, shuddup and let me in there," he said, rifling through the bag. Rather than take out any of the guns, he decided on a large combat knife. "Aha, perfect!" With that, he ran off to take care of things on his own.

"Vargas, don't–whatever," said James, likewise looking for a weapon. "Luke, where's the ammo? I've got a gun, but no bullets!"

"I just kinda crammed it all in there!" he replied. "There's some, just keep looking, you'll find it."

James did find some ammo, just in time to shoot down a Rhinestone that was coming at them from behind. "Did these things only just get here? Because we might have found how they got in!" It began to reform, but he cut this process short by shooting it right in the gem.

"Unless you can get them back out the same way, maybe we should focus on that later!" said Luke, blowing away another one. "But yeah, once we're done here, we should probably do something about that."

Ichigo had found a weapon of his own, taking pot-shots at some Rhinestones up on a roof. "Is there gonna be anything to do? Even after we take care of these things, they still know where we are. And this place is getting pretty messed up…" Fishing a flashbang out of the bag, he hurled it at the automatons, only for them to be unaffected. "Dunno why I thought that would work."

Suddenly, a loud rapport shot through the air, and a Rhinestone taking aim at Daniel exploded. That shot hadn't come from any of them, but rather from by the bunker's entrance. The Rhinestones took notice as well, turning their assault in that direction. More and more of them popped like firecrackers as unseen snipers took them out.

The cavalry had arrived: armored BAINE troopers much more suited to combat surged into the bunker, their weapons tearing through the intruders. Rather than fall back, the Rhinestones that remained moved towards this onslaught, as though believing they had a chance to fend off the threat. This change in attention left the residents of the bunker to get to safety, while the soldiers took care of business.

Dr. Xu led the charge–though not literally, hanging back behind the wall of heavily-armed troops. "Careful of the hydroponic gardens!" she urged, barely audible above the gunfire. "It might get a bit hard to breathe in the long-term without those!"

For once, Daniel was content to sit back and let someone else handle things for a change. Within minutes, the last of the Rhinestones had been exterminated, and Bunker #18 was secure once again. Keeping their eyes open and trigger fingers ready in case they missed any, the troopers crept out of hiding to join the better-equipped newcomers.

Fireteam Victor regrouped. A quick scan of the area made it clear that their bunker wasn't exactly livable anymore, at least not by modern standards. "Well…hope somebody brought some camping gear," said Luke. "I'm no stranger to roughin' it."

"Good, you guys are okay!" said Dr. Xu, heading over to them. "I heard that one of you guys had figured something out, so I was worried you were being targeted. But nothing like that? You're all fine?"

"Fine-ish," said Ichigo. "I mean, we found a spot the Rhinestones might've used to get in, but that's about it. Once we seal it up, this place should be secure, right?"

Xu pursed her lips, looking uncomfortable. "Yeah, about that… Mills doesn't think staying here is a good idea now that it's been compromised. I mean, they found a way in once, they can probably do it again. Not to mention, most of the systems were trashed in the attack. Electronics broken, plants burned–if I didn't know better, I'd say they were deliberately trying to take this place offline."

"But why would Echo want to do that?" wondered Hester. "He's just as anti-Homeworld as we are, probably more so. I get that he hates us, but would he really go out of his way to sabotage a way to keep people alive if they invaded?"

"I gave up on understanding Mr. Echo a long time ago," Vargas said with a sigh. "Anyway, you want us to show you where we found the broken grate?"

"Please do," said Dr. Xu. "Oh, and transportation will be along soon to take us back to Headquarters. Don't worry, it won't be nearly as much of an ordeal this time!" She followed Vargas off towards the forest where he and the others had discovered the point of entry. With nothing else to do but wait until their ride came along, much of the group fizzled apart.

Ichigo righted a relatively undamaged armchair that had been thrown out into the street during the fight. "How'd they even find this place, anyway?" he wondered aloud, taking a load off. "With all the effort Mills put into keeping it hidden, it almost makes me wonder if someone was bugged or something."

"Yeah," said Daniel, watching Vargas and Xu as they vanished into the trees. "Or if somebody tipped him off…"

Hester peered through the doorway to the house they had been staying in. "It's not really so bad. Put some fresh paint on the walls, maybe a trip to the furniture store, and it'll be good as new." She wandered inside, followed by James.

"As long as someone does something about the bullet holes," he added. "And maybe that giant burn mark Luke made."

They turned their attention to the fireplace, the area around which had been scorched black. However, something among the ash caught Hester's eye. It appeared to be a Rhinestone's gem, partially melted by the heat. It had become lumpy and cloudy, though it remained in one piece. She picked it up, tossing it from one hand to the next as it cooled down. "Hey Rook, check this out! Didn't Gina say she needed one of these Rhinestones in one piece?"

James took a closer look at the half-melted lump of plastic. "I'm not sure if that counts. A hard drive that's been cooked wouldn't exactly be usable, would it?"

"I'm sure she can find a way," Hester replied, carefully pocketing the gemstone. "Besides, now that Echo is willing to go after us directly, we need all the advantages we can get."