Pain spiked in her temple, and she released a low moan, as images flashed through it. Nightmares. Sounds. The scent of smoke and death. An emaciated, bare, living corpse crawling in through the open cabin door toward them. Its hideous visage was reflected in the Point Man's red goggles along with the mushroom cloud rising over Fairport. Another flash of Holiday shouting and firing his roaring, ear splitting submachine gun at the creature... which was entirely unaffected by each round. Something had struck the Black Hawk as it had pulled itself inside, hard enough to knock them off course, and to put it into a tailspin. The pilot shouting from the cabin for everyone to hold on to something. She had felt the Point Man's gloved hand enclose around her wrist... pulling her to the ground away from the monster in the form of a soaked dead woman, dripping a clear fluid from its face obscuring, lank black hair. It reached out towards her, bony fingers more like claws. She felt him press close against her... covering her, her arms wrapping around him in turn and holding on for dear life, fear coursing through her.
There had been another muffled impact against the helicopter, then. Everything had gotten hazy and gone dark soon afterwards. Silence encompassing her along with the darkness.
At some point in time, F.E.A.R. Technical Officer Jin Sun-Kwon gradually returned to a painful, ringing world. Opening her eyes, her gloved hands grasped either side of the floor beneath her. Dizzy, she shakily pulled herself up and on to her knees with effort, suddenly taken by a coughing fit as she did so, shaking her head. Her vision was blurry, and she blinked rapidly, trying to clear it. The haze of memories kept streaming in and out, as she looked from side to side, where she found herself kneeling in the cargo compartment of the Black Hawk. The interior appeared to be empty of others, all seat vacant... she alone remained within. There was debris and objects all over the cabin... a fallen fire extinguisher, glass shards everywhere and spent brass shell casings all over, some pooled around her. Her face stung painfully from cuts... but were no longer bleeding, she didn't feel any blood on her face.
At last, she found her voice as she looked around the Black Hawk for answers, hoping they would come... that she wouldn't have to face the horrors of Fairport on her own.
"Holiday? Anyone?"
No response greeted her... she was quite alone after all, her heart sinking in her chest. She looked ahead, out the open side door of the helicopter and stood up at last, with effort. Ignoring the aches and wave of vertigo as best she could. Her hand settled against the side of the plane as she rose with a pained groan, narrowing her eyes, raising a hand over them as a beam from a close street light shone in her eyes, in conjunction with the twilight. She focused on the view of Fairport that greeted her. Devastation... ruins. Rubble. Numerous buildings tightly packed together, some of them entirely toppled, others damaged. It was evening, but the sickly orange light of the sun still shone, but was dipping down behind the smoke still rising high in the air and a number of forming storm clouds. The helicopter had landed somewhere near the edge of Auburn... from the way the increasingly distant buildings up the road were in better condition. It must have been hours since then... it had been morning when the Vault had detonated.
Her gaze turned sharply downward to the road in front of the helicopter, as she caught sight of it. A blood trail, stretching up along it, illuminated in the street lights. Her eyes narrowed carefully on the other matter... bare footprints, each print black from soot or ashes. Following the blood trail all the way up the road. A road lined with abandoned and crashed cars. Before she could think about it much further, she heard a man's pained groan from behind her, and she started, lowering her hand from her face and looking back. It had emanated from the cockpit... where a man had been slumped, obscured by his seat when she had looked around earlier. The control panel inside the cockpit was as smashed up as the windows, partially melted from the look of it. The familiar dark haired pilot, clad in his olive green uniform, took off his headset and looked up from where he sat, over to her in the doorway. His bruised, cut up face studied her with slightly glazed blue eyes, uncertain, but with dawning recognition of his surroundings, voice groggy and disoriented.
"Jin? What happened?"
"Bremmer!", Jin breathed with relief, lowering her hand against the door back down to her side. She broke out into a genuine smile... what felt like the first in as long as she could remember. Someone else had survived... she wouldn't know the extent of his injuries until she examined him, but he could move, and speak. It was something, not to be alone in this mess. "I'm glad to see you made it!"
The Delta Force pilot merely stared at her, silently... the glazed over look growing stronger again. Vacant. A trickle of blood began to run from his ear, trailing down his cheek and dripping freely. Her smile faded as quickly as it had formed at the sight, replaced with immediate concern. Tentatively speaking again.
"Bremmer?"
In another instant, the pilot began to convulse in his seat and scream, closing his eyes tightly, features contorted with raw agony. He rose his hands, clenching them tightly as he seized and shook... and then his screams grew louder, shrieks carrying through the helicopter and their surroundings. His bleeding ears were torn off his head, falling to floor, his flesh and eyes began to pool together, melt and run away, hanging from his face. Shredding deeply at various points of his head, opening rapidly and oozing contents, streaming from the two holes in the side of his head. Through it all, he screamed... making sounds she knew she would take with her to the grave. In a sudden explosion of blood, flesh and muscle, he stopped screaming all at once. Slumping forward, his bloody, blackened skull slammed against the control panel, smoke rising from his remains. Through it all, Jin remained frozen in helpless horror... watching as within mere seconds he was liquified before her very eyes. Just like the remains of the Delta Force squads at the Waste Treatment Facility. Just like the remains of Foxtrot Recon Squad at Armacham Headquarters.
All her theorizing about the origin proven wrong and revealed before her very eyes.
"Bremmer!"
She screamed... as blood caked the inside of the cockpit, dripping and running from the windows it had splattered against. Pooling under the pilot's boots, trickling and flowing down the aisle of the helicopter. Her horrified eyes caught sight of something else that was red... visible beyond the broken front window of the Black Hawk. Standing out on the street, illuminated by the sickly orange glow of the sun. A deathly pale little girl in a stained crimson dress, long back hair hanging freely. Bloody bare feet, standing amid the debris and ruins of Auburn. Her features were still like a porcelain doll's face. She stared back at Jin for a long moment, immobile as a statue, before tilting her head slightly... searching her. Seemingly finding something. Her lips curved into a tiny, almost imperceptible, knowing smile... her black eyes burned red, turning the same color as the dying sun, shining back like a beacon in the partial shadows. And then she was ashes, dissolving and fading away on the wind. Leaving only what remained of Bremmer's smoking, liquified corpse behind in her wake.
"Oh God no..."
Jin knew all at once what it had been. It was her. The same abomination that had climbed aboard the Black Hawk... the emaciated, bare, corpse-like monster the Point Man had pulled her away from. Shielded her from. The origin of their entire operation in Fairport. Wearing another form. A different face. A little girl's innocent form... something she had once been... everything she wasn't now.
Alma.
Adrenaline surging, ignoring her own pain and exhaustion, Jin coughed and retched as the foul smell of the burning flesh in the cockpit caught in her nose, and backed away at once. There was nothing more she could do for Bremmer, here. She jumped out of the helicopter, moving away from it and stepping back to the nearby road. Coughing and retching, trying not to throw up... to recover her breath... slowly breathing in the cold air of the evening. She rose a hand to her headset and activated it right away. Opening a comlink and reaching out to likely the only F.E.A.R. Combat Operative remaining in Fairport, somewhere.
"Come in, Point Man! Can you hear me? It's Jin! Where are you? Please pick up the comlink! Message me via your datapad! Over!"
Nothing but static answered her, and she tried again a couple more times, in vain. Where the hell was he? Where had he gone? What had been done to him? Had Alma gotten to him before she woke up? Taken him somewhere? Her eyes moved down to the bare soot covered footprints on the road, the blood trail... too small to belong to the child form, but not too small to belong to the dead thing that had crawled aboard their chopper. At the memory of the thing, she tried to get a hold of herself. To force aside her worst assumptions, and get through to him again. There was only continued static on the line. She tried another familiar comlink at last, looking up and staring out over the ruins of Auburn.
"Holiday, come in! Holiday, this is Jin, pick up now! Please! Over!"
Static. A sound she was becoming steadily more frustrated with. She tried again, several more times. Waiting as long as she could in between for a response. There was nothing but dead air, of course. She switched frequencies again... even remembering and knowing she would not get through to the outside. Her desperation to reach someone, anyone, overrode her knowledge.
"Betters, this is Jin, please pick this up damn it! You better be listening up there! Betters! Come in!"
Again, no response, even after trying another couple times. She released a low, frustrated sound, the dread inside her only deepening. She considered contacting Raynes and Chen, the Second F.E.A.R. Team... but last she had heard from Betters they had been finishing up their operation, had completed their objectives at Armacham Plaza and had been more or less ready to depart the city before the blast... were probably outside by now and already back at the F.E.A.R. Compound celebrating. There was only one option left on the table. She switched over to the Delta Force frequency. She knew she couldn't get through to Den Mother, reach the outside, but there could have still been others in the city. There had been an entire company of Delta Force operators dispatched to Fairport over the course of the mission to hunt down Fettel and his Replica battalion, as the scope of the operation had expanded.
She listened in as she dialled through the Delta Force frequencies... there was a great deal of static in return, but the occasional distorted voices among them. Somewhere out there, others were probably looking to get in touch with fellow survivors as well. Expecting no different results than before, she reached out all the same.
"Is there anyone out there? This is F.E.A.R. Technical Officer Jin Sun-Kwon, calling for assistance from any surviving Delta Force or F.E.A.R. operatives who can hear me. Can anyone pick me up on this frequency? Over!"
There was only static to greet her... no matter how many times she tried. She was alone in Auburn... Fairport, for all she knew. The people she knew and cared about were dead or worse. The Point Man. Jankowski. With her luck Raynes and Chen hadn't made it out, had died with countless others by now. The outside was beyond reach. The city was far too empty, had evacuated too fast to be normal. Alma was doing something to Fairport... changing it... temporal distortions, perhaps. She was only getting stronger since her release from the Vault. Since the explosion. All she knew was that she wanted to flee Fairport on foot, if need be... that she might still do so... but she couldn't just abandon any possible survivors. She had joined F.E.A.R. for a reason... much as she wanted to escape and contact her family... let them know she had made it. Help would be coming... it had to be, after such devastation on American soil. With a sigh, Jin was about to turn off the comlink, when through the hissing static, to her surprise, came a man's voice to her, redirecting her attention from her despairing thoughts.
"Jin? Is that really you? Are you receiving this? It's C Detachment Sergeant First Class Passalaqua... do you read me? Over!"
Jin knew his name, and knew his voice. She remembered before, when Delta Force operator Passalaqua had been guarding her at her various forensic sites most of the day. While she had examined the Point Man after the incident at the Water Treatment Facility. Making the odd comment or observations of all the horrific corpses and scenes they uncovered... but not especially perturbed. A solid and reliable operator, open to the supernatural, and not dismissive towards F.E.A.R as most were... especially as the operation had gone on. Lending her a hand setting up at the crime scenes, where needed. They hadn't run into any hostiles, thankfully, but she had felt much safer than she had realized with him around. She spoke into the comlink at last, finding her startled, relieved voice.
"Donald... is that you? You're still alive? Where have you been?"
The voice on the other end of the line laughed at that grimly. Jin could almost see him rolling his eyes behind his goggles. The laugh alone drew another wave of warm relief in a way she couldn't remember feeling. Some time before they had moved to intercept Alice Wade, he had been dispatched by Den Mother to some other secretive Delta Force mission. The timing had been right, anyways, she had wrapped up her forensics of the Foxtrot Recon Team's remains, and he had taken her to the roof to meet his own chopper and Dust 2. She, Holiday and their new escort had stayed behind to wait for the Point Man to reach them with Alice Wade for evacuation. It had taken awhile... and unfortunately the Point Man had reached them alone. Forcing them to pursue Alice Wade while in search for the Vault. She'd had some regret to have to separate from the reliable operator, but it had been for the best in hindsight, considering how that flight had turned out. The operator's familiar voice filled the comlink channel again, filling her in.
"Don't sound so surprised... though to be fair I didn't think you made it either. After we parted ways, me and my squad were sent to recover some information at Armacham's Data and Research Center. It didn't go according to plan, to put it mildly, but your Second F.E.A.R. Team bailed us out. I paid them back by leading another team to help them take Armacham Plaza. When that wrapped up, I was dispatched back to help your team in Auburn again. Busy night. Then the explosion hit as we were on our way to regroup with your people. Been trying to get through to you and anyone else since shit went south. Your comlink only just kicked in, it was nothing but static before. Lucky we were outside of the blast radius before it went off. Took cover in the Halford Warehouse District. We can't get through to Den Mother or Tomcat, the Sergeant Major or find any civilians. What the hell happened? Are you ok? What's the situation?"
He didn't know. Few outside the team did. There was only so much she could tell him... so much he could believe, even if he had seemed to be open to things. Jin wanted to tell him everything, instead she chose her words carefully. She didn't want to sound as insane as the situation really was. As insane as she was starting to fear she had gone throughout the operation.
"I'm... I'm ok. The Vault's primary core went critical, caused the blast from the Origin Facility.", Jin's slow, quiet voice returned at last, finding her nerves. She spoke on, more steadily. Eyes shifting about her surroundings, in case Alma was still watching... not that she could stop the thing even if she were armed. "We... crashed our helicopter, near the edge of Auburn. It's just me, Bremmer is...-"
She paused... and slowly turned back to the wreckage of the helicopter. A single small fire still burned in the rubble beside it... and it was still illuminated by the dying sun. The sickly illumination of the streetlight. She could see the broken windows, stained with Bremmer's blood, flesh and gray matter, having to look away again. Strong stomach for medical matters or not... there was a difference in having seen it in front of her... the unnaturalness of it. Swallowing, she spoke again more firmly.
"Our pilot Bremmer is dead, Sergeant Major Holiday and my team's Point Man are missing. I don't know where they could have gone. It's just me at this position."
"Copy that, Jin. Listen to me very carefully... you need to get the hell out of there, now. ATC forces are converging on your position in Auburn... not just the usual security force, but some of their Black Ops from the looks of it. I don't know what those bastards want with you guys, but it can't be good. Put some distance between you and the Black Hawk. Make your way to my position, I'm with my SFOD-D squad, we're holed up in an alley a couple klicks from your location. I'm uploading the location to your Datanet now. Are you receiving it?"
Startled by the sudden information, she nearly jumped when the device beeped faintly in one of her pouches as the information was picked up. Remembering she had left it in sleep mode, she opened the right pouch and took it out, looking it over for any damage. Fortunately, it remained intact, despite the crash. She turned on the datapad and opened up the screen, to the mobile tracker. Sure enough, Passalaqua's position was marked in red... but he had also marked something else for her. Several blue markers heading towards her location, just as he'd warned. Armacham... what the hell were they still doing out here, after everything that had happened? What were they playing at? She wasn't armed... of course... there had been no weapons on the Black Hawk either. And the only weapon she had been interested in being specially trained with, upon her joining into F.E.A.R. hadn't been necessary for the mission, Delta Force quite capable of handling it. She wasn't a Combat Operative, and had never really wanted to be... she had joined to save lives, treat her fellow operatives, not take lives. Though with how it had gone, she was starting to regret that. Without a weapon, even their weakest security forces, whatever had survived the blast, could take her with ease. She activated her comlink again, speaking into it hurriedly, heartbeat racing.
"I got you, Passalaqua, thanks for the heads up. I'm on my way to your position now. Hold tight. Jin, over and out."
She turned off the comlink, lowered her datapad, and looked up and down the street again. Within a matter of moments, Passalaqua's words were proven true. She heard it in the far distance, the growing rumbling of a powerful engine. She looked off in the distance, the direction of the blood trail and footprints... and watched as a massive vehicle rolled forward, headlights visible from her position. Sparks flew amid the grinding of metal as it plowed derelict cars out of its way, knocking them to either side of the road. Silently apologizing to Bremmer, for having to leave his remains... Jin broke into a sprint at once, running for the nearest buildings off the road and ran into its alley, taking up a position hiding behind a brick wall just in the nick of time. She heard the crunching of metal as the lead vehicle arrived, passing the alley and braking hard, the others doing the same around the crash site. Jin, crouching low, leaned slightly to her side, glancing down the darkened alley to the illuminated streets, in the direction of the crash site. Glancing between it and her datapad's blue markers.
Sure enough, it was an ATC convoy, consisting of black metal armored Replica Trucks... evidently the ATC forces had managed to commandeer some of them again, since the Replica shut down. She watched the back doors open, and from them spilled ATC Security Guards... or rather, a heavy armored variant of them, head to toe in black and navy blue armor and wearing dark tinted face plates over their ballistic helmets. ATC Riot Security Troops, dressed similarly to SWAT officers, though bulkier and better equipped. Gone were the simple Kevlar vests and ATC caps... although the logo and lettering remained, stamped out on the front of their full body armor. They were better armed too... fewer submachine guns and pistols, more G2A2 Assault Rifles and assorted shotguns, pump action and automatic, among other advanced weaponry she could spot. She heard the shouting of squad leaders, giving out orders. Her gaze drifted on, though... to a behemoth of a vehicle pulled up in front of the Black Hawk... her eyes widening a bit. A giant APC... gun metal blue, and looked as if it had been spliced together with an IFV or tank. Heavy grade weapons were visible on it, including rocket pods and a sizable mounted turret on top.
It was even bigger than the troop carrier trucks that had smashed through all the cars to begin with. The mobile command center for the convoy, undoubtedly. She heard the ramp of it's backside drop, but couldn't glimpse the back of the APC from her position. She saw the occupants though soon enough. They came around the sides of the APC, moving in tactical formation towards the wreckage of the helicopter. They wore armor that put even the Riot Security Troops to shame... full military grade body armor suits, most of them, heavy variants... probably enough to rival even F.E.A.R.'s D-12 Heavy Armor. Their weapons were more assorted and powerful than the Riot Security forces, advanced firepower, a few Jin had never seen before and couldn't name. Most of them wore the same armored uniforms, black and dark blue, covered with pouches and holsters, with glowing blue lights on them at various points... save at least two of their team she could see. Among them, a statuesque woman wore a long, black, lightly armored catsuit-like attire with glowing blue lights at the midsection and thighs, as well as a gas mask with glowing blue lenses in it, and the mask fused together with a black combat helmet, walking nimbly with some manner of assault rifle in both gloved hands.
And then there was the behemoth that moved beside her that dominated the scene, in more ways than one. Giant boots breaking the bits of debris around the crash site beneath the sheer weight of them. Jin had to clench her jaw to keep from making a sound... either the figure in question was wearing a power armored exoskeleton or he was cybernetically enhanced... or knowing ATC, both. His limbs were augmented at the very least, his armor and mechanical augmentations black with blue lights at various points. Two glowing blue ocular lenses shone from his full helmet, a helmet that more resembled a grinning metal skull than a normal helmet. He towered over everyone else near him, at least seven feet tall and was carrying a TG-2A Minigun in one gauntlet effortlessly, while having other weapons attached to his giant back. He could be easily mistaken for the Replica's own Heavy Armor units, just from a glance. She didn't have any idea where the man began and the machine ended. All of the team save one moved out around the wreckage while Riot Security formed a perimeter, flashlights shining everywhere. The Black Ops team looked over all the crash site, while one black haired man, their leader from his stance, remained where he was, observing from in front of the APC.
Before long, one of the men who had gone in to investigate the Black Hawk emerged from the helicopter's open door, moving to the leader's side. Jin hid back behind the wall again, but stayed close to the edge, listening carefully as the leader's voice spoke up. Carrying the distance.
"Well, Benedict?"
"No sign of the targets, Captain. They were here not long ago... there's spent brass from an RPL submachine gun inside, a fire extinguisher that's been used. And one corpse. The pilot, Bremmer. Liquified. Fresh."
"Understood. I'll give her a call. Everyone form up on the Koschei!"
Jin heard the heavy bustling of boots pounding on the ground all around the rubble. Glass breaking, stomping on metal and breaking of bricks... the cyborg, no doubt. All of them drawing closer to the Captain's position in front of the Black Hawk. Close to their giant APC... the Koschei, the name distantly familiar, but she couldn't place it at that moment. Jin didn't dare look again yet, in spite of her temptation. She barely even breathed. At last, the Captain's voice spoke again, loud and clear into the night, carrying.
"Ms Aristide, come in."
There was a pause of silence. Then came a smooth woman's voice on the line. Audible enough for the other ATC Black Ops operatives on the team to listen in on. And good enough for Jin, where she was positioned.
"Captain, I hope you have good news. Have you acquired the First Prototype and his friends, yet?"
"Negative, ma'am. We've located the crash site for the Black Hawk... the pilot Bremmer is here, K.I.A. Liquified, like the others. Your witness was right. She's been here... but the First Prototype, Sergeant Major Holiday and F.E.A.R. Technical Officer Sun-Kwon are nowhere to be seen. There's a blood trail here on the road, and bare feet footprints... but I don't think they belong to...-"
"Understood, Captain. I want you to comb the surrounding area, they couldn't have gotten far. I want those assets found and contained... failure is not an option. We only have so much of a window of time here to contain the situation at this critical juncture. I'm moving with my own team again, it isn't safe staying in one spot for long. With Colonel Vanek out of the picture, the Board of Directors has foregone cloak and dagger and dispatched their best to reacquire and reinforce Still Island and much of the city, and I'd rather speak to them as far away from their troops as possible. At least until I've argued my case with them and resolved the situation."
"Copy that, Ma'am. I'll have the men search the area in an expanding radius. I'll report back to you as soon as I've found something to report. What of the reports of growing Replica activity?"
"I've had semi conflicting reports on that matter. One that the remnants of the Variant VI first battalion operated by Paxton Fettel remain deactivated, they're the only Replica in your current vicinity in the Auburn District. Another report says some of them were reactivated... caught on ATC security feeds moving against the Second F.E.A.R. Team and Nightcrawlers infiltration of the island containing the Perseus Compound and cloning facility. I theorize Alma to be responsible, given the nature of the facility, what it meant to her and her deceased son. Her influence has been there before, so I don't rule anything out. And don't get me started on what she did with the second Replica battalion. All while she pursued the Harbinger candidates. She's been busy with her games. Her multi tasking certainly puts mine to shame. A luxury I suppose, with her gifts."
"A second Replica battalion? How many of these things did Armacham make?"
"Too many, in hindsight. Part of the second battalion of Variant VII went awry under her influence, and were eliminated by what remained of the Dark Signal squad at Still Island. Most of the rest of the second battalion is currently operating deeper in the city on their own default programming without a Commander, tying up a number of the Board of Directors troops downtown. A third battalion exists still on the assembly line at the cloning facility beneath the Perseus Compound, but I cannot access any cameras there. Perseus Island has gone dark. It's a mess I intend to stay far away from. You're in the clear for your mission for the time being, but kill any deactivated Replicas you find... there is no telling what psionic force might reactivate them. Or when. And watch out for any scattered Delta Force units that might pose a threat. That said, even the Board of Directors can only stall the government for so long before it gets its act together and sends in the cavalry. We all need to be out of here by the time the National Guard arrives in force. I have an evacuation plan on the backburner, if the Senator doesn't come through and it proves necessary, but it must wait until our objectives are complete. Recover the First Prototype, his team, and the remains of the Dark Signal squad."
"How do you want it done?"
"The First Prototype is the primary goal... then the others. I want them all alive and immobilized, for transport to our Brazil facilities. A safe distance from this catastrophe. As for the Dark Signal team, alive if possible, dead if absolutely necessary. There is no exit out of Fairport where their APC will not be intercepted by the Board of Directors troops, and fewer places to hide with the Replica active. They must know it by now. There are only two of them left, with no means to reach the outside. The driver, Sergeant Morales, and a communications liaison from the USASC, Lieutenant Stokes. Stokes is seriously injured, if she is not already dead. They have gone radio silent for hours now... but will have to inevitably poke their heads above the surface to breath. We've tapped their radios directly... and the moment they call for help, you'll have their position. They pose little threat to you and your men, but they might to me, with the data they have recovered. They've seen too much. Know too much."
"We'll get both objectives accomplished, Ma'am."
"See that you do. I'm placing a great deal of faith in you here, Captain Walker. Do not disappoint me. If worse comes to worst, you can track me remotely for evacuation when the time is right. I'm wanted alive, by certain elements, dead by others. Do you understand my meaning?"
"Copy that. We'll be in touch as the mission proceeds. Captain Walker, over and out."
The ATC Black Ops Captain turned off his comlink, and Jin watched him turn back to his inner circle of operatives. The rest of the men, the ATC Security Troops, were still going over the remains of the Black Hawk. Forming a perimeter around it as well as the vehicles they had brought with them, standing guard.
"What's the story, Cap?"
"You heard the lady. We're going to split up into teams and check the surrounding areas. Benedict, you're with me, we'll check the north. Crimson and Natalie, you take a team south."
"Yes sir.", Came a man's deep mechanized voice... not entirely different from the voice that emanated from the Replica's helmets. "I look forward to testing the strength of this First Prototype. Breaking him. Within reason, of course."
"Of course.", Echoed a muffled woman's cold voice, speaking with a Russian accent, if Jin had to place it. Filtering through a gas mask along with her breaths. The statuesque woman with the cyborg... it had to be. "His path will join with ours, Captain. In due time. I have seen it."
"That right? About time your visions were good for something down here. Jarvis, you take a team and head east. No killing the targets... nor any civilian survivors you might encounter. Ignore them. You have a mission. It's bad enough you're on my team as it is."
"Well now, that's hardly any fun.", A silky, disappointed man's English accent sighed dramatically. "I'd like to add at least a few notches before all this is said and done. This is the perfect hunting grounds."
"We're here on business... not for your sick pleasure. Aristide wants the targets alive."
"Can not the two be one and the same? One should enjoy what they do."
"That's enough. Do you understand?"
"Aheheh. Of course, Captain. I'll leave most of him intact. At last a worthy quarry. The First Prototype and his friends shall never see me coming."
"Silva and Dario, you and yours go west. Reconnoitre the vicinity, and I want you to assess the forces of the Board and the Replica. Do not engage them under any circumstances. This is a covert operation for a reason."
"You got it, man. Nothing to worry about."
"Yes, oh Captain my Captain."
"Stow it. The rest of the men will hold down the crash site and APC until further orders. Everyone stay in constant radio contact. Check every building in the vicinity still standing, check the rubble and every alley. I want those F.E.A.R. operatives located and recovered. Now. Get it done."
At last, Jin peeked again around the corner slightly, keeping low on her knees. They all gave their assorted verbal confirmations and salutes to their leader... the blonde Englishman he called Jarvis alone didn't salute or acknowledge the Captain, beyond a knowing smirk and a wink. Clad in an advanced looking black bodysuit, he pulled a mask and pair of glowing blue goggles back down over his face, popped a pair of razor sharp wrist blades and pressed a button on a device on his arm. To Jin's surprise, he vanished before her eyes. No... he didn't vanish, not entirely at least. She could see the Black Hawk beyond him, but there was a very faint distortion in the air of his outline... at least with flashlights shining his way from the others around him. All the same, his active camouflage was efficient... little different from what the Replica Assassins wore. He slipped silently out of her field of view, and truly vanished once he was away from their flashlights. The Captain cast the invisible man a parting look of disdain, before moving on.
The one the Captain had called Dario was a beautiful dark haired woman, the only other woman among the Black Ops team and the Riot Security forces. They broke off into their teams and carried out their orders, moving away from the crash site in different directions... the Captain and his men following the blood trail and footprints. Jin took cover behind the brick alley wall again, staring ahead to the road. She couldn't stay here any longer... Passalaqua was just ahead, and waiting. She couldn't fight the ATC Black Ops team as she was, and doubted Passalaqua's squad could handle them all. Especially not with that hulking cyborg involved. She began to run away towards the signal on her datapad, weaving between buildings, climbing fences and ducking under them, glancing down at her datapad now and again, watching the distance shrink gradually between her and the destination. The blue ATC signals growing more distant as well. She paused at certain intervals to check directions, to look among buildings for the best route... to make sure she didn't get lost. It was all foreign to her. She'd never been to Fairport until this operation, and sure as hell not under these conditions it was in.
Most importantly, she kept her guard up for any ATC... she saw bullet ridden and torn bodies along the way, belonging to Replicas and ATC Security Guards. They had been battling in the streets not long before the blast, firing at one another while taking cover behind ruined cars, some of which now burned. Blood puddles running along the road and shell casings her boots knocked aside as she ran. She remembered Betters telling her and Holiday the situation between ATC and the Replicas was intensifying... it was clear from the ground just how much it had before the blast. She didn't stop to get a better look, she bypassed each of the small battle sites she crossed paths with, keeping a close eye on her digital map when she could.
It took longer than she thought, constantly looking back over her shoulder, or making sure the marked signals she had been sent remained distant. It struck her again how empty the city seemed to be... a bustling city, and there wasn't a single civilian yet, alive or dead. They hadn't all died in the blast, even if many had. All she found were abandoned cars, abandoned buildings and empty roads. What the hell had Alma done to them all? She tried not to think about the thing that had been unleashed on the city... glanced back over her shoulder, looking up a road, as she darted into the mouth of the next closest alleyway.
"Hold it right there! Hands up! Do it now!"
Jin's head snapped back in front of her at the rough shouting, frozen on the spot, as several near blinding flashlights greeted her... as well as the barrels of a Watson SAS-12 Automatic Shotgun, am ASP and an RPL. Her heart seized in her chest... Armacham had circled around somehow, cut her off and ambushed her. She hadn't seen any of them since she left the crash site, how the hell had they gotten to her so fast? Their markers hadn't shown up on the datapad. The invisible one... it must have been him, leading the others. Breathing slowly and deeply, she rose a shaky gloved hand, blocking the light and squinted... expecting dark blue and black uniforms, ATC patches... glimpsing familiar dark grey and black uniforms instead, American flag patches. Ballistic helmets and balaclavas.
The fighting knife of Delta Force and the eagle of the Department of Defense, one patch on each shoulder.
"Stand the hell down, men! Does she look like ATC to you?"
The owner of the familiar voice on the radio pushed through his three subordinates and stepped in between them, over closer to her. They lowered their weapons at once... stances relaxing a bit with evident relief, but moved off to secure both mouths of the alleyway. As they took up their positions, she looked back over to him. The operator wore the same armor and uniform as the others, but had a 10mm High Velocity Penetrator in one hand down at his side, a G2A2 slung over his shoulder and a sidearm at his hip. One of the military grade nail guns the Replica Heavy Armor units were fond of. And although she couldn't see his jaw beneath the black balaclava, she saw his eyes smiling kindly behind his clear goggles.
"Sorry about that, they're a little understandably on edge. Don't let their youth fool you, they're pretty good for replacements. My original team were seriously injured by some mercenary bastards who ambushed us at the Armacham Data and Research Center. Couldn't join me for the assault on Armacham Plaza. Had to make do with new guys. Though now that I mention it, they were lucky to have an excuse to get a medevac out of the city when they were. The one with the RPL is operator Carmine, the one with the auto shotgun is operator Jenkins and the ASP is operator Perez. Good to see you, Jin. Didn't think I'd ever get the chance again."
Jin felt herself return the smile, genuinely beaming for a moment, in spite of everything. Or more likely, because of it. The same wave of relief she had felt before hearing him on the comlink. Just seeing other people again... armed friendlies, not being alone in... this. She felt safe, for the moment, but knew how quickly that was liable to change, in this city. She couldn't imagine how it would have turned out if his voice hadn't come through the channel... and didn't want to.
"Likewise, Donald. As much as I'd like to catch up, here and now isn't the time or place. You were right. We need to go, now. They're not far behind me, I'm sure of it. They're combing the crash site area for me and my team. You were right about it being a Black Ops team... they also have a bunch of ATC Riot Security in Replica Trucks, an APC and an Armacham biomechanical trooper with them."
"They brought an ATC cyborg too? Shit... what the hell do they want you guys for so badly? They were the bad news I had for you. Fortunately the good news came in on your way over here."
"I thought I was the good news."
"Oh you are. But we picked up another Delta Force squad on the radio too, Sergeant First Class Taylor. They're held up at a pawn shop to the west. A little deeper into Auburn, but still away from the blast zone. We'll have to move carefully. Also, apparently an extraction point has been established at Auburn Memorial Hospital, for all Delta Force operators remaining in Fairport, as well as any other survivors. Once we reach the squad, we can figure out a plan on how to get over there. We'll regroup with the other squad in no time if we double time it now. "
There were even more friendly operators out there... close by, and a designated extraction point. A means of rallying survivors and hopefully getting the hell out of Fairport. Surely that was where Holiday and the Point Man would be headed, if they got separated somehow. She could regroup with them there, surely... perhaps one of the other squads had seen them, or been in radio contact. It wasn't definitive, but there was a chance. Something to hope and pray for. After everything they had survived... they had to still be so. Especially the Point Man. Yet again Passalaqua came through, delivered good news. Her bruised visage smiled at him with genuine appreciation.
"That's command level thinking, Sergeant. I'll ask Den Mother to get you a promotion when we get out of this. If we get out of this. Let's get the hell out of here, while we still can."
Operator Passalaqua laughed grimly at that, shaking his helmeted head, and gestured for her to follow him, taking the lead. Ordering the other three operators to form up on him. He began to move out, heading down towards the opposite alleyway, out on to a side road, raising his HV Penetrator again and peering down the sights. Checking around each corner with his men before giving the all clear to proceed. Jin continued on at Passalaqua's side, while the other men covered their back and front, moving down the road close together. She held on to the comfort of being surrounded by armed military men again. She wouldn't feel right until she found out what had happened to the others... but she wasn't about to take Passalaqua and his men for granted. She would pull her weight however she could. She had time to think about the situation along the way to their destination. The ATC matter was an unexpected development... a serious threat... she was still pondering the strange conversation and phrases she had overheard between the Black Ops Captain and the President of Armacham.
First Prototype. Dark Signal. Harbinger. Nightcrawlers.
She didn't know what to make of it. There was much more to all this than she had known... the night before had been an increasingly complicated mission... now it only got worse in the wake of the Vault's destruction. The war was by no means over. The sooner they got through to Betters, figured everything out, the better. But it wasn't the ATC she was afraid of, even their Black Ops, APC and biomechanical cyborg hunting them. In her mind's eye, Jin saw the dead girl's dissonant, serene little smile again... smelled Bremmer's burning flesh again. Heard his shrill, shrieking screams of agony as he melted. The way she had looked at Jin with her black and red eyes. Why hadn't she received the same horrific fate as the pilot? What plans did Alma have in store for her, for all of them, to spare them as she had? She could have killed them all... effortlessly, the moment she had climbed on to the helicopter. Before they even had time to react to her presence... but she hadn't.
Aristide, for all her reprehensible crimes, had been right about one thing. Alma was out there, somewhere, everywhere... turning Fairport into her own playground. Playing what probably seemed to be fun little games to her insane, warped mind. And were definite waking nightmares for the rest of them.
Nightmares the likes of which Jin knew they were only walking deep into, awaiting them throughout what remained of Fairport.