Joseph sat there, letting the giant, Iron crossed shaped medal spin on its velvet necklace. Its golden border twinkled as it spun like a a top, unwinding, and then rewinding itself again. Head in hand, his gaze met to fritz, who was completely awed by the anime OVA had invited joseph to watch. The 1995 classic “BIO-MENACE ALICE” continued to blare on Fritz’s large, flat screen television. It’s not like joseph wasn’t disinterested in this classic that almost got banned in Germany for its intense gore and dark themes. This was the first time joseph saw fritz from his own personal perspective. Within his plush, cozy room on the Harris, was his own cushy, king sized bed with satin comforter and silk bedsheets. A personal desk with a high-tech laptop that joseph only saw in cutting edge tech magazines. Multiple journals and sketchbooks were neatly piled upon the desk, arranged from barely touched, to worn and completed. A small, golden choir trophy sat proudly on the front of his desk. Yet the one thing that distracted joseph most of all was a small section of wall, covered in photos of Fritz’s personal life. They enshrined a large oil painting of Fritz himself, dressed in medieval German armor with a very large sword. He struck a majestic looking pose while clutching a helmet with bat ears. The photos surrounded fritz detailed a very large, monstrous and bat-like woman who looked like an almost spitting image of veronica, cradling fritz, who had a large bandage set on the middle of his giant forehead.
“FRAU GARTNER, BLESSED BY GOD ALMIGHTY, HAS HAD A SECOND CHILD” was written under the photo. Next, was a 4 year old fritz sitting on the knee of a grim looking white man with a mustache as an 8 year old veronica stood by his side. Despite the scars and the sunken cheeks, the grim looking man’s eyes seem to twinkle with soul. A warm, inviting smile stood immortalized within the photo. Joseph recognized the man as the two sibling’s uncle. Another photo caught Joseph’s eyes as Fritz began standing up and cheering as the genetically altered main character Alice had cut a “private security type 23 cyborg” in half with their tattered blade that looked more like a giant paper cutter. The gore was rendered explicitly, even the severed tendons were given detail is they snapped under the blade. Joseph’s gaze returned to The photo depicted fritz, smiling and crying as he received a degree from a middle eastern man with a tall fur hat and black trenchcoat. A small handwritten note was embroidered in a golden frame. “Happy 20th birthday.” It read in its oddly lavish container. Joseph continued fiddling with the splendorous medal he was given at yesterday’s ceremony. Compared to the standard VWS medal he had received after surviving his first mission , its splendorous, golden borders twinkled as it spun. As it came to an end of its spinning, he quietly recited the motto on its back.
“ONLY GIVEN TO THOSE WHO RISKED THEIR OWN LIVES TO RESCUE A GERMAN CITIZEN IN THE HEAT OF BATTLE, GERMANIA GIVES HER THANKS. PRAISE CHARLEMAGNE, MAY HE WATCH US REBUILD HIS EMPIRE AS HE OBSERVES US IN HEAVEN.” He put his necklace back in his pocket. Both his iron cross necklace and second iron cross were much more fanciful than the CNGS medals and the large red star medal he received for assisting in URSA’s rescue.
“Is something wrong?” Joseph snapped out of his trance as fritz paused the movie.
“It’s nothing.” Joseph said. The two continued to watch the main character, ALICE, screaming towards the sky as she held the lifeless corpse of her only friend, a homeless man amidst a city that had been razed to the ground. “You know, my pal Logan and I got in trouble for showing this to our anime club.” Fritz broke his gaze with the credits as he continued to listen. “The guy who ran the club got super mad, calling it gross, violent schlock and that we were bad people for liking it.” Fritz was taken aback. “He said we had “toxic masculinity problems” and we’re going to hurt someone for liking a fucking anime”
“To think that such childish notions towards art aren’t isolated. He said as he prepared to skip to BIO-MENACE ALICE OVA 4: WITH BLOOD, WITH AGONY. “One of the HCA superiors dragged me off by the ear after he saw me watch the skull explosion scene.” He crossed his arms. “Told me that Japanese animation was disgusting drivel destroying young people’s minds.” Joseph became suddenly animated.
“How can they HATE the SKULL EXPLOSION SCENE?!” joseph cried as he began becoming passionate about BIO MENACE ALICE.
“EXACTLY, Its so LOVINGLY, EXQUISITELY DRAWN!” Fritz continued as he skipped back to a scene where an antagonist’s head explodes from a missile. “NO cgi, no digital ink or paint, that was all done by hand, like a REAL artist!” The two cheered as the skull explosion scene played, the antagonist's head going up like a fire ball as blood and brains smeared the walls. “Why can’t we get more tributes to THIS scene instead of that god forsaken scene from toshio’s journey with that guy sliding briefly in a car?!” Joseph laughed.
“I remember seeing that scene with Logan, it was the COOLEST shit ever.” Joseph said, sitting up and stretching after being almost still for an hour and a half. Fritz was a bit surprised that joseph opened up about his own life, as he didn’t even mentioned his other friends had perished in the northern Iran bioweapons disaster.
“I’m sure if he was still around, I’d be good friends with someone who can get that emotionally invested in art like BIO MENACE ALICE” Joseph did a double take.
Fritz’s ears shot up in embarrassment. “Oh…I’m terribly sorry…I just thought he was-”
Joseph held up a hand. “It’s no problem, man, this film brought back some memories of him.” As the film came to a close, the Japanese word for END had scrolled up from the bottom of the screen, with a still, painted shot of ALICE in her monstrous form, still cradling the deceased, nameless homeless man in her arms. “I think he’s stationed somewhere on a CNGS-American base near Corsica.” Joseph stated as the lights began to slowly illuminated the once dark room. “He once told me the main villain, Christopher Benton reminded him a lot of his own dad.” Joseph smiled as he reminisced, the rare sight of joseph being happy made Fritz’s face blush and his heart flutter. “He said that once as a joke and we both laughed so hard, I almost puked.” The dour fritz also began to smile, even if it was guarded and stifled.
“I can hardly imagine having a vile snake like Benton as a dad.” Joseph’s slight laughter turn to sighs.
“He used to tell me his dad was a good man, but just put pressure on him from time to time. Fritz frowned as Joseph’s own smile turned back into his usual sad scowl. “One time I did catch his dad yelling at him, that he needed to act like a real man for once in his life.” Fritz became more troubled as joseph seem to dig up the bad times with the good. “He had been drinking, and then for some reason he began ranting about South Africa was once the jewel of Africa before the ninties-” He suddenly stopped when a booming voice on the intercom blared.
ATTENTION, AT 12 AM SHARP, ALL ACTIVE VWS ARE TO MEET IN THE RENOVATED MEETING ROOM, QM AND HCA PERSONNEL WILL BE PRESENT IN THE MEETING VIA VIDEO CALL.” As the crackled died, Fritz crossed his arms.
“Would it kill these people to communicate this to us in a timely manner?” Fritz grabbed Joseph’s hand and proceeded to drag him towards the meeting room as the clock hit 11:40 pm.
“I think we have some time before the meeting.” Joseph noted to Fritz’s manic attitude.
“It NEVER hurts to be punctual, even if it’s a meeting with those Marxists.” Fritz stated matter-of-factly. A short while later, the two friends almost reached their destination.
“So, guys have some history with these…QM guys?” Joseph asked.
“Since my superiors, The Holy Charlemagne Assembly , are recognized as “allies to global security”, we’ve been involved in diplomacy with QM with some time. Fritz said as he neatly prepared pads for notes. “The CNGS had declared the group a terrorist organization for some time, but began to soften as it had declared war against the ALA and all its non American factions and splinter cells.” Fritz brought out a good pen before continuing. “The CNGS had become strangled by its own foreign policy and paperwork, so they allied themselves to groups who recognized CNGS borders, did not interfere with CNGS affairs, and provided active and passive support when requested.” He was amazed and flattered as joseph continued to listen intently, as everyone else he explained it to seemed to just get bored. “ the “Allies to Global Security” grants certain organizations and independent countries special diplomatic immunities and privileges as long as you’re willing to play nice with the CNGS politicians.” He shook of his sudden feeling of coyness around joseph to finish. “The CNGS appears to be making serious amends with this collaboration and ceasefire with QM especially.”
As the two rounded a corner, fritz walked a little too fast, being too invested to infodump on joseph. In his lecture, he accidentally bumped into a rotund figure. He looked up to find himself staring face to face with another large monster woman, who was taller than laleh. Joseph was in awe at the 7 foot 8 foot tall woman who looked like a furless, mangy badger. Fritz was frozen in fear, still pressed into the woman’s large stomach, her tight catsuit hugging her bust and large hips. Her intimidating gaze was made all the more terrifying as she looked directly into his eyes with her horizontal pupils. A gnarled, wicked grin curled a cross her lips, revealing her sharp teeth, but it was somewhat mitigated by her gaze becoming more softened and warm.
“It seems even the stick-in-the-mud prince is bewitched by my striking beauty…” she teased, making a provocative pose. Fritz’s entire face turned almost blood red as he quickly jumped back.
“I’m extremely sorry, madam.”
“Oh, it’s not a problem at all.” She said, looking at herself at one of the reflective mirrors. “Not many men can resist my godlike physique and gorgeous face.” She said, flexing in the mirror, attempting to suck in her large gut. Fritz and joseph shot confused looks at each other.
“We’ll be more careful next time, ma’am, we were in a hurry to get into the meeting.” Joseph explained as she exhaled, letting her physique return to its rotund, but muscular shape as she cheerfully ran her hand over her stomach.
“Great, let’s go together!” She sang cheerfully, clapping her hands. “As a senior captain in the VWS, it’ll be great to learn about my two junior officers~!”
“I didn’t know there was a rank higher than captain.” Said joseph as she clasped both of her hands on each of joseph and fritz’s shoulders, walking them to the room. Upon hearing Joseph’s lack of an explanation, the large woman’s gaze became severe and frightening.
“Once again, I have to do Nathan’s job of relaying important VWS info to the juniors. She growled as her muscles tensed and bulged. Her gaze softened again “not to worry, I’ll gladly answer…” her eyes shifted towards the woman with the metal arm walked past her. “Most…of the questions you have about the VALIANT WARRIOR SQUADRON, SENIOR OFFICER CORPS.”
Joseph was in awe at the good meeting room. A long, polished wood table rested in the middle of the room. A long row of expensive looking swivel chairs adorned each side. A large projector, sleeker, shiny, and obviously more maintained, was attached the ceiling. The gang was ushered by ERASURE UNIT guards to sit on one side, as the senior officer members where ushered to sit across from the on the other side. “What, are they too good to sit with the lower rank guys?” joseph thought, noticing the clear intent of separating the seniors from them. As everyone got seated, they were greeted with Cpl. MacMillan, and the senior officer’s CO, as he sat at the head of their table next to Nathan. The room got dark as the powerful projector clicked and projected on three separate screens at once, each screen dedicated to a different faction. One was of Andrew Norman and several unknown CNGS politicians and military advisors. The middle screen, noticeably the more tarnished screen, was QM. Mrs. Q and a small bevy of QM’s higher ups had just gotten seated. The final screen had the chancellor, a man with an eyepatch with a coat of arms that adorned the star of David, and several HCA authority figures. On QM’s side, the masked woman with the dragon medal peeled off her mask to reveal her shocking red hair.
“My name is BEIRA, field commander of E-12’s counter-imperialist strike force.” She announced as she re-adjusted her beret. “From what I understand we were all brought here for an important debrief regarding a prison rescue.”
Andrew Norman was done sipping tea from a fine china glass that was adorned in Vietnamese iconography. “Correct, miss BEIRA, as the ALA continues to lose territory, they’ve been forced to consolidate prison space for several important POWS.” Another projector clicked, showing a dilapidated building surrounded by armed guards, surrounded by mountains and ruined buildings. “This makeshift prison facility is within the more dangerous parts of Prospera, where prosperan chapter of the ALA, MUERTE BLANCO still hold territory.” The projector clicked to tired and injured MUERTE BLANCO soldiers were struggling to unpack rounds of ammo and other equipment. “They have been suffering terrible losses after their leader and the last dictator of prospera, SGT. GUSTAVO JESUS RODRIGUEZ, went into hiding and has been radio silent.” Another clicked show a group of white European ALA members with a disorganized group of white mercenaries. “As a result of their crumbling chapter, ALA high command is demanding more auxiliaries from the united states, Argentina, and south africa, as well as using mercenaries and volunteers as canon fodder.” A slide clicked to an all female battalion of ALA soldiers.
“Some ALA high command members have been forced to abandon their highly patriarchal and backwards standards for soldiers, and getting a concerning amount of volunteers from the women they’ve employed for sabotage, espionage, and intel gathering.” BEIRA described as the all women battalion charged E-12, seeming to target WRAITH. They are guarding 17 POWS, many of which are important CNGS, QM, and HCA personnel.” BEIRA clicked something to show a 20 year old man, with pale skin, black hair, and a warm smile. Joseph was hit with a wave of horror and despair. “This young man, Logan Crawford, is also in this prison facility, Fort Gimlé.” Joseph’s eye twitched. He was disconcertingly silent. MRS.Q, who was informed about Logan’s dilemma, struggled to speak.
“I wish this was some sort of cruel joke.” She sighed. “This poor young man and his mother had no idea their father was an ALA informant, feeding CNGS intel to ALA spies within the CNGS-American armed forces.” Fritz and Laleh gingerly begged joseph to sit back down as he returned to his seat, almost paralyzed with grief and bewilderment. “To gain an authoritative role within the ALA, he had sold out his son to be altered into a super soldier under his complete control.” Joseph simply sat still, looking forward unflinchingly. A picture flicked to show a soldier in a skull like helmet, a crest adorned the mask like structure, a single, red mechanical eye adorned the white mask. Two red hoses slinked out of each side of the mask’s “mouth”. Mrs. Q fell silent as she allowed Andrew to continue.
“You five, with Senior Captain AKROPOLIS, are tasked with infiltrating the facility and rescuing him.” He took another sip. “QM’s special forces, E-12, will be tasked with rescuing the rest of the hostages.” He turned to Joseph. “Normally, I would not assign a soldier with intense emotional connection to this sort of mission, but taking you off a search and rescue mission of this sort would be unwise.”
“I understand sir, I’ll make sure to save him.” Joseph said quietly.
“I’m very much sure you will.” Andrew replied.
“I feel it’s a large task to ask of us.” Said a QM higher up, his face masked with a black box. His garbled tone a clear sign his voice was being disguised for anonymity. “We have no qualms about striking against the fascists, and liberating prisoners, but we feel we are being submitted to the most dangerous tasks.”
Andrew held up his hand. “Your concern is understandable, MR.O, which is why are we are also entrusting you with one of our senior officer corps members and our own Seargent to accompany your forces.” He nodded to the Japanese man and Vietnamese woman that sat parallel to Nathan. “EQUINOX and DEATH LOTUS shall not fail you.” Andrew wiped his mouth with a fancy napkin. “You also needn’t worry about facing a a large enemy force, hopefully you haven’t forgotten our combined forces will also be distracting the ALA away from the facility as we destroy their anti-aircraft as a team.” The QM side burst into hushed whispers. Joseph could see that even their allies weren’t quite as trusting and united, even during active collaboration. “Not to mention, that Senior Captain HECATE will also be guarding ALL of our diversionary forces, including yours.” He gestured towards the other enormous monster woman that sat next to AKROPOLIS, both of them 8 feet tall, and slightly stockier than laleh. HECATE was pale white as a ghost, and wore the skin tight catsuit made of plastic and other artificial fibers. A harness hugged her chubby, muscular body tightly as she sat up and saluted in stone-faced Stoicism. “Let’s just say we’ve given her a new little toy to assist in aerial and ground targets.” AKROPOLIS playfully bumped into HECATE with her bulging hips, prompting HECATE to roll her eyes and cross her arms. “Our combined diversionary forces will wreak havoc away from the facility, forcing the ALA’s attention while your rescue team will snatch up the POWS as the ALA panics and crumbles even further.”
“Our air division is still assigned to destroying remaining ground targets, as well as enemy aircraft, and QM destroys the anti-aircraft weaponry on the ground, correct?” asked the chancellor, adjusting his gloves
A quiet smile crept across Andrew’s lips, making the VWS’s lower ranking members uneasy. “That is correct, Chancellor. For a moment, Hecate’s eyes briefly, nervously darted towards Andrew’s disquieting smile. “Before we wrap up, I’m also happy to announce that we have located both George Smith and Sgt. Gustavo, and we’ll soon have them facing good old fashion American justice.” Andrew always wore the the same blank expression, and now he seemed to cheerfully revel on the oncoming death and destruction that would soon transpire…
As everyone vacated quickly to their respective departures, joseph was still unnervingly calm. Laleh was quite upset that her friend was clearly bothered as this Logan person was quite close to him, as he had divulged a very close secret regarding him to her. “Hey…did you need to talk?” Before she could put her hand on his shoulder, nathan butted in.
“You need to make sure you’ve got proper medical equipment, the ALA treats his prisoners like animals.” Laleh looked back at her captain fearfully. “I got this.” He said with a smile.
“Right away, captain.” She said with a sigh.
Nathan turned towards joseph, clearly enraged. “Hey buddy, let’s just have a little talk about…uh…your friend.” “I can tell you have a lot to get off your chest.” The two made their way to an empty conference room, with Nathan shutting the door. “MacMillan, I’m handling a potential code yellow, it’ll be just five minutes.” He said as turned off his communicator as joseph sat in the chair. Nathan took off and showed his ear-piece was dead silent. “No one else can hear us.” Joseph looked up at Nathan in a dead stare. “I swear on my life, just let me have it.”
Joseph was borderline screaming as his vitriol came out like a wave of water from a burst dam. “Why in GOD’S NAME did LOGAN HAVE TO BE DRAGGED INTO THIS?!” Nathan stood there quietly. “IT’S NOT ENOUGH THAT THEY KILL PEOPLE, BUT THEY HAVE THE BALLS TO JUST SNATCH PEOPLE UP AND UPROOT THEIR ENTIRE LIVES FOR THEIR OWN GAIN!”
“I’m really sorry buddy…believe, I wish I could-”
“Issac, you piece of SHIT…” he said clenching his fist, his scars flaring wildly. “God DAMN IT ALL!” “I KNEW there was SOMETHING so OFF when you went off about south africa becoming a dystopia after the nineties!.” Joseph banged his fist on the flimsy desk. “I thought it was just because you were stressed, or something, but there was other SHIT I should’ve picked up on.” He suddenly became limp in his chair. “He was practically waving a red flag in my face…I just didn’t think he’d be a crony to those fucking monsters…”
“That’s the saddest damn part about extremists, they don’t need fancy weapons or walking crimes against nature to brainwash people to their side.” Nathan sighed. “They apparently had a bigger influence on the American public than we thought, and in places we never thought they’d breach.” Joseph slumped back in this chair, rubbing is face.
“I still feel like shit, but it beats feeling like I’m about to explode.”
“Good, and improvement is an improvement, even if it’s minuscule.” Nathan replied. Joseph and nathan left the room to rendezvous with the others. Laleh had finished preparing supplies for the most certainly emaciated, and mistreated prisoners as joseph walked up to her. “I hope you’re doing better.” She told joseph.
“A lot better than I was a little bit ago.”
“We’ll save him, I know we will” said Laleh reassuringly. Joseph smiled back at his friend, now in a better and determined mindset. Only laleh knew the extent of the situation regarding him and Logan. Many times he would regale her of amusing stories when they went to the same high school together. Laleh was just as much as a close confidant to him as Logan, as he went so far to explain that he and Logan were secretly dating in highschool, and they vowed they’d return to each other’s side when they left active military service. Joseph simply wasn’t going to rescue his friend, but his boyfriend. Once the clock hit 4 am, During the suit up, Fritz and Laleh had dawned their combat armor and helmets in preparation for an intense battle. AKROPOLIS was preparing a large bevvy of explosives, pliers, and tools alongside the rest of the VWS.
“A combat engineer will invaluable to our infiltration.” Fritz spoke up as he noticed her packing her pink bag with a cartoonish illustration of herself, but fully furred. “We’re very lucky to have a senior captain assisting us.” He had donned combat armor with a masked helmet just like his sister. However, the “horns” which protected his large ears curved slightly backwards.”
“Damn straight, I can’t wait to knock down that shitty little facility.” She said while flexing, her enormous muscles seeming to bulge even more.
“HELL YEAH!” replied veronica, as she also flex next to the senior captain. Joseph was in the room behind the gaggle of monster soldiers, cleaning his carbine in dead silence. The usual banter he’d share with the rest of the gang suspiciously absent. Laleh was finishing preparations for several medical evacuations, and Veronica was busy running diagnostics on the RISENFLEDERMAUS. “Is uuhh…the new guy alright?” AKROPOLIS asked, bumping into fritz with her large body to his attention. Fritz quietly walked up to joseph as he double checked his magazines.
“I can’t imagine what you’re feeling right now, but I want you to know I’m here for you.” The scarred young man looked up with a forced smile.
“Thanks, I really appreciate that.”
The VWS and AKROPOLIS soon touched down near the prison facility, QM soldiers soon swarmed the jet to guard it. The VWS were greeted with near dead silence outside of the QM scouts contacted their superiors about successfully reaching “the bat.” Laleh nervously side-eyed the unbreaking gaze of the soldiers, both impressed and frightened by the speed, mobility, and coordination of how they quickly found and surrounded their jet. Nathan clicked on his headpiece.
“MACMILLAN, WE’VE TOUCHED DOWN NEAR THE CAGE, WHEN WILL THE FIREWORKS BE STARTING?” he asked.
“IN ROUGHLY 2 MINUTES.” MacMillan answered. Meanwhile, AKROPOLOIS pulled out what looked like a small drone and threw it with great force over their path. The drone clicked to life, the top popped up like a lawn sprinkler and assumed flight on its own. AKROPOLIS pulled out a PDA which beeped and produced several areas covered in red exclamation points.
“Yep. Bastards have some minefields up.” She announced as she pulled out some large gun-like device with an overhand carrying handle like a minigun. “CLEARANCE LASER CHARGED.” The gun said in an automated voice. “The minute the bombs go off, I’m clearing the mines.” As the VWS continued to follow AKROPOLIS, joseph snapped out of his trance, becoming self aware of his surroundings. He looked around to see the destroyed buildings in the distance.
“I thought the polluted river was bad, but this place is like the war never stopped.” He said, viewing the carnage. His gaze met with a billboard on top of a ruined building. It depicted a picture of SGT.Gustavo Jesus Rodriguez, triumphantly pointing upwards, his hand on his hip as a large arrow pointed upwards on a graph. “SGT. GUSTAVO: JOB MAKER OF PROSPERS.” Read the words. The condition of the board, however was in stark contrast. The words “Soy el diablo” were smeared in red to his left. To his right, a vicious caricature of him as the devil was smeared on the right, the words “il mostro.” The giant arrow pointing up was vandalized by a red arrow going down. A the other bit of graffiti was sprayed over Gustavo’s image. “WHAT DID YOU DO WITH OUR AUTISTIC FRIENDS AND FAMILY, YOU MONSTER”. Nathan soon got the green light, signaling the squad to their positions. Joseph loading his carbine as everyone held their breath for the enormous explosion.
Sure enough, a large explosion went off a quarter mile away. The facility went into high alert as ALA soldiers poured from the facility to combat the combine CNGS raid. AKROPOLIS smirked behind her balaclava. “That’s my CUE!” she bellowed before pulling the trigger. A small, piecing laser shot out into the darkness, causing several mines to explode. She continued to move forward, sweeping the area. She had accidentally stepped on one, causing a loud bang and debris to go flying beneath her. With the exceptions of some scratches on her vest and helmet, she didn’t seemed upset or hurt at all. “That tickled.” She said in a bemused tone before continuing her sweep. The ALA forces soon flooded from the facility to stop their anti-aircraft from being damaged. Nathan once again received new orders.
“Several QM spies from in the facility have confirmed that we are free to continue our raid into the facility.” He ordered, pointing to the building. AKROPOLIS led the charge, her large, plump body absorbing automatic rifle and submachine gun fire. She brought up her laser again, and unleashed a literal hellfire onto the front of the facility. Soldiers screamed as their flesh charred or were engulfed in flames.
“If these assholes weren’t neo-nazis, I’d feel kind of bad for them.” Joseph said internally, counter sniping several marksmen. He began to have a psychic vision. “TRAVEL THE SERPENT’S BACK.” Said joseph suddenly. The gang stopped confused until they noticed a small stone trail that snaked around the prison. Nathan suddenly grabbed Veronica, who head tread a bit too far while crawling through the untended area. Her eyes widened as she was 2 inches away from an anti tank mine covered in grass and litter. Nathan motioned his team to take the stone path as the fighting seemed to intensify. More and more of the ALA operatives rushed to the other side of the base, weakening their rear defenses. While the American and European members were well kept, MURETE BLANCO snipers looked disheveled, the same chocolate chip camo coated in sweat stains. Large black bags under their eyes alongside their visible cheekbones gave them an almost zombie like appearance. As joseph shot back, the snipers and fallen one by one, many losing heart and fleeing. Several beat up electric vehicles began to travel down the prison’s vehicle bay towards the VWS’s position.
Veronica squinted in confusion. “Is that some sort of dinky little van coming after us?” She scoffed, insulted that MUERTE BLANCO’s fighting vehicles were jury-rigged civilian vehicles more suited for picking up children after a school day rather than defend a military base. Small platoons of MUERTE BLANCO soldiers charge the vws with tattered carbines and civilian semi automatic rifles, the rest only had handguns. “This is so fucking sad.” Nathan grimaced as his powerful hand gun punched a hole right through the electric engine of an armed civilian pick up truck. The occupants screamed in horror as they fled the flaming vehicle before it exploded. The one truck that wasn’t taken out or simply stopped functioning from poor maintenance.
“Apparently the ALA administrative have no problem letting their useful idiots die in waves with faulty equipment.” Muttered fritz as he finished off the rest of the poorly trained ALA snipers.
“Either they’re more evil than I thought, or they’re just running out of competent soldiers.” Replied Joseph, reloading his carbine as he dashed towards the prison block door.
“I assure you it’s very much both.” Said AKROPOLIS as she prepped plastic explosives around a large iron door. The VWS didn’t need to be told to find over as AKROPOLIS finished. “FIRE IN THE HOLE!” she screamed, blasting the doors. Laleh prepared herself to act as a living shield as veronica loaded her machine gun. Nathan prepped his handgun as the smoke cleared.
“YOU TWO!” Nathan barked at veronica and fritz. “USE YOUR FLASHBANGS AND SWEEP THE AREA.” Two nodded, their masks would protect them from the heavy smoke and dust of the poorly constructed building.” Fritz and veronica threw multiple flash grenades into the gaping hole in the wall. Fritz went in first, submachine fire and screams echoed from the wreckage. Veronica unsheathed her large machine gun, chasing after him. Joseph could sense Logan’s presence.
“I’ve got a lock on him, just tell me when to lead the way!” joseph told Nathan. Nathan gave him a thumbs up as he signaled AKROPOLIS to take point. The VWS followed joseph through empty, dilapidated cells and the bodies of white American and European mercenaries. Joseph’s scars flared. “EVERYONE STOP!” he bellowed prompting everyone to halt, including veronica and fritz, who were on the walkways parallel to them. Sure enough, fritz clicked his mask to infrared, and saw a mass amount of trip wire towards Logan’s position.
“Guess some of these fascist idiots have at least some competent members.” Veronica said. Nathan was receiving information from MacMillan and the QM spies.
“Take a right, and straight ahead.” Nathan explained. “There’s another door to Logan!” soon, several ALA soldiers barged from another door. All of them where white American and European women with shaved heads. The let out a cacophony of screams as they charged the VWS. The gang easily dispatched them, as they rounded the corner. Laleh quickly shielded Joseph and Nathan from gunfire, as one of the female ALA soldiers limped towards them, her hand over the wound on her abdomen, but still opening fire with her handgun before finally collapsing.
“Jesus, these sociopaths simply do not understand when to quit.” Fritz snorted as he took point. On the south wing of the complex, a woman wearing red ALA combat armor and a hood was continuing to set up tripwire, her soldiers rushing into the facility.
“IT WAS A TRICK!” she hissed in a robotic voice. “Those CNGS bastards drew our firepower away from the facility.”
“It is YOUR responsibility to guard the prisoners.” Said a voice in a south african accent.”
“I HAD NO CHOICE!” she screamed. “IT WAS EITHER LOSE THE PRISONERS OR LOSE OUR ANTI-AIRCRAFT TO PROTECT THE BUNKER!”
“And now…it appears you’re losing both, ARACHNEA.” ARACHNEA’s fist clenched as she saw HCA aircraft destroy their aircraft in the sky, CNGS special forces destroy their anti-aircraft and SAM missiles mean to protect the bunker where George smith was being kept under custody. “Every since you failed to kill one of the HCA’s HOMO CENTONIBUS experiments with that rocket launcher trap, your performance has gone downhill.” Another explosion went off at the opposite side of the building. She shut off her intercom as she had another disaster that she’d be forced to face alone.
Before the VWS got to the door where Logan was held, joseph noticed it had a giant sign on the placard, its description in an almost boasting tone; RM V. It was all guarded by poltergeist commandos, who all made an improvised barricade out of gurneys and dead heavy abominations. Inside the lab, medical workers were finishing preparations for their masterpiece, RM V before they were to flee the cell. He was equipped in a light, dull red vest, and heavy armor. A Skull mask that had a large crest with a single robotic lens placed in the middle.
One of the scientists connected him to an IV fluid bag filled with a clear substance. Suddenly,WRAITH,dropped from the ceiling. The scientists panicked, bringing out hand guns to shoot the intruder. To their shock, she threw down several flash bangs and tear gas grenades, and the scientist they’d been working with for over 4 months proceeded to climb into the open shaft during the chaos. The ALA scientists were all viciously dispatched by WRAITH’s hand to hand combat skills, their weapons confiscated. RM V’s holding harness, freeing him from the restraints. Realizing they had been tricked, and at the mercy of a super solider while their vision and motor skills were impaired, they all threw up their hands in surrender. A giant flash of light burst outside the door, and the gunfire from down the wing went silent. A familiar voice rang out from the Operative that freed RM V .
“WRAITH, IS THE TARGET SECURE?” asked BEIRA. A raspy voice answered in kind. “AFFIRMATIVE.” WRAITH turned towards RM V. “ALL QM SPIES HAVE BEEN RESCUED, AND I HAVE 4 ALA SCIENTISTS WHO HAVE SURRENDERED.” Nathan held up her hand to the younger soldiers.
“HOLD YOUR FIRE, THE E-12 OPERATIVES GOT THE SITUATION UNDER CONTROL.” The lab door opened with 4 scientists with their hands still visibly up in the air, WRAITH offering a shoulder to Logan, who was now maskless.
“Why…?” Said Logan.” his voice was filled with repressed sobbing. "Why would he do this to me…?”
“LOGAN!” cried out joseph, putting his gun away. Logan, upon hearing his real name, was in utter shock.
“No…they told me you died in Iran.” Logan broke free from WRAITH’s grasp, his once wobbling gait turned into a thunderous sprint. Joseph and Logan embraced in a tender hug. "My dad…” Croaked Logan as he gripped joseph tighter. “He…turned me into thisss…” Joseph only looked towards the door, his scars pulsating in anger, he knew Cpl. Issac Crawford had shit to answer for, but he never expected him to do this. Not in his worst nightmares.
“It’s okay, you can explain later when we get you out of here.” Joseph assured him, and Fritz immediately leapt to their side, his submachine gun illuminating the hallway as several poltergeist commandos attempted to advance towards them. As joseph gazed upon fritz, he began to have a revelation. “Things really aren’t going to be normal in my life ever again…have I just been so deep in denial?”
“Hey, uh Nathan?” Whispered veronica as she saw Logan rip an assault rifle away from a dead ASSASSIN abomination. “I think we got company.” Nathan adjusted his radio as fritz was holding off a hoard of POLTERGEIST commandos while he and the rest of the gang took shelter behind AKROPOLIS and the mass of dead abomination soldiers. Nathan’s ear-piece clicked again as he listened to the orders.
“HEAD OUT THE WAY WE CAME, WE’RE HEADED BACK TO THE FLEDERMAUS!” he commanded. joseph and the rest of the team dashed from the lab, laleh in the back taking the brunt of the fire and using Flashbangs and Smoke grenades to disorientate their pursuers. An ASSASSIN dropped from the ceiling with a combat knife, and began chasing down the gang. Before leaping on joseph, he was killed when wraith disarmed him and cut his throat with his own knife.
“I didn’t think you’d go out of your way to protect a coalition dog.” Sneered veronica.
“No, I’m making sure a man of color isn’t murdered by neo nazis or their boot-licking sellswords.” WRAITH spat back.
Everyone excluding WRAITH began to quicken their steps in a panic. Joseph noticed Logan began lagging behind. “I…just wanted to make him proud….” Logan muttered in a despair filled tone. “It’s because I kept on disappointing him…why do I deserved to live…if I can’t make him happy…” Joseph slowed down to his pace with a determined look.
“You have a lot more worth than what your dad dictates, and I don’t give a shit about what awful things he called you, and neither should YOU.” Logan was taken aback by Joseph’s curt and confident tone. “I know you’re in a dark place, and recovery is going to fucking suck, I won’t sugarcoat it.” He continued as he fired at the poltergeist commandos. “But I know you will HEAL from this and find happiness outside of your dad and this shit he did to you.” As The poltergeist commandos began to get closer, Logan’s pace began to pick up once more, Joseph’s words piercing the veil of his sorrow and despair as the morning light pierces dusk. Laleh was shocked, as he was almost using the same words she used to console him in his quarantine.“I might not be with you everyday” Joseph concluded “But I’ll be by your side when I can,I will keep you in my thoughts and you will always have worth to me.” Upon these words, Logan turned around to the wall above Joseph, shooting in five specific places. Five poltergeist commandos then crashed down from the ceiling ahead of the gang, all shot in the head and chest.
“You’ll…always have worth to me, too.” Said Logan, as he changed his weapon’s magazine. “Some days…were harder than others…they stuck me with needles or beat me…but I thought about how you wouldn’t want me to give up…” Logan proceeded to fire back into the crowd of Charging poltergeist commandos, killing multiple ones at the same time as they grew closer. By the time they reached the outside of the complex, several QM members were waiting with armored vehicles to take them back the the RISENFLEDERMAUS as the ALA began to regroup. The VWS, now with Logan, stood their ground and fired back at the poltergeist commandos as they used the labs windows as improvised cover. Joseph made sure to cover Logan as he sluggishly reloaded his rifle again.
“You always did stand up for me…didn’t matter if it was a 9th grader, another soldier, or even my own dad…” AKROPOLIS stepped out again with her laser weapon. She stepped from cover clicked a switch on the side of her weapon.
“WARNING, THIS SETTING IS FOR IMMEDIATE EMERGENCIES ONLY.” A short, but powerful laser stream cut into the base of the front office, causing it to partly collapse. The poltergeist commandos screamed as they were immolated or fell from the windows,collapsing into rigid heaps. QM’s escape vans opened up, ushering the VWS and WRAITH to flee.
“Guys, I got good news from our forces on the second raiding team, all of the POWS have been rescued and they’re hauling ass out of this place.” On the opposite side of the prison, an ALA helicopter opened fire on the second team, only for another laser weapon to fire and knock it out of the sky.
“Looks like I owe my Sargent a drink when I get out of here.” AKROPOLIS chirped as she took another hail of assault rifle fire.
Joseph and fritz collapsed with relief, sitting together on one side of the van. In another, Laleh was tending to Logan, hooking him to an IV for his dehydration as GOLEM gingerly inspected him for wounds. Laleh nodded to joseph before GOLEM closed the van. The VWS was soon at veronica’s jet and airborne.Logan was in a secure medical gurney, in a bad condition. Joseph strained to look at his dear partner in a terrible state until Laleh put her enormous hand on his shoulder.
“He’ll be okay, I promise.” She said reassuringly. Joseph nodded, knowing that of all people, SHE would make sure Logan would survive his ordeal. As the gang made their way to the HARRIS, an enormous aircraft passed them.
“What the hell is that?!” Veronica cried as her cameras picked up the aircraft that resembled a giant robot out of an anime, but much MUCH smaller.
“That’s the thing Charlotte pilots.” AKROPOLIS said flatly. “She thinks she’s all that just because she gets to fly an experimental aircraft never thought possible to be designed and produced by human hands.” She snorted, crossing her arms. Veronica noticed the red stains on the aircraft’s “hands”. Its large frame riddled in bulletholes and seared metal. The VWS touched down to the Harris, and prepared to get logan to immeadiate medical care.Meanwhile on a highly guarded area of the Harris, VWSSOC secretly brought several enemy POWS to a confidential interrogation room. One of the pows wore the same red fatigues as the abomination soldiers, but his mask was torn and bloodied, and his arm band barely legible from the blood smeared on it. The second pow was a prosperan man in a regular FPU uniform in combat fatigues. The third POW was a white man with an ALA mercenary company tattoo had scabbed over from a vicious cut. SGT Nguyen grabbed the man by the throat.
“Very clever of you steal one of the hostage’s clothing and make your escape off the base, Corporal Johnson” the white american man gulped as his eyes bulged in fear. Using her free hand, Sgt.Nguyen tore off one of his sleeves. His neck was seemingly free of any blemish or body hair. However, upon closer inspection, a large, flesh colored bandage began to peel off from the sweat. Sgt.Nguyen ripped off the bandage. Covered in a transparent, sticky adhesive, as a large tattoo that was bordered by an SS waffen style lightening bolt. The tattoo was three letters followed by a mix of letters and numbers. “WNM6” SGT Nguyen’s metallic arm rotated and clicked, causing her finger reveal two metallic pincers. Electricity violently surged and sparked, illuminating the darken room, causing her and the other senior member, EQUINOX, become more severe and threatening.
“Looks like we caught one of the ALA’s low ranking puppet masters, now tell us everything you know before things get violent.” The VWSSOC medic, EQUINOX stabbed Johnson with a syringe.
“The cyanide and any other poison in your body has now been neutralized. There is no escape.” Johnson let loose a blood curdling scream, silenced by the room as Nguyen began her interrogation.
TO BE CONTINUED IN VOL 6.
