Prologue I: Flares shine brightest when It's dark
𝖘𝖊𝖙𝖚𝖕
𝕷𝖔𝖘𝖙 𝕮𝖍𝖎𝖑𝖉-
𝕻𝖗𝖔𝖑𝖔𝖌𝖚𝖊 𝐈: 𝕱𝖑𝖆𝖗𝖊𝖘 𝖘𝖍𝖎𝖓𝖊 𝖇𝖗𝖎𝖌𝖍𝖙𝖊𝖘𝖙 𝖜𝖍𝖊𝖓 𝖎𝖙'𝖘 𝖉𝖆𝖗k
Defy thy tools, lest they rise against thou—Type XII
| Alpha-squad Captain |
"Alpha squad reporting, ma'am, Sector 5. Anti-psycho targets are still at large."
| Commander Whitefox |
"Psycorp has issued a warrant for their execution. Show no mercy to the terrorists."
| Alpha-squad Captain |
"Ma'am! With all due respect, my unit is woefully unprepared for this. What are we up against? The men are beyond spooked, and we have nothing to go off."
The captain turned towards her 12-man unit, guarding her.
While the captain spoke, the whole squad formed a perimeter around her, watching her 3 O'clock, 9 O'clock, and 6 O'clock positions.
| Commander Whitefox |
"That information is above your pay grade, Captain, and I cannot help you with that. With that said, I have received authorization to disclose some general details. Stand by while I commence the transfer."
| Alpha-squad Captain |
"Commencing stand-by orders, ma'am! Over and out."
The captain switched off all her comms while signaling her unit to move forward.
| Alpha-squad Scout | A-009 |
"What is commander Whitefox thinking? Has she forgotten her time in the field?"
The squad members were numbered from one to twelve based on their ranks.
| Alpha-squad Vice |
"You're out of line, soldier. Our comman—"
Just then, an unearthly roar echoes out of the decrepit structures surrounding the unit. The abandoned structures were creaking against their weight.
| Alpha-squad Rear Guard | A-008 |
"Shit, man, did you hear that crazy howl!? What do you think that is!?!?"
The soldiers started trembling and wildly looking all over for the source of the sound, breaking their formation.
Each squad member had a precise role in their squad.
| Alpha-squad Captain |
"Rookies, stay focused and get back in line, or you'll jeopardize us all."
The captain barked her orders while readying her stance.
| Alpha-squad Vanguard | A-003 |
"It's just the wind, don't lose focus now!"
The third-in-command was trying to reassure the others as he had more experience than the rest in such operations.
But his words didn't do much to calm their nerves.
Everyone was on high alert as the squad carefully moved through the desolate parts of the abandoned old city.
| Alpha-squad Vice |
"Watch out for unstable footing. Steady as you go. Look for collapses on the road. It's a long drop."
The vice had seen his fair share of men fall to their deaths below.
These roads stood 300 meters in the air, supported by various structures and buildings. The funds to demolish these had fallen through, and the city had never bothered to demolish them.
| Alpha-squad Heavy Assault | A-005 |
"Damn it, where could there be hiding? We've made it to the 98th floor, and nothing."
The soldier all shared his sentiment. Most of them were pushing their limits, and many of them started falling behind the rest.
These elites were the best Psycorps had to offer—a paramilitary force trained to respond to all incidents. But today's mission was beyond anything they had faced before.
Eliminate the terrorists and recover the stolen prototypes.
| Alpha-squad Captain |
"Keep calm! We learn, and we adapt. Scout team, what's your report? Any signs of life?"
The captain was half-joking and wanted to break the heavy tension the team was facing.
She wasn't expecting anything. Not after not seeing anything throughout their entire trip, and especially not this far up.
Her question was directed to the two scout units who were far ahead and leading the group. They were equipped with far more specialized gear than the rest and carried heavy equipment meant for mapping and scanning the areas in front of them.
| Alpha-squad Scout | A-004 |
"Our infra-reds have picked up no signs. However, X-rays have indicated some sort of abnormality on the floor above us, and we cannot yet make out what they are."
The two scouts at the end of the hall were looking straight up in amazement.
*Bizzzztt*
| Alpha-squad Scout | A-009 |
"Something is up on the floor above. Our electronic scanners are being actively jammed. Something's up there, Captain!"
The scout started panicking while quickly taking off his helmet and listening device.
His entire suit was malfunctioning. The error codes and lights on his suit were going haywire while buzzing various electronic noises.
Soon the error spread to the entire team, and they had to take off their equipment urgently.
ᛟᚢᚱ ᚠᛚᛖᛋᚺ ᚠᛟᚱ ᚤᛟᚢᚱ ᛒᛟᚾᛖᛋ ᛈᛋᚤᚲᚺᛟ!
Their visual aids showed indecipherable runes and signals, filling their comms with static and eerie metallic-sounding chatter.
| Alpha-squad Captain |
"Quick, detonate the suits. We've been compromised. Pile them up at the center and lay the charges!"
The whole team took off their exo-suits. Fearing that, even a little delay would allow the suit time to work against them and crush them like tin cans.
| Alpha-squad Vice |
"Throw out everything, all sensors, all comms, all life support systems. Just keep your weapons on you, and we'll go full manual."
Soon the entire team piled all their equipment at the center of the hall.
The suits were vibrating and convulsing all on their own, standing by themselves, jittering and walking around as if possessed. Their suits started to jumble and tangle up, bending and twisting their steel and titanium frames into one another.
| Alpha-squad Rear Guard | A-011 |
"C-captain, w-w-what the hell is h-happening!?!? It's creating something; what on earth is that monstrosity?"
The whole pile was rearranging itself, creating a mechanized weapon.
The machine guns and rifles on their suits were getting ready to discharge a blast to erase the entire squad.
| Alpha-squad Captain |
"Cancel order! Don't set the charge! We'll only bury ourselves. This entire structure is unstable and will come down. Retreat. Full retreat!"
The captain issued a new order realizing her mistake.
The whole squad had to flee immediately, or else they were in danger of being wiped out.
As they retraced their steps to find the stairs, they realized the hopelessness of their entire situation. They were trapped!
It was too dark to see inside the building without assistance from their sensors, and finding the stairs would not be challenging.
| Alpha-squad Captain |
"Thank God I found it! Head for the floor below."
The captain yelled as she lit up an extra flare she had on her and fired it out in a desperate attempt to find the stairs.
Her men did the same as the whole squad had scattered in an attempt to locate the stairs in the darkness.
| Alpha-squad Vice |
"Over here, men. Follow me."
The vice shouted, leading the squad into the darkness below.
Their situation was beyond hopeless. They had to cover ninety-seven floors with their limited supply of flares. And whatever it was that they left behind, the unknown enemy was preparing to come after them and hunt them down.
| Alpha-squad Captain |
"EMPs! Where are EMPs!? Our lives depend on it. There's no other way! Do we have any way to contact HQ? To send out an S.O.S signal? We may be long dead by the time they arrive. But at least we can inform them. We have some intel on the enemy."
The captain steadied her tone and put on a brave front despite the hopeless situation.
All humans, no matter how brave, cower in the face of death. Yet you, most of all, need to remain calm and composed as captain; that is your duty.
The words of her commander Whitefox, who was captain before her, started to resound in her mind.
The difference between succumbing to a hopeless situation and surviving was a thin line.
As a new captain, it was her duty, and she would do anything to bring her men safely back home.
| Alpha-squad Support Carrier | A-012 |
"Captain! We're saved! I found an EMP, and it's all we have. The rest were in our suits."
It was their youngest member, a rookie, that gave them a sliver of hope.
While the squad had no idea where they were, they could still see each other through their passively self-illuminating suits as they faintly glowed a light-green hue.
Each member had a unique marking, and each member memorized the other's insignia.
In the darkness, the vice-captain stepped forward, clumsily reaching out toward the rookie. He felt for the EMP the rookie held out. Grabbing the rookie's arm, he took it and ran his hands over the device.
| Alpha-squad Vice |
"...this won't work. It only works in an extremely short range."
At his words, that small hope vanished.
| Alpha-squad Rear Guard | A-011 |
"I didn't sign up for this!"
The rookie was cursing out loud.
| Alpha-squad Medic | A-008 |
"The money was just too good. What use is it if I die!?"
The medic's weak voice was barely audible.
| Alpha-squad Advanced Guard | A-006 |
"I have a family. How could this have happened? How could—"
He said while clenching his teeth and slamming his fist into the ground.
| Alpha-squad Captain |
"That's enough. Just say your final prayers. We all have families here."
The captain was preparing the team to accept their fate while the noises coming from the stairs were only ramping up.
She closed her eyes, going over and over the events that led them to this moment. Had she done all she could given the circumstance?
| Alpha-squad Vice |
"...except me."
The vice broke the silence.
| Alpha-squad Captain |
"You got us, vice, aren't we enough?"
The captain smiled weakly. Not that anyone could see her face.
| Alpha-squad Vice |
"I'm going in. You guys stay here."
| Alpha-squad Captain |
"Vice, no! As the captain, let me go!"
| Alpha-squad Vice |
"..."
| Alpha-squad Captain |
"Stand down. Let your captain take some responsibility."
| Alpha-squad Vice |
"Negative. No one has more experience on this team than me, Captain! That's an order I'll have to disobey. You're needed to lead this team."
Despite wanting to argue, the captain couldn't think of anything to say. Once he made up his mind, there was no convincing him to stand down.
This man had disobeyed his superiors time and time again. Despite his wealth of experience, his disobedience prevented him from rising further.
The vice then turned to the two rear guards.
| Alpha-squad Vice |
"Rear guards, do you have your heavy shields?"
| Alpha-squad Rear Guard | A-008 |
"Sorry, sir, I dropped it by the stairs during the retreat."
The rear guard was kicking himself for having dropped it.
| Alpha-squad Rear Guard | A-011 |
"I-I don't know where mine is. I'm sorry, sir, I—"
The vice didn't respond but simply patted the rookie on his shoulder as he passed by him.
The Rear guard was the most heavily armed defensive unit, placed as the shield bearer for the assault units.
Losing your shield on the battlefield as a Rear guard was a sin worthy of heavy punishment.
Losing the defensive shields meant the entire squad was in danger of being eliminated. But no one said anything since now wasn't the time.
In a few minutes, they would all be dead.
| Alpha-squad Captain |
"Men all salute!"
The entire team rose to their feet and did just that. Even those agonizing about their fate on the floor stood up.
The entire squad silently saluted the passing man in the darkness.
The whole squad placed their hopes on vice. If anyone had a chance of saving them, it was this man who saw more combat on the field than all of them combined.
| Alpha-squad Captain |
"Take your position. Ready, aim, fire!"
At the captain's command, the team focused their last flares towards the stairway, lighting the way for the vice as he rushed towards it.
In the darkness, they all quietly prayed for his success. But, their vice didn't have time to idle.
The light from the flares would only last for a short moment, and all of the vice's hopes relied on finding that shield by the base of the stairs.
| Alpha-squad Vice |
"Shit, where is it!?"
The vice was looking around while trying not to blind himself by directly staring at the flares dropping all around him.
He squinted his eyes, yet he could find no shields by the base.
| Alpha-squad Vice |
"They must've left it up! I'm dead!!!"
He cursed his fate. He'd have to search for it on the floor above, being completely blind and open to fire.
He ran up the stairs while bending low to the ground. He reached his hands, hoping to find something on the floor as he made a mad dash.
As soon as he made it up, he did an uncontrolled roll toward his left.
As he did, multiple rounds whizzed past him, hitting the stair rails and playing a metallic symphony while the sparks from the impact lit up the dark room.
The vice scraped his skin on the harsh rubble as he rolled with all his might, banging his head against something.
The impact felt like it would split his head open. Soon the flow of bullets followed his motion, making its way straight toward him.
Another melody played out as it hit him directly. The metal clashed against the hardened armor. It was the lost heavy shield.
He had swung his arms out wildly, trying to grab at whatever it was that hit his head—pulling the object in front of him just in time.
The melody kept playing as he waited for the rounds to finish. He was praying to God that the shield would hold up. His own armor would do nothing against the anti-armor rounds being fired at him.
His hands ached and trembled as the shield violently rattled, and his ears rang continuously throughout the bombardment of bullets.
| Alpha-squad Vice |
"Shit, my hands have gone numb."
He could no longer feel his arms. But he still held onto the highly abused shield with his well-trained iron grip.
His eyes started adjusting to the sunlight pouring in at the end of the hall.
He looked to his left and right at the hallway walls to adjust his vision. Since the shield completely blocked his view of whatever they were facing.
He started gasping for air, breathing deeply, taking in as much oxygen as possible.
He prepared his aching muscles, tensing them up to rush towards the monstrosity as soon as he heard the end of the clip.
*click*
Hearing the familiar chime, he stood to a low crouch and rushed forward erratically.
The moment the rounds restarted, he would be finished!
The shield was barely holding itself together. And the force from the rounds was so strong that it would throw him off balance, making running nearly impossible.
It felt like taking multiple heavy sledgehammer impacts to the shield at a relentless rate.
He could not peep to confirm the exact location of his target either. He only had a single shot, and throwing it was not an option, as his whole arm would be full of holes the moment he poked it out.
Nor could he clearly see anymore; the brightness of the flares had made him blind, and his vision wasn't adjusting. He had to guess its location.
And so, like a baby rhinoceros, he madly rushed at it, hoping to crash into it from his mad charge.
| Alpha-squad Vice |
"Diiieee, you bastard!!!"
The vice screamed like another crazy bastard as he let out his guttural warcry. But it was too late.
*click*
He heard the trigger going off. The rounds were restarting.
In a final desperate attempt, he tossed the shield away, completely exposing himself. He had hoped he could crash into it with the shield, but it was further off than he anticipated.
He then opened up his eyes to take in whatever light his now bloodshot eyes could take in, and that's when he saw it.
The last thing he saw was the blinding light pouring in from the end and sides of the hall and a monstrosity standing at the far end as his body was riddled with a dozen holes from the onslaught.
The EMP dropped from his lifeless hands as his body crumpled on the floor.
As it rolled towards the abomination, it let out a high-pitched buzz.
*Whiizzzst—beep—BEEP—BEEEPPP*
The contraption stared in horror as it saw the bomb slowly roll toward it.
ᛋᚺᛁᛏ!!!
It then detonated with its 2 million amps, frying all circuits in a 3-meter radius.
The high-pitched blast resonated in the ears of all those below, followed by an eerie silence.
Had the vice done it!?
| Alpha-squad Captain |
"Alpha squad! Come in. Alpha squad, respond! Alpha—"
Soon, the comms came to life.
The jamming had all but stopped. The entire squad let out a victorious roar while hugging each other.
| Alpha-squad Captain |
"Vice did it! He took down that thing!"
The whole squad rushed towards the stairs, trying to make it up before the last flares fizzled.
What they saw above was the carnage of the ruined heap and the dead man on the side. His body was beyond recognition.
They all gathered around him, with a pained expression on each face.
| Alpha-squad Captain |
"A-alpha squad reporting, Sector 5. Man down. Man down. We are requesting urgent assistance. Vice is dead. We lost all our suits. The squad is down to full manual."
The captain was trying to maintain her composure.
They could not mourn for him. They were still in grave danger after all that abnormality that caused all of this was still there on the floor above them.
The entire team looked toward their captain. If that monstrosity made its way down, they would soon join vice.
The voice from the other end sighed with relief.
| Commander Whitefox |
"W-we thought we lost you before we could send you the information. The other squads were not so fortunate."
| Alpha-squad Captain |
"...what the hell are we facing, ma'am!?"
The captain was beyond frustrated at the lack of information they were given. She threw her etiquette out the window after facing death with her unit and losing her vice.
| Commander Whitefox |
"Don't give me that attitude, captain. We're doing our best out here. But I don't blame you. Now give me a full report quickly! You may all still be in danger."
Whitefox chose to give her captain some leeway. She could only imagine what the Alpha squad had gone through under her orders.
The whole team took the same formation around their captain while she relayed what had happened to her commander.
The voice on the other end became more relaxed upon hearing the events.
| Commander Whitefox |
"Mission accomplished! Well done, Alpha squad!"
| Alpha-squad Captain |
"...What?"
The captain was dumbfounded.
| Commander Whitefox |
"We're sending air support to pick you up immediately. Stand by for further orders."
| Alpha-squad Captain |
"What's going on here? The assailant is still at large, ma'am. That abnormality might have escaped, and we cannot verify if it's still on the floor above."
| Commander Whitefox |
"Type 12, Iron Fortress, successfully located. It's an immobile unit captain, and its highly customized circuitry means it cannot bear weapons. So its main goal is to wage electronic warfare by jamming, as well as to hack other units for defense. Stay where you are. We will send the sweeper with air support to retrieve it."
The whole squad had heard the comm as the captain had opened it out to them. Despite protocol, she wanted them to listen to it.
The entire squad stared at each, quite stupefied over the development.
Relief, confusion, grief, anger, and exhaustion.
They went through all these emotions. Despite everything, they had somehow survived.
They then all gathered around vice.
At last, they could mourn for him. They took turns guarding the squad while switching out to mourn for him.
.
.
.
Half an hour later, the air support ships arrived.
They flew at a distance, staying out of Iron Fortress' range.
They lowered their men through a rope ladder into the opening of the 98th floor, which was exposed to the elements.
| Zeta-squad Captain |
"Zeta squad has arrived with sweeper and medic units. Make your way to the air vessel. We'll take it from here."
The newly arrived Zeta squad captain yelled out orders as her troops poured in from the ladder one after the other.
Their uniforms were entirely different, with different colors and designs.
After making their way up, they found Iron Fortress idly whirling away in the corner.
They had come prepared this time with multiple EMP charges, heavy shield units, and full manual gear.
Thanks to the efforts of the Alpha squad, only their vice was a casualty on that day.
After dismantling Iron Fortress, the Zeta squad took its parts, along with the Alpha squad and their vice's body, on the Zeta squad airship.
Leaving the scene, the Alpha squad thought about all the events that had occurred that day.
However, they were the lucky ones.
***
𝓟𝓡𝓞𝓛𝓞𝓖𝓤𝓔 𝓞𝓝𝓔
𝐅𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐬 𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐭'𝐬 𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐤
—𝕰𝖓𝖉—
𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠~