*C51 - First contact with a "Messenger".

E/d note: Special thanks to Luke Sullivan tier holders: "Flint 679", "Brian Price", "Carlos Caballero" and "Jeremy Rea"! Keep a lookout in this chapter for Flint 679 as "Captain Flint" – Team captain of STRIKE Unit Echo, Brian Price as "Brian" – Veteran member of STRIKE Unit Echo, Carlos Caballero as "Carlos" – Rookie member of STRIKE Unit Echo, and Jeremy Rea as "Jeremy" – ordinary human transformed into a messenger unwillingly.

'Inner dialogue/thoughts'

"Normal dialogue"

[System]

[Diary entries]

(Word count: 2,331)

~ The previous night with STRIKE Unit Echo, in a remote area within USA ~

The late night was eerily silent, the kind of silence that pressed down on the members of STRIKE Unit Echo. Captain Flint led his unit as they moved through the sleeping town with measured pace. Their unit had been briefed earlier by Deputy Director Hill regarding an intrusion by an unknown entity at a jewellery store in a remote location.

Being the only team with vast combat experience available, they were selected to be deployed to respond to this incident. However, during the transport, Flint had warned his team of the dangers they could face. Reminding them of the events that led to STRIKE Unit Omega's fatalities and the subsequent temporary decommission of the unit not too long ago.

"I don't like this, Flint" Brian voiced out, "We're walking into something unknown."

"Stay off the air, Brian. This is just a standard mission, we go in, we neutralize, we go out. That's all it is. Stay sharp." Flint whispered into his comm, his voice steady despite the tension that crackled in the air. Internally, Flint's mind was racing. His team was not briefed about the unknown entity, the only thing that they were informed of was that it was dangerous and alone.

When the said jewellery store came into view, the team were surprised that there were no signs of forced entry from the outside. Arriving at the doorstep of the store, Flint noticed a singular figure inside by the display cases, grabbing and storing various items into a bag.

Signalling his team into position, Flint turned the doorknob and slightly opened the door. Seeing that the door was unlocked, Flint nodded his head toward Brian and subsequently swung the door open as Brian rushed in first shouting verbal commands, "Get down on the ground now!"

Hearing a sudden shout, the figure dropped the bag filled with various gemstones as he jumped on the spot and turned around to see multiple heavily armed man storming into the store.

"WHAT THE F*CK! WHAT THE F*CK!" The figure screamed as his entire body shook from having many guns pointed at him.

"I said get down on the ground, now!" Brian verbally commanded once more, at which point the figure complied as he got down to lie flat on his belly immediately.

"Control, this is Echo Zero. We have suspect in sight and is compliant to commands. Please advise." Flint spoke into his comm, confused about their current situation. This was not what Flint and his team were briefed on.

'What the f*ck is going on here.' Flint thought, a sudden feeling of worry enveloping him.

~ With Jeremy, the unknown figure ~

'WHAT THE F*CK IS GOING ON?!' Jeremy exclaimed internally as he laid flat on the ground.

Jeremy was a struggling single father to his only son. His wife had passed on after giving birth to his son a few months ago. However, his new-born son never left the hospital as he was diagnosed with infantile leukaemia.

Jeremy was told that there was a working cure, however, would be too costly. The doctors had reassured Jeremy that the hospital would contact him to figure out a way for him to make payments in instalments, however Jeremy held no hope for it as he knew that the American healthcare system did not care about their patients and only cared to make as much money as possible.

This was proven right for him as the hospital had informed him that the next earliest time that they could operate on his son was not for another few months later. Whether it was due to his son's condition or the hospital's greed of charging him for more money for having his son in the hospital's care, Jeremy did not know. All he knew was that he could not afford the treatment through his own means.

A few days ago, Jeremy heard a voice in his head, promising to cure his son if he carried out some work in return. Jeremy had ignored this voice initially, however, due to constant pressure from the hospital regarding due payments, Jeremy caved in and listened to the voice. This had led him to his current predicament.

When Jeremy was about to resign to his fate as a convict and the consequences that could lead to his son's early death, the same voice appeared in his head again.

'Jeremy. . .' The voice started in a low and whispered tone. 'Do you want to seek revenge on the world for taking your wife and cursing your new-born son? Do you want to escape from this unfair situation you find yourself in? Do you want the power to free yourself from these chains of fate?'

With Jeremy's will slowly fading, he responded in a defeated tone as he was approached by one of the armed men. "I do."

~ With STRIKE Unit Echo ~

"What did you say?" Carlos, who was walking towards the Jeremy to secure him, had suddenly heard Jeremy spoke. Not hearing any response, Carlos was about to reach his target when he was stopped by a voice calling out to him.

"CARLOS STOP!" Brian's voice called out.

"What's wrong, Brian?" Carlos inquired.

"I don't know, something feels off." Brian voiced his concern.

Suddenly, the temperature within the jewellery store dropped by many degrees as an icy chill filled the air, sending shivers down the spines of the STRIKE Unit members. Soon after, a sudden low growling laughter filled the air as it echoed within the store.

Readying his weapon, Flint gave his commands, "Weapon's hot! Something's not right with this." At his words, the rest of his unit got into defensive position, finding cover all around the store in preparation for the unknown.

Jeremy then slowly moved to stand up from his current position. As Carlos was the closest one to Jeremy, he noticed it first as he loudly commanded, "GET BACK DOWN ON THE GROUND NOW!"

However, he received no response from Jeremy. The rest of the unit had their eyes trained on Jeremy, while keeping peripheral view of the store. A clicking noise emanated from Jeremy, who's eyes turned marbly black while his mouth suddenly extended beyond humanly possible.

His body, though still humanoid, had also been morphed by the multiple eyeball and mouth like organisms with razor sharp teeth that sprouted out throughout his body. After completing his transformation, Jeremy now stood as a grotesque parody of life.

"What the f*ck is this thing?" Carlos voiced out in disgust, seeing the creature that Jeremy had turned into.

Seeing that the creature before him looked like it was getting into position to launch an attack, Carlos took a shot at its' head. However, the bullet barely caused it to flinch when it made contact.

"What th-" Suddenly, as if defying the logic of its physical capabilities, the creature lunged, faster than any normal human could react to. It grabbed Diaz by the throat, lifting him off his feet effortlessly.

"I DON'T HAVE A CLEAR SHOT!" Flint shouted.

The rest of the team took this as a command that for those who had a clear shot of the creature and avoid shooting Carlos, they were to take the shots. Of the 7-unit personnel, only two of them had a clear view of the creature.

However, as they took their shots at the creature, it did not affect the creature majorly. Instead, Carlos gasped for breath as he struggled to free himself from the creature. As he kicked the air, his eyes widened in terror when the creature tightened its fingers, ending in a sickening crack as Carlos's windpipe was crushed.

A moment of silence filled the room at the death of Carlos. Seeing their newest recruit fall so easily, Flint immediately commanded "OPEN FIRE!"

The team had unloaded a barrage of bullets towards the creature, yet no matter where they shot; the head where the brain would be, or the left side of the chest were the heart would be, the bullets did not seem to do much damage.

The creature swung it's hands across the store, extending out into a long stretch, and managed to land a hit. Its claws raked across the face of another member of the unit, Lewis, which had blinded him with a spray of blood. He staggered back, firing wildly at the direction of the creature before the creature pounced once again, sinking its teeth into his shoulder and tearing out a chunk of flesh.

"Fall back!" Seeing that bullets were of no use and that two of his team members were easily dispatched by the creature, Flint ordered for his unit to retreat. However, the creature was relentless. As they were retreating, the creature had found it's next target as it drove a hand through the chest of Jackson, ripping out his heart with ease.

Brian threw a grenade, hoping to either kill the creature or slow it down long enough for the rest of the team to enter into an open area. In the confined spaces of the store, Brian knew that he and the rest of his unit were just sitting ducks, waiting to be picked off one by one by the creature.

The explosion sent shards of glass and debris flying. Unfortunately for Flint and his team, the explosion had also disorientated them, and not all of them were able to exit the store in time. Jenkins, who was the only member left inside, was by the entrance about to exit the store when she was yanked back by her arm into the store.

The creature twisted Jenkin's arm, a pronounced snapping sound filling the air, before biting down on her neck. Jenkins' screams were cut short, replaced by a gurgling choke as blood poured from the wound.

The creature eventually emerged from the smoke, unscathed and enraged. Flint, who's mind was racing to find a solution, suddenly realized a particular habit of the creature. Whenever the creature was being fired upon, it's multiple eyeballs would be pulled back into its' body, and it would remain still. And whenever it moved or attacked, the eyeballs would appear once again.

Believing it to be a weakness, Flint raised his hands, signalling his team to hold fire. When the creature moved, Flint noticed that an eyeball had appeared from the body. He immediately took a shot towards the eyeball, which had finally caused visible pain to appear on the creature.

"When it moves, aim for the eyes that appear! Those black eyes should not be able to see us!" Flint revealed.

Taking advantage of its' momentary distraction, Brian re-positioned himself to be behind the creature, out of sight should the eyes reappear as well as out of the shooting line of sight of the rest of his unit. When the creature made another move, another eye appeared which was swiftly shot at again by the STRIKE unit.

The creature let out a guttural roar as its body convulsed in pain. Miraculously, Brian saw that there was a smaller eye that was constantly open at the back of the creature's neck. Without thinking too much, he fired a round straight into that eye. The creature shuddered violently as its body seemed to have been shut down. With one last echoing groan, it collapsed, twitching before finally going still.

Breathing heavily, Brian surveyed the wreckage. Half of the team had been killed in action against an entity they had never came across before. Checking on the creature, he confirmed that it was no longer breathing. For good measure, he unloaded another fully loaded magazine onto the area where the smaller eye had been.

Flint watched on, the weight of the loss of his team crashing onto him. However, the job wasn't done. Although they had neutralized the threat, they still needed to secure it.

"Control, this is Captain Flint." Flint spoke into his comm, his voiced tired, "Target is neutralized, requesting for immediate extraction. Multiple fatalities."

As he waited for a response, Flint and the rest of his team were once again on full alert when they noticed movement coming from the creature. However, contrary to their belief, the creature only reverted back into its original human appearance.

'Seriously, what the f*ck is going on. . .' Flint wondered in worry. He could not shake the feeling that this was just the beginning. Something far darker and more dangerous lurked in the shadows, and they had only scratched the surface of what's to come.

- End of Chapter 51 - 

Next time in C52 - Reactions to the "Messengers".

After a few minutes of reading through the contents of the folder, Hill could only ask in bewilderment, "What the hell is this?" Setting down the folder, Hill looked towards Fury as she waited for Fury's answer.

.

.

.

"I don't know." Fury admitted, an uncharacteristic uncertainty tinged in his voice.