Chapter 4 - Change of Objective

'Think, Adam. Think…' He mutters inwardly as he looks at his surroundings for a way out.

The four legged tanks control to take pot shots at them to keep them pinned on the roof. It's odd that the enemies didn't try to rush up with more drones to take them out. In fact, the number of enemies forcing their way up had lessened a lot.

Then Adam heard gunshots not from 001. He took the risk and peek over the ledge and saw most of the enemies below were firing at something. Perhaps the allies arrived. But regardless, it's a lifesaver.

Adam looks at the Aerial Bombardment cooldown and it's one more minute.

"001, artillery strike on one of the spider tanks."

"Affirmative." The stalwart sounding operator replied and called in another Artillery strike.

"003, keep throwing Necro Bomb wherever the enemy is the most concentrated."

"002, keep shooting at the enemies but prioritize your safety." Adam ordered. He would rather not have anyone die yet when he is still not sure when this mission will end.

"Affirmative." x2

Adam peeked through the hole the tank made and used his Assault Rifle to fire at the enemies below.

When his cooldown ended, he immediately called for an artillery strike and removed the last tank. After that, the enemies look less willing to fight and finally fall back further up north. Then the allies pushed forward.

He saw human soldiers and the Dolls of G&K pushing the frontline along with some mechs.

"Everyone gather up, we are leaving this building." Adam ordered and swiftly eliminated the remaining enemies from the building and made his way down with the squad.

"Affirmative." x3

While walking down the stairs, Adam noted his objectives changed.

[Head to the quarantine center and defend the civilians until they are evacuated.]

Seeing the new objective, Adam subconsciously turned his head to the direction of the south wall and saw the green wave of clouds occasionally flashing with lightning like a storm cloud heading toward the city.

*Bzzt*

"To all the civilians of Belgrade! A Collapse Fluid Storm is heading toward the city, please gather in the quarantine area to be evacuated." The transmission repeats a few more times.

Adam had an inkling that whatever fluid is what caused the zombie infection, that's why the urgency in the voice just now ordering the civilian to be evacuated.

Adam saw a relatively intact pickup truck near the road being abandoned among many other vehicles.

"Everyone got on the truck. 003 you drive. 001 stand on the back and shoot any enemies we encounter." Adam ordered as he headed to the car and ripped the passenger side door when it was locked.

002 and 003 also did the same and ripped the door open before 003 entered the car and hotwired it before the engine turned on. The truck then sped off on the highway, heading to the south wall.

———

*Bzzt*

"Operator Adam White. Where are you right now?"

"Heading to the southern wall." Adam recognised the voice, Commander Gentiane.

"Huh? Oh, great. The rebels blasted another wall and the ELIDs are pouring into the city. They need your help to buy time and evacuate the citizens." She updated Adam with some new information. "If possible, reinforce the Task Force DEFY and assist them to take down the rebel forces."

"Alright." Adam acknowledges the order as they change their destination to the quarantine center instead of the wall.

Ten minutes later, Adam knew he arrived at the quarantine area despite not looking at the minimap. Sound of gunshots and cannons from ahead is very loud and can be heard from great distances, especially the cannon fire.

When they get a clear view of the battlefield, he can see normal soldiers, soldiers in mech, mech and a goddamn four legged tank with a big ass turret. He also spotted two silver haired ladies zipping around the battlefield, fighting the rebels. Those ladies are definitely the Dolls that Gentiane mentioned.

*zzz*

Adam heard a low hum and his eyes coincidentally landed on the four legged tank that the two Dolls were trying to reach within the chaotic battlefield.

"Typhon is on fire! Take cover!" One of the nearby garrison troops shouted and dived to the floor. Adam and his squad did too before a blue beam shot toward their position and took out another chunk of the fortification.

Now Adam knows what to do. He has to take out all the enemy's heavy weapons like that siege tank, Typhon. Or else, the troops wouldn't be able to hold the line.

"Get back to the truck. We are heading in." Adam ordered and with 003 on the driving wheel again. They drove through a destroyed fortification and dived head first into the warzone like it's straight out of a movie or video game.

(Straight out of GTA V)

"Drive to the Typhon. 001 ready to call an artillery strike when we get into range." Adam ordered while he was on his rifle shooting at any enemies he could aim at.

The truck sustained quite the fire but 003 is a surprisingly skilled driver no less than Vin Diesel as he did the impossible and expertly controls the vehicle like an extension of his body, narrowly missing bullets or rockets. Meanwhile Adam, 001 and 002 doing the drive-by, lit up anyone unfortunate enough to land on their sight.

Their vehicle swiftly reached one of the Dolls and slowed down.

"Need a ride?" Adam asks the Doll that possesses an emotionless face even in such chaotic battlefields.

"Thanks." The Doll replied and hopped up to the truck with 001 at the back.

Adam also extended the same offer to the other one not too far from the first. Her eyes were closed even in battle. How does she even aim without opening her eyes? Adam wondered. But her reaction when seeing Adam and his squad was to flutter open her eyelids to reveal glowing pink eyes. "Human?" She asks before Adam extends his offer.

With the two Dolls on tow, the truck sped up faster despite the uneven surface that kept knocking the truck airborne.

"Sir, Artillery Strike deployed on the target." 001 informed.

"Good. 003, go around the back of the enemy's line. We're gonna wreck havoc on their heavy equipment." Adam ordered as he spotted a few more big war machines on the rebel forces backline. Some look like tanks and some look like missile launchers.

As they drive away much to the two Dolls confusion, moments later, a rain of 9 artillery shells drop on the Typhon and explode into a rain of metal scraps.

"We have Artillery support?" The Doll with her eyes closed, asked.

"Yes." Adam answered but before they could talk more. The quiet one warned them of Hydra.

"Hydra? Where?" Adam quickly assumes it's another dangerous unit which warrants the attention.

Then a spider tank appeared in front of the truck and fired at them with the machine guns mounted on top and bottom of the quadruple walker robot.

"Aim at its guns and disable it." The Doll with her eyes closed, said.

Adam and his squad minus 003 aim their shots at the guns as she said and quickly disable it.

"Ignore it. Its armor is too thick to be penetrated. Disabling its weaponry saves more time." She said.

"I see." Adam mutters as the truck swerves past it and continues onward to the rear of the enemy's line.

"By the way. What's your name and the other one? Mine is Adam." He introduced himself.

The Doll was silent for a moment as if pondering something before she gave her name. "Mine is AK-12 and she is AN-94." She introduced.

"Hm. Nice to meet you, ladies." Adam grunted as he missed his shot when the truck suddenly shook violently. Maybe hitting a pothole. "Let's work together and defeat these rebels."

"Their organization's name is KCCO. But, sure." AK-12 agrees. After all, no one will say no for another helping hand when they are in need of one.

———

20 minutes later, after wrecking much havoc on the enemy's rear, destroying their supplies lines to the front and crippling their logistics and most if not all their important infrastructures. Adam with his squad and DEFY arrived close to the enemy's headquarter.

"Please create distraction while we infiltrate and arrest the leader." AK-12 asked while they were pinned under the wreckage of the AA batteries they had just destroyed.

"Wish you luck." Adam nods before turning to his operators. "001 deploy your barrier and distract the enemies."

001 nods and leaves the cover before using Die Another Day skill to reduce all incoming damage by 90% as he attracts the enemies attention. Team DEFY already took the opportunity and sneaked off to infiltrate the HQ.

"002 Reinforcement. 003 smoke em up." Adam said before he activated his Reinforcement too and peek out his cover to fire back at the enemies.

The enemy's soldier hides behind the fortification around the HQ which forms an impenetrable line filled with soldiers firing at them while Adam and his squad have little choice on cover they can use.

001 moved to the wreckage of a transport truck after his barrier expired. Adam saw him and immediately ordered 001 to rain another Artillery Strike on the enemies hiding like a turtle behind their cover.

While busy returning fire to keep the enemies suppressed under their cover, Adam suddenly felt he was tackled. Then he saw a bluish beam shot through him from his right.

"The fuck?" Adam cursed as he didn't exactly come out unscathed. His right leg got hit by the beam but oddly still intact although his Health Bar tanked quite some hits with more than 60% gone.

"Where did that come from?" Adam growled as he picked himself up while his right leg felt like it was run over by a truck.

"Four o'clock sir." 003 responded.

Adam looks at 003 and spots 002 downed on the floor and unresponsive. He guessed 002 is the one that saved him.

"Is he dead?"

"Yes, sir. But it would take 30 seconds to resuscitate him with my help." Adam felt pained but immediately felt relieved when 003 said 002 still can be revived. He won't question how because he knows he wouldn't get any answer from them.

"Take cover and stay wil 001 to suppress the enemies." Adam gave his order to the Medic who nodded wordlessly. "Good. I will go and take care of the bastard that fired at me.

Adam activated Adrenaline Shot and put his rifle away before he sprinted toward the direction the beam came from. Enemies tried to fire at Adam but none of them could aim fast enough, not even the mechs.

He performs parkour with his temporarily enhanced reaction time and speed to go over obstacles with ease before he leaves the open street into the building. As soon as he was inside a building, he re-equip his gun and checked his minimap, rescanning the area and he saw a cluster of red dots in front of his current position, indicating the enemies. One of the dots is larger than the others which he assumes is the cannon that shot him.

Somewhere in the depth of his mind, he is scolding himself to act on his own without any help to take down whatever cannon was shooting at him. Logically, such a strategic weapon would have quite the escort to defend it. It's a simple logic an avid strategy games addict like him should easily understand and imagine. But he also cannot afford to redirect his operators from providing distraction for Team DEFY to eliminate the rebel leader.

He wondered where his bravado came from to act alone without any help. Not even 24 hours ago, he was nothing more than a 20 years old bachelor, a common guy with nothing significant or any achievement worth mentioning under his name.

Perhaps he just got too into the thrill. Or maybe it was just the excitement that finally faded off, hence this little episode he was having with the realization of the reality that finally set into his head.

He was complacent. But who can it be blamed after he was literally given guns and armors that can kill even fully armed soldiers with ease. Power that brought ruin to the unlucky enemies that so happen to be opposing him.

Power corrupts people and Adam is no different. He isn't a protagonist in a story with heart so noble even saints were put to shame. He is susceptible to the same corruption and it changed the way he thinks and acts.

Fighting against hordes of zombies, well trained soldiers and mechs? He would never even imagine it's possible prior to his death. Yet now, he didn't even realize or question his act and objectives until now.

"It's too late to think of those shits." Adam growled at himself, his mind, the faint and subconscious voice that buzzed in his head, his last wisp of rationality as a human from the modern world.

His fingers wrap around his rifle tightly as his body tensed while he stared at the open window in front of him.

"I will win and nothing will stop me. Not when I finally have my freedom from modern society, the people and that rotten world that rejected me." He chants his warcry and vaults over the window with a sprint before reapplying Adrenaline Shot.

The humanoid robots guarding the cannon immediately fired at him while he made the run over to the building it was hiding on. Even as bullets rained at him, Adam remained unphased as his Health Bar dipped below 20%, officially reaching critical. But a refreshing surge of feeling washes over him when the Stim Shot is automatically applied and bumps his Health back to the green zone above 60%.

Unyielding and stubborn, he charged ahead and reached below the building which ceased the enemy's fire because he was no longer in sight.

Once he entered the building, his minimap refreshed the scan and showed the enemy's forces that filled the building. Adam switches over to his shotgun since the enclosed space means most encounters with enemies will be in short range which his shotgun is more suitable for than his assault rifle.

(To be continued.)

—————

Ignore my rant if you want.

(I want to continue writing but i feel my brain is fried and as much as I wanted to get this finished in one go. I can't. Researching, planning, writing, then editing is difficult for a single person. Like imagine almost done writing the chapter then went on another research for some minor details and found out the entire plot was wrong and have to start from scratch again. Unlike the recent fic, I'm writing this fic seriously although just for fun. So, I am very nitpicky even on small details that I can easily gloss over like how the entire fucking city is doomed regardless of what Adam did because a Collapse Fluid Storm gonna wreck Belgrade. So the only way to save it is to evacuate all the civilians. My obsession with details is the death of me I swear. Too obsessed with details yet cannot be too accurate otherwise it's no different than copying the entire plot with mc inserted.)

If you readers feel generous or want to appreciate my work and effort, feel free to tip me here.

https://ko-fi.com/lazy_kat_aoi