Outbreak - IC Thread

[Raver]

Denver Fortress - Block D4, Level 34

Rachel woke from her sleep with a start, sitting bolt upright in her bed. The sheets were clammy and wet, her covers bunched up at the bottom. She'd been dreaming again, the same damn dream for almost a week. She remembered snippets of it. This irritated her even more as she'd expect herself to remember more after experiencing it six times already. It always ended the same way, with her sprinting up flights and flights of stairs until, finally bursting through a doorway at the top she came face to face with a man, a twisted, mutated parody of a once normal human being. The last thing she always saw before waking up were the eyes...The eyes which glowed with fire and malice...Then she would wake, in the exact same way, and she would treat it the exact same she always did, with a big glass and a stiff drink.

Climbing out of her bed she made her way across the room and after a few clinks of glass, she walked out onto her balcony, a glass of strong liquid in her hand. As the night turned to morning and the moon sank behind the horizon, her thoughts of the dream were slowly lost in the drunken thoughts swimming through her mind, before, eventually she would collapse into bed, to wake the next morning with her brain feeling several sizes too big for her head.

---

The sun shone through the half drawn blinds, falling on the hungover frame of Rachel Lee, who groggily climbed to her feet only to stumble on a glass on the floor and fall on her face. As she pushed herself up from the floor, her vision focussed and slowly she pulled on her overalls, before filling the sink in her bathroom with cold water and subsequently slamming her face in it and holding it there for a minute or so. When she pulled her face out, she tied her hair into a tight ponytail at the back of her head before grabbing her holster belt, security card and keys before leaving the apartment.

---

The hangar was alive with activity when Rachel Lee strode in. All around her people moved and ran, large mechas lifted cargo while small buggy's transported crews and munitions all around the hangar. As she made her way through the general chaos of the area she finally approached her dropship, located at the very end of the hangar. As opposed to the camo or black paint-job of most of the airships in the hangar, her vessel was pure white, aside from the black scorch marks from the rotor-jets. It was a magnificent vessel, shining brightly in the morning sun which shone through the glass roof.

As she approached the ship and passed under it's hull, she lifted her hand and let it slide along the underside of the craft. "Hey baby...I'm back." She spoke quietly before coming to a stop underneath the cockpit, where she punched in a code and from the underside of the ship, the pilot's seat descended with a pneumatic hiss. Climbing in, she keyed the engines which roared to life with a cloud of black exhaust. Putting on her headphones, she radioed in. "Tower this is whiskey-foxtrot, requesting clearance to launch from hangar three for bird warmup."

"Whiskey-foxtrot you are clear for launch, we'll see you again soon." Came the reply and with that, she punched in the ignition codes and the pilot's seat ascended into the vessel. As the seat locked into position, a holographic HUD appeared infront of her, giving her a readout of the surrounding area. Grabbing the two joysticks with her hands she pulled up while increasing the throttle and her bird instantly replied, lifting several metres into the air, the engines firing out blue jets of flame into the hangar floor, scorching the already blackened metal.

Leaning forward on the joysticks, Rachel brought the Valkyrie out of the hagnar and gunning the accelerator, was sucked back into her seat as the vessel shot up into the morning sky. After she ascended a few thousand feet she eased off the throttle and levelled out, the huge rotor-jets on the end of the dropships stubby wings rotating until they were horizontal. Rachel flew the Valkyrie around in a wide circle of the city, looking down on the walled fortress below, looking more like pile of stacked silver lego blocks rather than a city. The skyscrapers were all crowded so close together surrounded on all sides by a great wall.

Banking sharply, she brought the Valkyrie back down towards the city. "Whiskey-foxtrot you are on an approach vector, transmit clearance codes immediately." Rachel responded by punching in an 8 digit number and moments later the voice of the air traffic controller spoke up in her ear again, "Clearance accepted, welcome home."

Rachel grimaced as she brought the Valkyrie in hard and fast, swinging the rotor jets around to face the ground, kicking up great clouds of dust on the outside entrance of the hangar. As the ship touched down clamps locked onto its landing gear and began to tow it inside.

---

In her office, Rachel sat slumped over her desk, spinning a single coin on the table as her head was pressed against the wood. Her hangover was killing her and even a high velocity ascent in the Valkyrie couldn't cure it. Her computer began to buzz, a high pitched beep pinging against her skull every couple of seconds. Resisting the urge to smash it off the table, she pressed the touch screen, only for a message to appear, requesting for her thumb print. Pressing her thumb to the screen, it flashed white for a short moment then the message opened infront of her:

To: Chief Sergeant Rachel Lee
From: USRF Section 1
Priority: Alpha.1
Subject: Mission

Body:

Sergeant Lee, your services are required for a mission into the badlands. If you accept, report to briefing room 27D at the USRF Denver Division at 0900 hours.

Your refusal would be unwise.

Rachel stared at the screen for almost ten minutes straight before the screen blurred and she again fell asleep.

OOC: Sorry for the short post peeps, had to rush a bit. Basically every character will get the same message to go the the briefing, there the mission will be outlined.

[Lestaki]

6:00. Generic Residental District.

Come.

Come to this side.

I've been waiting for so long.

Laura rolled out of bed, yawning as she walked across the room and turned off her alarm clock. She put the routine dream to the back of her mind as she dressed, swiftly but carefully. After that, she strapped the shoulder holster of her revolver and the hip holster of her pistol to her, sliding her knife into a sheath at the back of her belt. She quick drew both pistols before making minor adjustments to the set-up.

Finally, she went downstairs, making a sparse breakfast while her dad ate. "Good morning."

"Morning. Ready to go?"

"No problems," she said. "I'll go and pick up the client, then we'll both head to the briefing."

"I'm still against you getting involved in the military," Jack said. "The risk and the rewards don't match up."

"If I want to make a name, I need to take any chances that come way." Laura sat down in front of him. "Don't worry. I can do this."

"If you can handle them, that's more than I can," Jack said darkly.

"I'm not superstitious," Laura said firmly. "They're sick and desperate, that's all."

"Like hell there are. You weren't on the frontlines against those things." Jack lowered his spoon, standing. "Well, that's for the best."

"Maybe so," Laura agreed.

Jack crossed the clean, almost empty room, grabbing his green camofage jacket from the coathanger. He stared at the emblem for a while. The 21st Firehawks, the hardest motherfuckers who ever made the mutants eat shit and die. Though people also called that conflict a genocide.

Laura stood. "I'll be off."

"Catch." Jack threw his heavy jacket at her. "You'll pick up webbing, body armour and the appropriate clothing at the briefing. But that should keep the cold out on the mission. Much better than the new recycled shite they give people these days."

Laura hesitated for a moment before putting the oversized jacket on. "Sure. Bye, dad."

"Good luck, darling." He watched her leaving, trying to feign indifference. Damnit, normally he was the one to leave like that, and her who watched him go.

8:00, Lorn's House
Laura rang the doorbell, before standing back and waiting politely for him to open the door. Under her left arm, she held the contract and the mission invitation.

[Tempe]

7:30 AM Lorn's House, Residential District

"Wake up," softly said the female voice, "Wake up Lorn," she repeated with slightly more force. The scientist apathetically opened his eyes and looked up to see his assistant standing above him, a glass of drink in each hand. Lorn sat up only to have the results of last nights' research stick to his face. He groggily swatted away the piece of paper, ionly for it's imprint to remain on the side of his face. It looked odd for the few moments it took to return to his normal skin tone.

"I guess I should be somewhere?" He asked whilst retrieving one of the offered drinks.

"There's the military briefing, Laura will be here soon," she motioned towards the corridor that lead to his bedroom, "Everything is prepared for you, even your weapon."

"Is that really necessary?"

"It's the military Lorn, we don't know why they'd want you, but if Laura is involved it's not going to be office work," her tone seemed slightly annoyed when she punctuated the bodyguard's name, she didn't like the idea of someone else taking her responsibilities. Especially when she was trained to fight herself.

Lorn simply nodded as he finished his drink and headed to get dressed and ready for the day ahead. "Thanks Ashley," he added as he turned into his room.


8:00 AM

Ashley had answered the door mere seconds after it was knocked, after studying Laura for a moment she invited her in and called out to Lorn. He appeared in the hallway now fully dressed and prepared, his SR-5 laser pistol was even in it's chameleonine holster.

"We should probably get moving then?" Lorn quizzed as he stepped towards the front door, sliding past Laura before pulling it open and stepping outside. "Be back later Ashley, don't bother cooking dinner." He shut the door behind them as Laura stepped out, begining the walk to the briefing.

[atmawpn]

The road stretched on, winding, convoluted, but inevitable. He ran tirelessly, the light in the distance beckoning towards him.

bloody subconscious

He looked around briefly, trying to see what lay behind. There was only the deep darkness that seemed to swallow even the path he was treading on.

almost every damned night now

The light was coming closer now. He could vaguely make out some faint silhouettes framing its brilliant white. Leaves? Trees? People? He couldn't tell.

this isn't warning this is trolling

A peculiar fatigue washed over him suddenly, his footsteps slowing as his feet seemed to grow heavier with each running stride. A moment ago he was nearly flying, and now he was dragging himself through solidifying cement.

if you're trying to warn me and foreshadow my inevitable fate

He burst out into the open, the sunlight temporarily blinding him. Raising his arm to shield his eyes, he saw the twisting masses of flesh, no, people, writhing ahead in a teeming swarm. Now they reached out towards him, moans deafening and saturating the air, tendrils of fingers grasping, himself paralysed and helpless to do a thing...

like I said. I get it already

---

Aidan cursed as he sat up slowly in bed, the steady familiar beeping of the Omni-Tool coming slowly into auditory focus. Opening a sleepy eye he glanced momentarily at the time, the holographic numbers hovering steadily over his left forearm. He let out a yawn as he got to his feet, shuffling tiredly through some junk as he made his way to the fridge.

There was precious little living space in these times.

"Dammit," another curse left his lips as he was greeted by the sight of the fridge's interior. Aside from a single egg and some scrapings of peanut butter in a jar, there wasn't much else that didn't require a full-length stove drama. And he was starving just like every other day - thanks to the nanites swimming through his system.

Not that he complained of course - for it was by his own will and intention that Aidan had infused himself with a quantity of the self-replicating machines. Things could have gone horribly wrong then, be it allergic reaction, brain hemorrhage, or bleeding his insides all over the floor as his organs were liquefied by the tenacious nanites. Thankfully, and according to those 95% confidence interval estimates of his, they simply settled into a symbiotic state and quite literally changed his life.

And look who had the last laugh, he chuckled slightly as he swallowed the last bits of the boiled egg and peanut butter. For all their brilliance those old sages were just unable to see beyond their tinted glasses of so-called 'ethics.'

A low growl indicated his body's dissatisfaction with the meagre breakfast, accompanied by another series of beeps - not an alarm, but a message notification.

What have we here... he wondered as he tapped the holographic button projected from his Omni-Tool.

"To: Professor Aidan
From: USRF Section 1
Priority: Alpha.1
Subject: Mission

Body:

Professor, your services are required for a mission into the badlands. If you accept, report to briefing room 27D at the USRF Denver Division at 0900 hours.

Your refusal would be unwise."

He smiled slightly at the message - it had been many years since he was last addressed as 'Professor.' It brought back memories of an era long past, of younger naive times, of days that were not spent caged in a proverbial prison. Nowadays he mostly kept a low profile, helping the other citizens with various technical glitches for modest sums. It kept the bills paid for, at least.

'If you accept' indeed.

It was time to get moving.

[SeventhStorm]

7:00. Residential Block C
Great. Another dream about that. The nightmare still stood with him, then. He supposed that the darkness that plagued him would never truly leave him. He rolled over, slamming his hand down on the alarm. Getting out of bed, he walked over to the sink and splashed cold water onto his face. Shaking out of his reverie, John got dressed and went to his computer terminal. Logging in with short, efficient keystrokes, a message popped up.

"To: Sgt. Hurst
From: USRF Section 1
Priority: Alpha.1
Subject: Mission

Body:

Sergeant, your services are required for a mission into the badlands. If you accept, report to briefing room 27D at the USRF Denver Division at 0900 hours.

Your refusal would be unwise."


Great. Another mission from those USRF idiots… Ah well, it would keep his mind distracted for a while. Stuffing an extra set of clothes and his SMG into a dull grey duffel bag, he holstered his revolver in his jacket and set off at a brisk walk for the briefing room.

[Gorb]

Alleyway, Block B2, Level 13, 6.40 am:


To: Layl, B (operative seconded to FieldOps)
From: USRF Section 1
Priority: Alpha.1
Subject: Mission

Body:

Layl, your services are required for a mission into the badlands. If you accept, report to briefing room 27D at the USRF Denver Division at 0900 hours.

Your refusal would be unwise.He read it, his mouth twisting into a grimace. Complete bollocks. Why the hell would it be unwise to refuse? It's not like even the USRF could afford to get rid of him, field veterans were rare these days; he himself had lost contact with associates from other divisions over the past few years. He doubted many, if any, of them were still alive. That said, they could be alive. Infected and alive. Poor sods.

5 minutes later and Brian was up, his bedding already rolled up and in his backpack, on his way down one of the silent streets that made up the residential suburbs of Denver "Fortress". No-one was around. They rarely were, even when it got later in the day. 6.45 am was, admittedly, a bit too early to see people up and about. Still, people were too scared, and the propaganda on the news was taking things too far. How could the human race rebuild anything if everyone was too busy hiding in their living rooms, eyes glued to the TV?

Sighing heavily, he made his way USRF headquarters. Quite a walk from this section of Denver and he'd prolly get held up by the guards while they laughed at him for belonging to a private outfit rather than the "true, blue, good ol' American military".

-------------------------------------------------------------
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The Badlands, 7.10 am:

Liam! Liam! Where are - Billy! - Li - Bil - Run! Run as fast as you - Liam! Happy - Run! Liamrunasfastasyoucandon'tletthemcatchyouhappybirthdayliamliamliamliamlia -

Darkness. Ath'nak was at home in darkness. Darkness meant strength. Shaking his head, he looked up at the rocky ceiling. A cave. Caves were good. He'd had a dream again. Humans were calling names, familiar yet unfamiliar names. Poor humans. Why couldn't they see what they were up against?

The Infected known as Ath'nak exhaled harshly, the early morning air rough in his throat. Damn sunshine. He hated it.

[Kane]

"What a pity," Jackel said standing over the remains of a body. "Aww at least I got some enjoyment out of that. Now to be payed." A man walks up behind him.

"Well done I see your skills are as good as they say. Dr. Jackel. Here is your payment."

"Thank you, but please do tell my client that next time I would prefer a little more enjoyment, OK?" The man shivered, Jackel was just as crazy as the rumors had said.

*Hours later*
Jackel entered his small apartment. Ever since the infection, there were many more jobs, but most were not enjoyable. Thus Jackel demanded a high rate. He then fired up his computer to see if there were any new job offers. Instead of a job offer a message popped up.

To: Tybear Roanan aka Dr. Jackel
From: USRF Section 1
Priority: Alpha.1
Subject: Mission

Body:

Dr. Jackel your services are required for a mission into the badlands. If you accept, report to briefing room 27D at the USRF Denver Division at 0900 hours.

Your refusal would be unwise.

"Mmmm, this is interesting. I think I found my next job. I even think that this will provide me with some enjoyment." Jackel leaves his apartment room.

[Master Chief]

Dare dangled in the hammock stretched in his small apartment, lazily listening to the radio as he took another drink of the coffee in his favorite mug. Times had been tough recently, and he hadn't been getting the money he'd been hoping for, but it was moments like these that made it worth it. Not to mention his wonderful job of saving the human race singlehandedly. Yep, he had it made.

A flicker on his computer monitor caught his eye, and with a tremendous effort he forced himself up, taking a seat at the PC and clicking on the flashing update.

"What have we here?" he mused to himself, as he started to read the message.

"Bingo!" Dare shouted out, clapping his hands as he laughed to himself. The USRF needed the expert help of the King of Hearts, obviously on some sort of high-risk mission to save the world.

He hurriedly dressed, slipping on his fatigues and boots before strapping on the many pieces of heavy and battered armor that had kept him alive. Next came the ammo vests, the grenade bandoliers, and finally his field pack, containing the rest of his gear. This was followed by his OICW, which he slung over his shoulder, and his L1 and trench knife, which went on his hip holster and chest sheath respectively. Finally, he tossed his armored helmet on, slipping his lucky card inside before sliding the thick mask up over his head as he put on his sweet shades. Gotta look good, after all.

With all the pregame warmup out of the way, he left his apartment and began hustling to the USRF base.

[Richter]

8-45 a.m.

Ilika took up the entire firing range on her own. She was situated in the centre, taking aim at a dozen targets with her rifle, switching and changing from one target to the next. It helped her, both with training against multiple combatants, and also firing at varying distances.
The red counter just above her pumping finger ticked downwards. 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. The sounds of her shots echo off into the distance, and Ilika hits a switch to bring her targets to her for inspection.
Twelve human shaped forms made their way to Ilika, stopping at the firing platform after their 150 metre trip. The figures were human in physiology, some armoured, some not, all scored at least half a dozen times with Ilika's shots.
A data panel indicated that Ilika had 'killed' 11 out 12 of her targets. Her face twisted into an irritated frown. That was not acceptable.
She ejected the empty magazine angrily, prepared to hammer another 50 rounds into the weapon, when a voice boomed across the firing range.

From: USRF Section 1
Priority: Alpha.1

Private First Class Ilika, your services are required for a mission into the badlands. If you accept, report to briefing room 27D at the USRF Denver Division at 0900 hours.

Your refusal would be unwise.

Ilika swore out loud. That was freaky. The firing range was empty. She was the only one who could have heard that. And Alpha.1 priority.
Sounded important.
Ilika thought for a moment. She stared at the remaining 'live' targeting dummy. Then she decided.
"You", she said with a savage grin, "are dead."

[Ragnarok]

7:36 A.M. Defensive Wall surrounding Residential Block D

Such a boring night this was. There hasn't been a single incident of attack or raid by those damned infected in a long while. I'm even beginning to think those bastards are getting afraid of me....hah, yeah right... -Jonathan thought as he lay resting in a chair, holding his Minigun nearby.


He had been stationed on the walls of the Fortress of Denver almost 2 weeks ago, and he hasn't even fired a single shot yet. They constantly move him between posts to 'reinforce' other positions, but he is just getting the feeling one of his superiors just doesn't like him.

Jonathan was about to fall asleep out of pure boredom until he heard a voice.

"Lieutenant Qurze, A Message has arrived for you, patching it through to your helmet."

"Call me Jonathan damnit..."

Hrmm...a message? from who?


To: Lieutenant Jonathan Qurze
From: USRF Section 1
Priority: Alpha.1
Subject: Mission

Body:

Lieutenant Qurze, your services are required for a mission into the badlands. If you accept, report to briefing room 27D at the USRF Denver Division at 0900 hours.

Your refusal would be unwise.

Jonathan grinned as he got up from his chair and made his way into the USRF briefing room.

"Notify Command of my departure. Tell them to send someone to cover my post. If they ask why, tell them I'm required in an Alpha 1 mission. They'll understand." Jonathan told the patrol sergeant.

My day just got a hell of a lot better....

[Raver]

Rachel was, oddly, the first person to get into the briefing room which was essentially a small amphitheatre, able to fit around 30 people. Across the roof walkways and strange arrays of technology were mounted, some of them even activating and tracking her as she made her way down the stairway at the middle of the room and sat four rows away from the stage, which had a pedestal and a microphone on it. As the went on, one by one various other group members made their way in, some were the most peculiar people she had ever seen, others simply looking like other grunts, much like her. At one point on of the others asked her if they were in the right room for the Alpha1 briefing, to which she said nothing but simply nodded slowly, not blinking as they sat down next to her.

Over about 20 minutes of waiting, when the last of the people had arrived, the lights in the room dimmed while the lights on the stage brightened, while a man walked on and stood at the podium. He wasn't terribly tall, however it looked like he was built out of concrete, and his bald head shone like polished chrome under the spotlight.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, thank you for coming...My name is Colonel Carter. As you know, the USRF is in need of your assistance for a particularly dangerous set of missions, you have all been handpicked from the inhabitants of this city due to your exceptional skill in your professions. From what I have read, some of you are talented scientists, others top grade pilots, I want you to take a look around, because these people will be your team for the next few months and you will have to get used to each other, as you will be trusting them with your lives."

As the man spoke, the lights shifted so that the focus was concentrated to the left of the podium, where holographic images began to flicker and take shape, finally turning into the form of a cityscape, with particular points parked out across it. "This is what remains of San Diego. Your target is a particularly dangerous Resistance leader going by the name of Alastair Thrawn. From what intel we've managed to gather, he's holed up with a bunch of his infected freak buddies in the Gulf Hotel." The holographic map then changed, zooming on a particular marker which surrounded a 81 story, arched-shaped building. It was certainly an impressive structure, but would be difficult to infiltrate. "The team will be flown in on the dropship Valkyrie, piloted by Sergeant Chief Rachel Lee," The chrome-headed man motioned to Rachel, who felt her ears growing slowly hotter until he finally started speaking again. "she will also be your commanding officer, so you answer directly to her. However she in turn reports directly to me. She will provide recognisance and cover fire from her dropship, while the rest of you are to be split into two teams, alpha and beta respectively."

Rachel was rooted to the spot. She had only had a few command missions in the part and now it seemed she's been thrown in with a team of misfits to attack a Resistance stronghold...This just keeps getting worse by the minute...Chrome Carter then continued on, "Alpha will be made up of Brian Layl, Laura Stern, John Hurst...uh...Lorn and Ilika. While Beta will be made up of Aidan, Richard Dare, Dr. Jackal and Jonathan Qurze." Rachel could hear a few chuckles throughout the team as the Colonel read out the various, peculiar names of the members.

"Team Alpha, you will be dropped on the roof of the building, using rappel cables to reach the roof. Now these resistance fuckers are tricky and theres a good chance you'll be expecting ambushes and booby traps and moment you set foot on that building, however to accomplish you objectives you must move fast and hard.

You must first secure the roof, then move down the stairwells to level 50, this is where the main atrium, and Thrawn's location is.

Beta, you will be dropped on the road outside the entrance and you are to make your way into the building, secure the first floor then move up, eliminating any hostiles pushed down by Alpha teams approach.

Both teams will then rendezvous on level 50, locate Thrawn and extract him alive. Your extraction point will be the roof where Sergeant Lee will be waiting to pick you all up.

I don't need to remind you, the resistance are tough fuckers and will put up a fight, but remember, they're using old scavenged weaponry, so you will all have the clear advantage. Try not to get into close quarters, as if you're infected you cannot be allowed back into the city. Thats it boys and girls, the bird takes off at 01100 hours today, you have 2 hours to get your shit together and be on that dropship. Happy hunting."

Before the lights had even come back on in the amphitheatre Rachel had left the room and was on her way to the hangar...

OOC: Heres an image of the building: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7c/Arch_200710-1.jpg

[SeventhStorm]

"The team will be flown in on the dropship Valkyrie, piloted by Sergeant Chief Rachel Lee," The chrome-headed man motioned to Rachel, who felt her ears growing slowly hotter until he finally started speaking again. "she will also be your commanding officer, so you answer directly to her. However she in turn reports directly to me. She will provide recognisance and cover fire from her dropship, while the rest of you are to be split into two teams, alpha and beta respectively."


"Alpha will be made up of Laura Stern, John Hurst...uh...Lorn and Ilika.

Well, not bad, he supposed. It could be a worse grouping, only one non-military soldier on his team. Lorn, however, seemed odd. The only reason that John could fathom for Lorn be here was to test out the chameoleon skin, or collect gene samples. Hmm, interesting...


"Team Alpha, you will be dropped on the roof of the building, using rappel cables to reach the roof. Now these resistance fuckers are tricky and theres a good chance you'll be expecting ambushes and booby traps and moment you set foot on that building, however to accomplish you objectives you must move fast and hard.

Well, not the worst plan he had ever heard. Of course, depending on how team Beta did, it could end up badly. Well, it would be good for some excitement, he hoped. It had been getting quite dull, picking out recruits. Well, no time like the present to meet the team.

"Hey, you're Lorn, right? Any idea what you're here for?"

[atmawpn]

"Ladies and Gentlemen, thank you for coming...My name is Colonel Carter. As you know, the USRF is in need of your assistance for a particularly dangerous set of missions, you have all been handpicked from the inhabitants of this city due to your exceptional skill in your professions. From what I have read, some of you are talented scientists, others top grade pilots, I want you to take a look around, because these people will be your team for the next few months and you will have to get used to each other, as you will be trusting them with your lives."

So this is where I realise the Colonel is spouting marketing fluff, Aidan thought skeptically as he took a quick glance around, having spent much of the earlier waiting time munching on whatever snacks he'd managed to grab on the way here. To his surprise the Colonel's words didn't seem too far off - already he had noticed three ladies who looked like they'd seen their fair share of combat. Women who could hold their own: he definitely had a respect for that. As opposed to the majority of females he had known or encountered thus far: all so hopelessly dependent and fragile. Stereotypical perhaps, but statistically significant at least.

Not bad - at least this'll be easy on the eyes, he smiled slightly to himself as he let his gaze linger momentarily and discreetly, before moving on to gauge the rest of his would-be colleagues. They mostly seemed to have military experience, or at least some derivative of it, what with the combat-honed physiques and military equipment they seemed to possess. There was this other researcher lookalike whom he had slight concerns about however, for the man appeared somewhat thin and less suited for a demanding task such as this. But then again, who was he to judge? There was no telling if the man were just like him, if he had dabbled in modifications that were not externally visible.

Well, this is certainly going better than... Aidan raised a questioning eyebrow as his eyes laid sight on the last person. A strange man who saw fit to match a black trench coat with a wide brimmed black hat. And a pair of white gloves. He almost looked Victorian, archaic, bizarre.

I suppose we could have him shimmy down the Resistance lines so we could kill them while they roll around laughing, Aidan chuckled to himself as he returned his attention to the briefing.

"This is what remains of San Diego. Your target is a particularly dangerous Resistance leader going by the name of Alastair Thrawn. From what intel we've managed to gather, he's holed up with a bunch of his infected freak buddies in the Gulf Hotel."

Straightforward enough, Aidan thought as he raised a plastic cup to his lips and took in a mouthful of rich milkshake.

"The team will be flown in on the dropship Valkyrie, piloted by Sergeant Chief Rachel Lee. She will also be your commanding officer, so you answer directly to her. However she in turn reports directly to me. She will provide reconnaissance and cover fire from her dropship, while the rest of you are to be split into two teams, alpha and beta respectively."

So long as she's able to walk the talk.

"Alpha will be made up of Brian Layl, Laura Stern, John Hurst...uh...Lorn and Ilika. While Beta will be made up of Aidan, Richard Dare, Dr. Jackel and Jonathan Qurze."

He nearly spewed his drink when he heard the name. It didn't take much intellectual inference to guess which one of them was 'Dr. Jackel.' Glancing back at the strange man again, Aidan let out a sigh as he slumped back down in his seat in resignation.

"Team Alpha, you will be dropped on the roof of the building, using rappel cables to reach the roof. Now these resistance fuckers are tricky and there's a good chance you'll be expecting ambushes and booby traps and moment you set foot on that building, however to accomplish you objectives you must move fast and hard. You must first secure the roof, then move down the stairwells to level 50, this is where the main atrium, and Thrawn's location is."

"Beta, you will be dropped on the road outside the entrance and you are to make your way into the building, secure the first floor then move up, eliminating any hostiles pushed down by Alpha teams approach. Both teams will then rendezvous on level 50, locate Thrawn and extract him alive. Your extraction point will be the roof where Sergeant Lee will be waiting to pick you all up."

So we climb. Hope the elevators still work.

"I don't need to remind you, the resistance are tough fuckers and will put up a fight, but remember, they're using old scavenged weaponry, so you will all have the clear advantage. Try not to get into close quarters, as if you're infected you cannot be allowed back into the city. Thats it boys and girls, the bird takes off at 01100 hours today, you have 2 hours to get your shit together and be on that dropship. Happy hunting."

Before the lights had even come back on in the amphitheatre Rachel had left the room and was on her way to the hangar. Meanwhile, the rest of them seemed to linger for a time, trying to get their bearings.

Might as well get acquainted with the team then, Aidan thought as he swung up from his seat and stretched. Walking up to the two soldiers while trying to avoid eye contact with Dr. Jackel, he held out his right hand.

"Guess we'll be working together then," Aidan began plainly, "I'm Aidan, and I guess I'll be your Tech Specialist for this mission."

[Ragnarok]

Jonathan arrived to see a varied looking group of trained soldiers and specialists…and one odd guy with a hat. The amphitheater was huge. Brought back some memories of a time long long lost. He walked forward and sat down on one of the front rows. He laid back for a moment, analyzing the people he was apparently going to work with.

After a while, a man showed up on stage and walked towards the podium. Jonathan thought he recognized the man, but really couldn’t tell. He introduced himself as Colonel Carter, and proceeded to give a small but blunt inspirational speech.

“This is what remains of San Diego. Your target is a particularly dangerous Resistance leader going by the name of Alastair Thrawn. From what intel we've managed to gather, he's holed up with a bunch of his infected freak buddies in the Gulf Hotel.” The Colonel said. “The team will be flown in on the dropship Valkyrie, piloted by Sergeant Chief Rachel Lee”

Jonathan shrugged. The idea of being flown into an objective has always disgusted him. What good is a man to a mission if there’s a big chance he’ll crash before he gets there? It’s the only one thing Jonathan dislikes. Flying…

The Colonel continued briefing the mission. Apparently, Jonathan belongs to beta squad, along with a man called Aidan, another one called Richard…and a ‘Dr. Jackal’.

Why do I get the feeling the odd guy with the Hat belongs to my team? –Jonathan shrugged again.

The briefing continued and Jonathan’s mission would be to aid in the assault of the Resistance stronghold from the ground up.
If I’m attacking from the ground, why can’t I just take a buggy there or something? God I hate flying.

When the briefing was over, a man approached his group and introduced himself.
"I'm Aidan, and I guess I'll be your Tech Specialist for this mission." The Scientist said as he stretched his right arm.

Jonathan responded the greeting and said: “My name is Jonathan…Heavy weapons guy I guess.”

[Lestaki]

"This is certainly something," Laura whispered to Lorn. "The military doesn't want to risk their own, so they're using this ragged team with no prior experience together. It's the only explanation I can think of. So watch the members of our little band who are military, especially the commanding soldier, Sergeant Chief Lee. She's on someone's shit list, fairly or not."

Laura frowned. "Regardless, I'll do my best to keep you alive. I'm going to pick up some equipment to that end."

She approached one of the Colonel's aids, handing him a folded piece of paper. "From Jack Borne Stern, with his compliments. Sir."

The aid opened the piece of paper. "Understood. They'll be on the dropship. But tell your old man this settles things between us."

"I'll tell him that. Thank you."

Laura returned to Lorn's side, sitting down in her seat again while looking at the other members of the team thoughtfully. "Sending in a squad, split two ways, to secure an entire hotel, is incredibly risky. But it looks like most of our members here are competant, at least at first glance. I take it you know how to use a rappel?"

[Kane]

Dr. Jackel was standing in the corner of what was an amphitheater. Jackel glanced around at his to be coworkers and decided that they would be good enough. Mostly the old military type.


"Ladies and Gentlemen, thank you for coming...My name is Colonel Carter. As you know, the USRF is in need of your assistance for a particularly dangerous set of missions, you have all been handpicked from the inhabitants of this city due to your exceptional skill in your professions. From what I have read, some of you are talented scientists, others top grade pilots, I want you to take a look around, because these people will be your team for the next few months and you will have to get used to each other, as you will be trusting them with your lives."

Mmmm. Dangerous meant pleasurable.



This is what remains of San Diego. Your target is a particularly dangerous Resistance leader going by the name of Alastair Thrawn. From what intel we've managed to gather, he's holed up with a bunch of his infected freak buddies in the Gulf Hotel. The team will be flown in on the dropship Valkyrie, piloted by Sergeant Chief Rachel Lee, she will also be your commanding officer, so you answer directly to her. However she in turn reports directly to me. She will provide recognizance and cover fire from her dropship, while the rest of you are to be split into two teams, alpha and beta respectively."

The resistance. Dr. Jackel had fought a few before and thought they provided great pleasure. It would be a blood boiling experience.


"Alpha will be made up of Brian Layl, Laura Stern, John Hurst...uh...Lorn and Ilika. While Beta will be made up of Aidan, Richard Dare, Dr. Jackal and Jonathan Qurze." Rachel could hear a few chuckles throughout the team as the Colonel read out the various, peculiar names of the members.

"Team Alpha, you will be dropped on the roof of the building, using rappel cables to reach the roof. Now these resistance fuckers are tricky and theres a good chance you'll be expecting ambushes and booby traps and moment you set foot on that building, however to accomplish you objectives you must move fast and hard.

You must first secure the roof, then move down the stairwells to level 50, this is where the main atrium, and Thrawn's location is.

Beta, you will be dropped on the road outside the entrance and you are to make your way into the building, secure the first floor then move up, eliminating any hostiles pushed down by Alpha teams approach.

Both teams will then rendezvous on level 50, locate Thrawn and extract him alive. Your extraction point will be the roof where Sergeant Lee will be waiting to pick you all up.

I don't need to remind you, the resistance are tough fuckers and will put up a fight, but remember, they're using old scavenged weaponry, so you will all have the clear advantage. Try not to get into close quarters, as if you're infected you cannot be allowed back into the city. Thats it boys and girls, the bird takes off at 01100 hours today, you have 2 hours to get your shit together and be on that dropship. Happy hunting."


This sounded like a good mission. possibly everything could go wrong. That is what Jackel wanted, because then he would be able to improvise.


Guess we'll be working together then. I'm Aidan, and I guess I'll be your Tech Specialist for this mission."


“My name is Jonathan…Heavy weapons guy I guess.”

Dr. Jackel tipped his hat in acknowledgment of the two and then added, "Hello I am Dr. Jackel. I have no real specialty. I'm just here for the pleasure this will provide." Jackel smiled

[Tempe]

Lorn sat quietly through the briefing trying to remember anything that would be useful later. He made a mental note to go and grab some powerful sedatives to use on the Resistance Leader, and perhaps an uncooperative teammate. He watched as who he assumed was one of his teammates walked over and spoke to him, "I'm a scientist," he responded, "I assume they want use of my unique skills."

The scientist watched Laura as she walked off for a moment and then listened as she returned and spoke to him, "No, I can't say I've ever rapelled from anything before," he replied to her.

'How do you expect to get down from the helicopter, then? With no offence intended, I'm not sure why you're here at all,' she responded in a businesslike tone.

"No-one else here looks as though they could drug the infected leader, who I doubt anyone would want to simply knock out and hope for the best. Secondly, We rarely get to examine the specimens in their own environment. Anything we find out about them could be useful. I'm not a soldier or pilot or.. Whatever that guy in the hat is but I'm as useful if not more useful than anyone else here." He took a deep breath after the overpaced, long sentences left him.

Laura looks skeptical but nods. "That is probably of value to the military. In any case, my job is to make sure you come out of this alive. So, do you want to try to learn in the time we have left?'

"Ok, but can't I just grab on to something?" He said as he stood up, eyeing the exit. "You, have done this before haven't you?"

[Master Chief]

Dare lounged back in his seat, his rifle flat on his lap, as he listened to the briefing from Colonel Carter. As expected, it was an insanely dangerous mission where they'd be airdropped into Infection Central, kill everything in sight, nab the leader, then get the hell out of Dodge. Or San Diego. Same thing, really.

He looked over at B-Team as they started introducing themselves, taking in the squad that he'd have to rely on to survive, though the relationship was mutual. It'd been a while since he'd worked with more than a single partner, but it wasn't rocket surgery.

It seemed like Dare was actually the youngest one here; the 'heavy weapons guy', Jonathan, had some impressive hardware, and definitely looked like a professional soldier. Aidan, however, most certainly did not. He seemed like he belonged more in a lab than the battlefield. The last one, Dr. Jackel, he didn't know what the fuck, what with the scars and clothes, but he liked his "can do" attitude. The other two, he'd have to whip into shape. After all, you can't be a big shot with wussy words like "I guess."

"Richard Dare, assault and breaching are my game. Need a door kicked in and some heads busted, well, that's my job."

[Angelofthenight]

Apartment Complex C, Floor 38

Jack shifted a little in his sleep, the same constantly reoccurring nightmare plaguing him once more, sitting up with a yell as it reached it's usual climatic peak. "Damn it~" He muttered soon afterwards, glancing over at the console in the room and seeing it blinking with a lone message, climbing upright to wander over to it, rubbing his sleep-filled eyes as he read it through;


To: Engineering Corporal Jack Coney
From: USRF Section 1
Priority: Alpha.1
Subject: Mission

Body:

Corporal, your services are required for a mission into the badlands. If you accept, report to briefing room 27D at the USRF Denver Division at 0900 hours.

Your refusal would be unwise.

He sat back and blinked after the message. "Ah hell." he muttered soon afterwards, before glancing at the chronometer on the screen as well. 0850.

"Ah." was all that followed, before he promptly gathered his stuff and legged it from the building, hating the height of the apartment he was within, MAR within the case in his hand as he finally made it to ground level, continuing to bolt through the streets.

Briefing room 27D

Jack dashed near to the room, skidding to a halt near the door, just in time to watch the General leave through one of the others. Sighing a little as he wondered what the heck he was to do now.
Giving up on subtlety as he wandered into the room proper, taking the nearest seat he could find and doing his best not to be seen until later. Checking out the rest of the individuals within the room as he more or less waited to be told what to do.

[Gorb]

Snatch and grab? That was it?

What did I do this time?

Maybe insult another officer at one of the bars down in the Entertainment District (ED)? Perhaps, it was a common scenario. Still, he was stuck with this stupid assignment so Brian supposed he should make the most of it. They might need a demolitions expert, possibly. Just possibly. Then again, looking around, Layl saw various individuals who probably wouldn't have trouble getting through barricaded doors. It's not like the Infected were much good at fortifying their little hellholes of resistance.

They just made up for it with sheer animalism, brute strength and weird-ass mutations.

He looked around the room and sighed. Again. If anyone wanted him, they could approach him. Brian had two hours before the party began, which meant he could spend ninety minutes of that resting. Or maybe reading a book.

[Raver]

"Tower this is Whiskey-Foxtrot beginning pre-flight check. We'll be picking up in roughly 10 minutes." Said Rachel into a bulky headset as she went through all the settings and switches in the cockpit of her dropship. Out the large reinforced glass cockpit windows she could see every few minutes the members of the team filtering into the massive hangar and moving over to the dropship. "Whiskey-foxtrot I hear you loud and clear, you have clearance to leave for the next ten minutes."

Her vessel was hard to miss due to its particularly good quality and unusual paint job, however this didn't stop a few of the team members from getting lost and turning up several minutes later with a dejected look on their faces. After Rachel had gone through all the check, she filled out a cigar and a box of matches and proceeded to light up before getting up, and climbing around the pilots seat, moving into the cramped hold of the dropship. It was a small, long room with weapons mounted along the walls at head height and ammo stored in crates under the passenger seats. Already most of the team was there and strapping in, looking up at the strange woman than walked past with a cigar in her mouth letting out rings of smoke every few moments.

As she walked through the hold she counted all the team members and from what she understood, they were all there. "Good..."She muttered to herself..."THey're not all too retarded then." Moving back to the cockpit she sat back down in the pilots seat and punched the ignition. The Valkyrie answered instantly with a low rumble followed by a whine pitched whine as its jets fired. "Ladies and gentlemen, my name is Sergeant Lee, I'll be your pilot today. Please keep all hands and arms inside the aircraft at all times and vomit in the bags provided, not on the floor. Lifting off in 5, hold on."

Counting down, she lifted up on the two joysticks and the dropship roared up into the air and towards the massive doorway at the end of the hagnar. The aircraft's jets were angled out wide so as to not incinerate all the people on the ground, however the moment they had cleared the roof, Rachel slammed down on the throttle and the Valkyrie dropped a few metres and shot forwards, out into the sunlight.

---

They had been in transit for almost an hour now and they were close to their target, judging by the ruined buildings and suburbs passing by below her, Rachel assumed they were on the outskirts of San Diego. Looking at the transparent screen mounted infront of her, she punched in their coordinates and looked at their position relative to their target. They were still a few kilometres away; "Ladies and gentlemen, ETA until drop tree minutes,, get your shit together, team A, I want you arranged on the left and right side, at the forward doors. Beta team, up the back of the hold near the ramp. We'll be going in hot so be ready."

Punching two red buttons on her console, the doors on either side of the hold slid open and three rappelling harnesses dropped from the roof. This was followed by the ramp at the back lowering with a low whine, giving the whole team a panoramic look at their surroundings. They were flying roughly 10 or so metres above ground level, so low infact they could make out cars, houses, signs, the remains of a once bustling city. Rachel's eyes however were firmly ahead, staring at the imposing CBD of the city and on its outskirts the ominous 'arch' shaped building which was their target. As they approached she pulled back on the throttle and lifted them up a few hundred metres into the air, before slowly dropping to a hover above the roof of the building. "Alpha team! Go! Go! Go!" She roared into her headset as she watched on the hold camera as the team clipped themselves into the harnesses and threw themselves out of the hold. Watching from the window she saw them all making their way down the lines relatively quickly before touching down on the roof and taking up defensive positions. Pressing a button, the ropes dangling from the dropship were several and the hold door slid shut again. Pulling on the control yolk's she brought the dropship away from the roof and swung it down the side of the building. Anyone less used to flying would think they were in freefall with the velocity they gathered falling along the western side of the building, however Lee was behind the controls and smoothly tipped the Valkyrie back up and touched hew down on the ground just outside the entrance to the massive building. "Beta, its your turn! Roll out!"

[Master Chief]

"Hot damn, you can fly!" Dare whooped as the Valkyrie raced towards the ground, only pulling up at what seemed like the last second. He hadn't been this excited in a long time; Sergeant Lee was one hell of a pilot, and he definitely wouldn't mind another helo ride with her.

"Let's roll, Beta!" he shouted right before he flew down the ramp, eyes scanning the horizon from under his intimidating jet-black armored mask, his shades stowed in his bag for now. He sprinted down, sliding to a stop behind one of the pillars outside the entrance to the hotel. Raising his rifle up, he looked through the 6x scope, scouting out the situation as the rest of Bad Squad, as he had now decided to call them, took cover alongside him.

"We've got sentries in the lobby," he whispered, sweeping between the multiple infected sons of bitches. "Looks like five, maybe six. Yep, at least six." He was able to see two near the front desk, another two by the glass doors, and one final pair guarding the elevators.

"So, here's the plan; I plant a charge, Big Daddy and I," Dare pointed at Qurze, "breach the lobby, and you three provide cover fire from behind. Boom, bang, they're dead, we're in. Sound good Bad Squad?"

[Ragnarok]

Richard Dare…..I’ve heard that name before…..reckless young man with a penchant for suicide…In any case, it’s what I get…. –thought Jonathan as he greeted the young Richard.

The 2 hours dragged on, and Jonathan found his way into the hangar room. Once inside he saw that decent ship Rachel was going to fly them in. He gave out a quick laugh as he looked at the paint job. “At least if we die, we die in style hahaha….” He said in a low tone…

He made his way inside, to find some of the members had already chosen a spot and began to strap themselves in. he wanted to pick a spot exactly in the middle of the ship as to reduce the chances of either falling through a door, or getting shot if someone tried to target the cockpit…or what if someone tried to board their ship…or what if? He kept on and on about how he could end up dead until he realized they were going to fight infected only. Not some super armed organization. Besides, the massive size of his armor and weapons meant he had to find a bigger space. So he ended up just grabbing from a wall beside the ramp.

As they flew to their destination, Jonathan just closed his helmet and mask and closed his eyes, repeating over and over in his head “I HATE flying”.

He was about to fall asleep, when the pilot said
“Ladies and gentlemen, ETA until drop tree minutes,, get your shit together, team A, I want you arranged on the left and right side, at the forward doors. Beta team, up the back of the hold near the ramp. We'll be going in hot so be ready."

Holy shit. I am going to die. -Jonathan thought as he gripped his mini-gun tighter. He watched Richard, as enthusiastic as ever, quickly jump out of his seat and into the ramp, excitement flowing through his veins. As soon as they dropped Alpha, Lee made an almost impossible movement on the ship and managed to get them into position. “Lets roll beta!” Richard shouted as he jumped out the ship. Jonathan just grabbed his weapon and jumped, hoping for the best. As soon as he landed on the ground, he took position behind an abandoned car, close to where Richard took point.

"We've got sentries in the lobby," Richard whispered “Looks like five, maybe six. Yep, at least six.”

“That’s only near the lobby, there are bound to be many more inside….or around the area.” Jonathan said, but the young man seemed to dismiss him.

“So, here's the plan; I plant a charge, Big Daddy and I breach the lobby, and you three provide cover fire from behind. Boom, bang, they're dead, we're in. Sound good Bad Squad?" Richard said to the squad.

“It’s not that simple Dare, the moment that explosion goes off, its going to make such a racket that it will probably cause all surrounding infected to come after us. Sure, its going to look fun, but don’t get too confident. Keep in line, and don’t try to be a hero. Alright Beta, after the charge goes off and the lobby is clear, we make for the nearest elevators. Aidan, we’re counting on you..."

[Richter]

Ilika was very angry.

She did not like rappelling at all. She'd never properly learned it. Heck, when had she really needed to use the skill at all?

I any case, the ride was fairly boring. An interesting crew, to say the least. Ilika didn't particularly talk much. She was to busy trying to figure out who to use as cover. There was Lorn, some sort of scientist. That was too obvious. Only seemed to carry a simple laser pistol, although his cybernetic eye suggested that perhaps he had other uses. Ilika hoped to hell he had other uses.

There was the scientists bodyguard, Stern. Ilika liked the look of her already. There was Hurst. He looked competent enough. It was in the way he gripped his weapon, a laser-based SMG. Rapid firing, searing hot death. The best kind.

The last was Hayl. He had to be the demo-man. Or a foot-slogger with too many grenades. She liked the look of him too. Seemed sorta bored, like he'd rather be doing something else. Which was good, it meant that he knew what he was doing. You were either confidant or you were scared shitless, in Ilika's opinion. Ilika's eyes lingered for a split second on Hayl, out of sheer pleasure.

Ilika walked up to the now opening doors as their pilot and commander warned them of their approaching destination. Hurst would be better suited to going first. Ilika could perhaps lay down some covering fire if she saw anything. Hayl could then go next, then Ilika or Stern, then the scientist.

So if she fucked up the descent she had somebody to land on and wouldn't get shot to pieces at the bottom.

[atmawpn]

The journey by air was uneventful, though that perilous drop down the side of the building was quite the ride. It had unnerved Aidan initially when he realised they were plunging at near-freefall velocities, but mid-plunge his efficient self took over and declared the entire manoeuvre as being particularly brilliant. Any doubts he had regarding Sergeant Lee were now replaced with a decisive approval.

What faster way is there than good old gravitational acceleration? Aidan was smiling as he secured his supplies and moved quickly off the ramp. While the majority of the team appeared to be traveling with just the combat essentials, Aidan had with him a few extra calorie bars stashed away in the various pouches strapped to his torso.

True to expectation, Richard had already taken point, what with an attitude that Aidan could only politely describe as "very enthusiastic."

"We've got sentries in the lobby," Richard whispered, sweeping between the multiple infected sons of bitches. "Looks like five, maybe six. Yep, at least six."

“That’s only near the lobby, there are bound to be many more inside….or around the area.” Jonathan added. The cautious type then.

"So, here's the plan; I plant a charge, Big Daddy and I," Dare pointed at Qurze, "breach the lobby, and you three provide cover fire from behind. Boom, bang, they're dead, we're in. Sound good Bad Squad?"

“It’s not that simple Dare, the moment that explosion goes off, its going to make such a racket that it will probably cause all surrounding infected to come after us. Sure, its going to look fun, but don’t get too confident. Keep in line, and don’t try to be a hero. Alright Beta, after the charge goes off and the lobby is clear, we make for the nearest elevators. Aidan, we’re counting on you..."

"Certainly," Aidan replied as he gripped the laser handgun he'd acquired from the dropship. His omni-tool was already in combat mode, its scanner corroborating Richard's hostile estimates for the moment. Oddly enough he wasn't picking up any stray radio transmissions: he'd have expected even a rudimentary resistance to be using some form of coordination and communication.

The proverbial silence before the storm then?

[Kane]

There was nothing to note during the flight, and Jackel was bored. He just wanted to reach the destination and then savor every bit of it.



"Looks like five, maybe six. Yep, at least six." He was able to see two near the front desk, another two by the glass doors, and one final pair guarding the elevators.

"So, here's the plan; I plant a charge, Big Daddy and I," Dare pointed at Qurze, "breach the lobby, and you three provide cover fire from behind. Boom, bang, they're dead, we're in. Sound good Bad Squad?"

Jackel smiled and nodded. However something wasn't entirely right, he didn't sense enough fear on the resistance side. Everyone, even the most experienced of soldiers had some fear at some basic level. Problem was there wasn't much. Either the resistance had something grand planned, or there simply weren't many of them, it could prove interesting. No worries for now though.

"Cover you say well, please direct me to the nearest enemy," Jackel said pleasantly, as he clenched his right fist. Three scalpels appeared in his hand. "Now then I hope they provide me with some entertainment."

[Lestaki]

Laura rappelled down professionally, landing smoothly on the roof. She quickly scanned for hostiles before looking up. Her eyes widened as Lorn's descent threatened to go very wrong. She ran forwards, half-catching him as he crashed into her and both fell down. Her back hit the roof unpleasantly as his weight pressed down on her. She looked down with distaste. At least the body armour protected her spine and probably made his landing very uncomfortable.

She helped him up while the others established a perimeter, before kneeling and picking up her fallen laser carbine and checking it briefly for damage. "We need to make a move before Beta kicks off. I'll leave the details to our military veterans."

[Tempe]

Lorn stretched his arms as he stumbled back to his feet. The rushed hour of rappel training now seemed both uncomfortable and a waste of time. After a few moments of looking around expectantly he remembered to check the sedative's he'd packed into a pocket. There were hopefully enough there to keep the resistance leader incapacitated for the tense journey home.

He then unclipped his holster and retrieved the laser pistol Ashley had packed for him. Combat wasn't unfamiliar to him considering he had to fight through 3 states before ever making it to the city-fortress. Laser weapons were altogether new to him if the scant few minutes spent learning how to reload and fire the thing were ignored.

After loading in an energy cell Lorn looked over to Laura who was kneeling beside him, "Did anyone bring a map?" he asked.

[Raver]

Rachel was watching all sides of her dropship waiting for the rest of beta team to climb off. When they were all offloaded she pulled up and brought the dropship roaring back j to the air. Over the channel she could hear beta debating how to enter the lobby without dying, clicking in the intercom she spoke; "Do y'all want me to send a couple of missiles in there to empty the place out first or have you all got this sorted?" Her aircraft hovered about 10 metres above the ground kicking up a huge dustcloud and sending it blowing down the street. As she water for a reply, another question came over the comm. "Did anyone bring a map?" Asked Lorn from alpha, to which Lee quick replied; "Head down the main service well, north west side of the roof." Flipping down a pair of heat goggles she ghasped, notcing most of the building glowing and pulsating with the heat signatures of many many infected. "Alpha, I've got movement heading towards the roof, I'm moving in to thin them out."

Yanking the controls she brought the dropship up and around to the northwest side of the building andtyen climbed up to the 70th floor where the promptly squeezed the triggers of the control yolks. The twin nose mounted cannons lit up and began peppering the wall infront of her with hundreds of bolts of energy. She watched as almost 20 of the heat signatures convulsed and fell to the floor, as a chunk of building simply fell away. "Alright, stairwell's clear. You'll find a few bodies down there but nothing you can't handle."

[Ragnarok]

“Certainly” Aidan replied. Jonathan nodded and grabbed his mini-gun into combat stance. He noticed the odd guy with the hat do something with his fist, but dismissed it as something blurry on his visor. “Alright Beta, lets-“ he said until he was interrupted by Rachel.

"Do y'all want me to send a couple of missiles in there to empty the place out first or have you all got this sorted?"

Missiles….fun, but too loud. It appears our landing wasn’t spotted by the enemy. Bringing the ship around to do damage would only attract more unnecessary attention. Besides, the building itself looks badly damaged. Anything too strong and it might collapse… -Jonathan thought.

“Rachel, this is Jonathan, I think we’re fine for the moment….Rachel….do you copy? Rachel?” but it seemed his signal wasn’t getting through. Damned helmet must be failing again -he thought.

He looked up at the sky to see the ship raise altitude for a bit, and after a few moments, the ship moved again really high. All of a sudden, his helmet could pick up gunfire, most likely coming from the ship. As the ship fired, it tore a big chunk of building out. The piece of debris crash-landed on a car, which in its turn set of its alarm.

“There goes our Surprise attack…Alright Richard, Let’s move! Head for the barricade and plant that bomb!” Jonathan yelled as he went forward, mini-gun ready for action. “I’ll provide covering fire!”

[Master Chief]

"You got it! I'm counting on you!"

Dare started running forward, breaching charge in hand as he ducked under little pieces of debris still raining down and stray energy fire from within, while the car alarm was blaring amidst the sounds of combat. Well, at least now it felt more like a proper battlefield.

As the Resistance began taking firing positions and laying fire downrange, he slid to a halt outside the barricade, slapping the breaching charge on the enforced door amidst the counterattack from Big Daddy, and taking cover behind a wall.

"Get ready!" Dare shouted as the charge detonated. A spray of dust, glass, and rubble shot out as the barricade was blown away, disorienting the Resistance members inside and providing Beta with their entrance.

"Go, go!" Dare wheeled around the corner as he took a knee and brought his selective battle rifle to bear even as the rest of his team began lighting up the now-exposed Infected. He began opening fire as well; after all, he wanted a piece of the pie too.

[Kane]

The door was blasted to pieces from Dare's explosives.

"Go, go!"
he said as he began to open fire on the resistance. Finally thought Jackel the fun begins. Jackel rushed forward at blinding speed , into the lobby. Jackel saw a resistance members who were under fire from Dare but were taking cover. My turn.

A scalpel appeared in his right hand as he rushed towards the resistance members. The sight to the others was possibly a little gruesome. Jackel carved a J in the backs of these resistance members. The mark slashed even through the spinal column, effectively killing them. Three resistance members were dead before they even knew what had happened. Another one appeared out behind a desk, but before he could fire, Jackel threw 3 scalpels at the offender. One in each eye, and one between them, quick and easy.

"Well come now, I wouldn't want to steal all of the entertainment here." Jackel smiled all the while as he did his deed.

[Gorb]

For some people a rappel drop, or even a drop of any kind, lasted nothing more than a split second. It was often said that it was "over before it began". Insert crude pun here. Heh. Still, for others it lasted a lifetime. Not the little pissants that thought they were the cream of the crop, and then shat themselves when they took their first look out of a dropship. The old-timers. The ones had seen it all and more besides. People like Brian.

A lifetime was good. It allowed him to think, insofar as you could think whilst hurtling down to the ground on a rope that possibly didn't support your weight. Firstly, that markswoman. She had noticed Layl, and not just in the professional way. Quite hot herself, really. Still, a warzone was a warzone, and if he ended up with some stupid woman acting like a girl around him, he'd slap her silly.

Touchdown. Rolling across the roof into a standing position, pistol drawn and spare hand on his bag o' tricks. The consummate professional. Then again, they all were here, with the possible exception of the doc, so why bother showing off? Speaking of the doc, he was asking for a map of sorts. Damn civilians.

"Hey Doc. You do any fancy things with that eye of yours, or is it just for show?"

[Tempe]

"Of course, I can see the entire electromagentic spectrum. From gamma radiation to radio waves. And it's got a decent zoom on it too, kinda like that scope you have." Lorn closed his eyes for a few moment before looking down at the floor beneath them.

His clothes began to shift to the colour of his surroundings, alongside his skin. They adopted a mottled grey pattern that would fit any urban environment well. With that complete he waited for one of the military types to take point.

[atmawpn]

Dare and Jonathan took point, moving in and initiating the attack with several well-placed salvos. To Aidan's surprise Dr. Jackel rushed in with them, despite his glaring lack of military equipment. Then he saw several glints of metal in the distance - the strange man was throwing. Something.

Handheld ordnance perhaps, Aidan thought as he moved onward cautiously but quickly, taking care to watch for any stragglers as the military guys pushed forward. Moments later he began to puzzle over the lack of an explosion from Jackel's "explosives."

Was I mistaken?

He didn't have time to dwell long on the matter however - the omni-tool let out a series of urgent beeps as its scanner began picking up targets in addition to those Dare had initially spotted.

"Watch the corners!" Aidan exclaimed as he raised his laser handgun and fired, the beam scorching into an emerging Resistance fighter and eliciting a pained yelp as part of a limb detached burning, "Contacts at two and ten o' clock! Approaching!"

Wasting no time he ducked behind a jutting wall just as the new arrivals began filling the air with lead. Aside from providing the occasional return fire from cover there was not much he could do - this was ultimately up to the better equipped guys to handle.

Quite the start certainly...

[Lestaki]

Laura grimaced as an explosion shook the building. Beta was probably making their move. "We have no time for sitting around talking. If no one else is going to take a lead, I'll have to. I'll take point. Lorn, stay behind me at all times. We need to move hard and fast. Let's go!"

Laura moved swiftly across the roof, kicking open the door and bringing her rifle up to her shoulder as she looked down the stairs. There was no sign of resistance. But there were pleanty of corpses where the enemy had been strafed by the helicopter in brutally effective close air support. Laura moved swiftly down the stairs, shouldering her rifle and drawing her revolver.

"Soldiers are conditioned by their ideas of normality, Laura. Especially bad ones. People who hold onto those expectations too tightly leave openings."

Laura threw herself backwards as she approached the corner, sliding low across the ground and out into the corridor. Bullets exploded over her head as the enemy lit up the wall where her head would have been. Laura raised her right arm, twisting her elbow to absorb the recoil as she fired six times in rapid succession. Two mutants dropped with holes in their heads and three more groaned in pain as they were shot in the arms pointing out of cover from the doors of hotel rooms. Laura sprang up as the enemy struggled to react, rolling into the room adjacent to the corner.

There were two mutants there, looking utterly surprised. Both went for their guns but she reached the first, her left arm slamming his battered assault rifle to the side before sliding up the barrel and grabbing his wrist. Her right hand slid her revolver back into its holster, drawing her knife. She threw her opponent between her and the second mutant, twisting the rifle out of his grip. The second mutant opened fire just as she kicked the first towards him. In the confusion she flanked him in two decisive steps, slashing through his throat with one swift motion of knife. Both collapsed as she slammed into cover behind the en suite bathroom, drawing her rifle and holding her knife against the magazine.

In another decisive motion she barrelled back into the cover of the doorway, squeezing the trigger on her laser rifle and cutting down three more mutants who were warily closing on the room she'd stormed before they could react. Then she began to lay down suppression fire on the other rooms. "Go, go, go!" she shouted. "Hit them while I pin them, boys!"

So far so good, but this is as far as I can get on my own power. The rest is up to how the others follow through.

[Gorb]

People would tell you combat was loud. People would tell you that combat was silent, and that you didn't notice anyone's voices until it was over. The thing was, people could tell you whatever you want. The key to understanding combat was to recognise that it was never the same twice.

Moving along swiftly behind the sharpshooter (Laura?) Brian wrapping a piece of old, tattered, rough leather around his right hand. The left hand was occupied with the lofty duty of 'shooting anything that moves', though it seemed like the girl had that covered. Three on the ground? Three shots to the head; a combination of a mercy shot and a 'just to be sure' shot. You couldn't tell if an Infected was down unless it was definitely dead, and the old field instincts meant that Layl was often compelled to put injured people out of their misery. Friend or foe.

"Go, go, go!" Laura shouted from the next room. Guess it's time for a bit of action then. Running around the corner Brian saw several Infected hunkered down behind several tangled bedframes. A flick of the hand and they exploded in gore, the twisted metal barrier catching most of their infected blood. Gotta love explosives. Also, gotta watch out for infection. Obviously this wasn't the time nor the place to start putting large holes in the walls. Dayum. Time for plan B. An Infected ran round the corner, bewildered at the sudden assault. She was dropped with a round between her . . . eyes? Okay, she had way too many eyes.

A snarl informed Brian that the fallen Infected had company, and that the new guy wasn't that impressed with his brethren's death. A powerful blow knocked Delilah from the operative's grip before the Infected's other hand hammered down towards Brian's face. Twisting desperately Brian got his left hand behind him, gripping an item lashed to his backpack. Swinging his left arm forwards he smacked the Infected across the head with the hilt of his scimitar, flipped it into his hand (he had drawn it by the blade; that was the reason for wrapping leather around his sword hand earlier) and ran the Infected through the chest, and then decapitated the corpse for good measure. Breathing accelerated, he recovered his prized pistol and moved deeper into the hotel.

"All clear!"

[Angelofthenight]

Landing with a wince, Jack took some swift cover behind the nearest lump of car after the rappel, checking the MAR over for a moment before he drew his pistol, letting the rest of the team sort out their tactics while he started examining the car he was crouched behind; looking for any parts that would make fair projectiles for his weapon; finding none as he then checked what the rest of the team were doing, watching them planting the charge, not bothering to attempt to aid, as the person armed with the mini-gun like weapon seemed to have the situation well under control.

Ducking his head a little as the breaching charge violently removed the barricade, then hefting the pistol, as the MAR was a bit too unelegant for the building, and he didn't want to remove a supporting wall by accident and bring the whole building down on his ass, keeping a close eye on the building as the rest of them seemed to start firing at anything that even looked infected.

Running quickly from cover to cover as he neared the now opened lobby, keeping the pistol raised just in case any of the infected decided to try and play dead, sticking somewhat close to 'Aidan' as both of them seemed to be more tech support than soldier, remaining behind cover, save the odd few bursts of laser to discourage the infected from getting too close, ducking again as a round impacted the wall not far from his head, letting out a rather heartfelt expletive as he tried to remove the offending Infected's arm with his pistol.

[SeventhStorm]

OOC: The laser SMG is now the SCAWL (Sub-Compact Assault Weapon, Laser)

IC

John slammed into the ground hard, rolling quickly behind cover. Checking his gear and his weapons, he made sure that everything survived the drop intact before getting up to join the others. Looks like I'm a bit late to the party. Oh well, no explosions yet so I figure its okay. Then, he paused as the dropship opened fire on the building, killing several hostiles and shaking the building. Ah. Not so okay then. Better get going, I guess. Running forward, he joined the scientist and her bodyguard as quickly as he could. Then, an explosion that sounded rather far away. Well, Beta is certainly being subtle… Then again, a strafing run isn't that subtle either. The bodyguard, Laura, blew open a door and he heard her shout "Go go go! Hit them while I pin them, boys!"

Well, this is certainly getting more exciting by the second. Sprinting forward, he saw another one of his teammates moving towards the door. Seeing the man disappear into the stairwell eagerly, John was startled by the lack of caution. Meh, never was very good at all of this tactics stuff. Off we go! Running towards the stairway, he hefted is SCAWL and scanned for baddies. Seeing none, he went to join his comrade, who appeared to have killed the infected with his blade. "Nice work. Sorry I couldn't get here sooner. Now, do we use the stairs or try to clear this floor and get to an elevator? I personally vote for the stairs, because the elevators could be damaged beyond repair or booby-trapped, and we would be at the mercy of the infected when we got out. What do you guys think?"

[Raver]

Rachel continued circling the building, watching on various scanners as the team made its way into the building. She watched as beat team stormed the lobby and started dealing with its inhabitants while at the same time alpha moved along one of the central corridors, a few flights down from the roof. Things were going rather well, but unless her equipment was lying, there were still plenty of infected towards the middle of the hotel. The only reason she didn't swing around to the front and fill the atrium where the supposed resistance leader was located with plasma bolts was that they unfortunately needed him alive. Then again, the fate that awaited him back at the fortress was in all certainty much worse than being killed here.

As she continued to circle, she spoke into her mic, updating the trams of the situation. "Alpha, the floor you're on is clear, there's an elevator full of infected making its way up, recommend cutting its cables and using the shaft as a way of skipping some floors. Beta, from what I can tell, the elevators on the left and right side of the lobby will take you i a few floors, but beware, the closer to the atrium you get the more there will be, I'm going to- OH SHIT!" She shouted accidentally as she saw two trails of smoke snaking up to the dropship. Pulling on the control stick she swung the dropship away from the RPGs and let them sail off into the air. Gunning the engines, she brought the Valkyrie back and opened fire on the floor she thought they had some from, blasting even more chunks away from the building as it was torn apart from the twin nose-mounted chain guns. One of the bolts must have impacted on some explosives because a moment later the whole corner of the building she was shooting into just exploded in a fiery blossom, flames licking up the side of the building.

"Sorry about that ladies and gents. Heads up the north face of the building from floor...uh...65 I think is now on fire." Pulling away she looked down ont the road out the front of the building and was dismayed to see almost five vehicles racing down the street towards it. Zooming in, she noticed they were salvaged civilian vehicles, except decked out with amrour plating and even a few rocket racks. Thundering down to the street ot greet them, they replied by launching a few salvos of their own, however these ones began to home in on the ship's engines, producing a rather loud bout of swearing from Rachel. Gunning the afterburners, the dropship rose several hundred metres into the air, the rockets racing up after her. Pressing a button on the console infront of her, several flared burst from the underside of the aircraft, which then splintered into dozens more flares. The missiles, trying to compensate, began to wobble, trying to find their target, before detonating harmlessly in the cloud of chaff.

Moving back down, she saw the vehicles had almost reached the lobby entrance. Having had enough, she flipped the safeties off two switched on each joystick and pressed the buttons underneath. The targeting computer onboard the Valkyrie assumed its targets and moments later, ten small but highly explosives torpedoes were racing down to welcome to new arrivals. As the reached the ground they exploded in enormous fireballs. Their incendiary warheads detonating and sending an expanding cloud of fire and napalm over the infected reinforcements. "Beta team, move up into the hotel. I've got the entrance covered."

[my1000ghosts]

The Kargen's engines jolted Richard awake He surveyed the dark cargo bay of the aircraft (He had made sure it was Dark personally...After all the survivors had gone through...They deserved a little sleep).

"Ricky...."

His attention was distracted from the sleeping men of his old Detachment by the only other NCO to get off the Airbase alive.
He turned his head to face the tired and beaten face of the French sergeant...Something was up He could tell be his voice, even the translator embedded in his ear managed to convey the sound of urgency in his voice.

"Yes Alexandre?"

He eyes flashed over to the cockpit were the civilian pilot they had picked up was making yet another engine check.

"You know how you said to tell you if ever I got the felling...?"

Ricky Nodded Alexandre hunches were always almost supernaturally on the ball and They had both learned to trust them in their time together.

"Yes I remember"

The Parisian gulped and inched towards him his wiry body crossing the gap between his bedroll and the other sergeant and reducing the volume to a whisper.

"Don't you think it's strange we have been flying north west for the last seven hours?"

Ricky's eyes shot open.

"North west?"

He struggled to keep his low.

"How do you know.... Compasses don't work in here and the Strat-map is out"

Alexandre smiled and for a moment the cheerful prankster he used to never believe could have made the ranks re-appeared.

"I have one better"

He pulled out what appeared to be several large sheaths of paper linked together which on closer inspection revealed to be maps of the southern content and Mexico.

"I have had nothing to do......I couldn't sleep"

He felt a pang of sympathy He couldn't either...To many nightmares.

"so I started plotting our wrought....The pilot has not apparently seen me taking glances at his instruments every now and then"

Ricky leaned in closer.

"So were are we?"

Alexandre examined one of the maps briefly before looking up
"US airspace.....We should be approaching....."

He looked back at the map

".....San Diego in about seven minutes"

Ricky grinned.

"I always wanted to visit the states"

Alexandre sighed at the sudden enthusiasm.

"That still does not explain Why we are visiting them"

Ricky nodded for a moment before reaching over for the Machete and clenching it in his hand stood up.

"Let's try asking our tour guide"

OOC: Sorry for the short post but I'm very tired......Think of this as a taster that I will Finish tomorrow morning....Opinions are welcome

[my1000ghosts]

"Maybe you could explain to us how we got here?"
There were few replies Ricky expected to get maybe his nav-systems were out or maybe there was a fuelling station near-bye.

Unfortunately It proved to be neither.

The pilot remained silent for a moment as if thinking and Ricky turned out to look over the ruins of the city coming into view visible even at this altitude.
Suddenly his attention was brought back to the pilot by a startled yell from Alexandre and was brought face to face with a slathering long fanged monstrosity that used to be the pilot. He reacted quickly his arms flying forward and locking around it's throat stooping it from taking a chunk out of him.
The colour faded from his eyes and the killing instinct that saved him in the jungles filled him as he threw It against the control station which began beeping in protest as the creatures struggles shifted more of the controls and the whole aircraft shuddered and started to nose dive towards the city.
It did not live much longer as Alexandre who had been watching in shock finally drew his side arm and sent a number of high velocity subsonic bullets through the writhing beast.

"Got Him" Alexandre smiled victoriously
As Ricky pulled himself off his eyes were drawn to the body...or more accurately the now bullet riddled flight controls and the highway coming closer as the collision warning alarms joined the crescendo of other alarms going off around him.

"Yeah you did......Don't happen to know how to fly a plain without controls do you?"

The smile quickly faded from Alexandre's face

"I didn't think so......Get the guys jump ready NOW or were gonna smear"

He didn't need telling twice as he sprinted out into the hangar screaming the other eleven men awake and smashing almost face first into the door controls.

Luckily for Them the radio was still functional if heavily static riddled. He grabbed it and with a prayer to whatever God could hear him that there was someone out there, set it to transmit on all frequencies and placed it to his lips.

"THIS IS THE KARGEN......WE ARE FLYING BLIND REQU....."

One of the panels near him exploded into a shower of sparks and he added several profanities into the transition before continuing.

"DAMN IT......IF ANYONE'S OUT THEIR.....SEND HELP OR KEEP YOUR HEAD DOWN WERE COMING IN HO..."

He jumped back violently from the radio station as it to went up and staggered back up into the Hangar bay seeing the last of the Head Hunters making the jump from the side doors.

It was now or never



OOC: Just so everyone is certain the collision point will be about two blocks away from your operation....The Kargen should be very visible by now.

[SeventhStorm]

Well, crap. Flaming aircraft are never good.

"What in the nine hells is that? Any of you guys know of any support for this mission? We've gotta get moving fast, that thing is a beacon for all the infected within God-knows how many miles!"

Scanning around for any fresh infected, he watched as a single infected roared as it emerged from the hallway. Watching the one loping up the hallway. Lining up a shot, he put the infected's misshapen head squarely in his sight. Gently squeezing the trigger, a bolt of energy slammed into the damned thing's head and sent in collapsing to the ground.

"Hey Lorn, can you find any more infected with that fancy eye of yours? I'd prefer to know that we won't have any more surprises, at least for a short time."

Checking his weapon, he awaited action from the rest of the team. Which, considering the flaming craft headed towards their position attracting countless infected, shouldn't be long.

[Lestaki]

Laura sighed quietly, taking the chance to reload her revolver. This was not going to end well. "Don't get distracted. Something like that is only another reason to finish this mission as fast as possible."

She ran towards the elevator, sliding her revolver back into its holster and drawing her laser carbine. "You heard her. Pour laser fire into the door, hopefully we can cut the cables before the enemy arrives." She took careful aim, a laser lance beginning to burn through the metal door. "Don't we have a demo specialist?"

[Gorb]

* absent until further notice. Assume I am stuck under rubble and beyond methods of communication *

Sorry guys, just really really busy for the next week or so :(

[Ragnarok]

“Die you sons of bitches! DIE! HAHAHAHA!” Jonathan screamd as his minigun mowed down all the infected trying to reach them. They threw themselves in waves, but he was doing his job holding the line and providing suppressing fire. While Dare and the others had already entered the lobby, Jonathan remained on the back, making sure none of them tried to ambush them from behind. He noticed Dr Jackal rushing in, trying to kill as many of those creatures with….whatever it was he killed them with.

He saw armed vehicles approach them, and began to prepare for another wave. “Hmm…Rockets….this is going to be a problem.” Before they could arrive however, the vehicles lit up in flames as Rachel gunned them down. "Beta team, move up into the hotel. I've got the entrance covered." The comm buzzed. Well that’s a relief –he thought as he took point inside the lobby. He saw Aidan call out some incoming assailants, but made quick short of them.

Suddenly, the building shook. It seemed like Rachel’s ship was still helping with the assault. Let’s hope it doesn’t come down on us. I’d hate to die this soon into the battle.

“Right, I can see the elevators down the hall. Richard, you stay here and provide covering fire, while Aidan and I make a run for it, and by run I mean him, ‘cuz this equipment is definitely not gonna let me run. I’ll be shooting all the way there, so try not to get in my way. After we get there, Richard will escort Jackal and Jack, while Aidan tries to reactivate the elevators.” Jonathan said.

“I’m really counting on you here Aidan….Try not to die; I’d hate having to take the stairs.”

[Angelofthenight]

Jack glanced at the rest of the team. "If the infected are in one elevator, what's to say they're not in the rest?" he then wondered aloud. Frowning a little as "So it boils down to two options; We take the stairs, Or... We call the lift, murder anything inside it before we get in, then hope that the infected don't cut the cables on the way up." followed it.

"I don't know about you lot, but I'd feel happier taking the stairs, even if my legs are going to feel like crap afterwards." he uttered, before ducking as another shot clipped the area near him. Glaring at the last of the infected as he holstered his pistol, pulling the MAR off his back and loading all twelve of the huge solid slugs, then pulling the power-pack out of the weapon and loading five pistol energy cells into that, slamming it back into place within the MAR and watching as the twin displays light up. "Let's rock." he then muttered. Standing up, briefly aiming, then pulling the trigger.

The roar that followed defied belief, The near kilogram heavy round exceeded the speed of sound several times over before it left the barrel. Hammering into the wall the infected was hiding behind, removing it and most of the infected itself, shredding a wall behind that was well. "Useless bastard." He muttered, wincing a bit as he looked at the power gauge, which had dropped from 100 to a low-ish 68 now. "Ain't gonna be able to keep this up, dudes, so make up your minds."

[atmawpn]

Aidan was considering the possibility of them being stuck in a stalemate with the Resistance on the ground floor. After all they were currently pinned down behind cover, and unable to advance any further so long as the infected fighters continued to maintain suppressing fire.

That was before Jonathan and his minigun.

“Die you sons of bitches! DIE! HAHAHAHA!” he screamed as he literally punched a path through the defenders, finally allowing the reprieve they so needed to move through.

"Beta team, move up into the hotel. I've got the entrance covered."

He shot a glance at the omni-tool's scanner, the display updating him with the positions of any hostile personnel within ten metres of them. While the area could hardly be considered "clear" it was at least less dangerous thanks to the effects of Jonathan's minigun.

“Right, I can see the elevators down the hall. Richard, you stay here and provide covering fire, while Aidan and I make a run for it, and by run I mean him, ‘cuz this equipment is definitely not gonna let me run. I’ll be shooting all the way there, so try not to get in my way. After we get there, Richard will escort Jackal and Jack, while Aidan tries to reactivate the elevators.” Jonathan said, “I’m really counting on you here Aidan….Try not to die; I’d hate having to take the stairs.”

Before Aidan could reply Jack had already chimed in with the obligatory protest.

"If the infected are in one elevator, what's to say they're not in the rest?" Jack wondered aloud as he frowned a little, "So it boils down to two options; We take the stairs, Or... We call the lift, murder anything inside it before we get in, then hope that the infected don't cut the cables on the way up."

A valid concern, but...

"I don't know about you lot, but I'd feel happier taking the stairs, even if my legs are going to feel like crap afterwards."

Whereupon Jack chose that moment to show off his monstrous MAR. The blast was deafening, sounding as though the man had just fired off an artillery round in the confined spaces of the lobby. Shaking the ringing noise out of his ears, Aidan was just able to catch Jack's concluding words.

"... ain't gonna be able to keep this up, dudes, so make up your minds."

"Concern noted, solution available," Aidan began, speaking as quickly as he could while he prepared himself for the sprint ahead, "Removing elevator ceiling panel will give my scanner LOS. Early warning if said scenario were to occur."

And then he gestured to Jonathan and dashed forth, firing off shots with the laser gun to distract the closing infected while the soldier mowed them all down with the minigun again. Several seconds later he ducked behind the cover of a thick pillar at the elevator controls.

Time to get to work, Aidan thought as held his left forearm over the control panel, allowing the omni-tool to force a wireless jack-in with its suite of fancy electromagnetic induction devices. In the next moment his mind was linked with the primitive fuzzy logic that made up the elevator's operating core.

Pitiful.

With the omni-tool's advanced software serving as a guide, it took only a few effortless thoughts to bypass what rudimentary security controls the Resistance had managed to put in place. Within a mere five seconds of his arrival, the elevator's electronics indicated that the lift was already on its way.

And then the scanner warbled ominously as the elevator hit the ground floor.

Should've known. Emergency cold boot, wide angle, shockwave rapid-fire, Aidan's mind transmitted the necessary command as he whipped the Sonic Handcannon from its holster, bringing it up to aim as the doors slid open...

A duo of echoing "oomphs" as Aidan pulled the trigger twice, the pulses of focused sound expanding rapidly to literally pulverise the Resistance fighters within into a dazed oblivion. Then a rain of ammunition as Jonathan followed up with his minigun.

"All clear! Get in!" Aidan yelled as he dashed into the waiting elevator, immediately firing a low powered sonic pulse to knock the ceiling panel down. Raising his omni-tool upwards he was pleased to note that the scanner was not picking up any dangers... for the moment.

[Kane]

Jackal was on the loose, it seemed now that Jonathon had taken the initiative to fire his gun at the infected. It was rather a pleasurable sight.
Jackal listened closely to the plan. The elevator. A nice way to enter, and a nice way to be in an ambush. Jackal of course wanted this, the more entertainment that was provided the better. Then Jack fired off some sort of artillery weapon in closed quarters. Jackal was surprised by this turn of events when

"... ain't gonna be able to keep this up, dudes, so make up your minds."
Jackal stepped in front of Jack and said, "Then leave it to me." Jackal watched as the infected moved closer. Once they were grouped together, Jackal threw roughly 40 scalpels in the general direction. Those that didn't die from the fist onslaught of scalpels, would be killed, as they returned to Jackal's body. The nano-machines in the scalpels ensured Jackal would not be infected from the blood on them. It would be a pity to die because of the blood of another. More and more infected came, and every time Jackal was there to return the favor, by carving a J into their backs.


"All clear! Get in!" Aldian yelled

Jackal sighed, his entertainment would have to end for now, but he was sure it would come back.

"Now let us go. We have a job to do. And I'm itching for more pleasure," Jackal smiled.

[Master Chief]

"Right, I can see the elevators down the hall. Richard, you stay here and provide covering fire, while Aidan and I make a run for it, and by run I mean him, ‘cuz this equipment is definitely not gonna let me run. I’ll be shooting all the way there, so try not to get in my way. After we get there, Richard will escort Jackal and Jack, while Aidan tries to reactivate the elevators," Jonathan said, his minigun tearing shit up all the while.

"You got it, chief," Dare replied, pumping a pair of shotgun grenades into his OICW. With a pair satisfying roars the M455 rounds fired, mowing down a group of infected just running out of a hallway with weapons drawn. Pulling out his pistol, he doubletapped the survivors before holstering the sidearm, scanning once again for Infected. So far, it looked clear--but the massive rumbling and the flaming wreck hurtling into the nearby skyline suggested otherwise.


"DAMN IT......IF ANYONE'S OUT THEIR.....SEND HELP OR KEEP YOUR HEAD DOWN WERE COMING IN HO..."

"The hell?" Dare said, looking through his 6x scope to see paratroopers not two blocks off...and from the looks of it, they weren't Infected. Backup, perhaps? Or possibly a trap.

"All clear! Get in!" he heard Aidan yell from inside.

"Yo, we've got friendlies outside, not two blocks off! Should we wait for them or get moving?" The Infected gathering outside the hotel suggested the latter option; Dare started picking them off with well-placed semi-auto shots, but they'd either need to get moving, or those new guys would have to get their asses moving faster than Usain Bolt.

[SeventhStorm]

"Don't we have a demo specialist?"

"Wherever he was, if he even came, he isn't here anymore. Guess we're just moving on without him."

Man, this mission just keepst slipping closer and closer to the "chaotic" edge. If I do make it out of here, I'm never doing a job for these USRF guys again.

Joining Laura, he sent bolts of laser energy into the elevator. Together with Laura's lance of laser energy, the elevator door was sliced open. Kicking it down, he heard it clanging down the long and empty elevator shaft. Seeing the cables whirring, he took out his knife and sliced out the cords.

"Well, there's that done. To the stairs, then? Unless we disable the rest of the elevators just to be careful. What do you guys think?"

[Raver]

"DAMN IT......IF ANYONE'S OUT THEIR.....SEND HELP OR KEEP YOUR HEAD DOWN WERE COMING IN HO..."

"Yo, we've got friendlies outside, not two blocks off! Should we wait for them or get moving?"

Rachel had been watching the flaming aircraft for some time now, as she circled the building in her dropship. It was a large craft, large enough to cause a lot of damage if it came down and large enough to attract a lot of unwanted attention. Zooming in, she spotted it's occupants jumping out one by one and deploying parachutes and as the plane charged into the earth kicking up a cloud of smoke, flame an dust, they drifted lazily to the ground after it.

"Alpha and Beta, push further into the hotel, you're almost at the atrium, I'll meet you on the roof as soon as you signal you've secured the leader. I'm going to check out this crash." After she spoke, a reply came quickly after wards;
"Well, there's that done. To the stairs, then? Unless we disable the rest of the elevators just to be careful. What do you guys think?"

"Negative, beta may be taking one of these elevators up through the hotel, do not cut all the cables." With that, she pulled on the controls and brought the dropship away from the building with a roar. Now cruising slowly over the streets, she could see a lot of movement. Infected were crawling out of their holes all over the city, some heading towards the hotel, others heading towards the plane crash, eyeing it's crew with hungry eyes as they came closer to the surface. Doubtless by now that they had seen her, Rachel swung her bird around in a wide circle and opened up on the ground below. The earth simply exploded with rock and concrete as the dropships cannons tore apart the incoming flood of infected creatures. "Beta team, you have infected closing on your position, meet alpha at the atrium press in and secure the leader." Then, changing the channel, the broadcasted to the newcomers, hoping they had radios on their helmets. "Unknown force, your aircraft has attracted a lot of attention. If you require assistance signal asap and I will pick you u-" The left engine pod suddenly detonated, thee more exhaust trails giving away a hail of RPG rounds thundered up and slammed into the armoured underside of the dropship. Swearing loudly, Rachel fought to regain control of the aircraft but with only one remaining engines, things looked grim. "Mayday! Mayday! This is whiskey-foxtrot going down! I repeat, whiskey-foxtrot is going down!" Moments later, the Valkyrie spun around, its only remaining engine turning on its side before the whole ship smashed through a building and came to a grinding halt in the centre of an abandoned shopping mall, almost a kilometre from the hotel. Another massive cloud of dust was sent skywards from the aircraft and its only remaining engine was jammed facing upwards, sending a blue flame shooting out of the top of the desolated building.

THe cockpit was full of smoke, but hitting a red button above her head, the glass sparked momentarily before being forcefully ejected, smashing into a wall 20 metres away. Pulling off her helmet and throwing it aside, Rachel felt warm blood drip down the side of her head. Swearing again she unbuckled herself and climbed into the now crumpled hold of the aircraft, strapping on a combat vest, pulling a radio out of one of the lockers and throwing all the ammo she could find in her pockets before lifting one of the large P1's off the shelf, loading a battery and activating it, the weapon humming softly in her hands. "Alpha and beta teams I'm down but okay, get to the leader, I'm going to go and find this other new team."

[Gorb]

Christ. A cough in the darkness, followed by a groan. Darkness faded to a more complete black; one of unconsciousness.

What happened? He coughed again, this time accompanying it with a large shove. Timber and rubble gave way to blind him with a beam of artificial light. Fuck. Bright light. Oh yeah. They had jumped him. Five of them, big bastards. And now Brian was stuck in . . . a wall, possibly. What remained of a wall at any rate. A snarl sounded from nearby. Beautiful, just beautiful. The grenade just couldn't take 'em all out, could it?. Shoving again with his free arm, Layl's eyes gradually adjusted to the light. Odd. No Infected.

After a little while, some effort and a great deal of pain the operative extracted himself from the wreckage and was quite amused by the sight that greeted him. As battered, aching and bruised as he was, the Infected had fared no better. Three were dead, crushed outright, another was comatose with two structural support beams pinning him to the far wall. Not far from dead, but with the Infected that didn't necessarily mean that it was no threat. The fifth one . . . ahh, that was the good one. Lower body pinned under rubble, however it didn't look like the body itself was crushed. More's the pity. That was the one that was snarling. Brian reached for his pistol, only to find he didn't have his pistol.

"Fuck." The trapped Infected responded with a snarl.

"Yeah, yeah, shut up you." Growling again, the Infected distended it's jaw and out came . . . tentacles?

"What the - " Throwing himself to one side, Brian hit the ground hard as fang-embellished tentacles hurled themselves across the room before retracting into the Infected's gaping maw. What the fuck is this, a Japanese magazine? Scrabbling around behind a pile of rubble for Delilah, he instead came across his belt of explosives. Grinning slightly, he decided to improvise. Unclipping something from his belt of tricks, he threw it in the general direction of the tentacle-equipped mutant. Wonder what this one does. Despite usually having too many to remember, in this case everything was covered in broken rock, plaster and dust making the complex colour codes identifying each explosive unreadable.

To say "kaboom" would be at the same time an overstatement and an understatement. It was more of a "fwhoomph". A pillar of fire blasted upwards towards the ceiling heating the room considerably before automatically extinguishing as it ran out of fuel. Layl was suddenly rather glad of his foresight to break out his bag of tricks for something as simple as a snatch and grab mission. Turns out he could have more fun here than he had first predicted. It did make him wonder how much more Military Intelligence knew about this gig and how much information they had deliberately withheld. Bastards.

Peering over the (now scorched-white) collapsed wall, the specialist checked the status of the Infected. Huh. Not a pretty sight. But yes, definitely dead. Just a shame it seemed to have exploded instead of simply burning and calcifying like a regular human. Then again, it just went to shove how far removed the Infected were from humanity, at least in the evolutionary department. Looking up, he grinned widely. Bonus.

The firestorm had made a hole in the ceiling. Pulling his rope out of his (thankfully intact) backpack, he hunted around his former prison before finally pulling his beloved pistol out of a hole in the floor. Switching barrels swiftly he attached a small harpoon head and threaded the rope through it. Checking it was tied securely, he fired it upwards through the exit hole. A few minutes later and he was through the hall and in front of . . . the rest of the team. Rather convenient, though he obviously hadn't gone that far from the rest of them when the Infected had jumped him. Bruised, clothing torn revealing the Kevlar bodysuit beneath, covered in plaster and dust and generally looking like he'd been pulled through a wall (funnily enough) Brian stood to his feet, holstering Delilah after replacing the harpoon barrel with the standard firing barrel.

"Hey guys and gals. Ran into a bit of trouble."

[my1000ghosts]

He felt...as if he was not in control of his body any more...He ran along the rapidly sloped side ramp barely slowing stride to scoop up the banshee and slap the magnetic clamps to his chest...His arm flew out ripping one of the many RAD chutes still hanging from the emergency cupboard on the door side and before he had had even had it on jumped clear of the supply ramp the others had used and into free fall.

Alexandre compensation jets steadied his decent and for the fifth time the Parisian checked his side-arm was still their and grinned as he glimpsed the 50. caliber nano pistol still in it's holster......He winced as he heard the explosion but had no time to look as he braced his leg approaching the grimy asphalt and ruined cars of the top level of a multi-levelled car park.
---------------------------------------------------

Between two rusted SUV's Ricky regained conciousness suddenly...lurching upright before getting shoved back into lying by a large PCEH suited figure scrambling with it's medpack

He was under the sky...he could see that, His attention was drown away by the sound of a plasma grenade going off nearby

He felt weak but managed to whisper between dry lips.
"What happened?"

The helmeted figure looked at him...the composite face plate lost colour suddenly allowing him to see the tired the dirty face of one of the troopers...one of his no less.
"Sammy?"



Samuel Vetrason sighed and shock his head
"Your chute was damaged by the blast.....you came in fast...." He shook his head "Your lucky your still combat ready...."

The armoured man looked over his shoulder at the sound of fighting.
"And yeah...this area's hot"

He pushed himself up onto his elbows and this time Sam let him.
"Anything else?"

Samuel nodded
"Their was an aircraft nearby... About a block south but it nose dived"

...So some of them have survived in this hell hole

[Raver]

Rachel walked along the remains of what used to be the main concourse of a decrepit mall. Above her, the shattered glass of the roof let in patchy light, casting strange shadows across the area. She had been on the move for ten minutes or so, heading towards the exit of the building, but luckily coming across little infected. In the distance behind her, sounds echoed through the hall, forcing her to quicken her pace, not to far up ahead, a row of large windows and doors through which the sun shone beckoned her.

In the distance she hear the dull thuds of explosives going off, and as she drew closer to the exit, the chatter of automatic weapons. Breaking into a run, she reached the doorway and burst through it. About 50 metres way from her, three infected individuals were moving quickly away from her, to a column of smoke in the distance, raising the rifle in her hands up she took aim before they disappeared around a corner. Setting off down the street, she took the radio she from the dropship from her belt and spoke; "Rachel here, I'm moving down the highway towards the hotel, to any friendlies from that downed jet, I suggest doing the same."

A shriek in the distance alerted her, and spinning around, Rachel came face to face with a mob of infected, moving down the highway behind her. One had seen her and had broken into a sprint, followed closely by the others. Swearing, she raised her rifle and opened fire. The steady stream of blue bolts which shot forth from the rifle with sharp cracks slammed into the first ranks of the mob, detonating and changing the incoming hostiles into blue burning bodies which fell to the ground unceremoniously. She continued down the road further, taking shots at the mob behind her as she went before she rounded and corner and saw the hotel, half on fire, not a kilometre away. "Alpha and beta teams, move in asap and secure the package. Meet me at the lobby after."

As she ran along she began checking the vehicles around her, one of which, an abandoned resistance truck was still working. Flinging herself into the cabin, she tore out of the cables under the steering wheel and in moments, the ruck rumbled to life, belching black smoke from its exhaust. Putting her foot down on the accelerator, the truck moved off, down the road towards the hotel. Jumping on the radio again, she laid out the plan to the team. "Alright, about 20 kilometres away there's a mobile refinery, it's one of those massive roving mines that are entirely automated. Once we get aboard one of them we should stand a better chance at getting picked up, Im-" Swerving hard, she brought the truck to a grinding halt half way through the glass entrance to the hotel lobby, with the cabin facing out. Unslinging her rifle again, she pointed it out of the window and began again, to mow down the incoming infected.