[Western Border, Venezuela]

[January 15, 2023]

The hum of the pelican’s thrusters intensified. They approached the designated assault point and began to slow down.

Missiles locked onto the plane, creating a blaring sound from the front controls. The beeping red light flooded the empty cockpit. The only oddity was a black box bolted into the seat. Various cables linked to the control systems.

The black box responded to the alarms with its pre-programmed actions. It confirmed signals, double, triple checked. Its list of responses confirmed. Then it was double, and triple checked. Once it was all verified, it activated its proper action.

The pelican launched a fireworks-worthy display of chaff. The world changed as dozens of other pelicans mirrored the action. A haze of smoke and fire fell from the skies.

The missiles locked onto the closest, most heat-accurate signature. The missile exploded in the air believing they had reached their targets.

The second wave of pelicans followed behind. These were also piloted by people via remote. Enough to respond better, but not endanger the people.

Among the chaff was returning fire. Impulse lasers lanced at the missile pods below. To support the much slower laser fire, the pelicans launched missiles as well.

Chains of explosions rocked the once peaceful forest. Birds took the air, and animals either hid or ran away at their fastest speeds.

Hydra responded by launching jets from the mountain’s nooks and crannies. The lucky few made it to the air before the Pelicans shot them down.

The air became bright with streaking colors. Hydra's red and blue, Val Verde's purple and green.

Hydra’s counterattack was brief, as the jets could not match Starfire’s and Super Girl’s speed and precision. Their unmanned jet systems were more archaic and thus far more simple to predict.

A low rumble echoed across the forest. Soldiers in green power armor approached the hidden base at fast speeds. While the skies were a fanfare of sounds and lights, these soldiers snuck in.

While they were afraid of incoming fire, they became unnerved by the lack of reception. No one noticed them, or there were some other issues at play.

Where was the Hydra Infantry? The diabolical force was known for its mass human tactics. A green wave of fanatical men and women.

The Jade Falcon Legion had a much darker forest green than Hydra’s. Their armor design boasted the new generation of Val Verde’s military might.

The jet-packs attached to each person allowed him to hover and skim over the land. Rendering simple land mines useless. Their speeds were comparable to ATVs, though they had a much shorter run time at max speed.

They reached the edge of the forest and the border of the hidden base. The trees thinned, allowing them to stop as they waited for the next step of the operation.

[THUD!] [THUD!] [THUD!]

Three massive, dome-like objects fell onto the middle of the base’s staging ground. A huge parachute got detached and allowed to fly away. Its job to slow the descent down finished.

The dome hissed as four walls push out, creating a simple barrier. This allowed the Scopedogs to walk out in a protected manner. In a pitched battle, they could use it as a very simple bunker.

The dozen Scopedogs destroyed the last of the base’s defense. It was an assault of missiles, impulse blasts, and heavy needles from the PA-M56 Smart Canon.

[THUD!] [THUD!] [THUD!]

Three more drop-pods landed, bringing up the total to twenty-four Scopedogs. They destroyed any leftover defenses that activated as they approached the base's walls.

“Go! Go! Go” Captain Apone yelled into the mic as he motioned to his men and women to go.

With the primary dangers gone, the veterans of the Jade Falcon’s first company could now advance. The elites that survived so many missions.

With a dull roar, each soldier screaming inside of their helmet, they sped forward at top speed. The peak of 95 Km/h had them passing the Scopedogs in a minute.

The larger machines had entered and secured the launch bays. Where Hydra Jets had flown from, none remained. They had launched all jets to try to repel the invaders.

The orders were to shoot all enemies on sight. If they desired to surrender, they had better hide first, and find a white flag.

The bay was empty, but not surprising. Sudden enemy attacks had you either run to defend against the invasion or run away to hide.

Time for them to play cat and mouse. Apone chewed at his bubblegum. It wasn’t a nice cigar, but it had to do.

“Secure the Command Center!” Apone ordered, and his wonderful boys and girls smashed open the doors and filed in.

There was a danger of the entire base blowing up, but that was why the first company existed. They were, without a doubt, all brawn and no brain.

Apone grinned. This was going to be a straightforward day.

—

Sergeant Hicks glided down the hallway. His face was a frown as the rest of his squad followed. The hallway had two good ambush points… and they encountered no one.

They seemed to be lucky so far. No other squad had reported confirmation of anything beyond the power room. Which was also unguarded?

The hallway ended and there was a thick blast door. Something that would take care to open. Either a lot of explosives or a lot of heat.

Eery. It got very eery as they approached the blast doors. The door was ajar.

It was enough for a single person to squeeze in. Though not a person wearing a jetpack. Which meant someone had to drop their jetpack... or they could pry the doors open further.

It was also dark inside. No lights or displays were on. The sensors detected no heat, no movement. No life.

“Hudson, Frost, pull that open. Drake, Vasquez, cover and don’t fire at anything expensive,” Hicks ordered, and the people moved to obey.

As the two approached, gunfire came spilling out of the gap. It bounced off their armor.

The gunfire gave enough light to showed four people. There was only a basic wall behind them. Nothing important between the two groups.

[Screeech] [Bang] [Bang] [Pew] [Pew}

The door screeched open, and bullets and lasers flew out from the dark interior. The two covering set their weapons to low power and showered the room in metal needles.

“Lights!” Hicks ordered.

Dietrich and Spunkmeyer fired off a multi-flare each. The two objects broke apart into six small flares. The dim light changed as they ignited.

Their helmets immediately filtered out the intense lights. It was enough for a person to go blind and turned that dark room into daylight.

Six people stood. They had needles in poking out, and what disturbed Hicks the most was their lack of armor. Their lack of armor, and their ability to return fire.

Were these metahumans?

“Take them down, power shots!” Hicks ordered as he ran his finger across the side of his M41 Pulse Rifle. High power meant slower shots, but great penetration.

The seven people present took aim and fired. The high-power rounds tore through the six standing people. Their simple firearms were unable to put up effective counterfire.

Four fell, two stood.

“Fire!” Hicks ordered again.

The seven fired. Then the last two fell.

Hicks walked over and saw that they already broke the computers in the room. Dried blood stained them, and more bodies were on the floor.

He made his way over to the first metahuman, and a shredded body greeted him. A shredded body, full of circuits and fluids that were not blood.

“The fuck is that!?” Hudson screamed as he looked at the other person. The silver skeleton of their skull gleamed in the flare’s dimming light.

[Captain Apone, we have the command center. We also have encountered nonhuman resistance.] Hicks said as he walked around the desk and saw the other four. There was no blood, only metal, and some green and black fluids.

[Confirmed, we have two squads en route. Hold the position as I bring over some specialists.] Apone ordered.

[Confirmed. Alpha Squad holding.] Hicks replied as the line went dead.

Hicks stared at the other dead bodies. Humans, since the blood was red. It had pooled across the floor and dried.

No weapons in hands. How very odd.

The bright side was that their job was now complete. It was up to the specialists to figure out what had happened here.

————

Chapter 48: A Jungle Assault