About an hour before dusk the crate that contained the gear arrived along with the other four members of my unit. I placed my right hand over the digital sensor and my left over the magical glyph and heard the small hiss as the hermetically sealed case opened. There were a few appreciative whistles from my men as the case was opened to reveal a black and grey suit of body armor painted in a mottled pattern similar to military camouflage. The top half of the crate had a sword modeled off the Roman gladius, a heavily engraved Smith and Wesson revolver, and an equally engraved H & K MP5 all resting in protective foam cutouts. The bottom half spread out to the two sides to reveal boots on the right, gloves and vambraces on the left and torso the rest of the body armor sitting next to a full helmet with a full face visor of a reflective material. Resting atop the torso armor was an envelope the size you would find a birthday card in. I opened it and passed the folded letter to the sergeant to read while I started donning the armor.

Voice straining with a bit of disbelief, Sergeant Martinez read the letter, “Michael, if you’re reading this you've opened the case containing the Mark Two Predator armor. If this isn’t an emergency situation I really hope you had the good grace to call me first. Either way a quick overview of the features. The armor has the latest defensive array’s worked into the underlayer, these will handle the impact of 7.62 mm rounds so long as you do not suffer from sustained fire from more than two sources lasting longer than ten seconds. It is also equipped with temperature control arrays to protect you in up to 400 degrees of heat and as low as -50 degrees. The aplative plates are rated to withstand the kinetic impact of an ACPR round, but won’t stop physics from affecting you. The boots have been engraved to dampen the sound you produce, but it only affects you touch not surrounding materials. You can step on a branch and the crack won’t be heard, but shifting gravel will still make noise. The gloves and helmet are set up to interpret vibrations and air displacement to give you a motion sensor display in the integrated HUD. The biggest change from the Mark One Prototype is the thermal and optical camouflage system built into the suit. Kathy is scary capable when it comes to figuring out ways to play with light. Other than that I’ve included some reinforced armaments because I know you're going to need them if you are using the armor. Both the firearms have been augmented for durability, and have engravings that are tied into the gloves on your armor. These will allow them to exchange spent rounds with those found in the cases that attach to your belt. It will require approximately three seconds of not firing the weapon for the rounds to be exchanged in the MP5, but the revolver was tested to exchange a round in much less time as the engravings are set on the cylinder instead of the magazine. While this is not a true infinite ammo cheat, it does allow you to use a higher caliber gun without the longer reload times. The sword was included because there are times when a virtually unbreakable piece of sharp metal can be useful. Code Seventeen will activate the scuttling runes, use them after you're safe. The HUD is preprogrammed to recognize your biometrics and will instruct you on how to activate the optical camouflage. Be safe big brother, and let me know when you are okay after you get done. Tuere qui se non tueri.”

I settled the armor around me and attached the weapons to appropriate places. As I picked up the helmet Corporal Jennings asked, “What was that last part sir? It sounded like Latin.”

“It means Protect those who can’t protect themselves,” I said.

I settled the helmet over my head and my voice came out muffled by the enchanted visor, “Wish me luck.”

It didn’t require anything special to activate the camouflage of the armor, instead it was a set of glyphs that I channeled my own magic through. Apparently they were still trying to figure out how to make the array work with a moving object without actively channeling the energy but hadn’t figured it out yet. Using the stealth enhancements for the armor I closed in on the building, taking extra care not to be noticed. The illusion that prevented me from being seen worked very much like the armor’s namesake movie. The faster I moved the more likely it was for someone to notice that something was odd, let alone the fact that I could still leave tracks if I wasn’t careful.

It took almost an hour to carefully approach the building and get inside without alerting anyone. If I could handle this mission without alerting the defenders then I would, but something told me that I wouldn’t be able to get the prisoners out without making some noise. The first group of civilians I found was the local women working away in a kitchen. I disregarded them when I saw one laugh and kiss one of the guards. Apparently they were here by choice. Eventually I worked my way down the stone corridors to the basement level where I found a guard standing outside a heavy wooden door reinforced with metal. The sensors built into my suit detected cages with seventeen people on the other side of the door. That was a few more than I had expected. Three of the forms in cages were smaller than the others, indicating children. The dungeon level wasn’t quite below ground, and I did a quick mental calculation to locate where I was in relation to the outside before I smiled. The dungeon was in a direct line to my men, which meant I just had to get them out quietly. The guard was the first order of business though.

Moving up to him I quickly grappled and applied pressure to knock him out in what was known as a ‘sleeper’ hold. I stopped channeling energy so that I would be visible. I dragged the man into the room with me as I said in a low tone that wouldn’t carry beyond the room, “Everyone keep quiet.”

Wide eyes took me in, and I could see fear in some of them. The dark suit of armor didn’t have any insignias to indicate who had come for them. Taking in the room I saw that there were indeed three boys approximately eight to ten years old, but also four more girls that couldn’t be older than their early teens. That explained the discrepancy in our scouting. They kept the kids down here to keep the adults compliant. As I trailed my eyes across the group I began to place faces with a recent report about missing tourists from about six months ago. I asked, “Are you all from the Crusades Expedition group?”

One of the adults, a middle aged woman who reminded me of my high school math teacher, replied, “Yes we are, there were three more of us but they tried to escape. No one has tried since then.”

“Well ma’am, here’s your chance to get the kids home,” I said with an unseen smile.

A dark haired man that had been leaning against a set of bars spat out, “How do you plan to pull that off. There’s a building full of people up there including two guys who must have stolen tech from that freaky company, and one of you.”

My discipline was tested as I asked in a level tone, “What two guys?””

One of the teenage girls said in a fearful voice, “The men call them Djinn. One can make fire move how he wants, but I saw the other make Bobby’s shadow eat him as he tried to run away.”

So a pyrokinetic and the other was either a shadow jumper or a manipulator of some kind. As I started opening the cages I said, “Then the easiest method is to get you out without them noticing. If they do notice I’ll deal with them while you run.”

The teacher lady asked, “What do we need to do, and please don’t mind Victor.”

“I’m going to make my way outside to the other side of that window and open a path out. I’ll need to get at least one of you outside that is capable of helping pull others up. While you’re doing that I’ll cause a distraction so you all can get to the rocks north east of here where some soldiers can escort you out,” I explained.

One of the prisoners with middle eastern features spoke up in an accented voice, “I still have strength enough to pull them from the building. Is there a back up plan for if you are caught on the way out?”

“No, but they won’t see me,” I said before making a gesture with my hand and activating the concealing effect of my armor.

The gasps from the prisoners was worth the bit of showmanship. I exited the room, dragging the guard back out and ensuring he wouldn’t alert anyone by preventing him from waking. Then I used a touch of my talent and the man’s knife to stop the door from being opened easily. Five minutes later I was at the window that led to the cells and pulled my own knife out to inscribe a set of runes into the stonework. I quietly said, “Stay back from this cell..

There was a quiet sound as the wall around the barred window cracked apart and some of the stone fell outside of the silencing ward I had placed. I could hear the guard on the top of the building calling out, they had noticed something was going on. I quickly hauled the volunteer up and pointed to where my men were standing ready, “Don’t leave any of them. I’ll be the distraction.”