Eyes opened in a flash.

A sight of purple meeting his glazed eyes. Instinctually, his body opened its mouth to breathe, finding the act impossible. Instead, he gulped down a thick, purple liquid. A liquid that also encompassed him.

The panic set in, flailing with arms and legs as he fought to draw breath. Eyes darting around. Spotting something shiny, shimmering just beyond the purple liquid. Mind recognized, and soon after, the scream of a hatch opened below him. Followed closely by gravity setting in, dropping him and the purple liquid onto hard ground.

He coughed heavily. Followed by what looked like wheezing, but more resembled puking. Retching up the same thick purple liquid that had just moments ago held him tight.

It didn’t take long to empty what little was inside, wiping at his slightly drooling mouth as he looked up. Eyes meeting the sight of a small room, square, filled with rows upon rows of weaponry.

He scanned them all, eyes stopping as they sighted what appeared to be two thick blast doors. Spartanly squarish, opened to reveal an equally spartan inside. An inside that he knew every inch of.

Interrupted by a beep in his mind, coming from the integrated comms module stuck to the left side of his brain. It had received its orders and was now transmitting them to him, hearing it as if he was listening to his own thoughts.

/Dropping in two minutes: Target [Unknown garrisoned headquarters]: Armoured vehicle sighted: Weaponry, small arms caliber likely: Heavy armament, unlikely: Defenses, few to nil: Shields, unlikely: Calculating recommended loadout.

The square room lit up dimly. Lit up by a red light that shone down on a few select weapons. A general service rifle, an anti-armour gun and a plethora of grenades.

Slow, yet determined, he stood up and moved towards the general service rifle, outfitted with ammunition designed to explode into shrapnel after a millisecond on impact, with a fire rate on par with several dedicated machine guns. Standing in front of said rifle, he pushed a button. A noise followed the push, mechanical as gears turned and pulled, a swiveled door opening behind the rifle, pulling it in into its mechanical bussom before disappearing in a flash, swiftly replaced by another identical rifle.

While the mechanism did its thing, he moved towards the anti-armour gun, designed to penetrate any armoured surface and detonate, melting and obliterating anything that was unfortunate enough to be behind or inside whatever the anti-armour gun was shooting at. A gun so heavy that it would normally have to be carried and deployed by a squad of five men. Again, he pressed a button above the anti-armour gun, and like the rifle before, it disappeared, replaced by another.

Next, he stood before the grenades. But only one was lit up by the dim red light. A grenade that, once thrown, would explode into a deployable shield, outfitted with a miniature fusion reactor that could withstand even the heaviest of bombardment for several seconds.

A button was pressed three times before he moved to walk away. Stopped as he glanced back on the grenades, eyes caught on a particular one as his mind pondered. Pondered not for long as he reached down and pushed a button on another grenade, unlit by the red light.

/One minute until drop

The comms module inside his head chimed, and the dim red light increased in brightness. But not on the guns, but on the two heavy blast doors leading to a most familiar place.

Without looking around, he moved towards the doors, taking a step inside before settling in as he stood tall and looked forward. Looking forward onto darkness, onto a black screen, settling in for waiting. Time ticking slowly, ever so slowly.

Grandfather clock, tick-tocking.

Until the comms chimed.

/Dropping in ten, enter dropship for extraction

And he waited, the comms within his head counting down for what felt like eternity. As the seconds came down to five, the inside of the cramped space lit up. First, to his right, illuminating what looked like snakes with needles for heads, shaking mechanically as they woke up. The second after, something to his left lit up, illuminating even more sets of snaking arms.

He paid them no mind as they slowly moved towards him, eyes dead set forward on the black screen. The third second chimed, and the whole miniature room illuminated. Revealing several buttons, levers and even more mechanical arms. These though, larger and heftier, holding what appeared to be thick, almost slimy looking plates of immaculate armour. Armour so black that one’s eyes practically slid off their surface.

Another second passed, the bigger mechanical arms thrust forward, striking him in several places at once. Some even coming out from seemingly nowhere as his legs, arms, body and last, head were covered entirely by the armour. And as the last piece of armour connected, a flash of white blinded his eyes. A flash that only existed within his own mind as something painfully pushed into the back of his skull, metaphorically pushing a button.

In the last second, the smaller mechanical arms plunged into the armor through miniscule ports, penetrating his skin. Valves opened and flushed his systems with venom.

He was struck by a surge of adrenaline, serotonin, energy, strength, and more. His mind grew clear, like a crystal lake. His body tense as glass, stronger than a dozen men and reflexes became faster than any other human mind could ever hope to perceive.

And then, with the surge, came another mind, intertwined with his own. A mechanical one, subserved of all emotion as it primed into action upon the last second.

/All systems nominal, bracing for drop

The new mind spoke, as if it was himself. As if being his own thoughts yet, were not. It immediately took action, opening the valves within their cybernetic implants, integrating sub-systems of their shared body into that of his newly acquired armour and then unlocking pods within their cramped dropship. Revealing his weapons of choice as they latched onto their body, like pieces of iron to a powerful magnet.

The dropship lurched, and their body tensed without him telling it too. The small mechanical arms retracted back into the dropship, while the big stayed behind, holding him in place.

Braced, he waited. Waited for no longer than a second. A second perceived as minutes. Impossibly long.

Then he was shot out, out from a mother ship that he might, or might not have been on before. Dropping onto a planet he might, or might not have been on before.

The screen in front suddenly grew to life, flashing with static and colours that shortly morphed into something comprehensible. A top-down view of a planet, round and white. A snowy planet. Growing larger as they descended upon it. He stared at the planet, eyes glued to the screen as the sight consumed him.

Time slow. Wondrously slow.

Then the view zoomed in, and he knew the thrusters had engaged. He felt it on their body as it groaned and creaked. G-forces that no normal human could ever hope to endure pushed at them, pulled at them, begging him to succumb to the darkness.

But instead of lessening the forces on their body, the forces instead increased as the dropship increased in speed. Muscles going from groaning to screaming. G-forces so great that any human would be mush. Breathing growing dimmer, his other mind taking control, taking the correct actions to breathe properly, tensing their body to remain awake, to stay alert.

Yet, his eyes remained glued to the screen in front as it quickly formed from a white planet, too a dotted landscape, into what looked like a great mountain. A mountain with specks of black and grey dotting it as if a giant or a god had decided that black was needed to contrast beautifully with the otherwise white landscape. The view stopped over the black mountain as they soared straight down it.

/Touchdown in, 3

His other mind spoke as it started to count down. The view on the screen getting ever so closer to the mountain, yet gave him no insights on any presumed targets. Only showing him a blank, empty mountain.

The countdown continued, the ground growing closer. Fingers moved towards his chest where his general service rifle was strapped on. The other towards his leg, confirming each grenade’s position.

The last second counted down, and suddenly, the screen seemed to shimmer something fierce before blackening, interrupted by screaming static as if burst by some invisible force.

And then, with a deafening impact that should have splashed him into a fine paste, they had landed.

/Landing successful

The dropship let out a great blast as if letting out enormous amounts of air, a sound so loud that nothing could be heard over it. Then a “snap” chimed, immediately followed by a picture filling up the screen in front of him.

The screen showed him a three-sixty view around his dropship, spotting one, two, a dozen, two dozen, over three dozen targets within what appeared to be a confined area. Humanoid, winter clothing, lightly armed to un-armed. Buildings on all sides, and what appeared to be high thick walls encompassing the area.

The screenshot also showed splotches of red in the near vicinity of his dropship, and what appeared to be the mangled corpse of a once human.

/Targets identified, totalling 37: No armoured targets in sight: Presumad enemies out of sight 12, including 1 to 2 armoured vehicles.

The other mind chimed in. The entire process from landing, shooting great blasts of air, taking a screenshot and calculating the number of targets had taken no longer than a second.

It was more than enough time.

Their body tensed as his other mind spoke what he was already ready for.

/Deploying smoke screen. Opening hatch

With a minor explosion, the two heavy blast doors shot out, followed by a great plume of smoke. Instantly, he bolted forward, gun at the ready as he aimed, seeing nothing but white thick smoke. It did not even hinder him slightly as his aim was true, aided by the screenshot overlayed atop his vision, and the guidance of his second mind.

The triggered pulled, and he aimed for the next target. Trigger pulled, and he aimed for the third target.

As he pulled the trigger for the third time, the first round impacted the first target, followed by the sound of a minor explosion, and the sound of gore splattering all around.

When he pulled the trigger for the sixth time, the first scream yelled out. One of panic, confusion, and fear. It was quickly followed by others as the ground started trembling from the ensuing chaos.

He did not stop pulling the trigger though, having shot seven times. Having killed seven.

A brief pause followed the eight pull of the trigger, looking around as his helmet flashed him a new sight. One of infrared, making all targets light up as if illuminated by a spotlight.

As the tenth pull of the trigger was pulled, an enemy target fired their first bullet. A blind shot that ricochet helplessly against the dropship behind him. But he took it as his queue, running sideways and away from his dropship while he aimed, pulling the trigger and killing the one shooting. Then pulling more, killing his twelfth target.

More screams echoed out, these more controlled, more alert.

His head snapped, looking blindly at where the voices came from, ears giving him a general area but eyes not spotting. He blinked and his sight changed, giving him what looked like illuminated wires going to and fro. Wires that seemed to outline buildings, some small vehicles and neurons on moving humans. Brightest were the brain should be.

The one screaming in a controlled manner hid behind a building, holding something that seemed to transmit his voice to others. Behind the same building, two others hid, peeking over as they shot ineffectually towards his dropship, seemingly at random.

He aimed and fired, waiting a moment before hearing his round connect with were the shouting target was. Seeing the target react, but not collapse.

At the realization, he quickly strapped the rifle to his chest and swung his anti-armour gun around from his back to aim squarely at the target. Smoothly pulling the trigger and hearing, rather than seeing, the gun react viciously, before it automatically cocked and reloaded a new round. As it did, he easily slid it around onto his back and pulled out his rifle in one swift motion.

Switching back to the infrared, he aimed at new targets, running hither and dither as each individual tried to figure out what was going on. On what was happening.

A loud explosion rang out, so loud that every target within sight visibly shrunk down. His shot had connected. Three more targets down.

He continued firing, having shot twenty-seven rounds, killed thirty targets. And as the twenty eights round flew out, an explosion burst dangerously close to him, rocketing his body to the side, but using the momentum to continue into a roll that gave him distance from the danger.

Fast as a cat, he sprung up on his feet and looked around for the source of the explosion. He could not find it. Blinking, his eyes went from infrared to wires. But even so, nothing.

Another explosion, this one closer. His ears picked the general direction it had fired from and his second mind pinpointed its location. But no visual on the target.

Quickly, his arm traced down and picked up a grenade. With a click, he dropped it to the ground just in front of himself and took a step back. Second later, the grenade ballooned out with no sound, and a shield encompassed both the ground and the air a few meters in front of him.

A new explosion rang out, blooming out like a wild-flower in front of him and over his shield. Fire so dense it shot up into the air, blasting aside the smoke that held him hidden.

One second, two seconds, the blast of fire evaporated, replaced by a clear line of sight from the newly formed hole of air. A clear line of sight that revealed a particularly hefty vehicle, aiming its barrel straight at him.

/Unknown target, presumed heavily armoured vehicle, caution advised

His other mind chimed, outlining the big vehicle as he scanned it. His vision having turned normal as the vehicle was invisible to his other sights.

Suddenly, the barrel of the vehicle started glowing bright red, then white hot, before a sparkling sound of what almost mimicked lightning burst out. Followed by a red line impacting his erect shield.

/Revising target- railgun, time between shots, 3 seconds: Course of action advised; flanking

His other mind instantly provided intel, and he immediately fled to the left. His shield fading as its inner battery ran out. The little smoke that was left hid him partially as he ran into its embrace. His other mind counting for him.

Two seconds passed, and he quickly fished out another grenade, pushing the button and dropping it slightly in front of his run.

The shield bloomed, a crack of thunder echoed out, and fire spread out like a wildflower over the shield. He didn’t stop though, quickly sprinting out from the cover of the shield and vaulting a high wall he inhumanely quickly came upon, hidden from normal sights. Behind the wall, his eyes met a target, hunkered down and looking up with bewildered eyes at him.

He did not stop his run. Using the butt of his rifle, he struck the target clean on the jaw, shooting away with a spray of gore that gushed out all over him before the body fell heavily onto the ground.

His other mind counted down to two, and he quickly stopped himself, pushed backwards and fell down on his back and made himself as small as possible.

Thunderous crack, followed by an explosion that would have hit him had he continued running at the same speed. He looked around, spotting a building perfect for cover with what should be a clear line of sight towards the armoured targets flank.

He moved to stand, but stopped himself. Instead, he looked back up at the wall.

Three seconds, and he stood up with his anti-armour gun held firmly. An explosion rang out, this one close to the building he would have flanked the armoured target from.

Up and over the wall, he stared straight down on the armoured target, aimed his anti-armour gun, and fired.

As the round flew straight through the air, the barrel of the armoured vehicle rotated to aim squarely at him. Rotating far too quickly. His round gained ground like thunder and then impacted what looked like thin air before detonating. Painting a darker red over an opaque surface that flashed vividly with colour.

This didn’t deter him, nor his other mind as it calculated the new threat.

/Target shielded, flanking ineffective, suggested course of action: Sustained fire

While his other mind spoke, the anti-armour gun had reloaded. But instead of turning around for cover, or firing, his hand reached down for his third and last shield grenade. Fast as the wind, he jumped straight down, impacting the ground and pivoting it into a sprint, sprinting forward, straight towards the target.

Three, and the barrel quickly illuminated. His grenade bloomed into a shield, covering him as the crack sparked out, followed by wildfire just in front of him.

He rounded the shield, heat sensors warning him off heat build-up, ignored as he continued straight towards his target.

Barrel aiming straight for him, he aimed straight for it.

His hand reached down and plucked the last grenade from his leg. Not a shield grenade. Stopping, he pulled his arm back, muscles tensing and building up as bio-mechanical and normal muscles used every fiber, every minute muscle to strengthen him, readying for his throw. And throw he did. A grenade flying straight, true, flying several hundred meters directly towards the target. His aim was perfect. It could be nothing but perfect.

His other mind calculated the grenade’s trajectory, its travel time, and he lined up his shot on the target.

And he waited.

Time stood still.

Barrel against barrel.

Then one fired, just a moment before the other.

The target suddenly illuminated in a bright flash of blue, as what appeared to be a dim vale wavered, then popped as the anti-shield grenade did its work, closely followed by his anti-armour round finding purchase just at the inside of the armoured vehicles barrel. It penetrated the armour and dug inside before automatically detonating, turning the armoured vehicle into a mechanical pinata as it blew up in all directions. Gore mixed in as its crew were also incinerated.

But he was not to escape unscathed, as the target had fired a round before its demise. He had had one second to react, but it only gained him a meter of lee-way before the ground behind him exploded into fire and dust.

He flew as the intensity of the explosion blew him far away. And landed with a heavy thud as dulled pain exploded all over his body. He blinked, but was met with nothing but darkness.

/Damage sustained, evaluating-evaluating --- Several organs ruptured, several bones broken, cloaking defective, all cameras offline, biomechanical muscles heavily damaged, critical body functions --- Minimal damage, proceeding with first-aid

His other mind spoke before his armour seemed to poke every orifice on his body. The dull pain grew even duller, and something seemed to, pull and stretch him. Pulling on him as if he was nothing more than play-doh. He could feel the same happening to his insides, but gentler, more calculating.

And last, something seemed to be pushed into him, then pulled out, then in, and out. Feeling like a stupidly large needle sewing what felt like his bones back together.

When the damage was sufficiently repaired, another dose of drugs were administered. Focusing him immensely, giving him clarity above all else. His other mind then calculated and retraced the trajectory they had been blown in.

A direction in mind, he ran blindly back towards the wall. His helmet black, cameras destroyed. Yet, he perfectly retraced his steps as he vaulted the high wall and hid behind it.

A whoosh of air almost deafened him before his helmet ejected from atop his head, follow by inhuman reactions as he checked his surroundings. Cleared, no enemies in sight, standing next to a pulped and gored body, lacking a jaw.

The smell hit him first, dust and smoke, blood and gore. Next, the sight, slightly red and dark, unnaturally dark, his eyes must have suffered damage as well. And then, the sound, one of eery silence, and burning wreckage.

With weapon in hand, he listened intently, gaze focused and march slow. The compound was small but big enough for many targets to hide.

And so, he searched diligently. One building expertly covered before moving onto the next, sweeping what was left of the burning compound that looked more like a blown-up battlefield than an once headquarters.

He found two targets, swiftly dealt with within their desperate hiding places. Hiding within buildings that housed computers atop computers. Another he found screaming their lungs out, shooting blindly. Easy target to eliminate as he simply used the screaming to pinpoint the target’s exact location, shooting around the corner.

And then, he was upon the last building. All calculated targets eliminated, plus a few more. He found only one armoured vehicle, the other gone or never existed.

A hand fell down on the last building’s door, haptic feedback giving him the feel of rusty iron. The door’s blank surface stared at him as he stared back. A blank canvas of nothing, maybe hiding a target for him to kill, to end his mission.

His hand slowly squeezed, pulled.

Stopped.

He pulled away, walked away. Moved. His eyes drew to a high place, and he found himself going upwards, nearer the high place.

Then he was upon it, high above in a slightly dented watchtower made of unknown wood. A hole he had made dotted it in one place, leaving a smoldering corpse behind. He avoided the corpse and moved towards the railing, leaned out and then dexterously pulled himself up. Up onto the roof of the small watchtower.

It creaked dangerously. He still climbed the last meter leading up to the highest point.

And then he simply, sat there.

He turned, and.

Watched.

A bland landscaped, dotted with black and white. Wind caressing his scarred and bald head.

Feeling cold. Feeling, fresh.

He breathed.

He sat.

He waited.