Eyes opened in a flash.

Meeting a purple world, devoid of air and imagery. He felt weightless, stuck in the void, succumbed to nothing. He screamed, for he could not breathe, desperately gasping for air that did not exist. Breathing in nothing but thick liquid that already filled his lungs to the brim.

Gravity was next to leave, dropping him down on a hard floor. He coughed, he gagged, he retched and wiped the purple substance away from his mouth. He glanced up, up at where he fell. Seeing rounded doors close behind him with droplets of purple liquid trickling down on.

/Dropping in three minutes: Target [Entrenched Artillery battery]: Expected troop count, 200: Target within active warzone: Small arms caliber, likely: Heavy armament, likely: Defenses, active perimeter: Shields, likely: Enemy reinforcements, unlikely: Calculating recommended loadout.

The comms module inside his head said as he stood up slowly. The square armory slowly illuminating, humming as the mothership groaned and moaned with machinery working around the clock to keep everything working, like organs inside a human.

A red light lit up and illuminated several parts of the square armory. He glanced at each section. First spotting the weapons, seeing general service explosives, grenades and an anti-personal pistol lit up in dim red. But just away from the weapons, a doorway lit up in slightly brighter red, leading to another armory.

He pressed the buttons over the anti-personal grenades, doing so six times before he moved towards the general-purpose explosives. Explosives so powerful that a dedicated explosives expert would drool at their effectiveness, deceptively effective for their small size.

He pressed the button several times, extra just in case, then moved to the pistol. A pistol that was similar in effectiveness to one normal squad’s dedicated machine gun. Pressing the button over the pistol, he turned his body and walked to the other armoury.

Going in and past the illuminated doorway, his sights met a rather long corridor with smaller doorways on either side. About four doorways down to the right, red light illuminated a slightly larger doorway. He walked towards it and looked within.

Spotting a small room with little to nothing inside, blackness and darkness revealing little. The only discernible thing being the two footholds that were slightly elevated above the ground.

He moved and stepped down on the two footholds, his weight pushing them into the ground, followed by an audible click and the noise of many mechanical arms moving out from hidden compartments within the small room.

Mechanical arms thicker than those inside his dropship, each holding a piece of armour, snaked their way out. Armour thicker than the one he used last, still painted in all black. Each part of the armour struck out at once, sticking to legs, arms, body and, lastly, his head. And as the helmet was fastened, something blindingly painful struck the back of his neck, followed by his entire vision blurring to nothing but white. Followed closely by his other mind awakening to life.

/All systems nominal

It stated simply while their vision returned, but the pain remained, making his head hurt as no drugs to dull the pain had been administered, yet.

/One minute until drop

His comms module spoke up, and the red light on the doorway dimmed to nothing. His vision going dark, quickly illuminated after he blinked, darkness turning to shades of grey. Walking out into the corridor, he set pace back towards the weapons armoury.

Back into the armoury, he continued walking until came to the two heavy blast doors leading inside the dropship.

A step and he stood still within, staring blankly forward on the black monitor. Waiting. Time slow, slower as the slowly throbbing headache made waiting worse.

Grandfather clock, tick-tocking.

/Dropping in ten, enter dropship for extraction

The comms module said, and life awoke within the dropship. Small mechanical arms with needles atop their tentacle bodies wormed their way out and towards him. Moving in sync as they were pulled towards the small holes opened up in his armour for just this moment.

They plunged and pumped him full with their vile demons, bringing him alertness, acute clarity, and sweet numbness. His limbs flexed and his biomechanical muscles churned. His body on full alert as his entire being practically steamed in heat, into life. Ready for anything.

And then they waited, time slower than a fish through molasses.

Waited for the countdown to pass, and the dropship to moan into life. Systems, sub-systems and main compartments, one after another, blooming into existence as they, one by one, started moving. Soon, as the last second loomed and counted to zero, his other mind spoke.

/Bracing for drop

And the dropship burst from its womb, shooting out with speeds faster than any ground weapon. The screen in front flashed into life, exposing him a view of a lush planet, green from side to side. A big green ball, floating in a vast darkness. Slowly growing in size, ever so slowly.

Time slow. Wondrously slow.

Until the thruster on the dropship exploded into action, shooting even faster as the g-forces piled on impossibly hard. The green ball growing in size faster and faster. G-forces bigger and bigger. Yet, his eyes remained glued to the screen as the green ball grew from a ball, too encompassing the entire screen, and then turning into what appeared to be a great forest.

The view grew closer, and nothing could be distinguished from the great greenery of what felt like an impossibly big forest, encompassing the entire planet.

/Incoming anti-bombardment rounds, commencing evasive maneuvers

His other mind spoke as the dropship suddenly lurched to the side, body held fast by mechanical arms but feeling it strain from the impossible switches of g-forces. Dull pain shot out like a hot razor to a wound. Then the dropship went the other direction, and the g-forces switched sides, mind numbing, darkening. His other mind forcefully keeping him awake while simultaneously keeping the dropship from getting shot out of the sky.

The dropship creaked and groaned from the immense pressure as it swooned and swayed from side to side, evading rounds he could neither hear nor see. His enhanced muscles and biomechanical implementations keeping him awake, albeit barely.

Then, as the dropship continued to evade, his other mind spoke.

/Touchdown in 3 seconds

His eyes, fixed on the screen in front that blurred around from the evasive maneuvers, noticed the green suddenly disappear, the dropship crashing into something like glass and exposing a great opened field with dots of moving figures and stationary objects within.

A sudden click, and the image suddenly encompassed his entire view, highlighting parts of the picture in bright red. Highlighting his targets’ artillery positions, and a lesser bright red on those that defended it.

/Target sighted: 8 heavy artillery pieces. Sighted enemy combatants, 187. 117 Unarmed. 40 In overwatch, 30 unknown. No armoured vehicles sighted. Presumed armoury nearby.

His other mind spoke as the last second ticked, and the dropship crashed into the ground. Impacting with a great resounding boom, his screen showing several combatants either crushed or flying away from the great impact. Gore and dirt spewing in all directions, creating an avalanche of mud, momentarily blocking his sight.

While the great plume of dirt and debris flew, four turrets suddenly emerged from the dropship on all sides. Even before the great plume of dirt had descended, the turrets opened fire. It was silent from within the dropship, but muzzle flashes could be seen as the turrets unloaded their deadly payload into combatants that, one by one, fell.

He ignored the carnage as his mind focused in on the closest target, the closest artillery piece, calculated the distance, and pulled out his pistol and an explosive.

/Opening hatch

His other mind spoke as the two heavy blast doors blew outwards, and from within, he emerged with a jump.

Slightly elevated from the ground, he fell down with a big thump, dirt splashing up from his hefty weight, armour too heavy for the ground to properly hold up.

/Deploying shield, projected time remaining – 10 minutes

Something shimmered into view, slightly mucking his sights before vanishing into nothing. Shielding him from anything and everything, powered by the fusion reactor strapped into his armours back.

The screams quickly became apparent with the chaos that ensued as soon as he exited the dropship. People running, falling down limp, firing upon the dropship, screaming out orders, searching for weapons, scrambling for cover. A litany of actions and inactions, chaos as everyone and no one seemed to know what to do.

He ignored the combatants, eyes dead set on the first artillery piece, jogging at the fastest pace his armour allowed while setting the timer for the explosives on his other hand.

His shield shivered, shimmered, his other mind gave him a warning and his head snapped to the side as he spotted the combatant that had fired ineffectually at him. Raising his pistol, he quickly pulled the trigger while jogging, combatant falling down behind cover, never to rise.

More shots hit him, more fell dead. Then he was upon the first piece. Without stopping, he planted the explosive and continued towards the next piece. A beep being the only indication that the explosive had been armed.

Death all around as blood splattered, screams echoed and guts spilled. Turrets behind him never ending as they spewed fire like the nuzzle on a water hose. His pistol lashing out at anyone daring to test its muzzle.

He planted an explosive on another artillery piece.

A third, and then the first, exploded. A fireball of red and black, raining down dirt and metal over the gory battlefield.

As he planted an explosive upon the fourth, his other mind flashed him a warning. His eyes suddenly spotted something from behind without looking back. Giving him the sights of his dropship, slightly burning as something had torn a hole in its side. All four turrets still operational, but one, according to his other mind, with a torn motor, making it unable to turn up and down.

Another explosion, this one he spotted as it tore another hole through his dropship. One turret flying off from its hinges with a brilliant ball of fire and debris.

/Heavy armaments spotted, priority combatants

His other mind spoke before the turrets swiveled and pointed their barrels down on what looked like a fortified bunker. Further away from the bunker, out in the open, he spotted several dozen people running with all their might towards cover near the dropship, and some towards him.

He had seen all of this while continuing his jog, jogging towards the fifth artillery piece. He saw as the turrets opened fire, saw as combatants fell down either dead or looking for cover. He spotted as one stepped out in the open, holding a gun far too big to hold by themselves. He saw as one of the combatants allies screamed, screamed and waved. The combatant either ignored or did not see, for the combatant aimed, looking desperate. His cameras zoomed in, and he spotted the combatant wavering, quivering, trembling.

The turrets swivel’d and fired. It hit the combatant, their eyes widening. Then the combatant fired.

They hit his dropship, blowing a chunk that was ineffective at dismantling the turrets. He stopped watching as he found himself next to the fifth piece. Planting an explosive before jogging again, shooting combatants that drew his pistol’s ire.

As he ran towards the sixth, another explosion rang out, and only two turrets were operational. Then another explosion. This one covering his sight with fire and flame, red and orange, bright and pretty.

Immediately he turned his head, spotting two combatants desperately reloading a heavy weapon that almost looked too heavy for the two. He aimed, he fired twice; he killed two.

/Warning, heavy shield usage, effective protection for – 5 minutes. Calculating-Calculating. Shield effective for 2 more enemy rounds.

His other mind spoke, imprinting the knowledge as if it was himself that had thought it. Scanning the incoming combatants, he searched them for their equipment. Most that he could see carried rifles, ineffective at stopping him.

He blinked, and his sight turned to different hues of red and blue, each combatant glowing in brighter hues of red as their heat emanated out from their bodies and weapons. He scanned and fired upon those that stood near one another, indicating usage of a weapon that required a minimum of two combatants to hold.

Shield sparkling from the prickling of rifle rounds bouncing off his shield, sounding like pebbles hitting a car’s windshield. Combatants firing desperately as more and more found cover, and more and more turned their guns on him.

An explosion. One turret remained, more guns pointed in his direction. He was upon the sixth piece and quickly planted the explosive after disposing of two covering combatants. Briefly hidden behind the artillery, he scanned his surroundings.

/Enemy combatants, 75: Combatants out of action, 143: Unknown amount of enemy reinforcements: Odds of completing mission, low.

More shots echoed around his rather poor cover, hitting shield, ground and artillery alike. Sounding like cracks of miniature thunder blended in with a distant forest fire.

An explosion, and the last turret was gone. All eyes drew to his position as more and more fired down upon him. Alerts flaring as his shields timer ticked lower and lower.

Eyes traced a line towards the dropship, burning slightly with chunks torn out of it, and his other mind realized what he was thinking.

As one, the two set upon their tasks. He unequipped his pistol and pulled out four anti-personal grenades while his other mind calculated the trajectories and time the grenades would need to fly.

An immense detonation of monumental force suddenly burst from his dropship, an explosion so intense that it rattled bone and flung people unlucky to have been hit by the incoming shock wave. A sound so loud that eardrums burst and people grew partially blinded from the brightness.

At the same time as his other mind had detonated his dropship, the explosives planted on the targeted artillery pieces not already blown, blew up one after another in quick succession, like dominoes piling up one after the other.

But immediately after the dropship had exploded into a shower of molten metal, he had burst out from behind cover, using his enhanced eyesight and wired sight to spot the most packed amount of enemy combatants. Quickly finding four, he threw his grenades one after another, using forces so hard that a pitcher would have had their bones buckle from the sheer stress pushed onto their hands.

Then an explosion rang out behind him. Pieces of the artillery he’d just hid behind flying in all directions. Unluckily, one hitting him in the back, bouncing off his shield at impossibly high speeds but alerting his other mind as it warned.

/Warning, shield down to 2 minutes: 1 round more before shield discharge

He continued sprinting, no longer beset by a thousand rounds a second. Hearing four more, slightly distant whomping explosions, sounding like a vacuum suddenly existing before detonating out.

Several wired combatant electrical signals evaporated from sight with the smaller explosions of his grenades. But further away, he spotted more and more combatants streaming in into the defensive perimeter. Far too many.

Making it to the seventh target, he quickly placed an explosive and looked at the gathered combatants. Spotting several running around like headless chickens, carrying wounded or dying, ammunition and guns. More and more seemed to collect themselves as they scanned the battlefield for him, many firing randomly at anything and everything, some even shooting their own squirming combatants in the chaos. Fire burning brightly in unnatural whites and blues across the entire battlefield.

He moved, and immediately, as if waiting for it, an explosion rang out and covered his sight with flowers of red and black. His shield wavering and fading as if a popped balloon.

/Warning, insufficient power, shutting down shields: Calculating-calculating: Odds of completing mission, impossible: Recalibrating mission parameters: Sufficient targets destroyed: New mission, escape: Recommended course of action - Flee.

His other mind spoke quickly and drew his attention towards a highlighted trail that zig-zagged across the battlefield. Giving him a rout that was the least defended, and shortest possible out of the defensive perimeter.

Eyes set on the path, he stared at it for no longer than a second, even less. Shots accumulating as more combatants realized his position.

Eyes that were set on the path, drew away, stopping as they looked at the last target. The last artillery piece.

His other mind immediately realized, for it knew what he thought, just as he knew what it thought, and quickly chimed.

/Course of action not recommended. New mission: Escape, alive.

The other mind tugged at him, being his own thoughts while not. Thinking for him, advising him to continue on with the mission. The new mission.

He did not stop staring though, staring for that singular second as his own thoughts forcefully took control.

Suddenly, his body was struck by a dozen needles, pushing in liquid of all different kinds. Pushing in so much that his nostrils grew wider, pupils dilating and muscles practically steaming. His focus became absolute, his biomechanical muscles the strongest, his reflexes the fastest, his computing the most powerful.

He was on top of the world.

Then his armour suddenly opened several flaps, shooting out canisters no bigger than a flat palm. But from within said canisters, a thick orange smoke propelled out with great gusto, covering the artillery piece he hid behind in a thick smog. More smoke came, covering more and more until he felt satisfied at the amount.

He jumped out and started jogging, immediately feeling his armour pelted by shots fired randomly into the smoke. Chipping of pieces upon pieces, quickly dismantling an armour that was more expensive than even several heavy vehicles combined.

It held, but it would not hold forever. Especially against heavy armaments, against explosives, against sustained fire. And as he crossed the end of the smokescreen, the concentrated fire would be even more fierce, and he would surely perish.

He knew this, his other mind knew this.

So, when they came to the end of the smokescreen, his other mind quickly opened up what was left of his armour, giving him an opening to propel himself out with a mighty push. Himself flying forwards, his armour backwards. Coming out like an alien through their prey, naked as they come.

Immediately, he felt three hits impact his body. Twice on his arm, once on his hip. But the pain did not come, only noted by his other mind as he flew out from the smokescreen.

He flew forever, his eyes dead set forward, forward on the last target with only an explosive in hand. Flying for only a few seconds, being an eternity.

But even forever must end as he descended onto the ground to begin his sprint.

Landing and pushing off with one leg with such strength that a miniature swell of dirt and earth spewed out from behind him. The other leg came down with equal, but greater force, a force so great that the ground quaked from the impact.

Each step of the sprint grew faster and faster, harder and harder. Blood pumping more and more, biomechanical muscles pulsating with extreme energy, glowing. His muscles screaming in protest, his skeleton crying in pain. Bullets whisking about behind, above, and a few in front.

He ran so fast that smoke plumed up behind. All combatants firing upon him as if trying to shoot a passing eagle in a dive.

A speed so fast that it had a price to pay. Warnings blasting in his mind as his feet blistered and cracked, bones breaking and muscles tearing. His speed still not dwindling as his other mind stepped in, forcefully pushing his body beyond its limits with the help of biomechanical modules and muscles.

Impact, something hit him in the chest, bursting his lung. Kidney. Stomach.

An explosion, far away but still close enough. Fragmentation cutting through him and almost making him fall. Caught by his other mind as the sprint continued, slightly slower this time, and lacking a hand.

Then he was at the target. Pushing the explosive onto the artillery piece while he continued running. Running away at a slight angle, using the artillery as a slight cover from behind.

Running, hearing the gunshots flying past less, less until but almost a distant memory.

Impact, tearing a chunk of flesh out of his thigh. Falling, he tumbled around. Quickly, he reorientated himself and thrust his single arm into the ground, flying up and back into a sprint. Or rather, tried to sprint. Failing, trying anyway. Leg unresponsive as blood gushed out dangerously.

Limping, he pushed himself forwards, onwards and away. Coming to the perimeter, vaulting over and continuing on into the woods. Woods with trees bigger and thicker than any he’d ever seen before.

Perfect cover.

He continued limping, hearing explosions and gunshots still ringing out behind him.

Fading with each step.

Fading until very little could be heard.

Then he heard something else, and his mind grew alert once more.

He hurriedly hid behind a tree and waited. Waited as the noise grew louder and louder. A sound of marching steps and whispering mouths.

The step cracked a branch but a meter in front, and he rounded the tree and grabbed the combatant by the neck.

Holding the combatant by their throat, he stared the combatant down. Holding him up as easily as a stick. Their eyes wide in surprise and horror, colour quickly fading from their face as air quickly left their lungs.

His eyes spotted the combatants uniform, their insignia, and his other mind combed through its database in but a fracture of a millisecond, faster even.

/Allied forces, do not engage: Mission escape, successful: All targets, destroyed: Warning, critical blood loss: Massive inner bleeding: Shutting down all non-essential bodily functions: Sending out emergency signal.

His other mind spoke. But he did not listen, nor think. He simply stared, stared down at what he now knew were a friendly combatant. Letting go easily as he stared at the friendly.

The friendly fell onto the ground, eyes wide and terrified, tears flowing easily. Coughing loudly.

He continued staring, staring into the friendly combatants’ eyes.

Their eyes were blue, just like his.

Then his body shut down, and he fell onto his back. And while he fell, he spotted dozens, if not several dozen, friendly combatants scampering out from nowhere and everywhere, coming down on-top of him.

He did not think of them.

Instead.

He stared up at the blue sky.

Stared for as long as he could before his vision turned black.

Then it went dark.