One by one the members of Dimond Squadron ran down the brick-layered corridor leading further underground. They bypassed large heaps of trash littered on the ground and soon reached a ladder descending towards a maintenance hallway below them. As the others kept watch, Richard led the way as he holstered his shotgun and slid down the semi-moist metal ladder. Soon after the rest followed him until they reached the bottom.

“System curtailed.”

A deep metallic voice echoed throughout the hall as the eight-man squadron raced to the next sector.

“Communications are jammed, someone took out Ripper. Lieutenant, we need to kill those sons of bitches! Looks to be a squadron of OMFS agents.” A younger voice called out as the sounds of typing played in the ears of both Richard and Mike.

“Brainwashed puppets. Get ready to release the payload, let’s make them burn.” The second man present said as he walked over to a nearby latch and pulled it.

“Raven isn’t going to like this.”

“Focus on the mission! Kill these agents before they ruin our operation! Worry about Raven later.”

Reaching the end of the maintenance hall, the squadron moved onto a single wooden door. Richard moved to the left alongside McCann and Jorge while the rest pilled to the right. Withdrawing the shotgun, he had confiscated, the corporal changed the angle he held it at and aimed the canted barrel at the door handle. Looking up to the staff sergeant across from him, he received a silent nod as he slipped his finger just in front of the trigger.

Shooting the buckshot directly into the handle a chuck of the door splintered onto the ground. The corporal then planted his boot firmly into the door swinging it open and causing a resounding thud that echoed down the empty corridor leading to the larger foyer.

Storming into the foyer, the room soon expanded into a large command center over what looked to be a warehouse or water treatment plant. Scattered between the large boxes and pipes all round, men armed with basic ballistic protection and small arms weapons prowled the entire area. In the rear of the plant, a large door stood guarded by a single, confined room. Two individuals wearing heavy armor and next to them heavy weapons stood overlooking a plethora of pipes, values, and terminals.

The rules of engagement provided to Mike’s squadron was to engage all identified hostile targets. And here he was looking at a turkey shoot.

“Federation agents!” A man bellowed from the back. He was a lookout in position on a high balcony that had seen Mike and his team.

The staff sergeant lowered his head behind the brick wall. It was a miracle the dumb idiot had decided to call out their position instead of just firing away and possibly taking the life of one of his men. Not that it mattered as the surrounding area was peppered by bullets as all the gunmen below scrambled for cover and began to lay suppressive fire on his position.

A sudden explosion emerged just before the glass window sending shards all over the ground and onto Mike’s team. Those just under the window, Jorge and Bishop were stunned by the sudden flash and the shockwave, though the wall mitigated any major damage from the shrapnel. It was partly a miracle that they were relatively untouched by the explosion.

Turning his head to the left, his brown eyes widened as he watched a bullet tear through Lieutenant Bishop’s chest spreading black-stained blood all over the terminal behind him. He watched the man grunt in pain as he lowered himself behind cover seemingly unimpeded by the bullet that had wounded him.

“Take out the gunner, right side high!” Richard shouted taking a smoke grenade off his plate carrier. He was able to pinpoint the location of a gunman that was taking precision shots with a long rifle.

“Oh, for fucks sake!” Jorge cried as he reached out his left hand.

A bright blue glow emanated from his hand and a pained voice emerged from the floor below.

“Ice mage! Incoming magic!”

Clenching his fist a total of three-hundred shards of ice formed in the main window of the command center. “Rifle!” In an instant the shards flew out into the arena causing a wave of suppression that completely preventing the gunmen from applying effective fire.

Taking the moment of opportunity, Bishop raised his head and gun and aimed for the gunman sitting untouched on the upper scaffold. He aligned the iron sights of his machine pistol and squeezed the trigger.

A second bullet tore through his chest and made him collapse to the ground as the same happened for the gunman in the distance. The sniper fell off the scaffold and onto the ground breaking several bones and making the man wail in pain as he tried to crawl away from the gunfire with his broken arms.

Mike’s squadron looked in horror as they watched the lieutenant sit back up as if he was hit by nothing. More and more of the black sludge ran down his body staining his already blood-crusted clothes. It was purely impossible for Bishop to be alive. The amount of damage his body had taken was beyond fatal and would render him dead the second the magic he casted on himself expired.

“Get me more guys! These agents are going to kill everyone!”

“We’re not done! Get to ground level! Lecca, stay here and provide support for Bishop!” Mike ordered his throat burning from the volume of shouts he was making every second.

“Popping smoke!” Richard said as he threw two smoke grenades to the level below covering the immediate area in a thick layer of white gas.

In a synchronized movement, Dimond Squadron climbed over the ledge and into the combat zone. The gunmen that were untouched or that had recovered from Jorge’s icicle assault began to press a counter-attack, but were stalled by Princess Lecca who was sniping from her position alongside the wounded Lieutenant Bishop.

Adrenaline pumped through Mike’s veins as he pushed forward. Everything he was doing now would never be allowed by the 75th Regiment, let alone the army. Storming a position outnumbered 3 to 1 was a death wish, and yet here he was doing the impossible and performing a suicide run to stop a terrorist.

Oh, how the irony of the situation had caught up to him since Peshawar.

The irony hit him like a truck. A truck that impacted the gem-lined plate he wore on his chest. Falling to his knees and taking cover behind a large generator and pipe, Mike grabbed at his plate carrier. He noticed the small hole that had been formed by the entrance and he moved quickly. The staff sergeant caught his breath as he grasped at his chest. A small pain radiated throughout his chest and there was a strong possibility that he had yet again broken one of his ribs by being shot. The already high chance was increased further as he had received a similar injury during his time within the Frontier and all he could remember was the searing pain until he blacked out.

Taking off his single-strap assault pack, Mike retrieved one of the three reserve plates he had and unzipped the bottom of his vest. Fragments of the armor dropped to the ground and then the entire plate fell out. Smoke rose from the defensive strike plate and small embers covered the area that was impacted.

“You got trouble boss? I’m coming down!” Not paying attention, Mike didn’t notice that Lieutenant Bishop had jumped from the commander center and onto the ground below much to Lecca’s dismay.

Slamming the new plate into his vest and zipping the bottom back up, Mike was up and running as there was a break in the counter fire the enemy put out. Beams of pure mana bolted over him and impacted targets in the distance. Lecca had once more proved her worth as marksman as she was picking off the hostiles one-by-one while the rest of the squadron forced them out of their flimsy pieces of cover.

“You think this is fun and games, agents!? Well get ready for more!” The most heavily armored man in the containment room let out a sneering laugh as he slammed his hand into a button on the terminal in front of him.

“Identity confirmed, David “Ridge” Udine. Releasing toxins.”

Raising her rifle, Lecca quickly dilated in target “Ridge” and slammed her trigger back forcing a round out into the open air. The bullet raced forward and hit the glass, but the mana was dispersed and an electrical ‘snap’ emerged from the room as the man behind Ridge looked up in a calm manner.

“Agents of the OMFS.” He said to Ridge. “Pitiful all they can do is shoot.”

“No problem here Corrosive.” The now named target let out a short sigh as he turned a value releasing an unknown gas onto the floor.

“Enjoy this.” He warned in a cynical voice.

“Warning, filters deteriorating.”

“Damn it! Activate the ventilation you idiot.”

“On it, lieutenant!”

The gas began to flood on the floor and turned a gentle green, similar to that Ripper used for his healing tank. Throughout the entire complex, the gunmen that were working alongside both Lieutenant Ridge and Corrosive began to cough rapidly. It appeared that the gas was nothing more than a liquid reacting with a solvent, but Mike and the others knew this wasn’t the ideal time to theorize about the gas.

Beyond debilitated from the gas, the men fell to the ground. Tears, snot, and spit escaped their mouths, nose, and eyes as they clawed at their skin. Some of the gunmen who were familiar with what was happening stumbled to the nearest exists while flapping their arms leaving their guns behind. This sudden release of a chemical was untold, and now the remaining gunmen trapped within the room began to spit out blood and small chunks of flesh.

“Chemical attack! Keep your masks on!” Agent Jorge’s voice screamed over the radio. It was hard to not let panic entrap Mike’s squadron.

“Start launching those canisters. Light this fucking place on fire.” Ridge ordered as he monitored a terminal keeping track of the gas being released.

“Right away!” Taking a canister off the ground, Corrosive placed it in a mortar-looking tube and launched it with the help of a purple crystal.

“Target confirmed. Firing canister.”

Launching into the air at a pre-determined arc, the canister quickly flew through the air and landed near both McCann and Richard. Upon impacting the ground, the canister detonated, and the immediate area burst into flames setting alight the two poor gunmen that were caught in the blast radius.

This was repeated thirteen times as canisters were launched within two seconds of each other. Pockets of fire erupted throughout the entire room and were quickly put out as the chemical released in those area burnt away. Fireballs continued to appear around Mike’s squadron with even pieces of shrapnel landing near the staff sergeant making him squirm in anticipation of being hit.

“Jason! Get your men down here! Federation agents are sitting on our doorstep!”

“Right away, lieutenant!”

As new, unknown targets equipped with biohazard gear entered the room, Mike kept his head down as he looked towards each point where the gas was being released. If they wanted to turn this fight around, the best thing they could do was redirect the gas back into the room where both Ridge and Corrosive were in and set it on fire.

The only problem was the pipes where the gas was being released was at the back of the room being guarded by “Jason” and his highly-equipped riflemen who were now laying down suppressive fire on Mike’s squadron.

“McCann, Richard! Get clear of the kill zone! The rest of you support and push up to those valves near the left and right side.” Mike formulated a plan over the radio, “Split into two teams take out those gunners! We need to secure the valves to flush those two out of the central room!”

“Providing covering fire!” Lecca responded as the cracks of her lever-action rifle came to life shutting down two heavy gunners that were intrenched near the valves. She provided an opening for the rest of the squadron to move forward, this was all that they needed to gain massive ground, but their progress was once more stalled as Corrosive began to fire smaller volleys of three canisters every minute.

It seemed the men were aiming to toy with Dimond Squadron.

“These fucks are going to handicap the Federation. You, agent, you understand this, don’t you? I would offer a chance for you to join us, but it seems you’ve made up your mind.” Ridge was speaking directly to Mike taunting the staff sergeant.

The words he spoke were out of place. Just seconds ago he and his partner were threatening Dimond Squadron, and now here he was acting as a envoy. The sudden switch of attitude couldn’t be understood, but there was more behind his words than anyone against them could hope to understand.

“Some people have already come to our side. I hope you don’t die, the rest can, but you, I want to keep around.”

Just as the last word was spoken another volley of canisters were launched, this time more accurately due to Jason and his men directing the targeting computer in place.

“Oh shit!”

Lieutenant Bishop cried as he backed away from his section of cover. As the canister landed and ignited the gas cloud around the man, two bullets ripped square through his head and his now burning body collapsed to the ground. He joined the charred bodies around him and his eyes remained wide open as embers crawled over his decaying skin.

Richard was the one to crawl over under heavy fire. He grabbed the limp body of the lieutenant and dragged him under a small maintenance hatch. Dimond Squadron reacted immediately and drew the shooter out of cover allowing Lecca to snipe the man in return, painting the wall behind him in a splatter of crimson blood. Soon enough the corporal emerged from the hole and proceeded forwards with Jorge moving behind him spraying icicles all over the forward assault area.

Mike watched this all happen. He was frozen in place as he watched Bishop die a second time. He wasn’t sure anymore, the lieutenant was destined to die by his own words, but some part of him wanted the magic he casted to last until they reached the surface. Then there would be a chance for him to get medical treatment.

He tried to raise his gun, yet it just wouldn’t go up.

“Staff Sergeant!”

Remaining in place, the man’s hand instinctively patted the pouch on his vest that held the names of his comrades.

“Boss!”

He wasn’t sure who, or what name would land in his palms next.

“Mike!”

Snapping his head up, McCann stood above him firing his machine pistol at the distant enemies that had taken cover to avoid the sharpshooting sight of Lecca.

“Team two just moved up to the right side valve! They’re working on taking out the detachment around it, we need to move!”

Pressing the magazine release and seeing that he had twenty bullets left in his magazine, the staff sergeant slammed it back into the gun before raising himself from cover tapping the surviving lieutenant on the shoulder. Without another word McCann followed Mike as they sprinted to the far left side of the room avoiding the canisters that were currently inbound to the center of the room.

A total of ten men split into two teams of five guarded each valve. Earlier there were twelve, but Lecca’s quick work cut down the numbers killing the riflemen that caused the most problems. Target “Jason” was on the lefthand side and was coordinating his fireteam into a defensive position reading for the oncoming storm. He was able to avoid being spotted by Princess Lecca who was actively looking for him, and now he remained entrenched in a small kill hole right behind the containment room.

“Fuck! Do you know how hard it is to do all this shit in a mask!” McCann voiced his complaints as he wiped a large amount of sweat from his forehead.

“Keep it together.” Mike ordered as he pushed forward behind a large concrete wall. Being undetected and the gunners’ focus being focused on Leccamaradel, the staff sergeant and lieutenant were able to flank the entrenched position and gain line of sight on the defenders.

Quickly pulling a fragmentation grenade off his belt, McCann primed the grenade and tossed it below the feet of three riflemen that were protecting the valve and target Jason.

The men quickly scrambled for cover, but one of the men tripped.

In a single second the man realized his fate and was concealed by the fireball.

Remaining in place while keeping his rife aimed at the corner, Mike was just able to see the body. He stared straight at chunks of flesh and the body which had its head decapitated and blown to smithereens. Fragments of bone and brain matter covered the wall the once-man took cover behind.

Forcing himself to stare through the red reticle in his scope, the staff sergeant spotted the metal barrel of a wooden rifle and how it was being flailed around the corner expending led into the wall parallel to his left. Immediately following the barrel, one of the gunmen appeared before Mike with blood running down the side of his face and burn marks showing burnt flesh on his chest.

Without hesitation the bullets tore through the man’s chest sending him to the ground and collapsing onto the brick wall behind him. He turned himself over grasping for the rifle he had dropped, but a sudden cavity wound in his helmeted head rendered him motionless.

Keeping his weapon trained on the dead man, Mike slowly raised the barrel back to the wall as McCann watched his flank.

Red blood gathered on the wall. The man remained slack-jawed and his hands remained still on the weapon he aimed to grasp seconds ago.

“You monster!”

A second man limped around the corner with his weapon by the hip. In the same manner he received a bullet square to the chest making him topple on top of his dead comrade. Aligning the red reticle on the man’s chest, Mike committed to the trigger pull as he sent three more round clean through the man splattering blood all over the ground.

The man still breathed, yet willing to give into death. He hadn’t moved. The pain was unbearable.

With the barrel slightly adjusting to the left, the final bullet put him to mercy.

“Boss! Valve secured, waiting on you!”

Keeping his gun on the two dead bodies he had created within a span of ten seconds, Mike moved his left hand to his radio. “Keep it on lockdown! Wait for my go!”

Peering around the corner letting a sharp exhale out, Mike returned to his former position as he now stared at the two dead bodies that were before him. One was the man McCann had killed, the other was target Jason. He was propped up against the ballistic window that protected both Ridge and Corrosive. The hole in his chest was unusually large leading the staff sergeant to conclude that Leccamaradel had lured him out and plugged what should be an anti-material round straight into the center of his chest.

“McCann.”

Harshly calling McCann over, the two raced towards the now unguarded valve. On the opposite side Richard and Jorge waited as they watched Corrosive and Ridge scramble inside of the containment room to dial in their locations manually. They couldn’t rely on their computer targeting software or the unknown voice that spoke to them as if it were artificial intelligence, so they waited impatiently as they rotated the motor by typing in designated location and codes trying to get them aligned with either valve.

Gripping the valve with his bare hands, it took the staff sergeant a second to figure out which way it turned. “Right!” He shouted on the radio making Jorge spring into action. Turning the valves fully, the green gas being dissipated in the pipes high above were shut and the gas now flooded the containment room making the two men panic.

“Lieutenant!”

“What the hell!?”

Raising his rifle and moving towards the containment room, Mike and McCann stood a minimum safe distance away as Richard and Jorge did the same.

“Lecca, put a hole through that fucking window!”

Leveling her rifle on the ledge she looked over, the princess channeled a large amount of energy into the gun. There were no flashy lights or bright glows, but when she slammed the trigger back, the bolt of light cut through the bullet-resistant glass and set the room alight causing a huge explosion due to proximity of the gas and oxygen trapped within.

Combusting violently, the blue glowing flames rushed out the small hole in the window completely shattering the glass and tearing a hole through the wall the window was mounted on. Secondary explosions threw shrapnel forwards as the canisters detonated, and the split-second cries of the two men were drowned out as their now dead, charred bodies laid on the ground, side-by-side. It was only by the heavy armor the two wore that their bodies remained barely intact.

“Ridge and Corrosive, eliminated. System rebooting.”

The sharp metallic voice cut out on the intercom as the remaining, battered members of Dimond Squadron walked to the front of the containment room. Lecca had removed herself from her perch and walked through the center line. She passed by the burnt corpses eyeing each individually as her hands gripped her rifle tightly making her skin turn white.

With the princess by his side, Mike slowly walked into the containment room. His tired eyes scanned over the burnt corpses of the enemy he had just fought. Paying no mind to the rest of his squadron as they moved away from him, back towards the center of the room, the staff sergeant knelt and simply listened; the princess stood tall, not wanting to let her emotions break to the surface.

“Take it easy! Take it easy!”

Richard’s pained filled voice broke the two out of silence as they stood up and turned around.

The corporal along with the rest of Mike’s squadron placed the deceased Lieutenant Bishop on the ground. In the same manner Mike once held Corporal Ramirez all those months ago, Richard let out small tears as he held his brother-in-arms with both his dirtied hands.

“No-no. Fuck!”

“Richard.” McCann forced out stomaching the wave of nausea that tried to overtake his body.

“We—I wasn’t fast enough.” The young man said speedily as he removed his left hand and wiped away the tears. He was struggling to breath with the gas mask he had on.

“Richard, he was under orders of Admiral Martian.”

“Fuck, I don’t know?”

It seemed that the corporal was not paying attention to anything around him.

“He was a spy. One on our side, lieutenant.” Jorge said as he patted McCann on the shoulder.

Stumbling in place, the fear-stricken lieutenant paced around as he watched the green gas slowly dissipate and settle on the ground. It slowly began to fade and seep into the concrete floor. “Bishop knew of this place, didn’t he?”

“What are you saying?”

“Was he a traitor? The intelligence provided on this mission was completely wrong.” McCann pointed his finger at the deceased body. He held back anger, grief, and fear.

“They didn’t know! None of them did!” Corporal Ramirez boldly shouted. “I’ve seen enough people die.”

Every word spoken had finally sunk in for Mike and Lecca as they stepped out of the containment room. Keeping his rifle in place with his left, the staff sergeant reached out his right and offered it to Richard as looked up.

Mike Randall, the cheerful and thought provoking sergeant he once knew on Earth was gone. His eyes were sharp, and his features were defined. Much like what the remaining members of Task Force Spare thought of Captain Thompson, something during their time spent in this world had changed Mike. Technical Sergeant Baker mentioned offhandedly mentioned that he become more cynical; it was an ironic statement coming from the USAF Combat-Controller. The others just said that their once beloved Sergeant Randall began to see the world differently after Green’s death.

“Corporal.”

The young man found it hard to look away from the void-like eyes Mike had behind his half-face mask.

“We still have somebody to kill.”

Reluctantly reaching out and taking his hand, Corporal Richard stood up leaving Bishop’s corpse.

He now faced the large hangar-like doors with fear.

Publicly Available Information: Intercepted Transmissions — Countermeasures:

Before this whole shit show of terrorism spreading throughout the Federation, I was able to land a sweet job at the plumbing division here in Ignis. It had just about everything I needed to get my foot in the door, but that was cut short when this group of megalomaniacs stormed into the underground and took by force. The crew I was with were able to escape, but I got caught up with four others and now we’re here to maintain the lights and functions of this place while they set up some sort of research lab.

These people obviously aren’t the Feds. I been keeping my ears open and it sounds like they’re the ones responsible for the terror being spread throughout the Federation. For now I’ve been able to avoid catching a bullet, but there’s something in the third section, the electrical management section. They’ve been working at it for some odd three days, but it seems it close enough to being complete, and I cannot allow that to happen.

I’ll make these fuckers pay.

Short circuit the lights then reactivate it when the wires are exposed. That’s all there is to stop this shit.