Project Paladin

“Sector 6 has been dealt with, moving onto Sector 7”, Jaime speaks quietly into his shoulder. Alex, DB and Jonna walk slowly behind him. All wearing the solid black battle armor, head covered with a red-light eye hole which programs images to show the soldiers what is infront and around them.

Jaime leads the squad, solid black mohawk with two red eye slits over red helmet. Alex follows close behind with a longsword strapped to his back and a rhino horn on his forehead. DB watches around, two burst submachineguns held close, and his chest piece has several marks of battle and damage. Jonna trails behind, hip lasers on her large mini cannon which is metallically strapped to her hip. Her helmet has a shark’s mouth which makes her look menacing to others.

The 4 members of Squad Over Spear make their way down the long dark corridor of the underground outpost of Sector 6. They move in unison and without words knowing exactly what the other team members will do. They follow the long corridor down but stop and crouch instantly as a loud creaking is heard far down in the pitch-black tunnel. Jaime holds his hand up and forms different signals without making a sound. All their lights turn a dull green then back to red. Their enhanced night vision kicks in and as they look down the hallway a large shape is seen hunched over feasting on the body of a worker. Body parts piled to one side half eaten in different spots.

Jonna walks slowly to the front and when Jamie gives the signal, she adjusts the belt higher and squeezing the trigger a ball of blue light pulses in the gun. The creature notices the light and low humming, it raises its head and screams out viciously and runs at them on all fours. Before it takes more then 10 steps the gun pulses and Jonna fires a ball of blue energy at the creature. It hits it directly in the chest, and the creatures body explodes, its back bursting outwards with bones and entrails. The creature collapses in a roll onto the ground and the corridor goes quiet.

The squad again moves forward, DB doing a quick scan of the bodies.

“These were definitely the workers reported missing, descriptions 100% match” DB reports in his deep Russian accent.

The squad continues forward, and they reach the end of the hallway. A large circular door stands before them. There is a keypad which is in the middle of the door, half torn apart but still accessible. DB walks forward and pulls out a small rectangular device which he connects with wires to the terminal.

“2 minutes” He notifies, and the other three members set up a quick defensive ring around him.

Just when he begins a loud crash echoes down the hall and a deep screech echoes after it. Alex sets a small plate down before him and emerges is a small, balled drone which from his helmet he controls to roll forward quickly.

It rolls fast down the hallway and after a few minutes he sees three large creatures sniffing the air and slowly making their way forward. Large hairy back beasts. 4 legs with several fat fingers/claws. Their body is rippled with dark brown muscles. Their head is short to their body with barely any neck. A short snout with long teeth which have a slow green ooze seeping from the mouth. 2 large deep black eyes with tiny white pupils survey the hallway around them. They are the size of large grizzly bears but more quick and agile like a wolf. These creatures are known as the Gordibach.

The creatures look around and eventually spot the drone. One sniffs it and growls slowly at it. Another slowly approaches but a sniper round blows its head apart dropping it instantly.

The other two creatures jump aside in fright and look ahead. Alex, laying down and shouldering the large sniper rifle takes aim at the second one and fires but it quickly jumps to the other side and the two creatures start running forward towards the group.

Jaime and Jonna make selected shots and connect the first few rounds, not making fatal shots. Alex takes aim again and predicts the movement of one creature and fires connecting with its hip. It falls clawing at the wound and crying out in pain.

“Finished.” DB informs and the door hisses open. He makes a sweep of the area and makes his way inside. Alex disassembles his rifle and Jonna makes her way slowly in backwards still firing. Jaime makes a calculated burst fire and downs the third Gordibach and finishes off the wounded one with a clean headshot.

The team circles the room checking for any threats and finds none. DB closes the door behind them and sees bloodied handprints on the door he just closed.

“Jaime, look at this.”

Jaime walks over and investigates the hands and looks around but sees no bodies. He follows a blood trail which leads down a left pathway and looks to a right pathway with no signs of activity.

“Alex, DB take the right corridor, Jonna we take the left. Any signs of Corrupt take them out quickly and quietly. If no signs of junction or endpoint return back here and alert the others. Good luck.” Jaime commands his team, and they all move quickly down the corridors.

Jaime and Jonna walk quickly, Jonna behind Jaime. They walk for 10 minutes, and they find doors on the right and left side. Investigating them they find names and numbers beside each door. Sleeping Quarters. After opening a few and finding simple living spaces and nothing useful they open the fifth one on the left and discover a body.

Recently deceased. A large claw wound on the back and a large blood pool around the body, still wet meaning death occurred recently. They discover it’s the head of engineering and find blueprints to the rest of Sector 7. The two corridors lead to a large chamber, seems to be a common area and from there the door to the power reactor is on the right side.

Jaime takes the card and inserts it into a side box and the blueprints get linked to all 4 members. As it finishes loading shots of gunfire echoes down the hall from the direction they came and the two immeadietly sprint back to DB and Alex.

DB leads with Alex beside him down the right corridor. Broken panels and smashed lights litter the ground around them which gives a challenge for keeping perfectly silent, but they still manage. They walk for 5 minutes more and come to a large double door sized hatch which reads ‘Storage and Supplies’ on the right-hand side.

DB unlocks the terminal, and the door slowly rises. A wave of cold air hits the suits, but the heat packs counter the cold frost. 60 by 80-foot room but is covered in frost and ice. The two survey the room and through the racks see a large cannister blown open on one side with three people frozen in ice in fleeing positions.

Alex takes a knife and scrapes at some ice which has turned purple and locks it in a side pouch.

“Alex come here”, DB says.

Alex walks to the right of the room and sees what DB is investigating. Long body, large wings resembling bat like but with several streaks of dark purple veins all over it. Head of a large bat mixed with a rat and two long legs with raptor like talons at the ends. A large frost crystal has punctured the middle of its body and froze the rest of it in place.

“What the hell is it?” Alex asks in his southern American accent.

DB looks closer at it but stops as he hears the slightest movement behind him coming from the ceiling.

DB slightly looks to Alex who holds his fingers out notifying DB he heard it to. DB slowly stands and grips his guns tightly. After a few seconds DB quickly turns, activating his head light and spots the same looking winged creature watching the two. He opens fire at it with a spraying blast of both his submachine guns.

The creature screams in surprise and quickly flies further back but gets pelted with bullets. Alex runs to the left and is about to fire with his short shotgun, but another creature takes him by surprise and body checks him making him tumble to his right. He quickly, while rolling, pulls his sword out from his back and charges the creatures making slashing attacks trying to slice its wings off. The creature moves quickly backwards and to its side, but Alex connects, and its right wing falls to the floor with purple blood spraying everywhere and loud bat screeches echo in the room. It tries to fly away with one wing but Alex flourishing his longsword upwards cuts it in two.

DB runs forwards moving between the racks spraying between openings and connecting but still nothing fatal. It eventually flaps its wings and dive bombs DB connecting and biting into his left shoulder. The armor stops it from getting through to his skin but the teeth puncture deep into the armor. DB takes the opportunity and sticks both hot barrels into the creature’s abdomen and starts to spray in a downward arch dragging the barrels down its body. Purple blood spraying the back wall of the room and eventually the creature lays limp, jaw locked in place over DBs left shoulder.

Jaime and Jonna rush into the room guns raised but lower as they see the fighting has stopped. DB breaks the creatures jaw and pushes it off of him. These creatures are atleast 6ft in length but don’t weigh to much.

“What the hell are those?” Jonna asks in her Italian accent.

Jaime investigates the creatures and takes several photos with a small camera built into the wrist and forwards them off to HQ with the subject ‘New Species. Further Intel is Required’.

The frozen workers are identified and those who remain include 3 engineers. 2 office staff and the Head of Operations.

The team regroups and proceeds further down the hallway until they come to a large door with the name ‘Common Room’ titled at the top. This door however is broken and ripped open in the centre just allowing the party to fit in one by one. Before they enter though Jonna frisbee throws a boomerang shape device which slowly floats around the room giving a visual sonar image of the area. Large common area with a metal walkway 10 feet wide along the edge of the second floor. 3 Gordibachs are feasting on three bodies in the far-left corner with 2 workers curled up together in another corner still alive.

Jaime with more hand signals informs the plan and the team acts as soon as he has finished. DB and Jaime slowly make their way in with Jonna slowly behind. Alex sets his sniper rifle up in the broken door and waits for Jaime’s command.

The other three slowly walk around the room spreading apart. The two living workers notice them and Jonna quicky silences them with a finger to the front of her helmet. They say nothing and watch as the three get into position and slowly pull-out small pear-shaped devices and in unison twist and activate them. They quickly throw the devices into the group of Gordibachs and before they have time to react, the devices hit their heads and detonate.

Alex watching the members get into position takes out a green tipped bullet and twists the top 180 degrees and slowly inserts it into the rifle. He watches his teammates throw the Anti-Section grenades and as they all land in the centre of the pack he fires his round and the bullet connects in the centre of the pact and both the bullet and the grenades detonate creating a small electricity field electrocuting the creatures, but the bullet adds a shimmer of poison which seeps into the creatures’ nostrils and within seconds they fall one by one, electrocuted, and poisoned.

Jaime walks to the workers and sees they are the 2 missing office staff.

“Where is the Head of Operations?” He asks them.

The man who looks less shaken points to the door leading to the Power Reactor and Jaime motions the team forward after instructing the survivors to stay put and hide.

The team assembles at the door and after DB opens the door it slowly rises and a dull red-light glows slowly rising over them

The team looks around and slowly walks in sweeping the area and they all stop looking directly at the reactor.

The glow red is from an emergency light, but it illuminates the large creature which is scrapping at the main power core. It stands 12 feet tall. Two large muscular arms with massive hands. Long dark red hair hangs from its head and a large hammer rests to its right.

He stops as he hears guns cocking and it slowly turns and reveals itself. The Head of Operations face is dysmorphic and corrupted in the creature’s chest. Its face is human like with one large eye and two red glowing orbs implanted into its cheek. It looks to the team and before they can react it grabs its large hammer, which has a large head to one side and the other has the same hair as the creatures’ but more ceremonial and slams it at the team making them split into pairs.

Jaime and DB on the left open fire into the creatures’ side and Jonna starts powering up her laser canon. Alex darts to farther and higher ground and quicky positions himself at an elevated position with his sniper rifle.

The tall creature takes the bullets and doesn’t react to the hits but instead side kicks DB in the chest which makes him fly backwards into the wall. It then swings its hammer at Jaime who manages to just dodge the attack. It goes to make an overhead swing but a force of blue energy slams into its shoulder and blasts through hitting the wall ahead.

The creature turns and slams its limp right arm into the side of Jonnas head and she spins in the air but gets slammed into the ground by the hammer which the creature overhead swung with one hand into her chest.

Jaime watches as the hammer is lifted and Jonnas armor is crushed in the chest, and she is unmoving. Alex takes several shots at the creatures’ legs and makes it fall to one knee. Jaime runs up to it and jumps on its back driving the barrel of its gun in its spin and holding the trigger firing straight down into its spine.

The creature howls in pain and falls prone against the floor but tries to grab Jaime from its back but a long-pointed spear like weapon pierces its hand and several metal pincers connect to the floor and drive the hand down.

Jaime lets go of his rifle and grabs his machete which he turns red and drives it into the back of the creature’s head and it eventually stops moving and lays dead.

DB walks over and releases an arm attachment launcher from his right arm and limps on his right side and helps Jaime off the creatures back. Alex jumps from the catwalk and rushes to Jonna.

Jaime takes DBs arm and braces him, leading them both over to Alex and Jonna.

“The hammer crushed her whole chest and killed her instantly” Alex informs Jaime.

He nods and relays the video which he recorded just before the fight with the creature to head quarters. Alex fireman carries Jonnas body, and the team escorts the two survivors out of Section 7 to an emergency exit.

They make it to the surface and see the extraction team with several marines rushing past them into the underground compound. Medics run towards Jaime and assist him and his team. Orion walks out of the T37 Hybrid and approaches Jaime and the rest of Over Spear walks past Orion.

“Good work Over Spear, report back to Compound Alpha and get some R&R. Mission debriefing at 1800 hours.”

Jaime nods and walks past Orion who walks towards Sector 7. Jaime takes his seat closest to the cockpit on the right side. He looks over to Jonnas lifeless body strapped into a seat and looks back down to the floor. He tilts his head up and sees Alex already asleep and DB going over the video of the mission in his helmet.

Jaime unlocks his helmet and slowly takes it off and rests it beside him. He grabs the mirror from his left thigh slot and looks at himself in the mirror. Square jaw buzzed hair and tanned olive skin. Scratchy beard and a large square like nose. He stares at the old collection of scars around his left cheek and stops when he locks eyes with himself. The dark brown with hints of hazel stare back at himself and eventually he puts the mirror back in the slot and watches in the small window as the air carrier flies back to Compound Alpha, leaving what remains of New York City.