Chapter Four
A series of loud mechanical noises echoed through the snow driven valleys as a huge black chasm began to open beside a small wooden outhouse. With a metallic clank the door opened fully, tonnes of fallen snow vaporised as it hit the laser net protecting the hanger below. Slowly but surely a black helicopter rose through the chasm, its frontal spotlights danced up the granite walls of the cave as it went. All four of the Mark class choppers were thereabouts identical but each had its tweaks and mods for specialised missions, slightly bigger than conventional helicopters but sleek at the same time. The fuselage gleamed like black polished glass with the windshield blacked out also, the stealthy design stank of advanced technology and armed with anti-detection systems the super choppers scoured the globe un-noticed.
The Mark Four was finally above ground and a blast of blue fire shot from the rear as it accelerated at incredible speed into the night. Its sleek bullet-like shape slowly moulded into a rounded arrowhead as the stabilisers formed at each side giving it lift at high velocity. With Torres at the controls it lifted to cruise altitude and approached mach eight gracefully. Inside the advanced vessel task force one was getting ready for the hunt, Miller and Takuya tapped away on terminals either side of Torres. They resembled a covert military hit squad, black combats attached to lace-less boots, padded body armour and black long sleeve polo necks.
‘Where are we headed Miller? Maybe we should start in Budapest he may have left some clues?’ Torres broke the silence in the darkly lit cockpit of the Mark three.
‘I know Frost; this day’s work will not be done by any means. He’s obviously targeting Akhira’s leaders and infrastructure, if I had a million dollars I’d bet that his next port of call will be Mohammed Jaffar and his associates. Lay in a course for Kandahar, Afghanistan’ Miller wasted no time in giving his commands, knowing best as always.
‘No problem current altitude just over fifty kilometres above sea level, retracting rotors, bringing fusion drive up to full capacity, cruising speed set at Mach twenty three point six’ Torres glanced at the monitor above ‘We‘ll arrive in Kandahar in around fifteen minutes’
The ferocious power of the Mark Four’s fusion drive propelled it forward at nearly twenty four times the speed of sound, slithering gracefully through the blackness of the upper atmosphere.
Like a bullet from a gun the Mark One bolted nose up from the SIA silo, with Troy at the helm the fearsome chopper was pushed to its limits. He had been warned countless times about vertical take-off from the underground bunker but it always fell on deaf ears, he had an almost arrogant regard for rules and procedures just like his dangerous brother. Although he shared many of Frosts traits, Troy had always been the quieter and more approachable of the two. Frost had never gotten close to any of his team mates unlike Troy who always made the effort to join in; they were all his brothers as far he was concerned.
‘Warning Fusion drive reaching critical limits please activate relevant high speed countermeasures, the propeller is not designed to work at speeds over Mach two’ a computerised voice filled the air inside the advanced Mark One.
‘Relax, she’s a dark horse she can handle it’ Troy replied as the Mark One headed towards the wasteland of Budapest. Almost instantly the propeller slowed to a standstill and started to retract blade by blade until it formed a single rotor and dropped into a long thin opening in the tail, closing as it did. The sides of the craft began to mould into rounded wings as Troy pulled back on the steering column sending vapour into wisps of cloud behind the tips of the stability cons and tail fin, a large blue flame ejecting from underneath. Now travelling horizontally the mighty chopper corrected itself and levelled off, thundering along at Mach twenty six. Troy worked the controls cleverly as warning lights flashed all around him, alerting him to the dangers of extreme speed and engine use. As the alerts faded out one by one Troy sat back, activated autopilot and gave another command to the machine.
‘Computer activate main view screen and show the current image above Budapest, two fifty times magnification’ the windshield that filled his vision with dark blue sky and a green heads-up display now showed the latest zoomed image of his destination courtesy of the Integral Grid. The light of the screen reflected on Troy’s sullen face giving him a menacing look in the darkness of the Mark One’s interior. He knew that Frost would be long gone from the scene of destruction but he needed to get a feel for the madness in his brother’s mind.
Hundreds of miles away in Kandahar, Afghanistan the central market place was reaching the height of its daily activity, thousands of people bustling around buying, selling and haggling like they had done every day since as long as anyone could remember. Through the bedlam of the chaotic marketplace a young man shrouded in a hooded black robe blended in perfectly amongst the locals. He walked briskly trying his best to avoid person after person in the organised pandemonium of the shantytown market. His shoulder struck an Afghan trader with some force sending him flying onto the floor at his feet. He looked down at the fallen and gave an aggressive frown sending the trader into a panic, shouting wildly and waving his arms. A bright reflection lit up the trader’s petrified face as he looked straight down the barrel of a silver gun. Two silenced shots hit the Asian man squarely between the eyes, he slumped flat to the ground lifeless. Frost did not like distractions which the innocent trader found out the hardest way; the renegade had emerged from the shadows. He continued his journey through the market without a care and headed for a large mosque of obvious importance, surrounded by a perimeter wall. His internal computer alerted him to the fifty plus armed soldiers in and around the target building. He approached the building slowly, pulled back the hood of his stolen robes and threw them to the ground.
‘Activate TCA’ he announced silently and stood still while the blue liquid metal covered his body rapidly. He had chosen to go about his mission with brute force, ignoring the covert skills he had been fully trained to use. He ran quickly toward the main gates of the huge building some eighty metres away, as his pace increased he eventually stirred some interest from the soldiers guarding the gate. Frost charged the dumbstruck henchmen who were now firing frantically at the metallic hulk racing towards them. Frost approached and two long silver blades ejected from the armour on both fists, he slashed upwards at the guards and sliced them in two. He shoulder barged the gates and increased his speed, hundreds of bullets deflected off his armour but the assassin took no heed. He darted towards the front of the building, leapt nearly twenty metres to the lower roof and disappeared.
A petrified soldier burst into Mohammed Jaffar’s office and announced the bad news. ‘Mr Jaffar we have an intruder please follow us and try to stay calm, we have the situation under control’ The terrorist leader and his highest ranking officials had been holding a meeting about the attack on Budapest and the loss of one their most trusted and loved allies, General Hamza. Little did they know, they were next on Frost’s hit list.
Jaffar and his fellow generals were shipped quickly from the meeting room to the central hall where the doors were vastly more secure. The room was large and majestic, high ceilings and elaborate décor loomed overhead while the soldiers formed a circle around the officials of Akhira, the most violent terrorist organisation on the planet.
A moment of silence gripped the room as the inhabitants waited in terror, high above their heads Frost crawled in stealthily from a window on the roof like a wolf stalking prey. He manoeuvred to the ledge below without a sound, took aim and picked off the armed guards almost simultaneously with blasts of green light from his wrist, each one dropped to the floor with a smoking black hole between the eyes. A wave of fear pierced the hearts of the officials as they looked up at the blue figure perched high above, glaring back intently. They ran for the only door in the room which eerily slammed shut as if pushed by some unseen force. Jaffar and his comrades tugged on the handles as they tried in vain to open it, Frost laughed inside the privacy of his head piece an
d dropped to the floor below.
The highest ranking members of the world’s most feared terrorist organisation cowered to the floor begging for mercy, they struggled frantically but found they could not move an inch apart from Jaffar who started to walk backwards slowly, shaking as he did. Frost tapped his left chest plate and a tiny blue sphere began to emerge, dropping to his hand. He rolled it towards Jaffar’s men who huddled in fear, the ball stopped and a small explosion shook the building mildly. Body parts hit Jaffar who was now cowering in the frame of the door that was still held fast, he could faintly hear his guards on the other side through the inch thick steel.
‘I have been waiting for this moment for longer than you can imagine Jaffar, Akhira is about to become a topic of historical debate’ Frost said in the distorted robotic voice his armour gave him.
He lifted his right hand and Jaffar was thrown violently into the opposite wall by a strong magnetic field. The leader coughed blood as he hit the wall of his own room and frantically begged for mercy while Frost ran and dived into Jaffar slamming him through the wall he was pressed against. Mortar rained down on the grounds of Jaffar’s headquarters as he and Frost landed on the ground some twenty metres below. Frost landed on his feet and looked down at the feeble middle-aged man on the floor in front of him, who was paralysed from the fall. Two sabre-like blades ejected from Frost’s wrist and he thrust them into Jaffar’s chest killing him instantly.
Ryu Takuya worked his terminal onboard the Mark Four when suddenly his eyes lit up.
‘Miller I’ve picked up Frosts bio-readings he’s in Kandahar, Mohammed Jaffar’s headquarters!’
‘Bingo I told you he’d be there’ announced Miller triumphantly.
‘Contact SIA central command and tell them we have engaged Frost’ Miller continued. The Mark Four drifted slowly over Kandahar and approached Jaffar’s headquarters which looked to be on fire. The crew of the chopper saw Frost stood over a man in Arabian robes and surrounded by heavy masonry as Takuya transferred the image to the main view screen. Frost was suddenly alerted to the presence of the Mark Four, he tapped his chest and a tiny blue ball around the size of a marble formed and dropped into his hand, he threw it into the doomed building and darted off. The Mark Four banked sharply upwards to avoid the huge fireball that Frost had unleashed.
Chunks of mortar from pea size to boulder rained down on Kandahar while Frost ran at incredible pace into the densely populated city.
‘Fuck’ Torres shouted whilst guiding the helicopter to safety.
‘Keep a lock on him and if you get a clear shot take it!’ Miller gave his orders to Takuya who watched his terminal like a hawk. Trying his best to make out the blue assassin through the dust cloud Takuya powered up the weapons and waited for his chance. Suddenly Frost appeared fleetingly on his screen and as the final green light illuminated telling him the pulse cannon was ready Takuya pressed fire instantly.
‘The computer is reading a direct hit, he should be unconscious at the very least’
Good work activate your armour and get down there, Torres drop the Mark Four on that building to the right. Take the sniper rifle and if he’s still alive you can finish him off from there’ Miller felt his prey was seconds away from capture.
The side door opened quickly and Takuya jumped from its side, armour still covering his body as he dropped. Frost got up from underneath the rubble that the Mark four had blasted on top of him, slightly dazed he wandered into the street and regained his focus. The armour deactivated automatically to allow him to recover but it left him like a sitting duck.
Suddenly from out of nowhere a huge refuse truck belted towards Frosts position, giving him no time to move. Frost gave the command for his armour to activate but the truck was too fast, hitting him violently and sending him crashing into a row of shops; covering him in heavy debris yet again. The truck screeched to a halt and Takuya got out, deactivated his armour prepared to scour the rubble for Frost.
‘We have Frost in custody, he may be a bit of a mess and quite lifeless but he’s no longer a threat’
‘Nicely done, we’re approaching your position now, Torres is taking aim just in case he’s had a miraculous escape’ Miller replied to his comrade with an air of caution to his voice.
The Mark Four landed on top of a tall building overlooking the carnage and Miller jumped from its side to inspect the rubble, armour activated. As he approached the ground a shimmer of electrostatic discharge surrounded him breaking his fall gracefully, he deactivated the armour and joined Takuya who was searching for Frosts lifeless body. As they searched the debris cautiously Torres watched for any sign of Frost, keeping his advanced sniper rifle fixed on his last location.
Taking Torres completely by surprise a flash of blue filled the crosshairs of his steady gun, it was Arrin Frost the assassin had avoided death.
‘Miller he’s behind you!’ Torres communicated to his comrades in vain, his weapon was no use against the alien armour. Takuya and Miller span around quickly and instinctively reached for their wrist communicator. It was too late two beams of light fired from Frosts wrist severing their arms just below the elbow. They dropped to the ground in sheer agony, there was no bleeding as the beam sealed the cut but it still hurt bad. Frost lifted his right hand and using a magnetic pulse their heads hit the wall behind, knocking them out instantly. Torres plummeted to the ground over eighty metres down, activated his armour and landed in an attack stance as a halo of shimmering light slowly dissipated around him and softened his fall. The armour scanned his comrades and declared them as alive on the visual display of his headpiece, a welcome reprieve from what he had feared. Frost turned to face him slowly and methodically activating his wrist scimitars in the process.
Torres opened his arms aggressively and his scimitars also extended, the only weapon in the SIA arsenal that could pierce the shell of the telescopic combat armour.
‘What is all this about Arrin? Why are you doing this?’ Torres said loudly through the voice of his armour, Frost did not respond and began walking towards his new target.
Torres knew Frost wasn’t of sound mind and now all that stood between them were the bodies of their fallen comrades, it was all or nothing now he thought. Torres began to run at Frost and just before they made contact he flipped himself into the air pushing off the ground with his scimitars. As he spun in mid air Torres lashed out with his right arm exposing the flesh beneath Frost’s breastplate, the cut wasn’t deep enough to penetrate the skin and the slash marks suddenly disappeared as Frosts armour healed itself and moulded back into place. Torres landed and turned to face Frost with his right arm lifted and aimed at his opponents head, hand to hand combat was his forte.
Frost now took his adversary seriously and sharpened his senses, lifted his blue arm and tempted Torres to attack once more. He ran at Frost again with real intent and as the two adversaries clashed their arms seemed to move at incredible pace sending sparks flashing into the air from the deadly scimitars. Frost and his opponent tried aggressively and professionally to strike a blow but both managed to block each attack perfectly. Finally Frost caught Torres’s arms in the middle of his scimitars and kicked him with incredible power sending him into a wall with devastating force. Debris rained down on the shaken agent as he pushed slabs of concrete, bricks and mortar from his chest and legs. He got up and regained his composure, a flash of red appeared in the single black slit that gave him his sight through the armour. Torres ran at Frost with incredible pace and swung his scimitar at his head. Frost cunningly stepped to the side and evaded the fatal blow, as Torres passed unbalanced Frost slashed his back. Torres let out a robotic groan as a deep gash appeared.
Blood trickled from the open wound and after a few seconds the armour regenerated, Torres could still feel the pain but the wound was no-longer open. He hardly had time to regain his attack stance before Frost was running at him at high speed. Frost jumped into the air and slashed aggressively at his former comrade,
Torres cunningly dodged the blow and grasped Frost's foot. The attacker slumped to the ground and Torres tried to finish him off. Again Frost evaded injury and rolled away to one side. The dangerous assassin took his stance once again and Torres ran at him angrily. In an instant Frost crouched and threw his right scimitar up into the headpiece of Torres’s armour sending blood spraying out the vents of the grilled air intake. Miller and Takuya came round slowly and looked in horror at their fallen comrade as they prepared for the same fate. Frost lifted himself up with agent Torres’s now lifeless body dangling at the end of his raised arm. Suddenly Torres’s armour deactivated itself and revealed the two silver sabres that protruded from the top of his head. Frost retracted his scimitars and Torres slumped to the ground bleeding profusely.
He turned slowly to Miller and Takuya who were sitting in obvious fear but keeping their heads high as they were trained to do, he walked calmly towards them armour still activated.
‘You guys are pretty quiet, Miller I can’t believe you haven’t fired into a lecture as is usually par for the course. Whatever you say make it good because they will be the last whiffs of bullshit to leave your mouth’ Frost had no respect for his old comrades now, they were his enemies.
‘Why did you do it what the hell could be so important that you’d kill hundreds of thousands to take out one target, we know you were after Hamza Arrin so you might have beaten us bu...’ a flash of green light shot from Frost’s forearm and hit Miller square between the eyes before he could finish, the beam passed through his head and penetrated the wall behind slightly.
‘I wish they were a way I could let you live Ryu, I always had respect for you but I have an agenda for this planet and all its inhabitants, it’s time for a new branch of evolution. This planet has become stale; mankind has become a parasite plundering the planets resources. It’s time to take it to the next level and I’m the man to usher it in’
‘Do you know how ridiculous that sounds Arrin, we are protectors not killers, mankind will get there one day and we’re guiding the way’ Takuya had faith in humanity and couldn’t understand why his old comrade had clearly lost his mind.
‘I don’t expect you to understand, you are just one of the herd following everyone else into a bleak future. It’s about time for you to go now, you and another few hundred thousand’ Frost finished, tapped his communicator and almost immediately the Mark Two shot overhead and landed close by. Frost entered and lifted the impressive helicopter slowly and gracefully into the air. He tapped away on the command console, from the front of the vessel a white light grew steadily and shot down to the ground where Takuya sat waiting for death. Before the blast could envelope the Mark Two the fusion drive kicked in at full capacity and the sleek, deadly chopper accelerated to five times the speed of sound almost instantly. The assassin had struck again and this time the SIA had casualties of their own.