CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Ares’ POV
"To sum it all up, there are four entrances to the facilities that have blind spots," I began, "Twenty of my best men will be grouped into five. Each one will have a leader the other four will report to."
Standing before smartly dressed men, ready for action, I was currently conducting our briefing for the day. Here in this wide conference room, twenty-one highly trained men, all of which sat on the end nearest to me, had merely occupied a long oval table.
These guys were the best in my troop, out of a hundred; I narrowed it down to just twenty, the extra one person was Gibbs jotting notes away in his tablet. Don't get me wrong though, my troop had always been the best in ARC, but we were rarely set out into other missions. I’m not sure why, though.
An overhead projector revealed a blueprint of ERA's building behind me, highlighting their ‘state of the art’ security and most importantly our Target (which, by the way seems to be in two places at once, I better look into that later, it must be a glitch).
"This is a rescue mission guys, and like the others we've done that succeeded flawlessly in the past, I only expect the same from you today," I smiled at them confidently, "my only job here is to clean up bits and pieces of your litter, just make sure you don't leave too much of a mess, we're going in like a ninja!"
It was one hundred hours when we all took off armed and ready. I specifically chose this time since ERA had minimal security compared to the morning. We drove out from our base and ventured through our side of the forest, passed by some cities and so on and so forth. The drive must have been almost an hour or so and it was just too darn quiet. I looked back and saw my men wide awake. Sooner or later, I would have to turn their NIES up to a high despite the fact that things are going to be lying low at ERA.
I mean sure, there were still laser beam trip wires that set many first line defense of traps off. But these guys had the NIES on them, and with my Rubrix to amp all their bio physiological status up to a max, this was going to be easy.
However, we only have an allotted time for a maximum of thirty minutes before fatigue rushed over my men. A side effect I soon figured out after I tried it on myself two days ago. Yes, to clear things out, Ethan was right; I do have the bots in my blood. And unfortunately, my dad's invention does have its downs.
I guess that would only be natural, considering that its still in our body and we humans can only do so much. I mean I saw the best marathon runner break his hamstring and all the other nasty stuff our bodies go into when pushed too far. The wear and tear theory, that was what it was called.
"We're here sir," announced Gibbs, turning the steering wheel for the last time to park. This whiz kid is my awesome assistant, he may not look much other than a poorly stuffed scarecrow, but his brain kept him alive. Clean off the NIES, this guy would be as vulnerable as a baby had it not been for this awesome hi-tech van with the state of the art defense system the two of us built.
The seats my men sat on faced parallel to each other, all ten on each side could fit due to the slight modifications I built. The van was of average size but I did some tweaks to make them all fit. A scientific magic only I could conjure.
Sitting on the passenger seat, next to the driver, I pressed a switch on the side so that my seat turned to face them. My soldiers were my friends, all of them were, so if one goes down it is a requirement to go back for him.
I smiled at my boys, excitement bubbling all over me, they too, grinned back.
"Whose gonna kick some ass?" I hollered.
"We are!" my men chanted.
"Who's gonna get my peepz out of there?" I said, injecting every inch of determination into my voice.
"We are!" they chorused more fervently than the last.
"Who's gonna come back in one piece?" I smiled coyly, letting the Lieutenant side of me slide off by just a tad bit.
"We are!" laughter broke ever so slightly as they shook their heads at my horrible humor.
"Guys, faith in each other is all we have,” I added, resuming to a more somber façade, “we barely do this coz I know the boss won't allow it, but we do know that we never fail our missions.” I shrugged, feigning innocence; I got a batch of snickers from the back, “But hey, seeing how this freaky shit is too dangerous, why not go for it, right? Just like Call of Duty!"
"Yeah!" they cheered with childish enthusiasm. I gave them a few minutes to prep up before I triggered all their NIES up with the Rubrix. Hushed and serious, we carefully filed off the black van. With all their senses spiked, they were cautious as a cat. We were so going to own this, I can’t wait!
Gibbs decided to park somewhere in the forest where all the effing shrubs are everywhere. I didn’t ask, not really wanting to know why. But I eventually got the logic since a few miles away there was a random hill that jutted out of the earth.
Wait a minute… that was so ingenious! They camouflaged their building to look like a forest hill! I swear I was so jealous right now, next time I will redesign our building to look awesomer than this one.
It was draped with moss and vines and I swear a whole new wildlife could have started on its walls by the looks of the full-grown trees scattered evenly. Well, hey, I admit who ever thought of this was amazing. To the naked human eye this was just another freaky something the forest had produced, but to a highly sensitized NIES eye, this was as plain as a stray Vegas building out in the peaceful suburbs.
Aware that this part of the forest was nudging the territory of ERA, like our hundred mile radius, everything here was a trap hidden somewhere any plain human can trigger. But of course, that wasn’t a problem to worry over. I got my men right here upped up. We managed to flawlessly pass through these all and reached the walls at last.
I wasn’t nervous by a bit, I was more excited being out here in the field leading my own men without the General’s orders!
Silently commanding my men to prepare their places, I had one troop I assigned to myself for backup as I began hacking into ERA’s system—using Robyn’s iPad—without trying to spark their awareness. It only took mere two minutes before all systems quietly went down and all security cameras were frozen; whatever happens in the next thirty minutes will never exist in the enemy’s security system. As long as I have this app on in her iPad, all was good.
The metal doors that vertically parted from each other, silently slid their opposite ways to welcome us in. Two guards had their guns already pointed at us, one of them was just about to signal an alarm had they not been silenced by their own blood. The first two of our platoon’s front easily cleaned up their mess by taking them out and throwing them expertly into the forest, avoiding nearby areas that could trigger an alarm.
Giving the signal, we quietly filed in and repositioned ourselves to close in any blind spot as we stood in the middle of the hall; quickly we headed for the next corner and tried our best to blend in with the shadows. All our thoughts were muted as we only had the mission registered into our heads and nothing more.
What first seemed to grab my attention inside this building was how dark and depressing ERA’s mood set from the inside. Their theme was chrome; everything had an air that was too serious for my taste that I almost felt a little too claustrophobic. The lights were dim and weren’t placed on the ceiling; instead they were on the high corners of the walls so that it looked like black and white Christmas lights making it easier to hide from anyone’s view.
So far, no one else sensed our presence. We went farther in, following the blueprint I captured with the iPad. Soon enough we reached an underground cell that was like a large jailhouse stadium that had three floors. Instead of iron bars, there were metal doors and a wide one-way mirror window so the five guards patrolling could monitor their prisoners.
We decided to evade the guards and go down deeper to the nearest staircase. We reached a hall that had metal doors blocking the next one. It was fairly narrow that we had to fall in by twos; I walked along the middle. Constantly, I checked th
e security; soon my iPad had several frames in its screen showing where my men and the enemies were.
So far, there was little to no engagement in battle with our platoon having the most kills. I cringed disappointedly with that thought. The others were assigned to observe the rest of the building and to gather as much as they could before we all reached our rendezvous point fifteen minutes later.
When we got down to one hall, a guard open fired, consuming our three minutes. We were getting closer. It was a setback that was easily controlled before mayhem was given a chance to happen. Prior to entering the next hall, we already killed four guards that cost us another two minutes. A narrow metal door greeted us in the final hall, I quickly diffused all trip wires as my men filed in, they implanted an implosive vacuum bomb in each corner, a bulky strobe-like object that could do more damage than it looked.
That was when things got messy. The moment it went off, a siren began wailing. I knew it was too good to be true, but after getting this far, I was actually beginning to believe that my plans was going very well. Out of the dust and smoke that accumulated, it was instantaneously sucked back into the bombs we placed on the four corners of its pane before the door collapsed outwards. The huge metal door moaned and groaned before the hall reverberated at the force when it fell to the ground.
What was left of it was a rectangular hole that revealed of a mental patient’s eerie white room with Ethan and Robyn standing hand in hand. I grinned at them as widely as I possibly could to match theirs. Everything around us was blinking red and clearly everything was going to be a mess.
“Ready to kick some ass on your way out?” I offered my hand as I sauntered as cockily as I could towards the doorway.
“Fuck yeah,” chuckled Ethan patting me on my shoulder as he walked passed me.
“Am I still an idiot?” I teasingly asked Robyn as I helped her step out. She shook her head and laughed, taking my hand as I helped her out. My men were offering them guns when I noticed something off, with a manic grin I couldn’t help but ask, “I see you guys wearing nothing but a flimsy dress, did things get freaky inside?”
“Just shut up and let’s get out of here before they get us,” I could see Ethan trying his best not to smile while Robyn was blushing redder than Santa’s cheeks. Raising a brow seemed to have gotten her attention because, quickly she retorted.
“Nothing happened you maniac!” She hissed, snatching my iPad—oh wait, that’s right, it was hers, my bad. “What’s this?”
“Oh, a map of the place,” I quickly explained. I ushered them out into the confusingly loud hall now that they were armed, “it shows where my men and the enemies are,”
“Is that a count down?” asked Ethan, peering right between our shoulders as he pointed at the analog clock on the upper right corner of the screen.
“It sure is,” I said, jogging up the stairs along with everyone.
“Is that fifteen minutes or fifteen seconds?” Robyn asked next.
“What?” quickly I grabbed the iPad from her and checked the time myself. My blood drained from my face and I could feel it draining out of my body, that alone was the answer I never wanted to accept, I quickly switched apps and scanned all my men in the screen, it had four windows with five men each, all with their faces displayed and under their name was a green bar that was close to emptiness, “Shit,” I breathed.
“What’s wrong?” Robyn asked, trying to catch up with me to get some news.
“Guys, you still good?” I hollered to my men. It wasn’t really helping since we were still running up the stairs. I could feel the bile rise in my throat from fatigue, and every step was demanding an effort out of me I could no longer provide for my body. My muscles were cramping and my lungs were searing in pain, I could feel my heart viciously knocking against my chest and pulse through my body. The massive exertion I threw into all of our bodies was making my head fuzzy. Please just let it be me. I hope I was the only one going through this.
When we reached a landing, I hobbled towards a wall and leaned against it, trying to catch my breath. It was almost so comical to see my five men bending over trying to catch theirs too that I swear if we weren’t in the middle of all this, I’d be laughing right now.
“Boss, I think we’re out of juice,” one muttered behind me.
This was definitely not something to be laughing about. How were my other men? I checked my map again, “Shit,” I ran a hand through my hair. In each of their areas there were clumped blue dots (us) being surrounded by red dots (them).
“What’s happening to you guys?” Ethan stopped in his tracks just as he was about to peer over the hall several feet away from us that led back to the large prison we saw earlier. Robyn was right behind him, also sharing the look on his face. Being the impatient bastard that he was, he furiously gestured us to get over there.
My men were all looking at me, waiting for an order, but I kept my gaze straight ahead, just right beyond where Ethan stood. There was a beautiful redhead wearing black leather tights, she had an adorable set of glasses propping against her perky nose, her vibrant red lips just made me want to… what the hell?
She was clapping her hands dramatically, catching everyone’s attention as she feigned an applaud, “Bravo,” she sneered, “bravo, I couldn’t believe you were just right under my nose when you guys decided to put on a show. You all were pretty sneaky,”
Ethan quickly turned and aimed his gun right at her face. She remained unfazed, crossing her arms smoothly across her chest as she eyed him from head to toe before shaking his head. She passed by Robyn, lightly tracing the blonde’s chin with a finger that made Robyn flinch. The woman chuckled, keeping her eyes steady on mine before sauntering with her high-heeled boots that echoed down the hall.
Shit. She was heading our way… correction: she was heading my way.
With all our NIES pushed beyond their limits and our back up ambushed, I can’t believe my tactics failed me. I can’t believe I failed at something I was so good at! For all I know, this could be the last day of my life.
At least I get to do so many naughty things to this sexy badass in my head before I die. Lame, I know, but it was better than nothing. Did I mention how much cleavage she was showing by the way? Damn, she’s fine.
“Nice meeting you again, Portley,” she smiled dangerously at me now that she was standing just a few feet away, “since we’re all here together, why don’t you tell them what really happened? I hate it when people lie about the truth”
“What is she talking about, Ares?” my brother asked quietly, still keeping a steady aim right at her.
“There’s nothing to hide anymore,” she added gesturing at Robyn with the gun she drew out from her belt, “even the girl knows everything.”
My stomach flipped a three-sixty degree. I opened my mouth to quickly retort, but then I shut it again. How could she tell them? Don’t get too shocked if I told you that I know this woman, I might even admit that we had something going on back then. But that’s a different story, and she was different then.
Now, she was some lying back stabbing… I can’t even hate her! I hate hating her! What’s wrong with me? Oh no, now that she said that its too late to react like this. It already happened, I can’t even look at the two anymore. No I was not that much of a bad guy that she’d like everyone to think, but everyone had their reasons.
“You guys started it!” childishly blurting out those words made me mentally slap myself. What the fuck did I just say? “Don’t you dare raise a brow at me, you know it!”
Whenever she did that, I end up feeling so unsure of myself, so vulnerable and so stupid! Like I said earlier, it’s too late now. I had reasons to do what I did, and I swear I only did it because they started it. I glanced at my brother and it pained me to see that broken look on his face, he looked like I just punched him from crying out loud!
I better start talking before she adds more lies to the story. Oh boy, where do I start?