Chapter One
In a dark alley in Angel City, the capital of the NAC roams a lone SED on a hunt. The alley is dark and musky. Full of trash on the ground with an overflowing dumpster on the right. On the left is a moldy paper that says Wanted: Avesta - 196: Cybergen, 50,000 Credits and another that says Wanted: "Viper": Human, 50,000 credits. As the SED continues walking, it comes across another alley to it's left. On the left side of the alley are giant sliding doors presumably for storage. The war had long since cleared this part of the city of anything biological, and the street he found himself in now was no exception.
This alley is even darker than the last, SED scans the area but has a difficult time scanning because of faulty systems. The SED sets off a trap and one of the doors opens up. A girl rolls out and says "Oh, hey there." In a New Yorker accent but sounds a bit more robotic. She looks up at the SED and says
"Are you looking for someone?"
A small device on her wrist projects a rope that pulls the SED towards her and pins it down.
"Voodoo 1 this is Avesta, tango down and pinned."
"Viper, how's overwatch?"
Viper with an Ohioan accent says "Visuals clear but be careful, my thermals are acting up I suggest keeping it quiet."
Avesta stands up. She has blackish-brown hair tied in a ponytail and is caucasian. She is shorter with an average build. She wears a black military jacket with purple lining with the right sleeve cut that exposes her cybernetic arm. She is wearing jeans and has leather strapped boots. 30% of her face is covered by electronics and has black ballistics lightweight armor on her chest area, forearms and thighs. On her right thigh is a pistol and holster. Her pistol appears to be a modified Glock. Another soldier called Echo 13. He is in a basic black military uniform.
"Is this the SED?" asks the soldier.
"Yeah, he's a larger one." she continues "I wonder if they're making newer models."
Echo 13 responds "It's possible."
Avesta inspects the SED. It's about six feet tall and is a lizard-humanoid like robot and covered in black metal armour. the eye-like light shone through the darkness. Avesta finds a button on the back of its neck. She presses it and it sets off an alarm.
"Shit!" yells Avesta. She picks up an AR-15 gun with a thumbhole stock and is chambered in 7.62 x 39mm.
"So much for being quiet." exclaims Viper.
"Shut the fuck up, Viper." responds Avesta.
Viper says "Hey, you know those big SEDs you were talking about?"
"Yeah." responds Avesta and Echo 13.
"Well, there's more of them."
Voodoo 1 joins in on the mic "You guys need to get out of there now!"
Viper responds "I'll cover."
Avesta angrily disagrees " Negative! We can take 'em."
Viper takes his shot, takes out 7 SEDs before heading out.
"Avesta! Get out of there!"
"No, I can handle this!"
Avesta shoots and kills 9 SEDs but runs out of ammo. Echo 13 states
"We need to leave now!"
"Fine!" Exclaims Avesta.
They run into the alley and turn a sharp right but Echo 13 trips and falls. The SED squadron is slowly catching up.
"You need to get out of here." Echo 13 says as he gets shot dead.
Blood oozes from his body and as bullets continue to fly into his body. Avesta continues to run until she comes across a nine-tailed fox symbol spray painted on the wall. She turns left and finds an entrance to a Resistance hideout. There she meets up with Viper. Viper is a caucasian man with dark brown hair. He wears NECA arena coal black rain jacket with army green cargo pants, brown leather strapped boots and black fingerless g
loves. On his right thigh is a pistol with a holster. The pistol appears to be a 1911 with a custom rubber grip. He has no body armour and instead uses a camelback for equipment. He always wears a skull seamless balaclava and ski goggles over his face.
"Where's Echo 13?" asks Viper.
"Dead, the SEDs got him." replies Avesta.
"Shit" replies Viper.
"Voodoo 1 this is Viper, we made it to the extraction point. Echo 13 is KIA." states Viper
"Viper, this is Voodoo 1 we read you, extraction will be here shortly."
The hideout appears to be abandoned with empty food cans on the floor and cobwebs everywhere. Avesta and Viper continue to investigate and as they are searching around the hideout. Avesta finds a bolted up door. The was made of rusty metal as if it were there for an eternity. The door was bolted closed top to bottom and locked with various locks. They continue to search and as they were searching Avesta finds some pictures of what appears to be the soldiers who used to be stationed here. The photo appeared old, 5 years at least. The photo showed 2 men and 1 woman in it. One of the men was a bit more elderly had grey-ish hair and sideburns. Another much younger and had bright blonde hair. They both looked European and the woman was about the same age of the young man, she had black hair and was in a unique rebel uniform. She appeared to be Middle Eastern.
"What do you think happened to them?" asks Avesta. Viper turns around and looks at the photo.
"They were probably killed by SEDs or governmental special forces." responds Viper.
He continues his search and looks under a desk in the room to find some ammunition and bolt cutters. He picks up the bolt cutters and brings them to Avesta as she tries to push open the door.
"I think we'll be needing these." states Viper.
He gets in front of the door and cuts the bolts and locks on the door. After a few minutes of cutting he and Avesta shove opened the door to be introduced with a moldy, dark stairs into the basement. The stairs were old and covered in rot and is so musky it brings back the anxiety you feel when walking down a dark corridor. They walk down the stairs Avesta first as she peeks around corners with her AR and Viper follows with a pistol. They decide to investigate the basement. The basement reeks of rot and is dark. In the basement appears to be the living quarters. Three empty sleeping bags lie on the floor. To the right of those bags is a desk with tools and a holopad and in one corner lies a rotting corpse that appears to have been sitting there for ages. A holopad is a holographic tablet that can project logs, pictures and has many more uses. She picks it up and opens it up. She looks at some of the video logs saved. As she browsed the logs on the holopad. Some of the titles of logs were normal just showing everyday life at the hideout. After some browsing she notices something about the last log. Date 2051, August 19th. That was roughly five years ago.
"Hey, come look at this."
"What is it?" asks Viper.
"It's a video log." responds Avesta.
She opens up the log and it projects the hologram. It's the hologram of the young man in the photo.
"Mayday, mayday, mayday! We have enemy bogies trying to break through the base. Please send help!" The woman in the photo runs down the stairs.
"Tadeo, get off that! We need to stand our ground!"
He picks up a gun and heads up the stairs. They broke in. They can hear gunshots and screams followed by snapping bones and the video continues to play.
"There's more of it maybe a couple of hours or so." says Viper.
Avesta skips ahead till Tadeo appears to be back on the camera. Tadeo appears to have had serious injuries to his abdominal area. Tadeo picks up the tablet and appears to barely be holding in his intestines.
"We were attacked, I barely crawled out and there are few still here." Tadeo crawls to a corner in the basement.
"This is important for the rest of the resistance must here... oh shit. Agh-"
A gunshot to the head cuts off Tadeo from finishing his sentence.
"What do you think they were attacked by?" asks Viper.
"Probably some SEDs but we should take this." Responds Avesta as she shoves the tablet into Vipers backpack.
��Viper and Avesta, this is Voodoo 1 we're at the extraction point."
"Understood Voodoo 1, Viper out."
They head out of the hideout to see a Bell UH-1 Iroquois helicopter. They head towards and board it to be greeted by the pilot codenamed 7274- niner.
"Welcome back, once again Dr. Death and the cyberpsycho make it out alive."
"Don't call us that." says Avesta.
"Whatever" responds the pilot.
Couple of hours flying in the helicopter as they fly over the city. The city is very polar. With the middle of the city rebuilt high-tech and full of rich pompous civilians and the borders of the city being abandoned and empty of biological life. All there being is the ashes of what once was.
"What happened at the hideout?" asks the pilot.
"That's classified." responds Viper.
"Whatever." snarls the pilot.
As they approach the far northern side of the city they start to descend and land on a helipad on top of an old warehouse about the size of your average warehouse.
"Thanks for the lift." says Avesta.
They walk across the roof until they reach a ladder on the side of the warehouse. They both climb down the ladder, and at the warehouse is the resistance base. Pick-up trucks have gun turrets and there is one tank. They walk around until they reach a tent with a couple of soldiers.
"Welcome back Viper and Avesta." says the soldier.
"Save it." says Avesta
"What's your business here?" asks the soldier.
"We have intel for General Taylor." states Viper.
The soldier looks at his paperstand and writes something.
"You have clearance, come in." says the soldier
They enter the tent and sitting at his desk is General Taylor. In the tent sits the desk and a
bookcase to the left and sleeping quarters to the right. On the desk sits a couple of papers and a New Earth globe. General Taylor is a tall middle aged causcasion with an athletic build. He wears a desert tan uniform and a black beret bearing the symbol of the resistance, a nine-tailed fox. His face is the face of someone with experience, someone who has seen terrible things and great things. He has brown hair and a beard.
"Good evening Avesta and Viper. What do you have for me today?" asks Taylor.
"We have some important intel about the SEDs." says Avesta.
"And that is?" asks Taylor.
"They're making a new model, a new threat."
"Is there more?"
"Yes." says Viper. He pulls the holopad and hands it to Taylor.
"It contains documentation about the soldiers stationed there 5 years ago." says Avesta.
"Hmm, I take a look at it later." says Taylor as he puts the holopad in his desk.
"We have more important matters to deal with, the new SEDs you say? We'll need to create a task force to investigate this further." says Taylor as he gets off his chair.
"You two will be in this task force along with a few soldiers."
"Who are the other soldiers?" asks Avesta.
"I'll show you." says Taylor.
He heads back to his desk and pulls out a few folders and tosses them on the table. Avesta picks up the folders and takes a look at the soldier profiles. Profile 1 reads: Ben T. "Creeper" Henderson, male, Sergeant, Recon Scout. Profile 2 reads: Meaghan S. "Mara" Gaxiola, female, Warrant Officer, Support and Demolitions. Profile 3 reads: Gustave G. "Doc" Touré, male, Warrant Officer, medic. Profile 4 reads: Jackson M. "Viper" Merrick, male, Lieutenant, Sniper and Demolitions. Profile 5 Reads: Avesta - 196, female, Assault, Captain, recon.
"You'll be known as Task Force Bravo codenamed "Bad Company" and your primary job is to get intel on VEI tech and other missions will be given to you on my command." states Taylor. "Once your primary job is complete, you'll get a new task." "Understood?" asks Taylor.
"Yes sir." responds Viper and Avesta.
"You're excused." says Taylor.
Viper and Avesta turn around and walk out of the tent. They head to the warehouse.
"Looks like we got ourselves a team." states Viper.
They enter the warehouse, in the warehouse is the main HQ all the way in the back and is surrounded by soldiers quarters. On the left back side of the warehouse sits the rest of the group. They were having a conversation.
"So we're getting direct special operatives in our group? asks Creeper.
"Yeah, some cyber chick and a dude with a freaky mask. All I know is they report to Taylor." says Mara.
Avesta and Viper sit at the table.
"You the spec-ops?" asks Doc. "Yeah.' says Avesta.
They all take a look at eachother. Mara is a caucasian woman with blonde hair and blue eyes, her hair is shaved on the left side and falls to the right. She is wearing a brown military jacket with OD green sleeves. She is wearing forest camo cargo pants and has a desert tan hiking boot. On her right thigh is a holster holding a super shorty Mossberg 500. She is wearing basic body armor.
"So you the human freakazoid lady. And I presume you sir are the psychopath?" asks Mara with a Texan accent.
"You can say that." responds Viper.
"Nice." says Mara.
"So what missions have you been on?" asks Creeper.
Creeper is a tall, African man with one hazel eye and his other covered by an eyepatch. He is completely bald. He is wearing an OD green military jacket and urban cargo pants. Over that he wears the same lightweight armour as Avesta. Around his neck is black military scarf. He has black hiking boots and a holster on his left thigh holstering a P226 pistol, suggesting he's left handed.
"That's classified." says Viper.
"Understood, Dr. Death." says Creeper.
"I presume you're Doc?" asks Avesta.
"Yeah." says Doc with a French accent.
Doc is a caucasian man, with brown eyes and grayish-black hair. He Wears a medical mask over his face. He wears a black military jacket with dark grey sleeves. He is wearing jeans and is wearing red converses. He wears a lab coat with a red cross patch on his left and right shoulder.
"What's our agenda?" asks Doc.
"We need to investigate VEI tech and gather intel." says Viper. Viper pulls out a map of the Angel City and places it on the table.
"There's a factory here. Maybe there will be evidence left over." says Viper as he points to a building on the Southern-Western side of the map.
"We'll prepare this week and start next week." says Avesta.
"Got it, boss." says Creeper. They all leave the table. Doc heads to the medical sector, Viper heads to his quarters and Avesta heads to the range. Mara and Creeper head to the cafeteria part of the warehouse. Creeper sits down on the left and Mara on the right with her feet on the table.
"Looking forward to the mission?" asks Creeper.
"I'm happy to help, but I have no clue how I'm going to tell Ashley." says Mara
"She wouldn't approve at all." "I'm sure she wouldn't mind." says Creeper.
Mara chuckles "I doubt it, once this whole thing is over. I'm going to buy a Condo in the Philippines with her."
"Sounds nice." states Creeper.
"What are gonna do when this shit is over?" asks Mara.
"I'm going to retire and have a nice bite of a hamburger."
"Really, no mansion or adventures?" asks Mara.
"People need to enjoy the simple things in life, Mara." A comm interrupts their conversation.
"This General Taylor, we've made contact with the DAP. We're going to try and establish an interweb so we can communicate plans of attack to start a revolution."
"That's good." says Creeper.
A Mara's phone dings, "Ah, it's the girlie, I'll see you later Ben."
Mara gets off the table and walks away. Meanwhile at the range, Avesta is training but not to get better but to remember something, her past. She picks up a Glock and the targets fly up and she double taps each target. General Taylor walks up to her and asks
"Any luck remembering?"
"No, I hope by replicating the training I went through when in the program can help me remember." "I remember my training, I remember the cruelty of VEI, I remember others. But I don't remember before that, I don't remember my family." says Avesta
"Avesta, we'll make them pay for what they did to you and the other children. But we need to focus on this revolution."
Avesta looks away and stutters "Understood, sir…"
"Good." replies Taylor.
She reloads the glock and continues to fire. She puts the glock down, picks up her bag and heads back to her quarters. Once she reaches her quarters, she sobs herself to sleep. It starts raining at night, it's roughly 10:00 PM.
"Viper, this is Talyor. I got a job for you." on the walkie
"What is it?" asks Viper.
A few minutes later Viper puts on his gear and picks up his R700 6.5 Creedmoor rifle and leaves his quarters. On his way to leaving the base, he wakes up Creeper and he sees him leave. He gets in a truck and drives off, as he drives he spectates the environment around him, buildings are crumpled down and destroyed, bodies everywhere and roads broken. He thinks to himself "If only the citizens knew what was outside the city borders." After a couple of hours of driving he reaches a city street. He parks the car and picks up his sniper and puts in a case. He exits the truck and starts walking in the streets. The rain is pouring, you can hear every drop. As he's walking, he's looking around at the citizens living life as if nothing were wrong. He reaches his destination which is a large apartment building to his left and another apartment on his right. Both apartments have a slick, modern look to them. He turns right towards the other apartment. On the side of the apartment is a ladder. He climbs up the ladder till he reaches the roof. The rain is heavy and there the crackling boom of thunder. He puts down and opens the case. He picks up the sniper rifle and aims at an apartment window. In the apartment sits a caucasian man in a suit. Viper adjusts his sights and before taking the shot he says
"Sorry mate, nothing personal." and pulls the trigger.
The bullet flies through his head and gunshot crackles in the air. He pulls the bolt back and closes it. He puts the gun back in the case. He heads to the ladder and slides down it.
"Taylor, this is Viper. The target is down."
"Good." says Taylor "I'll transfer the credits to your account now."
"Thank you." responds Viper.
He walks back the way he came till he reaches his truck. He gets in the truck and drives back to the resistance base. He gets out of the truck and starts to head back to his quarters. When he enters the warehouse Creeper is sitting in a chair near the entrance. "Where have you been?" asks Creeper.
"That's classified." responds Viper as he walks back towards his quarters.
Creeper just stares as Viper walks away.
"Hmmph, creepy guy." Creeper gets up and walks back to his dorm.
The morning comes around and Bad Company is in the planning room discussing the plan for getting to the factory.
"I'll scout ahead for VEI and governmental soldiers in the area." says Creeper "Afterall, this is still a red zone if caught, we get shot on sight."
"Sounds good." says Avesta "Viper, I want you to recon the area for an overwatch site." "Yes ma'am." responds Viper.
"Mara, I want you with Viper."
"Got it." responds Mara.
"Doc, I want you with me."
"Oui." responds Doc.
"Okay team, get prepared, train, and more. This mission is only in three days." says Avesta
"Mark?" says Avesta.
"Sync." says the team. They decide to split up and prepare for the upcoming mission.
Avesta and Mara head to the range for target practice.
"So… what kinda shit did the VEI put you through?" asks Mara.
"Huh?" replies Avesta as if she were trying to avoid the question.
"What shit did the VEI do to you?" Mara asks again.
"They kidnapped me and brainwashed me to kill as they did with many more children." says Avesta.
"They would slowly remove body parts to make us faster, stronger, better…"
"How many?" asks Mara.
"I don't know, we weren't allowed to interact with other kids. But I believe around 500." says Avesta.
"When one found out we were going to be killed, we fled but most were killed."
"Damn." responds Mara. "What happened after that?"
"I couldn't find a job, so I was forced into prostitution to make a living. I was 13… I did this for two years before being brought in by Taylor."
"Taylor's a good man." responds Mara.
"What about you?" asks Avesta.
"Well, I've been a rebel my whole life, I skipped school, stole, I did terrible things. Parents never loved me, I didn't care." says Mara.
"Then when I joined the resistance to seek refuge, I met Ashley. I knew I needed to change my reckless behaviour if I had a chance to have a life with her."
Once they reach the range they each pick up a glock and start practicing. Meanwhile at the medical sector, Doc is treating patients. A young doctor walks towards Doc.
"Doctor Touré! You have a new patient." he doctor brings Doc to the patient. The patient is a male soldier who has lost his left eye. Bleeding all over his uniform and covering his eye, Doc brings him to a medical bed. Doc looks up and around and says
"I need Dr. O'Malley." Several doctors and nurses looked around for Dr. O'Malley. After a few minutes of scrambling heads Doc.
"What's the situation?" Dr. O'Malley is a brown-haired woman with a shorter stature, she has hazel eyes and glasses. She wears a basic medical outfit and is known for helping to perform miracles in the hospital.
"Soldier lost his eye." replies Doc. "Let's get started." says Doc. "Got it." says Dr. O'Malley. "Looks like we're going to need to perform an enucleation." says Doc.
Another day in Hell will pass and another will shine tomorrow...