S1, 04 Soldiers and Fools (FB) (February 11, 2016)

***08 January 2096***
Outskirts of London, England

Earth

The low hum of an Imperial dropship broke the silence of the night. Two large engines, designed to be as stealthy as possible, moved the craft into a landing position. Five people, five soldiers, exited quickly, their weapons ready for action.

As soon as the squad hit the ground, the twin engines flared up again, carrying the shuttle a safe distance. The leader waved his hand and the squad moved forward, silent except for the soft clanking of battle armour.

The soldiers ran at a practical pace, drilled into them through the many training sessions each had endured. They quickly crested a small rise and took in the view before them. A large, white-walled mansion.

The mansion itself was both simple and imposing at the same time. Large brick walls surrounded the complex, with a border gate the only practical entry. Several large windows sprouted from the second floor, while the first was relatively windowless. This was the home of 'David Robertson', the man they were hunting. Sergeant Risa Donovan set her face in an even more determined line.

Without a word, the group split in two. Corporal Havok and Private Jacob would access the mansion via on of the higher windows, whilst Lt. Brock, Private Trent and herself would assault the main door. They expected little resistance, 'David' had no idea they were coming to sink his illegal ship.

The three soldiers scaled the wall easily, triggering no alarms. Once they had landed, each gathered themselves and readied their weapons. Set to stun of course. There would be no killing this night.

They reached the door with no disturbance. The entrance matched the style of the mansion: simple, with a hint of grandeur. A statue of some ancient warrior carrying a hammer adorned one corner of the courtyard, surrounded by gleaming white walls. Large, head high bushes sprang up on the opposite sides; a garden maze.

"Hold." said Lieutenant Brock, lowering his massive rifle. Risa and Trent followed suit, checking their rifles and opening visors. They stood still for a moment, listening to their surroundings.

All was silent.

Risa turned to the Lt. a question on her lips.

Risa: "Sir, what's the matter?"

Brock: "The famous phrase 'it's quiet, too quiet' would suffice."

Trent gulped down the bile in his throat. This was his first field mission, and the concept of something going wrong hadn't been drilled into him yet. Brock looked around, deducing the most likely sources of trouble.

Trent: "You said no one would know about the mission, right? So perhaps this 'Robertson' is just careless. Maybe he just doesn't believe in personal security?"

Brock shook his head: "Maybe before the Battle of London, but now with the Ossillium sickness spreading, I don't think anyone's stupid enough to not have some form of bodyguard."

Risa: "Perhaps, though the virus wouldn't have spread this far out of London."

Trent: "Still, there's no reason to think anything suspicious...right?

The Lieutenant's visor snapped open as he completed his scan of the courtyard. His furious moustache bristled as he began to speak, his voice quiet.

Brock: "Have you noticed there's no windows on the ground floor? No easy way to see what's inside, or an easy way to break in? Also, the bushes could easily hide a few men. And there's been no sign of movement anywhere, no lights in the house, nothing."

Trent brushed off the concern, but Risa could now sense what the Lt. had said. It all screamed ambush to her battle-hardened instincts. She readied her rifle.

All of a sudden, a yell broke the night and men began pouring towards them. The bushes flew apart as Marauders, in all manner of clothing, charged through the growth.

Trent screamed "Ambush!" though it was obvious by now. Risa was already firing, her stun shots filling the night.

"Damn it! I hate it when I'm right!" roared the Liutenant as he let loose the big gun he'd been carrying, held up now by a collapsible stand. Men fell all around them, and few got a shot off. It was a very costly ambush for the enemy.

Brock: "Risa!" You're the best shooter we have! Push on through the building! Find Robertson!"

Risa sent one last man spinning into unconsciousness, before turning toward the door and sprinting inside, ignoring the noise behind her. She had a mission to complete, and nothing would stop her. She plunged into the building and darkness covered her.

It was nearly pitch black inside the house. No lights were on, and the whole layout seemed to only consist of narrow hallways, with few doors. The only light came from the gunfire outside, blazing through the darkness like wildfire through the jungle. Risa kept her rifle ready, her breathing easy and controlled.

Soon enough, the light behind her died down and she was left with only the small light from her helmet to guide her. She cursed as she stumbled through the maze of hallways, backtracking and searching for an unlocked door. She thought she saw light ahead, a faint glimmer in the shadows. She gathered herself, steadied her breathing and plunged toward the source.

She stumbled into a brightly lit room, squinting as her eyes adjusted to the sudden glare. The room itself was large, with high walls and cold floors. A heavy wooden desk adorned one side, covered in documents and scraps of paper. On the wall hung a single painting, showing two characters of some Asian alphabet. Apart from that, the room was bare, almost foreboding in its emptiness.

Risa stood and gathered herself. She'd been running for over ten minutes, with no sight of the man she was looking for. The whole house was a confusing mess of thin hallways and locked doors. If only she-

A sound, barely audible in the massive house, caught her ear. What was it? Footsteps?

She brought her gun up with practiced speed and fired, nothing but instinct to guide her. What followed was a shot and a cry.

And a crash.

The hopeful ambusher lay stunned on the cold concrete floor, his breathing soft. Risa relaxed slightly, but kept alert. When there was one, there would be others.

Her precaution paid off. A man burst from the cover of the archway she had entered through, dressed all in black. She hadn't seen him on her way in, though she hadn't seen much of anything in that dark walkway. She fired two shots at the man, her aim straight and experienced.

He dodged them.

It seemed impossible, but the man had simply swerved and ducked and avoided both rounds as if they'd been moving at a snails pace. Risa stared at the man's skill before taking in the two razor sharp knifes in his hands. Each gleamed in the light of the room.

Each one screamed death.

The man vaulted onto the table and leapt at Risa, both blades aimed at her throat. She threw aside her rifle, it would be next to useless in close combat, and whipped out her combat knife. Time seemed to slow as the instruments of death inched closer to her neck.

She blinked. Once. There was no way she was getting out of this. Her opponent was the most agile person she'd ever seen, let alone fought. He would easily dodge her half-hearted swings. The knife had never been her strong point, and in the moment she regretted it.

Her life flashed before her eyes, but it seemed so brief. Earlier memories she wished she could forget. Commander Tane. Her training. Her first mission. Her first dead squad mate, Brooklyn, going down under a hail of bullets.

She'd be joining her soon. She held her knife ready, but closed her eyes. Death would come no matter what she did.

**WHUMPF!!**

Risa's eyes snapped open. The man, the modern ninja, was crashing into the wall opposite, clearly been hit by some devastating blast. He crumpled and fell and Risa heard the snap of bones. As soon as the man was down, she whipped her head in the direction of the blast, focusing on a single figure in the archway.

Risa "Lieutenant! Glad to see you, sir." She said it with a smile, which felt somewhat unnatural but also...welcoming. There was also the fact that the man had saved her life.

Lieutenant Brock stormed through the doorway, cannon raised in case of another ambush. After a quick, but careful scan he lowered his weapon and smiled at Risa.

Brock: "Glad to see I got here on time! Another two seconds and I'd have lost my best sergeant. He would'a cleaved you in two!"

Risa: "Thank you sir. I'm rather attached to my body. I wouldn't want to see it sliced open."

Brock: "Yeah. You're lucky the ambush didn't get any bigger. The imbeciles that kept running into our rounds! Lots of headaches in the morning, I say. Trent's watching them, don't worry about any escapees."

Risa: "Good, great in fact. How did you get here so quickly? It's a maze of darkness through there."

Brock: "Really? It was a bit dark sure, but a maze? Not really. All I did was follow your tracer through my helmet."

Risa breathed a sign of relief. Brock, as leader, was equipped with a scanner to keep track of all his crew. So she wasn't lost anymore, she could rely on a Brock's tracker to get them out. She was about to ask if he'd contacted the other team until the familiar sound of footsteps echoed through the corridors.

Simultaneously, the two soldiers trained their rifles at the source of the sound, the opposite hallway. However came out would be in for a surprise of their own. Risa smirked at that. No, it was their turn to be ambushed.

"Hold your fire! Hold your fire!" came a voice from the dark depths of the hallways. Brock lowered his rifle slightly but Risa was as steady as a rock.

Until Almas Havok burst from the corridor, a smile filing his features.

Brock: "Almas! Good to see you boy." He boomed, his voice echoing through the halls.

Havok: "I see we've abandoned stealth then. Good. Pretty sure that they know we're here by now."

Risa: "Agreed. Any luck finding Robertson?"

Havok: "Nope. Slipperier than a fish, that one. I've seen no trace of him, not that I was contracting on finding him. Jacob and I were jumped after getting through the roof. We got separated and I ran. Lots of corridors, lots of rooms but nothing till finding your beautiful faces!"

Brock: "Always the charmer Havok. Anything else?

Havok: "Only that I found you lot? No, nothing else to report. Nothing at all."

Risa hesitated. For a man that had apparently been running for at least 20 minutes, Almas didn't seem the least bit tired. Besides that, he kept tapping his leg with his left hand. After being his partner for a year, she'd picked up on a few of his little habits.

Like the fact that he tapped his leg when he was lying.

She was about to raise her suspicion when more footsteps filled the room. Lots of them. The trio turned to face the opposite door as men began to file in, dressed in all manner of clothing. They were clearly Marauders but more than that they were mercenaries. All of them had weapons pointed at the soldiers. Risa gritted her teeth together at aimed at the one closest to her.

Havok: "Ambush."

Risa: "Great, another one. This is really starting to annoy me."

Brock: "Well, we'll still have them if we fire now. Never give in, as they say!"

A shot rang out. A single, solid shot followed by a wet thump. A gasp to Risa's left. The smell of burning gunpowder.

The smile on Havok's face.

Brock slumped to the floor, his last breath escaping his lips as his helmet cracked against the hard concrete. Blood trickled down his back, leaking from the small round hole in his armour. Risa abandon caution and leapt to his aid, tears welling in her eyes. She had served under Brock for too long. He couldn't go. He couldn't!

But he did. Slowly Risa turned her head as tears began to roll. Havok stood, that damned smile sitting easily on his face. His gun was still smoking.

Risa: "YOU TRAITOROUS SWINE!"

She screamed, her voice going ragged as the sound escaped her lips. She had been such a fool to trust him! They'd all been fools! She raised her own rifle and loaded a lethal round. He barely flinched, as if he expected this. Actually, he probably had. He'd dated her for a long time as well.

Havok: "I can't believe you hadn't seen this coming Risa. Still, you're so shut off from this world. All seriousness and no fun. But could you really shoot a man in cold blood? That's a little hard, even for you."

Risa: "A LITTLE HARD?! YOU'VE JUST ENDED YOUR LEADERS LIFE!" Her cries were growing more and more hoarse. Her grip on the rifle tightened further, as if she really would fire. She wanted to, but could she?

Havok:"Oh Risa. Hard as nails, as always. But still, inside you're soft as butter. And still so trusting, even in us swine."

Havok gestured to something behind her. She didn't care. This man would pay f-

A sudden pain arched through her back, followed immediately by a numb feeling that slowly filled her body. A stun round, she realised as the ground rushed up to meet her. She could feel her brain slowly shutting down, as if going to sleep. Blissful sleep.

Her head smacked into the cold concrete but she barely felt it. She was lying next to Brock's body, but she couldn't even manage a tear. Suddenly, her eyes were filled with Havok and his smile. He spoke, words she could barely hear and in a voice she now hated.

Havok: "You say I killed my leader? No, I have a new leader. And he's going to love meeting you."

She blinked in acknowledgment, wanting to hit him with all she had. But her body was getting weaker, going limp. Her jaw slackened and her eyes closed. The last thing she saw was the heel of Havok's boot as he walked away.

Unconsciousness gripped her soon after that and she left the world behind, vanishing into her own dreams.