10 Hours Later
Operators: Tyro Serelath, Greyson Conrad
Location: New York City, New York
Assignment: Overwatch
I was peering out the window of the 62nd floor of one of NYC's many skyscrapers. I had LiVE sat up and running on a laptop in the corner and several flares popped on a tiled surface to allow me to see. My buddy Greyson was sitting beside me starring through the scope of a Barrett Firearms M83. We were both covered by blankets to make us seem like pieces of debris rather than silent killers. The suppressor on my 105 stood out a bit, but if you were on the ground you'd never see it before the shell came down on your skull.
New York was completely different from the last time I had visited, which was back in the 90's. Large amounts of vegetation had grown up around the buildings, street poles and old cars. Some of the traffic lights were swaying in the wind there masses of birds flying over head. It came on as a mix of I Am Legend and a Apocalypse Now.
“Our own little apocalypse”, Greyson said.
“Yeah”, I sighed.
All I could think about was Hunter. No matter how hard I tried to focus on the mission at hand, he crept right back into my mind. I couldn't help but wonder how he had died. If he had gone out like a solider or if he had been shot in the face while he was laying on his back and unable to defend himself. Why does it matter how he died? I should have been asking myself what I was going to tell Mnerloth and Adelind, but I wasn't. Didn't know why. The worst part about it was I never got to say goodbye and would never get the chance. Hunter was in my life pretty much from the time I was born. What was beyond this life, weather it was eternal or literally a rebirth and a second chance, like what HDR gave me so many years ago, I'd see him again, that I could be sure of. It was the crack of Taro's voice over the coms that brought me back to reality.
“Whatca got Shadow?”, he asked.
“Just the normal”, Shadow answered, “rocks, trees and ruins.”
“Got ya”, Taro replied him.
I sighed as I watched the events unfold in front of me. Taro's death note seemed to be going exactly how he'd written it. I still thought he was insane, but everytime I thought about it, it brought me back to that one name.
“Prisoner 0.”
What could this guy know that was worth Taro getting himself and possibly his son and Nina killed for? I didn't know, but I did know this. If it was that important to Taro, then I was going to turn the Earth inside out before I gave up. I made him a promise and I was sure going to keep it.
“Halt”, Taro said over the radio. I zoomed in and began looking for them. He and Nina were crouched behind a few old trucks and directly in front of them was a huge deer. I felt a bit of a hunting instinct kick in.
“Just a deer”, Shadow called, “your clear.”
“Gotcha”, Taro said, “we'll out in thirty minutes tops. Until then stay hidden alright?”
“Got it”, Shadow said as Taro and Nina disappeared into the tunnel.
Greyson set his hands on the scope of his rifle and placed his head on them. There was an annoyed look on his face.
“Spit it out”, I said.
“I think this is a stupid fucking idea”, Greyson said, “the old man knows he's gonna die and goes anyway?”
I sighed and nodded, “he's dying anyway. Guess he'd rather go by a bullet than a decaying heart.”
Greyson shook his head, “that's a stupid way of looking at it. If he'd rather go by a bullet, why not shoot yourself in the face? He's committing suicide anyways.”
“Hey I don't like this anymore than you do”, I told him, “but you didn't see the way he acted when he told me. He wants to go, I could tell on the way to California that he was making sure he had everything right with himself and was ready.”
Greyson sighed, “I've flown so many missions for that old man, least he could have done is left me out of this this shit. I doubt I'll ever sleep well again”, he looked at me, “your an old man too.”
“Oh really?”, I asked, “last I checked I was 2-”
Shadow's voice yelling over the coms cut me off, “Dad Nina get out! You've got a squad coming after you!”
“Guess the bait worked”, Greyson said chambering a round into his M83, “show time.”
Greyson and I leaned out the window as Taro's camera feed came up. The six dragons had weapons ranging from miniguns to 20s trained right at him. Taro made no effort to fight back.
“Guns not loaded boys”, he said, “the bullets in the 60 are fake, the 20 is deactivated.”
I winced, he wasn't even armed.
“Let's go then you bastard!”, the lead dragon shouted smacking Taro in the face, the camera jerked around as Taro crumpled under the blow, “oh and that was for my Dad and my Mom!”
“Give him one for my little brother too!”, a female shouted.
The camera gave another shake as the dragon hit Taro again.
“Your lucky were under orders”, a younger sounding male said, “otherwise we'd kill you right here!”
“Boss said we couldn't kill him”, the leader said, “he didn't say we couldn't brake him into a million pieces!”
There was laughter as Taro was hit again and the camera went out. I growled, resisting the urge to collapse the tunnel in on itself, dig out Taro and then leave the others to suffocate. But then I remembered Nina.
“Greyson!”, I said, “get eyes on Nina!”
I pulled up the LiVE sat feed and found that Nina was running right down my street. I looked out the window and could see her running and not stopping for anything. I saw some more movement out of the corner of my eye, I turned, expecting to maybe see a deer and instead saw two dragons crouched behind a building, ready to pounce. I had to warn Nina, but the second I opened up the coms, the dragons pounced and pinned her. They cut her vest off and threw it aside. With the aid of LiVE sat and the microphone on my 105, I could hear them talking.
“Gotta admit she's a feisty one”, a blue male said as the other members of the team arrived.
“They just got the Razgriz fucker down the street”, a silver female said, “and Roark found the white one in a skyscraper a few hundred yards off.”
“Good”, a red male who appeared to be the leader of the six said, “have you called it in yet?”
“No”, the silver female said,.
“Even better”, the red male said, “since boss is still dark, whose to say we can't have a little fun with this one?”
“We caught her so we go first”, the blue male said, licking at Nina's neck as he pushed the brown male off.
I didn't need the microphone to hear Nina scream for help. Nor the laugh from the Draco dragons that followed. I growled. That was the final straw. I flipped on my laser pointer, training it right on the head of the blue dragon. The other five instantly froze.
“Uh...”, The silver female said, “Ty....you...uh got something right..”
The blue dragon froze. I opened up my coms and watched as the red one answered.
“Who is this?”, he asked.
“Your worst nightmare”, I answered, “listen to me and listen to me well. If you so much as scratch the dragoness you just attacked, I will split you right down the middle. I'm coming down. Try and run, you will die tired.”
I shut off the coms and turned to Greyson, “if I hold up two fingers you kill them, if they move you kill them got me?”
Greyson flipped off his safety, “it would be my pleasure.”
I turned and started down the staircase. I wanted to take a long time. I wanted to leave them in fear, but since Nina was on the verge of going through the worst experiences of her life, I quickened my pace. It took me about three minutes to walk down stairs. When I entered the lobby and walked out the front door, weapons trained at me and the 105 loaded a round of HE.
“Don't try it”, I hissed, “I'm much faster on the draw than you. The black female, NOW!”
“Why should we?”, the red asked.
I held up my paw and showed two fingers. A faint crack pierced the air and the red's leg came off. He fell to the ground, holding his only front paw over the hole.
“The next one I shoot”, I said, “with the 105, the female. 3, 2!”
“Okay!”, the blue male said jumping off Nina, who ran over and threw herself into me, she was sobbing bitterly.
“The rest of you get out of my sight!”, I roared, “NOW!”
The other dragons helped the red to his feet and took off as I turned my attention towards Nina. She had her snout buried into my chest and was crying so hard I was afraid she might hurt herself.
“It's okay Nina”, I said hugging her, “I'm here, “I'm here.”
She only cried harder, saying things in between her sobs that I couldn't make out. I hugged her tighter, just trying to re assure her that nothing would happen as Greyson came out with his sniper rifle slung over his shoulder. He walked up to me and put his hand on my shoulder.
“Yeah?”, I asked.
“LiVE sat is tracking the GPS”, he said, “we need to be in the air soon if we wanna keep up.”
“Get the 22 ready”, I said turning my attention back to Nina.
Greyson ran back as I wiped the tears out of Nina's eyes with my gloved paw.
“Tyro”, Nina asked, “where did you come from?”
“I was watching the hole thing”, I said, “I've been following you guys since California.”
“But...why?”, she asked.
I wasn't going to lie, I couldn't. Not in this lifetime.
“Because Taro wants me to finish this when he bites it”, I said.
“Wha...”, Nina started.
“He went into this expecting to be captured and killed”, I said, “the weapons on his vest aren't even real.”
“But....”, Nina stuttered, I saw more tears coming as she leaned into me.
“I know”, I said hugging her and rubbing her back, “I know, it made me cry too. The whole way to California he was making sure he had made everything right and was ready.”
“Why!?”, Nina sobbed, “why would he do that to us!?”
I hugged her, “because he only has two weeks to live anyway.”
Nina didn't answer, I suspect she didn't want to know.
“Look at me Nina”, I said looking into her eyes, “we have to find someone named Prisoner 0. Taro is being taken to a prison ship along with Shadow. Taro said that once we find him, we'll understand exactly what's going on. I don't know any other way to explain it.”
“Must be the informant he was talking about”, Nina said wiping her face and nose, “lets go.”
She picked up her vest and we walked out behind the sky scraper to Greyson's V22, which was primed and ready to go. Nina and I stepped in and Greyson lifted off. We circled around the building and then started for the coast. On LiVE sat, I could see that the V22 which held Taro was about five and a half miles out.
“Time to find out what's really going on here”, I thought.