Unknown location,
Somewhere in the hot, arid desert of North fucking Africa
In all of Viper's life, all she ever wanted to do was to be at the top of it all. Be it when she was still at learning school, or when she was in the military way before the Punishing virus did it's job.
She is competitive, stubborn, and has a tendency to do something rash whenever she wants something done.
And rash, is an understatement right now.
Exactly how far, is too far?
She swung her legs as she stood up from her seat; her tall, lanky frame a sore sight in the eyes.
Dust follows her every step, her boots making soft crunching noises on the sand covered floor.
The female ascendant approaches the being—who had their back towards her— standing near the enthralling, luminescent light of a portal.
It was this...proclaimed goddess that posed her that question.
“...How far is too far? How far will you go to destroy humanity?”
Well, Viper already has a plan in mind. A good one; one that would kill and infect way, way grotesque and brutally that the current one. She stops short beside the goddess, who was peering over another world through the portal, as if plotting to ravage it too.
“Killing a man is easy. Ending humanity..? Well,” She puts on her mask and faces the crazed men on the platform behind them.
“Leave it up to themselves.”
======
Forsaken stronghold, 5 kilometers away from Babylonia's F.O.B
Watanabe paces back and forth in front of a holocron projector for the twentieth time, studying the geographic scale of their losses. To the farthest outpost near the corrupted red sea, to the nearest one just about 20 clicks away, it made his usual composed behavior break a bit.
He lets his hair loose and exhales in exasperation, ruffling it with one hand before tying it back again. He felt bad for those that died, especially since they were betrayed by their own. It was sudden and unexpected, so much that he had to confirm the report three times.
Looking back on the activities they— the 35th— did in the past couple of months, nothing would make him suspect of a rebellion that might occur. Their performances keeping the corrupted at bay, which were starting to become more painful in the backside, was magnificent.
Not only were they stationed near the corrupted red sea, they had the best equipment to counter anything that dare penetrate the safety of the land border. He did not bare in mind that being overly reliant on to them would cause this huge mess.
And now they've begun attacking deliberately. They're more upfront now.
More...emboldened.
He could only wonder, ‘What's your goal here?’
The buzzing of sound made him look towards the other room, it's walls made of glass that look like it could shatter at a moment's notice. The captain of the 41st was standing there, finger pressed on the buzzer, before waving a hand after she saw that she now had his attention.
Watanabe turns to his second-in-command, “Ingra, tell the men to strike this outpost...” he points to one labeled as Outpost Delta.
Ingra poised beside him and studied the image on the holographic map. He seems to notice something in the middle of nowhere, as he zoomed into it.
“What's here boss?” he was pointing at a spot, where, much to Watanabe's surprise, was an old facility half buried by the elements.
“Another tech lab left by those chums up there to rust.” he glances above before giving Ingra a modified transreceiver.
“This one is more secure. Use it. We can't have traitors listening in on the same frequency.”
Ingra takes the device on Watanabe's palm and places it on his ear, testing it. He was suddenly flooded with voices of the men under his command, which is good enough. They were talking over the shared frequency, which was private and untraceable from others.
“I'll take six men.”
“Make it ten.”
“Hah, ten it is.”
They shook hands, both of them knowing full well that this might be the last time they see each other. Every mission they take is a risk, and with almost all of the Forsaken soldiers had their Inver-devices removed, it's safe to say that there's no second chance for them.
Ingra picks up his weapon and exits the room, and only does Watanabe turn towards the interrogation room. Two soldiers, both girls, were standing arms crossed over their chests. They were alert, and had their eyes set on the four members of a task force belonging to Babylonia.
The white haired girl, Attila, hands him a data pad.
“It's where they landed sir. Kali dispatched a squad of scouts to see if there are other task forces operating in the area.”
Watanabe reads the smalls texts, which mostly consisted of messages of the squad. He picks up a plastic chair on the far side of the room and sits in front of the group, eyes affixed at the Commandant.
“So... Rozzi, yes? Either you spill the truth or this room will get messy. What are you doing snooping inside Forsaken territory?”
The Commandant, head tilted slightly to one side, stared at him with a neutral expression. Her eyes held no hint of malice, but there was no point being attracted to a woman. She suddenly opens her jacket, and for a moment, Watanabe thought that she was going to remove her clothes.
“To us, stopping more of these.” Rozzi tosses bloodied I.D cards clumped together on the table. The faces of dead people– non-existent people– made Watanabe inhale sharply.
Of course I'm a liar, I'm trained to be one.
I'm a two-faced counterfeit.
“...and to your organization, well, killing more of those.” she points her index finger towards Kali, and the captain hands the pouch full of charred dog tags and identification patches to Watanabe.
“Hmm.” he picks one and stares at it, conflicted.
“We have one, unified goal here.”
“Unified, you say?”
“Yes, you heard it right. Babylonia wants to stabilize the region, and so do you. We can't have our F.O.B being hit twice a week everytime. There are personnel in those offices being hit by stray tank rounds,” she taps her fingers on the I.D cards.
Oh, what a life to live.
“...and the higher ups want those indiscriminate attacks to stop. Surely, you would also want some peace of mind in this dreadful times, do you?”
Watanabe and Rozzi stared at each other, so much so that the tension in the air was palpable. In the ensuing silence as she waited for his answer, she could even hear her own breath. The pounding of her pulse made her head throb too.
At last, just when she thought that Laethiel was about to snap out of boredom, Watanabe stood up.
“Commandant Rozzi, if I find out you're lying, you won't be able to rise again like Lazarus himself.” He leans towards her and hisses. He was all ice. Rozzi could see the lines on his face as his brows furrowed.
It was a threat, and one that she kept in mind.
“I'll bear that in mind.”
“Sure you would. Anyway, are there any...stray task forces like you in our territory?” Watanabe asked, suddenly back to his usual demeanor.
Rozzi studied the question, and she immediately came into conclusion that he was talking about Akiio's group.
“If you mean the Gray Ravens, they're out operating within our zone. So no, there's no other Babylonian personnel in your territory except for me and my Transcendants.”
Watanabe saw that there was a slight change in expression both on Attila's face and the captain.
“Hmp, if you say so.”
Sensing that the atmosphere was backing down to neutral level, she posed a question.
“Just how old are you? Pardon me, but I don't mean to offend you.”
Watanabe scoffs and straightens up. “26 standard years. Looks can be quite deceiving, but I'm not an old man.”
“Heh, pops.” Thana sniggered, and a tick mark appeared on Watanabe's temple.
“Uncle.” Stella innocently commented.
“Sugar da–”
“Alright, enough.” He cuts Laethiel's sentence and pointed at the door.
“Now go wait outside or in the courtyard, and do not. I repeat. Do not bother anyone. Do I make myself clear?”
“Crystal.” the four said simultaneously.
They left, and Thana patted Watanabe's shoulder on the way out. He didn't seem to mind the stare he got from his two subordinates, and gave her a good slap on the back. He did, however, have to keep a good eye on Rozzi.
Now that the only ones in the room are all unacquainted with Babylonia, he motioned for the two to take a seat.
“Captain Kaliena and Sergeant Attila, you both did well manning this stronghold in times like this. If you got any questions, ask away.” It was the only plausible thing he could do. No words could bring back the dead anyway.
“Well...” Kali spoke after a bit of thinking. “...what's the update on the 35th? Did all of them betrayed us? Why didn't we received word that an ascendant is leading them?”
Attila held her hand to calm her down, and it lessened the tension inside her. There were so many questions swirling inside her mind right now, and one of those was why did those babylonian 'constructs' look and feel different.
“Yes, they are now considered enemies. Everyone of them is to be marked hostile and has to be shot at when spotted.”
“We still don't know their motive sir...” Attila glanced a worried look at him.
“That's up to us to find out, is it not?” He beckons for them to stand and shakes their hands.
“No point in dilly-dallying, we need to sort the men out. You can ask questions as we walk, I don't mind.”
The trio of constructs descended down the hallway of the old desert bastion. They came across soldiers carrying construction equipment and sand bags, since there was a huge hole in the southern side of the wall.
“Nasty stuff, those corrupted revenants I tell ya.” Watanabe uttered as they walked past the tarmac.
“That wall was there when we arrived.” Kali responded. Sometimes she had a hard time understanding their leader.
Watanabe let's out a dry chuckle, “I wasn't blaming you Captain. In fact, I'm blaming me for not anticipating something like this. I didn't know sending out men to far and dangerous outposts results in them wanting out.”
But Kali knows he was hiding something under those sentences. She takes the steering wheel.
“But it's not that simple, is it sir? Like I said, we fought a company sized unit that I thought were the remains of the entire 35th. Before I could sense something was off, an Ascendant was already leading the massacre of our outpost.”
Watanabe has his back kept facing them, but she knew his ears pricked when he mentioned that. He led them to an empty spot in the courtyard and resorted to hushed tones.
“Look, like you said, this isn't as simple as it looks. Babylonia is playing something here; they want something out of this mess. Whether it's them sending those Transcendants to show their hand, or they fucked up their element of surprise. A special task force like that appearing in the middle of nowhere and killing a platoon sized force of the enemy, and also dismantling a Vassago spells danger and suspicion.” Watanabe crosses his arms and nods to a group of patrolling soldiers, before talking again.
“Either way, do not let your guard down even if you're surrounded by your own, because who knows if they're planning to rebel.”
Both Kali and Attila were shocked. They tried not to show it on their faces along the way to the courtyard.
Transcendants, I've heard rumors they are the stop gap between constructs and ascendants. No wonder they have this air of superiority around them.
Kali thought as they were arranging the soldiers left manning the stronghold.
It was no easy feat, since they were a motley group of survivors from other units. Watanabe told them that the main cavalry is yet to be mobilized, since they were literally scattered all over the world. The African theater- or so they liked to call it- was already undermanned unlike the rest of their sectors.
It wasn't a waste of resources though, since this was the hotspot of the corrupted red sea; a giant spot of metallurgic amalgamations that kills mercilessly. The last reports of the 35th before their complete betrayal said that there wasn't activity going on there, but now it looks like there is.
They were busy stocking up ammunition in magazines when a high pitched, blood curling scream rippled throughout the entire complex. All heads turned to look at the general location from where it came from, and the courtyard was suddenly silent, one communal breath held.
It went on for a good five seconds, before Watanabe gestured to one of the Blackcoats- or his elite personal troop- to move towards the hallway. The two hundred or so soldiers on the courtyard, with humans making almost a 3rd of it's population, was now grabbing weapons and racking them, and the air was suddenly filled with dread.
“What's going on?”
“Did the enemy breached the wall!?”
“Someone just died!”
Rows upon rows of woes came from the distressed soldiers, some still unable to recover from the blitzkrieg of an attack they suffered. Watanabe raised a hand, hoping to diffuse the situation, but some still panicked.
There were six hallways leading to the enormous courtyard, and soon, teams of engineers began dragging sand bags along the openings of the corridor. Some helped by putting empty ammo crates to make a makeshift barricade.
Whatever -or whoever- made that ear splitting scream was certainly not human.
Seconds become minutes, and the lone patrol hasn't called in yet, let alone go back. It wasn't until a series of distant and muffled gunshots that Watanabe decided to take a look for himself.
“Ingra,” He comms his friend. “Something's going on in the stronghold, so don't go back yet. Any status on your end?”
“Hey boss, we're doing great. We just passed through the remains of the Vassago. Did you say there's a situation there?” Ingra said, his voice sounding worried.
“Yeah, something must have breached the security. Stay on that abandoned lab for a while until I give and all clear. Am I understood?”
There was a slight delay in the response. “Crystal, boss.”
And with that, Watanabe hangs up. He looks behind him to see Kali and Attila giving out orders to the others. He felt relieved to see that he still had competent officers by his side despite their situation right now.
“That's not supposed to happen, is it?” A familiar voice came from his right, making him turn. It was Rozzi.
“You sure sending one man was the right thing to do? He's probably dead by now.” she crooked a finger towards that direction.
“I'm not dumb, Commandant. That's why I'm going in to recce the area.” He signals for four more Blackcoats to follow him. They were intimidating to look at, a sight to behold, even. But they aren't immortal.
“Maybe we can help.” She offered.
“Stick your weapons close to your asses for now.” said Watanabe, suddenly all ice.
Rozzi didn't let that comment agitate her. “The more the better. Surely the five of you would want someone reliable watching your six.”
It was a fair point, but Watanabe wasn't sure what to make out for this people yet. He saw Thana looking at him for a second and saw that her eyes meant well. Atleast that assured him, given his past... experiences with her.
“*sigh*, I'll take you up for your offer. Now stick close and follow me.”
And so, the group of nine constructs set off towards the corridor, a mixture of emotions swirling inside them as they ventured to find the unexpected.
.
.
.
///
Somewhere in the desert...
“I'm...probably lost.”
Iris said. The blistering heat of the afternoon sun was shining down on her, and for the first time she felt her system cooling as the internal devices worked to keep her body temperature stable.
However, the scavenger wasn't having it.
“Ya' said lost? Wha' in tarnation is a young'un like yer' doin' out here all alone?” He was a thickset man wearing an assortment of clothes, ranging from military set pants and a plain long sleeve. It's like he was immune to the heat already.
“I'm not sure where to go. See, my compass is not working.” She hands him a datapad, since she was using the built in gps as her guide.
The man made a grumbling sound, before glancing at her warily.
“Hm, yer' Babylonian? Wha', yer' folks left you like they left us huh?”
He tosses the device back at her, before trudging off into the opposite direction.
“North's that way. Yer' going the wrong way. Keep going straight and you'll get hurt real...real bad.” The old scavenger shouted, his silhouette now a fading sight in her eyes.
Iris makes a dissatisfied tone, and she was surprised she even felt it that way. Ever since she stepped foot above that rundown facility in the middle of nowhere, chaotic emotions flooded her mind.
‘Finding Akiio is the goal right now.’ she reminded herself. After recalibrating the direction on her datapad, she began walking northward. But only a few minutes later, she hears the distant 'crack, crack, crack' of-
“Gunfire..?” Iris spun around, her hair flapping on the soft breeze as she tried pinpointing where it came from. She passed through a small dune, which was overlooking the facility she came out from earlier.
In the heat of the sun, she could see wavy lines in the horizon quite a distance away from her position. Her vision modules picked four organic bio-signatures and three different kinds of frequencies. She blinked a couple of times to zoom in on the scene.
“Seven soldiers... Are they Babylonians..?” Iris muttered to the wind. Of course she received no response. Then it dawned to her that she was alone for the time being.
She kept a close look at the retreating soldiers, which were being fired upon by another group of people. This time however, her systems picked up a very familiar type of signature.
Corrupted.
They were trudging forward in a messy manner, setting their sights on the outnumbered men.
Iris suddenly felt for her dual blaster, which were clipped on the sides of her belt alongside spare ammunition. She found herself running towards the facility, her feet gliding along the sand as the boosters activated. It was all instinctive, as if years of training kicking off in one snap.
The gunfire intensified as she neared them, and for a split second before she unleashed a hail of searing hot-white plasma towards the first group of enemies she sees, her vision modules was replaced with flashing images of someone.
As the enemy constructs bit the dust, she saw in her eyes overlapping vision of someone - An older looking boy with dirty blonde hair and purplish blue eyes -doing moves and stunts that she was recreating the very present.
From the way he spins around in her eyes as Iris herself mows down a dozen or so corrupted, she could feel a strange connection forming. It was as if he was beside her, guiding her body to do the exact same thing as she's seeing in her feed. No, more accurately, it was as if she was him.
It happened within minutes, leaving two dozen or so bodies fallen in the sand. The air smelled of ozone, as Iris racked both guns and let the smoking discharged shells fall on the ground. Only then did she seem to wake up from her trance-like state.
“Are any of you hurt?” She called out to the group of soldiers, who were huddled in a defensive formation on the lab's entryway. They didn't answer back. She clipped her weapons back to her utility belt to convey she wasn't going to shoot at them.
Then Iris heard someone groaning; someone crying out. It was a desperate cry for help, and she heard him saying 'mama'. She blinked a couple of times to magnify her vision and saw that it was one of the human soldiers.
He was lying on the concrete floor in his own pool of blood, while two constructs tried miserably to conduct first aid at their wounded comrade. Even from her distance, she knew that the gravity of the situation the soldiers were in was grim. The wounded human didn't have a lot of time left.
“Stay away!”
Iris stopped as soon as a tall male construct aimed a gun on her direction. It was a bulky looking weapon, which did intimidated her a bit.
“Stop, or I'll drop you!”
“I've stopped, but I can help you. I'm a support construct!” she responded, earning a befuddled look from the construct. Of course, that was a lie, since she was classified as a specialist type construct.
Ultimately, one of the soldiers shouted. “Let her be, Ingra! Cox and Sid are dead already, and so is our medic. We need all the help we can get.”
She sauntered slowly towards the group, careful not to make any sudden moves so as to not agitate the construct named Ingra. He appears to be the leader of the group, and based on the state of the squad, he was having a hard time.
She didn't blame him for acting that way.
Iris knelt beside the human soldier, who was writhing in pain. Blood spurted out from the opening of his stomach, causing droplets of it to paint her pale cheeks. She made a quick scan on his body, and a notification in her HuD showed what his condition was.
She reached out and gripped his hand tightly, before reading the name patched on his chest.
Jay Dorfel. EoD expert.
He was disemboweled, that's for sure. He already lost a lot of blood due to ruptured stomach and spleen, as well as ripped kidneys and such. No matter how much Iris collected the bulk of his insides and putting it on top of his stomach, she realized there was no hope in saving this man.
She suddenly regretted what she said earlier.
“No... T-There must be something wrong with my calculations...” Iris muttered, still bewildered by the fact that death came at a very... gruesome way towards humans.
“T-Tell...my momma, I...” Jay wheezed, and then his breathing stopped. His head slumped on the sand, and his eyes rolled back inside his skull.
The strong grip that was being reciprocated mere seconds ago was now replaced by the odd clarity that it was just a limp hand belonging to a very dead person.
Iris stood up, suddenly feeling guilty. Could she have saved him? No, no she couldn't.
A hand tapped her shoulder, making her flinch.
“It's alright. We knew we couldn't save him anyway.” It was the man that stopped Ingra from shooting at her.
“I'm Vince. Who are you?” He removed a gloved hand and offered it to her.
Ah, so he was a human.
Iris shook it. “I am BPN-X9Y.”
She noticed the expression of the others to sour a bit, but Vince kept a neutral face. Ingra, however, moved closer.
“No, not your number. I meant your real name.”
“Oh... It's Iris. Iris Apollschzzia.”
“Okay, Iris. I'm not gonna try to pronounce your—”
Ingra suddenly cut him off. “You're Babylonian. What are you doing inside Forsaken territory? Where's the rest of your task force?”
She didn't like his tone, and saw that he flicked the safety of his rifle. She slowly and calmly raised both hands in surrender to avoid any problems.
“Look, I'm not a threat, if that's what you're saying. I woke up all alone in that lab but heard nearby gunshots so I hastily went back to check.” her eyes subconsciously wandered towards Jay, who would have been alive if she arrived a bit earlier.
“But I guess I got here too late.”
They were covering his body with a piece of cloth. Are they going to bury him? In this kind of place? If so, where?
“She's not a threat, Ingra. Leave her be.” Vince insisted, defending her from the wary gazes of his team. “If she was from the Purifying Force, she would have introduced herself like the way those people do and started shooting at us.”
Though Ingra was the man in charge, he still listened to those under his command. Especially if it was the man he owes his life to.
“*sigh*, if you say so, you stubborn jerk.” He slings his assault rifle on his shoulder and presents a gloved hand towards Iris. She gives it a firm shake.
“The name is Ingra Carter. I trust Vince with my life, so if you slot us as soon as we turn our backs at you, then it's to bad, eh?” He then walks past Vince and pats him on the shoulder.
In the next ten minutes or so, Iris found out the other member's names. Yoki and Dexter was the recon, while Ulysses was the weaponsmaster, who was in charge of the squad's supply of ammo and guns. Yuri and Wiona were both swordmasters, so they stuck like a sore thumb.
She later learned that Vince handled the communications and explosives, a task handed to him to replace those who were lost. Ingra was the squad leader and reported to a man called Watanabe.
'I have to take a mental note on that one.’ Iris thought.
The doors of the facility leading to the inside was now locked, probably by the security orders from the mainframe. She sat in a shaded part of the entrance, keeping her knees tucked near her chest.
In a normal day, it would have looked like a great one. But with a corpse nearby and a few handful of soldiers mingling around, the desert never felt more alive than it is now.
«‹⟨ TO BE CONTINUED ⟩›»
Published: July 5, 2022
Words 4431
[Additional info]
Codenamed “Viper”.
Under investigation by Babylonia, unlisted Ascendant marked as S-rank at the time being.
=======
Physical appearance:
Commands the renegade Division belonging to the Forsaken, also known as the 35th.
(A/n: Sorry for another long update. Life is throwing too many things at my face at the same time. Hope you have a good read!)