Jumping off a branch, Reyshin and Hyro landed on the floor beside another exosuit user. A moment later, the exosuit user carrying Hook landed behind them. The exosuit user placed Hook down against a tree and squat down to be at his level. Raising their hand, they placed it up to his face and purple energy began to integrate into Hook's exosuit.
The infection of purple energy spread throughout Hook's entire exosuit then seemingly disappeared. His green energy fluctuated for a moment before steadying and returning to normal. In that time Reyshin walked up behind them and watched what was happening with Hook.
"Are we finally getting out of here sir?" Executive Jackal asked from behind the exosuit user and Hook. Jackal had orange energy flowing though his black exosuit. Covering his head was a carved pumpkin made of orange energy.
"Where is Executive Faraday?" The exosuit user in the white robes asked.
"Quite definitely deceased by now." Jackal stated in a matter-of-fact tone.
"And why would that be?" The exosuit user inquired.
"On our way back, we might have run into a certain exosuit user that possessed the ability of lightning." Jackal explained. "And Faraday might or might not have decided it to be a wise idea to fight, said exosuit user."
"For fucks sake." Hyro sighed. "And you just left him."
"Yeaaaaaa" Jackal ran on. "I prefer to live." He stepped back as the robed exosuit user stood up and turned to face him. "I may be strong, but not that strong. Fighting with "him" right now would be nothing more than suicide."
"Shut it Hyro." The white robed exosuit user said as Hyro tried to talk again. "Jackal made the right decision. It is not his fault Faraday's let his desire for revenge get the better of himself. So, if you are all done bickering with each other, let us all continue off this battlefield before any more of you are killed."
Putting his hand up to his face, Scout stared down at Elise through his fingers as his exosuit repaired itself. "Ready or not." He said as a knife made of energy formed in his hand. "Here I come!" Teleporting beside Justice, he stabbed her in the thigh. He then drew back his left arm and sent a powerful punch into her face.
While Justice stumbled back, Elise jumped over to Scout and sent a jab towards his face. Teleporting down, Scout sent multiple jabs into her body then a final one into her chin. As Elise stumbled back disoriented from the attack, Scout teleported behind her and outstretched his foot to trip her.
Once Elise was on the ground, Scout raised his hand into the air. Energy began to fluctuate above his hand until it morphed into the shape of a cleaver. After grabbing the cleaver, he began to laugh and dropped onto Elise. Making good on his promise, he began to hack at her left arm.
After a considerable amount of hacking, Scout teleported the cleaver to his other hand. With his free hand, he grabbed Elise's mangled arm and in one good pull, ripped it off in a bloody mess. But that was not enough for him as after that he started hacking at Elise's remaining arm.
Screaming in pain, Elise tried to struggle against Scout to no avail. All her struggle did was piss him off, resulting in him sending multiple punches into her face. Luckily for her he was only able to get in a few punches before a beam of light hit his back. This beam of light came from Justice, who was limping toward Scout, hands aimed at him.
"Was that supposed to hurt." Scout laughed while teleporting behind Justice and backhanding her to the ground. "Bunch of fucking amateurs." He mocked while sending his foot into Justice's stomach. With her out of the picture, he was finally able to get back to Elise, who was trying to crawl away.
Not that Elise could get very far with her only remaining mangled arm. Teleporting above her, Scout landed with his left foot on her head. He then reached down and grabbed her right arm. And with a single pull, he ripped off her mangled arm, causing her to scream and writhe on the ground in agony.
Hearing a slight whir, Scout instinctually teleported away. This was the right call as he watched from a tree as a blast of energy flew past where he once stood. Turning his head, he looked at where the blast came from. Dues Venandi, Vermont and North stood on the rubble from the cabin.
Vermont looked from Scout to the wounded Elise and immediately jumped over to her. As he did that, Dues Venandi raised his arm and shot off more energy blast at Scout. This caused Scout to teleport away after a slight laugh. Once he was gone, Dues Venandi and North followed Vermont to Elise and Justice.
The pain was damn near unbearable, yet Elise's exosuit did everything to keep her awake. Losing consciousness now would mean certain death so she was kept awake. Unfortunately for her, even with the exosuit' ability to dampen pain was not enough. Even as Vermont did everything, he could think of to help her.
If only Elise's arms were still nearby, they could be reattached, but Scout knew this. That is why he took her arms with him. Now all her exosuit could do was cover up the wound and lessen the pain until she was administered to a proper medical center. But they were in the middle of the jungle, far away from home. So, such a need would not come nearly fast enough.
"So, he got saved from The Brokers wrath by...who exactly?" Jay said in disbelief while staring out his massive wrap around office window.
"Were still trying to figure that out." Hellman answered. "I assigned Lockley, Vermont and Warden to go track them down. Preacher also reported in that he was going to be in the area soon. So, he was going to assist them in their search. Our remaining forces are also being evacuated from the jungle."
There was a long moment of silence before Jay spoke. "How many did we lose?"
"We lost half of Elite Squad: Chaos Brigade. Captain Abrams, Gargoyle, Aphasia and Karter are confirmed to be KIA. Captain Elise is in critical condition. Captain North, Forger and Agent Justice are heavily wounded." Hellman reported.
Before Hellman could continue Jay interrupted. "Alright, I don't want to hear any more about our losses to that fucking jungle." Putting his hand up to his face he let out a deep sigh. "What about the other fronts? How are they going?"
"About just as bad." Hellman responded truthfully. "Reaper and Arazia's Reapers are currently engaged with Gravedigger in the American MidWest. Krejit is still defending our Mars Facility. Stein is also still in South America combating Cartel forces. So, the only commander in our disposal right now is Pain."
Jay let out another deep sigh. "Alright, get in contact with all of them and tell them that once they're done with their mission they need to get back here. "He began to trail off. "I don't like how brave Mariquel is getting. They haven't dared to attack us for years and now all of a sudden, they go to war with four of the strongest groups in the world."
"Infinium, Exocore, Renegade and Apocalyptic Returning against Mariquel." Hellman thought aloud. "That would be believable if they still held the power, they did during World War Three." He thought for a moment before continuing. "But if their confidence is any indication of their power, this is something we need to deal with before it gets out of hand."
"Exactly" Jay confirmed. "Let me know when all the Commanders are back, I need to have a meeting with all of them." After he finished, Hellman turned around and entered the elevator to his office. Turning back to his window, Jay looked over the bright city of Halaryn. Technological skyscrapers that touched the sky were all he could see other than the blue sky.
Commander Stein of the organization known as Infinium. On his back he wore an old German officer coat like a cape along with an old war German Generals Cap. Along with that he had a gas mask filter integrated into his exosuit's face. In his left arm he held a pistol that used his exosuits energy as ammunition.
Standing on top of a building, Steins yellow energy lit up the night. Behind him waiting patiently on the building, stood his Elite Squad: Enclave 0. The soldiers wore advanced combat armor and held HCLR MKII's. In their wake was a burning city that now resembled a battlefield more than what was once a place of beauty and life.
Infinium VTOL's and Jets fly overhead as they check their weapons and prepare for another battle. The jets let out a volley of missiles into the building across from them. A massive explosion opened a hole in the heavily defended outpost. As Stein peered over the edge to assess his target, a beam of energy flew past his head.
"Our air support has opened a clear way into the facility." Stein informed his soldiers. "Most of the facilities defenses have been disabled so all that's remaining is the interior. Remember, our mission is to retrieve the experimental research and its corresponding data. The destruction of the facility comes after retrieving the data."
"Is that all clear?" Stein asked aloud.
All his men confirmed and walked to the edge of the building alongside Stein. Taking a step, Stein walked off the edge and landed on the ground. As he walked forward, his soldiers landed around him. Ruble was scattered all around them along with the corpses of Cartel soldiers.
While Stein walked into the massive hole in the facility wall, the sound of explosions and gunfire raged inside. Walking slowly, he watched as his soldiers moved past him, HCLR's raised. The moment they saw movement, laser fire would shred through their enemies. That is how they swiftly made their through the facility.
Stein never even had to raise his pistol until they reached a massive hole in the middle of the facility. This hole tunneled through the lower levels of the facility all the way to the bottom floor. And as Stein was peering down said hole, a barrage of missiles flew out and devastated the area surrounding him.
An explosion sent him flying back through one wall into another wall. Although he only suffered minimal damage from the attack, he was left disoriented for a moment. And in that moment, he had to watch multiple of his soldiers get mowed down by a wall of energy fire. Moving his hands to the wall, he pushed, letting himself fall to the floor.
After pushing himself off the wall, Stein jumped over to one of his shoulders. He grabbed them with the armor and pulled them back before laser fire could hit them. Raising his pistol, he shot an energy blast out of the air before it could hit another of his shoulders. This went on for another couple seconds until everything stopped suddenly.
A loud whirl and clanking echoed from the hole as everything began to shake around Stein. Suddenly, a large mechanical hand shot out of the hole and grabbed a support beam. It began to pull, revealing what was connected to the mechanical arm. In the next couple seconds, Stein watched as an Advanced Combat Mech pulled itself out of the hole.
The ACM took a moment to scan its surroundings with a blue energy grid capturing everything around it. The grid marked Stein and his soldiers in red as the ACM turned to face them. And when Stein saw the ACM turn to him, he grabbed the soldier beside him and began to run out of the ACM's view.
Multiple missiles fired out of the ACM's left arm that began to track onto Stein. While still running, he aimed his pistol back and shot multiple of the missiles out of the air. The explosion from hitting one of the missiles caused the other to explode. These explosions created a wall of fire, hiding Stein from the ACM.
When the explosion cleared, the ACM scanned the area, only to find destruction and fire. Stein was nowhere to be found along with any of his soldiers. It continued to take a couple seconds to scan the area, but nothing could be found. That was until a small cylindrical object flew into it.
The small object then exploded, sending the ACM stumbling back. Seeing another grenade flying in its direction, it outstretched its right arm, and an energized shield blocked the explosion. And while it blocked that explosion, another hit it from the other side. Then when it turned to block, another grenade exploded into its blind spot.
The energized shield materialized from the ACM's wrist, expanded to cover the entire front of its body. Not it would help against what came next. As it was defending against the constant barrage of gunfire and explosions, Stein looked down at it from a higher floor. He stood there; pistol aimed down at the ACM.
Stein waited for a moment as his soldiers drew the ACM's attention. Then upon pulling the trigger, a beam of energy shot out and pierced through the joint connecting the ACM's left arm to its body. An explosion sent the mechanical arm flying off, causing the ACM to fall to one knee.
Before the ACM could turn, Stein shot another beam into it. This beam pierced through its left knee, destroying the mechanical leg. As it struggled to stay upright, Stein jumped from the higher floor and landed on the ACM's back. Drawing his clenched fist back, energy began to encompass his arm.
Yellow energy exploded from his fist as he punched down into the ACM. A shockwave of yellow energy rippled through the ACM, sending a chain of explosions throughout its body. Stein jumped back off the ACM as one last explosion destroyed it entirely. While he was in the air, a sudden chill swept over him.
The moment Stein touched the ground, he whipped around and aimed his pistol at the ceiling. Standing at the edge of the hole in the facilities ceiling was a female exosuit user. Before Stein could even contemplate pulling the trigger, a yellow energy sword pierced through his pistol into his arm.
"Not so fast their Mr. Infinium Commander." The exosuit user. Her black exosuit pulsed with electric yellow energy as multiple energy swords formed in the air around her. "Do you mind ordering your soldiers to stand down? All I want is a simple conversation."
Raising his right hand in a fist, Stein flexed his left arm and the energy sword shattered while still in his arm. "Black exosuit, yellow energy, loves to play with swords. You must be Rez, The Witch of Eternum."
"That would be yours truly." Rez smiled while putting up the piece sign with her left hand. After putting her hand down, she jumped off the edge and landed beside Stein. She walked straight up to his face and leaned into his ear. After a moment of whispering into his ear, she backed off and waited for his response.
"So, wat do you say?" Rez questioned while spinning around to face the hole in the facility. "Doesn't sound like too bad of an offer now does it?"
"What if it does?" Stein said while raising his right arm and pointing his palm at the back of Rez's head. Yellow energy formed in the shape of a ball between his hand and her head. "What if I said that I didn't like the sound of that idea? What if I don't like the idea of working with someone who can't understand a simple concept like loyalty?"
"You think I don't know who you are? The things you did during World War Three." Clenching his fist, the ball of energy between Stein's hand and Rez's head began to pulse with power. "A traitor to Exocore, the one that betrayed and brought down half of Renegade after they took you in."
"Your track record is a pretty clear fucking indication that having anything to do with you will lead me fatal." Stein continued.
"Fine then, let me rephrase." Rez spoke up as multiple of her energy swords materialized behind Stein. "Do what I'm telling you before I slaughter every one of your soldiers, then you. I mean, you said it yourself right. I'm the one that brought down half of Renegade. Do you really think one Infinium Commander would be much of a match for that."
"And anyways, I already know you're going to accept my offer." She stated in a matter-of-fact tone.
"Why do you think that is?" Stein inquired.
"Simple" Rez laughed. "Your hate for HIM far exceeds your fear of anything else. He took your left arm, humiliated you, killed your comrades and so much more." Turning around, she wrapped her arms around Stein's neck and leaned into him. "Like throwing meat to a starving animal, you can't resist."
"You're obsessed with his death; I'm obsessed with seeing a certain someone's fall." Rez moved her hands down from Stein's neck down to his chest. Then she pushed off Stein, letting herself fall over the edge into the massive hole in the facility. "I'll let you know when I need that favor. In the meantime, just keep going on as you have been doing." She yelled while falling down the hole.
After a moment of silence, Steins soldiers began to emerge from their cover and walk towards him. Simply standing there at the edge, he peered down at the deepest parts of the facility. "FUCK" He yelled while whipping around. It took him about half a minute of angry walking to make it out of the facility.
Once Stein made it a good distance away from the facility, he turned to face one of his soldiers. "Call in air support and tell them to level the facility."
The soldier took a moment to examine Stein before putting his fingers up to the side of his advanced combat mask. After a second, he began to speak, ordering their air support to level the facility. "Yes, a direct order from Commander Stein...yes, okay." Upon finishing with the command, he turned to Stein. "They are circling around now to do a bombing run on the facility."
"Good" Stein stated as he walked past the soldier while grasping at his wounded arm. "Now let's get out of here." He ordered aloud while his exosuit began the process of repairing his wounded and damaged arm.