The sound of dripping water echoed throughout an underground tunnel. On a large metal walkway, a man was writing down something in a notebook, until he suddenly felt an off presence. He slightly turned his attention, the water below reflecting his blood red eyes as if they were gems. After a moment, he returned his gaze to the book. From behind, the thing rose out of the ground in a misty cloak and a skull-like mask. Without turning around, he spoke to it.
"Did you get it?" The man asks, his voice dripping with malice. It was slightly muffled by a dark face mask.
Without responding, the cloaked figure tossed a small object. The man grabbed it out of the air without looking, he opened his hand to examine it, and the symbol of a drop of blood in his eyes flared. The flash drive in his hand was inconspicuous, ordinary, yet it was key for the days ahead.
"There was a Ranger there..." The reaper says, its voice deep and distorted.
The man turned around, looking at his associate.
Behind him, the wall was covered in a large board, blood red strings piecing together pictures, photos, and new articles. Mad scribbles in black ink covered the board, the writing frantic and illegible. In the center of the board were two drawings, one of them, was a photo of a masked man with lines of color that danced across his mask and the other, was of a ranger with flaming wings.
"Who?" The man presses.
The cloaked figure focused on the board behind the man, he nodded towards the one with the flaming wings. The man followed his gaze and began to laugh, in his hand, through a cut, blood poured from his hand and shaped into a dagger. With a flick of his hand, the dagger stabbed into the picture of the one with the flaming wings. He turned back to the plans laid out before him on the table.
"The time is nigh my friend..."
"...The time for blood!"
* * *
Sol stood in the briefing room, across the holotable stood Commander Flint, his commander. The room was filled with a half dozen military looking men and women, they bore the Ranger Association's insignia. All eyes turned to the door as it opened and in walked a woman with crosshairs in her eyes. She had short red hair and stood at medium height, she wore a green jacket and vest, matching the military garb of the rest of the men and women in the room. She stood next to Sol and the two exchanged a heated glare.
"Crossfire." Sol says with a flat tone. "Phoenix." She responds with an even flatter tone.
"Good, now we can begin the briefing." Commander Flint asserts.
Before them a holographic map of the data center appears.
"Phoenix, care to start?" The Commander nods, as the others in the room gathered around the table.
"Of course. A few days ago, one of our data centers was broken into and bombed by a currently unknown assailant. With the help of S-Rank Ranger Datastream, she was able to track a transmitted signal that originated from the data center." As Sol speaks, a small line extended from the building and flowed out towards a range of mountains. "She tracked the signal to this location, and after some reconnaissance we found a small building in the middle of a ravine.'' The line traveled straight down into a ravine, and at the very bottom was a small building surrounded on both sides by large cliffs.
"Your mission team is to infiltrate, capture any Rogues and recover all data in this location and repost back. Stagger Rounds are authorized for this mission, so keep your wits about you." Commander Flint says, looking over the team in front of him.
"Who will be incharge of the fire team, sir?" Asks one of the soldiers in the room.
"Phoenix will be in command, Crossfire will be second." The Commander reveals.
Sol reacted with shock, matched by Crossfire letting out an annoyed huff. Before Sol could speak, Crossfire had already begun to protest.
"Sir, with all due respect, I outrank Phoenix in class, rank, and experience. If anyone should be leading this..."
Flint put up his hand before she could speak further.
"According to the rankings, Crossfire, you only slightly outrank Phoenix. He also engaged with a possible associate of the enemy, making him the only one here with a clue about what we are up against. More importantly, the Director gave this order."
Crossfire crossed her arms and took a deep breath, her defiance replaced by frustration.
"Right, if there's to be no more interruptions, Phoenix, do you have a plan for this mission?"
Sol took a moment, placing his hand on his chin as he looked at the map of the area surrounding the base. The bottom of the ravine was covered by trees that surrounded the building, meaning parachuting was out of the question. A dropship wouldn't work either, since he wanted to attack with stealth. Not doing so could risk the Rogues escaping or data destruction..
"We're gonna have to rappel down one of the cliffs, dropships would ruin our surprise advantage, so we will have to deploy a few miles from the ravine, and since the base is surrounded by forest we can't parachute in." Sol says, pointing along one of the cliff sides. "Crossfire will be on overwatch while we infiltrate the base."
"Good, you will be dispatched at dusk and you will begin your infiltration before dawn, use the cover of night to your advantage." Flint says.
"Yes sir!"
* * *
The dropship landed a fair distance away, in a small meadow, its engine blowing the tall grass flat as the drop doors opened. Half a dozen piled out, checking their surroundings as per protocol before the two Rangers stepped out. Crossfire carried a large black gun case strapped to her back. Sol stepped out, wearing his new gear that Ira had finished; a black synthetic cloth jacket draped around an armored vest–airy, fashionable, and effective. He adjusted the black fingerless gloves that covered the Mystic Symbols on either hand. A large blue phoenix symbol decorated the back of the jacket.The dropship took off causing the grass to flatten completely. A small triangle shaped earpiece sat just in front of every member's ear.
Sol gave the signal and the squad began walking through the forest, their way lit by night vision goggles. For Rangers, their earpieces provided a heads up display that highlighted the world around them and allowed them to see well enough to avoid obstacles. The hike would take a few hours with the equipment they had brought: Crossfire had her large case and Sol carried a backpack with the essentials.
The squad made camp a hundred feet from the edge of the ravine and were surrounded by trees on all sides as they set up a small fire. With a bit of effort, Sol picked at his bag and pulled more things for camp, such as some food and a dampener for the fire's smoke. Some of the other squad members checked the rappel gear. Crossfire was the first to finish her meal and walked off close to the edge, bringing the large case with her. Sol watched her walk off, some of the other squad members just shrugged.
"She's been like that ever since the briefing." Jackson says, the only other female in the group besides Crossfire.
"To be fair, she is usually the squad leader, I think she's just a bit jealous." Carlson says while he pokes at some of the flames.
"It's not that, we just don't get along." Sol responds.
The two looked over at him. "You two have a history, sir?"
"It's nothing to worry about," He waves his hand dismissively, "besides, it's a long story."
"Well we have a few hours to kill, and we don't really know much about her, she doesn't...talk." Jackson offers, interested to know more.
"She never has been much of a talker sir, no matter what assignment we were on." Matches explains, walking up to the group and sitting down on the forest floor.
"Look, me and her have just never seen eye to eye. Her sister is actually one of my best friends, we're all family, technically." Sol says, "When I was younger, I was placed into a witness protection program, which involved me having to stay with a surrogate family."
"Should you be telling us this sir?" Carlson asks, "This seems classified."
"I'm not telling you very much, if you were to look into it, this would be the non-confidential part." Sol shrugs, "Essentially, Crossfire felt like I was intruding on her family."
"Seems like she's holding a grudge." Jackson says. "Didn't take her as an attention seeker."
Sol shrugs again, "I've tried to make things right, but this leader position definitely won't do me any favors."
"Unfortunately, sir." Matches says, before a look that practically screams 'Oh, that's right!' appears on his face. "Sir, I did have a question about earlier."
"Ask away, soldier."
"Crossfire mentioned that she both outranked and outclassed you, aren't those the same thing? I'd ask her myself, but..."
"Not exactly, as you know, Ranger's are divided into six ranks, E, D, C, B, A and S." Sol gestures as if counting the ranks with his finger.
"So Ranks and Classes are different?" Carlson asks, looking slightly confused.
"That's right. As for me, I'm a B-Rank Ranger, but only a C-Class Mystic."
"What's the difference?" Matches asks.
"Class refers to the measurable amount of Mystic Energy a person has, Rank is the position of qualified material and assignments a Ranger is allowed to handle. When I first became a Ranger, I started off at the same Rank as my Class, but after the Ranger Games I was able to ascend to B-Rank. Essentially, you can rise in rank but you can never rise in class."
"I'm gonna pretend I understood what you just said." Matches chuckles, and scratches the back of his head.
Sol matches his chuckle, "Trust me you're not the only one."
"Sir, I got something you'd like to hear."
Sol looked up to see Myers, the squad's Perceiver. He got to his feet and nodded to the rest of the squad.He followed Myers to the edge of the cliff face they were going to descend. Crossfire laid on the ground, a large black rifle in her hand as she looked down the holographic scope on top of it. Myers pointed towards the base.
"There's a Mystic down there."
"A Mystic, huh? What's the run down on them?" Sol questions.
"It seems to be some sort of...beast, like a large feral cat, sir. I would estimate B-Class, but there's something strange." Myers said, unsure exactly what he was looking at. His expression was full of confusion
"Something strange?"
"They're not moving."
They looked over to Crossfire, who was looking down the scope of the large strange rifle that Sol had never seen before.
"And that's not all sir," Myers continued, "The energy seems to be flickering."
Sol placed his hand on his chin as he looked down at the small compound. Nonmoving and flickering? Sol knew that Mystic Energy seen by Perceiver's could appear in either two ways. One, the Energy would hint at that person's ability or two, the ability would be represented by what was referred to as a Mystic Beast, a strange phenomenon that occurred with a few rare Mystics. Sol was one of those Mystics.
While Sol didn't fully know what that energy appeared like to a Perceiver, he had heard that observing the way it moves, it can indicate a person's emotions or their mental state.
"Have you ever seen energy flicker like you've described?"
"No sir, that's why I came to you."
Sol turned to Crossfire, "How many hostiles?"
"Four." She responds without hesitating.
Sol thought about it for a moment.
"How fast can you have the rappels ready Myers?" Sol said as he quickly turned around and began to briskly walk back to the rest of the group. "All of you get ready, we're going in now."
"So soon? What's the problem sir?" Jackson asked as they all jumped to their feet.
Sol turned back towards the cliff.
"Someones dying."
"What, are you stupid?" Crossfire flicked her head from the rifle scope. "This isn't part of procedure!"
Sol rolled his eyes as he checked his firearms chamber before holstering it under his arm. He turns back to Crossfire.
"–We have a mission, the Commander said t-"
"Commander Flint isn't here right now, so it's my call," Sol says, interrupting Crossfire. "And I'm calling it."
The two Rangers aggressively glared at each other, while the squad readied the rappels, attaching them to the sturdy trees that were close to the cliffside. Crossfire broke first, letting out a grunt as she walked back to her set position. Ignoring her, Sol moved to the cliffside and overlooked the entire sight before him. Looking down, the drop seemed to only be a hundred or so feet. He took a deep breath and calmed his nerves.
"Sir?" A squadmate looks over at him in curiosity.
"Watch this." Sol replies, taking a few steps back.
Just as quickly as he had gotten into position, he had already leaped freely into the air. To the squad, Sol looked like a meteor falling down onto Earth from the flames that surrounded him–a measure to soften his fall. Half of them had moved away from their rappels and simply watched in amazement at their leader. Crossfire, on the other hand, seemed unfazed. Sol slammed into the ground, setting a small patch of grass ablaze. Scanning around, he didn't see any threats in the immediate vicinity.
He pressed a button on his earpiece, turning on the intercom, "The surroundings are all clear, drop immediately." With that order, they scrambled back to their places and all rappelled off the edge in an instant. After a few minutes of descent, they stood right at Sol's side, ready to begin the mission.
Sol sighs a bit before turning on his intercom, "Crossfire, what's the enemy's current status? You think they spotted us moving down the cliff?"
"You're asking me?" Crossfire says over the comms, a bit of frustration persisting in her voice. She breaths a deep sigh before continuing, "...Movement seems normal, so no, they didn't see you. As for their status, two hostiles in the southern room, two in the northern one, and that Mystic is in the basement floor."
With that, Sol gave a nod and signaled everyone forward. They began walking in the direction of the base with weapons ready. It was hard to tell exactly where it was from the forest floor, many trees and heavy fog were everywhere. Even so, the team swiftly stalked forward, using those same obstructions as cover to approach the base. The only thing that could potentially spot them at this point were careless actions or a mystic. Besides himself and Crossfire, the only one was that unknown dying energy.
There was a part of Sol that wanted to run full speed ahead to it, but he knew doing so would be even riskier. Besides, there wasn't any information about friendlies being inside. Who cares if dispatching this quickly was a stupid decision, a chance to save someone's life is always a chance worth taking. He thought, slightly increasing his walking speed.
The fence became clearer as they advanced, Sol searched for any evidence of cameras in the area nearby. Spotting no such evidence, he hopped and cleared the barbed wired gate. With a quick snap, Sol ripped the lock off it, and the chain unraveled as it was forced open. The squad followed through the open gate and approached the main door. Sol took the lead, leaning against the wall and holding his hand up to the doorknob. He mouthed, "3, 2, 1..." while another squad member counted down with his fingers.
A small blast fired from his hand, breaking the hinge. Sol followed up by kicking the door wide open. While his smoky hand grabbed his firearm from its holster, the entire room opened up to him. Immediately, he saw a hostile lounging on a chair with a magazine in his hands. They seemed dumbfounded. With a quick double tap of the trigger the man dropped as a blue smoke trailed from the holes in his clothes. Sol turned to take out the second hostile but a quick trigger pull from Jackson led to the hostile being floored.
Sol gave a hand signal to Jackson towards the downed hostiles. With a nod, she began to check their incapacitated bodies for any signs of the data or any other mission relevant things. While she did her work, Sol, firearm readied, continued through the room. It was filled with a few screens and scattered chairs, several of them around a holotable in the center of the room. Sol moved against the wall as he heard a man's shouts and peeked around the edge, just in time to see a door open diagonally across from him. The third hostile came out of the room and ran towards him, completely unaware that he was right around the corner.
When his footsteps got close, Sol stepped out from behind the wall and slapped the hostile's firearm into the ground, firing a round directly into his chest. The man slumped to the ground in an instant, toxins safely incapacitating him. As Sol looked up, he realized that the fourth hostile had been right behind the third and was already lifting their rifle up towards him. Sol would be too slow to fire back.
"Damn it!"
While desperately trying to raise his firearm, Sol blinked, and when his eyes opened, the fourth enemy was already emitting blue smoke from their forehead. Strangely, he didn't hear a gunshot, only the sound of a bullet whizzing from behind his ear. When he looked back at his team in shock, none of them seemed to know what happened either. The only evidence was a wispy blue trail curving from the door outside to the fallen hostile.
"You're welcome." Crossfire calls over the intercom, as if to answer his question of "Who shot the enemy?"
"Tch, all clear!" Sol, lowering his firearm, shouts with annoyance at being saved by Crossfire..
"Myers, can you give me an update on that Mystic?" Sol asks while he checked the room that the two hostiles had come out of. It seemed like a sort of living quarters for the four–dirty and messy, with bunk beds and clothing strewn about the room.
"No new updates, sir. They haven't moved, and their mystic energy is still flickering."
"Secure the hostiles, check that holotable for any data, and call in evac, I'll check on our fifth." Sol says to his team, making it down the farthest hallway. At the end of the hallway was a large door, made of pure steel. Sol grabbed the lock, his hand heating up. He realized that–unlike the gate lock–this one was unbothered by heat, even after turning glowing red.
After a few moments, he calls on the comms, "Anyone find a key for this lock?" He got a few negatives in reply.
"Stand back." Crossfire says to Sol through the radio.
"What, why?" He replies, following her direction.
A bright beam fired through the door's side, carving through the metal as if it were made of paper. The top half of the door fell down onto the floor while the bottom half hung on its hinges. Can't say I expected that. Sol approached the door, realizing it was just over a foot thick and kicked the bottom half off its hinges.
"That's why."
The door slid downwards as Sol made his way down the sloped hallway leading to a set of stairs. As he made his way in, he was met with a horrendous stench from the room. It smelled so deeply of rust that forced Sol to put his hand over his nose in response. He stepped into the ill-lit basement, immediately his eyes widened in shock. The room was covered in red, as if the walls had been painted with it. At the other end of the room, was a person tied to a chair. Sol holstered his firearm as he rushed forward to their side. On closer inspection, he saw that they were female, with a Mystic Symbol of a cat-like beast just above their collar bone. It was almost impossible to see with all the dried and crusted blood that was splattered among her entire body. There were cuts, both deep and shallow, scattered everywhere across her arms and legs. With a quick shot of his fire, the chains fell apart. He quickly checked for a pulse and a look of realization crossed his face. It was fading. She was going to die.
"I NEED A MEDIC!"