Escape

CHAPTER 3:

TRAPPED

As Peregrine zoomed over lands that once used to be countries, images of the destroyed nations are flashed on to the hologram screen in the plane. The whole of Africa, Middle-East, Southern China, and India were naught but ruins. Melancholy flashed across Kanith's face when he looked at the screen and saw his homeland - now filled with only death and destruction.

"So, Capt said that Japan is one of the countries that managed to successfully create Beasts, right? You think our troops could win?" Artemus attempted to cheer Kanith up by initiating a little chatting. Bio-engineered beasts or simply Beasts for short, were a technological advancement that succeeded in around the Year 2112. Military scientists successfully engineered breeds of monsters and beasts for warfare that were controllable by computer chips embedded in their nervous system. England had failed to make this advancement as compared to countries like Japan and Russia, but were able to engineer much more advanced weaponry for human warfare.

"I don't think it's them you should worry about. You'll encounter them in the base too, y'know." Ling remarked snidely.

"We'll encounter them. We're gonna work together. With or without you." Artemus retorted. Ornelas heard the exchange and came over to break things up before it gets heated. He made sure Viper understood to work together and warned Ling against more unpleasant comments.

Peregrine closed in on the seas of Japan and Jayce was re-checking his equipment. Ling pulled Rissa to a corner and started whispering.

"We're going to war. We need to know who we can trust and rely on. How much do you think we can trust an ex-convict?" Ling mumbled while staring at Jayce cynically. Rissa shook her shoulders before Ornelas signaled for them to start gearing up.

Ornelas gathered Viper, who were all geared up. Infiltration Infantry had a different set of armor as compared to regular infantry. They had much lighter armor, and thus less defense as it contained lesser armor plates to ease movements. Boots had also no armor plates at all, but in return was almost completely silent. Laser rifles were substituted for laser pistols and snipers which were much more lightweight but carried lesser damage. Also instead of helmets, they wore military shades which had same functions as a helmet, but once again had lesser defense.

"Nobody likes repeated briefing, but I'll do it again. Remember. Our objective is to infiltrate and gain information based on what the Japan Military had been working on and what other plans they have. Their Beasts broke free before they could embed the computer chips and tore up the place. Which means hey never had the chance to clear the data there. We need to get in, get it, get out. Understood?" Ornelas briefed in a loud tone.

"Yes sir!" Viper shouted in unison.

Peregrine was now crossing the border into Japan and stealth mode was engaged. Retro-reflective panels turned on and engines turned silent. Viper equipped their mechanical wings and stood by the cargo door readied. It was late into the night at 1am. The skies were dark and perfect for stealth infiltration.

Before leading the jump, Ornelas signaled to the rest of the team. Five Four. Three. Two. One. And he leapt off the plane. Viper followed suit and jumped off the Peregrine one by one and expanded their wings. They started to glide down while Peregrine's autopilot led it to land in the vicinity, for escape purposes.

Viper followed the lead of Ornelas and they managed to glide and land safely just outside the gates of the military base. They abandoned their wings and sneaked towards the side gates.

"Fox, you're up. Do a brief recon of the gates." Ornelas whispered in the radio chat.

Rissa, donned in what Viper called the "black mamba" suit, crept across the field. The Black Mamba suit was basically the regular armor suit, but with all armor parts and equipment detached. Entirely black, skin-tight and weightless. It was perfect for camouflage in the dead of night. After several minutes, Rissa slithered back.

"All clear, Viper." She stated.

"Head for the gates." Ornelas ordered. The team sneaked over to the gates where it was locked with a virtual encryption. Jayce pulled out his decryptor and attached it to the lock. Numbers and symbols popped up on the screen in random orders and patterns while the rest of Viper were confused. After mere seconds of fast finger movement and button typing the screen showed:

- UNLOCKED -

Ling was reluctantly impressed while the rest whispered "Good job" in the radio chat. Ornelas opened the gate carefully and led the team in. Jayce popped the same magic on the base's main door and it slid open loudly. Viper froze and looked at each other, awaiting orders from Ornelas.

They waited silently for a few moments and made sure that none of the Beasts heard it. They successfully entered the military base. However as soon as they entered, the door slammed shut behind them loudly. As soon as that happened, they heard a cry. A screeching, eerie cry that was recognized immediately by Ornelas.

"That. That was a Banshee." he explained. Banshees were a highly feared breed of the Beasts that caused terror just by its signature cry alone. It was known to possess tentacle-like hair all over its head and yet looked very much humanoid except for black spikes all over its overly-slim body. They were capable of crawling at speeds beyond human capability and could take down a human before being noticed. Despite its size, it had known to be strong enough to overpower even the bulkiest human and had razor fangs that injected deadly venom once punctured.

As Ling and Rissa trembled, Ornelas gestured for Jayce to try for reopening the door. However before Jayce could move, the door's lock system self-destructed, turning the door into an immovable, 100-ton metal junk. This time, the self-destruct noise alerted much more Beasts. A mix of cries echoed across the hallway and it struck fear into the hearts of Viper. Intelligence had suggested that this was a top-secret military base and thus had only one door in and out. They were trapped.

Jayce gripped Rissa's arm, steadying her emotions while Ling was left alone.

"Don't despair. There has to be another way out. Focus on the mission first."

Ornelas decided to split up the team for the upcoming fork in the hallway. Artemus, Ling and Kanith went down the left while Jayce, Ornelas and Rissa went down the right.

"Keep in touch with the radio chat," reminded Ornelas. Each group made their way down gradually and discreetly as they entered a different room.

Jayce, Ornelas and Rissa stopped by a corner before the path turns down into the room. Jayce sneaks a small tube on the floor around the corner, which then transfers the vision picked up by the tube to the glasses of the trio. A huge, scaly, muscular monstrosity with long black claws filled with poison was lurking around in the room filled with all sorts of equipment, gadgets and weaponry.

"That's a Bulk. We have a Bulk over in our room over here. Artemus, how is your group doing over there?" Ornelas whispered into the radio chat.

"We've found the data room, Sir." Arty replied. However before Ornelas could show signs of content, he went on to the burst the bubble. "It's crawling with Reapers, Sir. And a couple of Bulks."

Reapers. Huge, wasp-like monsters with venom deadlier than that of any other Beast. Fortunately it moves slow and is easy to kill but was still as treacherous as any other Beast. Artemus had miniature microwave bombs which could take out all the Reapers at once but Bulks would take more than that. Also, a bomb's noise would set off the Bulks in the Weapon Room. Viper stayed still while they tried to devise a plan, but Jayce had already plotted it out.

"Listen to me guys. I've got a plan."

END OF CHAPTER 3