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Wargames. It was the one thing that drew soldiers from every army base in several states to one location. For the government it was a chance to see what bases and programs were worth funding and which ones they could cut to save their state money. For the soldiers it was a chance to not only get away from the rigors of their daily life on base for a few weeks but to also meet others from around the area while they tried to shoot each other. For the officers it was a chance to find out what other bases were doing and try to learn from one another in attempt to make their base the shining jewel in the army.

But as a town car rolled into the army base that was hosting the wargames, First Lieutenant Daniel Richmond had a completely different reason for attending the event. Like many other of the officers the word of the host base's new 'Advanced Soldier Program' had been revealing some extremely impressive results. What had just been a pet project of one squad had gone base-wide with every soldier a part of it, but strangely the whole program was going under the radar and statistics of the program had been vastly underreported. After several months of speculation and rumor he and several others decided to look into the matter themselves; after all it was no coincidence where the wargames were being held this year.

As the car came to a stop he put away the briefing folder he had been staring at and not reading for the last twenty minutes and looked outside. Rows and rows of tents had been set up in the nearby field, just like a real foreign military operation outside of a base. The banners of different bases and squadrons could be seen, in the distance he could see the emblem of the head of the fox with two lightning bolts behind it, which was the marker for his own home base. As he looked around the bustling activity of the base he saw the shared banner for the squads of the host base, which had been recently changed to a black coiled serpent with a background of a tongue of bright red fire.

"Lieutenant Dan!" Daniel sighed as he heard the voice of one his fellow officers as he changed direction and jogged towards him.

"You realize that joke wasn't even funny the first time you said it when I made Lieutenant?" Daniel stated as the two saluted each other. "So did you and yours get settled in Hank?"

"Yeah, surprised they didn't put us in the mortar fields after we tried to move into their amphitheater," Hank replied as he looked at the main office of the base. "The officers around here are all wound up, you'd think that we're actually going to war."

Daniel just sighed and nodded, the two idly chatted for a while longer until business broke up their conversation. Once he was no longer entangled with his friend he made his way down to the aircraft hangar that served as the primary meeting point for the wargames. When he got into the spacious building he found many senior officers milling about, several tables set up with food and refreshments. The central stage had a huge viewscreen behind it with a map of the army base as well as a sidebar with all the emblems of the various squads that had participated.

As people seemed to settle in the lights on the main stage suddenly turned on and Daniel towards it along with the rest of the officers, and as they watched they saw a younger man in a camouflaged armored rubber bodysuit come onto the stage. "I am Base Sargent Daniel Collins, thank you all for coming to the tri-state wargames," the officer announced, which received a polite smattering of applause. "We are here today to test now only the abilities and aptitude of our soldiers, but of the officers and programs that train them. Once of those programs is one that has caused quite a buzz in our community, and to help explain it is the appointed leader of these wargames. Please welcome Specialist Dalton, squad leader of Alpha Company and head of the Advanced Soldier Program."

Daniel tried to keep his composure about the possibility that he would learn about the fabled program on day one, and from the increase in applause he could tell he wasn't the only one. As the soldier came up to the stage the noise quickly died down, everyone's gaze fixated on the male in front of them as he took the microphone. Much like his predecessor he also had on an armored bodysuit, those this one was pitch black and far more skin-tight. The officer swore he could see each muscle move underneath it as Dalton saluted everyone who stared at him.

"Thank you very much, I'm honored to be standing in front of so many officers who have risen in not only their ranks, but also in our respect while in service to their country," Dalton introduced. "I am Specialist Dalton, and judging from your applause you've heard of our little program. I started it with my squadmates and a few volunteers, but now the entirety of this base now follows it and as a result we have not only smashed base records but also state and national ones too in performance.

Daniel couldn't help but keep his eyes on the charismatic male as he spoke, the silver-tonged soldier seemed to have captivated the entire crowd while he continued on. "But now comes the real test... not only is it a program that can withstand the rigors of a large-scale combat simulation, but also can it be passed on to other bases as easily as it has grown here? Tomorrow we will find out, and soon we will see if the state's, and eventually the nation, is ready for the Advanced Soldier Program."

"But I've blathered on too much, it's time for what we're all here for," Dalton said as he gestured towards the large viewscreen. "Our base has been given a lease to use the local national forest as well as the territory of the base itself in order to play out a massive conflict. All squads start out in separate locations and look to eliminate the competition. If you take out an entire squad then that squad joins yours and continues the conflict; not only does this allow all soldiers to participate to the end of the simulation and provide incentives to be aggressive but it allows our squad to try and see if we can teach our program in a battlefield scenario."

"Oh yeah?" A stocky man said from the crowd, whom Daniel recognized as Major Richard "Bulldog" Tyson. "And what happens if your squad is eliminated first?"

"Then I guess our program isn't worth teaching, is it sir?" Dalton quipped back, which brought a small amount of chuckles from the audience. "Anyway please enjoy our hospitality and good luck to everyone tomorrow, by now your squads will have gotten the briefing and equipment that will ensure that these games go off without a hitch."

Daniel watched as Dalton hopped off the stage with ease and walked with the Base Sargent back towards the barracks. Once they had left the rest of the officers had begun to disperse, some of them to the officer's club while others went back to their respective squads. He was one of the latter, looking up to see their banner flap in the wind before he entered their operations tent. On the table was several thick manuals and a box, which his squad leader had already opened and looked inside with wide eyes. He was about to ask what was so surprising when the soldier reached in and pulled out a solid band of black rubber that blinked with a red light.

It took the Lieutenant almost an hour of reading the briefing before he could identify what they were. It was a tracking collar, each squad had one that was designated for them and allowed the officers to track their progress from the main stage in the hanger. It also gave stats on which soldiers were 'killed' and when a squad was defeated it would switch their designation over to the ones that finished them off. It was all very technical, but it also would help him with his plan to investigate the special program since officers were not allowed to participate directly in the games but were able to call the shots from their respective operations tent.

Once he had gotten a bearing on what was happening he called in three of his soldiers, which were the best of their fields as their base. "Gentlemen, I have a very special task for you," Daniel said as reached into his pocket and pulled out three golden pins. "What you see here is a combination microphone and camera system, given to me by a mutual friend that is as interested in this program as I am. You are to wear these and gain as much Intel on the Advanced Soldier Program as possible."

"Excuse me sir, but the rules put forth by the leader of the wargames said that only authorized equipment is allowed on the battlefield to make sure that no one has an unfair advantage," one of them explained, which caused Daniel to frown slightly.

"I am aware of the rules Private Archer," Daniel rebuked as he turned away, then looked outside the tent before he closed it and brought everyone in close. "This is top secret, but since I chose you three you deserve to be in the know on what's going on. One of my contacts in the CIA asked me to look into this Advanced Soldier Program, says that things are going on that are extremely disconcerting but he can't get anyone high enough up on the food chain to investigate. I'm counting on you three to give me the answers that he desperately wants, and though the war is a simulation this mission is very much real."

The three nodded solemnly, looking at one another before their gaze all turned back to their commanding officer for further instruction. Daniel explained to them to try and get close to the Alpha Squad of the base but not to actually be captured by them, as well as help the rest of the squad to try and defeat other soldiers to gain numbers. Unfortunately from the map they were provided of the starting positions they were as far away from their target as could be, their fox emblem on the other side of the map from the black snake. The officer also explained to them that if it came down to it to break off from the squad and operate independently if the situation called for it, even if it meant they lost the wargames because of it.

Once Daniel had finished with their special orders he excused them, lingering behind in the operations tent for a while after they left. After a few minutes he took out a tablet computer and booted it up, and once the screen lit up he had three different views of the camp taken from the pins his soldiers wore. He did a few more checks before he turned it off and stowed it away again before anyone could catch him with it, then made his way back to the barracks that had been given to the officers to sleep in. Once he got to his assigned bunk Daniel tried to sleep and managed to fall into a fitful rest as the thought of Dalton on that stage lingered in his mind.

The next morning started bright and early with reverie, every soldier on the base getting up in order to officially start the annual wargames. Mess tents had been set up to handle the huge influx of hungry mouths, though it would only be for breakfast before the privates were shipped out to their starting locations with the supplies that would have to last them for the rest of the simulation. Lieutenant Daniels gave his squad one last briefing and pep talk before they left for their local in the southern stretch of woods. As they left he saw his three special operatives and shared a look with them, giving a nod to each other before they were shipped off in trucks.

Once their soldiers left most of the soldiers went to the hanger, watching as the numerous dots that represented every person on the field spread out into groupings on the screen. Each dot had a small emblem beside it, Daniel quickly spotted his own men as they started on a ridge deep in the heart of the forest. Though there was a lot of land they also had a lot of soldiers, from the chatter that was overheard most expected the games to be done in less than two days. The speculation caused a pit to form in Daniel's stomach and he wondered if his guys would have enough time to even find what they were looking for.

His thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a roar of commotion that happened all around him. It took him a while to see what everyone was so excited about; on the giant screen the dots that represented the Alpha Squad had crossed an absurd amount of ground from the word go and engaged with those that were marked with a castle, and as he watched the dots from the castle team quickly turned from green to red. When the last one went red the castle emblem disappeared, replaced with the Alpha Squad's black snake icon. The Lieutenant hardly had time to comprehend what had just happened when he saw Richard Tyson kick over a table before storming off.

"Looks like Dalton took Tyson's jab to his group and decided to prove him wrong." Hank said as he came up behind Daniel. "Talk about a vendetta, they had to have gone into a full sprint in order to intercept Bulldog's squad before they even had a chance. Glad I didn't decide to mouth off, my guys are on the other side of them and hopefully they'll keep pushing south so they can bolster some more numbers. Bet you're glad you got on the other side of them too, huh?"

"Yeah... glad..." Daniel replied halfheartedly as he watched his group begin to move out. Only half an hour in and the Alpha Squad had already taken out one very well-trained competitor, which meant that the estimate of two days might be a bit conservative. The rest of the group seemed to share his sentiments as well, the roar of conversation from the officers was now a room of hushed whispers. Next to him Daniel could hear his friend continue to talk to him, but he only half-listened as to him before he finally excused himself and walked out of the hanger.

Once he got back to the operations hanger he opened up his tablet and selected Archer's feed. The specialist was one of the best recon scouts that his base had ever trained and he had seen on the screen that one of the dots had broken away from the group and gone up to a higher elevation. Once he was sure that he was along Daniel confirmed that it was Archer and told him to watch out for a squad half a mile to his left as he watched the soldier climb up a rather large tree. After a few minutes the camera stopped going upwards, which Daniel assumed was as far as Archer could go before he had to stop.

"Alright, it's not much but I created a shotgun mic from what I could." Archer explained over the private broadcast. "Just point me in the direction and I'll see if I can't pick anything up."

"Alright, from your location you're going to want to point it about eight-two degrees," Daniel instructed as he looked at the screen in the operations tent, which also had the virtual map and all the GPS signals of the soldiers. "They just took over another squad a few minutes ago and they haven't moved yet, I think they're going to be there for a while."

The soldier confirmed and for a while Daniel heard nothing, then as the camera angle changed slightly he could start to hear something. At first he thought it was just static, but as it continued to move he could hear something over the white noise. But as the noise came in more clearly he started to get confused as it sounded like low grunts. He asked Archer to try and turn up the volume and as the noise got louder it started to get more recognizable as-

A loud moan caused Daniel to nearly drop the tablet in his hands and as he heard a cacophony of bangs that indicated Archer had dropped the microphone down into the woods. The Lieutenant had to pull out the earpiece for a few seconds as it happened, which gave him time to think about what would cause such a noise in the first place. One answer was obvious, but he didn't want to even think that such a thing was going on in the middle of a military operation from supposedly one of the best squadrons in the area. It could have been any number of things, from someone lifting something heavy to a potential injury that happened.

Still... though he tried to deny it there was little doubt in his mind on what such a noise was. Was that the secret to the Advanced Soldier Program, the Alpha Squad went back to Spartan strategies where the men would just have sex with one another to form some sort of bond? It would make a bit of sense on why the higher ups wouldn't want to recognize it, but that would mean the entire base at this point. He shook his head of such a thought and instructed Archer to rejoin the group, since it appeared on the screen that his squad had started to move once more.

***************************************

Several hours passed before night was called and the squads were ordered to stand down for the night. While in a normal military operation it would be possible to continue onto the night it had been decided a long time ago that it wouldn't be the typical situation, so every team was to stop where they were and to stay there until the call came through the radio in the morning to start again. Daniel sighed as he looked up at the board; while his squad was still in the game and had even managed to capture another the map was dominated by soldiers that were marked with the black serpent. Roughly half of the squads captured were by the home base, something that was almost unheard of for this type of wargame.

As Daniel walked out of the central operations hanger and back towards the officer's club he saw a familiar face walking out of one of the mess tents. "Major Tyson!" he called, saluting to the higher officer. "First Lieutenant Daniel Richmond, I was wondering if I could have a word with you."

"Oh yeah, your Colonel Richmond's boy," Major Tyson replied. "Your father was the instructor in my boot camp, back when he wore the same silver bar you do now. Go ahead son, you have my ear."

"Thank you sir," Daniel thanked. "It's about the wargames, I was wondering if your squad has given you any feedback about the Alpha Squad now that they're in the field trials of the Advanced Soldier Program."

Daniel could see Major Tyson's face fall as he mentioned their defeat, giving him the trademark scowl that earned him his nickname of Bulldog. "Well I can tell you that their emblem change is fitting," Tyson spat. "Bunch of snakes, should have known they would try something after I made light of their record during the pre-game briefing. Now whenever I talk to my squad it doesn't even feel like they're listening to me, and worse I have to hear them sing Specialist Dalton's praises like he's some god damned war hero that saved them from getting run over by a tank."

Your squad's not respecting you anymore?" Daniel questioned.

"No, at least on the surface they still are," Tyson replied grimly. "But sometimes I can hear it in their voice and when they talk about the Alpha squad. Apparently they managed to get them all a set of that fancy armor they all wear now, my Sergeant wouldn't even take his damn helmet off when I talked to him over the video link."

The two continued to talk for a bit more before they reached the officer's club, and when Daniel offered to get the older officer a drink he just smirked and said he had something a little stronger back where his troop was garrisoned. The Lieutenant watched the man for a while as he left, his mind full of thoughts that he had just said. He had been tempted to ask if he knew if any of his men would be inclined to act towards another male soldier, but he couldn't think of any way to broach the subject without it sounding extremely disrespectful. Instead he watched Tyson leave before he turned to go into the building, only to find his way blocked by another body.

"Some people are rather sore losers," Dalton said as he looked down at Daniel and gave him a sheepish smile. "Ah, forgive me, I should not speak ill of superior officers."

"Your indiscretion will be forgotten... this time," Daniel warned.

"Thank you very kindly," Dalton responded. "So Lieutenant Richmond, I've seen that your fox brigade is doing very well so far. How do you think the games are going so far?"

Daniel had to restrain a sour look from the obviously gloating soldier, trying not to let the other man get under his skin. "I think your squad is dominating, but that just means that others are going to be that more hell bent on putting you down. I've already overheard two other bases plotting to join forces in order to take your Serpent Squad down."

"Serpent Squad?" Dalton replied. "I like that. Well it won't be long to see which one of our groups comes out on top, our two squadrons are rather close to one another now. I suspect that early in the morning we're going to see them clash."

It took all of Daniel's strength not to respond to the subversive goading of the soldier, even though he could pull his rank and tell him to buzz off he didn't want to look like he was being a bad sport either. Finally a chirp in his ear-piece caused him to hastily say his good-byes to Dalton and he walked as quickly back to his camp as he could without arousing suspicion. Before the lock-down of troop movement was decided on for the night he had ordered Rhodes, one of his three secret agents, to leave his collar behind and move towards the Alpha Squad camp to see if he could find anything out about them. A chirp meant that he was close and to get alone as soon as possible, which he did as he settled into his tent with his tablet.

Daniel bit his lip with his thumb as he turned on Rhodes' camera feed and saw him pass by an old ranger station. When the soldier gave him the coordinates he found that he was only fifty years from the encampment of the Alpha Squad soldiers. But as he watched the camera suddenly turned towards the building, where he could see that one of the lights was on. He watched as Rhodes slowly approached one of the windows of the building, taking the camera he wore and poking it over the edge of the sill so that Daniel could see what was inside.

Though it was a bit hard to make out through the dirty glass he could see soldier equipment scattered about the floor and on the old table. It was impossible to tell whose it was or how long it had been there, at least until Rhodes panned the camera around and Daniel saw a jacket with an emblem on it. "That's Finson Bravo Company, I recognize the cheesy looking lightning bolt and skull tag they use," Daniel explained. "What the hell is that doing here though? They're still at least two clicks east of here and hadn't come through that way yet."

Rhodes informed Daniel that he would try to move towards the source of the light and see if he could find where the missing soldier was. Daniel waited nervously as he watched the scene shift, the camera scrolling around the outside of the abandoned building until he got to the back patio. As soon as they reached it they both detected movement inside, unfortunately the windows here were screened which meant that a clear picture was next to impossible. The audio was clear enough to detect two voices, though what was being said couldn't be deciphered as they spoke in a hushed tone.

Daniel warned that it might not be safe to try and get any closer, but the soldier failed to heed his warning and carefully climbed his way up to the roof. The Lieutenant was impressed with the determination that his man had, which he felt reflected in his squad. After a few minutes Rhodes was on the roof and carefully treaded towards the skylight. Once he was there he took the pin camera and held it over the light, which allowed Daniel to look straight down.

At first all Daniel could make out was some slight movement, though it was hard to tell in the darkness. He instructed Rhodes to move to the left and try to catch some of the light that he could see coming from the living room. The soldier slowly crept around the skylight, then stopped when Daniel nearly shouted at him too. The angle caught so that the lantern in the other room illuminated the makeshift bed that had been set up there and he could clearly see two shapes moving in the darkness. The one on top had a black, glossy shine to it, which was likely those bodyarmor suits that the Alpha Squad wore. Of course that meant that the second shape underneath the first was from Bravo Company and what they were doing was definitely not part of the wargame or any training program he had even been part of.

Suddenly the entire picture shook and a loud clang could be heard, Rhodes cursed under his breath and explained he had dropped the pin on the skylight. The heads of the two males shot up and Daniel could swear he heard an audible hiss, but what really caught him off guard was the two pairs of eyes that shined up at him. The Bravo Company soldier's eyes had a yellow pallor to them, like he suffered from jaundice and the glint of light on his face made it appear that he had the same rubber on his face. The Alpha Squad soldier though, his eyes looked like molten gold, save for the reptilian pupils that went wide as Daniel's wide eyes blinked...

...and the next second they were gone. Daniel watched as the camera was lifted up again, but by then he had told Rhodes to hold his position and went back into the recorded footage. Rhodes' feed was the first on the queue and he immediately backed it up a few seconds, only to find nothing but footage of an empty bedroom. After he checked several times to make sure he was on the right time and day he ordered the soldier to go back around to the front of the house, only to find that the jacket and other gear was gone save for the lantern that illuminated the cabin. Once again he scrolled through the recording and found that the recording from that time was gone as well.

As Daniel's brain spun from the recent events he heard a knock on the tent flap and immediately hid the tablet before he allowed entry. "Good evening Lieutenant Richmond," Dalton said as he poked his head into the flap. "I looked for you at the officer's club and didn't find you there, I was wondering if you would like to come and see something that had just arrived. It's part of the Advanced Soldier Program and I know you and some of the other officers have been wanting to take a look."

Not wanting to raise suspicion, Daniel nodded and stood up to follow the other soldier. The rest of the camp seemed to have settled down for the night, only the hum of the electric lights overhead made sounds as they made their way back towards the primary operations hanger. He couldn't help but feel a knot start to grow in his stomach as he continued to walk behind the specialist, not only from following someone in the middle of the night that he had been investigating but also from the events that had just transpired out in the field. Did he actually something in that ranger station, or did some careless soldier merely leave a lantern behind and his mind was playing tricks on him due to his paranoia? Still, the vision of those eyes haunted him, so much so he didn't even realize when he and Dalton had stopped around an open shipping crate.

"Well, here they are, the new and improved Advanced Soldier Program armored bodysuit." Dalton introduced as he waved a hand over the pile of rubber outfits. "Ever since we got them in Egypt the one that makes them have been making tweaks to them to make them not only better in the field but also to help with our current distribution problem. It took months to properly prepare a soldier to receive one of these before, but with new and improved techniques we're hoping that we can have every soldier involved in the wargames covered in rubber by the time the festivities end."

"Well the way your squad is going you might have to work faster than you thought," Daniel replied as Dalton handed him one of the suits. He had originally thought to broach the subject of what he might have seen to the soldier, but to do so would admit that he was using illegal equipment in the wargames and trying to spy on a fellow platoon, so instead he opted for a different route. "So who makes all of these suits anyway, if it was some sort of standard defense contractor then every base in the country would know about it and so far this is just this base's best kept secret."

Dalton smirked at him, something that caused Daniel's anger to flare up slightly though he managed to keep his ego in check. "We actually have an Egyptian contributor that made these, that's how we got them in the first place before our base came under enemy attack," he explained as he put one hand on Daniel's shoulder and the other against the suit he held in his hands. "Feel the strength of that rubber, and those plates are harder than any armor we've seen here in the states. Also I have to say that the texture against the skin is amazing; you really don't have to wear underneath it and the way it contours to your body is so comfortable you can even wear it to sleep."

For a few seconds Daniel continued to feel the rubbery material between his fingers as it glinted in the light, just like what he remembered on that video feed. He looked up to his left to ask Dalton a question only to find him gone, and he stood there in confusion until he heard the other male clear his throat and saw the soldier on his other side. "So this foreign company is making these suits, but what are they getting out of it?" he asked intently. "Surely they're not giving everyone in America this new body armor just out of the kindness of their hearts."

"Well they're not giving every soldier in America a bodysuit quite yet, even these aren't quite ready to be distributed," Dalton retorted as he closed the crate up. "I'm sure they will be soon, but until then you must be exhausted, I'll let you get back to your tent and get some sleep. Good night Daniel."

Daniel was about to reprimand him for the lack of respect of not addressing him by his title, but by then the other soldier had turned around and walked back towards the Alpha Squad's barracks. He decided not to press the matter, with the wargames and his secret espionage mission he found himself quite tired from the whole ordeal. He trudged back to his camp and flopped onto his cot, putting his hands behind his head. Despite the details he had gleaned from the overzealous soldier he still had far more questions than answers, all he knew was that something was wrong at this base and he was determined to find out what it was with whatever it took.

********************************************

"Sir, I'm sorry but I don't think you came in clear, you want us to do what?" Archer asked as he looked into the camera pin.

"You heard me soldier, I want you to leave your trackers with the rest of the squad and infiltrate a storage shed three and a half clicks Southwest of here," Dalton ordered as he ate his granola bar. The rest of the officers were in the mess hall for lunch, which made his lack of presence relatively discreet as he watched the faces of the three soldiers on the tablet. "Those Alpha Snakes have taken three-fourths of the others at this point, and though the others are talking about banding together to try and defeat them there's no way they're going to mobilize in time. While those two groups are engaged we can get to the bottom of these suits once and for all."

"I understand sir, but even if we don't get caught we still don't know what we're looking for." Rhodes said.

Daniel sighed and rubbed his temples, feeling a stress headache form behind his eyes. "I already told you it's the suits that they're wearing," he explained again. "I was shown them last night and I think they have something to do with how weird the other squads act when they're assimilated by the Snakes. You need to get in there and take one of them, then smuggle it out with you so when the wargames are over we have a blank sample that we can have the CIA examine."

There was a moment of pause and Daniel could tell that the three had lost a bit of faith in him after he told them what he thought he saw at the ranger station. Unfortunately Rhodes didn't look over the edge of the skylight himself, which meant he was the only one that had seen what transpired... at least, what he thought had transpired. Part of his mind still doubted himself even as he told his team what to do, but even if it wasn't he was still there to figure out what sort of program Dalton and the rest of them ran. Finally the soldiers gave him a yes sir and their camera pins went back onto their uniforms, then went to make the proper arrangements.

Daniel sighed and put the tablet away once more before he laid back on his cot, closing his eyes for a second before they snapped back open. Part of him wanted to just stay there until the mission was over and his team had delivered what he wanted, but he didn't want to look suspicious to the others and especially Dalton. When he hoisted himself up though he realized he had something that wasn't there before as the front of his camo shorts produced a lewd tent. How he managed to get an erection now of all times he wondered to himself as he tried to push it down, only to have a tingle of pleasure race down his body. He began to wonder if perhaps it was something he would have to sneak off to the latrines to take care of when there was a knock at the tent flap that caused him to turn away as he asked who it was.

"Lieutenant Dan, you want some ice cream?" Daniel heard, which caused him to sigh as he saw Hank push his head through the door. "Lieutenant Dan... ice cream."

"Damnit Hank," Daniel replied while he looked down to see that his erection had finally gone down. "Shouldn't you be with the others in the central operations hanger?"

"That's actually why I'm here," Hank explained. "It looks like we're nearing the end of the wargames and naturally it appears that the Alpha Squad is going to dominate everyone. Dalton is calling all personnel in the base to come to the hanger, no doubt to gloat I'm sure."

Daniel nodded and, after a quick check downward to make sure everything was still fine, he grabbed his duffle bag and followed the other officer out of his tent and towards the hanger. As the two walked forward he noticed that he wasn't the only one that had been summoned. By the time they had reached the hanger it was almost completely full and everyone had their gaze at the center stage and the viewscreen that was now dominated with the symbol of the black serpent.

Just as Daniel was about to ask someone else if they knew what was going on they saw Dalton walk onto the stage, though he wore one of Alpha Squad's signature helmets along with the standard body suit. "Esteemed officers of the military, I am pleased to announced that as of ten minutes ago the last squad was captured, which makes the 'Serpent Squad' the winners of this year's wargames," Daniel declared, which prompted a light smattering of applause from the audience. "Of course this year wasn't just to prove the effectiveness of the Advanced Soldier Program, but to show that it can now be easily passed on now from one soldier to the next. Now I have a special treat for all of you, thanks to Lieutenant Richmond I have arranged for a live demonstration of how the Advanced Soldier Program works."

The gaze of the officers was on Daniel for a few seconds before the lights in the hanger dimmed and the picture on the giant screen shifted. The map disappeared, replaced with the feeds from three cameras that appeared to be inside a small depot overlooking a large crate full of uniforms. Daniel felt his stomach sink to his feet as he realized that it was their feed; how long had they known that someone was looking into them? And how had they gotten to the storage area so fast when he had just given them orders a few minutes ago? Though he was shoulder to shoulder with people he tried to contact his team through the earpiece, only to find static on the other end.

"Well here they are," Archer said as the three picked up the rubber bodysuits. "How exactly are we supposed to get these past the soldiers that are picking us up? We can't just stuff them under our shirts and they might decide to check our packs, especially if they see that anything is missing from here."

Daniel tried to mentally will a message to them that they were in some sort of trap, but the three remained oblivious to his attempts to psychically contact them as Rhodes began to strip his fatigues. "We'll ditch our own underarmor and replace it with this," he explained to the others. "It should look about the same on us and unless they decide to strip search us I doubt they're going to find it. Then once we get to the safety of our own tents we'll give them to the Lieutenant and he can deal with them."

The others nodded and began to strip down as Daniel's cheeks flushed with embarrassment. The pin cameras feel to the ground, which gave the entire audience three different angles of the three completely naked males before they each took out a suit and began to put it on. For a few minutes they fumbled with it before the rubber slid up their skin, thankfully for Daniels it covered up their groins as they slipped it on. The three remarked that it felt rather good on their bodies and how lightweight it was, almost like it wasn't even there. As they talked about the possible advantages Rhodes dug down deeper and pulled out a helmet similar to the one that Dalton wore.

"I don't think we're going to be able to smuggle that out," Archer joked as he watched his squadmate put it on.

"Well maybe we can find something else... whoa..." Rhodes stopped suddenly as he held out his hands, which caused the other two soldiers to look at each other. "Wow, they got some sort of VR display in here, no wonder they can outperform everyone else. Strange though, this one makes this place look like one of those ancient Egyptian temples you see in movies. I can still see you two and there's the general layout of the area but all the walls have that Egypt writing and torches."

"Well Lieutenant Richmond briefed us that these suits were manufactured in Egypt, maybe it's some sort of default test program," Archer speculated. "In any case you can report that back to him when we leave the games, right now we have to catch up with the squad in case they get captured."

Rhodes nodded and reached up to pull off the helmet when he suddenly gasped and held his arms out. "S-something's got me!" he shouted as he wiggled as though he was stuck in place. "Oh god, it's coiling around me!"

The other two soldier shot each other a panic looked before they started to move towards their panicked friend, only to each have a pair of muscular arms reach around and restrain them. They fought against their assailants but the people behind them didn't move an inch, even as they kicked and clawed at the rubber-covered appendages that held them in place. The sound of rubber squeaking together could be heard as their bodysuits rubbed against the walls of hard muscle that were their captor's chests. When they shouted a hand covered their mouths, their eyes widening as they could feel the prick of claws against their cheeks.

Meanwhile Rhodes continued to try and wiggle his way out of the invisible creature that bound him, even as his arms and legs were pressed firmly against his sides. "No... get those eyes away from me!" the soldier's muffled voice shouted, though with each passing second the panic seemed to drain away from his body. "It's trying to get inside me... inside my head! It wants to change me... says I can be better, but I have to resist him. But he just want to talk now... he says if I let him talk he'll let me go... he promisessss..."

The last word was drawn out into the low hiss as Rhodes slumped, held up only by the unseen force he had ranted about a few minutes ago. Before the two soldiers could do anything though another helmeted figure crossed into their vision, holding up a clawed finger in their face. "I'm sure you have a lot of questions right now, as do those who happen to be watching now, but I would like to take the time to explain what is happening if you don't mind," the soldier said. "My name is Edge, and first of all I would like to welcome our three newest recruits to the glory that is the service of Apep."

A murmer of confusion and disbelief rolled through the crowd of officers in the hanger, no one was quite sure what they were watching as Edge took the pin cameras and set them up so everyone could clearly see the scene, particularly Rhodes. When Edge backed away those murmurs turned to shouts and gasps as they saw a black rubber serpentine body where his legs should be. He used the flexible form to curl around Rhodes while the two that had restrained the other soldiers did the same, all three nagas coiled around their prey. Unlike the other two though the male that Edge wrapped around didn't fight or struggle, instead he let out a clearly audible moan that Daniel quickly recognized.

"What sort of freak show is this?!" one of the officers shouted before Dalton's visor seemed to zero in on the male, who quickly seemed to shut up and actually begin to cower slightly.

The rest of the officers looked back up at the screen, where the two restrained males continued to squirm while their squadmate laid limp in Edge's latex coils. "Yessss, that's it, just let Apep's power flow into you," the rubber naga cooed as he gently stroked the groaning male's head. "You are one of us now, a soldier of Apep, a creature of chaos..."

The other two naga soldiers were so enraptured in watching Edge that they didn't notice Archer as he exhaled deeply and pulled himself out of the confining coils. Before the naga that held him could react he tumbled down and landed on his feet, then kicked up and hit his captor square in the face with the heel of his boot. The snake recoiled back with a loud hiss as the soldier ran up and grabbed the underside of the helmet of the man that Edge held captive.

"I got your six!" Archer shouted as he triumphantly ripped off the hardened rubber, only to his have jubilation turn to horror as revealed the head of a black rubber-scaled snake underneath. "Rhodes, no!" He backed away from the hissing creature before he felt those powerful arms wrap around him once again and pin him. As the soldier stared in shock at the loss of his squadmate's humanity his gaze was drawn into the bright yellow reptilian eyes and his body started to go slack.

Archer once more felt those thick latex coils wrap around his rubber-covered body as the helmet was removed from his hands by the naga behind him and placed on his head. The inside padding was the same as the suit he wore, and as soon as the visor lined up with his eyes he saw what the other soldier had talked about just minutes before. Next to him he could hear the last remaining member of their team get fitted with a collar as well, the angry red hue that had been around the human's body almost immediately started to dull and turn golden before he looked around once more.

The walls of the storage locker looked like the pictures of the inside of an ancient Egyptian temple, though certain things still stood out like the guns that they had brought into the room. The naga soldiers glowed with a golden light that emanated from the lines that were now clearly visible on their bodies, especially where a cluster of them formed into the image of snake. As he watched Rhodes get released he saw that a similar tattoo had formed on his own body over his shoulder, though more shocking was as the huge serpentine body unwound from the former human he saw that their entire lower body had become just like the others. Just as the creature that had once been Rhodes had turned his flexible body around to nuzzle against Edge's erect shaft something flitted out of the corner of Archer's eye that caused him to turn and gasp in his helmet.

Next to him was the largest creature that Archer had ever seen; a serpent form that seemed to be made out of the shadows themselves save for the bright red glow of eyes with only mere slits for pupils. The second he had made eye contact with the creature he could feel the immense power press down on him like a wave as the creature grew close. His psyche felt like it had caught fire, but instead of pain a burning lust raged through him as he felt his features shift. No words were exchanged, and none needed to be... Archer knew this was a god, the one they called Apep, and the second he had seen it he was doomed... no, destined to be one of his soldiers.

The serpent god was the embodiment of chaos on Earth, and now Archer that chaos was inside him as he felt his features begin to shift. The padding in the helmet shifted as he felt his face expand against it, his breath quickening to a low hiss as he felt his teeth sharpen to fangs. The naga behind him continued to prop him up as their god changed him into a proper avatar, his nose melted back onto his face as rubber from the helmet flowed over his skin and merged into it. The same was happening to the flesh covered by his suit, the substance between his legs knit together as he felt his bones crack and dissolve under the assault of the rubber that permeated every aspect of his being.

Archer's entire body quivered under the brunt of the sudden transformation and just as he thought the maddening desires would consume his soul the shadow serpent leaned forward and kissed him on the lips. The effect was instantaneous, as though someone had poured a bucket of water on him that was just enough to douse the flame but left the embers alive. He could feel something push its way out through his mouth, almost like a smoke that briefly flitted through his lips before it was devoured by the snake god before him. It made him feel empty inside, but that was only for a few moments before an inky blackness came out of those giant reptilian nostrils and mouth and slithered into his own. Suddenly it felt as though Archer had always been a naga, a creature created of rubber by their god Apep in order to sow the seeds of chaos amongst the masses...

After only a minute Archer felt the helmet get pulled off his head, his new forked snake tongue flitted out experimentally before he looked back at the naga that was wrapped around him. At first it felt like the naga soldier was about to release him, but as their rubbery bodies shifted around one another he felt something push against his new slit as their two scaly muzzles met in a monstrous embrace. It didn't take long for him to feel the penetration of the other naga's maleness inside him, a gift in celebration for his new form. Next to him the other two new converts were getting similar treatment, though Rhodes had to wait for a few seconds as Edge grabbed the camera that had been transmitting and gave a wink before he crushed it.

The second the feed went dead every soldier that had watched the feed suddenly snapped out of their shock and horror, including Daniel, and looked to the center stage. On it Dalton had removed his helmet and looked at them with bright red eyes, his body slithering forward by the thick snake form that had replaced his legs. "So..." he hissed, an unearthly tremor in his voice as he looked over the crowd, "who would like to taste my power first?"

The entire hanger erupted into a panic, seasoned military officers scrambled for any exit they could. Daniel was among them; though the doors were closed and the officers that had originated at the base had also become monstrous rubber nagas and had begun to capture people. Some they wrapped in their coils, others as soon as they locked eyes with them they either stood frozen or crumpled to the ground like rag dolls. On the stage the possessed Dalton laughed manically, watching the complete and other chaos unfold in front of him. Several men tried to rush the stage to attack him, but those that weren't immediately captured by the nagas that bordered the stage were brought to an immediate halt by the serpent lord's gaze. Daniel could hardly believe his eyes as one that had gotten rather close had fallen to his knees the second Dalton's head snapped towards him and began to rub and caress the muscular body of the rubber naga.

Just as Daniel was about to lose hope he heard someone shout his name over the roar of confusion and turned to see Hank and Tyson ushering him over. He managed to avoid the gaze of two nagas and ducked down low as he rushed towards the two men. What he saw them huddled around suddenly caused his heart to lift; it was an old service duct that would help to ventilate the hanger that was completely open. Though it was a bit of a squeeze the three managed to make their way out, as well as several others that had seen their escape and followed them. They continued to help people until one officer that was half-way out suddenly got dragged back in, his form quickly replaced with a black-scaled naga that reached for them as they turned and ran.

"We need to find a way to call this in!" Tyson shouted as they made their way across the base.

"What about our squads?" Hank shouted in response. "They're about to come into this mess and they don't have a clue!"

There was a brief moment of silence as everyone stopped running, partially because they had just sprinted nearly the entire length of the base and partially because of the realization that most of the other had. "Hank... we have to assume that all of our squads have been taken by the enemy," Tyson said with a mixture of sadness and anger. "You saw what happened to Daniel's men, I can only assume that everyone they captured were turned like those poor unfortunate souls we watched on the screen."

Daniel felt his stomach turn to lead at the thought, not only had the men he sent in to investigate the matter were transformed right in front of them but so had the rest of his squad when they were captured. It would be the same for the others, which meant that soon over a hundred converted naga men would be swarming this base and make it impossible to hide. If they couldn't escape, which seemed unlikely considering the number of personnel no doubt wondering around looking for them, then they had to get the word out that their military was being infiltrated from within.

That led them to the main facility on the base, one that had a communications hub they could hopefully use. Fortunately the number of enemies inside the building were low; no doubt they had thought most of those that would escape the initial ambush would try and leave the campus. The ten officers moved swiftly through the hallways, using their training to quickly make their way to where the radios would be. Once they had gotten there they found the room empty, Hank and Daniel barricaded the door as best they could as Tyson activated the equipment.

"This is Major Richard Tyson, can anyone here me?" the man announced over the radio. "I repeat this is Major Richard Tyson; we have an emergency code red, hostiles have infiltrated and taken over these wargames! Someone answer me dammit!"

There was a measure of silence save for the white noise of the radio, followed by the sound of a low, hissing chuckle that caused all their blood to freeze in their veins. "Did you really think that we wouldn't have had all communications in this base taken care of before we revealed ourselves?" a mocking voice said over the speaker. "Though you made a very tactical last ditch effort I'm afraid that, like everything else, it is all for naught. I'm afraid your brief resistance ends here."

"You think I'm really going to just roll over and give up that easy, you freaks?" Tyson nearly growled back. "I will fight you all until my very last breath leaves my body, and there's nothing you can do about it!"

"Oh we've prepared for that as well," the voice replied in a sinister tone as the men looked at each other in fear. "You humans are so weak-willed, if it wasn't for your sheer numbers and collective disbelief I would have ruled this world so long ago. As for the here and now it's all about strategically putting your pieces where they will be most useful, and now it is time for those pieces to make themselves useful."

Daniel immediately turned towards Hank, who looked at him with wide eyes as the color began to drain from his face. Oh god, Daniel thought to himself, had those serpents turned his friend? It wouldn't have been hard, Hank had gotten into it with Hank over the location of his squad. But as the other man backed away his fear turned to confusion in that nothing else seemed to happen. Slowly his gaze turned to the others and saw a similar reaction as they started to back away from him, and when he looked down he realized why...

Somehow during the time they had spoken on the radio Daniel had removed his fatigues, which revealed the shiny black rubber of a scale-textured suit beneath it. A jolt of fear raced through his body as looked to his left and he saw the duffel bag he hadn't let go of since he left his tent, though as his mind raced he realized it was a bag he had never seen before. When he dropped it the shine of latex could be seen in the opening of it, as well as two large bulges that were no doubt helmets. The rest of the officers backed away from him like he had contracted the plague, but all Daniel could think about was how... how had this happened to him as he opened the bag and took out one of the helmets.

"You'll have to forgive dear Daniel, he is what would call a pawn in this game," the voice continued on as Daniel found himself unexplainably putting the helmet on, his erection tenting the scaly body armor as his entire body convulsed as soon as the two flaps of latex touched around his neck. "As soon as I stumbled upon his agents working in the wargames I decided to flip the script on him. It was rather easy, his obsession over the need to know what was going on in the Advanced Soldier Program made him the perfect target to be manipulated by Apep's will beforehand. After some conditioning it was just a matter of setting him loose along with the other sleeper soldiers I created to eliminate any pockets of resistance."

Daniel's hand began to stroke against his groin as he swiveled his head to look at the others, seeing the humans glow red behind the visor he wore as well as the presence of his god Apep. Hank walked up to him and tried to get him to snap out of it, calling him Lieutenant Dan and telling him to hold onto himself. All it took was a brief look and Apep's power brought the human to his knees. As Daniel felt his snout begin to form he looked at all the other men, ordering them to strip and put on the suits that were in the duffel bag. There was a bit of resistance, particularly from Tyson, but even as the older gentlemen tried to rush him to get to the door he was stopped by a clawed hand that threw him backwards.

Soon all the other officers had stripped down and almost mechanically began to put on the rubber suits while Daniel moved over to the prone Hank and shoved his crotch into his face. By now his cock had detached from his suit and hung rigidly in the air, and with little need for a prompt the other male took it into his mouth and began to suck. Daniel hissed and pulled the helmet off of his head, his golden eyes flashing as he handed it to Tyson who immediately put it on. Once his hand was free he ran it down the muscles that continued to swell and sculpt into Adonis-like proportions, tracing a claw over the lines of the serpent tattoo emblazoned on his chest as the human continued to suck him. Black wisps of smoke escaped his rubber lips as he was consumed in pleasure, his groan soon accompanied by several others as human bodies were quickly being replaced with rubber nagas...

Back in the hanger Apep watched with glee from inside Dalton's body, watching as his newest acolytes used their new bodies on each other in all manner of carnal pleasures. From outside he could feel the others arrive as well, all of them transformed and ready as well. Those that had escaped the hanger had been handedly dealt with as well, their communications room as well as the motorpool also filled with nagas ready to serve to his every whim. It was a good start, the demonic deity mused, but he knew the humans were resourceful and he didn't want a repeat of his last attempt to rain.

Which meant the games had just begun...