Project Phantasm Chapter 5 - Gears in Motion
Project Phantasm Chapter 5 - Gears in Motion (Little Note: Think of the opening thing as a DOS prompt)0->: RUN: DIRECTORY 9 9->: SEARCH: "Reality Engine" >: SEARCHING ... 2 ENTRIES FOUND DELTA EPSILON >: RUN: DELTA >: PASSWORD?: ********** >: PASSWORD?: ********** >: PASSWORD?: ********** >: ... ACCESS GRANTED. OPENING TEXT. >: ... DELTA 9: Scientific studies of this realm have concluded that the probability of parallel dimensions is nil. However, within these co-ordinates- BREACH DETECTED SESSION TERMINATED; TERMINAL LOCKING DO-##%#^#!#^#{-%}# >:... >:... >:RUN: ZEPHYR >:... ZEPHYR ACTIVATED. ZZ>: ZZ>:Directories ZZ>:PLEASE ENTER DESIRED DIRECTORY. ZZ>: 9 Delta ZZ>: ACCESSING FILE... ZZ>: ... DELTA 9: Scientific studies of this realm have concluded that the probability of parallel dimensions is nil. However, within these co-ordinates...*** A constant, uninterrupted subsonic tone can drive a person mad. He wondered how the Gadelican dropships haven't done this yet.
Maybe they have driven people crazy and the government's just covering it up. Well, it's not going to put me in the asylum, but it's still annoying as hell. Trying to shrug off the background noise, Satosuke checked the miniature LCD on his armor's forearm, squinting as the midday sun glared for a second through the open sides of the aircraft. With the tap of a finger, meters and indicators flashed, communicating with his proverbial exoskeleton: Status: Armor Integrity: OK Zero-Point Energy Boots: OK Stealth Emitters: OK Weapon/Utility Holsters: OK "How many times are you gonna check your armor?" The dragon seated next to him sneered, rolling his eyes. "It's not like anything's going to be there at that island. This is probably some wild goose chase the Argamor insurgents want to put us on." "Hmph. It's better than sitting around and making snide comments, Byron. Better to keep one's head in the game, I say." "Ha! Like Elsa and I will actually need you there. Even if something does come up, we can take care of it ourselves."
"Y'know, didn't Ark advise against hubris?" "First of all, what the fuck is a hubris? Second, you're just jealous because we're gonna have all the fun." "Yeah, like the fun you two had in the east side gardens last night? Damn, you two are loud." Byron shot a death-glare at Sato before turning away, grumbling at his choice of words. The hiss of pressurized air precluded the opening of a sliding door to Sato's right, as Drayk stepped through, now adorned in his own hazard suit, snapping closed the attachment between his sleeve and his fingerless glove. "Afternoon, panty-boy," Byron addressed Drayk sarcastically. "Good afternoon to you too, man-whore." Drayk shot back, grinning. Byron just grimaced, looking away. "Come on, hon." Elsa said to the dragon, patting him on the shoulder, "Don't let them get to you." Giving a wry smile in Elsa's direction, he returned her gesture by putting his arm around her waist, sneaking his claw downward to lightly cup and squeeze her buttocks, eliciting a devilish giggle from Elsa.
"Oh for chrissakes!" Sato yelled to the two, "Do you two ever knock it off!?" He was about to go on, but two yellow paws appeared on his shoulders, as Karen popped out of seemingly nowhere, draping her arms around his neck. "Hey sweetie," Karen cooed to Sato, who sat there, squinting in figurative pain in regards to Karen's less than perfect timing, "how about we go in the back to 'prepare' for our mission?" "Don't say a word." Sato groaned to Byron and Elsa, who were already smirking as he turned to Karen with his pained expression, "damn it, Karen. I was trying to make a point." "Maybe all four of you should knock it off." Drayk interjected, rolling his eyes at the exchange between the two couples. "Best to keep your head in the game, y'know." "Hey, I already said that!" snapped Sato. But before he could continue, the pilot's voice grabbed their attention through their communicators. "Get ready!" His voice resounded, "We'll be touching down in 30 seconds!" *** "Alright, Sergeant," Sato said to the squad of marines still waiting eagerly beside the dropship, "We'll sweep the area first. If we encounter enemy resistance, we'll call for backup. For now, stay here and guard the ship."
The helmeted soldier he was focusing his eye on sneered, adjusting the eyepiece attached to his headgear. "Shit. Guard duty again." Turning back to his fellow troops, the Sergeant said, "You heard the man! Hold this position and wait for further command!" Nodding, Sato turned and walked over to converse with the other acolytes. "Looks like we'll be splitting up into 3 groups." Karen sternly declared, slinging her shotgun over her shoulder, her Kusarigama holstered at her side. "Sato. You and Drayk take the jungle area on the east side. Byron, Elsa, you two go the west path through the beach head. I'll hold a midpoint between the teams and keep communications going." "Hey wait a sec-" Drayk was about to protest, but Sato stopped him, putting his gloved hand on his shoulder, as Byron and Elsa ran off in the opposite direction, towards the bright white sand. "It's okay, man. What, you don't trust me?" Sato grinned. Confusion quickly swirled in the Shurian's mind as Karen walked over to Sato, and after a scant peck on the cheek, threw the blade of her weapon around a tree branch, and bounded away.
"First...why is Karen giving the orders!?" Drayk asked, still trying to make sense of what just happened. "And why did she pair us!?" Sato first responded with a sigh, bringing his carbine rifle to his shoulder. "She still hasn't gotten over startling you earlier this morning. She felt really bad about it, especially since she was stoned off her rocker." "Bah." Drayk shrugged, as the two made their way to the thicket of foliage that marked the beginning of the jungle. "It's no problem. If anything, I should be apologizing for breaking your coffee mug." "Let's settle it later. We've got work to do." Drayk instantly switched his focus to the mission, grabbing the mp5 around his shoulder, twirling the silencer in his other hand before screwing it onto the muzzle. "My sentiments exactly." the lizard replied.*** "Okay, can everyone hear me?" Karen's voice came through Byron's earpiece. "Loud and clear, foxy." he messaged back. The other three quickly chimed in with their confirmations.
"Alright, good. I'll be keeping point from here on in. Our mission is to survey the island for anything suspicious or relevant. Based on our lead, there is something pertaining to either the CT or the Vamfir resistance. What exactly we're searching for, I haven't the faintest idea, but stay alert. We could find something; we could find nothing. Let's just hope that if it is something, it's an important something." "Roger." came the four voices again. Focusing away from the communication, Byron sighed as he and Elsa walked along the untouched, shimmering sands of the beach head. "Jeez. This place is beautiful." "Yeah," Elsa replied, "What could the resistance possibly want to do with a tropical island?" "No idea. Just looks like sand, trees, ocean, and 100-degree heat. Oh well, at least it's sunny." No more than a second passed after the words left Ark's mouth, when storm clouds slowly maneuvered over the little island, the distant crack of thunder signaling the oncoming weather.
"Haha, looks like jinxes work after all." Ark said sardonically, as he and Elsa scanned the immediate area for cover from the rain. "Over there." Elsa pointed to a nearby rock formation, spying the entrance to a cave. The two quickly hoofed it into the small cove, just as the first raindrops touched ground. "Karen," Ark spoke into his earpiece, "Looks like Elsa and I are going to be immobile for a while, just until the rain starts to die down." "Roger," Karen's voice came through, "Set up a scanning beacon in that area and keep looking from your vantage point. Drayk and Sato are continuing through the forest right now." "Roger, Ark out." Switching off his earpiece, Ark, detached a small silver pod from a clip on his leg, and popped the bottom open, revealing a metal spike, which he promptly jammed into the side of the cave, a dull, loud THUNK echoing in the small alcove. The pod then clicked on, a blinking blue light indicating that the scanner was working. Looking at the LCD on his arm-guard, Ark synced it with the pod, a rough, digitized layout of an area of about 100 yards around them forming on the screen.
"Excellent, if anyone comes close we'll know." "Yeah, but it's not like there will be anything here." Elsa joked. The soon-ringing alarm beeping from their communicators seemed to disagree. "We've engaged hostiles! Repeat: we've engaged hostiles! Be on guard!" Sato's voice came through the line. "Roger, sir!" The sergeant replied, "I'm sending backup your way right now."*** Another shot fragmented on the thick, moss-covered log that Sato was crouching behind, his carbine at the ready. Peeking around the side, he squeezed his trigger, glowing blue bullets whizzing through the steamy air of the forest, opaque from the rain misting through the canopy. the snap of a bullet-damaged branch nearby resonated through the area as it detached from its tree and landed on the soldier directly below it, his surprised snarl quickly silenced under the weight of the branch. Drayk had already tapped into his quarter-chameleon abilities, sneaking around behind their attackers. "Damnit Drayk!" Sato groaned into his communicator. "Tell me when you're gonna run off like that."
"Shh." Drayk whispered back through the comm, "You'll blow my cover." "Alright, alright, just be carefu- fuck!" A metal object landed next to Sato with a dull thud on the forest floor, a telltale beeping making Sato bolt from his cover. He was able to dive away as the cylinder erupted, kicking up shrapnel, dirt and splintered wood in all directions. Now in the open, the soldiers opened fire upon Sato. With split second agility, he bolted back into the still smoky ravages of the grenade, using their own weapon as his cover. Undaunted, the soldiers started blindly spraying bullets into the smoke. Sato instantly dropped to his stomach, narrowly avoiding the shots. He quickly aimed his weapon and peered into the sight on it, turning a switch to activate infrared sights. Multiple bullets resonating out of Sato's rifle quickly felled the two attackers. "Hostiles neutralized. Keep on guard." Sato chimed into his communicator, Jumping back up on two feet. He quickly scanned around the area with his rifle sight before lowering it and cautiously walking towards the two downed attackers.
"Wait!" Drayk whispered, "Get back behind cover!" But it was too late. Drayk watched as Sato sauntered over to the enemy corpses. Right behind him, a single bullet flew, ricocheting off his left shoulder plate. The force of the bullet forced Sato into a clockwise spin, which he used to his advantage, readying his rifle while turning around with the momentum of the bullet. He dropped to one knee after his 180 degree spin and opened fire, painting the area in front of him with bright blue bullets. Pausing for a quick moment, Sato quickly dove behind a nearby log and yelled into his comm, "Drayk, where the hell are you!" "Don't move!" Another soldier had appeared out from the brush to on Sato's right, his rifle aimed straight at his head. He was quickly followed by another trooper hiding in the same location. "Wow, I can't believe we bagged an actual guardian." The first soldier said. "Unfortunately for you, I'm not a guardian yet. Sorry to get your hopes up." "Hey!" The solder snapped back, threatening Sato with his weapon, "Keep smart-mouthing me and you'll go back with us as a corpse instead of a prisoner."
"Sorry, but I have no intention of doing either." "Alright, time to shut you up." The soldier said, "Get your cuffs, Mackie!" "...Mackie?" And the soldier glanced back to see a faint shadow of a figure crouching behind his comrade. Mackie stood frozen, eyes wide in indecipherable terror, arms stiffly locked onto his rifle. "Mackie, what the hell!?" The soldier yelled, keeping his rifle trained on sato, as he slowly backed away from Sato, inching towards his comrade. He slowly took his right hand off his rifle, his left still on the trigger, and reached to his leg for his pistol. He was now at Mackie's side, with a fairly clear view of the blurry, camouflaged form behind his frozen partner. Then he saw the clear visage take color, a silver hand at Mackie's neck. "Hey you! Let him go-" The soldier's words were cut off abruptly as the silver hand jerked and Mackie's body contracted violently, his hand involuntarily pulling his trigger as bullets riddled his partner's body. Sato sighed in relief as the now dead solder slumped to the ground. Now, Drayk's entire nude form coalesced in place of the blurry apparition.
"You just had to show off, didn't you?" Sato said incredulously as he stood up and walked over to the two standing figures, wrenching Mackie's rifle from his grip and tossing it to the ground. "Oh just drop it and ask him what we need to know," Drayk replied, "too much more of this and he'll get brain damage. Besides, I'd like to get my armor back on." "Alright alright..." And Sato turned to the soldier. "So...Mackie, was it? Well, right now, my friend has a blade inserted in your neck at just the right depth and angle to effectively cut off motor signals from your brain to your extremities. Looks like you can't even talk right now. Hey Drayk, ease up a bit." Nodding, Drayk's grip relaxed slighty as his palm blade retracted a bit. "Shit!" Drayk yelped as a lazy yet copious flow of blood started pouring out of the blade wound. He leapt out of the way as the soldier's eyes rolled back into his head before falling over, a pool of blood quickly forming under him. "Oh..." Drayk now said, blushing slightly, "Uh...don't look over here."
Rolling his eyes, Sato knelt next to the fallen soldier, keeping his view averted. "Don't worry, just go grab your armor." "Thanks, man." "Just next time, be more careful with that little nerve pinch of yours." "Hey!" Drayk snapped, his back turned to his partner, wiping the blood off his palm-blade. "I'm great at that, it's just that his neck was too thick." "Whatever. Just get your gear back on and we'll rendezvous with Karen." A loud beep on both their communicators interrupted their plans. "Guardians!" The seargeant by their dropship shouted through their comm link. "We've got a situation! Two vampiric hostiles attacking our position! We've got three injured, and we're holding by the dropship; requesting immediate assistance!" "Roger, Sato and Drayk here, we're on our way ASAP." Sato replied. Drayk stepped out of the brush, zipped up his pants, and reloaded his weapon. "Looks like this mission just got interesting."