NationStates Jolt Archive

The CH-53 roared over the ocean, passing the Presidential Navy already en route back the Dominion. At about halfway they mey up with a KC1010 tanker to refuel for the remainder of the trip. A few hours later the mainland came into sight.

The first thing that was visible was the smoke. A huge black pall rested over the entirety of the mainland. As they neared, rain pelted the chopper. A thick, gray rain. The Capital now came into full. The towering, elegant spires of First City still shone with brilliance, even while wreathed in smoke. From fifty floors and upward, the view was serene. Below that, the true carnage was all too visible.
Fires had engulfed much of the city, leaving entire blocks blackened and charred. Barricades and bodies littered the streets, telltale signs of last minute defenders who didn't make it to the shelters. Every now and then a figure stumbled out of the rubble. It would senselessly reach up toward the helicopter as it flew overhead. As the chopper passed, it would follow in slow shambling movements. Abandoned tanks and military hardware lay everywhere along with many dark blue armored fighting vehicles, red and blue lights still flashing.

The helo flew low over what was obviously the residential area. Yards were covered in blood and first floor windows and doors were shattered or beaten open. Crowds of people were shambling in the same direction the chopper was headed. As they hit the final blocks, the Government Complex came into view.

It was a perfect blend of old and new world. Skyscrapers, spires, and monuments all merged behind an acient stone wall. It was like an enclosed city unto itself, with stores, housing, even its own police stations and small military bases. The view would have breathtaking, but the wonder stopped once the chopper hit the gate. A mob of thousands was amassed outside the front gate, steadily pounding and the gate shuddering with each hit. Fifty feet beyond the gate, a massive barricade of armored vehicles and soldiers, some military, many Civil Authority, were all that stood between the undead and the sea of tents and motor homes that made up the refugee camp.
The chopper climbed in altitude and set down atop the tallest building there, a massive banner bearing the national standard hung from it.

As the ramp dropped, they were greeted by a flood of doctors and soldiers, followed by one man dressed in a black suit.
"On behalf of the Dominion of Ruthless Slaughter, I thank you for your assistance. I am President R.L. XXIV. What we have to offer," he looked out over the edge of the tower at the burning city, once offering the most beautiful view in the country, and sighed, "such that is, is yours. If you'll accompany the doctors down to the laboratory, we may have something that may interest you all greatly."

"Mr. President, with all due respect, why the hell didn't you contact Shenyang immediately after this all started? We've been dealing with this shit for almost half a century now, SSOCOM could have had this under control within a day, and from the looks of things, this has been a major disaster for atleast a week."

Dagger-4 walked to the edge of the tallest building and stared into the distance at the gate. It was showing obvious signs of strain.

"Is that the only physical line of defense? I thought this place was a fortress, a good size tank could break through that. If that's it for stopping this physically, then you need somewhere more secure to get these people now."

He looked back, the pupils of his eyes had become slits without his knowing, and he looked directly at the president with a mixture of shock and bewilderment. He thought to himself, 'I guess the high and mighty Dominion isn't as all-powerful as they led us to believe.'

John asked, gripping his M1A SOCOM the President "Why don't you firebomb the known all infected area's, it would make this much easier?, with all due respect, why didn't you contact CSOCOM immeditely, we'd have done the job along with our fellow SSCOCOM, and rid you of the afflicted in 3 weeks."

The President was a little irate at first, but his expression cooled. They had every right to be condescending.

"With all due respect gentlemen, we had no indication this even existed until it was bashing down our doors. We would not be speaking right now if it wasn't for the reports sent by Mr. Hawkins here. The population of First City is over ten million people. We were actually quite satisfied that for our first outbreak casulties are only in the thousands. As for defense, it's hard to see, but if you look over the morass of zombies..." he gestured out into the mob. There were several mounds of rubble and debris marking at least three previous lines of defense that were utterly trampled, "Before we knew exactly how ineffective anything but infantry would be."

He turned to Dagger 4, "Besides, our Intelligence Ministry was run by a man being controlled by a pawn in some sicko's game of world domination. Aside from what Michael here sent us, our information was purposely incorrect. We actually recieved reports from the Ministry after Commander Hawkins turned in his reports that stated gut shots were effective. We were the victims of a massive internal misinformation campaign. It has now been established that the first hypersapian was planted here by AN forces.
But defending my administration aside, please follow my entourage to the medical bay. We have a prototype of an antibiotic that can attack the mutated cells with the help of samples of your original DNA, retrieved when the QCS was founded. The doctors will explain in greater detail once we're inside the security of the lab."

The procession quickly made their way to the elevator on the other side of the platform. It was a large enclosed freight elevator capable of carrying the entire party. With the push of a buton they descended through the nerve center of the Dominion.

On the way down he turned to John, "As for your suggestion Mr. Macked. Too much would be lost if we set fire to our already smoldering city. I have every faith in our military and Civil Authority. Records show that with the QCS now on the job as well, victory is assured."

"It's because they don't want to firebomb their capital, and if that little display back at out base is any indication, there's a bit of a military insurrection going on right now."

Dagger-4 still hadn't realized that his eyes has changed. By now they had not only changed the shape of their pupils, but also the color of his eyes had changed color as well. They had shifted from their usual grey to a rather dramatic shade of red, vey similar to Saya's eyes. He turned back and stared down toward the gates. He became deeply worried for those who were taking shelter inside the government facility. Did they have anywhere to take cover once those Afflicted finally got through.

He turned back and his eyes had turned to the same shade of pink that Saya's eyes displayed when she was afraid.

"Where will your people go once those gates are breached?"

The President sighed, "Our only working plan, one that would be extremely costly, is that failing to hold them at a bottle neck at the gates we would have all combat capable units hold the dead for as long as possible while they are evacuated through old tunnels leading to our border between your nation and ours. We would have to request amnesty. However, we HAVE to hold them here. I won't damn the remaining inhabitants of this city to a future ruled by the dead."

They reached sublevel 41B, Medical Wing. The group stepped off and was led to a massive laboratory where genetic sequences were arrayed in split views on monitors. Each one had a view of the normal double helix and a new, different strand of DNA. Every monitor was labeled with a name, the names of every member of the QCS. The doctors walked over to a rack of differently labeled syringes, each one filled with a liquid of a slightly different hue.

"Here take these," a doctor said, handing a syringe to each member of the QCS, "We've tested them on infected animals, as well a few volunteers. Results are 100% recovery thus far. We will of course want you under observation for about 50 days after to ensure that you are indeed healthy."

Mick took his without question and injected himself. He slowly began looking more normal.

As they were talking, fifteen soldiers in all black armor walked in, Each had a customized DM-32 assault rifle. the Dagger's would have recognized them right out of the Intel files: The Dominion Black Ops.

One of them spoke up upon seeing the Daggers, "Well, there goes the neighborhood..."

"No offense Mick, but, ooh... Infiltration Specialists... gonna sneak into the middle of the undead hordes. They'll never see you coming... but wait, they hunt by smell... last I checked, oh yeah, there's no way to make a human have no scent. Hmm... I sense a problem here. Guess what Colonel, I can officially out do you on stealth, check it."

Dagger-4 disappeared and then reappeared.

"Wooo..."

In a corner, another shadow moved very slightly...

John took his syringe without question and injected himself, slowly he started looking normal and sighed with relief and said "I am ready to fight the horde's of undead now!"

Dagger-5 took the syringe and injected himself. He hadn't begun to change, and thusly nothing about his appearance changed. He sighed loudly, very pleased to have that chapter of his life behind him.

Dagger-4 took the syringe, but didn't inject himself. He'd been given this power by a mad man, but he could use it to save the innocent of this country.

"I'll be carrying this with me, but I won't be using it until this is done. If you were given a curse that could save others at your own expense, wouldn't you use it?"

Dagger-5 looked at him with a confused appearance and then a look of understanding, "That others may live."

"Who dares wins."

They nodded to each other. Dagger-4 slid the capped syringe into his gear, ensuring it was secure. He looked around, something seemed out of place. Nothing was obviously out of place, and even with his enhanced vision he didn't see anything.

"Hmm..."

A shadow in another corner of the room moved, but no one noticed. Then a bizzarre event occurred, a human being seemed to resolve from the background of the room. A woman with a striking figure, armed with an MP-7A1, and a modified wakizashi. The equipment obscuring her eyes pulled back and she pulled down the mask that concealed the rest of her face. Her armor was a skin tight armor system that seemed to blur around the edges. She had stunning features and a perfect body, she looked around the room with the precise calculating manner of a professional infiltrator.

"I've been wanting to meet you Colonel Talbitt; Shenyangi Navy, 7th Applications Group, Captain Jennifer Anisea. Commanding officer of the 'Seraphim'."

She stepped into the center of the room, despite the fact that she had caught everyone by suprise, and looked at the others.

"How can I help?"

The Daggers had heard of the 7AG, but no one knew what they did. They operated outside the regular chain of command within SSOCOM, weren't directly affiliated with SCI or ONI, they were an ultra-secret Navy special operations unit. They were technically members of SSOCOM, but they were the most secret unit in Shenyang, surpassing even the ODST in terms of OPSEC.

The Daggers looked at each other, could this be happening, were they looking at a REAL 7AG operator, a Seraphim? For that matter, what was such an operator doing in the Dominion Government Complex?

"Ma'am, Daggers 4 and 5, Shenyangi SAS, permission to speak freely ma'am."

"Granted."

"Ma'am, are you even allowed to do this, to tell anyone what you do?"

"I think that in light of current events I'll make an exception to our code of conduct. However, any interaction with me will be here-after classified of course."

"Of course ma'am."

Anisea walked over and leaned on a wall, she pulled up the mask that covered the lower half of her face and reactivated the I.V.E. vision system. (pronounced: Ivy) She waited for someone to apraise her of the situation.

She already knew the situation perfectly, but she wanted to make it appear that she needed to be filled in. One of her virtues of being a solo infiltrator was that you had to know everything, yet feign knowing nothing when the time comes.

Ed toured the defenses. "pretty solid.... steel reinfroced masonary." He pointed to several areas on the walls. "Set up HMG's here and have them pointed down, might be effective." He refused the syringe that was handed to him. "I might be able to control it." Was all he said

John Macked saw out of the corner of his eye, a slim, pretty girl, with a AN-94 slung over her back, and a Tokerev on her belt emerge from the shadow's, she had makeup, and some lipstick, and she grinned and said "I'm here babe to help you fight, I conviced mum, that I should help my boyfriend, and also, I am here on behalf of the Calizorinstan Central Intel Agency!, so I am not here on a honeymoon, I am here to help fight the horde's of undead!", she kissed him and said to everyone "I am Jenny Wood, John's girlfriend, dunno if he told you about me, but I work for the Calizorinstan Central Intel Agency!"

Anisea turned to this newcomer. She nodded without really caring who she was, if she broke the ground rules she'd just laid down, she'd have to die. intelligence operatives weren't prone to omitting information from their reports, regardless of how dangerous that information was to them. She looked directly at this woman and said,

"I was never here, you've never seen me. If you ever breath a word about me, my unit or what we do, I'll be forced to track down every record pertaining to it, then, I'll have to track you down. No offense."

She kept staring in the same detatched manner. There could be no doubt that she meant what she said.

The Daggers both greeted the newcomer, in sharp contrast to Anisea.

OOC: We gonna get this started again? In the meantime, let me introduce you to "arkheim"....

On board Arkheim

"Sir, we have a situation" "What kind?" "Apocolyptic sir." General Arthur Bradely looked out the window. The cold stars stared back, unwinking. He could feel the slow rotation of the space statio below him, the Green and blue jewel of the Earth shined just off the port side.
He sighed and accessed the visual communications. "Mister President, the Dominion has been infested." President Allens sighed. "Initiate order 792. You have my premission to deploy them" General Bradley looked up. "Sir, no! Their are still surviviors!" President Allens sighed again. "Unlock the mass drivers then, prepare to destroy the infested areas." general Bradley looked at the various crewmen. All had a look off shock on their face. "You heard the president UNLOCK THEM!" He screamed

OOC: Are their only three peope RPing here?

OOC: RS is away until Saturday, then till the next saturday, then till the next saturday, for a total of about 8 weeks. I know him, that's how I know this. Rather poor planning on his part to start this right before he finally had to go to work...

OOC: Yikes!, why did he start this little gig then!, sad, but I guess we should try to keep it alive I guess...

OOC: UHC, I doubt RS would appreciate having his nation shelled, as far as I can tell, the infestation only extends inside the capital so far, so maybe we should hold off from shelling his nation.

OOC: Dammit.... okay, I'll change it so it doesn't happen because of survivors in the infested area.

IC: Ed continued to wander the walls of the capitol fortress, the moans of the undead carrying over the walls. His radio chirped and he answered it. "Just a warning, Arheim has been deployed." Ed's heartrate suddenly accelerated, if Arkheim had been deployed...then the Union was preparing for an all out war with the undead.

Anisea ensured that all the SIS's systems were in good working order, despite the fact that she had done nothing out of the norm for the suit on this deployment. (She'd been in the Dominion Government Complex for over 3 weeks, completely undetected even though she'd been observing every major meeting and event therein.)
She pulled up the mask that covered the lower part of her face and activated the IVE system. The dual eyepieces silently moved into placed and the tiny red lights that showed the cameras were active came online. A message regarding an unidentified, heavilly armed vessel had passed through Shenyangi territory en route to the Dominion. She saved the information and sent a quik reply regarding her current status, and how it should be noted in the operations log.
She activated the stealth system and almost instantly disappeared. She was nearly invisible to visible light, IR, UV, thermal, even EM. She looked, literally, like whatever was behind her. She stretched and made sure that the suit was operating well above standard parameters. Satisfied, she deactivated the stealth system, and looked around with the full suit still in place. She started checking her MP-7A1 next.

The Arkheim slowly shifted its orbit to above the Dominion Capitol, Mass Drivers fully armed. "Sir, status of Mass Drivers is at one hundred fifty precent and increasing." General Bradley looked at the technician and accepted the PDA held out to him. "Thank you crewman, dismissed." The technician saluted, spun on his heel, then headed back down the hall way. The Visual Communications system crackled to life. "General bradley, I am authorzing you to use the Arkheim Knights." general Bradleys eyes widened, the Arkheim Knights were the Personal Elite guard of the President, they used the most advanced weapons and armour ever developed by Union scientists. " Mister President, sir! Their are only four on board Arkheim..." President Allens voice becam irritated. "Deploy them, no questions asked!" general Bradley turned and pointed to a crewmen, then down a hallway, he dashed off into the depths of the station. In a large recreation room, three men and one woman spared with each other, they all ahd the same tatto on their arm.The crewman stood shaking as they drew their attention to him. "S-sorry to i-nteru-pt y-y-you, B-but General Bradley r-r-request your presence on the bridge." The group stood up and headed to the armoury, two minutes later, they stepped out, clad in self-contained armour coloured a shiny black. Slung over their shoulders were rifles that the crewman had never seen before, a light pulsed on the magazine, and it radiated a feeling of intense energy. They walked to the bridge, crewmen steping out of their way, occasionaly cowering in fear. General Bradlet slauted them, and they returned his salute. Even he feared these soldiers to an extent. "Reporting for duty." Said the woman in the squad. General Bradley gave them a PDA. "Get to the dropship and head to these corordinates" The soldiers slauted and left for the docking bay, priming the weapns power cells.

OOC: Just a note, The Union is progressing into PMT and FT.

OOC; Getting this started for another day.

Secret IC:

Section 38 - Ultra-Secure Shenyangi Military Installation:

"Sir, we've got a full analysis of that vessel over the Dominion."
"Well?"
"It's some sort of warship or orbital platform, its well enough armed to blast the Dominion back to the stone age from our initial analysis. Further, it released some sort of drop ship vessel into Dominion airspace only moments ago."
"Are we dealing with some kind of invasion?"
"Unknown sir. They have not fired as yet. We may simply be jumping the gun sir."
"Regardless, put the entire nation on Secondary Alert. Activate the defense satellites and ground defenses. Get me a channel to that god-forsaken vessel and get birds in the air 24/7 until its gone."
"Affirmative sir. Aircraft scrambling, all defenses are hot, VOLGR and ODS read as charging, all strategic weapons are on secondary alert. Channel established."
"Alright, showtime..." "


IC:

Attention, vessel in station-keeping orbit over the Dominion of Ruthless Slaughter, this is General Hammond of the Covenant Nation of Shenyang. We wish to inform you that you are violating UDD space, and to inquire as to your intentions. Please respond."


Secret IC:

"The message is through sir, awaiting response."
"Lets hope this isn't like our last encounter with our 'friends' from the void. Even with our full arsenal we might not be able to blow that thing out of the sky."

The general looked at the screen uneasilly. He'd survived Shenyang's last encounter with beings of higher technology, he didn't want to have to deal with the same thing again.

Anisea (radio callsign: Angel 6) walked up to John, if she was going to work with these people, even temporarilly, she might as well know them. She deactivated IVE and looked at him with the same stare she gave everything.

"I don't think we've been properly introduced. You're John Macked correct?"

She extended her hand and glanced over at his girlfriend, "Oh, I did mean what I said about me being here."

John smiled and said "Yep, that's correct, This is Jenny, my girlfriend..."

"General Bradley sir, we've got a communication from the surface, audio only." General Bradley walked over and accepted the microphone. "This is General bradley of the Union orbital Weapons platform Arkheim, how may I help you?"

En route to the dominion...
The Arkheim knights checked their gear, Armour seals were in perfect condition. Then they checked their plasma rifles, the magnetic containment field read 100%. The rookie in the group spoke up. "Sir, what exactly are these weapons?" The woman (Obviously the leader) responded. "These are phase one plasma rfiles, the Unions first foray into infantry based energy weapons. They fire plasma contained with a magnetic field at the target, and on impact, the magnetic field is ruptered and it sticks to the target and literaly melts them. Perfect zombie killers."

"Well General, you could start by explaining your intent, and stating your nation of origin. We in the UDD tend to get a little bit jumpy when massive orbital platforms take up residence over one of our members, understandably. One moment please."

The video feed activated. They hadn't been sure if the crew of the platform had video capability.

"As a governing member of the Covenant Nation of Shenyang, a close ally of the Dominion, I believe that your presence does require some explanation. Until we are clear that your intent is not hostile, we will remain on secondary alert, with all our weapons trained squarely upon you, as a precaution. Experience has taught us not to trust anything that isn't ours in orbit you see.

Further you could explain why what appears to be a dropship is en route to the Dominion capital. We know there is an outbreak in the city, but the information we've recieved indicates that the QCS will be handling things."

General Hammond stared at the screen, his 'adversary' was displayed in the center of the screen, and analytical data was fed in on the surrounding screens. This platform could destroy First City with the wave of a hand. Section 38 could survive a bombardment of the magnitude this platform could dish out, but little else in Shenyang could if it came to a shooting match.

A new message appeared on Anisea's IVE. This one included all the available information on this orbital platform.

"Dagger Team, I think we may have a problem. Evidently there's an orbital bombardment platform stationed over this city, of unknown origin, and they're sending down a dropship."

"What?!"

"Ahh, Hell No! First zombies, now F***** space marines! I'm gonna need a helluva vacation after this."

The Daggers looked at everyone else, they had a look best described as controlled shock on their faces.

"Everyone, evidently, there's an advanced orbital bombardment platform in orbit directly above us, and space marines inbound on a dropship."

Anisea wanted to choke the life out of the Daggers for conveying the information, but she knew that they'd find out anyway, a huge platform in geo-stationary orbit isn't hard to miss, even in the day time.

John and Jenny prepared their M-14 rifle's, and said together, "We're ready to rumble!" And they prepared for the space marine's that would inevitably land and attack them...

Anisea rapidly flipped the charging handle through its cycle. The round in the chamber flipped out through the air. It got less than a meter from the weapon when she snatched it from the air. She ejected the 40 round magazine and replaced the round on the top of the mag, and silently slid that back into the magwell. She ensured that the supressor was securely attached to the barrel and that the sight still had nearly its entire charge. She was ready.

General Bradley Responded to General Hammond. "Our nation of origin is the Union of United Human Countries. As for our intentions... if the outbrak gets out of control, we're ready to reduce the Dominion to naught but smoking ash. Oh, and a note, I do belive you know who Edward Harrison is, he is of unknown nationality, but he currently calls the Union home." General Bradley ordered te audio cut after a crewman interupted him. "Sir, sensors are picking up multiple missle locks from various ground and satalite instalations." He turned to look at him. "Do not fire unless they fire first. In the mean time, warm up the Magnetic Accelerator, if the Arkheim knights fail, then fire." Every crewman knew what the Magnetic Accelertor was, an incredibly powerful weapon that the station was built around. Along with the Mass Drivers, te station had enough firepower to annhilate an entire city in seconds.
Above the Governmental Castle

The dropships engines flared, slowly pulling the dropship into a steady hover twenty feet above the main coutyard, down below infantry scrambled all around. "This is where you get out!" Said the pilot. "Roger that." Said the woman. The Arkheim knights slid down on rappeling gear and landed in the center of attention,the kind where everyone is ready to shoot you.

Ed had returned from his tour of the walls to find the Arkheim knights surrounded and ready to be blown to pieces. He dashed into the center of the circle and shouted, "Don't shoot!"

"We will not allow you to reduce our neighbor and close ally to ash General. You may have a technological advantage, but we do have enough weapons to bring your platform down if it becomes necessary. As a result I must tell you Not to fire your weapons upon our ally. I understand that you are one of the nations who sent a representative to the QCS, but we still must protect the interests of the UDD above all else."

Hammond looked at the soldier controlling the transmission, he nodded and the conversation was ended.


---
The Shenyangi special operations troops knew that these space marines had landed, they were uneasy. Experience had taught them that if it came from space, odds are it wanted you dead.

The soldiers around them refused to lower their weapons. "Say Ed, think they think were human?" Said one of the knights over a private channel. "Doubt it." Said Ed. " Take off your helmet crispy, show 'em your human." Crispy poped off his helmet and dropped it at his feet. "Reisitence is futile, you will be assimilated." He said, then let out a laugh. "Nah, I'm human just like the rest of you. Cut me and I bleed." They lowered their weapons then returned to their stations. "Thanks Ed, I owe ya one." Said Crispy. 'What does that make that now, four? Five?" Replied Ed.

John said "How do we know if these space marine's are friendly to the QCS or not?" He slightly lowered his M-14, ready to raise it if the space marine's did anything threatening...

Crispy walked over to John. "Space marines? Space Marine!s! Were union soldiers!" He showe dhim the pacth on his shoudler, around the Union insignia was the Unit name, "Arkheim Knights" "We're the ArkHeim knights! The best the union has to offer, the personal military unit of the President himself!"

John said "I see, I am sorry, I didn't see it, until after I asked.., seeing as how you're the President's special unit, you must be our friend's right, and not a foe?"

"Depends." Said Crispy. He took out a cigar and lit it with his lighter and took a lond draw on it. "If this situation goes to hell, their won't be any friends left." Ed had long since left the gathering and was walking by himself along the wall. A noise behind him caught his attention, and he immdiatly drew his pistol and had it aimed at the source. "Ed, put your gun down." Said the Female knight. Ed did not, in fact, he aimed it right for her head. "Ed, don't you remeber me?" She said. Ed noded, and kept the gun aimed at her. "How could I forget you? You almost killed me." Mary walked closer to ed, and his arm went rigid, a clear indication that he was all set to pull the trigger. "It was neccisary." "Oh really? I
'm guessing bradley thought he could pull me back in if an unknown 'assailant' tried to kill me? I was all ready to leave the knights anway, after the way you killed two hundred innocent lives to get one terroist leader."

OOC; getting this started for another day.

John listened to the chatter and said "We can't stay here all day, otherwise we'll be mauled by the afflicted, does anybody have any spine!, where are our assigned posistion's?" He drew up straight, and had a serious, grim look on his face...

Anisea didn't say anything. She merely activated her suit and left the room. She was sure that no matter how good these 'Arkheim Knights' ' detection gear was, they could not detect her. The most advanced prototype equipment taken from downed alien craft from Shenyang's last run in with aliens had been used to certify the Seraphim Infiltration System suits, a statement that could not be made by any other UDD member's special operations as far as SCI knew, and their technology was well beyond that of these soldiers. She walked through the facility, which she knew better than many of its denizens, and arrived at a position well within the engagement range of her MP-7A1, but away from the main gate. She unthreaded her weapon's suporessor and fired a single round into the crowd. One dropped and the rest turned to see where this sound had come from. She deactivated the stealth systems and waved to the zombies below. They shifted and began attacking an uncompromised area of wall. She re-stealthed.

She returned to the room and deactivated the system again. She was in exactly the same place as before.

"I just bought us some more time, made them shift way from the gate."

Dagger-5 looked at her strangely. She held up her PDW and everyone saw that there was still the slightest curl of smoke coming from the barrel. She rethreaded the suppressor to the barrel and attached it to its mount on the suit.

"Oh."

Crispy's sensor detected a bioform outside the walls that had never been registered before. It wasn't human, nor afficted or anything that was known to man, it was mostly mechanical with a rough human shape in the middle, what further reinforced the fact that their was a pilot inside. "Uh..guys?" Crispy raioed in. "We have a confirmed light mech outside the walls, one pilot." Another Knight radioed in. "Sir, this Snow, Confirmed light mech, correct? I don't see anything except afflicted falling right and left." Crispy Chuckled. "Snow, set your sensors to a full spectrum scan, you'll see it." Snow did, and reported in a few seconds later. "Hm, doesn't look like a biomech, has a full heat signature. I tried getting into its rdio frequencys, but its protected by a cycling code... maybe we should reactivate Edge." Crispy chcukled again. "Reading my mind, just gotta find him." Ed was still having a mexican standoff with Mary. (In case you didn't know, a mexican stand off is where all partys have guns pointed at one another) Only the the arrival of Crispy and Snow made him lower his weapon. "Jeez, kid. Calm down!" Said Snow. "Always on edge..thats you Ed." Crispy walked up to him. 'Gotta little present for ya buddy." He turned on his radio to the dropship, it was still hovering above the castle. 'Hey Frank need a little air mail down here!" "Who to?" Asked Frank. "Ed, drop it on top of him." Frank chuckled. "Edward harrison? Hey, how are you doing buddy! This here is enough to make the president cry on christmas." He dropped a crate a few feet away from them. "Have fun, I gotta run." Ed went over to the crate and opened it, inside was his old armour (it had been modified) and his new weapon. "Thats right Edge, we're reactiving you." Said Crispy.

Anisea listened carefully, normally she would have expected that she'd been detected, but she was inside the walls, in the same room as these people, and she knew for a fact that the SIS shielded every kind of emission possible. It matched every type of visible light through to far IR and far UV, it projected the same thermal signature as what was behind it, same for electro-magnetic emissions. The suit literally turned the wearer into a part of the background. It even shielded 'life signs' to all but within 15 meters.

Further, they said that it appeared to be a mech with a pilot, which wasn't a pheasible description for her suit, it was more like a body suit that only mildly distorted the human form with the placement of certain key components. It didn't make her appear any different than any human in body armor, in fact she looked much less protected than those in question. She began to worry, if there was some sort of cloaked mech in the area, it meant trouble, and trouble meant that she'd have to deal with it.

Edge finally got his armour on and activated his weapon. "So, shall we?" "With extreme pleasure." Said Crispy. They continued forward, and Ed bumped into something. "The hell-?" He said. Crispy gave him a radio signal, then tackled whatever it was that was cloaked. "Nice try." he said. "But all the stealth in the world can't protect you from physical conatct." He sent anothe rradio signal for assitance.

Anisea was interested to see exactly what this was, she'd been standing there, with her cloak de-activated for several minutes. Whatever they'd found might be worth investigating further for an SIS upgrade.

A sonic burst filled their radios, luckily, their helmets filtered out most of it. "Okay thats it, gloves are off." Said Ed. "Wait, don't shoot!" Said the armoued individual. A ouzzled expression corssed Ed's face. "Your voice...do I know you from somewhere?" The armoured indvidual de-cloakd, and the "face" of the mech was pulled back bit by bit to reveal a young man. "You could say... I commanded you guys for a while." Ed was shocked. "General Lawrence? That can't be... you're 58 yers old!" He chuckled. "I changed my biological age and appearence to my younger twenty four year old self before I got the cure to ultimate humanity. And I must say, i like being young again." He pointed to behind them. "I do belive that woman has been following me this whole time, my cloak is fully functional, so thats probably why." Every Knight turned and pointed their weapons at the person who had just arrived. "Easy way to detect her, old style radar ping."

Once more, Anisea was sure that it wasn't her. She hadn't moved, and radar had been among the first things the suits had been tested for, it carried a specially designed RAM layer. The suit was rated to absorb any type of man portable radar waves. Admittedly it wasn't effective against aircraft or targetting grade radar, but she was an infiltrator, not a stealth bomber, she didn't need to avoid being picked up by an AWACS. The radar return of her in the suit was the size of a fly's return, and since flies are common throughout the world, she was essentially golden. If this guy could differntiate between a fly and her, then he was either the mesiah, which she considered unlikely, or specifically looking for insects on his radar, which seemed asinine.

"You see." Said general Lawrence. "I had it all figured out that she had been following. When a fly follows you for several miles, its not really a fly, so I tagged its signature. Thtas how I found her." He turned to her. "Now are we going to spend all day bickering, or are we going to kill some afflicted?" Crispy chuckled. "Amen to that boss."

OOC: Anisea hasn't been following him, in fact, she hasn't moved except for when she went to make the zombies move away from the gate, then she came right back. She's been standing in the same area as Dagger Team for this entire time. As a result, General Lawrence is accusing her of following him, when she has done no such thing. Just FYI.



IC:
The Daggers looked at Anisea and immediately spoke up.

"General, she's been standing right here the whole time, except for maybe 5 minutes. She couldn't have been following you 'for miles' as you accuse her of doing."

She merely nodded. The thought had crossed her mind, to follow the other cloaked individual, but she hadn't moved, and her stealth system had remained deactivated since she'd returned from her single shot 'mission'. She spoke up, her voice was cold as ice, she obviously didn't appreciate being accused of anything.

"If you're going to accuse someone of following you General. Perhaps you should make sure the person hasn't been standing around with her country men, as well as foriegn special forces, VISIBLE for the last half-hour. I think you made the mistake of tagging an actual fly. Like this one."

Her hand swept back toward the wall and crushed a small fly that had landed there. It's signature would easilly have masked hers, except that she'd been immobile through the whole incident. She didn't like this General Lawrence accusing her of doing anything. It was gravely insulting.

"Hmph." Said general Lawrence. "Something was following me though." He gave the form up hand signal. 'Crispy, you and your squad are coming with me. Edge, you can come or stay, ti doesn't matter." Ed formed up with the Knights. "Course I'm coming." he said. "Alot more fun then standing around here waiting to be eaten." "Oay, move out." The knights followed General Lawrence, rappeled up the wall then over. The sound of a chain gun and the whine of plasma fire followed.

John asked Dag4 "Where do I and Jenny go to help, I mean, I haven't been given any order's at all, so I kinda would like to know..."

Anisea looked at the General before he could leave.

"Perhaps it was the fly I just killed."

She stared as he walked off. Under her breath she stated her opinion of him, "...moron"

Within an hour, the Knights and general Lawrence had managed to fight their way into the Citys industrial district, for the last three hours they had been sweeping the buildings. "So general." Said Crispy. "Why are we sweeping this place?" General Lawrence chcukled. "Because, the Union army is going to arrive soon, want to make sure their LZ is clear."

OOC: Sorry I wasn't around for the last couple missions, internet trouble.
IC: Saya wandered around the huge city, wondering what she should do. She was still awed that the zombies could cause so much mahyem. Now she was just wondering what there was for fun around here. She sighed, she should have stayed with the group instead of heading off exploring.

Crispy chimed in over the radio. "Got a confirmed bio sign, a live human...female, by the size." General Lawrence looked at the squad. "Ed, you and crispy go ahead and find out who it is. Snow, Mary, you're staying with me." Ed and Crispy left the group and continued down the dark ahllways of the apartment complex. Ed had his rifle up and at the ready. Crispy's was relaxed and at his side. "Geez, Ed, your always on Edge, starting to see how you got your callsign." Ed shruged and continued on, the bio sign was a floor below. "Well, we should take the fast way...." Said Crispy. He opened a door to an apartment and tossed a greanade in, a moan came from the room, followed by an explosion. "After you." He said to Edge.

OOC: Was the human female Saya?

OOC;: If you want it to be, I was planning on it anyway.

OOC: Alrighty.
IC:Saya jumped at the grenade, "Wait, whats going on"! She yelled, a bookcase had fallen on top of her, and she couldn't get it off. Then she saw Ed come in, "Damnit Ed, get this thing off of me"! She said her eyes going red.

Ed chuckled. "Good to see you to. Glad you made it in one piece." He shoved the bookcase off her easily and then shouldered his rifle again. He introduced her to Crispy. "he's realy shy around women." Ed said. "Don't know why, but I suspect it has something to do with his squad leader being a Woman." Moans came from all directions, attracted by the ang of the grenade. Crispy primed his rifle. "Shall we?" He said.

Saya grinned, this would be fun. She slid up nice and close to Crisy, after drawing her katana, in such close corders, her Sniper rifle wouldn't do much. She looked up at Crispy, "So, how are ya doin Crispy"? She asked in a cute little voice.

John smiled and as he fired at the zombie's, said to Saya "Remember me, any chance?" He grinned as he fired at the zombie's, determined not to lower his sprit.

Crispy backed away towards Ed. "Hey buddy? Whats she tryin' to do?" Ed chuckled. "Nothing that you should be worried about, trust me." The moans came closer, and a zombie emerged from the darkness. Crispy let fly with his rifle, the plasma striking and incinerating its target. "Never realized they were this powerful." He said. "Oh well." And continued to plug away into the crowd.

Saya laughed at Crispy then ran into the horde, slashing at zombies left and right. Her katana worked surprisingly well. Cut a zombies head off and hes not much of a threat. After all the zombies were down, many missing limbs, the rest with bullet holes or just a pile of ash, she slid right back up to Crispy. "Well, that was fun, wan't it"? She said.

John kept firing at the zombie's, and threw several frag grenade's and yelled "That's for delaying me from a long vacation, you morons!"

Crispy backed away again. "Buddy, you did explain to her about me being shy around women?" Ed chuckled again. "Don't be so modest, alot of men would die for that kind of attention." He couldn't see because of his helmet, but he knew Crispy was blushing a bright cherry red. "hey, don't worry, I bet she's just trying to psyche you out." He looked up at the hole in the ceeling. "Rappel or walk?" Ed asked.

John kept firing and said to Saya "Hello, long time no see, I am John Sparrow, you know, Jack's brother?" He grinned, and swung on a rope, throwing grenade's, and then jumped off onto the wall, and joined the other's again.

Crispy just stared as John swung around and shot at nothing. Saya had kiled the rest of the zombies after the first volley of rounds. Crispy broadcasted this over the squad radio frequency. "Is it just me, or does he share Jacks madness?"

John swung again, and then he jumped off the rope next to Saya, and said "Got any rum on your hands mate, it'd be wise, otherwise, the Kraken might come and devour us all!", he eyed a box of rum near the stair's, and opened a bottle and had a big swig and grinned "That's the stuff mate, I was once on the Black Pearl ya know..."

OOC: I hope you aren't going to murder him or anything...

IC:

John fell asleep from the tranquility dart, and dreamt about Jenny, and Saya, and Elizabeth, and Alex, and his good good friend President Arnold and his very nice son, John Arnold...

Crispy looked at Ed and opened a private channel. "Hes drunk, you know what that means." Said Crispy. "Yup." Said Ed, and then tranqued John and moved his body nearer to the hole in the ceeling.

Saya shrugged and sat by him, and took a bottle of rum. "Did ya have to do tha Ed"? She asked.

"Wait a second... This guy isnt John!" Said Ed. He had looked closley at him and recognized a scar on his left hand, it was in the shape of a P. "Well. Guess what this mean?" Said Crispy. "DUMP HIM!" They both picked up his body and headed for the partments toilet and dunked him.

The real John walked behind Saya and said "Boo!, gotcha, that other one was another fake yet again!"

Saya laughed and walked over to them, and put her arm around Crispy. She grinned up at him, "Now why did you have to do that"? She asked him.

Ed chuckled and then explained it to Saya, who would obviously ask for an explination. "We used to do that to any drunk soldier back in the day at boot camp." He said. "Me and Crispy actually used to do a sweep of the barracks for the gunny and dunk any drunk guys. Those were the days..." he sat down and picked up a bottle of rum. 'A little swig can't hurt, can it..?" He removed his helmet, revealing his bright red eys, uncorcked the bottle and took a swig. Crispy was very shocked. "Ed...your....not...human!" And immidiatly his rifle snapped up and aimed at Eds head.

John said to Saya as he sat down next to her "You share the red eye's with Tom Riddle I see..."

Sayas eyes flashed red, both at John and Crispy. First she slapped John, "Now why'd you have to do that"? She asked him, then she turned on Crispy and slapped him twice, "Whats so wrong with red eyes huh? Does that mean I'm not human"?

Ed sighed and walked over to him. "Crispy, look at me, has anything else about me changed?" Crispy started to lower his rifle, then stood up and shook Says arm off. "I....don't...know..." He was in utter shock.

John nodded and said "It's alright, I understand the stress, and I don't mind your red eye's, but if you start speaking Parseltounge, I am going to be convinced you're Tom Marvolo Riddle's cousin 4 time's removed.." He grinned as he prepared to dodge a punch from her..

OOC: gotta go eat dinner, be right back.

She sighed and sat down by John, "Sorry for slapping you, I guess you didn't deserve it, I was just kind of mad".

OOC: I dunno, I just made a funny connection there...., sorry if it was weird or anything..

IC:
John blushed and said "Thank's, ah, Jenny, good girl!" Jenny approached them, carrying 2 42 oz bottle's of mountain dew, and a Dr.Pepper, which she gave Saya, and one Mountain Dew she gave to John, and she kept the last one, and they drank it and John said "Jenny joined up with me, because she wanted to help protect her fiancee!"

John nodded and said "It's alright, I understand the stress, and I don't mind your red eye's, but if you start speaking Parseltounge, I am going to be convinced you're Tom Marvolo Riddle's cousin 4 time's removed.." He grinned as he prepared to dodge a punch from her..
OOC: Hey, whats up with your posts Cal?
IC: Saya was about to punch him, but then grinned. She would do the thing he expected least, she gave him a hug. "Thanks John, and don't worry, I don't like snakes".

Jenny grinned and said "I am his gun-toting fiancee Saya, pleasure to meet ya!"

OOC: back

Crispy was still in utter shock, he eventually sank to the floor near the door. "Aw, shit." Said Ed. Crispys vital signs had become erratic, appearently something had shocked him very badily. 'Anyone have an medical experience?" He asked.

OOC: No, I was talking about how they're out of order. The connections didn't bug me.
IC: Saya grinned at Jenny, "Oh, so you're his fiancee, nice to meet ya". She hopped up, "Here, have a seat". She said. She looked at Ed, "Well, I worked as a nurse for a couple years, does that count"?

Seeing that no one had an medical experience, he went over to Crispy. Almost immidatly, he had the barrle of his rifle under his chin, although Ed managed to pull his pistol out and aim it at his head, the perfect mexican standoff.

OOC; Whoops, didn;t see that post. Sorry.

John pulled out his M1991A1 Commander at Ed's head and said "If you shoot him, I will shoot you too!" He looked angry and said "Let's take our gun's off each other and listen to reason!"

Saya sighed, "We'll talk later". She said to Jenny, "The boys are playing rough". She walked over, and kicked Crispy in the gut, "Put the gun down right now"! She said.

John put down his M1911 and said calmly to Ed "I'm sorry, I won't do that again!" He sat down next to Jenny and Saya....

Saya sighed and pulled out her katana and laid it at Crispy's throught, "Well, if Ed gets threatened, its only fair he does to I guess".

Crispy switched targets from Ed to her. "Oh man, I forgot about this.. sub-concious muscle memory, Union soldiers are taught how to defend themselves if unconcious, basicaly the brain registers anything near the body a threat, and acts accordingly." Ed pointed at Saya. "Back off and don't do anything threatingin again, you're liable to get your head blown off."

OOC: What's a kunai?

Saya backed away muttering. She was starting to get a little mad. "What I wouldn't give for a kunai tight now". She said.

OOC: Ah, I see, Hopefully if Saya had one, she wouldn't use it on John!

IC:

John patted Saya on the back and said "It'll be fine Saya, just see, Ed's taking care of it right now!"

"Don't worry, I'll take care of this." he ran over to Crispy and slamed his foot against his wrist. Crispys gun dropped with a clatter, and his hand clamped onto his ankle. "Kinda at an impass here..." Said Ed. Crispys vital signs were starting to stablize, hopefully he would wake up soon.

OOC: What's a kunai?
OOC: Japanese throwing knife. Sayas heritage is mostly Japanese.

OOC: A kunai is a dagger like weapon from Japan that was originaly a gardening tool.

OOC: I gotta go now, I leave Saya in control of the first to RP her.

OOC; Nah, I'll leave it as is. Don't know about Cal though.

OOC: A kunai is a dagger like weapon from Japan that was originaly a gardening tool.
OOC:True enough, they weren't really for throwing, but could be in an emergency.

OOC: UHC, what were you talking about me, what were you referring to?

OOC; Yeah, studying Japanese history is kinda a hobby of mine...

OOC; Nah, I'll leave it as is. Don't know about Cal though.

OOC: UHC, This quote is what I was asking about.

OOC; What do you mean Cal?

OOC; oh that was about who would RP Saya. I didn't want to, and I was wondering about if you wanted to or not.

OOC: I will RP Saya.

IC:

Saya grinned at Jenny and said "A gun-toting fiancee huh, well John, you certainly picked the right gal!", and she ironically said this as John and Jenny were snogging, wrapped up, and then John and Jenny gently broke lose.

OOC: Getting this started for another day.

OOC:Boy, you guys really didn't get much done did you?
IC:Saya watched Jenny and John, and realised she didn't have a boyfriend.. Hmm, she would really need to fix that sometime. She walked over to Ed, "So, is Crispy going to be okay Ed"?

Ed sighed and shook his head. "I really don't know. Let me go ask him." Crispy had walked ahead of the group, not far enough to be in danger of a sudden zombie attack, but far enough to be alone. "Hey Crispy, what was with that back their." "Crispy shurged. "You really want to know?" "Well, yeah, I want to know if it'll happen again." Crispy sighed again. "My father, you know, the minister of the security council? He became one of Dawson's pawns when he was infected...... I had to kill him with my own bare hands. He was all ready to have me exectued. Since then, I haven't trusted any non-human, even the so called 'evovled' humans." "Geez.... I didn't know Richard Harker was minister of the Security Council. Sorry, I'll try to avoid taking off my helmet next time."

OOC; no, we reall didn't get much done, did we?

John started to play air guitar for Danger Zone by Kenny Loggin's, and started muttering, and he caught Saya's look, and quickly stopped and drank some of his Mountain Dew...

Saya walked up with them, "So Crispy, next time can you at least warn us before you flip out"? She grinned at him, "So, how does your stomauch feel"? She looked back at John, "Why thank you for stopping your doomsday music stuff".

John smiled and said "Good, that you're okay Crispy, hey, there's an M&M named Crispy..."

Saya, although a bit irritated by the 'not human' remark, smiled, "Sure, how did you meet"?

"My Stomach?" Crispy sounded puzzled. "I promise it won't happen again, its quite a shock to see someone you've known for most of your adult life suddenly not be human..." He chuuckled. "Ah, Edge's always stiring up trouble. Want to hear how I met him?"

Crispy chuckled again. "I am most definently not named after an M&M."

John smirked at Saya and said "For your information, the music I was playing was from Top Gun, not "Doomsday!" He started on it again, and started laughing at the look she gave him, and said "Like old times Saya, like old times, WEoo!" He dodged her playful punch...

Saya couldn't help but laugh, she grinned up at him, "Don't make me get a rope mister". She said.

John leapt out of her reach and said "Aye matey, it's John Sparrow Arnold, I'm first cousin of Jack, but I'm the real John Arnold!" he said this in a piratish voice, and swung on a rope out of her reach, and then jumped off 15 feet away grinning...

Saya grinned, "Aye, but as your good 'Ol cousin Jack would say, 'How do ye be knowin that ye be the real John Arnold? Maybe ye just be percievin the wrong way'."

John smiled and said "Aye that's true, but then, who's the real John then, I see I've never decieved anybody, bout my heritige, my cousin Jack was just jealous that I was able to keep my crew without changing ship's!" He grinned and took a generous swig of his Mountain Dew, which he had poured in a rum bottle and said "AH, Mountain Dew rum hit's the spot!"

Saya laughed, "So good 'Ol Jack be jealous of his cousin? Hehe, he must be one unlucky blighter then if he envies you mate". Saya grinned.

John said to Ed "Amazing story isn't it, I don't think you want to see me in moonlight...., nah, just kiddin you two, Saya I was trying to go for the weird comedy effect..."

"Well...let me tell you..."


10 years ago. Southern Arkheim

Patrick Harker had just goten off the bus to Boot Camp, a couple of his budies had registered, but he hadn't seen them on any of the buses. He sighed, picked up his gear and headed to the barracks. Upon the second he enetered, a drill sergeant was already up in is face, screaming insults at him. He ignored it and sank onto his bunk like the rest of the recruits, the drill sergeant continued to scream at him for another five minutes before the head drill told them to "Enjoy their beauty sleep, you get up in a couple of hours." Sure enough, at 0500, aproximatly two hours after they arrived, they were awaken by their dril instructor. One of the racruits next to him kepy fidgiting whenever the drill sergeant shouted at him. The strain of it all was taking its toll on him already. They proceeded to the firing range first, each recruit was given a refurbished M1 Garand for practice. The recruit that was fidigiting was stationed right next to him, as well as another guy with Dark Brown hair and slightly pale skin, an odd contrast. They commenced firing, and the fidigiting recruit couldn't hit a single thing. The drill sergeanyt then proceeded to tell him in a very vulgur way that he will enevr ammount to anything. The recruit snapped, turned and shot the drill sergeant through the chest. the guy next to him spran into action, he just jumped over his stall and tackled the guy, another shot rang out, and scralet blood blosomed out of the attacking recruits side. It was only then that Crispy noticed he had been shot himself, the round had passed through the other guy. He fell, ad the guy that was wrestling with twitchy managed to get his rifle away before he slumped to the ground. Crispy then passes out, the round had severed an artery. He woke up a few hours later to find the guy who wrestled the recruit standing over him. "You owe me one." He said. "Oh really?" Said Crispy. 'How can I owe something to someone whos name I don't even know?" The recruit chuckled. "Names Edward Harrison, and you are?" "Patrick Harker." And stuck out his hand.

back to the present

"... And thats how I met him."

Saya laughed, "So, you get shot, Eddy wrestles with Sir Twitch, and everything turns out okay"? She grinned, "Sounds like a regular fairy tale to me".

John stared off into the distance, and muttered "That's bloody incredible mate, what an interesting story..., that will almost top the story of how our current president was almost murdered at a ball..."

Saya laughed, "A ball eh? How'd that work out"?

" A regular fairy tale?" Said Ed. "Hardly, right after boot camp, the guys uptop noticed how me and Crispy, as well as Mary, could deal with situations far beyond that of normal marines, so we got conscripted into the Arkhiem Knights, got our own little swuad and got snow, the new guy. But, that was ten years ago, long time ago." Crispy once again backed away when Saya got closer. "I'll leave the story of why Crispys shy around women for another time." Said Ed.

Saya laughed and followed Crispy and managed to get him up aginst a wall. She smiled cutely up at him, "Come on Crispy, whats wrong huh"?

John smiled and said "It's an interesting tale to say the least, first, a president from some country got our current one, (he was an admiral at the time), into a bar-fight, I heard it was a magnificant bar-fight, I wish I was there. I digress, but anywhoo, after the fight, they were both battered badly, and the crazy president (not ours), pulled a gun on our president and shot him, it was supposed to have exploded in him and kill him, but it malfunctioned, and they got the bullet out of him. But then the crazy president ran toward's a bunch of guard's and detonated a bomb and blew himself up, and then, to make matter's stranger, as Adm.Arnold that's now our current president, was recovering in the hospital, a Gollum like creature started attacking everyone, so Adm.Arnold's medic sniped the creature with a SKS and killed it, and that's the crazy ball that our president nearly lost his life."

Saya, (still right up against Crispy), laughed, "Boy, that must of been one helluva bar eh Crispy"?

John said "Yeah, and that proved that our president is too tough to die easily, that incident's been promoted by the media all over Calizorinstan, then another weird tale, we held the San Diego Peace Talk's, it was all the member's of Hegemony and British Londinum, Wanderjar, and Wagdog and other's, and during the talk's, the Cazelian rep, attempted to beat the British Londinuan Prime Minster to death, when they subdued him, he was shot, and his soul screeched at the president "You killed me President Arnold!", and soon the talk's broke down."

Saya laughed, "Oh? Do I look like your big sister Crispy? Don't worry, I'm sure I'm a bit too young to be your older sister".

Crispy tried to speak, but all that came out of his mouth were gurgling noises. Ed laughed. "Okay, okay, I'll tell you. You see, wehn Crispy was a little boy, he was teased by his big sister, so hes really shy around women." Crispy noded frantically, trying to get away from the wall.

Saya smiled, "Okay, I'll leave you alone now, but first..." She leaned up on her tipytoes and gave him a kiss, then walked away.

Crispy continued to nod frantically, he noded so hard thta for some reason, the helmet seal popped and his helmet slid right off his face. Just like Ed thought he was blushing a bright cherry red. Ed laughed again. Crispy frantically tried to cover up hs face, namel because he didn't want anyone to see him blushing, as Ed continued to laugh.

John smiled at Jenny and Saya and said "Ah, a nice sunny day outside..." He started playing "Sunshine of your Love" by Cream, and he made the motion of rocking and leaning...

Saya laughed, and then let Jenny climb up the rope, then heading after her.

Crispy slid back against the wall, sliding all the way to the floor. "Lucky bastard." Said Ed, then helped him up. Crispy put on his helmet again, the helmet seal hissing shut. "We should get moving, I bet the General is getting a bit impatient." Said Crispy. he pulled out his grappling launcher and fired it through the hole. "Ladies first." he said.

John hopped up, M1A Garand in hand and followed Jenny, who had her M60 at the ready and he whispered to Saya and said "Clearly, Jenny didn't want to take any chance's and acquired a M-60...""

Saya grinned at him then looked around for any secure sniping spots. Not seeing much, she drew her katana again. She sighed, "I don't remember the last time I had a nice safe sniping spot."

Saya nodded, "A roof, now thats more I like it". She ran up the stairs at full speed, which was actually pretty fast.

Ed climped up, followed by Crispy. A loud crashing noise on the roof caught their attention. "That doesn't sound like Union reinfocrements." Said Ed. "Sounded more like supplies..." Replied Crispy. Ed pointed to the stairs. "We need to get to the roof now!"

John ran faster behind Ed, and got his M1 ready for action, feeling like a 101st Airborne Trooper..

They managed to get to the roof in record time, on the roof, Snow was crouched at an access port of a radio tower like object, while General Lawrence and mary looked on. 'Status." Said Ed. "Oh, hey Edge." Said Snow. "Well, not much it new, except we've got a whole new threat to worry about. "Ed sighed. "No another threat... what is this?" "A targeting beacon, exactly like the one used for Arkheim." Over the radio Crispy swore a string of curses in German, curses that would have made a sailor run home for his mother. "We need to get to Arkhiem, if General Bradley has changed his mind on this...its gona take all of us to stork the station." "Agreed." Said Snow. "Thing is, we need a transport." "Way ahead of you." Said general Lawrence. "Radioed for Frank to come."

Saya looked around and sighed, "Another mission"? Sh asked.

General Lawrence shook his head. "Just a little side trip. In the mean time, we shold wait until Frank is able to get that transport over here. And to those fo you who don't know, Arkheim is the Capitol city of the Union as well as an orbital weapons platform."

Saya shrugged, "In that case, I'll entertain myself for a bit". She sheathed her katana, and then walked to the edge of the rooftop, took out her rifle, laid down, and began to shoot anything that was moving down in the street, as long as it wasn't supposed to be moving.

The transport roared over head. "Sorry I'm late boss, bad traffic." Said Frank. General lawrence smiled. "What kind of traffic?" "The usual, getting shot at, hijacking things. Its a living." He lowered the ramp just enough so it touched the edge of te roof. "All aboard!" Said Frank. The squad started to walk towards the transport and Crispy walked next to Saya. "Um.... Juts in case...wel...in case we don't come back..uh....." And couldn't think of anything to say.

Saya truned around to look up at him, she looked a bit surprised. "Yes Patrick? what do you want to say"?

"Ah...Umm....." Crispy still couldn't come up with anything, so he popped his helet off and kissed her. 'Sorry!" he said.

Saya smiled, not her usual grin, or little girl smile, just a genuine smile. "Oh, its okay Patrick, its okay." She gave him a hug and another kiss, and walked onto the transport.

Ed laughed. "Lost your fear of women, eh?" Crispy ignored him, and boarded the transport. "So Crispy, you've been on board Arkheim more recently then I have, can plasma weapons burn through the walls?" Crispy shook his head. "Refractive coating is to thick, it would take twenty soldiers four days to burn through it." Frank leaned back. "ETA to Arkheim is two hours, get comfy people."

John walked onto the transport and said "Hi Frank, how've you been?, I've had a delightful time with the ladies!" He was sitting between Saya and Jenny and said "I am extremely lucky to sit next to two beautiful laides!"

Saya sat in her seat wondering what exactly had just happened. Well, it wasn't bad at least. She looked at Crispy, who would of thought, she had just been having some fun before. 'What now?' She wondered. She shrugged, ah well, she'd deal with it later. Yet again, she curled up in a little ball to go to sleep.

John smirked and said "I am going to be married, I am not suggesting anything of the sort..."

Saya cracked open an eye, "Oh really? Aren't you supposed to be getting married mister"?

It was a long ride. Snow had gone up into the cokcpit to study the controls and computer system. Mary was slumped against the wall asleep. General Lawrence was busy re-tuning the sights on his rifle, then fell alseep. In the end only Crispy and Ed were awake. Ed was busy sharpening his knife, checking his ammo, the usual routine. What that really hid was that he was extremly nervous about what happened on Arkheim. Crispy had taken to retreaing into his own little world, trying to sort out what he did on the roof. Ed's elbow shook him out of it. "Jeez man, stop staring at her." Crispy finally awoke fully out of that state and realized he had been staring at her the whole time. He shook his head, the hurriedly went to checking his rifle. He heard Ed's low chuckle, and considered slugging him across the face, then decided against it. Frank came back from the cockpit. "Jeez, " he said. "Snow snores loud!" He undid his vest and pulled out a flask and too a long swig. "Need not worry, thrity more minutes and were their."

Saya looked up, "Oh? Then whats this talk of being between us eh?"

John smiled and said "I was referring to where I was sitting, between you and Jenny Saya, clearly...."

Crispy perked up almost automatically. "What do you mean?"

Saya sat up and sighed, "So much for getting some sleep". She muttered under her breath.

Crispy perked up almost automatically. "What do you mean?"
OOC: What?

A beeping from the cockpit caught franks attention. He got up and ran towards. "Good lord..." They heard him say. He came back later. "Auto-nlanding is engaged, but that transmission I got..." he shuddred. "Waht was it?" Ed asked. "It went something like.... the blood of traitors... and then it went garbled..."

OOC: never mind, cal answered it.

Saya let out a stream of Japanese curses, hoping noone here knew Japanese. She looked around at everyone, "So, what do we do now? Blood of the Traitors? That really doesn't sound good".

Ed gasped when he heard it. "That..is...really...bad...." Everyone looked at him for an explination except for those from the Union. "The blood of traitors, supposed to be a reference to an uccult practice way back..... Union Special Intelligence often uses the blood of traitors to write messages next to their corpses...." Frank. "Scheisse! You mean we have to go against USI?" Ed shook his head. "USI is entirely loayl to the president, it has to be something else..."

Saya shook her head, "So we have a cult practicing human sacrifice or something? Damn, now it'll feel like I'm back in Mereshka".

"I doubt it." Said Ed. "The Union banned occult rituals two hundred years ago. It has to be something else.." Crispy noded. "So, whats the plan?" Frank shrugged. "lets do the typical union thing, overwhelming tactical and numerical advantage. Oh wait... WE HAVE NEITHER! What the hell are we supposed to do?" Crispy looe daround, then pressed a button on the wrist of his armor. He dissapeared. "Hot damn! They got that camaflauige systems working! Okay, hres the plan, the Knights will secure the landing everyone else wait here until we give the signal."

Saya shook her head, "You expect me to sit her and let you guys have all the fun? We'll be attacking in the black of night right? I'm a sniper, I know how to sneak around". She looked at them both, "I'm going with you guys".

"Black of night." Ed Chuckled. "The only black of night your going to get is if you get sucked out an air lock. Arkheimis an ORBITAL weapons platform." Frank came back from the cokcpit. 'And we've landed." The Knights activated the camoflauge. "Drop the ramp, we'll be right back." The knights slid out of the dropship and into the hanger deck.

Saya sighed and contented herself with looking out the window. There really wasn't much to see, since she couldn't see her teammates. She reached into her pack and pulled out a bar of chocolate, and sat chewing while waiting for them to come back.

The knights moved into the hallway leading to the elevator to the control room. What they saw almsot made snow puke. "Dear god......" Said Crispy. Lying in front of them was the reaminas of a Union soldiers, his chest balsted apart by a close range shotgun blast. Written on the wall next to him in his own blood were these words. The blood of traitors will flow together, and the cascade will mark a new era Crispy turned away. "Yeah... cultists alright..." They went into the control room and found a similar scene, but it was less bloody. The controllers were slumped over the controls, the same words written in their blood. Ed radioed the transport. "Flight deck clear, you can come out now."

When Saya walked into the control room she looked sick. "Uhg, it does feel like home. Excuse me for a moment please". She walked into the next room and threw up. She came back into the control room and wiped her mouth, "So, what now"? She asked them.

Crispy primed his rifle. "Kill who ever is responsible." Esd stopped him as he was running out the door. "Thats the easiest way for you to get killed. We need a map." Snow went over to the nearest computer system. "I have a better idea.." He started pulling out wires and reconnecting them. The view screen flared and showed the views of several camereas. "Hijacked the secruity feed, I'll try and pinpoint the exact location..." He flipped in between. Cultists filled the halls to the bridge, and they were heavily armed. Ed swore a long stream in German, to many to deal with by conventional means. "Snow, how many areas can you vent?" "hmmmm.... I can vent the main airlock between here and the central part of the station, besides that, no luck."

She sighed, "Hmm. Theres too many for me to pick off, I don't think I have the ammo." She thought for a second, "Say, anyone here have any explosives"? She asked.

Everybody shook their heads. "Explosives aren't allowed on space station, they'll blow a hole in te hull and you'll be sucking vacuum might quick." Said Crispy.

OOC: Gotta go.

Saya shrugged, "So much for that idea then. Any other thoughts people"?
OOC: Alright, seeya.

OOC: Back for a while. Catching up.
IC:
President R.L.'s Office
An aid walked in and handed the President a piece of paper; it was the statistics for the rest of the nation. Even on lockdown, First City was the Dominion's mainh informational hub.
"Well Mr. President, we're finally getting the upper hand. With Frank as well as the Intelligence Minister dead and the virus controlling their faculties, the resistance is little more than a rabble now. Many have regained enough control to surrender for treatment. The situation outside the Capitol is entirely under our control with 50% of the country now green zone with an additional 40% as yellow. The only red is the undead infested Capitol. We now have control of our entire IntelNet. Orbital Control is back online."

"Excellent, and the status of our foreign aid?"

"Many have made off for the Industrial Sector. We have them on the Security Net," he pushed a button and the massive monitor taking up most of his office wall broke into many different views of the city, following their progress.

"And our Shenyangi friends?"

"Sir, Shenyang seems to be the only nation still operating in our best interests. The rest are in the Industrial Sector for God knows what purpose."

*sigh*"I see. We'll unite the Black Ops and...God help me... call the ODST...We'll have them keep tabs."

"The communique has already been sent sir."
-------------------------------------------------------
The Black Ops, including Mick who was now in his own body armor, recieved a call on their internal headsets. They moved toward an unassailed part of the wall and used grappling hooks to climb over.

An alarm sounded as civilians were moved toward the tunnel entrances at the rear of the Complex toward the RS/Shenyangi border. Charges were set along the entrances. The UHC vessel was put under discreet surveilance by a number of dormant satellites disguised as space junk.
Slowly, agonizingly, the motors in the gate were warmed up and it opened, allowing the undead entry into the outer court. It was as far as they got.

Hundreds of rifles barked as the horde was chopped to bits. Heads exploded in a sea of pink mist as with their usual efficiency Dominion forces engaged and commenced slaughtering the undead.
------------------------------------------------
Under the now joint command of Colonel James Talbitt and Commander Mick Hawkins, the Black Ops moved stealthily through their hometown. A sight unseen. They engaged the undead with silenced DM-32s and used the video patches from the Security Net to monitor the progress of the apparently rogue foreign aid.

"This is Mick to any QCS forces," Mick said over an encrypted channel, "Where are you guys?"

Not that anyone outside the sixteen Black Operatives knew this was just a distraction, a means of gathering intel, and Mick felt sincerely bad about spying on them, but they were running unchecked throughout a sensitive area of his home, and whatever they were up to, they'd be stopped.

OOC: No lie, with the weapons foundries and existing private security force here, it was a designated safe zone.
IC:
Major Sanders stood at the gate of the Presidential Munitions Foundry, hundreds of undead corpses littered the ground in front of it. It had been hours since the last sighting, and he was ready to send patrols out to inspect the sector.
"Corporal, get three Strykers fired up, I want recon groups out on salvage and survivor duty. MOVE!"
"Yessir!"
Three blue Civil Authority Strykers with extra armor for dealing with riots were loaded with six fully loaded CA Officers each and were moved out of the gate to patrol the area. With the blackout only recently lifted with the remanning of Orbital Control in New Haven City long range communications had only recently been brought back. They knew nothing of the foreign soldiers undoubtedly nearby.

OOC: Where exactly are they?

Fort McKnight - Shenyang:

The ODST 1st squad were standing, in full armor, fully armed, in General Knight's office. They looked around.

"When do you think the call'll come?"

"Right... now."

The phone rang. General Knight answered it.

"Hello, ODST, yes of course, definitely, we're on the way."

Knight stood up, he looked at the men and women in the office.

"I'm good, and we're a go."

Within a few minutes 1st Squad was boarding a Scimitar dropship. They would be on site within 20 minutes.

---
20 minutes later:

"Alright people, lets get going! MOVE!"

Brigadier General Leon C. Knight AKA Revenant lead his squad out the back of the dropship and began freefalling through the darkness. He fell further and further, finally, he and the ODST tripped their chutes and landed. Each chute was distinguished by the fact that they were emblazoned with the ODST logo, these chutes were only used for demo jumps, and diving into friendly territory. They discarded the canopies and pulled their weapons. Coated in armor and carrying the best weapons available to them they were a force to be reckoned with. They quickly took up positions to observe the UHC forces and if necessary, eliminate them.

OOC: The Industrial Sector's near the harbor/naval yards and it takes up a huge chunk of the coastline and back inland. Chances are you'd be about a half hour away from the Foundry and not know anyone was alive in there.
EDIT: If you meant the Black Ops, the channel was purposely encrypted so you wouldn't know and assume they're at the Government Complex still. They're actually just entering the Industrial Sector.

OOC: Woah, two questions. One: Who are you? Two: What just happened?

Ed moved through the corridors, shooting al, the cultists in his way, when an annoucment over the speakers stopped him. "To my un -nvited guests, welcome to the downfall of humanity." Ed stopped cold. "I recgonize that voice..." He muttered. "I bet you do." Said a voice behind him. Ed turned and was smacked against the wall. "Thoguht you were dead." Said Ed, wiping blood out of the corner of his mouth. "Ah, so you have turned down Ultimate Humanity?" Said Frank Dawson. Ed shook his head. "Nope, just retaining a human state." "Well, now that your here, I can exact my revenge without having to obliterate an entire country to kill the QCS." Ed chuclked. "One question, how did you survive? Frank laughed. "Even ash has molecular matter."

The incident was made visible to the Black Ops and Civil Authority HQ via the retaken security systems now online all over the nation.
"Son of a gun," Mick muttered, "The bastard's here...in our backyard."

"That guy?" Talbitt asked raising an invisible eyebrow behind his APVEH (All Purpose Vision Enhancement Helmet), "He doesn't look so tough. We can take him."

Mick rolled his eyes, "I hit him dead on with a thermite grenade. The bastard's come back and he's loose in one of our weapons factories. To put it lightly sir," Mick said despite outranking him, "We. Are. Fucked."

Talbitt shrugged, "Whatever man. Let's roll."

The team moved out and was notified that the ODST were here. Talbitt grumbled the rest ofr the way to the factory and checked his weapond repeatedly.

OOC: What the hell? Why did it register me as that?

OOC: Seriously, I'm confused. Whats Ed doing?

OOC: Arkheim is hardly your weapons factory. But I'll chang eit to the weapons factory to make it a final show down. So..that means He killed a bunch of union soldiers in the factory..... Take it from their.

OOC: Okay, I'll have Saya step in then.
IC: All of the sudden Franks back was slashed ba a katana, and Saya stodd behind him and put her sword to his throught. "Okay, I don't know who you are, but you better knock it off pal".

OOC: getting the crap beat out of him by Frank Dawson, the guy from mission five.

IC: Ed was getting beaten pretty badly, he had been thrown through a bunch f crates, had been stabbed with his own knife and was now int he porcess of being strangled. "Is...anyone..gonna...help..me?" He managed to gasp.

Frank chuckled. "I didn't see ou the last time I faced the QCS, are you someone new." He turned to face her and smacked her aside. "William, i do believe your next." General lawrence had his weapons set to bear on him. "Like hell." He said, and fired a round through his head. The wound rapidly healed. "Really now, don't you know any better?"

"Well well well Kid, how's life?"

Revenant waved to the Black Ops from his position. He and he squad walked up to the force, which included Anisea and the Daggers.

"We have a plan to get rid of this 'Frank'."

Polaris produced a small cansiter with a glowing droplet inside, floating.

"This device is like Tunguska meets Comet that hit Jupiter, Da?"

Saya got up from the ground, and slashed a horrendous wound in his side. She jumped back in surprise when it healed before her eyes. "What are you"? She asked.

OOC: No clue, but now, an update at the GC:
IC:
The battle raged to a standstill for an hour now. A huge dent was put into the undead ranks, and the field commanders were quick to calculate how many guns exactly were needed to hold them back at any given point and formed corresponding battle lines to rotate troops on and off. The undead were dwindling now and civilians were held at the tunnel entrances.

The official status of First City was now yellow zone. Soldiers advanced out of the Government Complex and began combing the streets. The same happened in safe zones all over the City.

Military bases were slowly reoccupied and civilians were kept corralled as martial law was instituted for the cleanup.
-------------------------------------------------

The Black Ops had entered the facility now. They cut down the cultists and proceeded to where the primary fighting was. The roar of multiple engines were heard outside. The Civil Authority. They stormed in directly behind the Black Ops, wielding electrifed nightsticks and heavy bulletproof riot shields.

The units converged on Frank as a helicopter was heard overhead, followed by a voice speaking through a bullhorn,
"FRANK DAWSON! THIS IS THE DOMINION CIVIL AUTHORITY. YOUR FAILED COUP OF OUR NATION IS OVER. YOUR FORCES HAVE BEEN TOTALLY NEUTRALIZED AND THE CITY RETAKEN. YOU ARE SURROUNDED. SURRENDER NOW AND BE PLACED, UNHARMED, UNDER ARREST. MAKE ANY FURTHER HOSTILE ACTION AND YOU WILL BE ELIMINATED."
---------------------------------------------------
Talbitt looked at Revenant and managed a 'hello'. He then turned to Polaris, "WHAT IN THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?!?!?!? Do you want to destroy our Capitol or something?!?!? YOU...BROUGHT...WHAT?!?
-----------------------------------------------------
Mick saw what Frank was doing to Saya and, disobeying orders, immediately charged in to aid her. He unsheathed his combat kinfe and lunged, plunging it deep through Frank's back, "That'll teach you to hurt innocent people!"
He continued, slicing and slicing away at Frank, "You kill my people! You hurt my friends! You turn my nation upside down! And now you have the nerve to come into my house?!?!"

"Is only milligram antimatter."

He shrugged innocently.

Meanwhile Dagger-4 was running in to assist in the fight with Frank. He still had his full mutations intact.

Saya looked at Mick, "Uhm, thanks Mick, but I don't think your officers will be to happy about it."

Frank grabbed Crispy and backed against a wall. "Tut tut, don't think so." Crispy chuckled. "Idiot." he siad and grabbed his rifle. He spun it around so that it was sticking into his mouth, and fired. The plasma incinerated his head, but burnt out shortly after. "Hey buddy, I got an Idea...." he said to Ed.

Dagger-4 once more produced the blades from his arms. His eyes flashed a blood red as he chopped the weapon in half.

"Well well well Frank. I gues its time that I show you who's boss when it comes to mutated humans."

Mick finally backed away after putting several deep gashes into Frank,
"Anytime, hey when this is over I know a nice restaur-"
He was cut off as a Civil Authority officer clubbed him in the back of the neck and dragged him back into line.
"Sorry Commander, no one is above the law."

Talbitt was absolutely livid, "ANTIMATTER?!?!? YOU BROUGHT ANITMATTER INTO MY CITY?!?!"
It tooks five Black Ops to hold him back, though they were starting to slip...

"ODST, do your thing!"

The ODST whirled around and pulled anti-tank weapons. Multiple rockets were sent directly into the tank. Polaris and Dagger-4 charged the smoking vehicle.

OOC: Should be here...

frank let go of crispy and charged at Mick. he managged to put a good gash across his face before a sniper round blew off his hand. It regenerated. he then made a break throught the crowd, killing the domnion troops in his way and forcing his way into a tank. Moments later, he had it hijacked.

OOC: or rather, here

Saya walked over to Crispy, "Hey, you okay Patrick"? She asked him.

Mick was on the ground, his helmet sparking as blood ran through the hole. It appeared that his eye had been hit as well.
"Dammit...stop him..." were his last words before an officer had him sedated and awaiting medevac.
Corpses of Civil Authority were everywhere, their armor sliced away like tissue paper. The rest gave chase and an AH-66 Commanche fired its cannon at the tank as it pulled away, rounds pinging off of the heavy riot armor.

Dagger-4 and Polaris climbed atop the tank. Polaris looked at the anti-matter charge. The most destructive weapon in the Shenyangi arsenal. He prepared to trigger its miniscule countdown.

Dagger-4 ripped the damaged hatch clean off. He stared at Frank. Hatred visible in his eyes, literally.

Saya gasped when she saw Mick. "Oh no, Mick, are you okay"?! She yelled.

Mick looked up, his helmet now removed by paramedics. A large gash took up the right side of his face. The eye was covered over with blood and swollen shut, "I'd be lying if I said I had worse..." he managed a weak smile, "Not to worry, reconstructive surgery here's the best in the world. It's second only to arms manufacturing. Ironically, due to failed tests from the latter..."
-----------------------------------------------------
Talbitt and the fifteen Black Ops still standing rushed to the tank.
"I just hope that armor holds..." one of them remarked.
Talbitt pulled his revolver and leveled it at Polaris, "I don't care who's in there, you're NOT detonating that here. The economic cost is too great. One factory is down thanks to this fighting. I won't allow our entire industry to be leveled."

Dagger-4 knocked them all back. "Don't worry, just stay the hell away from this tank. The blast won't be bigger than a 30 foot sphere!"

He swept his blades at Frank.

The tank continued to pull away, something climbed onto the machine gun on top, it wasn't Frank. he came over the radio, taunting them. "How do you like my newest creation? An intelligent, obdient zombie." The zombified crewman rippied into the helicopters, the .50 rounds easily tearing through the glass in the cockpit. Snow ran over to mick an immidiatly opened his medical kit. "Let me see it!" he shouted.

Dagger-4 ripped the crewman apart. There wasn't time for this. He tried to grab Frank and drag him out of the hull of the vehicle.

Like most times, after getting scared, Saya was beggining to get mad. Her eyes were turning a deep red, and she was starting to swing the blade around.

Mick was being loaded into a Stryker Medical Vehicle as the remaining Black Ops got up in time to see their gunship fall from the sky and the tank continue.
Mick gave Saya a quick thumbs up and a weak smile before being onloaded and the ramp closed.
"Don't worry, I'll live."

The remainder of the Civil Authority and the Black Ops climbed into armored vehicles and gave pursuit. Lights were flashing and sirens sounded as the Civil Authority began a pursuit the likes of which they hadn't seen in a long time: against an armored vehicle. Nonetheless, the situation was on their terms now. However, they kept a healthy distance.

Dagger-4 hung onto the vehicle, and flipped back in time to destroy the latest crewman. He pulled the others out himself and tossed them off the vehicle. Polaris was safely encased in his armor, not even Frank's bite could go through it. The two soldiers nodded, they had to end this soon.

Frank let og of the controls for a second and aimed a grenade launcher at his face. He let fly one round, it tore through his face and logged in his skull before detonating and blowing him off the tank. He went back and bit another one of the crewmen, he flopped around for about fifteen seconds before he stumbled up and onto the turret.

OOC: should be below UHC's post...

Saya decided to try an old myth she had once heard, and pulled out a kunai made of silver she always carried around with her. She charged up to Frank and stabbed his arm, to see if silver would do anything.

The CA vehicles were following, plugging rounds into the treads to immobilize the tank.

OOC: I'm curious, is Frank actually going anywhere? Or is he just moving through the Industrial Sector?

OOC: You'll see.

Frank laughed and pulled the kunai out. "Silver? What am I, a werewolf!" He pulled it out and stabbed it into her arm. "see how that feels." He said, and then pushed her off the tank. Frank checked his GPS system, the beacon he had placed was still transmitting, hopefully he could get to it in time.

Saya hit the ground clutching her arm. It was very deep, and she didn't think she could get it out. There was soon a small puddle of blood around her arm. She managed to stand up and head torwards the medics.

A medical Stryker pulled out of the chase and stopped near her. The ramp dropped as medical personnel ran out. They got her on a stretcher and moved her inside. She saw that it was the same Stryker carrying Mick, en route to Dominion General. The tank was headed down the main road which the hospital also lay on. The Government Complex was too far away.

Mick looked up as she was wheeled in, "Oh great, not you too. Fair warning, the hospital food sucks."

The armored vehicles continued to open up on the tank's treads, trying to take them out.
---------------------------------------------------
(I'm in control of Shenyang's guys until he gets back)
Dagger 4 and Polaris continued struggling with Frank atop the vehicle. Polaris attempted to get the antimatter charge armed.

Crispy saw what happened and felt an incredible rage. He grabbed one of the Dominion soldier's assualt rifles and ran towards the tank at break neck speed. he climbed on top, forcing the hatch opne and dropped two grenades and a full clip from the assault rifle into the tank. Frank merely chuckled, the flak wounds and bullet holes already healing up. "Bit tempremental are we?" And threw a knife at Crispy. it loged in his gut, and he fell of the tank and landed hard, he could feel two of his ribs break.

Saya grinned weakly, "Can't be much worse than the food we had back at the base". She said.

The Stryker now pulled up to Crispy and he was rushed inside. The vehicle then made a quick left and shot toward a massive white buidling growing in the windscreen of the vehicle. Personnel were already back on duty as the Stryker pulled into the emergency lane.

Saya sighed and shook her head, "You to Patrick? This place is getting more crowded by the minute".

As soon as the ramp dropped civilian paramedics rushed in to take the three soldiers inside.
Saya was moved to the ER for inspection to ensure an artery wasn't hit.

Crispy was rushed to Intensive Care for treatment.

Mick was sent to the OR immediately for restorative surgery before any hope of recovering the eye was lost.

Saya sat on her bed. She was afraid. She hated docters, ever since her docter when she was 11 turned out to be a pedophile. She looked around nervously. She hoped Crispy and Mick were alright.

Ed himself was now enraged, he had never seen a member of any of the squads wounded that badly, ever. He let out a roar and dashed for the tank pushing dagger four off to get inside. Once inside he let his full fury lose on Frank, severing most of his limbs and pinning him against the wall. As soon as Franks limbs regenerated, he pinned those was well with blades from his body. "So..you've finally given in, eh?" Said Frank. Actual blood erupted from Franks mouth and dribbled down his chin. "You...will.....be...the...downfall..of...humanity..." Said Frank. he gave out a gurgling scream and disintegraed into liquid which rapidly boiled away. Ed retracted his blades and stepped back. He retrived Franks GPS unti and found it was locked onto the co-ordinates for the Arkheim beacon, appearently he was heading their to activate it.

Crispy woke up in ICU, the deep knife wound had been bandaged and an IV filled with blood was hooked up to his arm. He looked around, lying in the bunks next to him were dominion soldiers in various states of injuries, all from the battle with the ressurected Frank Dawson. He sighed and sat back again, he hoped Saya and Ed were all right.

Dagger 4 hit the ground with a thud, and was quickly picked up by the pursuit vehicles. Polaris was still atop the tank, looking sadly at his antimatter charge, "How you say, gosh darnit! I wanted to use the stuff too...You know, with him gone, you will take cure now da? Or at least stop tank?"
-------------------------------------
A doctor in his fifties walked into Saya's room. Seeing her a little nervous, he smiled warmly and held up his hands. One contained a clipboard.
"Rest easy soldier, you're in good hands. With the arms manufacturing industry churning out new weapons all the time, this hospital is the best for weapons related injuries. Now, if you'll allow me to take a look at that arm of yours..."
He slowly walked over to check Saya's wound. He was relieved to see the blade was still in in case an artery was severed.

Crispy was immediately put under anasthesia and went into surgery to stop any internal bleeding and fuse the ribs back together. He was released into the recovery ward hours later.

Mick was under heavy sedation as his eye was cleaned off and then opened, the optic nerve being repaired with a combination of prototype nanotechnology and lasers. He came out of surgery two hours later, the right side of his face heavily bandaged.

Saya got up after the kunai was removed, with a bandadged arm. She walked into the recovery ward to visit Crispy. "How are you Patrick"? She asked him.
OOC: I've got to go folks, Saya is up for grabs I guess.

Ed stumbled out of the tank and collapsed on the ground, he could feel the virus beginto mutate and hoped he could supress its effects further. He managed to get up, the collapsed again, just in time to see a dominion medical vehicle pull up next to him. The world went black.

Medical personnel immediately pulled him inside the Stryker and rushed him back to the hospital. En route an Intelligence Operative handed one of the medics an IV filled with a dark blue liquid: the antivirus. Ed was immeditaely hooked up. As the vehicle pulled up and he was rushed into the ICU the question on everyone's mind was: Is he too fargone for it to work?

Dagger-4 entered the room where the force had been. His eyes were Maroon in color. He was slightly unhappy with the current situation.

"Well everyone, I can't do any of the mutations anymore. I'm almost entirely back to normal, good and bad."

He took a pill in front of everyone. He looked around as he swallowed the tablet, expecting someone to inquire. He'd always had an unnaturally weak immune system, and thusly, he'd always need his medication.

Mick stepped into Recovery and plopped down onto a chair. He found a remote and turned on the news.

It was a helicopter view of First City. Gray smoke was everywhere indicating firefighters were getting the blazes under control. A massive wave of black armor advanced slowly toward the Industrial Sector, black smoke still roiling from the factories. It cut to an anchorwoman in the newsroom
"And with the last of the rogue soldiers undergoing treatment and zombie cleanup winding down, martial law has been lifted and citizens are now being moved back into their places of residence. The entire nation has now been labeled a 'green zone' by General Malcolm Granger of Dominion Strategic Aerospace Command..."

Mick turned off the TV and walked over the Crispy and Saya, "How you guys holding up?"

Ed suddenly woke up. The anti-virus was in conflict with his entire systme, the virus has already incorporated itself into his genetic code. He ripped out the IV, turned over on the gurnery and threw up a small ammount of blue-ish liquid before collapsing back into unconciousness again.

The EKG sounded a klaxon and doctors immediately rushed in.
"Dammit the virus is killing him!"
"We're losing him..."
"Defib! Everyone clear!"
Electricity coursed through Ed's body as the doctors frantically tried to revive him.

Talbitt walked over to Dagger 4, "You're normal again right? What's with the red eyes still? And the pills? Oh, and," he punched Dagger 4 in the arm. Hard, "And that's for the 'slipping past the undead horde crack earlier," he smiled.

Crispy slowly woke up to find Saya standing over him, he didn't hear her words at first, he sat up and swung himself of the gurnery before collapsing against the wall. sedatives stil in effect

Mick rushed over and helped Crispy back into bed, "Easy there tiger, you're a lot worse off than me and Saya combined. Try to rest up a little before getting back up."

"Permanent side effect. I'll never be truly normal again."

He looked sadly at his compatriots.

"Of course, I never was. My immune system is esentially non-existant. Basically, these pills keep me from contracting diseases that any of you would easilly repel. If I ever get really ill, I'll probably die then and there. That was the only good thing about that Ultimate Humanity. I had an immune system for a single day. For a single day, I could be normal if I chose to be. I still hate it though."

He took another pill, the bottle was labelled cryptically as: 'Immune Agent-34 Beta-Foxtrot'. Dagger-4 resented that the only thing that kept him alive was having a substantial supply of these pills, and the fact that he'd ben spiking his drinks with the stuff since he was 21.

"Well, you can't have everything. In my case, what I can't have is a normal life. I'll always be tied to these damned pills, as long as I chose to live."

Crispy noded weakly then went limp, Mick helped him into bed. In the mean time, Ed woke up in a hospital bed in ICU. He wondered why he was their, even though he had no symptoms of anything except for dizzines. (Cuased by "ultimate Humanity")

Talbitt gave Dagger 4 a look of genuine sympathy. Rivalry or not, it must be hard having that kind of disability.
"Hey as long as you're here, we have medical technology that could help you. Disease has been unknown here for some time now."

A doctor walked up to Ed's bed and looked down at him.
"We almost lost you there, son. You're too far gone for the cure to do anything but kill you so we took you off of it. The virus did the rest of the healing. You sir are a true curiosity."

OOC: Gotta get off soon, like within the hour. I'll have the finale tomorrow for the sake of everyone being here for it. We can continue in the meantime.

OOC: Then you guys are with Mick at Crispy's bedside at Dominion General Hospital in the Industrial Sector. Frank's dead and Ed's too fargone for the antivirus to work on him. Everyone's at the hospital healing up. The Dominion is entirely green zone now and the last of the undead are being purged from the Capitol. The rest of the nation has quelled and cured the resisting soldiers.

OOC: Could somebody please give me a quick update, and John is with Saya and Jenny.

OOC:...and my last post should have been below yours...
But oh well, 1000 POSTS!!!

"Nah, its okay, I've become pretty adept at avoiding getting sick over my lifetime. Besides, I don't want to have to do anything more than this, I'd have to give up my job."

He looked distant, his empty hands came up as though he was holding his MSG-90. His hands didn't shake at all, even what was normal for a modern special forces sniper. His finger manipulated a trigger that wasn't there and then his hands went down again.

"Another side effect unfortunately, but, this job is my life."