Team Exodus

    Colin stares, unblinking towards the west. Around him the hex plates spring to life around him seemingly at random as he channels his mysterious power to see that which he should not…

    Colonel Douglas sits aboard his Stealth Craft, a prototype from Doctor Nikolay’s lab that uses the field technology to bend light and seemingly alter reality to avoid detection. It was one of the main reasons that they managed to get Colin out of Massachusetts and to that academy. Colonel Douglas grits his teeth as he thinks on the ridiculous behavior of the Apocalypse Academies. They were pursued across most of the world by the monsters, he had lost three good men in close encounters and that was after he’d left Massachusetts… So many of the Academies had turned them down, citing how they couldn’t possibly bend the rules or that it was too dangerous. It started to look hopeless until they reached that one on Germany’s border and somebody actually knew who Doctor Nikiolay actually was, they all but begged to let Colin study there at that point, likely just so they can boast about having the Doctors last project as one of their little students. Those pompous little…

     The Colonel lets out a sigh as he looks at his men. Examining their weary yet determined faces. He first eyes a man of average height with dark hair, green eyes and a lean build. Captain Lewis, is a man who has mastered the Mystic Martial of the Inner Paths and always seemed to have an air of power about him. He eyes next came to Sgt Maria, a Techno Enhanced sniper. Half of her face was cybernetic and the other was scarred. She was one of the best snipers he’d ever seen. His eyes came to the last member of their group, a youthful looking individual who was seemingly a young boy but Douglas knew better. Specialist Calim was a Magical Boy with bright, blonde hair and delicate features, his contract had granted him eternal youth, among many other gifts. Douglas knew that he resented his youthful appearance as he often got treated differently than he’d like because of it. Douglas was also aware of just how low his Soul Gem had gotten over the past couple of hours. He had been ordered to take it easy until they could recharge it with a witch or Daemon. This was his team, codenamed Exodus.

    Colonel Douglas couldn’t help but let out a smile, he had known this group since the old days days back at his own Apocalypse Academy. He himself was a Badass Normal and a natural born leader, his men trusted him with their lives, and he was about to let them down. They all knew what awaited them in Massachusetts, they had lost contact with the hidden city hours ago but still, they had to try to get there, to help. He knew that Colin had wanted them to stay with him but the Colonel also knew that he and his men could never leave Massachusetts behind to struggle for itself. They would land any minute now.

     The ships AI notified them of their imminent arrival to one of the bunkers in Massachusetts, with any luck it has held out and they’d be able to evacuate the survivors… Otherwise they would get some vengeance. Colonel Douglass addressed his men, his tone full of self-confidence and authority. “Alright, listen up. We will be landing in two minutes, It is current 0700 in Massachusetts and 1300 at Colin’s Academy so, with any luck he’s trying some actual food aside from these Godamned MRE’s we’ve been feeding him.” The members of Exodus began chuckling at the thought grins plastering their faces. Maria speaks up, her voice sounding slightly synthesized. "“What do you think he will try first?” Calim answers, his voice delicate and youthful. “Probably some German or polish food, the Academy is on their border.” Lewis replies, his own tone distinct. “I wonder how he would react to trying wasabi.” That gets another round of chuckles before the interior of the ship fell silent once again. Maria breaks the silence. “He’ll do fine there, right? They’ll treat him well?” Nobody speaks up, knowing that they cannot guarantee that. Eventually Douglas speaks up. “They’d better, if not then we’ll just have to come and knock some sense into the thick piles of shit they call their heads.” Maria smiles and the rest of Exodus begins chuckling again. Colonel Douglas lets them have their moment before speaking again. “Alright, here’s the plan.” Immediately the rest of Exodus looks alert and attentive. Douglas cannot help but crack a smile. He continues. “We will not land near the shelter, Me, Lewis and Calim will air drop from the Transport while Maria stays behind to provide fire support from the air should we need it. Lewis will be the vanguard for the operation with myself and Calim providing fire support.’ The commander tosses a small firearm to Calim, although small the heavily modified ARES weapon packed quite a punch. “Calim, you are only to use your powers as a last resort, are we clear?” Calim nods, his face determined.

     Douglas continues speaking as he begins examining his own firearm, a large rifle that he had named Authority, Maria had helped him design and make it, and he loved it dearly. “We will secure the location and determine if any trace of survivors exists. If we find no signs we will depart for the next Bunker, if we do find survivors then we will escort them to a LZ and transport them to the closest safe zone before returning to look for more, understood?” Exodus nods and Douglas stands up, seemingly at the same time as a large door opens in the floor, a strange light fills the opening but Douglas recognized it as the unique system within the transport that allowed units to be deployed safely and stealthily from great heights. Lewis gets up and moves into position as Calim and Douglas himself line up behind him. Maria walks to a wall and a vertical opening appears for her, allowing her to watch and provide fire support if needed. A green light appears in the corner of the room and Lewis steps into the light, dropping into it, he is quickly followed by Calim and Douglas.

    Douglas could never get used to this sensation, a strange halo appeared above him and he could hear a faint aria, as if by an unseen angelic choir. But Douglas also knew that at the same time he was surrounded by a field that will provide him some optical camouflage and limit the aria to just his ears. He couldn’t even see Calim or Lewis but he knew they were close. After a few minutes of slowly hovering to a safe landing the stealth field dropped and he could immediately see Calim and Lewis appear from an odd black sphere that appeared out of nowhere and then quickly dissipated. Team Exodus moved quickly to the bunkers secret entrance and activated it. The landscaped shifted to reveal the opening but Douglas immediately called out. “Lewis! Collateral, now!” Immediately lewis begins twisting around at a high velocity and blue projectiles begin shooting out and into their surroundings, the once lush trees start to recoil and burn out as the lights touch them and the illusion drops. A large red monstrosity surrounded them, its body was amorphous but Douglas could make out burns where Lewis had hit it. The abomination could be damaged, with any luck this is a daemon and they could use it to fuel Calim’s soul gem. The last noticeable feature on the abomination was a large dark red sphere at what appears to be its center.

     Douglas and Calim immediately open fire, blasting away chunks of the beasty as it tries to overwhelm them. Every time it gets close to them with some of its slime, Lewis flashes in front of it and smacks it away with such force that it creates a sonic boom. This keeps up for roughly half a minute before the creature grows irritated and suddenly calls forward a great surge of its slime, becoming a tidal wave of slime that was heading straight for them. Lewis was about to make his own move, as well as Calim when Douglas called out. “Hold!” The slimes rushes towards them but Exodus holds. “Hold!” Repeats Douglas as the slime is almost upon them. Just as it is about to overtake and likely dissolve them Douglas calls out. “Now, Maria. Cryo!” Suddenly a loud crack is heard and the slime comes to a suddenly halt as its entire body freezes over. Douglas calls out to his team with him. “Lewis! Stand ready, Calim follow my lead!” Douglas opens fire on the creatures aiming for its core, Calim also focuses his fire upon the same spot. Time is precious as the edges of the creature are already unfreezing as its ooze falls down and squirms, seemingly stunned. Seconds feel like hours as they shoot a tunnel into the creature and just as its unfrozen slime seems to regain itself and it begins to make a counter Douglas calls out. “Now, Lewis!” Suddenly Lewis disappears in a flash of speed and the sphere shatters, Lewis reappears in the same spot clutching some cubes. So it was a Daemon, good.

    The bunker was devoid of life, but the corrosion within it told a gruesome story on what happened with in… Calim used the cubes to recharge his Soul Gem, he wasn’t at a full charge but he was out of the red and could participate more freely now. Suddenly, Douglas hears a beep in his transceiver and answers to hear Maria on the other end. “Colonel, we have a problem.” Maria informs Douglas that a nearby bunker seems to have survivors, but they had recently been discovered and a battle was taking place. However, the odds heavily outweighed them. Douglas doesn’t hesitate as he orders Exodus back into the transport and he heads to help the survivors. They arrive in minutes and immediately deploy in the same formation. But this time Lewis and Calim can both participate.

     They landed close to the Battlefield so they could attempt to ambush one of the monstrosities behind the assault. Their target is a large alien looking creature, approximately 9 meters tall with thin arms and legs and several bone like protrusions. Douglass decides to save Calim for when the open battle breaks out so he orders Lewis to take it out and with a quick movement the creatures head suddenly vanishes and it falls to the ground convulsing, these seemed to be going well. Then it all went to shit. All of the gunfire from the battle suddenly stopped and a dark dread descended upon the battlefield. An extremely tall and thin creature stepped up from behind some buildings and looked straight at team Exodus, Douglas can tell that it’s body was comprised of thousands of the creature hey had just slain. All joined together to make the body. The creature raises it’s hand and different things started flying up from around the city and heading straight for them. Douglas widens his eyes as he realizes it’s the ‘survivors’ they were all marionettes made from preserved corpses, this was a trap.

    The puppets open fire on Exodus and Douglas dives into cover, as Lewis’s hands become a blur of movement, catching the bullets with ease. Calim looks on at the storm of lead as the bullets simply stop and hover right in front of him before turning around to fire back at the heads of the puppets. Despite all of them being headshots the marionettes continue towards them. Douglas examines the creature and realizes that it must be manipulating the bodies, he calls out his commands. “Lewis, defense. Calim, Crush the big one.” The only sign that they heard the orders was the flurry of movement they displayed as the acted to fulfill them, Calim starts flying towards the large puppet master, the marionettes open fire but Lewis throws the bullets he captured one at a time to deflect the shots before they can hit. Douglas pulls out his rifle and begins shooting the guns of the marionettes, destroying their rifles to take off some of the heat. Eventually Calim gets into position and is suddenly surrounded by a large variety of interweaving magical circles. A great power radiates from him as he channels his spell before chanting. “Cataclysmic Impact!” A visible pressure collides with the puppet master but, it’s eyes glow and a massive orange hexagonal shaped plate appears before it, seemingly negating the impact. Douglas immediately reacts. “Maria, now! Anti-Field!” Suddenly a loud crack is heard and a hole is made in the field which is quickly expanded as Calim’s power overwhelms it from that tear in the field. The effect is immediately visible as the creature suddenly crumples, crushed beneath a massive weight. The impact sends a shockwave that shakes the buildings, crumbling a good number.

     In the aftermath Calim is seen hovering in the same spot with a big grin on his face as he glances back to Colonel Douglas only to have his eyes widen in surprise as the Colonel seems to be screaming at him, Calim checks his transceiver and finds that it has been damaged, Calim quickly looks around attempting to find the source of the Colonels distress when suddenly he feels something impact him from behind followed by a burning sensation. Calim coughs up blood as he looks behind himself to see an incredible long spike the stretches from the clouds and into his back, going straight through him and impaling into the ground. He only has time to look at Douglas and mouth. “Sorry, Colonel.” Before the spike splits in two and he is ripped apart. From the skies descends another titanic monstrosity, this one is also vaguely human shaped but it is in a permanent pose with its hands stretched out as if welcoming them. It has two tails that reform to one after having slain Calim. A large, bright halo is above its head a sign that it was using a Field to fly.

   Douglas does not let the death of Calim shake him, he cannot afford to. Lewis is furious, the ground beneath him cracking as he mutters. “Colonel, I’m going to use the final path. Use this time to get to the transport, there is nothing left in Massachusetts. Go to Colin, guide him.” Lewis does not wait to hear the Colonels remark as he suddenly explodes with power, his physical form burned away and only the Perfect Warrior within him remained, manifested as pure energy. It disappears in an instant and clashes with the creature in the sky, batting away the creature’s tail as he break through severaldefensive fields at a time trying to reach the creature. It was an impressive display but Douglas new he could not keep it up, this was burning his soul away, fast.

    Douglas began moving himself, giving orders to Maria as he moves. “Maria, leave Massachusetts, guard and guide Calim as he improves himself. We can’t afford to have you pick me up. There are too many unknowns right now.” Douglas glances at the titanic battle in the sky as the unknown creatures creates a hundred fields at a time, one behind the other creating a battering ram that slams into Lewis with incredible force, creating an incredibly loud noise, similar to a massive bell being run. Lewis merely shrugs off the hit and continues his assault. Maria responds to Douglas. “I can’t do that Colonel.’ Douglas interrupts him. “Maria, you have to you can’t-“Maria cuts him off. “No, Douglas. I can’t live without you. I’m not leaving you behind, so either designated somewhere for me to pick you up or I’ll just come and pick you up.” Douglas sighs. Maria really is going to risk her life and disobey his orders, at a time like this. Douglas relents. Fine, meet me behind a skyscraper and we’ll leave together. But if I die before getting there you have to go without me, no arguing.” Maria doesn’t respond but he knows she heard him.

    Douglas makes it to the designated LZ and immediately he sees a door open in thin air, he runs towards it. He doesn’t stop but he does hear what sounds like a skyscraper collapsing behind him and hears Maria yell. “Douglas! Hurry!” Douglas pushes himself to run faster that he thought he could and makes it to the transport, the door closes behind him but he can still see out of it. Just in time to see Lewis, captured by the creatures Field which had molded around him and now prevented him from moving as the creatures tail wails on him and repeatedly stabs him. Lewis lets out one final furious cry of defiance as he explodes, all of his power being expended in this last hit, the sky brightens and turns blue for a short time and Douglas is forced to look away. The transport was already in motion and it seemed like Lewis’s sacrificed had paid off.

    Suddenly the creatures shoots out from the Explosion, its body was heavily damaged but it was still alive and heading straight for them. Douglas would have yelled out impossible as they should have been undetectable but he knows that when dealing with these beings impossibility was the norm. Suddenly warnings sounds within the transport and he can tell that their stealth had fallen, the creatures own field had enveloped theirs, overwhelming their weaker field and exposing them. Douglas knew that this was the end and so he looks to Maria to find her staring back and they both embrace before the end.

     Meanwhile back at the Academy Colin has just watched all of this unfold, and while his body looked the same if one were to look at his face they would easily be able to see the tears streaming down it. That was it. Now he truly was the last of Massachusetts. Every single one of his escorts, the people he had befriended, and the first bonds he had ever made in this world. All of them had just died, right before his eyes. And he couldn’t save any of them.