"Hey Mike, wake up."
That was the first thing Michael heard as his eyes began to flutter open. Bright, mana-powered tube lights were on the ceiling, beating down into his barely woken eyes. He looked down at his hands, seeing the usual charcoal-gray marks on his palms. His gray hair shifted to the side as he turned to look up at Joseph.
"Yeah, I'm up, Joseph."
Joseph, his friend and squad-mate, stood beside him, next to the train door. They had met in initial training, and were put in the same unit. Ever since then, they've been through thick and thin with each-other. Though, it had only been a short bit since they had their own unit. He had mildly tanned white skin, flowing blond hair that went to his shoulders, similar to a mullet, and well worn aviator jacket on, with his actual military uniform lying below it. Below his jacket, was some blue jeans that was a bit more black than any blue, like it was covered with soot, and his weapon of choice being a revolver, hooked to the side of it.
"Man, you look like you've seen death. You're like eighteen or something, and you already have grey hair?" Joseph joked.
Michael pushed himself up from the floor. "I didn't choose my hair color. Why did you wake me up, anyways? We haven't made it to the location yet."
Joseph explained, "Roy had some oh-so important information to tell us. Honestly, he should've told us back at the barracks, but it must've been some new info. Either that, or he's lost all trust in us, which is about equally probable."
After saying this, Joseph lamented, "Ugh, from what the briefing told us, this is gonna be one hell of a job."
Michael asked, while listening to Joseph express his great dissatisfaction with the current situation, "No use in complaining, though."
Joseph said, "Hey, I can be a bit peeved and still do my job, after all. Besides, give it a few years, and we can leave this dump and do something better with our lives."
Michael nervously said, "It's only been about six months since we've started properly, so I wouldn't be daydreaming yet."
Joseph's face darkened a bit, "Yeah. It's still kinda crazy how we're only eighteen doing this stuff. Before the war, this was something that would take years to join. Doesn't feel quite right."
Michael replied, "It's to protect our fellow countrymen. You've heard Roland, he said himself that this time is one of the most violent times in history, shouldn't we help to end it?"
Joseph shook his head, "I'm just saying, it feels wrong..."
As Joseph finished speaking, a voice buzzed out from the radio. "Hope I'm not interrupting too much here." It was Roy, who had joined their team later through training. While he was older, and was quite different in almost every way as compared to Joseph and Michael, he was the glue that held the team together. "Since we had all of that business with the new barracks and all, I didn't get a couple important details across. Plus, I don't remember exactly all I told you, so I'm just gonna repeat myself, since you both probably forgot anyways."
Roy said, "Anyways, here's the details. This place is a old factory, that was abandoned a bit after the war. Previously, it manufactured ammo and some Mech platforms. Now, it has a bunch of gangsters locked up in it, just some lower level thugs who are seemingly defending some older Mech units. Our job is to knock them out and see if there's anything suspect happening."
Joseph said, "This sounds like work for a higher level team, are you sure about this."
Roy audibly groaned, "I know, but there's no higher teams available right now. No choice but to be sure.
Michael brushed his hair off his face. "Alright, we get the assignment."
Roy said, "Then, I hope to see you all soon. Send a radio ping when you're ready, I'll pick you both up and help clean the place."
Michael and Joseph stood up and took out their respective weapons. Michael had his standard military uniform on, a sharp Navy Blue uniform with a enchanted gold emblem on his breastpocket, representing his country and unit. He also had a sword attached at his side, a standard issue one for those who prefer swordfighting as opposed to firearms or true melee. There was some freedoms given to those who serve the government, one of which is the freedom to decide how you fight. All you have to do, is to show your aptitude for the fighting style, and that it would be more effective for you to fight your way than with a basic firearm. The sword itself was imbued with Michael's mana, being warm to the touch. Joseph's revolver was his own, however, and was specifically enchanted to pierce Mana.
Joseph told Michael, "Alright Mike, make sure not to burnout."
Michael grinned, "Don't shoot yourself either."
The train slowed down to a halt, it's wheels grinding sparks as it braked. Michael pressed the palm of his hand on to the wall of the train. Michael's facial expression turned serious, as his hand started to shine red from his mark. Mana poured out of his hand, before uncontrollably blowing straight through the wall. As the smoke dissipated, Michael could see armed gangsters running out from the shadows of the factory. Michael and Joseph jumped off of the train onto the ground below. Scanning the area more, they could see a few empty gasoline cans in a pile, and several trucks with cargo lying about, which the gangsters quickly used as cover.
The gangsters readied their guns nervously, their hands trembling. Michael and Joseph nodded at each other, before moving into action. The gangsters began to fire hailstorms of bullets at them, almost like a storm. However, Michael struck the ground with his hand. Similar to the wall on the train, Mana poured out, causing fire to rise like a wall. The heat slowed and melted the bullets before they could make impact. Joseph began loading special non-lethal bullets. As if practiced, Michael and Joseph both jumped out of the wall's cover from both sides. Joseph sped to the left, which had the gangsters who hid behind the trucks. He accurately shot them, neutralizing them. Micheal pursued the direction with more lackluster barricades, enabling him to take out the enemy there. He slammed the side of his sword into them, slapping them into a deep sleep. After a bit of mild resistance, the gangsters defending the entrance fell. Michael and Joseph started breaching the facility, meeting light resistance from small groups of the enemy. However, with a force far smaller than the almost ten men they faced at the train stop, quick work was made of them.
As they made it into the inner part of the building, Michael readied himself, when Joseph yelled, "Stop!"
Michael turned to him, "What's up?"
Joseph pointed down, "Look at all that stuff on the walls."
Michael looked, seeing a liquid all over the floors and walls. "Gasoline?"
Joseph replied, "You think that they predicted that we were here?"
Michael began to step forward, "I can't imagine they did." Michael would lower the amount of mana imbued in his sword.
By the time they reached the final room to clear out, they were both covered in soot, dust, and a bit of blood. The last room was a large, cylindrical one, filled with computers and filing cabinets. There was a indented part of the floor in the middle, and they walked around in it, checking for hostiles.
Joseph leaned on the wall, "This place should be just about cleared by now. You say I should ping Roy?"
"Sure, call him. We've knocked out about 30 people by now, I'd say there can't be many left." Michael replied.
As Joseph sets up the radio, Michael said, "So, anything interesting happen lately?"
Joseph smirked, "Didn't know that you had small talk in you, but yeah, I guess I did hear about something pretty interesting. I heard from some gossip, that there's a large case going on in the city where people are getting mutated into monsters."
Michael replied, "That's freaky, but not out of the ordinary."
Joseph said, "That's what I thought too, but they can't be turned back, or so I've heard. Not sure if it's true though, I haven't heard anyone talk about this other than the rank-and-file."
Michael grimaced, "Permanent transformation... I haven't even read anything like that before. I'd hate to meet one, sounds grim."
Joseph laughed, "Yeah, knowing our luck, we'd probably find one."
As soon as the radio pinged, a computer began to boot up nearby. Joseph walked up to the computer, trying to shut it off. It read, "Confirmation acquired, temporarily releasing Subject Bay lock."
Joseph said, "You know what the hell it's doing?"
Michael began to ready himself, "No clue."
In the middle of the room, the floor started to mechanically descend, before coming back up, bearing a old mech upon it. As Michael looked at the mech, it started creaking. It was covered in scratch marks, and feathers. There was a clipboard on the ground, that read, "Test Subject 33: Subject Information: Former occupation was a Pilot. When exposed to the fluid, status quickly deteriorated, though overall strength met the required threshold. Result: Failure, did not meet requirements. Presented uncontrollable form and consciousness, did not have enough strength to maintain proper form and consciousness, almost useless. Get rid of it before the Doctor finds out."
Joseph walked over, and asked, "What the hell is all this?"
Michael said, "Either some creative writing, or some kind of sick experiment."
Joseph said, "You think this could be related to the rumors?"
Michael replied, "I hope not. That part at the end too, to get rid of it?"
Joseph put his hand up, like he had a realization, "That makes the gasoline make way more sense!"
As Joseph said that, the mech creaked louder, and cracks started to form in it. Shining light blazed out of the chest, cockpit, and cracks. Michael and Joseph jumped back, to see the entire thing collapse. When the dust dispersed, they saw in front of them, something they've never seen or heard of in their lives. They saw, what appeared to be a large, human-sized bird, with some human attributes. It's wings were white, with feathers that seemed to be made out of steel. It's claws were made of a similar material, with it's entire body being covered in little patches of the thing. On it's chest, were magical runes, though they were unrecognizable to Michael. However, any part of it's body that was not made out of the material was a writhing, fleshy mass. It's skin pulsated like a blood vessel, and under the steel, bird-like mask it wore, one could see a bloody, injured face. It was flying in the air when it saw Michael and Joseph. It let out a ear-piercing screech, before pulling it's wings in front of it, shooting the steel out on command. Michael focused, and began to cut the feathers, only barely breaking the material, while Joseph ran behind a filing cabinet, reloading his gun with stronger, lethal rounds. The barrage of feathers ended, with them being lodged in nearly every crevice of the room. As Joseph stood behind the cabinet, he was filled with a fear that he couldn't describe, as if he had found something he was never supposed to know of.
Joseph yelled, breathlessly, "What is that thing?!"
Michael yelled back, "I'll distract it, try to flank it and shoot it from behind."
Joseph ran around the side, while Michael prepared fireballs to throw. The thing somehow reloaded it's wings, feathers sprouting out from the spots where you could see its bloody skin. It began firing once more, but the feathers melted in face of the fireballs. The combatants hurled their respective projectiles at each-other, none able to crack through the storm. But, like thunder, a crack was heard throughout the room, as Joseph unloaded his gun into the back of the bird-thing, causing it to crash down to the ground. Joseph ran up to the thing, trying to continue the attack, when it jumped up, scratching Joseph's chest, ripping into his shirt and scratching his torso. It turned back to focus at Michael, but what it saw was Michael launching himself at it, trying to hit a downwards slash with his sword. It tried to dodge, but Michael was too fast, the sword slamming into the torso of it, deep down his shoulder. When Michael tried to do a followup slash, blood shot out of the would, almost like a defense mechanism. Michael and Joseph were both shot back to the wall. As they got up, they saw it flying again. It was covered in blood, and though it had seemingly regenerated, the previously shining chest of it was now the same as it's skin. There were also circles of light surrounding it's wrists, with runes inscribed on the light itself. It pointed it's hands at them, launching beams of light from it's palm. Michael and Joseph began frantically running, trying to dodge the light with all the stamina they could.
As they ducked behind a collapsed clump of lab equipment, Michael said, "Get out of here, I'll take it down."
Joseph's face had a flash of concern for Michael, "You can't go back to full power, this place will explode!"
Michael turned down to his friend, and said, "You have any better ideas?"
Joseph shuddered, before beginning to run out.
Joseph said, "If you lose, I'll never let you live it down!" as he ran out of the building. Michael channeled his Mana through his palms and blade. They lit up as soon as the Mana began to flow, and Michael quickly used his Mana to launch him into the air, creating explosions with his hands. As he shot up at it, it began desperately shooting whatever feathers it had at Michael, but Michael tanked them as they lodged themselves in his body, wounding Michael. Michael slammed into it, grabbing it by the neck. As they flew around haphazardly, Michael pulled his sword out, and lodged it into the Bird-thing's chest, before pushing it with his palms, slamming them both to the ground. Michael had done this on purpose, as he had made a specific spell for this kind of situation. It was a verbal one, and had specific conditions, but was pretty powerful. If he had his sword lodged into something, then quickly forced that something into the ground, piercing it and having the sword pierced into the floor, he could yell out "Eruption!" and the Mana flowing through him, the something, and the general Mana in the air would tighten, creating a pillar of flames, akin to a eruption.
Michael slammed It down to the ground, grinding his sword deep through it and into the floor below, causing blood to spew out, before yelling, "Eruption!". Almost like a pillar from heaven, flames would engulf both Michael and the thing, lighting the entire building up with the gasoline. The thing would shriek loudly, before the sound slowly died down as the flames burned for longer. By the time the flames dispersed, all that was left was Michael, with his uniform covered in ash, even charred in some places, as the fire protection spell put on it couldn't handle this level of fire yet. The thing faced a different outcome. It was burnt and charred, almost unrecognizable.
Michael fell to his knees, smoking. Joseph ran back into the room, coughing, and trying to wave the smoke away, and Michael said, slurred, "Are you ok, Joseph?"
Joseph replied, "Me? Are you ok? I mean..."
Michael laughed half-heartedly, leading to Joseph to sigh. Joseph said, "Just sit there, you should be good enough to make it to the hospital."
As Joseph walked away, groaning, Michael sat there, cleaning all the wounds he could, as he smirked to himself, satisfied with the battle somewhat. He stopped himself from enjoying it too much, lest he become the man who's life he most wished to end.