Sirens blared through the facility, the sound cutting through the calm of the cold winter night, people were screaming as they ran around mindlessly, trampling their comrades in the process.
The only ones calm were the imperium stratus soldiers who stood at attention Infront of their commander, their bodies giant mechanical suits of armour at least two metres tall, the men inside were connected to it with wires, fusing them together as the flesh atrophied and the metal remained. On the outside of the armour there were two reinforced glass canisters containing a dark purple liquid that was injected into their veins, it was the only thing keeping them alive and sane.
Their commander stood tall Infront of them, his rank signified by the gold accents on his armour and the red cape he wore and the armoured canisters, that cost more to make then the entire suits of two normal soldiers combined.
"status report" he spoke with an old, gruff voice.
"Code two sir! something has attacked the facility, our security systems have fallen." replied a younger man in front of the formation.
"Damnit all! One through twelve, secure the perimeter! Thirteen through fifteen, follow me!" He commanded
In the imperium stratus common soldiers were nobodies, just numbers, expendable and interchangeable and were only addressed to as such.
"Yes sir!" They all yelled in perfect unison, as everyone moved to their post, the first twelve circled the facility, to keep those outside from entering, and those inside from leaving.
The commander, and the last three soldiers moved inside, scanning every person inside for any intruders or suspicious behaviour as they split up to cover more ground faster, the commander going to the research facility, the most important thing in the base and what was most likely to be the target of the attack, only to find it ransacked and the things left behind caught on fire.
There was also the head scientist who lay on the ground half dead, he quickly moved towards him.
"Who did this?" The commander's voice sounded more like a command then a question as he looked towards the damaged lab, the indifference towards the man's wounds clear.
The researcher slowly looked up at him, his hand firm on his bleeding stomach wound, "run" he said with a weak and shaky voice.
But it was too late as right after the word left his mouth the room exploded, killing the scientist and knocking the commander against the wall.
...
Somewhere else in the building a young man could be seen trying to flee, he wore a black hoodie and pants as well as an oni mask over the bottom half of his face, his eyes were a grey silver colour and his hair was black except for a few strands that bore the same colour as his eyes. He was carrying a black backpack with him filled with schematics, prototypes and weird materials on his back.
There was something unusual about the way he ran, his speed to great for a normal human, and yet his steps were silent, as if he wasn't running on concrete but instead gliding over thick clouds. But that soon stopped as he was forced to come to a halt by the giant that stood Infront of him, a big human-like metal suit standing almost half a meter taller than him, that bore the number 13 on its shoulder.
The young man didn't wait a second more before attempting to strike at the glass container on the shoulder of the suit, he moved with inhuman speed and jumped towards his target, but so too did the soldier, moving with speed unfitting of something so big and heavy, grab him by his arm and throw him against the wall.
The hit knocked the air out of the young mans lungs as he fell to the floor, but he quickly recovered and grew distance between him and the enemy, as he reached into his pocket taking a small purple crystal in his hand and through the gesture of holding a bow and drawing it back, the crystal glowed and a white arrow appeared and shot itself right into the canisters, spewing the purple liquid all over the floor and causing the robot to malfunction and fall seemingly dead.
...
The commander stood back up from the rubble of the explosion, shoving the debris off his suit, had his suit not been reinforced, he might've died.
As he stood up and dusted himself, he heard the sound of fighting from the other sides of the building but by the time he got there, the fight had ended and his soldier was dead, the only thing remaining was from the assailant was a red envelope with a single, silver rose petal inside
"Find them!" He screamed in their intercom, "don't let them escape!"