The Ripple of a Stone

The Ripple of a Stone

History

Earlier that day…

“What do we do now?” The raspy voice of General Millen couldn’t be heard over the sound of the large metal doors to the underground armory slam shut. They had fled to the main building that stood in the centre of the town Niihau, Hawaii to hide form the monsters that were outside.

“Oh my god what are we going to do? What are we going to do?” Officer Michaels’s short, stocky build begin to panic as he ran to the far wall of the armory. The room itself was one of the biggest on the base. One full wall was floor to ceiling mirror, while the three others were covered in all assortments of weapons. Large heavy cases that held more weapons pilled everywhere.

“I don’t! I don’t know OK!” General Millen yells.

Only 5 of the original 143 personnel in the unit made it down to the armory. General Millen, whose age showed in every wrinkle of his face, was in charge of the mission that went bad. Sergeant Becks and Sergeant O’Conner sealed the heavy metal doors just in time to hear the familiar scratches from the black devils.

“Quick, hit the red panel that’s next to the door” O’Conner yells, her voice etching in Sgt. Beck’s ears.

“What panel?” he yells back.

“There, right next to your hand, punch it NOW!” Obeying her with out question, he slams his fist hard onto the panel, to hear the scratching sound slowly stop. Officer Michaels, who was the jumpiest motherfucker you would ever meet, paced back and forth in the large room. He was the kind of man where the sound of a mouse fart would send him jumping 5 feet in the air.

“Would you stop that Michaels?” A hard Russian voice finally coming from Officer Sovin, directed at the nervous Michaels.

“Listen,” The booming voice of Sergeant Beck echoed in the large, relatively empty room, “listen, we have to get out of here. We have to suit up and get the fuck out here!”

“What the hell are you talking about Becks,” the General says, “we don’t have to fucking go anywhere. We just have to wait here for reinforcements and,”

“You don’t understand,” Becks interrupts, “there gonna blow this fucken place up!” Sgt. O’Conner, who had already begun to pack her body with any and all ammunition she could carry, had paused when she heard Becks. Swiping her long red hair from her face which had become increasingly annoying as this shity day went on, she knew she had to do something or she’d cut it all of from her frustration. She already knew what Becks was going to say, and was waiting to see the Generals and the Officers reactions.

“What the hell are you talking about?” The General asks, it was more like an order but in this situation Becks didn’t want to do anything stupid. Letting out a deep sigh Becks begins, “When we first got the call that these things were out here, we decided that after 12 hours if we didn’t secure the situation that we would have an hour to get off island before they would blow the entire fucken thing up.”

“But we’re on this fucken island,” Michaels says.

“NO SHIT SHURLOCK!” The odd Russian accent of Sovin showing on every syllable, O’Conner laughed a little inside when Sovin attempted to say Sherlock. He’ll never get it right, she thinks. Now both Sovin and Michaels were pacing, their regulation army boots hammering on the hard armory floor. “How long have we been here?” Sovin adds.

“Close to ten hours now,” O’Conner finally speaks after she and Becks closed the doors. She walks over the wall of mirrors and puts down the guns she had in her hands. She looks at her blood stained and ripped up clothing. Her boots and gray-green army pants covered in blood from running over the corpses of their friends. Scratches and holes covered most of her uniforms, caused by the claws of the black devils just missing her legs. How did I get here? Why am I here? Why are we here? Shaking her head of those thoughts she takes off her jacket, she quickly glances at the badge that rests of the right shoulder, “ Sergeant Nalani O’Conner, New World Government Army”, she lowers the jacket to the ground and she looks over her now bear arms, searching and remembering every scar that she adorned on her body. She brings her hand up to her hair, to begin and attempt a French braid. She never was good at these things. She always got one of the other girls on the unit to do it for her, she wasn’t ‘girl’ enough to know how to a lot of girl things. As her hand rises she looks to her right palm, a scar that started from her pinky and stretching down to the small of her wrist causes her to pause, Mom. Dad. Snapping out of it, she begins, arms behind her head, braiding her red hair. Her black plain shirt raises a little, showing of her army body, sculpted by a life time of training. Every muscle on her body chiseled from her enhancements (AN: not breast enhancements, you’ll find out in a moment) and training every single day of her life, from the age of 2, to be fit for the NWGA (New World Government Army) Satisfied of her braiding job she picks up the weapons she had to drop, leaving her jacket on the ground. We’re in Hawaii, it’s to fucken hot to wear that anyways. She again gazes at the mirror, but not at herself. She walks over, placing her hand on the cold glass and then leans her ear to it. To concentrate over the heaving, scared breathing of the friends, she closes her eyes. Nothing, I don’t hear a thing. Good.

“When are they going to blow this place up?” The General questions.

“They told me that if we hadn’t communicated with them in twelve hours, saying that this situation was under control, then we would have one hour to get out. And sense we have been here for 10, which means we have 3 hours to get off the island.” The way he was doing the math for the General made him feel weird, like talking down to a child. But this child ordered you around.

“They can’t blow up this island,” Michaels cries out, “we’re to close to Kauai, that island just north east from here. They can’t blow that island, it’s populated with civilians. This is just an army base island.”

“That’s why they can blow it up,” O’Conner adds, “with the new weapons that we have, they can blow up a flee on an elephants ass without the elephant knowing. The system is accurate enough to hit just this island, and leave the others.” O’Conner was looking around armory, searching for anything that would explain what was going on and what happened. She reaches a trash can and kneels down, she finds an old newspaper, November 15th…but that was...3 and a half weeks ago…

“How can they destroy something so beautiful?” Sovin wonders.

“This place isn’t beautiful anymore,” O’Conner tightens her brow and turns her head to Sovin, “those things have over run the entire island. When we were first dropped here we thought it was just some rebels from the ‘Coalition Against the New World Government’, we never expected something like this! We didn’t expect to see these monsters.” The face of the General flinches at her words, and she noticed, she notices everything, and she stares straight into his eyes.

“Do you know something General?” With her words she stands and begins to stalk towards the General. He looks away, almost submissively. In his old age, he had begun to slouch, making him even shorter than he really was. The General being only 5’4, O’Connor towers over him with her 6’2 height. His face showing his fear as she approached him, his white hair with the standard army buzz cut, perfectly suited for his profession. “What do you know?” O’Conner asks again. Becks had also begun to walk towards him, waiting for his answer. The two officers who had begun to rummage though the case stopped and waited too.

“Look, I just…” The General started.

“Speak up General, I think we need to hear you in order to listen!” Sovins voice had hardened, stunning everyone around him. He was given the nick name ‘little Russian’, but he was the size of O’Conner. Standing 6’2 with black hair, and dark brown eyes that looked black from far way. He was named that because of his voice. It was so tiny compared to him, so different. His little Russian voice was always so soft and always controlled but now, it was like he snapped at the thought of the General knowing what as here.

The General had begun to back up, away from O’Conner and Becks, but there was no where for him to go. “FINE! This is all I know ok! ok! JUST STOP OK!” O’Conner and Becks decided to give him a little room, they didn’t want into to get to excited and keel over from a heart attack or something. “A group of six scientists from some lab that was stationed on the island decided to go look at an extinct volcano and started digging around. Pocking their noses where they shouldn’t have fucken been. The volcano opened up into a large cavern, where they found some of the black things, and some type of egg thing that release a giant spider that grabbed onto your face. A few of them were grabbed by them, only two scientist came out of there, telling the NWG of what they had found. But by the time they got there it was way to late. They had multiplied, we don’t know how,”

“You mean they didn’t know… until know.” O’Conner urged, her deep blue eyes burning bloody murder into the General, who knew what was here and still sent 143 people in. She never stopped staring at him, communicating with her eyes telling him that if he moved she was going to tear him limb for limb.

“We couldn’t have known then what we know now! We couldn’t have know that those spider things would grab onto your face and impregnate you. And we certainly didn’t fucken know that the more people we sent in the more black things came out!” The Generals voice had become aggressive, as if trying to defend himself for knowing. But nothing he can do or say would make the others in the room hate him less.

“I can’t believe they would do this! I just cant!” Michaels had begun to freak out even more than usual. His hands on his bald, shiny head and eyes budging. Sovin on the other hand was stationary, he hadn’t moved a muscle after he told to General to speak up.

“Why the hell would they send us hear than huh?” Becks asked. He had brought his hand to his brown hair, tugging at it slightly showing his frustration.

“We only got word of this less than a week ago…” the General continued talking but something clicked in O'Conner's mind, less than a week? It couldn’t be. The destruction of this town was way older than a week and… the newspaper! It was over three weeks old because they stopped printing it. They’ve been here for just about a month! She had a sudden epiphany as to why they would keep it a secret. Not only knowing why they kept it a secret but also revealing the Generals lie infuriated her. “…they needed to know what these thing were. What kind of a treat they were and…”

“YOUR LYING! YOU STUPID SON OF A BITCH! YOUR LYING!” Her sudden words stunned the men. “YOU’VE KNOWN ABOUT THIS FOR LONER THEN A FUCKEN WEEK! I SAW A NEWSPAPER IN THE TRASH FROM A MONTH AGO! THEY’VE BEEN HERE FOR A FUCKEN MONTH!” The faces of everyone, including the General had turned to stone.

“w…wha…” The General didn’t know what to say.

“You already knew what they were because you’ve been watching over them for a month! You didn’t want to know about them you already did. You wanted to know if you could use them!” Finally revealing to her friends what she had figured out. General Millen was silent.

“What are you talking about?” Becks asks her.

“Think about it, they are perfect. Practically indescribable. Only our energy weapons have a real effect on them, our bullets seem to just enter them and then melt. We saw that there blood is like acid. They would be hard to kill…if controlled.” The Generals was still stone face, amazed at how she could have known. ”They sent us hear to die didn’t they? They sent us hear to make more of those things for them didn’t they?”

“NO!” The General finally bursts. “We were sent here to get the mother.” He pauses after saying that, it was like he just told a child that Santa was fake. The stunned faces of everyone stared back into his.

“What the hell is wrong with you!” Sovin yelled out as he ran towards the General. Frustration leaking from him as he grabbed him by the collar and lifting him a good foot in the air.

“Stop it Boris! Stop it!” Becks had begin to pry Sovins hands from the General. ”We can’t do this Boris, we have to stay strong, we have to get out of here.” Sovin drops the General with an ‘ump’ coming from him as he hit the floor. Falling to his ass, the General begin to inch away from Becks and Sovin as they were talking.

“DON”T YOU FUCKEN MOVE!” O’Conner yells at him. “Look,” she turns to Becks and Sovin, “Allen is right!” When he hears his first name from O’Conner, Becks lets go of Sovin. “We can’t stay here or we are going to die, so we have to…“

“We’re going to die if we go out there!” Michaels interrupts.

“Than we shouldn’t have a problem than should we. Accept your death Dan, you’re a solder, its what we do!” O”Conner words stopped Michaels rant. “AS for you! ”She turns to the General, still on his ass. “What did you say about a mother?” O’Conner walked right up to him, taking her left foot and stepping on his chest, causing him to fall backwards. She didn’t care that she was doing this to a General. For what he had done, he and his friends should be hanged.

“HEY! I…we figured that there needed to be something making the eggs. So we sent in a mimi-spybot that flies and sent it into the cavern. We saw this thing that was 5 times the size of the black things outside. Its head has a large, crown that covers almost the rest of its body. It has an extra set of arms coming out of hit shoulders, but, its what we didn’t see that is most disturbing…” He takes a long pause, looking into the faces of ‘his men’. They couldn’t believe it, something bigger? “The ‘face’ of the thing was gone, or hidden,. It was definitely the mother because we was it making the eggs but we count see its face.”

No way! Something like that can’t exist! What the hell am I talking about? Those things outside shouldn’t exist but there they are. Black as night, with long skills that seem to glow. Mouths with teeth so sharp that it can cut threw anything, and it even had another mouth that came out from its throat. The hands and feet of these things were clawed like nothing I have ever seen. It had a tail with a spear at the end of, and it moved so fast and extend to extreme lengths. And here he is telling me that those things not only have a mother, but that the mother is bigger and my guess badder. We’re not going to live through this day, I know we’re not. And so do my men but I have to be strong for them. Snapped from her thoughts General Millen goes on to say that they were sent to catch it, bring it to a secret location, then forget it.

“I don’t care what we were sent here to do, we are getting the fuck outs here and now!” Becks argues.

The General starts laughing, “How do you suppose we get out of here huh? How are you going to get off the island? Swim?” He laughed again, hard and from the stomach. Its was more of a ‘theres no fucking way’ then a ‘its funny’ way.

“No you little shit, I saw a small jumper just south of the city, right next to the small hospital, it was on its landing pad. It can carry 8 so your fucking lucky. If it only carried four, like the usual jumpers do, guess who would be left behind?” Becks looks right into the General, he asked a rhetorical question because he knew everyone already knew the answer. With this the General pushes O’Conners foot off his chest and stands. With out speaking he sits on top of a case. Content that he wouldn’t be talking anymore, the others move off.

O’Conner walks up to Becks and places her hand on the small of his back. He turns to her and gives her a small kiss on her cheek.

“I don’t know how we are going to get out of here. I don’t know if we can get out of here Nalani, I really don’t know.” Becks and pulled O’Conner close to him, wrapping his arms around her.

“I know Allen, I know.” She whispers to him as she nudges her head to his neck. In their embrace, O’Conner had begun to fiddle with her engagement ring. Becks had surprised her with it when they were in the north. She smiled when she remembered that he had taken off his winter jacket, and EVERYTHING else and ran into the snow of what used to be Northern Canada. ‘MARRY ME NALA! OR SOON I WILL SO BE TO COLD TO HAVE CHILDREN!’ She lets a small smirk run across her face at the memory. After years of dating they had basically become one person. She takes a deep breath in to catch his scent, mmm…sunflowers and old spice. There wedding was a little more than a week away. This was meant to be there last mission before the big day. Little did they know that it would be the last mission for all of them.

“I don’t know what we are going to do,” she releases Becks, “but we have to get out of here non the less. Everyone, “ she glances at the General, “suit up, we need to be ready for anything.”

They all listened to her, she was next in command after the General, if it wernt for her ‘problems’ she probably would have out ranked him. But non-the-less they went by her words, even thought the General was still alive, they listened to her and not him ,they didn’t want him there. They didn’t want to be near him but there was no where for him to go. They each went to too different parts of the armory. Getting which ever weapon best suited them. The two officers, who all ready begun looking into every case that were placed all around the room attempted to get one that was in a large hole in the wall. She could hear their huphing and puffing as they attempted to pull it free. She didn’t say anything to them, she enjoyed the silence. She loved the calm before the storm. She loved how content she was knowing that when they left here those things would come after them. The weapons that hung from her made her feel so safe, she had always felt safe with guns. Ever sense she was little she always had some kind of weapon by her. She had always wanted to be in the army like her parents. She wanted to be strong, in and out of battle. She wanted to be everything for them, she wanted to make them proud because they were always watching over her.

“UGH! Come on, put your back into it!” Sovin yelled and Michaels. She couldn’t take it anymore, she walked over to the to men who were both pulling on the end of the case, still lodged in the wall. Putting both of their enhanced strength together, pulling as hard as they could.

“That’s its, move over!” She says. With one hand, she grabs the end of the case and pulls. It slides out easily. The faces of the two men had amazement and wonder written all over them.

“How the hell did you do that? Sovin asks.

“HA!’ The three of them turn to see Becks, “Her enhancements are upgraded.” He says with a large hint of sarcasm.

“What do you mean, there is only one dose of enhancement that you can get. There is no upgrade.” Sovin looks to O’Conner.

“umm…well…I uhh….” She didn’t know what to say because no one is really supposed to know about the upgrades.

“Her uncle is Doctor Lynch.” Becks adds.

“Whoa! Your kidding me!” Sovin says, eyes wide.

“Whos Doctor Lynch?” Michaels looks into the face of his friends and wonders why they look at him like he just asked the stupidest question ever.

“You have to know who Doctor Lynch is,” Sovin gives Michaels a little shake to his right shoulder. “He’s the guy who invented the BioNettic Enhancements.”

“Your kidding!” Michaels mouth and eyes widen, almost not believing it.

“No, he's my uncle.” She replies to him. She has a small smile on her face, loving the dumbfounded look on his.

“I thought Doctor Lynch did have any siblings?” Sovin adds.

“You know of him?”

“Yeah. I was planning on going into Gene Development and Research but my father pushed me into military service.”

“He didn’t have any brothers or sisters. He and my father worked together and…”

“O’Conner, that’s where I know you name from. You’re the daughter of the scientist who found the bases for gene manipulation. I heard he died thought, I didn’t know he had a child.”

“Not a lot of people did. And when they died…” She paused, the men knew not to say anything. They knew it was hard. “ when they died Lynch had adopted me has his daughter. But he is still more of an uncle than an adoptive father. He had his own children at the time. Four boys, all older then I. He took care of me.”

Michaels interrupts, “What do you mean he invented the BioNettic Enhancements?”

“What do you think I mean when I say he invented them?” Sovin replies. “He invent the enhancements you dumb shit. We all have them, you should know who made them.” Sovins mouth gave way to an evil smirk when Michaels face flinches.

The General, who had sat in the corner knowing that the men didn’t want to be near him, was amazed that all four of them have the BioNettic enhancements done. He was to old. At 61, he should have been retired by now. He remembered the day that the BioNettic enhancements were introduced in the military. The Genetic Development and Research department, under the supervision of Doctor lynch, had the best scientists. Including O’Conners parents. Just before they died, they had stumbled onto something that would soon become the BioNettic enhancements. He didn’t understand how they could do it. He didn't get how you splice new information into someone's DNA. The BioNettic enchantments didn’t effect the personality part of a person though, or thought part of the gene but it sure as hell effected everything else. What he did understand was that in the human muscle, there are blood vessels and in those the muscle fibers. The enhancements basically increased the number of fibers per blood vessel. Doubling and sometimes even tripling a persons strength with out adding extra weight, bulk or muscle. He did notice that O’Conner was bigger then the normal woman. But he just thought it was because she was an army brat. But he didn’t know that she had the enhancements, let alone upgrades. BioNettics did more than make you stronger. It made everything about you better, you can see better and smell better. Food even tasted better. You brain even processed things faster. When he heard that O’Conner had ‘upgrades’, he knew that Doctor Lynch had been doing more tests. She wasn't just strong either, he could tell by the way she moved when the we dropped here that she could smell something he couldn’t and she could hear something too. The BioNettics sculpting her into the ultimate solder. He had heard of how she had fought the rebels in what was called Africa, and how she was captured and tortured but somehow she escaped, killing them all. O’Conner kind of reminded him of his own daughter. Both strong willed and strong as hell. His daughter didn’t want to talk to him either. Non of his family did after he was assigned to head this mission. He should have retired years ago and his family hated that he was still being assigned missions and that he accepted. “I shouldn’t have done it. I shouldn’t have done it!” He whispered softly to himself. With her hearing being so good, O’Conner heard the General, but she didn’t acknowledge him. BioNettics made a persons hearing better then a dogs, and smell better then a dogs, better then any animal of earth. You could even see in pitch black darkness and be able to see perfectly. Catching every spec of light possible.

“So what do you mean you have upgrades?” Sovin said, “ There's only one BioNettics enhancement.”

“That’s what you think,” Becks interrupted. He walks up behind O’Conner and puts his hands on the side of her waist and pulls her to him. He puts his chin on her should and says, “When I first met her in...what was it the third grade?” O’Conner nods. “She had already had the enhancements.”

“Are you shitting me?”

“Nope,” She said, “he gave it to me first, I was honored at the time. He had said that I was mature at that age and that he thought I could handle it. But I think I just stayed that mature because I don’t think I have matured more sense.” They all laughed a little.

“Whats different with the upgrades?” Sovin asks.

“Nothing really, its just more. More strength, more ability, better senses. Like pulling that case out, that thing must have weighed few hundred pounds and you two couldn’t get it together. I'm still getting used to it I just got it 2 months ago, the things that I see, feel, hear, smell…”

“Id hate to smell everything. Everything around here stinks.” Sovin says. O’Conner laughs, she could smell things on him.

“I can smell a lot of thing Boris. Like you had a hotdog with mayo, ewe by the way, for lunch before we came here and you had sex yesterday.” His face was somewhere between ‘wow’ and ‘yeah that’s right!’

They realized that the severity of their situation had left there minds for a moment, but it was a good moment. They talked for a little while about her enhancements and what she could do. Than Michaels asked a question that made everyone stop. It wasn’t a rude or disrespectful question, its was just a hard question. ”How did your parents die?”

O’Conner just stood there, she didn’t mind the question, she didn’t care if they knew it was just the memory that she didn’t have her parents made her pause. “I was just a new born when both my mom an dad were transferred to Niihau. And because they had an infant child they couldn’t go on the transport ships like the others. They had to take themselves and on the way they were hit by a semi or something. They died quick, I was safe enough in the car seat and had only a few gashes here and there.” She holds up her right hand and shows them her palm. “A piece of the car went right through me. It hit my back and my left leg to. Leaving some nice scars.” Becks takes her hand in his and whispers into her ear.

“You’ve got some beautiful scars Nalani.” She couldn’t help but smile and blush a little.

Snapping out of her love trance, she looks to the two officers who were gawking her them. “You guys suited up yet? We have to get outa here.”

“Yeah, we just wanted to see what was in this case.” One of them said.

“Where did you find that anyways?” O’Conner asks.

“We had just moved some cases from the wall and we notice it was hidden in a cove.” Sovin replied. He swiped his forehead with his palm to get ride of the sweat that was beading on his face. Hmm…it is getting hot in hear. They must not be used to it the heat yet, I've lived here all my life, I'm used to this heat. But there is no power so no a/c and it is getting really clammy in here. Well, be out of here soon. Ready or not. O’Conner looks to the case to see it was locked.

“Hmm, you guys wouldn’t happen to have a magic set of keys do you?” They shook there heads. The General made a loud cough and stood up, they turned to look at him as he took a set of keys and threw them. Catching them in mid air, Becks only nodded slightly to him, he didn’t really want to talk to him. He gave the keys O’Conner who was crouching by the case. As she took them from his hand, he slightly rubbing his finger against hers. She looks up to him and smiles. How can I love this man so much? She gets back to unlocking the 5 big locks that surrounded the case. Finally with all the locks off she opened and peered in. With a gasp, she recognizes the objects that were safely paced in foam. Inside were little round balls that she had seen before, but only at Weapons Concept Galleries. Her Uncle always went to them because he himself designed a few concept weapons for the government to look at. These particular ones those she had seen first hand. The weapons themselves were the size of a large marble and was made of metal.

“What are those?” Michaels asks, the 3 men had crowded around the open case and stared at its contents.

“Ball Bombs,” O’Conner went on to say how she had went to a gallerie that showcased this bomb. The person who invented it had to do a presentation on how the weapon worked. To do this he had to construct a box that had four heavy duty metal on all four sides, but also having small enough windows for people to see into, but not large enough that the contents of the bomb would go through. The ball bomb has two buttens on either side of it, then when pushed it activates and you are given 5 seconds before it explodes. She remembers seeing the man who had to active the bomb, scurry like a little girl to get out of the room before it went off. But she soon found out why he ran. Inside the bomb were millions of miniature nails, smaller then half an eyelash. But when the bomb exploded, the contents expanded into two inch long nails. They shot out in every direction, hitting the walls, never leaving more than an inch between two nails.

“So what are they called?” Becks asks.

“They are befittingly called Projectile Bombs. Or PB’s” While answering his question O’Conner noticed another small case of them, also packed in foam, but these ones were different. They still had the metal sides with the buttons, but the most of it was glass, and inside it has a red liquid in it. Smart enough to know not to test it in here, she lifts each of the smaller cases and set them on the floor. “Don’t touch them until we know what they are.” She sounded like a mother, but she needed to be careful, looks be dammed. Under neith the first two cases were two more. One has a set with the same glass ball but inside it looked like it was a cloud. The other was full metal and she couldn’t tell what it could be, until she saw that it has three waving lines engraved on one side. She still didn’t know what it could be but was glad that it was labeled. Again she lifts the two cases out, “Dan can you move those other cases, make sure not to bump them or anything.” He complied and moved them so she could set the others down. The next set of two case we both the same full metal bombs, one set had a speaker engraved on it and the other had a light bulb. “I feel like I'm in pre-school, trying to learn my signs. Who would use these stupid signs anyways?”

“Well, considering that it was meant for us solders, we don’t want to have to read complicated sign to know what our weapons do.” After Becks answered he question, he pointed out that there was a small black envelop that sat and the side of the case. Opening it up O’Conner saw that it was something like an instruction manual.

“Oh sweet. Listen to this guys.” She sat down on her bum with her legs twisted together, she felt comfortable in that position, and she saw no reason she couldn’t sit right now. “’To activate PB’s place two fingers onto the side buttons and hold until you hear one beep. You will have 7 second to release,’ it used to be only 5, ‘and run after activation of PB. There are six different forms of PB; One: Nail Bomb, projects nail, Two: Acid Bomb, projects an acid that will burn for 15 seconds before it dissipates. Three: Smoke Bomb, emits a thick smoke that will last for 30 minutes. Four: Heat Bomb, emits an extreme amount of heat around an area for up to 20 minutes, caution, long exposer to heat can cause fatigue and be fatal. Five: Siren Bomb, emits a high pitch, short burst of sound. Six: Light Bomb, emits an extreme amount of light that can cause damage to retinas, can be used to light large areas.’ I like my new toys!” O’Conner practically squeals. She looks like a kid in a candy store, looking over her new weapons. She see a small napsck that was attached to the bottom of the lid of the case. It was a small pack that held four tubes that sat at each corner of the bag. It held all of the little bombs and even more. Everyone had to carry a pack, but what was in each pack was up to the holder. O’Conners pack was mostly little things. An extra shirt that was basicaly a sports bra considering th coverage it gave, a zip up sweater, a mini-med kit, a few extra army knifes, personal women items and even a small music player. (AN: equivalent to the MP3 Player) But there was one thing that all personel in the NWGA had to have, it was called the ‘Last Dinner’. It was just a small case that could fit into your palm, and inside were 4 small pills. Stronger and faster then cyanide, there were suicide pills that could be used in bad situations. Three of them were the run of the mill ‘quike and easy’ pills, while the other one, when ingested, would begin to disintegrate your entire body. Organs, teeth, bone, and even hair. It was meant to eliminate evidence that someone was at a certain location. She hated having those pills in her pack but she knew she had to have them, and she under stood why. She herself was captured and tortured when she was on a mission, and can completely understand why someone would rather die than go through what she did. But she wouldn’t eat her last dinner to escape pain, she knew she wouldn’t do it because of feling like a coward, to afraid to face her fears of pain, or death. Once she transferred her belongings to the new case she turned to the men, “You guys almost ready, its almost 11 hour is and it’s a 45 minute walk to the hospital, that’s excluding the black devils.” She knew that her sarcasm wouldn’t help but it was getting to quite. She was used to a lot of men and women ready and anxious to go into battle, but right now, they were to scared to do anything but try and survive. With nods from he guys she knew that they were ready, she looked to the General, who had armed up as well and he gave a small nod.

“How are we going to get out of here O’Conner?” Michaels asks as all of them but O’Conner walk toward the door that they entered from.

“We’re going through the door you dumb ass!” Sovin was still angry and hadn't relented in bullying Michaels. Sovin walked to the panel that sat next to the door and brought up his hand to open it.

“WAAAAAAIT! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!” Sovin freezes as O’Conner runs up to him and grabs his hand. “Do not touch that panel.” Sovins face had the question ‘why’ all over it, so he didn’t need to talk to ask O’Conner. “Remember when I asked Allen to hit the red button on the panel?” He nods his head, still silent. ”Well, I asked him to because there were black devils on our toes and were at the door. When he pushed the red button a second set of blast door closed about 10 meters down the hallway that we were running in. Once the door were closed the black devil or devils were caught. And then small room begun to fill was freeze gel.”

“Do you mean liquid Nitrogen?” Sovin whispered, O’Conner hand was still holding his and he was afraid that if she became angry with his question she would squeeze his hand and most likely shatter it. She notice that he had whisper and wondered why, than she that she was still holding his wrist and she let out a laugh.

“I’m not going to hurt you Boris,” she let go of his hand, “ and no its not quite like liquid Nitrogen. This stuff stayed a gel until the room was completely filled and then a single molecule of liquid nitrogen was introduced, making the entire room of gel freeze instantly. But I don’t know if the devil would die because I don’t know what it is. But its up to you if you want to open the doors but you have to wait until the rest of us leave before you do.” Sovin shook his head. “That’s what I thought.”

“So the things is dead?” Becks walked up to the doors and placed his hand on it, only pull it back fast, “geeze, the door is freezing. You must have killed it.” O'Conner wasn’t sure if she did. But she was proud that she caught it. If it was dead than she would be even prouder, and it would be her second kill. The first one she got she got by accident. One of them, with its long head that extended backwards, was busy eating one of her friends and when she shot her energy weapon, it blew off the back of its head. That’s also when they learned that the blood of the things was acid, it hit a wall and it began to melt.

“I don’t know if it is but I don’t want to take that chance. We need to find another way outa here.”

“Theres no other way of getting out Nalani, I’ve looked.” Becks crosses his arms about his chest, confident that there was no other way out. Little did he know that she had found a way out.

“Are you so sure Allan?” She walked over to the wall with the small hand guns and she aims one and the wall of mirrors. With one shot ringing out of the gun, it hits the mirror and it shatters into a million pieces, reveling another part of the room.

“What is that place?” One of them said, O’Conner wasn’t looking at them though she was looking at the extra 5 feet of room and an extra door that was revealed.

“Before you go into any situation, you need to now what your getting into. So I looked at all the blue prints of the buildings that were here and noticed that there was atleast five feet mising from the size of this room. And an extra door, so I guessed that it was behind the glass. But what I don’t know is if on the other side of the door are the devils, or a way out. But once we got in here I noticed something was off, I assumed that they had something hidden, like an escape route or something.” With her suspensions correct and the men amazed but ready, they walked towards the door.

“How are our families going to know we are dead? Because we are going to die. You guys know that right?” Michaels as still frantic. Both he and Sovin had new borns at home, and Sovin even had some older children too.

“Considering that this was a secret mission, I’m guessing all they will say to them is that we died in combat. There’s nothing else they can really say.” O’Conner knew that her words wouldn’t help Michaels’s fears but it was the truth.

“Lynch will know if she’s dead, and if she’s dead than we’re dead.” Becks takes O’Conners arm and pills her to him, he gives her the last kiss they will ever have. “God I love you Nala. If we live through this or not I want you to know that.” All she could do was smile at him, she knew that if she said she loved him too she would start crying, but she needed to stay on task, she needed to get her men out.

“Ok you two love birds, death is at the door and we don’t have time for cuddling.” With Sovins words O’Conner takes the lead and starts for the door. When they entered the door way automatic lights turned on, revealing an empty hallway that lead to some stairs.

“We’re going to have to do this single file, me, Allen, Don, General, than Boris.” She knew that the men wanted the General at the flank, it was the weakest position, easy for attack. But O’Conner knew that the General was of higher rank and needed protection. And besides, Sovin was a better shot than the General. So if anything came for him, she knew that he could hold his own.

The walk up the stairs was uneventful, it took a while but then again they were a good 3 floors underground. Finally reaching the top of where ever they were going, a small room, about 10’ by 10’ revealed itself. At the far end of the room was a large metal door. Immediately they knew what it was, a blast door. Meant to be blown out if there was trouble. From the outside it would appear as if nothing was there, just a wall. But when you blasted the door, it would burst out a few good meters leaving a gapping hole in the wall for them to get out of.

“Double check you weapons men, drink some water and put on a fresh pair of panties, we’re getting out of here.” Her words did nothing for them, it didn’t make them laugh because her ‘fresh panty’ remark sometimes rang true. The men stood behind the walls that were in the middle of the room, meant to protect the occupants of the room from debris. “Ready, three…two…one…”

The sound of the blast doors was deafening, smoke that came from the door and sand from the ground sprang up into the air, bringing there sight to a minimum.

“MOVE! MOVE! MOVE!” Running from the protective wall, they didn’t know what they had in store for them. They didn’t care, they have barely an hour and a half to get from here to the jumper that sat next to the hospital.