Joint Story6

Last update 10/29/09

ONI JOINT STORY

Punishment

Stevinlewis

Along the outskirts of Reco.... "Hey you alright Marty?" Said Amanda, trying to regain balance on the ground. "Argh those GPAs are going to pay for it." Said Marty. "Hey! Is anyone there! Are you the CI? FREEZE!" Shouted a voice coming from the bushes.

"CI? What the hell is that? No were from command base. Are you the GPA? You freaks are gonna get it from me" Said Marty as he got to his legs but he immediatly fell to the ground. "Your hurt. Hi my name is Jay. Someone said there might be more survivors here. Follow me, were moving to town." Said Jay.

Marty and Amanda climed onto the 4-wheel drive Hexler. The vehicle ,Hexley, wasent meant for 3 people. Instead, it was only meant for one. "Sorry guys this is all I have back at my home. Over at Reco we call the 'GPAs' or as you call it, the CI. Weve been fighting those bastards for a long time." Said Jay

"You said there were more survivors. How many did you guys find?" Said Amanda. "About 30 of em. 33? or sumthin? I'm not sure. Im just a recruit." Said Jay. "You mean you guys have an army in that city?." Said Marty. "No. Everyone there is a soldier." Jay.

---

"We have destroyed almost all the CIs but you guys better go, Ill have 2 members from mine cover you. Jackson go pick em up." Said Stone, the leader of the flight crew. Jackson's ship immediatly dropped to the ground but managed to stay in the air, levitating, waiting for Mai, Barabus, Griffin and Chan to get onboard."

"Alright hang on to your sits cause this is gonna be a wild ride." Said Jackson as the dropship lifted and flew into the air.

---

"We lost them sir." Said Gary. "WHAT? THAT WAS SUCH AN EASY MISSION! PREVENT THEM FROM ESCAPING! THATS ALL. NOW THIS WHOLE THING IS DOWN BECAUSE OF ONE STUPID GUY'S FAULT." said Esly. The Commander over at the Indian CI. "ALL UNITS. THE TARGET HAS ESCAPED. BRING FORTH THE NUCLEAR ROCKET NOW!" shouted Esly.

Muro

Mai and the rest of the team tried to get as much sleep as possible on the flight back to their makeshift headquarters. In truth the trip hadn't been as productive as Mai had hoped. The Indian scientists hadn't come up with anything that her father James hadn't already improved upon himself. Certainly they already had the capacity to implant chrysalis in subjects without the inconvenience of holes developing in someones organs. Well they hadn't had a chance to fully question Mr Chen yet, maybe he was holding more answers than it first appeared. At the very least Mai wasn't qualified to question him on scientific matters. They would have to wait until they could introduce Chen to James, who was the authority on anything to do with the chrysalis. James... She longed to see him again and her dreams were filled with cloudy memories that she could barely piece together. She saw a little girl holding hands with a man running happily along a stone path, then the dream shifted to the same girl playing on a jungle gym in a public park while the man watched on and smiled. "Daddy.." Mai murmured in her sleep though it was lost in the constant roar of the airplanes engine.

The pilot Jackson was flying low as per Griffins instructions to avoid being picked up on radar. They had already narrowly missed getting shot down while leaving Indian air space. Griffin sat in the co-pilots seat to the left of Jackson staring out into the endless blue sky. In his mind he he hoped that his friends were all save and sound. Particularly his son Casey. "Hey Jackson, how long till we reach home?" he inquired. Jackson checked his instruments. "It'll be a few hours at the least. We have to take the long way around thanks to those BGI scum bags after all." Griffin got up from his chair and started to walk towards the passenger compartment. He gave Jackson a encouraging nod before leaving the cockpit. Jackson returned the gesture with a thumps up. It never hurts to give the impression that you care about the people under your command as it will make them fight that much harder when the cards hit the table. That was one of the many lessons Griffin had learned while under command of the TCTF. Of course he was far too busy generally to actually care but its the image that counts. He strolled down the middle of the aisle taking care not to disturb the group of sleeping rebels. He saw Denton slumped over on one of the chairs sleeping like a baby. Marlowe had somehow ended up spread across two rows snoring loudly. He made his way down the plane until he reached the door to the study. Well it was basically a white plastic table and chairs for business work but it was listed as a study.

He had to reach out a hand to steady himself as the plane shuddered a little. "Damn Jackson." He muttered. "Well look who it is! Still up and around huh?" a familiar voice called out as Griffin walked into the study. "Barabus, Catching up on paperwork are we?" he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. Barabus started laughing hysterically "Hahahaha I like that sense of humor you have Griffin, its the only reason I haven't killed you yet." He smiled. Griffin raised a eyebrow as he sat down opposite from his host wondering if he was half joking or not. His smile faded. "So do you think the good doctor will be of any help to us?" Griffin wasn't sure himself truth be told. "Well I'm no expert on the subject however the talk of defective chrysalis didn't leave me with much enthusiasm." "Bahhhhh" Barabus snarled smacking a plastic cup across the room. The water left the table wet and slippery. Griffin removed his arm that was leaning on the table in support from it before he slipped over. "This has all been a massive waste of time! We need to get those bastards! Hit em where it hurts! Not waste time taking tropical holidays! Leave saving the world to Mai." "Taking down BGI will not help the people Barabus. We need to think of the big picture here." Barabus looked him square in the eyes. "You know, helping the people is all well and all but" He pointed at Griffin "its not going to satisfy me in the least!" "Well If you like I can share some information with you that I've been holding on to for the time being. How would you like to hurt BGI where it counts instead of killing off random patrols?" Barabus seemed to calm down at the mention of something that would get him into the action again. A pleased look appeared on his face. "Go on. Whats this supposed information and way haven't I heard about it before now?" "Well" Griffin continued on. "I still have a lot of friends inside the TCTF. One such friend passed on a choice bit of intel to me while I was away. Apparently one of the chief CEO's of BGI is going to attend a very important conference held in Washington. Well the part of it that isn't a poisoned cesspool. If we could somehow snag him alive and interrogate him we would have all the information we need to crush BGI!" "Can your friend be trusted?" "Yes, I've confirmed it myself using various sources. Its definitely going to happen." "And when it does" Barabus continued with a look of relish on his face "We'll be there."

The rest of the trip back home was uneventful and as soon as the jet touched down they made their way to a concealed 6 wheeled truck hidden in some bushes. Mai noted with some uneasy that the vegetation was started to die in this area as well. It seemed like everything was fighting for survival nowadays. It was nighttime when they arrived back in town thanks to delays while avoiding patrol groups. Griffin was riding in the front cab with Jackson. "Kill the lights...Now!" he snapped. Jackson complied with a look of panic. "What is it?" He said "You see something?" Griffin turned round to look at him. "Yeah. You see those lights at the entrance to town? Those are APCs with search lights. Let me get out and scout around for a bit. Wait here until I return." Griffin opened the cab door and jumped to the ground. His hand landed in what looked like rotting cabbage. "Errrr just what I need" He wiped his hand on his combat leggings. He walked to the back of the truck and knocked on the back. Three knocked. No more, no less. That was the all clear signal. The back shutter rolled up and the many faces inside looked up at him wondering why they had suddenly stopped. Mai was the first to speak up. She climbed down onto the grass next to him. "Whats the hold up Griffin? We need to make it back before first light." Griffin beaconed her to follow him. They carefully made their way closer to the light sources using the cover of the woodlands. Mai almost tripped over a branch and cursed under her breath. "I think the BGI are still around. At the very least they have people stationed on the outskirts of town. Look over there." He said while pointing off into the darkness. Only the lights of houses and streetlamps could be made out. "I can't see anything." Griffin reached into his pocket and pulled out a pair of what she assumed would be night vision goggles. He passed them to her. She took them without saying a word. Could have used them earlier she thought to herself. The world was immediately cast in a ghostly green glow as she held them up to her head. She scanned around for a few minutes. "See anything?" inquired Griffin. Even in the nighttime gloom he could see that Mai had a strained look on her face. He knew the answer wouldn't be pleasant. "Yeah. A whole lot of BGI troops and vehicles. Searchlights. Barbed wire. Check points and even a few dog teams. It seems like getting back into town is going to be a lot more difficult than we first thought."

Leus

"Casey, come in!" Griffin demanded into his radio. "Casey!" No response.

Mai gently grabbed Griffin's wrist as he was about to start to yell some more. "Don't... If he's in trouble, we can't let his captors know we're aware of the situation. We'll never get in safely that way."

Terror was growing rapidly in Griffin' eyes. He'd left his son alone for barely a day for the first time since they'd reunited and something had gone terribly wrong. He just knew it. He gulped. "Boy," he said, witholding the tremor from his voice, "I know you're there." He sighed into the radio for effect. "We're gonna have to have a serious talk when I get back there thursday." His voice was weak and began a faint quiver at the end. He let go of the transmitter and exhaled painfully.

"I think that was good enough, Griffin," Mai assured him. "They probably bought it. Now, we've got to get past them to our people. I've got an idea."

---

Syndey was kicking back in a cheap collapsable chair and smoking a fat cigar like it was going out of style. His rifle was propped casually against his knee. Most of the commotion was going on behind him so he was just listening to music through his earbuds and relxing, but when he opened his eyes he saw a fair-sized group of masked figures wrapped in cloth making their way towards him. He fumbled to his feet, his gun falling to the ground by his side. He didn't bother to pick it up.

"You there!" he called out to them. The group approached closer, slowing their pace. "Get out of here! There's a situation going on here!"

"Please, sir," a desperate female voice begged sydney from behind a gas mask. "We've been travelling all day and are tired! If not here, we will have nowhere to sleep."

Sydney frowned. "Where you guys comin' from?" he asked.

"Nowhere in particular," the female replied. Sydney raised an eyebrow. "We've all met on our travels, coming from different places, trying to seek refuge since the disaster."

Another man walked to Syndey's side. "What's goin' on here?" the man asked Sydney.

"Just some primatives," Sydney replied. "I got this."

"You offered them the procedure yet?" the man replied.

Sydney turned to the cloaked figures. "Have you ever met someone like me before, ma'am?" Sydney inquired. "You know who I represent?"

The woman nodded. "We have been propositioned, but we are not interested in altering our bodies... We believe the Lord will give us protection in his own way."

"Oh, you're some of THEM types?" Sydney almost spat the words. "You know the LORD could just as easily be offerin' you protection through us as any other way. If you just undergo the procedure, you won't have to live like this."

"The Lord is very specific about bodily modification," the woman rebutted. "And we live how he wills us to." Sydney's associate laughed.

Syndey sighed. He could tell this conversation was going nowhere. "You folks tagged?" he inquired,

"No, sir," the woman replied without missing a beat. "Like I just said, we don't believe in that kind of thing."

Sydney furrowed his brow. "Well you ain't really got a choice, missy," he shot back. "You either agree to the procedure or get tagged."

"Well obviously we've had a choice before," she replied irritatedly. "Who's in charge here? Let me speak to him."

"Whoa, now," Sydney said, taken aback. "You aren't really in a position to be makin' demands here. I dunno if I like your attitude."

"Just let 'em go, Syd," said Syndey's associate, laying a hand on his friend's shoulder.

Sydney sighed. "Whatever," he said, taking a large drag on his cigar then spitting in the dirt. "You can probably find a place to stay in town; just one thing first." His friend turned and began walking away. Sydney pulled out a strange device.

"Hey!" the woman protested.

"Relax," Sydney said, his friend's footsteps crunching and fading into the background. "I'm not gonna tag ya; just gonna check ya. Y'all got nothin' against THAT now, do ye?"

The woman didn't respond, but stepped forward, extending her right hand. Sydney ran the device over the woman's hand briefly then nodded wordlessly to her, beckoning the next person to come forward. After a few hands had been scanned, another figure stepped up and extended his arm. As Sydney ran his machine over the man's hand, it began beeping. "What the?"

The woman glanced at the readout and made out the name "Chandragupta" before she delivered a swift chop to the back of Sydney's neck. He went down, rolled over and groaned. She stomped on his mouth and pressed his head firmly against the dirt with her shoe, smothering his lips. Another cloaked figure picked up a large rock and dropped it on Sydney's head. Sydney ceased to struggle.

"Let's go," the woman urged, making haste towards the inner city.

Mukade

As they neared the city, a plume of smoke became visible against the night sky. It could've been anything, but the small group feared the worse. Their fears soon became realized as they entered the city and it was obvious it came from where the HQ once stood. The look of anxiety was obvious on both Griffin's and Mai's face especially. Griffin because of Casey, and Mai because of of her special daughter Akemi who was being kept there.

As they rounded the corner, they came upon a smoking heap of what used to be their center of operations. They spotted Casey in the nearby crowd, much to Griffin's relief. As they drew up close, Griffin grabbed Casey by the collar and shook him hard "Why didn't you answer your com when i called?"

"Hey, im sorry dad, but i was too busy getting the hell out of there to answer you. What was that about being back thursday? You had me worried."

He release the collar.

"Just trying to give some false info to some potentiel kidnappers."

"Ah, good thinking, i suppose."

Now Mai cut in.

"What happened, wheres Akemi??

"It turns out our "friend" Mipsy was a CI informant. We lead her right to your HQ and left her in charge of your daughter. Best we can figure, she hit the double jackpot, she was able to take out our center of operations and get her hands on the first Neo-Human born."

After hearing those words, Mai whipped out her auto pistol and fired the entire clip right past Casey's head and into the wall behind him with flawless aim, then threw her gun after the bullets. He dropped to the ground and Griffin came dangerously close to dropping her where she stood. The rest of the men there brought up their weapons half way. Mai stood there breathing hard. The lack of tears showed her extreme control over her emotions, but even that wasnt enough to stop her outburst. After a couple minutes, she relaxed a bit.

"Sorry Casey, it isn't your fault"

"Hey, I get it, just, next time, aim a little furthur away, the ringing in my ear is kinda loud."

"How many got out?"

"She used incendiary bombs, so they didn't vaporize the building immediatly, just burned it down quickly. Most of us got out, we lost about a dozen staff 8 soldiers and 1 from high command."

"At least theres that to be thankful for...."

They all stood, watching the swirling patterns of smoke billow up into the darkness, into the already poisoned atmosphere. The question weighed on each of their minds, but none of them gave voice to it, they didn't need to. What happens now?

Stevinlewis

back at India.....

"okay so by melting the chrysallis moleclues in the beaker with 28 degrees, we can conclude that....." Before Dr. Ashik could finish his sentence, a small explosion erupted from the beaker, huge enough to destroy the beaker but not huge enough to cause any sierous injuries. "I don't know what I am doing wrong! I tried everything." Said Dr. Ashik who has a bad habit of talking to himself in his large metallic lab.

"okay let me try again... with the chrysallis in the beaker at 28.5 degrees... It should....... YES!!!!!!!! IT WORKED! LIQUID CHRYSALLIS WORKS! I CANT BELIEVE THIS!" half whispering to himself half saying it aloud.

He then puts the chrysallis into a enclosed beaker where he then carried it out into the streets of India and went to met the Prof. in-charge of the chrysallis project, Prof. Rajaratnam (Mr. Raj for short).

"Morning Mr.Raj, I have found a way to liquidify the chrysallis now all i need is a test subject." Said Dr. Ashik. Almost immediatly, Prof. Raj accompanied him to a room where some were going for implanting the chrysallis.

"Okay now just relax miss... this might hurt abit.." Said Dr. Ashik. And then he injected the liquid chrysallis into the young lady. A few seconds... nothing heppened. But suddenly, she emitted a bright orange glow. "Wow...."

Leus

"How are we gonna get outta here?" Ford inquired, glancing around at the CI troops littering the town.

Mai looked to Barabas. He was looking back at her, Edgar by his side looking mortified. The large beast of a man had his arm around the smaller man's shoulders, holding him close and secure. In Barabas' eyes, Mai finally recognized something. She looked to Griffin and found the same familiarity in his gaze as he looked back at her while standing close by his son. Finally, Mai looked to her own side. As usual, she found nothing.

"It really isn't about right and wrong anymore, is it?" she said aloud, glancing back and forth between Barabas and Griffin and reflecting on the state of the world. "The men and women who allowed this evil to enter and consume them and through them the world..." Without continuing the thought, Mai turned. She began marching forward at a swift and steady pace. She was almost upon the pair of CI troops before they noticed her. She grabbed one's head with both hands and jarred it forcefully around, snapping the man's neck. With another step she plowed her fist through the second man's throat as he fumbled with his weapon. She dropped to one knee and checked the bodies, finding a hypo spray and phase cloak on them. Activating the cloak, she presumably marched on.

A few other soldiers noticed the commotion. As they hustled to check out the scene, they began dropping one by one. When they were finished off, Mai proceeded on. She felt herself fading back in so she injected the hypo spray. From thin air a brilliant blue glow burst. The soldiers before her were awestruck and soon fist struck. They lie motionless. Mai raided their inventories as well and put to use what they had for her. In this manner she continue on, and was soon joined by Barabas, Griffin, and most of the others. Gunfire and screams rang out; bodies littered the city floor. When the dust finally settled, Mai and her team were nearly unscathed.

"Right," said Mai, the slightest morbid grin fighting to appear on her lips. "I see, now."

James, one of the few who had refused to take part in the violence, looked desperately into his daughter's eyes. He felt her slipping away. "Mai," he protested. "I'm as angry about my granddaughter as you, but--"

"NO ONE!" Mai turned to her father, rage in her eyes, though James knew it wasn't truly for him. Mai hesitated. "She was MINE! I was HERS!"

Her coherence had degraded and tears welled up in James eyes, hurting for his daughters much more than for himself. "IS, Mai," he corrected. "She IS yours."

"None of that matters anymore," Mai replied. "So what if I had her and she had me? This world has nothing left. The evil men have sucked the life and the hope from its veins and replaced it with their own vile will..." A pause. "There's nothing left; their suffering is ours, their fall is ours..." She looked thoughtful. "Nothing left, but to make what's ours theirs."

James mouth opened but no words came out. He didn't fully comprehend what his daughter was saying; he doubted she did, either.

"They must pay," Mai concluded.