Rising From the Ashes (MT, Open, IC)

[Heldur]

Marshes outside Varhall

The Marshes seemed teeming with life as the GDLT unit began to make their way through it, the ground was muddy in some places, glassy in others, and in others, otherwise solid looking ground turned out to be nothing more than a muddy pit of water. More than once a soldier would fall down into one, only to be fished out as quickly as could be. The water was cold and whenever its surface was disturbed, dark shapes seemed to move down below.

There were very few ground dwelling creatures here, these marshes were probably too submerged for them, instead the trees were filled with strange, bird like creatures, some resembled bats, whilst at least once, an actual crow was spotted, the only creature in the entire marshes which looked vaguely familiar.

As they continued on, deeper into the marshes, the team came across a giant, frog like creature sitting in the middle of the path, there didn't seem to be any other safe path around it for quite some distance unless they were willing to go for a swim in the murky water. The frog regarded them with large, pale eyes but did not move. It made a noise like some kind of 'ribbet' only much deeper and throatier than usual, which giving its size was unsurprising. Were the GDLT troopers willing to get closer to it, they would have found that whilst sitting in its neutral position, this creature stood well above their stomachs and was almost as wide as they were tall. It didn't look keen on letting them pass, but neither was it particularly interested in eating them, perhaps it had simply found a warm patch of mud and was trying to get as much warmth as possible out of it.

[Toishima]

(Note- All speech is in Japanese unless stated otherwise or when my people are talking to your people)

North Varhall
Ayakashi Squad
Street Level

"They're coming too damned close! Fire, damnit, fire!"

Miyata suddenly shouted. Everyone went into a battle frenzy, in the controlled yet unrestrained style befitting of Imperial Army Commandos. Miyata began firing his Minimi at the nuke dogs, taking down the blind one with a long burst and moving to the next. Sugiyama fired his Panzerfaust at the ground beneath three others, blasting two into the air and blowing the head off the last one gruesomely. The nuke dogs began wildly charging at the squad, while the flying creature suddenly decided to take to the skies once more, letting out a bloodcurling roar.

Ikase first attempted to use her sniper rifle but then decided to use her assault rifle instead, as while the sniper rifle's larger caliber gave her two clean headshots, there were too many for her to pull this off. Right beside her, the MG3 was making the sound of ripping cloth as it blasted dozens of rounds at the creatures.

"These nuke dogs are tough!" Sugiyama yelled, firing his second Panzerfasut and bending down to reload both launchers. As he did this, one of the nuke dogs suddenly leapt into the middle of the position, but was blasted by Kubota's assault rifle as the man suddenly woke up and joined the fight.

"Conserve your damned ammo! Burst mode!" Miyata yelled, noting that Nagata had already burned through two magazines.

---

Top of the hospital

Haruguchi frowned. These people were obviously not soldiers. Perhaps mercenaries, or some kind of paramilitary group, or maybe even civilians. They were definitely very weird, perhaps they were on drugs of some sort, or maybe they were a cult. Haruguchi took up the microphone again.

"What country do you come from? Where were you born?"

Suddenly, there was the sound of battle from the streets below. Hisamatsu leapt to his feet and looked over the edge at the fighting taking place far below, Haruguchi did not wait for an answer and dropped the microphone, unslinging his rifle and dashing to the ledge as well. Large, dog-like creatures were attacking the strongpoint, though nobody seemed to be dead. Hisamatsu wielded his own Panzerfaust and prepared to fire on the creatures to aid the squad below.

And then all hell broke loose.

A large, dark shape suddenly crashed through the hole, throwing Hisamatsu and Haruguchi across the room. Kitoaji turned in surprise just in time to leap out of the way of a large, clawed hand attached to a ragged wing. The flying creature roared terribly, shaking the entire room and leaving the radio operator stunned. During all this, the radio was still running, so whoever was on that side would have heard the goings-on.

"Blast it, damnit! Kitoaji! Down!" Haruguchi yelled. The radio operator dropped to his belly and a Panzerfaust rocket flew over his head. Time seemed to slow down as the rocket impacted the wall next to the creature, which was balancing on the edge of the building, throwing the animal off the ledge. The sound of heavy, beating wings was the cue for the three men to move. Pulling Kitoaji to his feet, Haruguchi quickly led the way back to the staircase, and the three men began going down two steps at a time. By now the signal should have been lost.

---

"What the hell?!"

Kira, firing the MG3, looked up just in time to see a large explosion, throwing the flying creature off the building, though it recovered in mid air and began to head back up. This break in the machine gun's fire was enough to allow one of the nuke dogs to grab his partner Suenami from her position, pulling her out of the trench and beginning to attack her. Ikase quickly fired an entire magazine into the one that had pulled Suenami away, then climbed up the steps. Kubota charged up the staircase and took her place as she began dragging Suenami back from the outside, leaving a trail of blood from some open wound.

The nuke dogs did not seem to be relenting, though their numbers were thinning and sickening corpses were lying all over the street. Just as the MG3 jammed, one of the dogs gave a terrifying howl and the remaining five or six dogs retreated down the street at full speed. Understanding the nature of this violent place by now, the squad quickly began scanning the nearby buildings and the sky for the next animal up the food chain. Nagata began treating the injured machine gunner, bandaging up her leg. A sound in the adjacent building led to the squad pointing all their rifle at the entrance, but it was just the sergeant.

"We're moving. There are people over at the city center. Probably some kind of cult or paramilitary group. Kubota, support Suenami. No Commando left behind. Imperial Army Commandos can handle anything. Let's go," Haruguchi ordered, taking over from Suenami's task and slinging the MG3 tripod over his back.

"Banzai," Sugiyama replied half-heartedly, carrying his two Panzerfausts, "We need to start cataloguing this shit, man. So we've got those flying things- let's call them demons, because why the hell not. And we've also got those nuke dog things. What else will we see next, giant prawns?"

Nobody laughed. Shortly afterwards, the squad picked up the pace again, heading towards the city center and remaining in cover where possible, though after that incident with the nuke dogs, they were very wary of the things they saw in the shadowy interiors of buildings.

[Heldur]

Embassy Ruins, Surface

'I was born in Able Station friend, although I don't see how that matters-' Roves was cut off by the all too familiar sounds of shouting and gunfire came over the radio. He slumped in his seat as the line went to static.
After a moment he looked over at Colban, 'get the looped signal back online, I'm not sure we'll be hearing from those men again. At the most, keep me posted if someone comes back onto this channel.
Colban nodded grimly, the entire group felt disheartened by the sounds they had heard, Watchmen, Howlers, whatever you wanted to call them were a constant threat. Every Stalker knew that while individually they were not the worst creature to run into on the surface, but they could often be found in enormous packs, numbering up to well over one hundred, although the specifics tended to be a bit sketchy. No one stayed put to merely count the damn things lest they stumble upon a group of Howler scouts which would quickly alert the rest of the pack.

Top of the hospital, North Varhall

The Demon flew upwards towards the hole in the roof swiftly, this was not the first time humans had tried to kill its kind with explosives, and it was not the first time they had failed in that endeavour, however the fact that they were in its nest, with its children angered the beast, throwing caution to the wind it rose back up into the crevice, however it found no sign of the intruders whatsoever. In anger the beast roared down the passageway as if daring the intruders to return and face it. When nothing emerged the creature leapt up to check on its young, finding them in a state of shock, but otherwise unharmed, save for the eldest, who was missing.
The creature howled in anger and sadness as it assumed the worst for its children.


As the Toishiman troops made their way back through the building, the whole place was silent save for the Demons blood curdling howling above them. The entire building seemed deserted now, no distant scratching noises appeared as they quickly made their way through the empty halls.

Once they reached the reception hall however, they paused. A long, wide trail of slime split the room in half, each member of the team instantly recognised that this trail had not been there before. Upon a quick inspection the slime trail led in from a nearby room which according to the faded signs nearby, led to the buildings basement. Whether whatever had made the trail had gone in, or come out of the basement was another matter, but no one volunteered to investigate. Whatever made this trail was big, very big.



North Varhall, Streets


While before, it had almost seemed as if the eyes watching the Toishiman's were curious, the smell of blood attracted all manner of things from the shadows. As the squad departed they saw a bunch of the leathery skinned, statue like creatures slowly emerge from nearby and make their way to the pile of dead bodies the squad left in its wake, discovering a very easy meal.

Every now and then as the squad ventured deeper into the ruins, they came across the occasional blackened skeleton of a human being, quite possibly remnants from the nuclear bombardment. However as they continued onwards they found, not necessarily fresh, but newer bodies. They weren't blackened, and most still had scraps of cloth, even pieces of makeshift armour on their bodies, gas masks often lay nearby, some empty, meaning the poor soul had suffocated on the surface. Most of the bodies though bore injuries, and lay in unlikely positions, these were more likely torn apart by local wildlife and left on the ground once the meat had run out.
Almost every one of these newer skeletons was accompanied by a gun of some kind, some were custom made, jury rigged things which were made from spare parts, scrap metal and generally whatever seemed to be on hand at the time, others were older, leftovers from whatever the military or police force had been using at the time when the nukes fell. It seemed unlikely that those who did not have weapons came up here unarmed, the squad could tell by now that was a death sentence, so it seemed a little bit more likely that perhaps, someone else had come along and retrieved the weapon at some stage.

[Toishima]

North Varhall, Streets

Sugiyama was on point as they moved through the streets, heading for the city center. It seemed to be taking forever to reach anywhere, especially with the injured Suenami. Corpses were everywhere, including another subway entrance that was not filled in this time, though the entrance was piled with corpses. What looked to be a human figure disappeared into the shadows of the doorway when Sugiyama looked over, though it was probably one of those creatures again. After travelling a few blocks, the humanoid figures were back- Sugiyama decided to call them SNLF Marines, because they were ugly, tried to pick a fight and seemed afraid of the Army Commandos. Just like Navy SNLFs.

"Look at this shit," Nagata said, as the squad came upon what was once a large intersection. A few burnt-out husks of cars were toppled and scattered around, though the more curious thing was the five more corpses lying in the middle of the crossroads. Ravens- normal ravens, thank god- were picking at the remains, which by now had been stripped by scavenger after scavenger. The corpses were covered in tattered scraps, with gas masks nearby and more of the odd-looking, scrap guns lying around.

"Someone was busy in the garage," Miyata commented, picking up a welded-together... thing that looked like the receiver of a Kalashnikov attached to some pipes for a barrel, with what one could barely call a magazine attached via tape to the bottom of the gun, "think it works?"

Squeezing the trigger, Miyata was surprised as the gun did indeed fire. The stress was too much for the gun, however, and the barrel fell off shortly after four rounds. Haruguchi called a break. The rest of the squad stopped and began inspecting the weapons, while Haruguchi and Nagata instead looked at the corpses. None of them had any more than scraps of meat left on them, though one still had an old World War One gas mask strapped to his bloated face, the scratches on the leather mask showing that the creatures had indeed tried to get to the meat inside.

"The bones are broken, they were dropped from a height. Could be those demons," Nagata commented as Sugiyama walked past with a hideous-looking gun with a strange, exposed box- it literally was a small wooden box- magazine.

"Why are there so many people here?" Haruguchi asked softly.

"Beats me, sergeant. Maybe this cult of yours has been here for a long time. Maybe there really are people living under here. Who knows?"

"Those people at the city center know. You know, Nagata, I can't wait for this damned thing to end."

"Don't we all, sergeant," Nagata replied nonchalantly, reaching in with rubber gloves and removing the man's oxygen mask and old Soviet helmet, then reeling at the hideous, bloated face that was revealed, crawling with maggots. To add insult to the injury, the neck snapped off and the head rolled some distance away. Nagata stood and kicked the head, down the street, along with what looked to be an AK-47 buttstock. Suenami walked up to Haruguchi and Nagata, carrying his newfound weapon. "Yo sergeant, can I keep this thing? It can fit STANAGs. Trust me, I tried. Haven't fired it though, though since the magazine is nearly empty I think it can be fired, no problem."

Haruguchi just shook his head and signalled for the squad to prepare to move out once more. They were almost in the district where all foreign embassies- possibly including the old Toishiman embassy, if there was one- were located. The silence was disturbing, the only sounds being their boots on the ground and Suenami's heavy breathing through the gas mask, but whenever there was an external sound the whole squad turned to look.

Still fifty meters behind them were a trio of the humanoid creatures that had kept pace with the squad the whole time, though they had not grown in number, unlike before.

[Garganta de la tierra]

Marshy Outskirts of Varhall

"This thing probably doesn't want to move for us, and NBC suits cant handle being submerged for long, so we take this thing down like we would a Bronze Rhino from home. Line up." Sergent Avery ordered. The designated marksman, PFC Rebekah Angle, took three steps back and knelt down, Lining her modified L96 up to her left shoulder. The others fanned out to the edge of the crumbling asphalt, careful not to slide down the sides into the scrub covered marshes below. The steady clicks of the valves switching as the soldiers breathed was the only sound bar the gurgle of running water and the grunts of the creature before them. Avery Raised his hand and clenched a fist.

PFC angle squeezed the trigger, the 7.62mm NATO round ripping through the creatures right eye with the sound of an egg smashing. Private George and Private Dagger, two specialists assigned to the mission each shot what appeared to be the knees of the creature with their silenced TAR-21 rifles. Grey sinovial fluid splattered out of the joints along with chunks of cartilage, showing successful hits. The remaining five members of the team, Avery included, opened up on the bloated throat region, but without as much success. The creature tried to get up, only having lost function of the joints in its front left leg and back right legs it only succeeded in tearing out more tissue and exposing pitted bone. The shots to the throat seemed to be having little effect on the creature other than splattering the ground with little grey chunks of flesh and muddy red blood. Realizing it was crippled and dying, the creature began bellowing out in its deep "ribbiting" calls. The team was now crouched silently with weapons trained on the dying creature and into the swamp, as the mutant shrimp like creatures had taken interest in the flow of bodily fluids trickling into the marsh down the embankment. The Frog creature heaved a large wheezing cough and vomited up a couple liters of blood and internal organs, then collapsed under it own weight, dead.

"Beautiful." Avery sarcastically remarked, as a small wave of the bloody fluids rolled around his over-boots. Cautiously the team moved around the corpse, as the seemingly empty mashes had come to life. The muffled cracks of their silenced weapons, coupled with the calls and stench of the now deceased creature had attracted a lot of wildlife, and not all of it looked like scavengers. Off at a small jog, the team cleared the area with haste.

After a bit of walking the team could see the twisted metal and crumbling concrete of the city of Varhall up ahead. They stopped in the shelter of a barely standing overpass to check their gear. "Holy crap! look at that Spider, its like something out of a horror film!" Exclaimed Private Resp, the youngest of the group.
"Don't be such a girl." PFC Angle retorted, shining her flashlight on the arachnid. "Its not even that ugly." Suddenly the Spider began to cringe and kick as flakes of it burnt off under the light of the torch. It dropped to the ground dead, folding over itself and making crackling noises as its body broke down. "That is interesting." Angle commented, looking around for more creatures to burn.

"Sarge, come over here." PVT George called to Avery. The Sargent crouched down beside him. "What is it?"
"This section of soil recently exposed, the side having slipped down when a pack of animals ran over it after a spot of rain." George said pointing to part of the bank beside the overpass. "This black-brown layer here is the buildup of ash and soil since the nuclear attack, roughly ten centimeters. Beneath that is this brown stained section where the water has leached radioactive dust and other such particles, as you can see in the forty or so centimeters of dirt here. Below that is this orangey clay and dirt. This layer here is clean."
You could almost see Private Logan George grinning from behind his mask. "This place is saveable."
Avery sat down, resting his Tavor across his lap. "So this means your sections theories could also be correct? The underground infrastructure is intact too?"
"For the most part, Yes sir. Of course around the blast epicenters there will be collapse and breach of train tunnels, sewers, and gas lines, but other than those areas most of the utilities would be intact." George responded, the mask making his voice sound dull. "Also the presence of these creatures is astonishing. Its only been what? Roughly thirty five years since this place was hit, and these things have Evolved in this wasteland. I wouldn't even call it a wasteland, I mean think of the commotion that was turning up as we left that creature lying in its own guts. I'm sure that thing was a predator 'cause the way things avoided it while we approached it was like the Aurochs avoiding a Male Bronze Rhino."
"I believe you are right on all accounts private. Speaking of the carcass we had best move on. There may be more creatures like that around here, and that body was drawing back one of those flying beasts. We will head to the airport and you can do a proper archaeological survey with the equipment there while the engineers clear a landing zone." Avery responded, rocking back on his haunches to leaver himself up.
"Group we are moving out. If you spot any human activity you call the squad with four click on the radio. Any sign of environment hostility and you are allowed to speak, cause we don't have a code for Mutant Bat Demon. Lets go."

[Heldur]

North Varhall, Streets

Although the streets had been largely quiet as the Toishiman squad traveled through the ruins, the sound of them testing the makeshift weapon caused something in the nearby ruins to screech. Even as they moved on they could tell that whatever was crawling around nearby had emerged to investigate. At one stage the three humanoid mutants behind them even sped up a little, getting as close as thirty meters at one stage so they would not be close enough to the intersection when their neighbors showed up to investigate. Although the strange trio quickly wound up hanging back a little to maintain their distance once they were clear of the intersection.

In the distance the squad could hear the city beginning to wake up properly now that it was well past mid day. A few streets down a huge pack of the 'nuke dogs' ran past, the sound of their passing rumbled in the distance long before, and after they appeared. Although they seemed to be more interested in moving on than searching for food. This great mystery was explained moments later when a small 'flock' of Demons rained down from the sky, swooping almost vertically downwards onto their prey before scooping them up and dealing with their now hapless meal.

The streets seemed to be quite active now, but most creatures seemed unwilling to approach a large group of humans, despite the hungry glint in their eyes, the creatures out here seemed to be smart enough to realise that they needed numbers to take humans on.

Eventually they reached the Embassy district, to their surprise, one of the first they passed was the Toishiman embassy, somehow the old, tattered and faded flag still stood to this day, the building itself seemed reasonably intact too, although all around it there was rubble, the outer wall had collapsed completely save for the gate at the front, which looked comical now that it was stopping absolutely nothing at all. The rusted metal of the gate hung loosely, creaking and groaning as the metal moved slowly whenever gusts of wind blew through.

Upon a quick inspection, there were few corpses inside the embassy itself, a few blackened corpses near some of the windows, but few else in other rooms. The Head Ambassadors office was largely untouched, save for the corpse of some unfortunate soul leaning up against it, a makeshift gun clasped in their dead hands.
The most unusual thing about this corpse however, was that it was recent, the body's flesh largely remained, save for the few maggots which had found their way inside. They wore a thick, padded jacket over the top of a kind of makeshift environment protection suit. Their gas mask seemed old, but well looked after and there were still fresh gas mask filters in his bag, as well as a number of magazines for the gun he carried, some food and even clean water.

Once they were done with their investigation of their old embassy, it didn't take long to find the one where the radio message had originated from. The building's front gate had been wedged closed with scrap metal which would have had no other reason to be there, and though it fortified the gate against brute force, provided little resistance to actually being moved out of the way.
The building itself was still in relatively good condition, the windows were boarded up heavily and not for the first time today, the Toishiman's could feel someone watching them.
They remained unchallenged until they reached the front door. Until a voice spoke up from a nearby, boarded up window.
'F... Friend, or Foe?'



Marshy Outskirts of Varhall

The marshes seemed to be eating the outskirts of Varhall up. At one stage the squad had assumed they had walked into a national park which had become overgrown over time, only to stumble upon the sunken remains of three houses. The Marshes had not relented at all it seemed in their conquest of outer Varhall.

Eventually they found themselves standing on solid ground again, passing into the remains of still standing suburbia. The surface life changed completely the moment they hit solid ground. Less aquatic looking life began dogging them at every step, watching from the shadows.
Once a flying creature even swooped down onto a nearby building to 'get a look' at the newcommers to its world, however when it sniffed the squad with its powerful nose, the creature took to the air, as if it didn't like the smell of them.
The smell didn't seem to bother a large pack of grey skinned creatures which emmerged from the ruins of a factory complex, whilst they didn't rush the squad at first, they prowled and stalked. Biding their time.

The squad finally came upon a large, faded street sign, an old, almost cartoonish depiction of an aircraft, coupled with the mostly faded letters directing them towards the airport featured prominently on the sign. The old airport must have been close by to be the centerpiece of this particular sign.

[Toishima]

North Varhall, Embassy District

Hisamatsu, with the tattered old Radiant Sun from the embassy tied around his waist, was on point as they neared the front door. The human presence was very obvious here- there were footprints, that gate was wedged shut and there seemed to be more corpses than usual. Ikase and Kubota were carrying the injured Suenami together- the woman seemed to have fainted from blood loss or had fallen asleep. Kitoaji and Miyata were squatting by the gate, covering the entrance as the squad advanced towards the doorway.

"久松は、その扉を開く," Haruguchi ordered Hisamatsu to open the door, the squad aiming their rifles at any dark areas, expecting more creatures but not humans.

Hisamatsu was about to run up and ram open the door with his rifle when a voice suddenly called out in English, startling him.

'F... Friend, or Foe?'

"接触!!" Yelling in shock, Hisamatsu instinctively did one of the Imperial Army Commandos' combat manoeuvres, a sort of sliding action that allowed them to go from a running posture to a prone position in one move and quickly aimed his rifle at the window.

"伏せろ!" Haruguchi yelled out, and the team quickly hit the ground, rifles aimed in various directions. Ikase and Kubota darted behind a tree stump with Suenami. The entire movement was drilled military procedure, with the whole squad in combat stances in under two seconds. Hisamatsu gestured to the window and half the team aimed their weapons there.

"撃つな! 撃つな!" Haruguchi yelled, telling the team to hold their fire. They continued aiming at the window, however. Haruguchi stood up and gestured to his Radiant Sun armband to reveal his nationality, then put his rifle on the ground and stood, arms raised. He then slowly stepped out of the ring of soldiers and stood beside Hisamatsu.

"Who is there? Reveal yourself! We will not fire unless you fire first!" The squad sergeant called in English this time, standing his ground in a non-threatening though still firm manner, just like they did when dealing with terrorists and tribal leaders back in the Colonial Provinces. His arms were still raised to his shoulders, doubling as a peaceful gesture and a signal to the squad- the moment he lowered them, or if he was shot, the entire squad would turn whoever was behind that window into Swiss cheese.

[West Aurelia]

Site 14, Undisclosed Location

Two men sat in the conference room at the top secret military facility "Site 14." They were President Stephen Hayes and Department of Military Science Director Adam Hale. Officially, "the Department," as it was commonly called (by those who knew of its existence), did not exist. It was the West Aurelian government's top secret military research wing, headquartered at Site 14 (which also, officially, did not exist). The Department is responsible for developing the most advanced military technology for West Aurelia's troops. Rumor has it that it is working on time travel, teleportation, portals to alternate dimensions or parallel universes, and other extremely futuristic technology. Conspiracy theorists believe that it has established contact with extraterrestrial beings, or have connections with secret societies aiming to establish a New World Order. The government can neither confirm nor deny these claims.

"Mr. President," Hale said. "Intercepted communications from various foreign governments have revealed something particularly shocking. I am sure that you are aware of the terrible Soviet nuclear bombardment of Heldur, 36 years ago."

"I am, Director," Hayes replied. "Please continue."

"Rumors have always persisted afterwords that there were… survivors. People who hid in the metro system, designed to be a fallout shelter. It now appears that these rumors… are true."

Hayes had learned long ago how to hide his feelings, and his stone cold expression hid the fact that he was stunned. "Please elaborate, Director."

"A few days ago, some nations intercepted a radio broadcast from Heldur. It was a man calling, asking if anyone was out there. These nations responded. According to intercepted communications and satellite imagery, foreign military units have been dispatched to Heldur. We now have reports that there are terrifying mutated beasts living there, and reports suggest that a Virdalonjan unit has made contact with some of these survivors."

Hayes took all this in. "What do you suggest we do?"

"We need boots on the ground, ASAP. We need to establish contact with the survivors, and help as many of them as we can. We need to collect samples of flora and fauna, get radiation readings, and… get pictures and video of a land which no one has seen for 36 years. I can have a 10-man Department black ops unit there within 12 hours. These men are the best of the best - they have all been hand-picked from the Special Activities Group, and have the scientific training necessary to make an assessment of the situation there."

"Do it. But please note - if anyone gets wind of this op… we will have a media shitstorm that West Aurelia has never seen before. And remember - this meeting never took place."

Over Varhall

The C-20 Overlord troop transport closed in on the dilapidated wasteland that was Heldur. Normally capable of holding up to 200 soldiers and their equipment, today it carried only 10. The 10 members of the black ops unit knew each other's real names, but were told never to use them when on duty. Instead, they were assigned code names: Ghost, Prophet, Preacher, Kozak, Cypher, Archer, Roach, Scarecrow, Panther, and Alcatraz. The pilots of the aircraft were members of the Department, so they would not have to be "silenced" by Department agents following the mission. "ETA two minutes," the pilot said.

Ghost, the commander, checked his M32 Scavenger modular assault rifle. It was fully decked with attachments: a scope, suppressor, M38 Growler under-barrel grenade launcher, IR laser sight, and flashlight. He had an M6 Bison pistol in his thigh holster, also fully decked: it carried a suppressor, IR laser sight, and a flashlight. Strapped to his other leg was a combat axe, balanced for throwing. It was to be used in extreme situations. In his chest sheath was a Predator combat utility knife, possessing a 20cm blade. Strapped to his back was a controversial piece of equipment: a curved combat sword, dubbed the Predator X, possessing a 1m blade. Mission planners had insisted he carry it, in the possibility that he ran out of ammunition or lost his guns. He was wearing an exoskeleton, which allowed him to run faster, jump higher, and hit harder. A TACPAD tactical computer was strapped to his wrist, providing real-time mission data. It was linked to his HMD, allowing him to access said data without looking down. Strapped to the small of his back was a small, handheld reconnaissance drone which possessed a small machine gun and grenade launcher - the MQ-24 Hammer. He carried an assortment of grenades - HE, incendiary, stun, smoke, shock, electroshock, and decoy variants, as well as a small Spider Bot which was thrown like a grenade but had legs and a camera.

The most important piece of equipment Ghost had was his oxygen mask - without it, he wouldn't be able to survive in this harsh environment.

His squad possessed the same load out as him, with a few variations - Archer and Scarecrow carried M25 Havoc sniper rifles as well as M32s, Cypher and Panther carried M3 Mauler assault shotguns as well as M32s, and Roach and Alcatraz carried M43 Reaper light machine guns.

"We are now over the drop zone, please get into position," said the pilot.

The 10 men stood up as the doors started opening. They checked their oxygen masks and ram-air parachutes, making sure everything was in order. They whispered the words of a popular hymn, a tradition before all missions.

"West Aurelia, 'tis for thee
The eternal state
Conquered by no enemy
West Aurelia, 'tis for thee"

"Green light, mission is a go. Godspeed, you crafty sons of bitches."

Ghost led his men out of the plane and they descended into the nothingness of the clouds.

[Heldur]

North Varhall, Embassy District

For a moment nothing happened at the Embassy window, save for the sound of crunching glass and faint voices. A few moments later scraping sounds came from behind the door as something heavy was dragged out of the way.
The door burst open, revealing a man in a gas mask wearing a protective suit which had been converted from some kind of military jumpsuit which had been reinforced with a layer of padding and leather, and then with sheets of metal added on top of that for added protection. He held some kind of makeshift shotgun, for the first time, the Toishiman's saw a makeshift weapon which had not been left out in the weather for who knows how long, this weapon in particular did not look overly practical, the parts were largely scavenged, but it had been put together properly and although it wasn't the flashiest piece of military hardware, it was clearly built to do a job, and was more than capable of doing it.
The man didn't exactly raise it to a firing position, but he held it in such a way that, should he need to, he could easily bring it to bear.
'Everyone inside, now!' he said through his ga smask, 'inside, move, move move.' he spoke urgently, scanning their surroundings, 'talk more inside, come on.' He remained insistent until every last one of them was inside. Once indoors, he began to shift what appeared to be an old cabinet, filled with random, heavy objects, back into position behind the door.

Once they were all indoors the man's shoulders slumped and he sighed, 'okay.' He spoke slowly through the mask, 'now you're off the street, welcome to our little surface haven. It's a forsaken little hole, but for today, it's home. I'm sure you have questions, my captain is through there.' he pointed down a nearby corridor, 'Renkha here will take you to him,' he indicated another man who had stepped around the corner wearing much the same outfit as the first.
Renkha nodded, 'All good outside then Alex?' he called to the first man.
Alex shrugged apathetically. 'I swear I saw some of your average surface shit following them in from the street.' he turned back to the nearest window and jumped backwards in shock, one of the humanoid mutants stood on the other side, staring inwards with its strange, inhuman eyes. The creatures long fingers tapped the glass a few times before it finally turned and left, climbing over the fence quickly and silently before running off down the street.
'Looks like he's in a hurry,' Alex said quietly to himself, 'that's not good.'

Renkha led the Toishiman's through the old Embassy, they passed a few more men on the way in, all of them were equipped in a similar manner, their armoured suit seemed to be some kind of a uniform, although their weapons were as rag tag as one would expect. As they moved deeper into the building, Renkha paused and turned to face the Toishiman's, 'it should be safe to take your masks off in here, the center rooms are clear enough to save filters.' As he spoke he started fiddling with his own mask, removing it carefully before hanging it from his belt.

When the Toishiman's did the same, they coughed and spluttered a little, the air was not as clean as they had at first assumed, or were used to. But it was certainly breathable this far into the building. Finally Renkha lead them into a large room which must have been used for functions, judging by the decaying wooden table in the center. Once this place would have been covered in diplomatic documents, now it seemed to be a temporary armoury, spare pieces of gear, weapons, munitions and other supplies littered the table.
At the far end of the table stood Captain Roves, he looked young, maybe thirty. His face was marred with an old, deep scar on his jaw, it looked like a puncture wound of some sort. Once again he wore the same kind of armoured jumpsuit as the rest of his men, and on his hip sat an old, well looked after revolver. He looked up from whatever he had been looking at before, at first he looked surprised to see the Toishiman soldiers before him, but that surprise faded quickly, he had been expecting someone to show up, eventually.
Surprise turned to excitement as he stepped forward to greet them.
'Welcome,' he grinned, 'I would offer you all a seat, but I'm afraid the chairs have rotted to uselessness. Now I'm sure you have questions, but first I'd like to say that I am so, very excited to see that someone heard our broadcast.


Over Varhall

The wind buffeted the soldiers from The Department as they fell towards the seemingly impenetrable layer of cloud above Heldur. As they descended into the clouds, each of them occasionally saw some kind of movement behind the clouds, sometimes it was their team mates, other times, it didn't seem like it.
After a few moments they emerged from the clouds to see Heldur properly for the first time. As they stared out across the charred landscape, seeing the blackened marshes which had slowly taken the land back from barren wastelands, they could definitely see movement of some kind down there.
Enormous packs, or herds, of beasts roamed the ground, they all seemed so strange, so foreign, many were skeletal warped version of real creatures, others seemed brand new, born amidst the radiation.
The river which had run through Varhall remained to this day, they could see a large bridge spanning it, the bridge was squat, solid, and still standing to this day. What was more incredible however was what was near the bridge, even from up here, they could see the soft glow of a fire at one end of the bridge. Someone had to be over there somewhere.

It was only a few moments after being stunned by the landscape that they realised that one of their number was missing. After a few moments of looking around, one of the Department operatives saw a dark shape, with wings like that of a bats flying off into the distance out of the clouds, a limp body clutched in its talons.
Demons had poor eyesight, and unbeknownst to the Department soldiers these great beasts detected their prey by scent and sound, much like an actual bat. The beast had snatched the poor operative whilst in the clouds, where the hapless soldier had been unable to see the the beast coming up behind them, it had been over in an instant, whilst the creature would not enjoy its metal clad meal as much as it might have thought, it's sheer strength had won it a meal, and it would never know just what a dangerous foe it had just bested.

As unnerving as this experience was, the rest of the detachment reached the ground without further incident. Now they were on the ground, they had to move quickly, the sun was beginning to set on the horizon, and while this was the preferred conditions of the tunnel dwelling survivors of Heldur, to which low light vision was the norm, the Department would need to get their bearings before darkness fell on the city.

[Virdalonja]

OOC- oh the car park isn't empty, far from it. My troops have so far only been on the roof and basement which was accessed by a walled stairwell, similar to what are in many large car parks. The 1st and 2nd floors are home to many a mutant, which my men will be discovering shortly.

----------Varhal suburbs----------

Dart waited while the response was translated. He was glad the Brotherhood were not a religious cult, that would have made things difficult. Although he did notice the 'Stalkers' were jumpy, maybe there was something to be feared in the ruins. The prospect of thousands of survivors underground was amazing to him, a lough by the Lieutenants description he feared some form of clan warfare was afoot underground.

Dart finished his translation and appeared to prompt Götze for a response.

'Corporal, I need to see this Drowned Station. This must be documented first hand. As this Bleak if I may be able to accompany him to the Station and perhaps meet a representative of the Brotherhood. However Corporal, I will require you to accompany me along with 2 more men'

Dart nodded and turned to Lieutenant Bleak once again,

'Lieutenant, my Commanding Officer requests that he be permitted to see Drowned Station and to meet a representative of the Brotherhood. We will be able to provide assistance be it food, ammunition or even spare gas mask filters. But to do so, we must meet a Brotherhood representative'

----------FOB Char----------

Lieutenant Kaiz practically fell down the stairs in his hurry to get down. He had heard several gunshots from the basement level of the car park and had grabbed several squaddies to head down and find out what was going on.

Kaiz barged through the door and was greeted by nothing out of the ordinary, the communications equipment was almost fully ready, the medical gear had been set up and several soldiers were watching the slope leading to the first floor of the car park. Kaiz frowned. More than their should have been.

'What is going on here?!' He roared and Sergeant Haldir ran over to him and saluted
'Private Fatz fired some rounds sir. Thought he saw something moving in the corner of the room when the additional lighting was turned on sir' reported the Sergeant, gesturing towards a snaky line of bullet holes on the far wall.
'What does he think he saw Sergeant?' Asked Kaiz
'He doesn't know sir' said the Sergeant, Kaiz snorted in derision 'but he wasn't the only one who saw it sir' continued Haldir 'some of the other guys saw it too. Just that Fatz cocked his gun first sir'

Kaiz thought for a moment. There had been isolated reports of some of the soldiers seeing things moving in shadows of ghostly visions. But this was the first group sighting.

'Did anyone try to follow it Sergeant?' Asked Kaiz
'No sir, but I put extra guys in watch. Hopefully stop it coming back sir'

Kaiz looked at the ramp and the inky darkness that existed beyond the light range of the Virdalonjan lights. He would need to send a team out to investigate, but did not want to risk lives without the Captains say so. Kaiz turned to the men who had accompanied him down to the basement.

'Stay here and help keep watch' he ordered 'Haldir, with me. We need to tell the Captain about this'

----------VIS Archon, International waters near Heldur----------

Admiral Quenya detested being selected for this mission. Escorting a group of Scientists to a hostile and desolate hunk of rock that would probably end up killing many good men and damaging his ship.

But orders were orders. He was to transport the science team and their military bodyguard to Heldur and establish a coastal base from which the deployed teams would return to Virdalonja from. While holding most of the supplies needed to establish the research base he was told would become permanent.

The smog that hung over Heldur was visible long before the island itself was, which spoke volumes about what would be found there. He had heard mutterings from the scientists that survivors had been contacted there, something the Admiral found hard to believe.

ETA from Heldur- 4 hours

[Toishima]

North Varhall, Embassy District

The Commandos allowed the soldier to lead them inside, with the last one through the door being Miyata. When told to remove their masks they did so, perhaps because they trusted the locals or perhaps because they wanted to prove their humanity. It was blurred. When hey tasted the air, though, some immediately coughed. "性交何この空気と間違っている?!" Someone yelled, drawing strange looks from some of the locals.

When they were brought before the local leader, Haruguchi stepped forward. He allowed the Type-83 gas mask to hang at his neck, exposing his hard and serious features, darkened by years of service in on of the most demanding parts of the Imperial Military. He did have a lot of questions, but the reality of the situation was becoming extremely strange, completely unlike what he expected initially. He still firmly believed that these people were not supposed to be here, but was unsure if they really were a weird doomsday cult or were really local inhabitants.

The squad looked at him and he stared at the shorter man- Toishimans were one of the taller Mongoloid races. No doubt the Caucasoid man was noting their physical differences. Perhaps it was relief to see another human after all those monstrosities out there, or perhaps he was truly astounded by the strange nature of these people, but sergeant Haruguchi kept silent for a long time, staring down the man as though he were the leader of some alien race. The silence in the room as both sides waited for the other to speak became overbearing.

"So... You live here?" Haruguchi managed to bring himself to ask after some time, then immediately regretted such a strange opening question. He then decided to introduce himself formally, extending his hand, "Master Sergeant Hideki Haruguchi, Imperial Army Commandos. From Dai Toishima no Teikoku, the Greater Empire of Toishima. I assume you are responsible for the broadcast?"

Behind the sergeant, the rest of the squad decided to make themselves at home for the time being- the locals did not seem to mind them, though some looked at them curiously.. Some of the local soldiers had helped to carry the injured Suenami on a table, and Nagata, with his red cross headband tied around his helmet, waved them away to tend to her with Kubota and Ikase's help. Kitoaji had put down his own field radio and sat leaning against the wall. That thing was heavy. Hisamatsu was looking around nervously, his sidearm still in hand.

Kira, ever silent, stood stoicly by the door. Miyata and Sugiyama were squatting in one corner and checking their own weapons.

"ヨ、宮田。それはクールな銃です," Sugiyama remarked, looking at the locals' weapons in the room. A local soldier looked at them weirdly and moved away. Miyata shrugged, going back to clearing the barrel of his Type-70. Sugiyama decided to stand up and approached one of the local soldiers, a guy wearing that standard armoured uniform and carrying yet another of those bastardised guns. Sugiyama waved at the man, his own grey-and-black BDUs, tactical webbing and modern Type-70 contrasting with the man's scrap armour and bastard gun.

"Yo. That is a cool gun. Did you make it? You see, I picked one up earlier- it is great, but not as good as my Type-70," Sugiyama gestured to the gun he picked up earlier, then lifted the Type-70 up to the man's face, making a firing gesture and nodding enthusiastically to the man. Does he even understand? Heh.

Just then, Nagata yelled from the table. "彼女はどこにでもカットを持っている。脚に巻かれ、その後は、最も目に見えた。彼らは医療品を持っていますか?" Nagata switched to English, "You have medical supplies? I need bandages and surgical tape. If you have first-aid kit please bring."

[West Aurelia]

Varhall

Now that the beast had taken Panther, the squad was down to 9 men. Panther, like all of them, was a good soldier - loyal, brave, and fearless. If asked if he would lay down his life if it ensured the survival of his squad, he would have said yes without hesitation. Ghost pushed Panther's death out of his mind. The mission must be put first. He listed Panther as KIA on his squad roster, then activated the GPS chip imbedded at the base of his neck. A yellow triangle appeared on his TACMAP, showing the location of the body. It was a couple of kilometers away, inside of some skyscraper. That must be the beast's nest. If they had time, the squad would retrieve what was left of his body and bring it home for a proper burial.

"All right men, we have already lost Panther. We cannot afford to lose anyone else. Keep your eyes peeled. Our objective is to locate and assist any non-hostile survivors we come across. We must also collect samples of flora and fauna, get radiation readings, and get pictures and video. Make sure your helmet cams are on all the time. Intelligence analysts back home will be monitoring foreign communications, so if anything is found, we'll know about it too. Remember our orders - do not engage any foreign soldiers unless we are engaged first. We are not at war with these people, and we don't intend to start one. Move out."

Ghost led his team towards the embassy district, moving quickly to avoid being left in the open when the sun set. As they were hurrying along, white eyes peered at them from inside the surrounding buildings. In the eerie silence of Varhall, any loud sound could be heard for kilometers around. They heard sporadic bursts of gunfire, indicating that other soldiers were not as lucky as they were.

[Heldur]

Varhal suburbs

Bleak titled his head to the side as he considered the request, 'I'm not sure who will be able to meet you,' he replied after a moment of thought, 'we're a satelite state, you will not be meeting with High Command, but if you're willing to supply us with anything, I'll get you into Drowned station. If you're up for a bit of a walk that is.'

Some of Bleak's men shifted uncomfortably, it wasn't clear if they were worried about letting strangers into their home station, or it was generally just the fact that they were standing in the open, on the surface.



North Varhall, Embassy District

Compared to the Toishiman's the Stalkers were all deathly pale, it was clear they rarely ever saw sunlight, it seemed as if they liked to keep it that way considering how dark the building was in general.
Roves studied the Toishiman's with interest, they looked so, foreign, they were all undistputably the darkest skinned humans he had ever seen, not only that, he had never seen anyone with non Caucasian features before in his life, there just weren't many nationalities down in the tunnels. Which had led towards the Helduri people forgetting about other races and cultures, instead national ethnicity had been replaced with station ethnicity. Whilst the population would look more or less the same between stations, the cultures and ideologies of these places were often quite different, to the point where neighboring stations could easily resent each other bitterly.


Roves clearly misinterpreted Haruguchi's first question a little, 'No, it would be suicide to dwell on the surface. We've been living underground since, well before I was born. My mother claims she had just come back from her honeymoon when the bombs fell, do you know what a honeymoon is? No one else seems to these days.' Roves chuckled to himself, 'but yes, we're still alive down here.' he grasped Haruguchi's hand in his own, despite the difference in size, Roves's bulky gauntlet made his hand larger than Haruguchi's, the Stalkers armour in general seemed quite bulky. It was a serious level of protection, although shoddily made, it was clearly designed to take a beating, especially from fangs and claws.
'Yes we are. That was the genius of our resident radio expert Corporal Colban. He's still manning the radio as we speak. It was an opportunity we couldn't miss, I'm sure you'll understand. Who knows how many more times we'd have the option to try and contact the outside world.'

At a nearby doorway, a Stalker watched Hisamatsu carefully. Wary of his drawn gun. It took Hisamatsu a moment to realise that beneath the Stalker outfit and grime, that this Stalker was in fact, a woman. She never left the doorway and her eyes constantly scanned the room and its foreign occupants, always lingering slightly longer on him and his gun. From her demeanor, it seemed obvious that she was the teams sniper, she had distanced herself from the team and her gaze seemed wary, but with a hint of predatory.


The Stalker eyed Sugiyama strangely, this man was the largest of all the stalkers by far, and looked a little older than most. He wasn't entirely sure if Sugiyama was unintelligent, or assumed that he himself was stupid. In the end he offered a weak smile. 'No friend, I just shoot things, my cousin Andrey crafts these beauties.' he stroked the weapon lovingly, 'they do their job and make sure a man gets home to see his family, that is all I need in a weapon,' he grinned, 'not that I have a family, but there are a few nice girls at the station I would be more than happy to see again,' he chuckled and gave Sugiyama a quick wink. 'May I have a look at this, 70 type?' he asked pointing to Sugiyama's own gun.
They made a quick swap and the man inspected the weapon closely, 'the craftsmanship is incredible,' he said as he looked over the rifle, 'this was made in an actual factory, like what we had before the bombs fell. I've seen its like before. The broken ones that they bring to Andrey, he takes them apart you see, keeps all the bits that still works and melts the rest down for new bullets. But the ones that remain in working condition, those are rare. At Able Station at least, our neighbours still field Stalkers with AK's, lucky bastards must have a real armoury down there. A lot of military units use them too, the shock troops, veterans, that kind. But nothing like this. Last time I saw anything of this type.' He paused for a moment as if praying, 'was at Dochas.'


Most of the Stalkers turned in surprise at Nagata's outburst, but as soon as the message was relayed in English, Roves barked out a series of orders in a mixture of English and Stalker jargon. Two Stalkers scrambled from the room swiftly, their hurried footsteps could be heard deep inside the building as they rushed towards their destination.
'We have some medical supplies yes, most of us carry a little, but I take it you need more than what little can be spared on us Stalkers.' Roves called across, 'my men are bringing up our first aid kit. But I'm not sure if your friend will make it. What got them? Maybe there is another way to save her.' Roves paused and looked at Haruguchi, 'depending on what happened, and what did it to her, she may be dead regardless of what we do, some creatures leave nasty wounds which fester badly, no matter what you use to stop them. Fire included. What found you?'

Varhall, city center

Varhall had been silent for too long it seemed, the shock of creatures falling from the sky, from aircraft crashing in their midst, had worn off on the denizens of the city. They had smelt the blood of the new intruders, and this blood was just as edible as that of the creatures who emerged from warrens beneath the city. Hard to take down, but just as tasty.

Worse still, with the sun beginning to fall in the distance, the normally dark clouds became even darker, swirling around as thunder echoed in the distance, a storm front was on its way, there was no doubt about it as the horizon was lit up by the occasional flash of lightning.

Hungry eyes trailed Ghost and his team wherever they went, and these eyes, had more courage in them now. Ghost's team had been lucky for quite some time as the creatures bide their time. But that time was quickly approaching.

As the first rain drops began to fall, a series of moaning howls pierced the silence. The sound had come from only a few blocks away, and whatever it was, was approaching them quickly. As the squad picked up their pace, they found themselves on a long stretch of road, bordered on either side by tall, ominous buildings. The road itself was absolutely littered with ruined cars, with only the upcoming intersection having any vestige of space. The soldiers would have to climb their way to safety it seemed, that or risk the buildings filled with hungry eyes.
As they began to travel up the road, a tall, lithe figure stood up in the distance, spindly to the extreme. The creature did not look human, it turned curious, bulbous eyes towards the newcomers before walking off into a nearby building.

As it left, one of the team spluttered and fell to their knees, as if they had been holding their breath for sometime. Their body quaked a little and for a few moments they seemed to be whispering something, something strange, but after a moment they recovered. When asked about their little episode, they didn't know what they had meant when they had muttered 'they're lonely, so lonely,'

It mattered little as the moaning howls in the distance seemed to creep closer, they had to keep moving.

[Virdalonja]

-----------Varhal suburbs-----------

Götze was delighted that Bleak had complied with his request. He wasn't fussed he would not be meeting a member of High Command, meeting any representative of order and authority in this place would be enough to sanction further Virdalonjan involvement.

He turned to the two soldiers standing by the ramp of the AW101.

'Private, fetch me two of the spare G36A2's' he ordered one of them. A gift of sorts would seal the deal he thought. And judging by the decrepit weapons the Stalkers were using, some new and high tech guns would be the prefect gift.

The Private returned with two of the rifles and passed them to Götze before returning to his position. Götze nodded at Dart.

'Lieutenant, these weapons are presented to you as a gift, as proof we can deliver what we promise and for safe accompaniment to this Drowned Station you mention'

----------FOB Char----------

Gaunt thought for a moment. The report brought to him by Lieutenant Kaiz and Sergeant Haldir was unsettling. Something had to be done about these sightings, he had to prove to the men there was nothing to fear.

'Lieutenant, Sergeant, you are to take 3rd and 4th sections onto he first floor via the basement. See if you can find any evidence if this creature. If not, there was nothing there in the first place. If so, destroy it. We need to show the men there is nothing to fear' ordered Gaunt

Kaiz and Haldir saluted and headed down to the basement. Gaunt watched them go. As much as this mission was to prove to the men there was nothing to fear, it was to exorcise his own demons as well.

----------VIS Archon, cargo bay----------

Sofia Hans was delighted to be settling down into the landing craft. Since she had been selected for this expedition she had been barely able to contain her excitement. Although the satellite images of Heldur were bleak and desolate, this communication with survivors had opened up a new possibility. All aspects of Heldur could be studied. The effect on humans, the environment, and, what Sofia thought most important, the effect on animals. She hoped she would be selected to remain at the permanent base, she felt she could spend the rest of her life documenting Heldur.

As the cargo bay door of the Archon opened and Sofia's landing craft began its journey to the shore with the dozen or so others, she fitted her gas mask. The water was a murky black, and several apparently disfigured birds circled overhead. Yet Sofia was ready for this.

----------VIS Archon, bridge----------

Admiral Quenya watched as the landing crafts headed for the shore. One place he would not be setting foot if he could help it. Nothing about this mission persuaded him to get any closer to Heldur as he currently was. Although the air was breathable out to sea, he was convinced it was dirtying his uniform.

He glanced over to see a group of sailors training their binoculars on what looked like a distant flock of birds. The sailors were muttering and gasping. Quenya strode over and took the binoculars, giving the sailors a filthy look.

'And what do you suppose you are doing?' He demanded 'don't you have work to do'

The sailors saluted and apologised, then scurried to their respective positions.

Quenya raised the binoculars and looked at the birds, well, he thought they were birds. They appeared larger than most, were pitch black and appears to have large talons. Whatever they were, they did not look friendly. Again, he looked down towards the landing crafts. These scientists and no idea what they were getting themselves into. He sighed. At least they had a military escort...

[West Aurelia]

Varhall

With their exoskeletons improving their speed and endurance, the Department unit arrived at the embassy district without further incident. The moment when Cypher had fallen to his knees and started muttering was truly unnerving. They were glad that they were close to their target.

"There's the building where the broadcast came from," Cypher said, pointing. He still had no idea what had happened.

"Let's get there quick," Ghost replied.

The squad ran over and knelt down beside the gates. "It's occupied," Roach commented. It was illuminated from the inside, and low voices could be heard. Some spoke with a European accent that no one could place, while others spoke with an east Asian accent. Japanese, perhaps.

"It appears that foreign forces have gotten here first," Ghost said. "No surprises there. They seem to have established contact with the survivors… My God. Whoever designed the metro… give that man a medal. Or woman. All right, we need to get in there. I don't want anything creeping up on us while we're crouched out here."

"We should just knock," Prophet said. "Mutants don't knock."

"Any other smartass ideas? Nope? Alright, let's knock." A little lighthearted conversation kept the squadmembers' minds off of whatever lived in this hellhole.

Ghost walked up to the front door and knocked three times. "We mean no harm. We are here to investigate a radio broadcast from this location. Please open up." He repeated it in Russian just in case.

Inside the building, all activity stopped abruptly. After a few long seconds, movement was heard at a nearby boarded-up window.

[Toishima]

North Varhall, Embassy District

"They were the nuke d- uh, some large, dog-like animals. I trust you know what a dog is? The creatures had fur, and were about as tall as a human. Pack animals, possibly. Sugiyama over there decided to call them nuke dogs, for obvious reasons. What exactly are they?" Haruguchi replied, still looking at the man somewhat oddly. It was clear by now they were no ordinary people, and there was a very high chance they had indeed been living in the tunnels all this while. It was all extremely strange.

Nagata accepted the first aid kit and took out some mouldy bandages, but decided against using them. He instead took the remaining surgical tape and began using bits of cloth from Suenami's own uniform to wrap up her other injuries, which included the large leg wound, some minor cuts on her arms and another medium-sized wound on her chest area. She was still unconscious or sleeping, though she did breathe softly.

"No, no. I am responsible for this squad's well-being. She will live!" Nagata suddenly yelled in response to Roves, pointing one finger at Roves as he continued working with the other hand, wrapping up her injuries and cleaning them with his own saline, though he did make use of the stalkers' surgical tape and a pair of scissors that looked somewhat clean enough. Ikase reeled in surprise to his outburst, and Kubota put one comforting hand on the medic's shoulder. The medic brushed him off.

Elsewhere, Sugiyama felt he was somehow befriending the man, through heir mutual interest in weapons, or something. He nodded at what the man had to say, then took back the Type-70 when the man was done with it, handing back the bastard gun. "Yes, it was made in a factory, though I would think it's a lot better than an AK. Heh. Your own weapons are incredible as well, they are made out of scavenged parts and bits of older weapons, and yet they still work in the way they are intended to. I cannot imagine anyone back home being able to do such a thing, even with the correct tools. Marvellous. Although," he began to probe into unfamiliar territory, "what is this Dochas you speak of?"

As Hisamatsu watched the woman watch him, he became somewhat aware that she was noting his drawn weapon. Both were trying to protect their own people, it was evident. Both were somewhat loners. Slowly, he began to challenge her with his eyes, staring at her for longer periods and allowing their eyes to meet before both went back to scanning the room. Both knew the other would be the first threat if something went wrong. He had a plan to take her down, and she probably had a plan to end him as well.

---

Ministry of Defence
Kagoshima City
Toishima

A thin, gaunt man with dark sunglasses stood in the middle of the dark room, dressed in an Imperial Army Major General's uniform, an olive green dress uniform with a Radiant Sun armband around his right arm. He had dark, greasy hair that was combed over towards the right, and he had a trimmed beard and sideburns but no moustache. The man stood at attention as he regarded the three men before him.

"You understand your orders?" The man sitting in the middle queried, his black business suit contrasting with the other three uniformed men in the room.

"Yes, Defence Minister. They will be carried out with utmost expediency."

"Your forces are prepared, General?" The man sitting to the Defence Minister's left asked, wearing the uniform of the Imperial Air Force.

"Indeed, Chief of Staff. We can deploy as soon as we receive the order."

"Very well. As Chief of Staff of the Imperial Army, I give the order to commence Operation Uchidasu," the final man, also in an Imperial Army uniform though significantly more decorated, said finally, sliding a folder with the relevant documents across the table.

"Understood, General Toyama. Division 144 shall move out as soon as all preparations are finalised."

"Best of luck, Major General Ikari."

Saluting his superiors, the man known as Ikari collected the folder and turned his back on them, walking rapidly out of the room.

[Garganta de la tierra]

Runway Two, Varhall International Airport

After moving through the streets of an old suburb the GDLT team was glad to have arrived at the airport. Night was falling and Creatures were watching them from between burnt houses, even going so far as to sprint ahead of the group to get a better view. Corporal Jacob Michaels had even started to throw flares in an attempt to keep them at bay, and for the most part it had worked.

After cutting through the remains of an overgrown chain link fence, the team moved to the second runway, the least overgrown of the lot. The cracked pavement was relatively clear of dirt and debris, bar a crashed Jetliner at the far end from the team. About a kilometer away was the Main Terminal and hangers, all the structures caved in from the Nuclear attack three decades prior. Runways one and three flanking either side of the group were covered in light scrub that had pushed its way through the cracks, and the occasional sickly tree was poking up from the grass meridian, but otherwise the area had long sight-lines in the last rays of sun through the breaks in the blackening cloud layer.

"Those mutated dogs stopped following us once we entered the Airport, but do not let your guard down." Avery commanded. "George. Anders. Angle. You are on watch. Dagger. Raedon. Unpack the mark seven and set it up. Key. Take the parts Raedon was carrying for you and assemble the Liq-chem. Michaels and I will set up a couple IPKs for those of you who need to use a latrine or anything involving removing your suit. Lets go."

PVT Gregor Raedon bolted together the four legged platform and tested the servos. The MK VII [Light] area denial system is a simple Sentry system that is carried by most Garganta de la Tierran engineering groups in hostile environments, and was the main reason Raedon and Key were brought along. The weapons system is a Basic autonomous computer capsule with an Assault rifle attached. Raedon was carrying a second TAR-21, but this was modified to an X-95 variant like Sargent Avery's, Firing 7.62mm rounds and carrying a 40mm grenade launcher. Dagger took the rifle from Raedon and set it in its mount. Setting the rifle into semi automatic he placed a magazine with red tape wrapped around it into the gun. Hephaestus Arms was etched into the side of the computer optics housing. The MK VII did a test 720 degree rotation in each direction, and a small red light lit up beside the three different lenses. Meanwhile SGT Avery and CPL Michaels had dug a 2.5 meter deep trench and placed the Individual Protection Kits [IPK] over it. The light aluminium frames held the olive canvas over the hole, creating an enclosed subterranean room big enough to crouch in. The air is not safe but it is away from the elements and short times within would allow for suit changes and toilet breaks if necessary. Key had assembled the HAZMAT Liq-Chem Defoliant projector, a small flamethrower designed for clearing scrub, explosives, and Hazardous material.

"All set Sarge?" Angle called from her the perimeter, seeing their CO had started cracking chem lights and was making a large rectangle not far from her position. "Once we clear this patch Michaels can call in-" The Sargent was cut short as the loud echo of the un-supressed MK VIIs rife. A second shot rang out. Then a third. Ever member dropped to the ground prone and shielded the perspex eyes of their Masks. They knew what came next. Something had activated the MK VII to go into group assailant denial mode. the dull thump of the grenade was drowned out by a chorus of roars from the darkness. Suddenly the entire International Airport was lit up by the Fuel Air Explosive grenade, anyone watching would have been blinded by the sight. chunks of grey/brown legs and tumorous flesh were blasted for a couple hundred meters, a burning skull landed beside PVT George. The sentry gun let out a loud clunk, the Launcher ejecting the casing from the FAE-G and set off a small orange light indicating a magazine change. Key was the first to jump up. He swept the area around him quickly for hostiles, then ran over to the launcher and plugged in another grenade. The Magazine of hollow-points was still over three quarters full, having only fired three shots, so he left it in place.

"Well the other group in Heldur wont have missed that!" George shouted to Key, over the ringing in their ears. The fireball rose up above the ruined airport, lighting up most of the first three runways and caste long shadows. Key stared out at the main compound of the airport, the area of runway one in-front of the structure was now engulfed in flame. Scrub had caught alight, and the sizzling roar of an open wildfire echoed in the night. PVT Angle noticed glowing eyes through her scope, reflecting the blaze that had engulfed their companions. She was about to alert the group of Hostiles out of range of the MK VII but the creatures turned tail and left. A Demon Sprang out of the wreckage of one of the nearby hangers and took of into the city with what seemed to be one of its juveniles in its claws, fleeing into the city to avoid the fire. A large burning circle could be seen on the tarmac where the gas from inside the grenade had spread before it ignited.

"OK People, we have just alerted half of Heldur to where we are! Let get those comm's going Michaels! Everyone else throw green flares out on our dark side, anything coming from the City will be easy to see with that Fire! Lets get a move on!" Yelled Avery, to be heard over the Crackling and Growling fire which had spread across to the Terminals themselves, burning what flammable material remains inside the ruins.

The MK VII turned to face the crashed passenger jet 400 meters away at the end of the runway and started flashing a strobe light, indicating it detected movement but had no lock, the Weapons system trying to blind anything inside the plane until it could identify if hostile or not.

"Possible gunmen!" Angle dropped to the floor and Yelled, pointing towards movement in the wrecked aircraft.

[Heldur]

Varhal suburbs

Bleak accepted the gifts enthusiastically, 'Got any spare clips for these things? We might need them,' his voice sounded strangely jovial as he inspected the weapon he had been given.

'Oh you'll be reaching Drowned in one piece, I guarantee it, the Brotherhood does not forget it's friends, and you sir, are on the fast track to being my friend.' Bleak laughed and pointed his new weapon at a nearby STOP sign, he fired the weapon on semi auto, leaving a hole in the middle of the O. 'Very nice' he muttered, 'well then, once you're ready, we best get going. Sure enough our surface neighbours will come crawling out sooner rather than later. There is little one can do to scare them off permanently, save killing them.'
Bleak waited for Götze to get his men ready before announcing happily, 'Come my friends, Drowned Station awaits!'


Helduri Seas

The Demons circled over the Virdalonjan landing crafts curiously, they often simply found themselves strafing whatever crawled out of the ocean and nearby swamps, this strange, foreign smelling craft was out of place and they were unsure of what to do about the intruder. It didn't take them too long however to dive in for a closer look, they were more often than not, the undisputed masters of the skies, there was very little which could threaten them in this world.
They swooped down low, coming ever closer to the craft before loosing interest in favour of grabbing some nearby creatures on the shore.

North Varhall, Embassy District

Alex couldn't believe his eyes as he stared out the window, he was confronted by what looked like nine, armour plated knights from the old stories. He grunted in annoyance as he ran back to the door to drag the stuff out of the way to let them in. He called into the building to let everyone know they had company of the human variety.
The sound of boots on the ground alerted him to the arrival of another of his companions, it was Renkha again. Together they shifted everything out of the way swiftly and opened up the door.
'Inside friends,' Renkha called, 'move, move move. Follow my friend here. He'll take you to our captain!' Renkha looked over to Alex and nodded, it was his turn to 'man the gate'.
Alex sighed in relief as he led the newcommers inside. Glad to be away from the exterior. 'Friends,' he grunted, 'the air should be safe enough in here for you if you want to spare your filters.' He removed his own as they headed further into the building.



Roves looked at Haruguchi for a moment, 'well, sounds like Howlers, never thought they looked like Dogs before,' he looked deep in thought for a moment, 'but I see where your friend got the idea from. Damn things have a habit of running in hundreds. Not fun to fight against. Basically they're the bottom of the food chain, although in reality we have more a food circle. The Howlers will eat anything they can, and that means swamping the bigger shit with pure numbers. Which works quite well for them really. The only thing they won't attack is a Demon, the big, flying shit. You'll only ever see Howlers approach a dead one. Slowly at that.'

Nagata's outburst didn't seem to surprise Roves. 'You do what you have to do,' he replied calmly, 'just be happy it was a Howler. Their claws are filled with gunk, so you're going to have to clean it well. It could be much worse. I've seen Shrimp Scratches fester after being cleaned with fire. Also Demon bites sometimes fester bright purple. Although it's rare to find a survivor of a Demon attack. Very rare.'

Sugiyama's new friend laughed enthusiastically, 'yes but an AK just keeps on working. Most military outfits that can afford it outfit their guys with the damn things, they last longer than the men wielding them! But thank you, it's hard for our gunsmiths to keep making them, but it's worth it. Without them we'd be unable to come up here at all. You just, never send unarmed people to the surface, it's suicide.'
At the mention of Dochas, a number of the nearby Stalkers fell silent, Sugiyama's friend included.
'That my friend, is the closest thing we have, to a city.'
'It is a city,' another Stalker replied, 'it's like this place from before the war, but underground.'
'Zuk, have you ever been there?' the tall Stalker turned to his companion, who shook their head, 'don't speak of things you don't know.' the man turned back to Sugiyama, 'but he is right on all accounts, just very snide about it. Dochas. It's our capital. Secluded, it has no direct link to the surface despite being consisted of four close by stations. I couldn't tell you more unfortunately. I've only ever stood by the entrance to the place while conducting business there with a friend. It was so bright inside I had to wear goggles to look in.' the man chuckled fondly.

The woman met Hisamatsu's gaze coldly, she was unarmed save for a combat knife on her belt. But it was clear that she could easily alert her comrades to danger before diving into cover should trouble arise. And Hisamatsu couldn't be certain that her gun wasn't within easy reach of where she stood now. She was a tough one, having been selected to go topside alongside some of the toughest and bravest men in the station, and they all gave her a wide berth.


Varhall International Airport

The fire spread quickly, but was short lived, there didn't appear to be much left to burn in many of the buildings. However when it reached one of the further away hangars there were cries of surprise, human cries.

About the same time, human figures appeared around the husk of the aircraft, they were armed, but their weapons had not been drawn, their attentions had most likely been focused elsewhere judging by the bundle of scrap and spare parts one of them were carrying. They seemed shocked and surprised by the strange outsiders on the runway.

Another person came flying out of the ruined aircraft hefting an old fire extinguisher, shouting something incomprehensible to whoever was inside the hangar. They were soon followed by another from their group who worriedly followed behind, grabbing some sort of blanket to help stop the fire.

It was all happening so quickly, but soon enough one of the figures standing outside the ruined aircraft began waving their arms and beckoning for the strangers to approach them.

[Toishima]

Apologies for the delay, I did not have access to a working computer.

---

North Varhall, Embassy District

"We have much to learn about this place, Captain, as do you need to learn about the outside world. I would like to speak with you longer on these subjects, but my duty comes first. I respectfully ask you what you wish for my homeland to do to aid your people. We require you to turn off that radio as well. It is a danger as it may draw unprepared civilians to this dangerous-" Haruguchi stopped as the sound of a mechanical piece of equipment, far too modern-sounding to be owned by these Heldurians, drifted into the room from outside. The rest of the squad heard it as well, and, presumably, the Heldurians in the room. Haruguchi raised one hand to Roves to quiet him, signalled to the squad and slowly reached for his sidearm with the other hand.

As soon as the Aurelians entered the room, Hisamatsu and Kira drew their weapons and aimed them at the first person's head, Hisamatsu waving at the Heldurian woman to keep calm. Miyata was aiming a bastard rifle he picked up off the floor at them, his Minimi still disassembled in the corner. Sugiyama snapped to action, aiming his Type-70 and dropping to a crouching pose, leaving the two men stunned. Over at the table being used as a triage center, Nagata protectively covered Suenami's partially-stripped body while Kubota and Ikase aimed their own weapons at the newcomers. Kitoaji instinctively grabbed the radio to call for backup, but stopped himself. Nobody would come anyway.

Haruguchi turned slowly, his gun pointing directly at the first of the newcomers, ignoring the looks of shock and confusion on the Heldurians' faces.

"You will stand down and identify yourself."

[Republic of Coldwater]

CEO Clarence Norman walks in his marble floored office. Born in 1979, he was a self-made man, starting as a waiter and ending up as the CEO of a multinational corporation. He powers on his 4K TV, and moves his mouse to Heldur. Clarence has secured the investment of numerous billionaires, and how has to money to test the explosion of a Fusion Reactor on a land. He finally looks at his milk white paper, and picks up his black pen, and puts his name on the paper.

0100 Hours
175 Helicopters lift off Raptor Inc.'s private island. In the Helicopters were Mercenaries and materials for Heldur. Numerous Drones trail ahead, to take high-resolution videos of Heldur and give a good place for a landing.

[Arthurista]

Near Varhall port

This expedition, thought Major (The Honourable) Thomas Beech, as he stared down at the blackened, blasted city from the lofty height of his Merlin helicopter, couldn’t get any weirder.

For him, it all started some three weeks ago, when he received a mysterious phone call in his office.

“Major Beech,” said a woman’s voice through his handset, “we have not met, but I’m staring at your file and I must say I’m very impressed. You may just be the man we need.”

“May I inquire as to who’s calling, ma’am?”

“You will know soon enough, major. We’re putting together an expedition, it’s all very last minute, I know, but it’ll sail in precisely four days.”

“Ma’am, I’m afraid that won’t be possible. We can get my company in order…”

“The ships that’ll take you are ready, as are your men, as I understand it. They’re a rapid reaction force, after all. You’ll also be taking some additional attached elements, as well.”

“May I ask where we’re going, ma’am?”

“Have you ever heard of Heldur, major?”

Oh, shit.

The pieces were finally falling in place for the hapless major. He was one of Arthurista’s foremost experts in operations in unusual environments and CRBN defence. In addition to that, as a captain, he served for two years in the Arthuristan Special Boat Service before rotating back to take over a company of Marines. No wonder they wanted him on board.

“May I presume, ma’am, that you’re from the Strategic Intelligence Bureau?”

“Yes, you can, major.”

A spook in tow, too, isn’t this just swell.

Three weeks later, the woman on the phone sat next to him on the helicopter. Dr Francine Prescott, a brown-haired woman in her early thirties and slightly taller than the major, was high up in the SIB’s Anomalies Research Division, a noted specialist in ecology. She was also, at least nominally, the leader of the expedition.

“Doesn’t look like much, does it, major, but we could potentially find something truly amazing. Anyway, are you sure we shouldn’t bring the Roland into the dock area?”

The APNS Roland was a Round Table Class Landing Ship Logistics, capable of supporting a far larger force than the expedition had. Moreover, she was a ‘roll-on, roll-off’ design, which can unload all their equipment at the port.

“Too risky, ma’am. Until we know for sure what the conditions are like, we’ll keep her firmly besides the Swiftsure” he replied, as he gestured at the white-grey bulk of the 3,200 tonnes frigate behind him.

“Jenny can keep an eye on her.” Commander Jennifer Cottle was young for her rank, but nobody doubted her competence as the skipper of a brand new frigate.

“Indeed, ma’am. We’ll use the landing crafts and helicopters to bring the men ashore. We’d establish a protected area in the docks as a temporary on-shore home base while the researchers get about with the task at hand, such as locating any native populations.”

“A sound plan, major, a sound plan indeed.” Prescott was very aware of the dangers she may encounter on the island, something not lost on the major as he observed the way she silently adjusted her holster. Every member of the expedition was armed, even the scientists (who in any case would’ve done National Service and received basic combat training). Moreover, the expedition exclusively carried high calibre weapons, not knowing how much firepower is necessary to take down some of the larger, tougher native fauna. The marines company, and the SBS commandos who accompanied them, had 7.62mm R13 battle rifles and GPMGs , as well as grenade launchers, disposable rockets, recoilless rifles, mines, anti-tank missiles and even mortars. The supposed non-combatants had .50 calibre Lyran LY46 pistols and LY47 SMGs.

They were fairly certain they could stop any mutant, short of Godzilla. If that showed up, the frigate could undoubtedly deal with it as well.

“Time to land, ma’am. I see the landing crafts have already arrived, as well.”

“After you, Major Beech.”

With that, they strapped on their body armour and NBC suits, then fast-roped out of the hovering helicopter onto street level. Behind them, more helicopters were arriving, and boats bringing in the researchers and marines, who immediately began the task of turning the dockside zone they landed on into a veritable mini-fortress, setting up their heavy weapons into interlocking fields of fire.

The Arthuristan People's Marines were serious people. It is a thoroughly professional force in a conscript military. Far smaller than the naval infantry corps of nations the size of Arthurista, and lacking tanks, large-calibre artillery or other heavy weapons. What equipment they had, however, could all be lifted by helicopters, making them very mobile. They were, in truth, elite air assault light infantry, who could operate with a far smaller logistical tail than the typical heavy marine forces of other countries, especially in an improvised expedition such as this. Their rankers go through 32 weeks of basic training, their officers 64. They were, to a man, rated as 'Special Operations-Capable' by the Ministry of Defence, and they were not wrong.

The SBS Troop, supported by a firescout, have already disappeared into the tangled ruins, scouting ahead into the unknown.

[West Aurelia]

Varhall

Ghost looked around. There were two distinct groups: a group of ragtag, unprofessional soldiers, and a group of fit, well-trained, and well-armed special forces operators. He spotted a Toishiman flag wrapped around one of the operators' waists. Imperial Army Commandos, he thought.

Ghost stared at the man who had spoken to him, presumably their leader. Their gazes met, and Ghost sensed at a sort of respect in the man's eyes. A respect for a fellow warrior, regardless of allegiance. Ghost wasn't afraid to die. His helmet cam was on and the video feed was being sent to headquarters, so if the Toishimans fired their weapons, everything would be on camera. The Toishiman ambassador would be summoned to explain their hostile actions.

Ghost strapped his M32 onto his leg and held his hands out. Not threatening, but also not a show of submission. "I am Commander Henry Marks," he said, giving a false name and a false rank (as the Department wasn't part of the military, he technically didn't have a military rank anyway). "I am from Darklair." Darklair was a nation in the same region as West Aurelia, so it was passable. "I was dispatched by my government to investigate a radio broadcast from this location. I assume that you were sent for the same reason. Please, lower your weapons. Our countries are not at war. I understand the situation is tense, but we come in peace and mean no harm."

Site 14, Undisclosed Location

President Hayes and Director Hale watched the video feed tensely. "Prepare the phone," Hayes ordered. "Get ready to call the Toishiman ambassador the moment this gets out of hand."

"Yes, sir," came the reply.

[Virdalonja]

----------Varhal suburbs----------

Götze turned to Lieutenant Draxler.

"Lieutenant, take 5 and 6 sections with you back to the FOB" ordered Götze "7 section, with me to Drowned Station"

"Yes sir!" Came the numerous replies.

Corporal Dart fell in with 6 section and Lieutenant Götze.

As the AW101's rotors began to spin, Dart gestured to Bleak.

"Shall we?" He asked, presenting him with 4 full magazines of ammunition for the new weapons.

----------FOB Char----------

"3 section, with me" said Kaiz "4 section with Haldir. All of you, fix bayonets. Flashlights on"

The dingy basement of the car park was fully illuminated by the high wattage flashlights. Kaiz looked towards the ramp, he couldn't tell if it was him, but he thought he could hear movement in the first floor. Like something was preparing for the soldiers to move out.

Kaiz looked towards Haldir and nodded.

"Forward!" Called Haldir "we need to clear this floor and collapse the roof to block the ramp"

As the soldiers moved up the ramp the thick darkness evaporated before them. Kaiz looked around. Nothing. The Private to Kaiz's right stopped dead and raised his rifle. Slouched against the far wall in from of him was a grotesque and skeletal creature, evidently stunned by the bright lights. Several of the others had seen it to and also raised their rifles. The creature looked up and hissed, revealing deathly sharp teeth and class. Kaiz wasn't taking chances.

"Take that thing out!" He cried. The creature was eviscerated by the heavy gunfire from the Virdalonjan soldiers, as it died it let out a high pitched piercing cry that assaulted the eardrums of the soldiers. The gunfire stopped and Haldir approached the corpse of the creature. He rolled it over gingerly with his boot and looked it dead in its lifeless eyes, before delivering a final shot into its head.

An answering cry emerged from the floor above and a scrabbling sound was heard. Dust dropped from the ceiling. Haldir backed away towards his comrades and directed his G36A2 towards the second ramp. A small creature was just visible backing away up the ramp. No. Not just one. Two. Three.

"Shit" he muttered. He fired several shots towards the small creatures who vanished up the ramp in fear.

"Get a flare up there Sergeant" ordered Kaiz "They don't seem to like bright light. They will run down that ramp dazed, where we will take them. These must be the children of the thing we just killed"

Haldir lit and threw a flare to the top of the ramp. Several cries of pain rose up from above. Accompanied by a long deep howl of rage. Haldir looked at Kaiz. Maybe it wasn't only the babies left. It took two to reproduce.

Private Orlov began to back up.

"Stand your ground!" Roared Kaiz "Do not shame the Emperor by fleeing! They are coming, positions! Get the Hydroar ready!"

----------Coast of Heldur, Virdalonjan beachhead----------

Sofia climbed into the back of the Mastiff. She was to go with the initial patrol to locate the area detailed by the satellite surveillance for a base to be established. The clearing was on the edge of the marshlands, but accordance to surveillance was dry and firm enough to support structures. However, there was only so much satellites could achieve with observations of a country covered with smog.

Sergeant Major Guldur looked back at the passengers. 3 soldiers, 4 scientists and an engineer. It was his platoons job to ensure these passengers remained safe. And he intended to ensure they did.

"Yanmir, get on the Gimpy. Keep an eye out for trouble"
"Yessir. Right away sir" replied PFC Yanmir and immediately clambered up into position on the Gimpy.

Guldur had no idea what to expect. The wildlife he had seen, although only from afar, did not seem friendly. He wasn't taking chances.

"Right then Private, lets get moving. The sooner this is over the sooner we get back" he said to the driver. The Mastiff's engines roared to life, signalling to the 2 other Mastiffs in the convoy it was time to head off, and pulled away from the beach and began the drive deep into Heldur.

[Garganta de la tierra]

Varhall International Airport

Key knelt beside the metal stand, quickly switching the MK VII into Passive mode, ensuring the Plane occupants were not going to be gunned down. Avery moved to a crouching position pointing his gun at the Man running towards the burning hanger with a fire extinguisher. "That wont be enough if the gas got in there before the grenade went off." PVT George muttered under his breath. "Rules of engagement people!" SGT Avery commanded, standing up off the cracked pavement. "I'll head over and see whats up. PFC Angle you better remember which black silhouette I am once I make contact. Remember the signals people."

Avery jogged towards the man who was waving a burning branch acquired from the ground. Most of the scrub had burnt out fast, and now only the chemical splash from the grenade and the hanger closest to the crashed plane were still on fire. As he got closer to the plane he saw it wasn't charred, and only showed signs of damage from the impact which placed it there. On the tail the markings of which airline it belonged to were faded with time, it was not a recent crash, but it had come after the bombing of Heldur. It didn't take Avery long to jog through the open space towards the group. "I'm Johnson, part of the security detail for the WA's Radiological Monitoring Group." Avery lied. "This is a highly hazardous area, what are you doing here? Are you transmitting the radio broadcast?"

Private first class Rebekah Angle watched Avery jogging over through her night scope she had attached to the rifle. Behind her Corporal Catherine Anders was talking on the radio to the inbound GDLT V-22 Ospreys, alerting them of the flying creatures that may attempt to engage them upon reaching Heldur. "Shattered Crossbow has bugged out guys, says there are multiple ships sitting off shore and she doesn't want to annoy them. Pilots say they are ten min out, but we are getting a larger parcel that we were told this delivery." Anders called out to the group.

George was too busy digging an impact crater with Dagger to hear what she said. He had seen a metal object protruding from the mud in the crater, and was carefully uncovering it. "Uh, Alex?" George turned to face Dagger. "I think i already know what this is, but do you speak Russian?" "You know damn well i do, let me see... Oh this ain't good." He jumped out of the crater and started running back to Anders. "Anders, Is there and EOD technician arriving?!" He shouted. Anders spun around from the radio backpack she had resting on the ground. "Yeah, whats the problem?"

Dagger stopped jogging and instead decided to shout. "There is an Unexploded Soviet warhead sticking out of the Pavement!"

[Heldur]

North Varhall, Embassy District

'Friends,' Roves said worriedly as he stepped in between Haruguchi and 'Henry Marks', 'there is no need for hostility, here of all places. People should not kill each other on the surface, it is not right. Everything else wants that, save at least some compassion for each other up here. Even the Brotherhood does not fire upon its enemies on the surface, such a thing is foolish. And were you to pull your triggers, surely you would get us all killed when the whole district comes to investigate the noise. Please, lower your weapons.'

The Stalkers in the room looked tense, they had all drawn their own weapons and backed away from both foreign parties, but kept their weapons lowered, a few nervously glanced at nearby windows, checking for the unwanted gaze of a surface dwelling monster. It seemed as if the only person who was wholly unarmed now was Roves himself. And he had just put himself in the worst position in the current circumstance.


Varhall Docklands

The docklands were wet, this once built up area had now flooded, as the Arthuristan scouts advanced, they were met by all manner of horrors. One man met a sickly end when over a dozen, enormous rats leapt at him frenziedly from some nearby ruins. One group completely disappeared, not answering radio hails at all, no one dared go after their tracks however, not yet.
A large, seal like creature mauled a soldier before being frightened back into the water by gunfire, it's blubbery hide had resisted the few bullets which had hit it, but the noise of the large weapons had terrified the creature enough to force it to flee.
Territorial animals fought and died by their nests, leaping from cover with their fangs barred. Other ran, Howlers tried to intimidate the soldiers, but often fled whenever they got too close, there didn't seem to be enough of them out here to warrant an attack on this many humans.

What caused the most problems however, were the strange, green crustacean like creatures, their armoured fore limbs proved resistant to bullets as they came crawling out of the muck whenever the soldiers drew too close to the river or the river mouth. Thankfully they seemed to dislike the oceans saltwater as none emerged from the sea to hit the soldiers from behind.

The Demons seemed to be competing the crustacean's for the being the worst problem, where their young were involved, they would often choose to flee, taking their litter with them, but those that did not have children to protect would swoop down from the sky unexpectantly, diving down from above the blanket of clouds to grab a hapless soldier before disappearing behind the next set of buildings with a flap of leathery wings.

The Docklands seemed like hell itself, but it was emptying quickly, save for the nearby swamps which were quickly gaining a bad reputation amongst all kinds of people, it seemed no wonder that the remaining humans in Heldur avoided these places like the plague.


Varhal suburbs

Lieutenant Bleak accepted the gift happily, 'right this way my friends!' he declared happily, as they walked off, he watched the AW101 take off and disappear into the distance, completely dumbfounded.

They walked on for some time, the Pathfinders directed the group efficiently, they knew which routes to take, which buildings to avoid and what streets tended to be the safest.
'Arnan Crescent has a hotel filled with Demons,' Bleak had said at once stage, pointing out a large building in the center of the street, 'now we want to get to that Metro Station at the end of the road, but that's frankly not an option down here, we'd need a lot more men to get past the Demons, the big flying things. But that's easy fixed, we just have to run down this road and up a side street, if anything gets in our way we blast it, we're close enough to Drowned to make the sprint back home.'
They followed Bleak's plan, avoiding the buildings at all cost, 'unless it looks like good stuff is inside, avoid it. Poking around unnecessarily will get you killed.' Bleak explained when asked.
They charged down the sidestreet, nothing challenged them until they were through, a confused trio of statue like mutants stared at them, although they didn't know it, they were blocking the path.
'Drop them,' Bleak rasped and raised his rifle. There was no burst fire, the Stalkers fired precise single fire shots, the creatures fell quickly, riddled with shots to their chests and occasionally their heads. In an instant the men were running, calling for their new friends to keep up as angry roars began to sound from the 'Demon hotel'. They had to get below ground before they took flight.

The run was short and soon they found themselves below the earth, the Metro station entrance was sealed with a big pneumatic gate, Bleak quickly stepped up to it and knocked on it in a complex series which must have been some sort of code.
He turned to Dart breathlessly, 'they can't hear us on the other side, so we knock. Otherwise we'd have to set off a bomb or something and they won't open the gates for that. So. Any last words before you meet the Brotherhood?'


Varhall International Airport

Before the man even reached the hanger, most of the fire seemed to have been extinguished, it was clear that there were more people inside fighting the fire. Due to the buildings distance from the grenade, the fire had calmed quickly, but even so the man seemed to be unleashing the extinguisher with vigor, determined to protect whatever was inside the old building.

The man dropped his burning branch and stamped it out once Avery had arrived. 'My names Jonathan Brash,' he said eyeing the foreigner. 'Stalker. WA's Radiological Monitoring Group? What are you talking about? Also, I am aware the surface is a dangerous place. Well aware. My wife,' he paused and indicated the crashed plane, 'arrived in this thing, my Stalker band pulled her from the wreckage, along with two others. For years we never dreamed of returning to this place, our station never told anybody about the people from overseas, they'd think us mad. But then, well. Our station is dying, we needed to leave. So I grabbed every able bodied man, woman and child and brought them here in an attempt to escape our dying home. Now you've gone and burnt the terminal down, you had better hope the fire didn't spread downwards.' he crossed his arms across his chest, 'unless of course you enjoy the blood of innocents on your hands.' he sighed, 'they're not used to the dangers of the surface. I am, I was expecting to lose people, maybe all of us but I hope that at the very least the fire didn't kill them all.'
He was silent for a time, a young man came running up to the pair, a mostly empty fire extinguisher in his hands, 'Brash, it's safe.'
This strange groups leader exhaled, 'at least our mission can continue,' he sighed. Before turning to 'Johnson', 'now then, mind telling me why you''ve opened fire with heavy ordnance on the surface! You've alerted everything which walks, flies and crawls that we're here. And in case you didn't notice everything up here is hungry!'