De Luce et Tenebris Umbra

Ghost

Location: ???

“BRHGPRBGHORHGPH!!!!!”

I could feel a nerve in my temple slowly pulsing as I resigned myself to continue watching over Pick’s antics. How long he planned to continue enjoying the Arctic waters I had no idea, even I would’ve been frustrated by now, especially after passing out from oxygen deprivation.

Dan had gone out to do some scouting and I had my TACPAD open to a view of the surrounding area as I watched his little blue dot slowly moving along with a small chart displaying his vitals. Then I heard Pick pull his head out of the water again, sputtering and coughing. Now my eye was twitching and my hand was shaking in annoyance.

“Pick I swear that if you make me drag your sorry ass out of the water again, I’m going to give you something more painful to worry about.”

He just smiled and was about to shove his head under again when I jumped forward, grabbed the collar of his suit, and yanked him back. I raised my arm and was about to give him a right hook when someone drove a shard of ice into my head.

{----------------------------}

I was crouched on a rooftop and looked down into the bustling streets of a city. My rifle lay next to me as I kept an overwatch position. There were throngs of people below me, all headed in the same direction. A city-wide assembly, and world-wide broadcast had been called for the new leader of the country. She was but a teenager, and yet she possessed the innate ability to lead her people.

Her innocence had long been stolen by the wars that had ravaged the land, and the world was slowly picking the pieces. She was selected out of all the candidates because she alone understood many sides of the conflict. She was a guiding beacon of hope during the darkest days as she attempted to save a world that was driving itself into its own destruction.

Now, the battles had passed, but the war was long from over. Even after their most grueling defeats, some hands still wished to extinguish the bright flame.

I smiled as I picked out the individuals that stuck out like red roses in a field of white.

‘Assassins?’ I scoffed, ‘What a pitiful excuse for blending into their surroundings.’

I slowly picked up my rifle and trained a beam onto each of them, designating them to be apprehended.

‘It’s too easy though, surely they would’ve pulled out all the stops for their last effort?’

I traveled from building to building and eventually, I reached the main assembly plaza. I wasn’t worried about the assassins that I had marked. Even working as an anonymous source for her government, my information was rarely taken lightly, considering that I had saved her and her advisors countless times already.

(-----------------------------------)

They had wanted to meet me in person, but I had declined every offer, always saying that it was safer never to be involved with me. Though even after all of my warnings they still insisted, so when I asked why, they replied that the girl herself had seen me during one of the public attempts on her life. I had gotten sloppy and almost let the soldier get too close, all because I had trusted the wrong sources. Afterward, I corrected the problem quickly.

In the end, against my better judgment, I agreed to meet her after the assembly. After all, this was the last attempt any of enemies would be making, what would I do after my mission was completed?

(-------------------------------)

The stage had been set at the end of the plaza in front of one the few still standing government buildings. It was a last resort should the attempt get close to her.

I took up a position on a building that was near enough for me to reach the stage in a short time, but also tall enough should I have to engage distant targets.

The plaza filled pretty quickly and the front rows were packed with reporters and journalists. Of course their equipment had of been scanned before they were allowed to their seats. I could see small plainclothes security teams moving through the crowd, picking up the people that I had marked, as well as those who moved away to quickly to be innocent. I disliked the fact that we were picking up truly innocent people as well as the guilty ones, but it had to be done.

Tap…Tap…Tap

I looked onto the stage to see that a crew was checking the sound equipment as they got ready to begin the assembly. I knew for a fact that the equipment hadn’t been tampered with because I had messed with it myself. I had locked down the panels tightly, and the controls were encrypted from here to hell and back.

Confident in the security measures, I sat back, rested my rifle against my shoulder, and prepared for a long speech. I kept one eye on the stage and one roving the crowd, plus an ear on all the frequencies that were associated with the enemy. Nothing was going to get past me today.

{------------------------------}

I blinked and the plaza disappeared to be replaced with several fluffy white masses. I stayed gazing at the masses for a few seconds before realizing that I was on the ground. I could feel a cool breeze running over my face, and my hands still felt like I was cradling a rifle. I lifted my hands to my face and made fists, then relaxed them. Instead of being semi-curled, they were once again in the form that I was holding a rifle.

Muscle Memory…

The words of one of my boot camp martial arts instructors ran through my head. He had stressed that repetition was the key to never forgetting our training. It actually got the point where I could go through the motion of disassembling a weapon without having one in my hands. It became a tic of mine for a while.

Muscle Memory…

These were the words that my father used to describe how someone learns to do something on instinct. Your mind doesn’t have to be focused on task literally at hand, but rather it can focus on something more important. Like if you’re fusing an explosive in the dark while trying to talk your way out a sticky situation.

Muscle Memory…

My mother used to describe her visits to the community center where she would knit and hold a political conversation with the senior citizens at the same time. She would tell me of the first few days when they would have sweaters done while she was still making the upper body because she couldn’t do both at the same time.

Muscle Memory…

Oh how I dreaded the days where I would be taken blindfolded out of our camp and to a firing range. They would toss me a disassembled weapon and expected me to calculate and predict the targets’ movements while assembling the weapon, then hitting every target in ever shortening amounts of time.

Muscle Memory…

…

I shook my head vigorously trying to dispel the sudden flood of unfamiliar, yet familiar, images and alien memories.

What the hell? Since when have I done those things? Who are those people? Where was that plaza?

“Hey Ghost, you alright?”

I turned my head at the familiar voice and slowly picked myself up. I turned my back to the sky and the stream to see Char’ leaning against a tree and Pick holding a clump of soaking moss to his cheek.

Pick was looking wearily between me and his hands, while Charise had removed her helmet and had a worried look in her eyes as she glanced back and forth between me and Alex.

I looked once again at my hand and slowly clenched it, then relaxed it. It relaxed to a semi-curled position.

What the hell is going on?

I looked up at them and opened my mouth to speak but Char interrupted me first.

“You’re gonna ask what happened right?”

I nodded.

She sighed, pushed herself away from the tree, and walked over to me before handing me my helmet.

“Here I sent the video file to your suit.”

I stared at the faceplate of the helmet and I could see my reflection in the black visor staring right back at me with a question in its eyes…why?

Why…what?

I turned over the helmet, slipped it on and watched as the video was displayed in the top left of my HUD.

Initiating Playback…

I watched as the video went from black to grey then to color as Charise walked by the stream in the direction of our small camp…returning from somewhere. I started to ask where she was when I heard the thuds and yells. I could only stare as she started running before coming up to a scene that I myself probably wouldn’t have believed had I only been told about it.

I could see myself looming over a cowering Alex who was trying his best to cover himself from my murderous strikes. I watched stunned as Char’ sprinted forward and tackled me to the ground. We rolled for a bit before we stopped and she had her knee on my chest pinning me to the ground. Now I was shocked, because instead of a murderous intent in my eyes, I had only a blank stare and had stopped resisting.

CRACK!

I could almost feel the impact as a tree branch cracked against her back. She leaped off me and turned only to find Alex with his fists raised, the same blank stare in his eyes.

“What the hell is going on?”

Alex lunged at her only to get flipped and slammed into the ground. Then Char’ pulled her helmet off and I could hear yelling in the background before the recording stopped.

I slowly unclipped my helmet and closed the recording before taking it off. I looked at both of them as I sat down and leaned against a tree. I rested my helmet against the ground next to me and held up two fingers.

“Ok then…two things…”

“Yeah,” agreed Alex.

I nodded and put down one finger.

“First off, what happened after you removed your helmet?”

Charise sighed and pointed at Alex.

“I subdued him and slapped him around a few times before he came around.”

I raised an eyebrow.

“Just like that?”

“Just like that,” she nodded.

“Yep,” continued Alex, “One sec’nd I was under the water, the next I thought she was rescuin’ me from drownin’.” He glanced slyly at her, “If ya were rescuin’ me, then what would ya have done had I not woken up?”

She just smiled and waved her left hand.

“You want me to mess up the other side of your face,” she growled.

“Nah, nah…I’m good.”

I took a closer look at his face behind the moss, and I could see the beginnings of a large bruise, but it wasn’t bad enough to warrant one of the medi-gel packs in our Aid-Kits.

“So what happened to me?”

She just glanced at me and pointed to the spot where I had been laying.

“You didn’t move from where I had tackled you. You just stayed there to the point where I thought you were dead, but your suit told me otherwise.”

“How long was I out?”

“About 5 minutes give or take a few seconds.”

Hmmm…

Ok I can accept the spacing out because of a memory, but attacking Alex? An’ the blank stares too…what could have caused that?

“Any idea what could have made you guys do that Ghost?”

“No clue…actually there might have something, but I didn’t even get near it.”

“What are you talking about?”

Alex stood up and removed the moss from his cheek. Already I could see the nasty bruise, but it wasn’t anything that would hamper his combat ability.

“Well, when we dropped in and you guys were still unconscious I stumbled into a clearing and watched as this dog-like thing walked into a patch of blue flowers and started frothing at the mouth and having spasms. I had the suit scan the flower and it rated as Level-5 Toxic.”

Alex let out a low whistle and Char’ shook her head.

“If it rated as an L5,” she started, “then it should’ve killed you two.”

“Maybe,” I sighed and scratched the back of my head, “maybe just got a miniscule dose through our suits’ scrubbers?”

I could tell that this wasn’t the reason for our incident. Unless that flower was an aggressor, paralytic, and an anesthetic all at the same time, then it wasn’t the cause. But for now it was a decent excuse. I pulled my canteen off of my waist and took a short sip before finally noticing that there were still only three of us.

“Hey Char’, did you radio Dan while we were out?”

She tilted her head, “No, you guys recovered pretty quickly, and the last time I talked with him he said that he spotted a possible sign of civilization and was going to investigate.”

“Well we might as well at least let him kno…”

“Hey guys!”

Well speak of the devil.

We yanked on our helmets and opened the channels before picking up our duffels and weapons.

“What’s up Dan,” I replied, hefting my duffel over my shoulder, “got anything on that civilization of yours?”

“Plenty my friends, plenty,” he gasped, “Anyway you’re not going to believe this.”

I could hear his accelerated breathing and assumed that either he had running for a bit, or had just some major breakthrough in the field of ‘Field Stew.’ I was sincerely hoping that it was the first.

“Give me the short and blunt version please.”

“Never mind the short and blunt, I’ve three for ya’ which do you want? The Good, The Bad, or The Weird?”

I looked between the two now faceless figures before me. Charise just shrugged and Alex held up his fingers in the numerical order of 1,3,2. I nodded, getting his meaning.

“Let’s have the good, then weird, and leave the bad for last.”

He started to speak, but I interrupted him as one of his previous rants popped into my head.

“If any of it is complicated enough to warrant you wanting to catalogue it, then leave it for when you get here.”

“Ok, but we don’t have time to sit and chat, can you guys pack up and meet me halfway?”

Dan didn’t want to have an extended sit-down with healthy helpings of Mystery Stew? This was certainly a new one, but the implications were enough for us to move out in quick order.

“Ok Dan speak to me.”

“Ok you guys wanted the good first? Then here it is. We won’t have any trouble with translating the local languages, they seem to speak and write English pretty well.”

“Got i…write it?”

“Yeah um…I may have borrowed a few books for research.”

Dammit Dan!

“Ok then…next.”

I heard him take a deep breath and mumble something before he continued.

“The Weird…you know those video animations from the 21st century and before that Alex likes?”

I stopped dead in my tracks, Char’ slowed to stop and turned to look at me, while Alex tripped and slammed straight into a tree.

I could see a slight shake in Charise’s shoulders as Alex picked himself up. I just know that she’s going to…

“Which video animations exactly,” she asked with the same tone of voice that she used in the exercise room back in the ‘Night. I took this chance to quickly back away and clear a path between the two of them.

“You will tell her nothing!”

I was slightly surprised at the word choice, but then I realized what he trying to do. If it worked, he could keep it a secret ‘till a later time…if it didn’t work…I couldn’t help but smile.

“Anime right?”

“Goddammit Ghost!!”

This was the perfect opportunity to start a…

“What’s anime?”

Damn... I’m gonna pay for that attempt later.

“Please continue Dan,” I sighed, an opportunity wasted, I could almost see the evil grin that Alex probably had pasted to his face as we began to move again.

“Yeah well, I think the most appropriate one to describe our situation would be that one about the wolf girl and the traveling salesman.”

Thump…

Once again we stopped, or rather I stopped, Char’ decelerated, and Alex’s face met another tree.

“You’re joking right?”

“Not at all Ghost, you’ve got my word on that. I swear I’ve seen it with my own two eyes.”

I wasn’t about to believe it outright just yet, maybe it was some sort of celebration where they dressed up like animals.

“You didn’t happen to get a …”

“No, no I didn’t.”

“Then why…”

“I was too engrossed in the large selection of literature?”

“…”

“Yep, that sounds like you.”

We had reached a small clearing and Dan was only a few dozen seconds away so we took the opportunity to stop a bit, and prepare our gear.

I could tell that Alex was trying not to jump with excitement.

“Do you want the bad now?”

I looked to my right as Dan burst out of the tree line, and quickly replaced the magazines in all my weapons.

“Go ahead…”

Dan stopped right in front of us and took off his helmet. There was a certain seriousness in his eyes that I had only seen when he needed to hack into an encrypted system in a very short amount of time.

“The ‘Van have already made contact with the small city.”

To say that we were surprised was an overstatement. If they were operating in this area, then of course they would have made contact, usually for sport or food. The citizens being both of course.

This time it was Alex that took charge of the situation. He had also removed his helmet and he had a certain gleam in his eye.

“How long ago, and how bad?”

Dan shook his head and replied with something that almost made me drop the SPAPDS round I was loading into the under-barrel of my TAR.

“There have been no casualties, it almost seems that they took care to injure only.”

I had to blink several times, check that nothing was in my ear, and run a suit audio check before I believed what I had just heard.

The Van only injured? That’s a first.

“Why?”

“They wanted to send a message to get a person of power to speak with them for a trade.”

I raised an eyebrow, “A trade? What kind exactly?”

“Ghost…they’ve got hostages.”

……

Well this certainly just got more complicated.

A/N:
I was planning on putting the contact and fight scenes in this chapter but decided to leave it at a cliffhanger.
The whole chapter was revamped! Apologies for the lateness.