Cybernetic Magic

Time: 0100 hrs

Location: Lower Alps

Squad: Ninja, Hawk, Star

"Let them pass..." I told my squad of three through my DNI (or Direct Neural Interface). Everything was going to plan as we made our way towards the hostages, about a dozen total. It's been about five months since the lost of John Taylor and his team. Though the deaths led to a reinforcement of the DNI to prevent further attacks like what ended Taylor and his team. The end result? Near invincible cyber soldiers with access to a range of Cyber Abilities. As we waited for the patrol to pass, I did a quick check of my custom made KN-44 assault rifle, which sported a reflex, a silencer, and an extended magazine. I also did a quick munitions count, which ended showing that I had almost a thousand rounds (to anyone else, it's overkill, but to me, it's just right). After a tense minute, they finally passed, allowing me and my team to continue towards our destination. What seemed like an eternity later, and a few extra patrols just to slow us down even more, we finally made it to the prison section of the facility. When we came to the holding cell, however, we were greeted with a wooden door.

'Seriously?' I thought, 'A wooden door?' Getting in front of the door while my team moved to the sides, I started to count them down.

"Three. Two. One." With that, I kicked open the door before doing a quick scan for hostiles. When I found none, I said "Clear" and lowered my Firearm.

"W-who are you?" one of the hostages asked.

"We're here to get you out," I replied, then I followed up through my DNI with, "Hawk, Star, get them freed."

"Yes Sir!" While they did that, I guarded the door to make sure we weren't discovered.

Sadly, that was the case.

"Wat maak jy hier?" A voice said.

"Hostiles," I whispered through my DNI, "Wait for them to come to us." A few tense second later, I yelled "Now!"

A minute later, the three guards were down. However, the alarms started to go off.

'Damn it,' I thought bitterly, "Men, we're going to have company! Lethal force authorized." Turning to Hawk, I said, "Hawk, I need you and Star to get the hostages to safety while I hold them back, any questions?"

He looked like he wanted to protest, but he sighed instead and said "No sir..." After they left, I switched over to my Firefly ability. A few tense minutes later, the first NRC footsoldier came into view, seconds later, the rest started to scatter for cover as the first one was taken down. Even though I was vastly outnumbered and the odds were against me, I managed to hold them off. I shot one down, stabbed another, and disoriented three more. Things were going great, until I noticed a RPG rocket heading towards me. Having no time to get out of the way, I braced for the explosion and the sensation of death.

It never came.

Instead, I was greeted with the sensation of falling. With no end in sight, I just decided to just get some sleep.

Time: 1200 hrs.

Location: Unknown

Squad: James "Ninja" Johnson

"Damn, that landing hurts much more that it should have." I muttered to myself as I did a quick check of my equipment. The First thing I noticed was the fact that my KN-44 Assault Rifle had a heat sink on it, which shouldn't be the case. I also noticed that the extended mag and silencer were missing. After the initial confusion passed, I then noticed that I had a multi-core. In the core were two cores, Martial and Chaos. What confused me was the fact that I only had a Chaos core installed during the mission. I then did a complete systems check, starting with my H.U.D., followed by the built in thrusters. when everything checked out, I decided to finally call for backup.

"This is WA Cyber Soldier 'Ninja', please respond." All I got was radio static. I decided to repeat that action with no success. Switching over to my team's private channel, I said, "Hawk, Star, this is Ninja, give me a Sit Rep." I was once again greeted by radio silence. Before I could repeat the action, I heard a scream coming from my right. It sounded like a child. Fearing the worst, I started to sprint towards the sound, activating my new 'Overdrive' ability to increase my speed. I really hope that I wasn't too late.

Time: 1230 hrs.

Location: Everfree Forest

Squad: CMC

As we were heading for Zecora's to try for our potion making cutie marks, we were just talking about....things. However, that was cut short as we were ambushed by a manticore. We tried to run only to get cornered by two more. We were trapped! Sweetie ended up screaming. As we braced for death, three loud BANGs rang out through the forest, followed by three thumps.

Time: 1229 hrs.

Location: Unknown

Squad: Ninja

As I ran towards the sound, I was greeted by the sight of three lion/scorpion hybrid, manticores, I think, surrounding three fillies.

'That has to be the origin of the sound,' I thought, not registering the fact that horses, wait, ponies, can't talk. Turning on Tactical mode, I set the fillies to "Civilian" and the manticores to "Hostile." Aiming, I shot my firearm the the manticores, taking them all out with three shots. After they hit the ground, I noticed the fillies looking around in confusion. Against my better judgement, I started to move towards the fillies.

When I was in range, I said, "Are you three ok?" causing the three of them to jump before looking at me. Sadly, before they could respond another manticore came into view. Aiming my KN at it, I shot three bullets into it's body and one into the head. That was followed by me moving closer and putting one more shot into it's head for good measure. Certain there weren't anymore in the area, I turned off tactical mode and turned back towards the fillies, only to see that they were gone.

'Guess I scared them off. Oh well, at least they're safe.' I thought to myself before leaving to find somewhere to set up camp, using my knife to cut off chunks of meat off the manticores so I had something to eat.