Chapter 48: The Beginning of the End

Date: November 26, 3007
Time: 00:22
Location: Orbis- Dominion HQ

Everything slowed to a snail-like pace. Dark grey smoke clouded the air, obscuring everything from view. A veil was pulled over the world; not even the sun could penetrate this infinite darkness. And then through the shadows, two figures advanced, their weapons raised, fingers twitching at the triggers.

Felix opened fire as he glanced around the room with his night vision goggles. Swinging his S-16 Scarab Assault Rifle around, he quickly picked off the nearest Dominion guards with a few burst of the weapon. Feeling the clip run dry, he quickly ejected it and reached behind onto his belt for another magazine. As he retrieved the rectangular black box, Felix heard another rifle burst to life. Out of the corner of his eyes, he could just depict Caleio’s rifle’s muzzle flashes pierce through the smoke.

The air was filled with chilling screams of dying men. They fired blindly into the room, but managed to hit everything except for the attackers. Before they could reload, Felix had emptied another clip into their bodies, permanently felling them.

Dodging to the side as a stream of bullets whizzed overhead, Felix dropped his rifle and swiftly unsheathed his knife. Flanking to the right, he came up behind the last two guards and proceeded to slice their throats in half. As the two bodies crumpled to the floor, Caleio strode forwards, ejecting an empty clip and inserting a new one. “Let’s go.”

The double doors to the suite were massive, easily twice the size of Felix’s body. He gazed up and down in awe, thinking what a terrible shame it would be when he destroyed the beautiful oaken door complete with intricately carved patterns of Lycanthropes and Pangs.

Looking to Caleio and nodding, Felix strode forwards and loaded a new clip into his rifle. Then, he squeezed the trigger and blasted away the bolts and locks clamping the two doors shut. The wood instantly splintered and cracked as Felix’s heavy combat boot stomped down onto the door. They swung open, revealing the long conference room table. The dark room had an eerie feeling to it. It was too still for Felix’s liking.

“Anni, we’re in. Keep in touch.” Felix ordered into the communicator.

“Roger, Captain, We’ll be tracking.” Annikabelle replied and the communicator clicked silent again.

Felix strode to the head of the room where there was a lone podium. As Caleio guarded the doorway, he shuffled through the papers, sending useless scraps of parchment down onto the ground in a heap of white mess. He was only interested in one thing. And then, finally, his gloved fingers focused around an indention in the wooden podium. Knocking on it with his knuckles, he realized there was a hollow space below the square shaped piece of wood. Felix took out his pistol and gave the wood a sharp blow, effectively cracking it open in two, revealing a single red button. Smiling at his own ingenuity, he stuck his thumb into the button.

A mechanical whirring filled the room. Something shifted behind him and Felix whipped around, just in time to see the wall slide open, revealing a secret room full of computers and other hardware. “Gotcha…”

“Anni,” Felix called out on the communicator, “I’ve found the mainframe. Commencing elimination.”

Without even waiting for her to respond, he aimed his S-16 at the left most computer and squeezed the trigger. The sharp piercing blows of each bullet as they left the muzzle of the rifle echoed sharply off of the walls and ceilings. Once the first bullet reached the first computer screen, Felix felt the tiniest bit of satisfaction as the machine exploded into shards of metal and glass. Laughing triumphantly, he gave the entire room a circular sweep, destroying every working piece of machinery inside. The Dominion’s internal mainframe, where they stored hardcopies of just about everything in their subjects’ lives were being obliterated one bullet at a time.

“Captain, I’m detecting a sizeable force enroute to our position. Are you finished?” Annikabelle’s voice quivered on the communicator.

“Almost, Anni, almost,” he laughed maniacally as he continued to spray the room full of white hot bullets. The weapon suddenly clicked empty; Felix lowered his rifle and unbuckled a frag grenade. “Caleio,” he screamed out, “we’re getting out of here!” And with that, he tossed the grenade into the room and slammed his hand down onto the red button. As the doors clanged shut, Felix heard the muffled explosion of the frag grenade incinerating what was left of the control room.

“Captain, we have to leave now,” Anni’s voice demanded. Felix and Caleio looked at each other for a brief moment, then broke into a sprint.

The two of them ran back into the lobby, stepping over the fallen guards, and dashed down the stairs. As they rounded the corner to get back onto the elevators, Felix heard Caleio slip and fall with a sharp cry. Skidding to a halt, he backtracked and pulled Caleio up to her feet. Blood covered Caleio’s ankle; she had slipped on the cooling pool of blood from the first guards to fall in the night.

“Niel, you ready for us?” Felix barked, panting as he slammed his fist onto the elevator button down.

“Good to go captain,” Niel’s voice replied hastily, though quite out of breath. The muffled sound of wind blowing into Niel’s microphone blocked out his voice for a second, then died down, “We’ll be waiting for you.”

“Anni?” Felix called into the communicator again.

“We’re ready for extraction, Niel and Rey just reached us. They had a bit trouble breaking through the glass to get in, but we’re fine now. We got your gear,” she replied.

The elevator doors slid open and Felix stepped inside. Caleio followed and the door closed, the elevator waiting for his orders. “Alright Cal, remember,” he whispered to Caleio, “When we do this, we only have a few seconds. A bit more and we’re screwed, you got that?”

Caleio looked back at him with her midnight blue eyes, “Yessir.”

Felix nodded in approval and opened the ceiling hatch. The two of them crawled out onto the top of the elevator, leaving a metal bag that used to be strapped to Caleio’s back on the floor. “Now.”

Felix made his way to a ledge on the wall of the elevator shaft and pulled out his pistol as Caleio buckled a rope to the wall and grabbed hold of Felix. For a moment, he stood there, just taking in Caleio’s body warmth, for it seemed to soothe him in some odd way. And then, he pointed his gun up at the elevator cables and pulled the trigger.

The black metal cable snapped instantaneously, lashing up as it released the elevator. It accelerated down, gathering speed as it neared the bottom. Immediately, he jumped off the ledge and rappelled down one floor with Caleio. The doors were already open and the two of them swung in, rolling to a stop right at Annikabelle and Zanna’s feet.

“About time! Come on, we gotta get the hell out of here. They are already here!” Zanna had two packs in her hands and offered them to Felix. He quickly strapped the backpack on and made sure Caleio was secure in hers. Straightening up, he faced his platoon, “Let’s do this.”

He sprinted towards the window at full speed, feeling a cold wind blow past his face. Then, he closed his eyes and gave a leap of faith. His body collided with the wall of glass which exploded instantly upon impact. Then, he felt the cold wintry air hit him full on, chilling him to the bones, freezing his lungs as he took in a gulp of fresh air. Hearing multiple other blasts of glass shattering, Felix finally felt himself start freefalling from the 100th floor of the Dominion’s headquarters.

“Aim to the east!” Felix shouted out and he pulled the ripcord to the parachute. The white cloth instantly revealed itself from the small pack on his back and he felt a lifting sensation on his groin. Six white circles appeared in the night sky, six parachutes. Below them, an army marched, the Dominion’s army. Looking down, Felix was sure the leader was General Fenris.

But then, as Felix steered his chute to the east of the tower, he noticed another army approaching on the opposite side of the street, one that he was completely unfamiliar with. However, before he could do anything else, a terrific explosion rocked the world below him. Even from his altitude, he could feel the intense heat as the fireball roiled out from all orifices at the bottom of the Dominion’s headquarters, consuming a portion of the Dominion’s army. The force of the bomb knocked his chute off course, and the platoon landed on a building right by the burning tower.

“Sh**!” Felix rolled to a stop and hit his back on a chimney on the building’s rooftop. The rest of the platoon landed forcefully on the roof.

“Goddamit, what now, Captain?” Niel asked with a hint of worry in his voice, “We can’t get caught in between two armies in a war! We’re good, but not that good!”

“No,” Felix replied as he tore off his parachute, “But we can fight nonetheless.”

The platoon stared at Felix in silence. A gust of wind blew past the building, blowing in silence and awkwardness. The cold air settled down, bringing to the rooftop an unmatched uneasiness as the company gawked at Felix.

“Ok that’s it,” Niel broke the silence, “The captain’s gone crazy.”

“Shut up, Private,” Felix shouted over the roaring flames below, “You can either die with me, or die because of me. Now which one will it be?” He raised his pistol up to Niel’s head.

“Hey!” Zanna burst out, “What the hell is going on! Are you really going to shoot him for not wanting to die?” Felix’s finger twitched on the trigger, but he slammed the pistol down to his side, swearing profanely. He whipped around and walked to the edge of the building. Below him, the Dominion were already making their way forwards, past the burned and charred bodies of their fellow comrades towards the unknown army opposing them. A single tear fell from his eyes, and like a raindrop, splattered to the concrete sidewalk straight below him.

Niel was right. Felix had gone crazy. He could feel his nerves and synapses snap and rearrange, turning him into a self-sacrificing monster. This winged mission, not to mention his entire life, everything was so jacked up. He couldn’t believe he was still here, in Orbis, with his what was left of his platoon, still alive and breathing. It should have ended long ago. Anger boiled up inside of Felix’s skull. With a fearsome cry, he slammed his fist down on the concrete wall, making it crack.

Suddenly, something cold touched his forearm, making his hairs stick on end. Slowly looking up, his eyes met Caleio’s, “It’s ok Captain,” Caleio whispered, “You’ve led us this far, and you have not led us astray. We’re wrong to despair.”

Sniffling, he straightened up and wiped his eyes with the back of his hands. Felix turned around and studied his platoon. They all nodded in solemn agreement with Caleio. Felix smiled, feeling his brain repair itself from the mental breakdown.

“Alright,” he barked, regaining his intimidating composure, “Tonight is the night. If we have to give the Dominion our lives, WE GIVE THEM HELL BEFORE WE DO!” His voice rang infinitely into the cloudy heavens above, which began crackling with the potency of hell. It was the beginning of the end.