Location- Iron Falcon
Destination- Victoria Island
Objective- Test out the new Maple Battle Armor

Cipher held onto the interior of the assault pod as the Iron Falcon tumbled. He wore the new battle armor that was painted black with streaks of orange. The suit felt pretty ‘strange’ to wear. It had impact cushions that will repel hits and/or weaken them. He felt a slight lump in his throat, but he forced it away. He knew what he had to do. His COM clicked on.

“So Staff Sergeant how is the armor doing?” Santiago asked.
“Not bad,” he replied. “I just cant get use to the strange armor, what with the impact cushions, slight bulkiness, inhanced physical strength, the air filters, and all other things built in.”
“Well just try not to damage it too much. Making that type of tech costs money you know,” Santiago told him. “Also we’re close to Victoria Isle. We won’t be able to land close to the ground to drop you off, so we’ll have to use those assault pods. Just activate the impact cushions to cushion the- well impact.”

Cipher tried to relax. He took a deep breath and tried to focus. This would be an easy mission, just go in there, kill a couple of Evil Eyes and Curse Eyes, search for a source of pollution on the island, and find a way off the island. Cipher felt the pod shake.

“Good luck,” Santiago told him.

The pod was released, he felt the strange, and crashed into the ground. Luckily the impact cushions were activated or he’d be a pile of gore and blood. He pushed open the pod door and found the pod crushed into a cluster of rocks. He opened the weapons locker and in it was a BR55 battle rifle and a M7 caseless sub machine gun. He quickly slung the battle rifle and placed the SMG into the holster on his hip. He also scavaged all the ammo in the weapons locker as well as the ones in the other side of the pod.

He heard a rustle in the bush near him and he unslung his battle rifle. Cipher clicked the safety off and pointed the gun at the bush. Some yellow thing jumped out and Cipher pulled the trigger. The 3 round burst tore through the Evil Eye’s eye ball. It let out a cry and then landed crumpled up on the ground. Cipher checked his armor status, not bad. For now anyways. He slung the rifle and examined the remains of the monster. He raised it to his face and took a slight sniff. Cipher almost gagged. He tossed the body into a bush and got up. He climbed back up to the assault pod again and searched around the 2nd slot. In his luck he found another SMG and a couple of silencers. He had to work quick.

The armor allowed him to move faster then before, which helped him modify the SMG’s to be able to use silencers. He slid the silencers onto the SMGs when he heard another rustle in the bushes. Not taking a chance, he jumped into the forest just west from his current location. He quickly rushed through the trees, keeping a sharp eye on his motion tracker. This was something Cipher never experienced before. The speed, the power, and the sudden keen motions, he wondered if his body can stabalize the power of the battle armor. He saw about a dozen hostiles on his motion tracker. He unslung his battle rifle.

He was about to find out.

Snow drifted from the sky and landed on a barrain wasteland known as ‘The Sea of El Nath.’ There was a big fort standing somewhere in the plain. The fort was known as Fort El Queenath many years ago, before people lost knowledge of the area and let it became abandoned. Hundreds of Red Golems, thousands of Super Fire Raccoons, and ten thousands of Taurogunners. Not to mention a possibility of other mutated monsters. But on the main guard of the gate to the fort were about 50 Taurogunners and 100 snails. But these snails were like no other. They may even be stronger then the Super Coke Snail itself.

The patrols were long, even though there was only a slight possibility that the enemy would destroy them. But they still did their jobs. Out in the barrain snow terrain. Then there was a order on the COM.

“Black Raven. Get onto it. Now. Target on Victoria Island. Kill. We must. Victory.”

A certain amount of Taurogunners and the new snails climbed onto the newly designed Black Raven and it started to hover up. A portal appeared in front of it and it disappeared into the warp space. The remaining troops just continued walking.

Cipher felt something grab his head and he saw hands on his HUD. He grabbed the Curse Eye and tossed it onto the ground. He fired his battle rifle a couple of times until it died. Cipher felt sweat on his head. He reached up to remove the helmet when he remembered that the island was polluted and removing his helmet would allow him to die. Instead he activated the suits cooling mechanisms. He checked the ammo counter on his rifle: 9. He removed the clip and slapped a fresh one in place. He sneaked around the forest and found what he was hoping to meet.

Cipher ran up to the assault pod and pulled the door off it. He opened the weapons locker and found a M90 shotgun as well as some extra clippings for his BR55. He dropped the SMGs and the ammo clips and hid them in a hole behind a rock and bush. He slung the shotgun and picked up the shells and clips. He looked up and saw a Black Raven. He checked his motion tracker. A hostile. Cipher knew that it was too soon to bring the armor into real combat, so he had to move- and quick.

After jogging a few miles he decided to stop and rest. He breathed heavily and checked the pollution levels in the area. The air was clean. He pulled off his helmet and sat down breathing hard. He removed a gauntlet and checked the cut he gained during the battle with the Eyes. He saw a snail crawl his way. It was strange because all snails shouldve been dead. He picked up a rock and tossed it at the snail- which turned into a liquid to dodge the attack and suddenly jumped onto his hand.

Cipher felt a sharp pain in his hand as he noticed the snail entering the body. He tried to pull it off but the snail entered his body. He felt it crawl into his torso and felt it. . . grow! Thinking quickly he grabbed his gauntlet and helmet, slipped them both on, and activated the body heater. He felt the sharp pain in his chest as the snail died and vaporize. He turned off the heating.

“Never again,” he gasped out, trying to ignore the heat still on his body. He picked up his battle rifle and continued running. He jumped down a pit and found a cave. “Ant Tunnel.”

He ran into the tunnel and hiked down the path. Half way through he heard gunfire echoing through the cave. The enemies probobly are fighting against the Eyes. Great, it’ll buy him some time. Cipher continued running down the cavern, trying to avoid grabbing onto any old rope. He jumped onto a platform and it collapsed.

“Crap!” Cipher shouted out, trying to grab anything. He landed on his belly on the ground. He shaked his head nad clicked on the built in light on his helmet. He looked up and saw that he fell a long way. He blinked and saw about a 5 dozen contacts on his motion tracker. Quickly he unslung his M90 and aimed it at the nearest Evil Eye. He squeezed the trigger firing a shell into the monster. He turned and fired another shell.

He jumped to dodge a Curse Eye and loaded a shell into its eye ball. Only 2 shells loaded in the gun left. He quickly pumped in 3 shells. He fired another shell into a Curse Eye. Too much enemies for a shotgun to handle. Right now, he wished he had the 2 SMGs with him. He crushed an Evil Eye’s skull with the butt of the shotgun. Cipher then jumped onto an Evil Eye and jumped upwards. He grabbed the wall of the cave and started climbing. He looked down and saw the Evil and Curse Eyes trying to jump up at him.

He got out of the hole and got a rapid array of bullets hitting his back. Cipher took a quick roll and hid behind a rock. He peeked over the rock and saw a bunch of Taurogunners and those ‘Liquid Snails.’ He checked his armors status quickly. A window popped up on his HUD displaying that there wasnt any cracks on the armor. He got rid of the window and unslung his battle rifle. He checked the bullet counter: 36. Cipher wished he had some grenades right now, but all he can do is run.

Cipher jumped out of his hding spot and ran forward, trying to avoid the bullets. The armor was tough, but it didnt have any extra defenses. He turned around but continued to run backwards and started to fire. The 3 round bursts caught killed the snails in a hit but he had to fire the snails again to kill them in their liquid form. Then a knife caught him in his shoulder. The armor held but there was a cut he felt in his skin. The Liquid Snails could find a seal in his armor and get inside that way. For once in Maple Story, a snail could actually kill someone.

He turned around and ran for it. After running to Ant Tunnel Park he stopped to take a breather. He slapped a fresh clip of ammo into his rifle and took a look around. The area was quiet, not even a Zombie Mushroom roamed the area. The pollution even killed the ones who were undead. He took one step when he heard gunfire. Cipher aimed the rifle behind him, when he figured that it was just the monsters fighting each other- and the Taurogunners were winning.

Cipher jumped down the pit and found an assault pod. He looked up.

“Must’ve made that hole up there,” he whispered.

He pulled the doors off the pod and found an MA5C, some clips of ammo for the assault rifle, some shells, a couple of det packs, some fragmentation grenades, and the assault rifle had a silencer attached to it. He placed the BR55 in the one of the weapons locker, hid some det packs in the area, and hid on top of a boulder in darkness. He waited for the monsters to walk over to the pod. He was startled when they actually talked.

“Search. We kill brute,” a Taurogunner said. They did as it said.

He seemed annoyed at the statement. This ‘brute’ was going to kick their butts. He pressed the detonator for all of the det packs and they exploded. There were shouts and cries but most of the Taurogunners and Liquid Snails were dead. Most of them. He pulled out his MA5C and aimed it. He fired the gun and emptied an entire clip into a Taurogunner. He slung the assault rifle and unslung the shotgun. He jumped off the rock and fired the shotgun at a Taurogunner. He turned and saw a Liquid Snail jump at him. He fired the gun and the shell broke the snail to pieces. He threw a frag and it killed off about 4 of the monsters.

Nothing was in sight. And Cipher was then grabbed on the neck by the lead Taurogunner. He couldnt breath as the Taurogunner started to squeeze. Thinking quickly, he pulled a pin out of a frag and threw it on the ground. He activated the impact cushions and the grenade went off. The Taurogunner was dead and Cipher saw that some blood splattered on his face plate- on the inside. He struggled to get up and walked deeper into the tunnel. Then he found what he was looking for, a source of pollution. A smoke plant. He thought that smoke plants were extinct for years, but guess that some survived.

The smoke plant radiates plenty of pollution into the air. He took the plant and placed it carefully into a safety pack. He decided to get the heck out of the tunnel- when he found a scroll. The scroll was old and dusty, but it should teleport him to Ellinia. He activated a scroll and felt the area around him change.

Cipher opened his eyes and saw that he had reappeared in Ellinia. He tried to get up but he was too tired. He continued to force himself up. He looked around and Ellinia has turned into a dead forest. He was amazed that the trees could still hold him up. He noticed something at the station. One of the airships stood there. He examined the ship and found it was still useable. He tried to activate it but the power source was dead. He cursed.

He continued trying for a few minutes when the ship finally made a sound and took off. After a few miles the ship whined.
“Oh no,” Cipher whispered. “Dont break on me now!”
The ship lower in altitude. He then saw a Black Raven fly near the ship. The COM buzzed on.

“Staff Sergeant Alpha! Jump!” the pilot of the Black Raven told him. Cipher didnt waste a second. He ran and pushed off the ship. He managed to grab the ledge of the aft of the Black Raven. First Sergeant Lee pulled him up.
“You ok Alpha?” he asked. Cipher shooked his head.
“Been better, sir,” Cipher replied. He handed him the pack. “A smoke plant. Caused the pollution around Victoria.”

Cipher sat on a seat, pulled off his helmet, and dozed off.

A few weeks later. . .

The Maple Battle Armor became usable for combat after Santiago made some adjustments. First of all, it used magnetic energy to create a small barrier or shield to avoid hits. Another adjustment allowed the wearer to become stronger then normal. PLenty of other adjustments are classified.

Cipher suited up for his next mission with the battle suit. Kelly, Sanderson, and Sleyin wore the battle suit as well.
“Not bad,” Kelly murmured.
“So whats the mission Chief?” Sleyin asked. During the weeks Cipher did some missions and got himself promoted to Chief Warrant Officer. Kelly got promoted to Sergeant, Sanderson to First Sergeant, and Sleyin a Sergeant First Class.

“We’re going into space and fight off Mateons and Grays in their next assault,” Cipher explained, “our platoon will be lead by Captain Santiago. We’ll also have have Sergeant Major Lee leading another platoon. Since we’re the only few soldiers wearing the Maple Battle Armor, Kelly and I will assault a battle cruiser on the outside, Sleyin and Sanderson will attack the interior with Santiago. Now ready? Lets move!”

They all climbed into Major Shackles’ battle cruiser. Cipher armed himself with an MA5C assault rifle and a SMG, Kelly armed herself with her Kage and a new Humming Bird Cannon, Sanderson armed himself with his Lions Fang and a BR55, and Sleyin armed himself with his A 10. calibre shotgun and a peacemaker revolver.

After this battle finishes, Alpha Squad will lose another member.

To be continued. . .

Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
A Long Jump
The Battles Won
El Nath
The Breakout

~Fiery Spirit