//------------------------------// // Project Hellstorm // Story: Life to Death Heaven to Hell Harmony to Disharmony. // by EZthebeast //------------------------------// Project Hellstorm A hired guard was leaning against one of the many exits of the building smoking a cigarette not paying attention to his surroundings. It was night he wasn’t wearing a gas mask like he should but he never listens. The guard was wearing a worn out tan tee shirt and jeans. He stepped away from the door to look at the city. It used to be called Washington D.C. or something stupid the building he was guarding used to be a museum but now it was an office building. He sniffed the nighttime air and nearly gagged. He smelled a dead body nearby but this was not his problem there was always a dead body in Einstein. The mutants or animals that lived in the sewers normally killed them. He failed to notice the shadow without an owner moving closer and closer to him. Then his eyes stopped blinking and his body went limp and fell to the ground not making a sound. The shadow revealed its owner. A figure roughly 6ft wearing black body armor on his right thigh was a holster with a silenced G-W21 pistol. On his left thigh was a small medical kit with needles, anti-poisons, and other medical supplies. Around his waist was a black belt with several different grenades and magazines for his weapons. His chest was covered with throwing knife holsters and pockets filled with ammo, under that was a bulletproof vest. His right arm was fully armored leaving no skin exposed like the rest of his body but there was a patch outlined in blue on his shoulder that read N.U.S.F. or New Union Special Forces. His hand unlike his armor wasn’t black it was custom painted to look like a human skeleton hand and was holding a bloody combat knife which just took another life. His left arm was just like his right but on the shoulder was a drawn picture of a headstone with DEATH written on it and in front of it was a zombie hand rising out of the ground showing the world its middle finger. Also on his wrist was a WMC (wrist mounted computer). Around his neck two objects hung one a necklace with teeth of several different species (human included) and the other scratched dog tags saying. Smith Ezra A. 125-23-3790 N.U.S.F. Sgt. Maj. Lastly his head, it was all hidden by a full head gas mask with two one-way eye lenses. He then wiped the blood off the knife by flicking it. Then he leaned against the door. “Report.” He said through the mic in his mask. He waited a few seconds then heard the rest of his squad checking in. “Gavin here at west entrance with Sal we’re clear over.” “Mina here on the roof I’m clear over.” “Aidan at south entrance I’m clear over.” “Ezra hear at north entrance remember this is a stealth op so keep your kills clean and following the plan get in get out over.” “Sir question.” Said Gavin. “If your asking about a bathroom break the answer is hold it in.” Said Ezra. Gavin chuckled. “No it’s why we’re here.” “Ok team listen up I’m only going to say this once a Stephanie Dixen is blackmailing and exploiting governments across the globe including the New Union. So our job is to go in download the files from the computers and place a virus to monitor them and get out. Lethal force is allowed but keep it quiet and hide the bodies. Let’s go.” Ezra and his team each as a special role and skill and that is why they were there. Cpl. Sal the teams’ tech specialist can take apart a computer and rebuild it front of their eyes doesn’t talk much but when he does there’s some tech around. Pvt. Aidan, Ezra wouldn’t admit it but he was scared of him. The term-crazed pyro would be an understatement he enjoys to burn his victims to death whether they are mutants or poor souls that came across his bad side. He was the team’s explosive specialist. Next was Sgt. Mina the new addition to the team to replace a member that was killed during the last mission, eaten live by mutants to be precise she was a flirter who would flirt with anyone. He didn’t understand or women in general and doubted he ever will. Last was Cpl. Gavin the team’s marksman. There was only one way to describe him. A sex addicted womanizing asshole and his best friend. They knew each other back from boot camp. Ezra joined the N.U. army when he was nine while Gavin when he was twelve. Ezra then activated the microscopic cameras all over his armor. Each camera told the one on the opposite side what it saw and used a hologram to disguise it as that giving the appearance of full invisibility. But his shadow still remained to so he had to be careful. He entered the building, immediately saw guards everywhere. “Then where the hell are they!” Shrieked a woman. Ezra then turned to look at her. It was Stephanie Dixen herself. She was fat with blonde hair and wearing nice cloths and an attitude that just made him want to decloak and smack her. “I don’t know, they aren’t answering their radios and haven’t reported in yet.” Said a guard. “Well then send someone to find them. With Project Hellstorm approaching we can’t have any problems. Do I make myself clear!?” “Crystal.” Replied the guard. “Then what the fuck are you still here for get moving!” She yelled. Ezra heard enough he slowly moved away while staying in the shadows. “Project Hellstorm what’s that? Dixen is only blackmailing and exploiting…right?” He made sure there was no guards around then he contacted his team. “Ezra here I just overheard a conversation something about a Project Hellstorm, break. I want you guys to search around for it Sal head to the basement and search for any info about it. Gavin, Mina take over Sal’s role and plant the virus in the server room. Aidan there is a lot of guards and I want this to remain a stealth op set a small fire on the second floor to distract them. I will download the data from the computers. I want radio silence unless needed over.” “Yes Sir.” They said in unison. Ezra then slowly walked towards the first computer room on the ground floor there were two guards both with AUG-78 assault rifles with Red Dot Sights. He looked at his back a silenced M516B assault rifle with an under-mounted shotgun and morph sights was strapped on it. He knew the second he reached for his gun he would decloak. He then looked around the room the setup told him it used to be an exhibit, the room was about the 20 by 25. The computers were in the center of the room next to the guards and there were five overhead lights in the room with the light switch next to him. Ezra reached over and turned off the lights, which caused his hand to decloak slightly. The guards were alert the second the lights went off knowing this he turned them back on. The guards seemed to relax not noticing his decloaked hand. Then he flicked off the lights again then turned them on again and again for about three minutes he stopped when he heard the guard on the right say to the other. “Don’t worry Bill I heard that this might happen today on account of how much power Project Hellstorm takes up.” Ezra’s ears went into full alert when he said this. He then turned off the lights and pressed a button on his gas mask putting on thermal. The room was fully dark with no light coming in but he could they their thermal outlines glowing red will everything else was a light blue, he decloaked and unstrapped his M516B and switched the sight from 5x to 2x. He then held his breath and shot twice at the guards’ head. The bodies fell barely making a sound, Ezra then walked over to the computers. He took out the flashdrive from one of his many chest pockets, he then inserted the drive into one of the UBS slots. The screen went to life a box popped up saying downloading data 1%. He knew this would take some time so he contacted Sal. “Report.” He spoke into the mic. “Sir there’s a lot of guards down here, wait a minute patrol… Ok I’m clear. There’s something down hear and not a lot of places to hide over.” He sounded panicked. “Hold your position I will be there soon there’s only one more computer room.” “Roger that, Sal over and out.” There was a click on the line and Ezra went to the computer the pop up said “100% ready to pull”. He then pulled the flashdrive out of the USB cord and looked at his WMC. It read mission time 1:23. We’re behind schedule he thought, they needed to get to the second computer room and search for any info about Project Hellstorm. He then reactivated his cloak and walked out of the room. He then slowly walked towards the next room. Guards were standing outside and patrolling the corridor. Must be the right place but how to get in. He thought to himself, and then if on cue there was a small fire based explosion that came from the second floor and a guard dropped that was still on fire. “HELP ME!” he screamed the guards stopped what they were doing and panicked for a second. I said set a small fire not set the floor ablaze. He thought. Then one got a fire extinguisher and tried to put the guard out. Suddenly the door opened and more guards came flowing flew, Ezra entered the room while the door was still open. The room was a small office with several desks while tons of documents and paperwork on top. At the end of the room was a computer one of those new holo-tops where the screen was less thick then a nail and seemed to float above the keyboard. Jackpot he thought. He then looked around the room again making sure he wasn’t missing anything. He inserted the flashdrive into the keyboard and waited for the download. To his surprise it downloaded in less then a second. Whoa 200 Gigabytes in a second where did they get this advanced tech. Only command has this, but them, this isn’t right. He thought. “Sal I got something up here for you.” He said. “…” “Sal are you there? What did you find? Over.” “…” “Ezra here. Mina, Gav Aidan… Sal’s gone dark I want you to check it out. Over.” “Gav here don’t worry Sal’s just sticking his dick into a USB or some shit like that we will check it out Gavin out.” Ezra heard something outside the door, he looked through the lock hole and saw a “shitload” of guards and Dixen shouting at them. “What am I paying you fucking retards for, we caught an New Union soldier in the basement there has to be move around. Aw shit they caught Sal. He thought to himself. He tried to contact the rest of his team but all he got was static. He then looked at his WMC, mission time read 2:23. Fuck! Only 37 minutes until the extraction force leaves. He knew want he had to do. Ezra then saw a bunch of guards in a diamond formation heading towards the basement. He decided to follow them and find what Sal found there. The guards kept a steady pace oblivious to the shadow without an owner following them. Again there was a “Shitload” of guards all with their weapons drawn and eyes focused. The stairs to the basement were wide open and lucky had a broken light above it. He sneaked in and slowly walked down the metal stairs, his boots not making a hint of a sound. He reached the end of the steps and walked though the doorway. Under his gas mask his eyes stared in horror, this wasn’t a normal basement it was anything but. First the structure the whole basement was one room and the room was the size of an airplane hanger it even kind of looked like one and the walls were made of metal. But he didn’t notice that he saw what was in the basement. There was maybe one or two thousand troops all heavily armored and armed, worst they were all in formation with a high ranking soldier in front. Next were the vehicles they were about forty TMW-900 tanks that were customized with .50 Cal turrets and anti-air rocket pods. Next to the tanks was an army of jeeps maybe a hundred some with machine gun turrets some with anti-air. On a raised platform were about thirty DSA-75 SHARK helicopters, these things could go from five to one hundred MPH in two seconds and were equipped with air to ground, air to air and drop bombs. But the vehicles WEREN’T the worst part. There were about fifty V-296Q rockets with a mobile launcher stand. He knew from experience they can be fitted with nuclear warheads or even without the power of a nuke they can add a new landmark to a map. Then lastly there was a weird looking machine that went all the way to the ceiling. It kind of looked like a giant sliver hula-hoop. But inside the ring was sparkling with white electricity, which was visible to the naked eye. He then heard someone struggling in front of the machine, he moved up for a better view. What he saw made his heart stop… His whole team was on their knees hands behind their back and their gas mask’s were removed. Stephanie Dixen was hitting Sal in his face, which was bleeding violently. “I said for the last fuckin’ time where is your CO.” She said not hiding the fact she was pissed off. “Fuck off bitch.” Said Sal with a smirk. He then spitted on her shoe. If looks could kill Sal would be a goner. Dixen then quickly walked over to the guard next to her and took his gun. Then she aimed it as Sal and shot him in the head. His body fell to the floor with blood coming out of the wound. Worst Stephanie was smiling the whole time. Ezra could barely hold back his anger. SHE killed Sal, one of his team. If it weren’t for his training he would decloak and attack her with his knife. But he didn’t have time to morn she moved to Aidan who was making no attempt to hide his fear. She leaned over to him with her gun pointed at his face. “I suppose you aren’t going to talk either.” She said her voice echoing throughout the basement. Aidan showed his brave face and said the bravest and last thing he would ever say. “Hey Dixen, your name sounds like dick.” That got him a thumbs up by Gavin. But then she then slapped his face and shot him in his…umm… special area, which caused him to scream in pain. Then she shot him in his face, once again Ezra wanted to run at her and kill her for killing a teammate. But there was nothing he could do if he decloaked he would. Worst whatever she was doing down here would continue. He calmed him mind and thought. Ok. They were blackmailing and exploiting governments all over the world getting money and tech from them. There is an army in the basement with all kinds of war machines. On top of that there is a giant sliver hula-hoop in the center of the room what could that be? A teleporter? No there’s no such thing…right? He looked at his WMC it read mission time 3:15. Fuck, we’re on our own. He heard another gunshot and saw Mina fall down dead. All that was left… was Gavin his best friend. Dixen walked over to Gavin who was unfazed by his teammates deaths. “I’m only going give you one chance to talk then I will kill you. You have ten seconds all I want to know is where is your CO I know we didn’t catch him yet.” “10” He calmed his mind and came up with a plan. “9” Ezra checked his weapons. “8” He hid behind the giant hula-hoop’s control panel. “7” Gavin blinked nervously. “6” He unstrapped his M516B causing him to decloak. “5” He switched the sight from 2x to 4x. “4” He held his breath and aimed for her head. “3” He was suddenly grabbed from behind. He looked at his captor he was a bit taller then him. He had a gas mask on and wore a bulletproof vest and clothing with urban camouflage and had a shotgun strapped to his back. Ezra wasting no time, Reached quickly for his shotgun ripping it off from its straps. The man tried to stop him but got an elbow right in his gas mask, shattering the lenses. He then took the shotgun and shot the man in his face. Blood splattered against his pure black armor but he didn’t pay any attention to that, he then picked up the shotgun and went back to his M516B. The good news Gavin wasn’t dead, the bad about everyone in the whole basement heard the shotgun fire. When he leaned over the control panel of the machine he saw Dixen and about fifty guards looking his way with guns pointed. “I’m guessing you guys heard that?” He said seeing as he was “fucked”. “You New Union bastards have a lot of nerve showing up here. You and your Allies think they can still police the world but your wrong your dead wrong.” Said Dixen. “We will stop you and your plans like we always do because we knew all about your little operation here.” He tried bluffing, which failed immediately. “Oh Really?” She started. “And what do you think is going on down here.” She called his bluff. He looked at Gavin who shrugged. “You are doing something with that giant hula-hoop in the center of the room, and it involves all these soldiers and those vehicles and rockets.” She started laughing. “Giant hula-hoop do you know how stupid that sounds. But yes all of this has to do with it. In fact that is not a giant children’s toy but a teleporter.” “Impossible!” He said while still hiding behide the control panel. “The New Union doesn’t even have that kind of tech so how did an asshole like you get it?” Said Gavin. Dixen slapped his face. “Don’t you see… this is your doing? Gavin rolled his eyes but it was unnoticed. “How?” Said Ezra still behind the control panel. “Well you see the New Union and its allies made A LOT of enemies over the years. We all met about a year ago and discussed what we did wrong that ended in failure. One of us had an idea to combine our money and resources and work together. The tech you saw here is from that.” “Yeah that explains a lot mainly that you guys don’t know when to quit but what’s with the teleporter?” Said Ezra. “Glad you asked, It’s feels so good to tell my plans and not need to worry about them leaking.” “You forget I could cloak and escape and warn the N.U. all about your little plans.” He interrupted. “No. If you escape there will be nothing to go back to…” This got Ezra and Gavin’s attention. “ You we can’t attack the N.U. HQ directly their thermal would see are troops a mile away and our nukes would be swatted out of the air by its defenses. But what if a nuke were to suddenly appear behind the defenses? A big fucking explosion, and we can attack its allies the same way.” “If that’s so what’s with the tanks?” Said Ezra. “A great question, some of the cities and HQs we don’t want to be a smoking crater so we…” “Just teleport the troops inside and with their sudden appearance victory is granted before we have time to act.” Ezra was too shocked for words this seemed like a plot for a war movie but it was happening right in front of his eyes and he didn’t know how to stop it. Wanting to get on Dixen’s nerves he replied in shock. “I don’t believe it, I don’t fucking believe it…” She smirked and tried to rub it in. “I know seems like a dream but its happening.” He then said. “Gavin you’re right I don’t believe it villains really do monologue.” “See I told you but noo you didn’t believe me.” Ezra leaned over and saw what he was looking for Dixen was pissed. “Enough of THIS!” She screamed and shot Gavin in his chest.” “cough Ezra inhale you g-got to… stop-p this crazy b-b-bitch she c-can’t-t wi-n-n and Ez thank-ks f-for cough everythi…” His eyes went blank and he fell over. Gavin was dead. His best friend was dead. He was alone. Under his Gas Mask a tear formed in his eyes but he blinked. Soldiers don't cry… “They fight!” he screamed. He didn’t care about his safely anymore he stood up and fired his M516B and killing Dixen then taking out several guards. His gun made a click telling he needed to reload. He then took the shotgun and fired a few rounds hitting their marked followed by a small explosion. Frag and slug rounds in one what did we do before. He then ducked behind cover causing the firing to stop. The control panel must be important if they stopped firing I wonder if… He then took out a M-421 frag grenade and a brick of C4 and covered the grenade in it. He looked at a V-296Q and his grenade. I have to stop this no matter the cost . He thought. He pressed the button on the top of the grenade and threw it. It land right next to the nuclear missile. He closed his eyes and waited for it to end. BOOM Ezra opened his eyes and saw only darkness. Am I dead? He tried to move and could feel his skin pressed against his armor. I’M Alive! I’m Alive! Wait then why is there only darkness? He lifted himself up until he was standing but he still saw only darkness. Then came the light… It blinded him but he couldn’t look away so he closed his eyes but he could still see it. I must be dead and this must be some hellish torture method. Then he heard laugher but it didn’t sound evil, or any way he (or me) could describe it. “No you aren’t dead far from it in fact and this isn’t a torture method.” The voice sounded neither male or female and he felt at peace when it spoke. He had so many questions. “Are you God?” He asked. “In my opinion I am not a god but many think as me as one. You can call me by what they call me Harmony.” “Where am I? And why am I here?” “For the first question I cannot give you a simple answer you are everywhere and nowhere between realities if you will. For the next question, there is a world like yours but different it is endanger from a foe as powerful and old as me named Disharmony. It whishes to see all worlds like yours in chaos and disharmony and will do anything to do it. I have selected you from the heroes of all the worlds to be my champion, to stop Disharmony. All will be revealed soon. But when you wake up you will not remember any of this until needed. Follow your instincts and more importantly your heart. Goodbye and may the Light shine on your soul.”