Metro - Lavender Exile

by Wreck

P - 6 - "If it's Hostile, you Kill it."

-Section 5 Entrance-

"Weapons?" Captain asked. The group of 5 SCF (Special Contamination Force) Soldier's now prepared for their mission. In distance could be heard the noise of engineers trying to make a makeshift airlock that would allow them to return once their mission is over.

"Loaded, cleaned, and ready." Notified griffon Corporal. The group had 2 Earth ponies, a griffon, a changeling, and a unicorn.

"Kits?" Captain asked the griffon corporal.

"Well we have two medic kits, one engineer, one SAK (Spell Amplifier Kit), and one that scientist wanted us to take the samples with it." Corporal responded to changeling Captain.

"Let me guess. I'm taking the lab-instruments?" Captain sighed.

"Sorry cap. But we already took our kits. Not my fault you were stuck on the other side of Stalliongrad." Unicorn Sergeant shouted as he walked towards the pair.

"Hey, Sarge! Have you seen them new whatever-they-call-it mask?" Private earth pony asked.

"Yeah, I saw those alright." Sergeant responded.

"Apparently there already was a call to start producing them on mass. Any guess why?" Senior Private earth pony asked.

"Whatever spooked those geeks it's big. Right, come we still have time befor-" Captain was cut off by a loud shout from one of the engineers.

"OI! YE SCF COME HERE. WE'RE ABOUT TO FINISH YER AIRLOCK." Griffonia engineer shouted at the SCF troopers.

"No rest for the wicked ones, eh." Sergeant asked.

"Business as usual." Captain responded. As they entered the airlock which was made to make sure none of the dangerous elements exited the area. A voice boomed on their short-range radios.

"Alright SCF 34th "Rock" squad. You already know your objective so let me remind you. You are to examine the place of the initial event that caused the explosion and gather any readings you can get your gloves on. The secondary is finding survivors and trying to get them to safety. Remember, you are allowed to engage any beings that are aggressive. That includes any personnel that was there." One of the controllers of the bunker was in charge of this op.

"If you need to contact me, callsign caretaker. The gates have a smaller door that you will use to enter. We can't get anything from the other side so expect no energy on the other side. Report anything strange or suspicious. Understood?" The "Caretaker" asked.

"R-1 Copy."
"R-2 Copy."
"R-3 Copy."
"R-4 Roger."
"R-5 Copy."

The group responded on the radio.

"God darn it private. It's 'Copy' not some 'Roger'." Sarge commented on Private's antics.

"Sarge ignore it. Full situational awareness once we get inside." Captain stated.

"Understood Sir!" Team half-shouted as the lock opened on Sections 5 airlock.

As soon as the airlock opened the entire room they stood in was filled with the smell. One of the worst smells they had to deal with ever in their jobs. As they entered the main entrance they saw that the gate was half-blocked by a pile of bodies that looked as if they were there for months. Yet they knew that those bodies couldn't be any here any longer than half of the day.

"Right let's start moving towards the nearest generator center, make sure your flashlight is ready." Captain stated. The group went deeper. At a certain point, the corridor appeared to have missing lights. When the group turned on their flashlights they noticed the lights were not destroyed. This meant that if there isn't any power this early in their mission is going to be problematic.

"Any guess why there isn't any power?" Sergeant asked.

"Probably safety protocol forced the reactor to shut down. *points at door* There. Auxiliary power center should have a generator and enough power to keep the lights on for few hours at best." Corporal responded.

"And at worst?" Private asked.

"Few minutes." Corporal answered as he pried open the doors with a crowbar/hammer tool.

Inside they found few generators that were in good condition. There weren't any problems as they turned on the generators and made sure that most of the lights are turned on.

"Well, at least it still works. Private Corporal check the cameras and search for something of interest. Sarge, Senior, you are with me we're going towards the event location." Captain stated. The group split and went their ways. Corporal and Private were inside the room booting up the camera systems.

"Cap, the cameras should be in a moment... There. I can see you. Over." Corporal said on the radio.

"-Copy. Look out for survivors and anything else. Over.-" Captain stated on the radio.

"Uhh... Corporal come here... Quickly. You need to see this." Private shouted as Corporal neared his computer. On the screen, there could be seen a shadow of... something. As soon as the lights flickered the shadow moved out of the way.

"Cap, we aren't alone in this sector. Something just went shadow status on us. Over." Corporal stated on radio.

"-Copy. Safety off guns, but fingers off triggers. Understood? Over.-" Captain said on the radio.

"Copy. Safety off, fingers off triggers. Over." Corporal confirmed.

"-Caretaker, This is Rock. SITREP, first rooms from the entrance are clear but a lot of KIA were found. Power was cold early in the mission but we found Auxiliary. We split half went to the event site, rest watches over us on cameras. Cams found unknown that went shadow status. Advise over.-" Captain said on the radio.

"-Rock this is Caretaker. From what you said the probability of survivors is very low. Unknow is currently marked as unfriendly but not hostile until the unknown takes a hostile action. Be aware that the closer to the event site the higher the probability of your masks failing as they are prototypes. Extreme caution is advised. Confirm? Over.-" Caretaker responded on radio.

"-Confirmed. Rock 1-1 will be the team near the event site, Rock 1-2 is the team on the cams. Over.-" Captain stated.

"Confirmed Rock 1-2. Over." Corporal stated as he kept switching the cameras in search of the unknown.

Empty Corridor.

Empty Corridor.

Empty Lab.

Empty Room.

Empty-

'No wait a second' Corporal thought as he noticed a shadow being cast by... nothing? The shadow was very visible but the point where its shadow and body connect ... there is nothing as if...

"Cap we found the unknown. It's in room 32 in section e. Unknown is anomalous and is invisible. Can be spotted by the shadow it is casting." Corporal stated on radio. Next to him private looked at the shadow. It looked like some kind of pony but... it had too long legs and neck as if... as if an alicorn stood there.

"This thing is creepy." Private stated.

"Yeah. No kidding. This thing is anomalous... *shudder* last anomalous object I faced was actually some kind of cultist. I don't want a repeat of that mission." Corporal responded. They noticed onscreen that captain and the rest of Rock 1-1 entered the room.

"Cap, do you see it?" Corporal asked.

"-Yup I see its shadow. Light from the flashlight is distorted probably by his body. Does anyone else see the shape of the shadow?-" Captain stated. Then the shadow started moving.

"-It's moving! Stay where you are! Fingers off triggers!-" Captain stated as they stood in formation. Next thing happened so suddenly that they barely could understand what happened. The trio of squad members that stood now flew towards the wall as if a magical shock wave pushed them. For a moment the shadow stopped and then left the room.

"Crap! Cap, You alright? Respond Over!" Corporal shouted on the radio.

"-Stop shouting. I'm fine... I think. *groan* Senior check on Sarge.-" Captain said on the radio. On cameras, he grabbed his gun and stood while slightly shaking. Senior was lying next to Sarge with a chair on top of him. Senior threw off the chair and checked on Sarge.

"-*grunt* Crap... Sarge is gone. The back of his skull was pierced by... something.-" Senior said on the radio with obvious sign of being hurt.

"-Make your prayers. But fast, we don't know where is that thing. Rock 1-2 you there?-" Captain asked on the radio.

"Yeah, we're here. Shadow went deeper into the facility. I don't see it anywhere close to you or us. Orders?" Corporal responded.

"-Crap. Caretaker this is Rock. Situation escalated. Unknown is anomalous and hostile. Its property is invisibility, but its shadow is visible. Light gets distorted when passing through its body. Respond, Over.-" Captain reported on radio.

"-Thi... Caretaker we read... ock. You are... et t... sample from the event... ostile and... en you are allowed to fire... urvivors aren't a prior... er.-" Caretaker spoke on the radio but he was garbled through some kind of interference which is concerning.

"Crap... Cap?" Corporal asked.

"-Yeah I heard. Meet up with us in the corridor. Report anything that's out of place. Over.-" Captain stated as the radio clicked.

"Copy that. We're on the way." Corporal stated. Private nodded and both of them left the room. . .

We want to leave.

"What?" Corporal said to no one in particular.

"Corporal?" Private asked.

"Nothing. Let's get moving. I don't want to meet the shadow." Corporal stated.

"Oh... So now we call it the shadow?" Private asked.

"It's better than still calling it an unknown when we know what it is... sort of," Corporal answered.

-16 minutes later-

Corporal and Private were nearing the point where they were supposed to meet. As soon as they reached the point they looked in both directions of the corridor.

Nothing out of ordinary.

"Cap?" Corporal half shouted as he prepared his weapon, Private followed and both of them slowly walked through the corridor. A low growl could be heard from nearby doors that were blocked. Then they heard footsteps... or something similar.

Bang Bang Bang Bang... Bang Bang

Gunshots echoed through the facility before getting interrupted by some kind of roar. Corporal and Private turned and saw those ... things. They were something different than what they found before. Those weren't the shadow. Those... things were pony-sized carnivores, with a little amount of fur on most of their body. Their eyes were similar round and were glowing with orange color. Their razor-sharp teeth stood out of their mouth. Claws on their front and back legs were smaller yet also looked dangerous. Both groups stood without any motion awaiting each other's reaction.

Then one of the creatures leaped towards the Private but before he could react a sound BANG could be heard and the creature landed on the floor. The rest of the creatures hissed in anger and prepared to pounce on the two soldiers.

"Sir-" Before Private could continue he saw corporal take aim and for a moment he looked at the private who had no idea what to do.

"Aim, Fire, Breathe." Corporal said quickly as a trio of creatures leaped towards them. Before they could land on the ground a salvo of shots went through them. While two of them were lying dead on the floor the third one stepped back before trying to attack again. Before Corporal could shoot a loud incomprehensible noise interrupted him, and the creature.

He looked behind himself and saw this... weird light sphere... that was slowly approaching them. At this point, he didn't know what to do. He saw Private panicking and trying to open the nearest door. But when he saw the electric line before he blacked out.

-Some Time Later-

Corporal groaned as he regained consciousness. Before Corporal could understand what happened all of the light in the corridor went out. As he turned on the flashlight he saw the horrible scene in front of him.

The creatures lied everywhere and looked as if they were fired on with gasoline. On his side, noticed a black smoldering body... that was Private... he was dead... Corporal almost threw up but as he reminded himself that he had a mask on his face.

ZAPZAPZAP

The weird light sphere was far away that its noise couldn't be heard anymore.

"Anyone. This is Corporal Miller from Rock 1-2... does anyone hear me?" Miller asked on the radio only to be responded with static noise on the radio before hearing garbled transmission.

"-To any units in... SB-6- we are... attack... no don't let them get to the control... THEY WILL FREE US! By the Faust STOP HI-" Somone could be heard in the interference while in the background could be heard a number of gunshots and a lot of shouting at the end from multiple characters.

"By the Idol... What went wrong?" Miller thought to himself as he walked towards the nearest way out of the bunker.

Author's Note:

Did I make Miller a griffon... yes.

Why do I feel the sudden urge to shout with hate at Miller?

No not that Miller I mean Scott Miller the one bloody bastard that backstab yer and NATO in Arma 3 for someone's shiny box.

Comments

[Wreck]

10673796
If you mean the part with "complaint from royal houses" then it is supposed to be like that...

If something else then say what.

[TrainDude90S]

10673804
Once again great chapter.

[TrainDude90S]

10674223
Yes, that's what I mean. I thought you were speaking about the Canterlot nobles.

[Wreck]

10675053
I was but we all know how bureaucracy works.

[TrainDude90S]

10675057
Thanks for clearing that up.