Do you believe in Magic?

by Toshiro121

Chapter 1: Snowblind

**** days before present day
12/10/2024, 1838 hours
Grid Coordinates: 67.690686,55.61554
Russian Federation

"...Sierra's at the north perimeter, over." Oz said, fiddling with his earpiece.

"Copy Sierra, Archangel acknowledges. Be advised, snowstorm is starting, we will have no contact with you for a period of time. We will contact you when the storm passes, over."

"Roger that, satellite imaging pick up anything suspicious over?"

"Negative, signs show all clear. Get in there, destroy the equipment, then get out, and we'll extract you at primary extraction ASAP. Archangel out."

"All right, let's move." Oz said, before motioning the squad to follow him.

"Man, why does it have to be so fucking cold? I haven't been in weather like this since winter, in 2019!" Boombox said, shivering.

"Cause it's fucking Russia Coles, what did you expect? A nice warm tropical holiday in the Bahamas? Suck it up, I mean really." Scully retorted in a mocking tone.

"Hey, lock it up Sierra! we're going in, stick to suppressed weapons and use call-signs at all times. Hooah?"Oz interjected.

"Hooah."

"Hooah."

"Hooah."

"Alright, lets move out." The team slowly started to make their way across the snow covered plain, their sight hindered by the impending snowstorm.

"Alright, we should be getting close to the facility. Activate you're heartbeat sensors, we'll need 'em to find anybody out here." Oz said.

"Hey, aren't heartbeat sensors meant for special ops douchebags?' Twitch asked.

"Man, we ARE special ops douchebags." Boombox replied.

"Oh." Twitch's statement earned a chuckle from the rest of the team. As they made their way closer to the facilty, Oz raised a closed fist, signalling them to stop.

"What is it, what do you see?" Iron Sights asked.

"Four contacts, fifty meters to our front. Move up and neutralize."

"Roger that, moving up." Scully and Coles moved up silently behind the unaware guards. Coles pulled out his suppressed M9 and KA-BAR knife, while Scully pulled out a silent USP.45 and a Karambit knife. They looked at each other before Scully made a signal with his hands, counting down from 3,2,1. The two both grabbed a guard simultaneously, shooting the other guards that had started to turn around, before slicing the remaining guard's necks. "All clear."

"All right, let's get moving." The squad continued to move through th snowstorm until they finally reached the inner perimeter of the facility. The inner perimeter consisted of 2 and a half meter concrete walls, with pillboxes on either side of the main entrance. Oz looked around, finding no immediate solution. "Well it looks like the front gate's a no go."

"Yeah, and I don't see any side entrances. So, who feels like an up-and-over?" Scully asked.

"Looks like it, I just hope that my grip is good." Coles replied.

"Mate, the way you've been gripping your rifle you should be more concerned about the wall breaking off." Oz joked.

"Yeah yeah, whatever. Just get up against the wall will you?"

"On it." Oz squatted up against the wall, cupping his hands together. Coles ran towards him, putting his foot on Oz's hands, before Oz flung him upwards. Coles grabbed the wall and pulled himself up, before turning around and extending his hand for Scully. Scully grabbed cole's hand before grabbing the wall and vaulting over it. After the rest of the squad made it over, they checked that their weapons were still in good condition after being in the cold for so long. "All right, we're clear. Iron Sights, head up that tower and cover for us with your thermal, the rest of you on me."

The squad nodded and headed their separate ways. Scully climbed up a ladder that went to a nearby tower, before dispatching the guard on top and throwing his lifeless body over the railing. He then proceeded to pull out his silenced M-200 sniper rifle and attached it with a bi-pod to the railing. "I'm in position, forward area clear."

"Copy that, moving up." Oz noded towards the rest of the group, and they continued forward. There was a minute of silence across the comm channel before Scully blasted something in Oz's ear.

"Stop, stop!" Oz raised a fist, signalling them to do the same. "Enemy troop transport inbound, 20 meters to your right. stop and drop till it passes." The three men quickly layed down on the cold snow, before waiting for the truck to pass. "Alright, you're clear. I'm moving up to join you now, over."

"Copy that." Oz replied. Scully caught up with the rest of the team as they headed to a locked door. Oz pulled out a device and activated it, and within seconds the door was unlocked. They continued inside, avoiding patrols and scientists when they suddenly came across a large room with a lot of large and strange devices, with a particularly big one in the center. "What do you reckon this is?"

"No idea, looks like a portal of sorts." Twitch said, investigating. He looked at the device all around, the only thing of significance was an engraving on the side: Harvey was here, 2020. "Let me guess, we gotta blow it up?"

"Eeyup, and that'll be YOUR job, Boombox." Oz replied. Boombox nodded and pulled out a couple of C4 charges. They kept going through the rooms of experiments until they ended up back where they started. "Dammit, doesn't look like it's here."

"Do you even know what it looks like?" Twtich asked.

"...No..."

"Well how about that?" he said pointing to a secure room which they had somehow missed beforehand. The team then proceeded into the room, only to find it was empty.

"Well, where is it?" Oz asked.

Scully started pacing. "Wait, those troop transports...they must be moving it out somewhere!" He said.

"Good thinking, let's have a once over of the rest of the place then get out of here." A minute later the team was on the move again, this time stopping from the smell of rotting flesh. "Gah, you smell that shit?"

"Yeah, probably dead flesh, most likely human." Scully noted. They followed the smell until they found the prisoner cells, and what was left of their CIA agent, which resulted in the upheaval of Twitch's lunch. "Well, looks like he's not going anywhere."

"Nope, definitely not. Let's keep looking through the cells, might find a POW or two." Boombox said. Oz nodded and they continued. They quickly stopped however when they heard the distinct sound of crying. Following the sound, they stumbled upon something that none of them had seen before. Right in front of them, was a pale purple colored unicorn, wearing what looked to be steel armor and a sad look on its face. "Sweet Jesus what in god's name do we have here?" Boombox's voice caught the pony's attention, to which it ran straight up to the cell bars.

"Please, let me out of here!" It yelled. The team jumped back slightly in repsonse, before Oz slowly approached the cell. "You-you're not one of them, are you?"

"No, we're not. If you promise not to cause any trouble and cooperate, we'll let you out, okay?" The pony nodded. "Alright then, Boombox get that door open. First thing's first, if you see or need anything, I'm Oz, that's Boombox, he's Iron Sights and that's Twitch. Keep volume to a minimal and we should be out of here in about 5 to 10 minutes. Got it? Alright, let's roll out." The group headed out with pony in tow, and were almost outside again when the alarm sounded. "Shit, that's not good. Iron Sights, what are they saying?"

"Let me see... All units to your stations, intruders are in the base. Units 2-4 investigate the north eastern wall."

"Well, there goes our up and over idea, time to improvise. But first, a distraction. Boombox, blow the C4."

"Ok hose, here goes..." A single click was heard. Moments later a fireball erupted from one of the walls. Shouting followed by panic and PA alerts gave the team a very short window of opportunity. As they headed outside of the base's perimeter, Scully walked up to Oz.

"Sir, I'm not sure it's a good idea to bring this...thing along. We don't know what it is, where it came from, or what it can do! For all we know it could be some kind of Russian or Euro-"

"That's enough, stand down. Listen, if this thing was made by the Russians they would have made it a little more compliant to them, wouldn't you think? And if it is from another world, wouldn't you think that it'd be a good idea to start off on the right foot? I know I'm taking a gamble on this, but I'm confident about one thing: he'll be a lot happier out here than in there, and that'll be good enough for me." Oz interrupted.

"I understand sir, but I'm still uncomfortable about this, but I trust your decision. I've known you for long enough to at least do that."

Oz smiled. "thanks mate, now let's get to work on getting the fuck outta here." He looked at his OPSAT (it's from Splinter Cell, but who cares) "The nearest major location is...Moscow. Shit. I take back what i said, he's better off in there than going through Ruskie HQ." He turned towards the pony. "Alright, I'll give it to you straight, we will be heading through the heart of enemy territory, and if we are spotted then we will most likely end up dead, or worse. I'll give you a choice. You can follow us, or head your own way. I can't guarantee your safety either way, but if you come with us, I promise with all of my power that I will get you to safety."

The unicorn thought hard for a good half a minute, before stepping forward with a decision. "You saved my life from that awful place, so I feel that I owe you. I will follow you and aid any way I can, and the name is Dawnguard, nice to meet you." He said, extending his hoof for a handshake.

"Nice to meet you too. Congratulations Dawnguard, you've just been drafted into the Joint Strike Force, 15th Special Ops Battalion. Welcome to the war soldier." And with that, they headed west, to Moscow.