| Alpha-squad Vice |

“...except me.”

The vice broke the silence.

| Alpha-squad Captain |

“You got us, vice, aren't we enough?” 

The captain smiled weakly. Not that anyone could see her face.

| Alpha-squad Vice |

“I'm going in. You guys stay here.”

| Alpha-squad Captain |

“Vice, no! As the captain, let me go!”

| Alpha-squad Vice |

“...”

| Alpha-squad Captain |

“Stand down. Let your captain take some responsibility.”

| Alpha-squad Vice |

“Negative. No one has more experience on this team than me, Captain! That's an order I'll have to disobey. You're needed to lead this team.”

Despite wanting to argue, the captain couldn’t think of anything to say. Once he made up his mind, there was no convincing him to stand down.

This man had disobeyed his superiors time and time again. Despite his wealth of experience, his disobedience prevented him from rising further.

The vice then turned to the two rear guards.

| Alpha-squad Vice |

 “Rear guards, do you have your heavy shields?”

| Alpha-squad Rear Guard | A-008 |

“Sorry, sir, I dropped it by the stairs during the retreat.”

The rear guard was kicking himself for having dropped it.

| Alpha-squad Rear Guard | A-011 |

“I-I don’t know where mine is. I’m sorry, sir, I—”

The vice didn’t respond but simply patted the rookie on his shoulder as he passed by him. 

The Rear guard was the most heavily armed defensive unit, placed as the shield bearer for the assault units.

Losing your shield on the battlefield as a Rear guard was a sin worthy of heavy punishment. 

Losing the defensive shields meant the entire squad was in danger of being eliminated. But no one said anything since now wasn’t the time. 

In a few minutes, they would all be dead.

| Alpha-squad Captain |

“Men all salute!”

 The entire team rose to their feet and did just that. Even those agonizing about their fate on the floor stood up.  

The entire squad silently saluted the passing man in the darkness.

The whole squad placed their hopes on vice. If anyone had a chance of saving them, it was this man who saw more combat on the field than all of them combined. 

| Alpha-squad Captain |

“Take your position. Ready, aim, fire!”

At the captain's command, the team focused their last flares towards the stairway, lighting the way for the vice as he rushed towards it.

In the darkness, they all quietly prayed for his success. But, their vice didn't have time to idle. 

The light from the flares would only last for a short moment, and all of the vice’s hopes relied on finding that shield by the base of the stairs.

| Alpha-squad Vice |

“Shit, where is it!?”

 The vice was looking around while trying not to blind himself by directly staring at the flares dropping all around him. 

He squinted his eyes, yet he could find no shields by the base. 

| Alpha-squad Vice |

“They must've left it up! I'm dead!!!”

He cursed his fate. He'd have to search for it on the floor above, being completely blind and open to fire.

He ran up the stairs while bending low to the ground. He reached his hands, hoping to find something on the floor as he made a mad dash.

As soon as he made it up, he did an uncontrolled roll toward his left. 

As he did, multiple rounds whizzed past him, hitting the stair rails and playing a metallic symphony while the sparks from the impact lit up the dark room.

The vice scraped his skin on the harsh rubble as he rolled with all his might, banging his head against something.

The impact felt like it would split his head open. Soon the flow of bullets followed his motion, making its way straight toward him. 

Another melody played out as it hit him directly. The metal clashed against the hardened armor. It was the lost heavy shield.  

He had swung his arms out wildly, trying to grab at whatever it was that hit his head—pulling the object in front of him just in time.

The melody kept playing as he waited for the rounds to finish. He was praying to God that the shield would hold up. His own armor would do nothing against the anti-armor rounds being fired at him.

His hands ached and trembled as the shield violently rattled, and his ears rang continuously throughout the bombardment of bullets.

| Alpha-squad Vice |

“Shit, my hands have gone numb.” 

He could no longer feel his arms. But he still held onto the highly abused shield with his well-trained iron grip.

 His eyes started adjusting to the sunlight pouring in at the end of the hall. 

He looked to his left and right at the hallway walls to adjust his vision. Since the shield completely blocked his view of whatever they were facing. 

He started gasping for air, breathing deeply, taking in as much oxygen as possible.

He prepared his aching muscles, tensing them up to rush towards the monstrosity as soon as he heard the end of the clip.

*click*

Hearing the familiar chime, he stood to a low crouch and rushed forward erratically. 

The moment the rounds restarted, he would be finished! 

The shield was barely holding itself together. And the force from the rounds was so strong that it would throw him off balance, making running nearly impossible. 

It felt like taking multiple heavy sledgehammer impacts to the shield at a relentless rate. 

He could not peep to confirm the exact location of his target either. He only had a single shot, and throwing it was not an option, as his whole arm would be full of holes the moment he poked it out. 

Nor could he clearly see anymore; the brightness of the flares had made him blind, and his vision wasn’t adjusting. He had to guess its location.

And so, like a baby rhinoceros, he madly rushed at it, hoping to crash into it from his mad charge.

| Alpha-squad Vice |

“Diiieee, you bastard!!!” 

The vice screamed like another crazy bastard as he let out his guttural warcry. But it was too late. 

*click* 

He heard the trigger going off. The rounds were restarting.

In a final desperate attempt, he tossed the shield away, completely exposing himself. He had hoped he could crash into it with the shield, but it was further off than he anticipated.

He then opened up his eyes to take in whatever light his now bloodshot eyes could take in, and that’s when he saw it.

The last thing he saw was the blinding light pouring in from the end and sides of the hall and a monstrosity standing at the far end as his body was riddled with a dozen holes from the onslaught.

The EMP dropped from his lifeless hands as his body crumpled on the floor.

As it rolled towards the abomination, it let out a high-pitched buzz.

*Whiizzzst—beep—BEEP—BEEEPPP*

The contraption stared in horror as it saw the bomb slowly roll toward it.

ᛋᚺᛁᛏ!!!

It then detonated with its 2 million amps, frying all circuits in a 3-meter radius.

The high-pitched blast resonated in the ears of all those below, followed by an eerie silence.

Had the vice done it!?

| Alpha-squad Captain |

“Alpha squad! Come in. Alpha squad, respond! Alpha—”

Soon, the comms came to life.

The jamming had all but stopped. The entire squad let out a victorious roar while hugging each other.

| Alpha-squad Captain |

“Vice did it! He took down that thing!”

The whole squad rushed towards the stairs, trying to make it up before the last flares fizzled.

What they saw above was the carnage of the ruined heap and the dead man on the side. His body was beyond recognition. 

They all gathered around him, with a pained expression on each face.

| Alpha-squad Captain |

“A-alpha squad reporting, Sector 5. Man down. Man down. We are requesting urgent assistance. Vice is dead. We lost all our suits. The squad is down to full manual.” 

The captain was trying to maintain her composure. 

They could not mourn for him. They were still in grave danger after all that abnormality that caused all of this was still there on the floor above them. 

The entire team looked toward their captain. If that monstrosity made its way down, they would soon join vice. 

The voice from the other end sighed with relief.  

| Commander Whitefox |

“W-we thought we lost you before we could send you the information. The other squads were not so fortunate.” 

| Alpha-squad Captain |

“...what the hell are we facing, ma’am!?” 

The captain was beyond frustrated at the lack of information they were given. She threw her etiquette out the window after facing death with her unit and losing her vice.

| Commander Whitefox |

“Don’t give me that attitude, captain. We’re doing our best out here. But I don't blame you. Now give me a full report quickly! You may all still be in danger.”

Whitefox chose to give her captain some leeway. She could only imagine what the Alpha squad had gone through under her orders.

The whole team took the same formation around their captain while she relayed what had happened to her commander.

The voice on the other end became more relaxed upon hearing the events.

| Commander Whitefox |

“Mission accomplished! Well done, Alpha squad!”

| Alpha-squad Captain |

“...What?”

 The captain was dumbfounded.

| Commander Whitefox |

“We're sending air support to pick you up immediately. Stand by for further orders.”

| Alpha-squad Captain |

“What's going on here? The assailant is still at large, ma’am. That abnormality might have escaped, and we cannot verify if it's still on the floor above.”

| Commander Whitefox |

“Type 12, Iron Fortress, successfully located. It's an immobile unit captain, and its highly customized circuitry means it cannot bear weapons. So its main goal is to wage electronic warfare by jamming, as well as to hack other units for defense. Stay where you are. We will send the sweeper with air support to retrieve it.”

The whole squad had heard the comm as the captain had opened it out to them. Despite protocol, she wanted them to listen to it.

The entire squad stared at each, quite stupefied over the development.

Relief, confusion, grief, anger, and exhaustion. 

They went through all these emotions. Despite everything, they had somehow survived. 

They then all gathered around vice.

At last, they could mourn for him. They took turns guarding the squad while switching out to mourn for him. 

.

.

.

Half an hour later, the air support ships arrived.

They flew at a distance, staying out of Iron Fortress' range.

They lowered their men through a rope ladder into the opening of the 98th floor, which was exposed to the elements.

| Zeta-squad Captain |

“Zeta squad has arrived with sweeper and medic units. Make your way to the air vessel. We'll take it from here.” 

The newly arrived Zeta squad captain yelled out orders as her troops poured in from the ladder one after the other. 

Their uniforms were entirely different, with different colors and designs. 

After making their way up, they found Iron Fortress idly whirling away in the corner. 

They had come prepared this time with multiple EMP charges, heavy shield units, and full manual gear. 

Thanks to the efforts of the Alpha squad, only their vice was a casualty on that day.

After dismantling Iron Fortress, the Zeta squad took its parts, along with the Alpha squad and their vice’s body, on the Zeta squad airship.

Leaving the scene, the Alpha squad thought about all the events that had occurred that day.

However, they were the lucky ones.

***

𝓟𝓡𝓞𝓛𝓞𝓖𝓤𝓔 𝓞𝓝𝓔 

𝐅𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐬 𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐢𝐭'𝐬 𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐤

—𝕰𝖓𝖉—

𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐤 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠~

(ɔ◔‿◔)ɔ ♥