U-ARM Wing-Marvin Walters

Marvin took his position between the two machine gun nests, but was unable to deploy his drone before he head more chatter on the radio. Great, apparently their radio had been cracked two minutes into the mission. Still, this commander...Colonel Richard Miller...was clearly an idiot. If Marvin had access to the enemy's entire radio network, he'd take pains to make sure the enemy did not realize it until several platoons were dead.

A shame it would have been then, if Marvin had their radio data instead.

The man's gears turned in his head, but he had to halt them when he saw the enemy approaching in an...eagle tank? Whatever works for them he figured. It was then that he saw Marie's signal to open fire upon the tank. Looking at his top down view, Marvin noticed the Sergeant as spotted by the lookouts. He briefly considered firing a missile towards his position, but disregarded it, knowing that his superior wanted that tank taken down. He started the locking on procedure for the Narrow Beam Laser, it would be the best thing against that tank, save an HE Missile, but Marvin wanted to conserve those for when the battle was in full swing. Before the lock was confirmed, he turned his outboard speakers to a low volume, loud enough for the turret men to hear but not enough for the enemies to hear. "I'd like you turrets to handle the power armor while I take on that tank, though don't be afraid to missile the tank if my shots don't do much to it."

Right when he finished saying that, the mech gave a confirmation of a target lock, and Marvin fired his Narrow Beam Laser towards the tank, aiming for the main gun itself to hopefully disable it. Then he fired again, and again, totaling three shots towards the tank. Then he stopped momentarily, to allow the weapon to cool down and to check the condition of the enemy tank. With any luck it was destroyed, or at least disabled. All he could do now was hope for the best.

Two Weeks Ago - Intermission

"Yeah you know, after that uhhh ... fuck up at Citadel Miwaukee, I haven't exactly been around the block. I'll be honest though, glad to be here and out of the frying pan. You guys fight pretty good."

Sipping his coffee, F.A.S Trooper Peter Tao sat in surprising comfort as his fellow colleagues, Carolyn, James, and Derek flanked him along the bar counter. The gang had only just begun to enjoy a nice steaming brew to revel the recent downtime following a surprising return from Battle Zone Chicago. The resulting outcome could've been a lot worse and in their company, Peter felt only felt too inclined to enjoy the R&R while it lasted. Southeast Sector had been one of the lucky compared to Southwest Sector, where reports of heavy casualties and lost assets had already reached filtered through the ranks. Amidst Brucie's excellent cooking, Battle Zone Chicago's sequence of events had already begun to circulate amongst Bunker Chicago personnel, yet for all it was worth, Peter just wanted to enjoy a damn coffee.

"I've mostly been on mission outside Bunker Washington or near Bunkers New York and Boston. Scary shit up north. You guys don't know want to know what bag of dicks the Yorkies have to put up with. I think you already mentioned the fact food ain't exactly a commodity over there, James, so it's a miracle your buddies even pull off surv..."

Peter stopped in mid-sentence as a pack of uniformed soldiers wearing the insignia, Military Police arrived. The man in center wore officer's stripes that spoke of at least mid-echelon ranking. Sipping his tea, the F.A.S. Trooper curiously eyed the men as their gaze swept across the packed counter and seating hall. Before he could fully assess their arrival, the lead man cleared his throat and voiced, "Is there a Specialist Peter Tao from BWSEC?"

"Yes, that's me,” Peter answered as he lowered his cup, “What's up?"

“I have orders to bring you in and I'm afraid you're going to have to come with us.”

“What's the issue?”

“I don't have authorization for any explanations until we've reached a safe location. We need you to come with us and as in now...” The officer issued several hand signals, prompting the other uniformed men to surround Peter's position. Peter nodded intently as he rose into a surrendering posture, hands held high.

“Sorry I've gotta split, but uhm … I think Military Police's got a little beef on me.”

---

"Alright, Specialist, here's the schpiel. We've got a priority one call waiting on encrypted channel two-seven from Bunker Washington's Surgeon Liason and she sounding a little more bat shit. Desperate sounding woman on the other end claiming to be Director of Research. Patching through now.”

The screens blinked to life as the officer flipped and twisted several switches and knobs in a bid to jump start the video uplink.

“Stand by, Colonel Myers,” the officer uttered, “We've got Specialist Tao on the line."

“Thank you, Lieutenant. We'll take it from here. Director Tao, we've got your husband. He's alive so it's up to you what you want to do ...”

The F.A.S. Specialist heard shuffling through the audio channels before his jaw dropped as sight of a uniformed woman enlarged onto the massive communication screen.

“Holy shit! Hey Kelsey! I was just about to call you, how did you find me?”

“Peter?! Oh my god,” the ravishing woman uttered as she cupped her mouth, “… oh … my god...” Her hands moved to her forehead where after several deep breaths and exhales, the woman returned to fully face the screen and seemed to strain from not panting heavily. Follow several face covered moments, the woman's expression immediately transitioned from frightened relief to something remarkably cold and unforgiving.

“Babe, I...”

“Peter! Are you in Chicago?”

“Uhhh… I don't think you're gonna want to hear what I have say. Part of OPSEC and ...”

“Peter! You are not answering my question,” Kelsey grumbled as she covered her mouth again, “What … the fark are you doing in Chicago?”

“I'll leave you two alone," the officer uttered before departing. The door's silent closing momentarily gave the two pause before Peter ultimately broke the silence.

“Listen, Kelsey, just … calm down okay? I owe you an apology for not calling sooner, but you're going to have hear what...”

“Peter,” Kelsey interrupted, “I have been scrambling through BSEC chain of command for over twelve hours! Do you know what kind of strings I've had to pull to even get on this channel?”

“Oh geeze, we're in deep shit,” Peter mumbled as fear of their execution surfaced, “Let me get this straight. You risked bypassing upper echelon to get a hold of me? I … aw man, aw shit … okay … you want to know what the fark I've been through these past twelve...”

“God damnit, Peter,” Kelsey shouted, “Don't what the fuckery me, you almost gave me a heart attack! Just answer my question and …” sighing, the Director pinched her nose as her eyes heavily squinted, “...explain to me why you've been gone for the past two days before I seriously kick your nuts off.”

Peter pulled out a chair and sat, looking away. His vision briefly darkened as his face fell into a distanced frown. “It's bad here and uhhh ...looks like Chicago's in deep.”

“Okay ...” Kelsey uttered between controlled breaths, “Go on...”

The trooper's gaze returned towards the screen as a sigh escaped his lips. “The higher ups in BWSEC. They know what we're they're doing anddd … with all the mutie traffic, looks like everyone's vamping up the flame bread. We just got sent here and now we're going...”

“Yeah, no shit, Peter. BSEC's upping security everywhere. My uncle said something about F.A.S.T. shipping out two d… oh my god … you're with F.A.S.T aren't you?”

“Babe,” Peter uttered as he gripped the radio microphone. “You're gonna have to let me talk. Yeah ... I'm with F.A.S.T. Beyond that, I really can't tell you what we're doing or else we're both gonna get shot. You have to understand that. Now ... tell me; how's Jimmy doing?”

Massaging her temples, Kelsey exhaled in irritation earning the F.A.S. Trooper's relief. To Peter, that spoke volumes and renewed hopes that his wife had begun to accept their situation's reality. “...he's fine. Built another block fort yesterday without any help. Would be nice if his dad came home, buuuuuut … daddy's out there killing baddies sooo … daddy's off the hook.”

“Tell him daddy's coming home and that he's learning a thing or two about Chicago style goodness. Come's with job since food here sort of trumps what they're cooking out in Washington. Red tape's not bad either. Think they've even got Nanotech clearance n...”

“Hang on a sec,” Kelsey interrupted. Siging again, she lifted a finger as other voices echoed on the other end, “Yes Colonel, we're just about done here.”

“Bunker boys want their toys back, Peter so ... I'll tell Jimmy that daddy's a big jerk wad.”

Smirking the F.A.S. Trooper grinned before answering, “A good jerkwad. You him that!”

“Sure. Just … ugh ... nevermind. Call me when you're off, okay? Love you.” The Director's finger kiss held for a moment before she planted marks on the camera screen.

“Love you too Kelsey. Try to...” Peter blinked as the screen cut off and in a spur of the moment provoked several, virally strung curse words. Sighing, briefly opened his wallet, staring towards a picture featuring a smiling couple and a 2 year old boy. After a time, the trooper stalked away, stashing the photo with delicate precision …

---

Peter Táo – U-Arm Wing



“Whoa, we're half way there,” Peter sang, crouching below the sandbags in an effort to round off several arm warm-ups, “Whoaaaaaaa, livin' on a prayer ...”

The F.A.S. Trooper had somehow found a position parallel the MG positions and found himself staring out towards the empty streets. Downtown Chicago was ugly as fark, but given the way ADAM and Bunker Security called the shots, Peter simply followed orders. He wasn't sure what the other squads were up to, but given that the recent Battalion casualties, he could only hope the muties in Shadow wouldn't get the first jump. Mutant Colossi and Frankenfark were bad enough, but out in the wastelands, Peter could only guess what sort of abominations prowled the Shadow Zones.

In the distance, the Washington native watched as the insertion chinooks peeled away and into the distance, marked by the fading beautiful white-yellow halos so prevalent from most live illustrations of the Kopp-Etchells effect. Somewhere, several hundred miles away, he knew Kelsey and his son were boarding similar looking chinooks enroute to Chicago as part of an aid package to accelerate and continue gene and anti-virus research following Annie's disappearance.

"She brings home her pay. For love, for love ..." his earbuds rang, earning the specialist's smile.

“Sheeeeit, I can't believe they gave you F.A.S. homies som o'dat power armor,” the black machine gunner to his left voiced, “Man, dat shit's fucking beautiful!”

“Yeah well, I'm not taking any chances, I mean this is farking U-Arm we're talking about," Peter voiced as he completely stashed his MP6 and earbuds, "The way I'm seeing everything, they're gonna try to cut us off, but long as we got our flanks covered, it looks like you're gonna fucking kill something with that MG!” His eyes stared intently towards the post cataclysm streets. He had a feeling Bunker Chicago Security would redeploy him, but with his rolling paychecks, futuristic toys, and christmas-ey firepower, the trooper couldn't complain. He wasn't in the mood for debate given that some higher up decided that upgrades were overdue.

“Ay man, do I look like I'm worried,” the left machine gunner said. “Wid you, brother man, imma waste dese mofos.”

Nodding Peter tapped his earpiece as extra transmissions flooded the radio net. Chatter about rigging op zones 8 and 12, power armor infantry escorts, a tank, and riflemen squads nearing the Sergeant's position. That was the first wave and if he didn't know any better, he could almost smell probing teams and infiltration tactics. The F.A.S. Trooper already watched as Marvin plugged the center between the two gunners, but surmised their exposed left and right sectors were prone for flanking. On the other hand, if Bunker Security got the job, maybe they could setup killzones or enfilade fire within a reasonable error margin. A reasonable margin of error, Peter mused as he lifted his LMG cautiously jogged his way to reinforce James' position within the two-story corner store.

“Relocating near your position, Yorkie to follow your lead. Cover my six,” Peter muttered into the radio as he carefully swept the corner store's first floor for the best possible overwatch position to James' position and the rear intersection ...

Shadow Zone Wing - Matthew and Kiku Collab

Matthew looked around the area after he touched the ground, mentally noting the open routes. He was rather surprised when Michael used radio to talk to them, “What a creep.” He commented as Bruce called on to them and barked orders. He silently repeated what he was asked before nodding and running off to the alley and ignoring the other guy that was supposed to go with him. Reaching a spot in the alley, Matthew took the time to make sure the safety of his gun was off and flexed his fingers as said appendices was all tingly from the last mission and turn purple while he grew in muscle. He was broken out of his musing as something tapped him on the shoulder and he whipped around to see Kiku on his face. As the woman leaned on him, the mutant relaxed a bit. “Was this payback?” he commented before humming on Kiku’s suggestion. “I don’t mind, I’ll shoot anything you’re not running to then. And tricks? Nothing cool like that, just jump higher, a bit stronger and all. Oh, my nails are poisonous, so there’s that.” Their conversation was over as they spotted the stalking wolves and the spotter moving to safety. He took a glance at the woman he was paired with from their position as he counted the wolves.

“Two wolves, one for you, one for me,” He said, raising two fingers.

Kiku seemed to straighten up as she spotted the wolves, and even more so when Matthew mentioned them. It seemed that she was taking things a lot more seriously than last time. Truth be told, a bit of fear had been placed within her. She thought back to the surgery, and the incident of being shot. All of it was…

No. She was Kiku, goddamnit. This was the life she’d chosen: the one where she lived and fought and survived. No, not just survived even, but thrived! She was the fucking queen of this place. The star of the show! She may have been knocked down last time, but she’d gotten up and was more badass than ever.

Looking over at Matthew, she didn’t say words anymore. Only using symbols and gestures to indicate her intent. She pointed at herself, and then to the roof of the building above them, on their right. After that, she indicated she was going to go after the wolf on the right, and that Matthew should go for the one on the left.

It took Matthew a bit to understand what Kiku was trying to tell him although he was unsure on how she was going to get to the roof quickly but decided to just roll with it, maybe she also has the same mutation he had, although that might take just as long. He nodded once before leaning against the corner with his rifle up and glanced at her, as if saying ‘go ahead.’

Kiku just smiled when Matthew nodded his agreement to her plan. She had been hoping he might be a little more confused, so that what was to come might be a little more of a shock. She put her hand on the cloak she’d worn since leaving the chopper, hiding all of her more...shocking features. She paused though, realising she’d missed a detail. Pointing at him, then herself, she tried to make it obvious she wanted him to shoot first, and start of the combat.

Then, with that settled, she pulled off the cloak, excited by getting to test out her newest mutation. As soon as the cloak was thrown off, she flexed the new weight on her shoulders, the wings on her back flickering out as she gave Matthew a little wink. He might also notice the metallic glint of her new left arm: A mechanical prosthetic. She didn’t give him much of a chance though, as she quickly leapt into the air, wings moving quickly and silently propelling her onto the indicated roof. She moved over to the edge of the roof, silently stalking the wolves as she waited for Matthew to open fire. She had a knife in her right hand, and gripped the pistol in her prosthetic left limb: hoping she wouldn’t need to open fire any time soon. She really wasn’t confident in her shooting, after all.

Matthew frowned at Kiku’s next set of actions. Why would she ask him to shoot at her first? She repeated the action again as his confusion was shown on his face until he got that he supposed to shoot at the wolf first. Nodding his understanding, Matthew watched as Kiku threw off her cloak and he stared in surprise as a pair of wings extended and seemed to glow from reflected light before Kiku took off to the roof, leaving the other mutant staring at her wake. Matthew shook himself out of the daze and looked for the wolves. Taking aim, Matthew pointed his rifle to the closer wolf before remembering Kiku’s plan and changed his target to the left wolf. After he was sure that the bullets from his rifle would fly towards the wolf, Matthews squeezed the trigger.

Kiku grinned as the sound of bullets echoed through the alleyway as suddenly, Kiku launched herself off the roof. She used her wings to make any trajectory alteration until she was sure that she could silently take out the wolf. She aimed to plant the dagger into its skull, and if the bastard still moved when she landed, she’d unload her pistol’s clip into its skull. Even her poor marksmanship skill wouldn’t have her to miss at this range...right?

Daniel Ezekiel Anders-U-ARM Wing, Featuring Dove, the Mechanical Scout droid.

---

Daniel was unsure what to do as; once again, there was no clear cut direction for him to take. No clear logic laid out a path for him and no divine providence told him a wise path to take. He needed more information to make a solid choice, and he didn’t have any. Combine that with the fact that the radios had been cracked, and he couldn’t even ask for any other advice. It was a damnable situation to be in.

Still, there were positives to the situation. For one, the fact that U-ARM were not advancing was positive in its own right, as that meant this section of U-ARM was getting no closer to the retrieval team.

Daniel was tempted to try and make a distraction of himself: loud noises and big crunches and the like. His mech was most suited for being in the thick of the fray, especially after the upgrades and the addition of his new weapons. But then there was the fact he was going in blind that annoyed him. He had no idea what he’d be swinging into, and that could get him killed any number of ways.

Suddenly, it hit him. The gloves on his hands! He had something pretty much perfect for the situation. Bringing up the menu of his Recon-droid, Daniel tapped in a quick password and then an even quicker secondary encryption code. Anything to make his little Dove a bit harder to hack into. Suddenly, a little piece of mechanical wonder disjointed itself from a slot in the back of his mech, and the little drone was hovering a few feet in the air behind Daniel. He directed the Dove droid to float around slowly and quietly, trying to scout any nearby rooftops in order to spot the enemy’s battle position and, more importantly, snipers. He had his coms open, just in case he needed to shout a warning: should the Dove droid spot any particularly clever hostiles.

Retrieval Team Mansion Rooftop- Roman Cassidy

Landing cleanly on the roof, Roman removed his parachute and took a moment to access his surroundings. A bare, flat surface with nothing to take cover behind, nowhere to try and hide from view. He felt naked, but at least his camo suit offered a bit of protection from view. Besides, with no other buildings in the immediate area above three floors tall, he would probably go unnoticed unless he stood near the edge of the roof.

Perhaps he was spending too much time looking around, but at least he wasn't throwing caution to the wind. Georgia, a member of his team, slid out of view without waiting for her partners. Hell, Nathaniel was still coming down on his parachute and she was already inside the buildings.

From his radio, someone warned "Gangbangers attacking eastern sector! They're under control for now!... Why are they even here?!" A good question, Roman thought. Last time we were deployed, we had shapeshifters, A Goleyeith and U-ARM in the ring with us. Whatever's actually going on, some part of it's attracting everyone nearby. Maybe Eve.

Deep in a bloody daydream of the team bringing Eve back to the bunker, only for the various factions of Chicago to swarm them simultaniously, Roman almost jumped at Captain Derek's message. "I heard rumours Alyss was gonna be here. If she is, and we weren't informed, assume she will shoot you if you get in her way. N' I'd hate 'fer you youngin's to bite it to that fishy cunt." Roman didn't know who Alyss was, but by the look he could see on Derek's face as the helicopter flew to the eastern side of the roof, she was someone to tread lightly around.

"Hawthorne here, got delayed, just landed on the south-west corner of the mansion roof. Heading inside now." Before Roman could follow Georgia, he found himself in the familiar situation of having to choose one of two paths.

As if she could hear his thought, Georgia contacted him. “Roman, go with Nathaniel. I'm going down a level, I think I sense the target. Be careful, though... I... I thought I heard a party. And someone there knew my name. There's stuff that can get in your head in here.” Someone knew her name? That wasn't good. Suddenly Roman knew he'd made the right decision to join the mutants on the roof, but he was surprised that it wasn't Nathaniel validating his fears of Eve-influence.

Adjusting his radio so it would only send his message to Georgia, Roman replied. "I'll look for a west entrance with Hawthorne, but you gotta stay on the fourth floor. Something might be in your head already; you don't wanna go in alone. Hold up at the stairs and wait for us." Making his way slowly enough to Nathaniel that he wouldn't slip on the rain-covered roof, he restored his radio to its previous setting. Roman frowned at the thought of having to juggle both Nathaniel and Georgia while looking for Eve, but knew that the best method would be to follow Nathaniel wherever he went and try keeping things on track. I suppose my promotion means I get to babysit the mutants. Their weird shit better not get me killed, at least before I find answers.

Paris Rience
Retrieval Team

---

Paris took in the warning of incoming gangbangers in aggravated silence. They had touched ground only a minute ago, and already things were fraying at the edges. It also wasn't a good sign that there was yet another hostile faction interested in Eve. The medical files she carried where valuable, of course, but shouldn't be of much value to raiders. They wouldn't have the equipment necessary to take advantage of the cache of information, and even then, raiders needed victims to rob. A biogenetic plague would be as devastating to them as it would to their enemies.

As for U-ARM, they most likely did have the necessary equipment. Doesn't seem to fit their style, Paris thought. From what he had read, they preferred explosions and excessive destruction. A plague provided neither. There must be more than the files. After all, why else would the Council be so adamant about bringing her back alive? There was something else going on that was being kept from the soldiers. Something that a wide variety of enemies had somehow discovered.

Whatever the cause, there were most likely raiders inbound, and Paris did not relish the idea of waiting for them outside while his own vision was reduced by the rainfall. "That building across the street is clear," he broadcast to Mairwen. "I'm going to take up position in there. Try and get the drop on whoever shows up instead of the other way around." With that he jumped out of the bed of the pickup and jogged through the door to the opposite house. He pulled out a laser tripwire and set it up inside above the front door, pointing down.

Finding a room on the first floor with a window providing sight of the mansion's front door, he set up another laser tripwire in the entrance to that room. As an afterthought, he also set up his motion detection camera in the hall outside. Suitably assured that he would know if anything entered the house, he placed himself by the window and began ordering his drone to begin hopping from house to house towards the eastern side of the mansion.

Eira Mairwen. Retrieval.

---

"Understood," she replied to Paris.

Already, she could feel her heart beating. Much like the last mission, they barely had time to position themselves before enemies made their way towards them. How was it that she had chosen this path over that of security work? Fighting criminals who might kill you if caught was one thing, fighting soldiers who'd kill caught or not was a vastly different matter. And now they had made her some sort of specialist? As far as she could tell, she was one of the youngest of the group sent to the fog, just barely out of training.

The rest of them were veterans of many battles across varied terrain, some even from overseas. In what kind of world could she compete?

Why the hell do I do this to myself? She had to get moving.

Following Paris out onto the street, Eira quickly looked around, wanting to choose a good location to hole up in. As the last time, the best place for a big girl like her would be the alleyway—she figured it'd be a bit cramped in the building with her new comrade-in-arms. Paris had said that his drone had only checked the building immediately to their right, and would continue to move East, towards where the gangers were supposedly to approach from. As such, the best place for her would be the alleyway directly East of Paris's new hideout.

Moving across the street, she made her way to the vehicle nearest her planned set up, and crouching down a bit, used her right shoulder to push it up by the alley, at a one-three-five degree angle from the entrance. Not the best cover, but better than nothing.

As soon as that was done, she busted through the fence into the alleyway, quickly scanning it for activity with her guns ready. I hope this place is as empty as it looks.

In the meantime, she had sent her ARMAbot some new directives. In order to both get it out of the rain and check out that reading she'd received moments ago, she ordered it to enter the building from the rear entrance and try to track down the mystery figure. Much as she had troubles of her own fast approaching, she also didn't want to leave the other three members of their little crew helpless.

Clicking on her radio, she messaged Roman. Out of anyone here, he's the one I can trust. She had originally planned on joining the fight against U-ARM, not wanting to have to repeat the choice she'd made with Adam—a choice that ultimately lead to his death. However, Roman had come to see her personally after they'd been debriefed on the missions, and had requested she join him in Retrieval. He'd been promoted, he trusted her, and hell, she trusted him. So naturally, she couldn't refuse.

And so long as she was here to protect him, she was determined to keep him alive.

"Roman," she started. "Someone's entered the first floor. I'm looking into it now, but keep on your toes." And with that she ended the transmission. There was nothing else to say, really—she herself barely knew what to make of this intruder.

Shadow Zone Wing - Liam Grillod

For a moment all was quiet, but even Liam wasn't naive enough to believe that would last. As the scene erupted ahead of him, and the mass of flesh rose from the ground he heard a shout from behind him where the machine gun nest was found. Quickly he did as the voice comanded and hit the dirt. As he dropped he heard the unmistakable sound of gun fire fly overhead, and realized how foolish he had been to stand there. Not wanting to chance an encounter with friendly fire Liam decided the best way out of here was to simply roll out of the nest's line of sight.

Duck and roll, that's not how you survive Liam. he though as his face neared the dirt. Of course when faced with dirt or death he feel he made the wisest choice available. Even on the ground he was scanning for more appropriate cover, which he found off to his right, next to one of the look outs in the area. Deciding that the safety in numbers was a reality Liam ran over to the man, and took a knee behind him a bit to ensure they both had clear line of sight on the targets.

He let his vision gaze over to Brucey, and activated his short range radio, hopefully making it so that whatever capabilities the enemies had couldn't pick up on their frequency. "Sir, another mass of flesh has grown on the main street and Wolves are pouring out. Situation seems contained for the moment however." with that he returned his attention to the main road and drew his rifle.

With Brucey on the street beside them, presumably dealing with their own misfortune. Liam took aim with his rifle on the nearest pair of wolves. He made sure to try and match their advance as he did, and fired his weapon, the hum of his rifle turning into a sort of squealing as rounds were let loose. He laid focused fire on the pair, spraying across the small area they occupied. With his modified rifle he let the burst last almost as long as he could, and the sharp hiss of the coolant in his rifle gave him pause to let the rifle cool down.