by Ray O'Neil
His face was split in half and wrapping into a shrivelling roll behind his head by the time the door closed on its own, hiding the horrific scene.
Emich took a deep breath, trying to keep his mind clear of any thinking. He just focused on the overhead lights flying by as they went further into the facility and out of the phase one area. Going down an elevator and into a darker area of the place, they stopped shortly after the doors opened at the arrival of their new floor. He couldn’t see where they were heading, but seeing soldiers sitting and relaxing by one of the walls wasn’t a good sign.
They didn’t bring their guns with them for show and tell — their safeties off for a reason.
A staff member who had the build of a small tank picked Emich up by the waist and pinned him down against a rough wall filled of holes. Seeing the bearded giant face to face, Emich figured he was one of the helping hands that dealt with limp bodies on a daily basis, his apron covered in blood and unrecognizable stains. Metal restraints bloomed out of the wall around Emich, whirling downwards to lock over his legs, waist, and chest. They were covered in dents, bullets still embedded into the thick bars of metal. Glancing at the soldiers, who were lining up before him, he started to sweat — despite the chilling steel surrounding him.
Stepping off to the side, the lumbering staff member crossed his arms, leaning against the wall like he was waiting for a show to start. A soldier stepped up to the front, main issue UC assault rifle in hand. It wasn’t military grade, but it was still the kind they used for any urban conflicts that was human-on-human. Lifting it up to his hip, the rifle expanded outward from its collapsed state, the stock and barrel whirling out of hiding and into position. Once the laser sight lowered into place, the invisible beam place a bright blue dot on Emich’s abdomen.
He closed his eyes. It was the only thing he could do while he waited for the trigger to be pulled.
The shot was muffled by the guns built in silencer, but Emich still flinched at the sound of it. The metal restraints spread open to allow him to fall to the ground, his lungs finally able to expand fully. Gasping for air, he held the wound in his stomach with a weak hand, the bullet passing right through his body and out his back. He’s felt the sting of a bullet hitting his armor, but never one hitting him directly.
Expecting to feel his organs spilling out of the small hole and blood pooling on the floor, there was a different feeling. Looking down at his injury and grunting in agony, his wound gradually shrank, the skin reattaching itself like a web thickening to the point where it was like nothing ever happened. Feeling a strange warmth from within, he coughed as the sensation of his stomach expanding back to normal made him shudder. His cough became wet with what he thought was blood, until it splattered on the ground under his mouth in a small purple puddle. The same thing that they had in the IV bag, only more red and thick.
The agent stood over Emich, blocking the light from above with his intimidating stature. He didn’t say a word, but Emich could tell he had his blood-chilling smirk underneath his dark shadow.
Emich’s voice shivered, unsteady from the shock. “What the hell did you do to me?!”
“We’ve succeeded in making you the perfect subject, according to the results. You have shown to have gained abilities of the Niflheim. You are the first step to a way we can fight them back and take them out once and for all.”
Even with the adrenaline helping him fight through the muscle suppressants, Emich failed at getting up and could only stagger onto one knee. “You’ve turned me into a freak!”
The agent took a step back, facing the other direction to walk back to his watching position from before. “We have turned you into a successful execution on the human ability to adapt. The information we are collecting on these test will help the ERA become the one and only force that will have the capabilities to save our doomed planet.” Spinning on his heel, he clicked his boots to have everyone at attention. “Set him back into the fire zone and prepare the next weapon.”
Emich huffed loudly, his breathing sharp. As the hairy gorilla of a man picked him up to lock him back in place, he tried to fight back but to no avail. Even at full strength, he would have had trouble breaking out of the massive man’s grip. All he could do was try to breathe the pain away and keep his eyes closed. He know what kind of weapons they had in mind and he didn’t want to know.
The firing range was used as a torture chamber for the rest of the day.
Chapter 4
“You can hear their cry, can’t you?” His voice was warped because of the gas mask, but the team could hear him normally through the communicator's built inside of their equipment.
Knocking her head back, the youngest one in the APC’s cabin took a second of silence before answering. “I’m sorry, but I don’t hear anything. I want to, but nothing comes to me.”
The leader of the group gave him a quick chuckle. “You’re still an initiate. You haven’t fully accepted the Niflheim into your heart. Only when you completely dedicate your soul to our saviors, will you begin to hear the music they make for the universe. Only now, they cry for help and we are the only ones who can help them.”
The speakers at the APC’s corners clicked on. “ETA in two minutes. Prepare for cleansing.”
Getting their Z-140s ready, they loaded up and fixed bayonets at the end of their barrels. They all wore black hoods and combat robes, made specifically for covert and tactical operations. The one at the front end of the cabin, their squad leader, was defined by his robe’s high collar and his helmet in the shape of a Wotan Niflheim’s skull — a very reptilian and fish-like appearance. Only ones of a Seithr ranking were holy enough to bear that kind of equipment, showing that they are above the others in enlightenment. There were different styles from around the world, but everyone who fought in the name of the Niflheim shared the same practices.
Another common practice was using combustion bullets against the infidels, something that became their signature during raids like the one they were on their way to perform.
The Seithr stood up, walking down the line of cultist. “Stick to the plan everyone. They call to us for help. Somewhere inside the facility, there are Niflheim clinging to life in there. I want all acolytes to guide our initiates to glory, to show them the unstoppable ways the Niflheim have shown through valiant example.” Approaching the only female and the only initiate in their APC, the Seithr put a hand on her shoulder. “You may be an initiate, young one, but you have proven yourself in battle. I trust you can handle the role of primary infiltrator. Am I correct?”
She knelt before him, respectfully. “Of course, my Seithr. I’ll be at the ready before the rest of you can leave the vehicle.”
Taking a step back to press a button on the cabin’s right side, the Seithr nodded. “Excellent.” The back doors of the APC opened wide, like a mouth of a predator ready to devour its prey. “May the light of our saviors shine upon you.”
Standing upright and facing the opened doors, the initiate approached the windy opening. It was dark in the subway tunnel, the rails below flying by as the APC continued to roll towards its destination. Taking a deep breath before the great plunge, she ran out of the cabin and leaped off of the bottom hatch, using it as a springboard. The vehicle continued its course as she landed on the ground into a short skid, hooking the middle of her magnetic boots onto the rail to control her momentum. Keeping her eyes to her right, the sight of a low air vent caused her to unhook and leap off of the fixed pathway.
Wind howled through the empty tunnel, the vehicle already too far away to hear its wheels and engine. Climbing over the safety ledge and sprinting into place before the air vent’s metal grate, she reached into her satchel for the right tool. Pulling out a set of 4 triangular devices attached to a circular one with cables, she set each triangle at one of the corners of the air vent. Connecting the circular one to the center of the grate, she pressed on the button. The cables quickly hummed as they tightened up, charging up in power. With a quic
k bang, the grating was torn off of the wall and bundled up into a small ball, having it drop to the floor and roll off to the side.
Crawling in, the vent was big enough for her to stay crouched, allowing her to move quicker than if she was forced to stay prone. Sliding her arms along the sides to keep herself from banging around inside, she hurried down the dark hole. The goggles she wore with her gas mask glowed a gentle red, showing the path through the darkness as if it was daylight inside of there. They arrived at the tunnel’s entrance at 10:00pm and it only took the carrier ten minutes of driving to get as deep as it did into the secret tunnel, as was expected. The sniper who shot the guards–while they were in motion and by using the APC’s railgun above the driver’s seat–didn’t let any of the outside sentries sound the alarm, but they still had to act quick before the lack of communication outside will give them a reason to be alarmed.
It was the second rescue raid she has done since she joined Neo Ettin, the well known cultist group that had most of its influence in the regions of the UA. The last one she was in was nowhere near as heavily defended or as well hidden. Niflheim survivors of First Spear were captured and dissected for study, with numerous relics still out there, waiting to be brought to the right hands. The NDA supplied Neo Ettin with everything they could to make sure those hands belonged to anyone under the NDA’s influence, be it direct or indirect. Neo Ettin was one out of the countless groups ready and willing to bring down the oppressors of their saviors, and make the world into a paradise for the arriving Niflheim.
The vent ended at a sharp turn heading down to the depths of the unknown, the drop reaching farther than her goggles allowed her to see. Equipping a rappel wire from one of her belt pouches, she slapped the support block onto the top of the vent. Holding onto the grip of the wire’s end and inching to the edge, she dropped down into the darkness, the wire being pulled out of the block by her weight. Using an automated brake system and laser-distance-detection, the wire started to slow her descent once she got close to the bottom. She slowly hit ground again and let go of the wire, having it dangle there and move from the gradual wind coming through.
It wasn’t as dark where she was now, grills on the side of the vent showing the interior of the base through slow moving fans that circulated the airflow. Her chemical identifying system chirped in her ear piece once it detected a few harmful traces of different types of poisons gas in the air. Most importantly, there was minute amount of aesirium, the otherworldly compound only found when Niflheim are nearby. Turning off her goggles, she went back into a crouch and got her MP-23X “Mosquito” out of its leg holster. The stubby machine pistol was able to fire at a rapid and nearly silent rate, having two under-over barrels for different firing purposes.
Inching over to the end of one of the overlooking ports of a hallway, she scanned the area of anything worth getting rid of. A camera in the left corridor, right in the recess above a doorway. A guard standing in front of another doorway to the right, one that was labeled “disposing area”. Two people in lab coats making their way down the hall, having a casual conversation. She didn’t take her eyes off of the area when her com unit chirped on.
“Ashley, we are in position, what is your status?”
They were faster than expected. Their team had to override the transit system the facility used to deliver heavy equipment and were already in the loading bay. The amount of resistance must have been less than predicted, due to the difficulty in finding the place. Ashley had no idea where the Elders got their information, but it was to be believed that the Niflheim told them directly through mental messages. It could have been fellow cultist being spies or someone selling the information on the deep web, but either way, it was hard to believe a place like this even existed.
An entire secret military facility, hidden right underneath one of the UA’s biggest cities; invisible to any known detection device.
Ashley spoke quietly, even though the mask hid her voice from any outside ears. “Copy that. In position. Awaiting orders.”
“Let them have it.”
“Yes, my Seithr.”
Moving forward, the vent lead upwards to a shaft going directly over the hallway she was just observing. The grating covering it was weak enough to be broken through with ease. Clearing her mind, and praying to the Niflheim to give her the strength she needed, she used both of her legs to smash the grating down with a loud metal clank. Using the momentum to carry herself down into the hallway, she landed on a knee with her pistol already aimed at the guard.
With only enough time to react to the sight of the hooded infiltrator in a skin-tight stealth suit, the ERA guard was pushed into the wall with a quick burst of the Mosquito’s flammable ammunition. Glancing over her shoulder as the camera was about to direct itself over to her, she tossed an EMP shuriken its way, on of the three points piercing the lens, the camera sparking and popping. While a fire broke out within the guard’s body and roasted him from the inside out, the two clueless scientist veered around the corner to be in the sights of Ashley’s gun. They didn’t even realize they had a barrel pointed right at them until they heard its suppressed humming noise, the bullets tearing through them and the wall behind them. The chemical reaction with human flesh and the specially coated ammo turned their bodies into human torches before they could even hit the ground.
Keeping low and moving quickly, Ashley passed by their smoldering corpses and searched for the next infidel to cleanse.
. . .
Ever since First Spear, Dr. Mengele had been in charge of Project Dämmerung. Ever since he proposed the idea to the ERA commander, he was given permission and had his identity erased from existence. No man, no human, could be held responsible for being the creator of a government conspiracy. For all the world knew, the people working there were simply Xenobiological researchers and the inmates were already executed for their war crimes. The world knew nothing and it was all happening right under their noses.
He sat in his office, waiting to connect with the ERA commander. The holosphere at the middle of the room blipped rhythmically until it answered. Hovering over the holosphere’s glowing lens, it displayed the outline of a blank computerised face — no hair or distinguishable features other than vector lines mapped across every curve and bend. Opening its eyes, it lifted its gance off of the floor; data-strays fluttering around the face due to dust particles in the air. Dr. Mengele put his hands up to his face, folding his fingers and at full attention.
“Status report, Dr. Mengele.” Its voice was feminine with a secondary male echo, an effect it chose the second it was created.
Dr. Mengele held the cut on his nose in secret, pressing his thumb onto the stitching. It wasn’t because of the pain, but to cause it in order to concentrate. “Subject 771 has completed Phase One of Project Götterdämmerung. He is the only one so far. Further efforts will be directed towards Phase two until research is completed. Phase three preparations are estimated to be put into effect by the time of Spear Four.”
A bar appeared before the face, filling up to show that his report had been recorded and stored. “Converting battle strategies for present situation.”
Dr. Mengele leaned back in his chair. “Commander VALKYRIE, I request authorization.”
The first face fell back and another one appeared, data blocks piling up — the AI creating a new proxy to respond while the other one continued its processing. “Awaiting request.”
“I would like access to the G-Data.”
A loud buzz sounded in the room as the glow of the holosphere flashed red. “That information is registered under Class S. Only non human officials are allowed access to the G-Data.”
Dr. Mengele thought for a second, the blue glow of the holosphere image fluctuating in the room like a digital fireplace. Opening one of the drawers to his desk, he got himself a new pair of glasses, having forgot after concentrating on the project for so long. Finally getting the chance to sit down, the pangs of hunger were kicking in as well, sl
eep soon to follow. But he didn’t allow the nagging to take over, quickly standing up to rid his body of those needs.
He paced in front of his desk, the face of his commander waiting in silence. “... According to the database, I am not registered as human nor non-human. So, that would put me into Class S by default. That is, of course, unless you wish to change the rules.”
“Section one, article 30 of ERA law referring to the Artificial Intelligence Permission Pact: set rules are not allowed to be changed unless programmed into the mainframe itself by unanimous agreement of all country leaders under the ERA attachment act.”
Dr. Mengele lowered his head to hide the smirk under his deep jowls, the reflection from his glasses glaring a bright white. “Then I am under Class S. Correct?”
“Analyzing data…”
Quick bursts of static warped the face at the middle, data bits flashing in pulses of yellow as they flew upwards. Sound glitches popped and blipped as Commander VALKYRIE searched for all possibilities. After a few seconds of the holosphere fluttering, it returned to normal, the previous face disappearing and a new one appearing from the lens. The new face had a slight grin on it, the absence of eyes or other differences making it more like a grimace of pain. Its voice also changed slightly, having its male undertone less present than before.
“Request for Niflheim observation has been granted for Dr. Mengele. Uploading data.”
The progress bar appeared again for a quick second before turning the holosphere into a massive data page with multiple tabs and a gradual shift of images, as well as photos related to Spear Three — the last time Niflheim had been to Earth. Spear Three, also known as “The Trident War” had attacks in western Russia, the bottom of Brazil, and the middle of India. Entire countries wiped out and converted into breeding grounds. Entire forests burned down and the remaining being regulated, guarded and protected more than capital cities. Every attack brings more disaster, with little time to rebuild. Dr. Mengele was positive the project would help in preventing as much loss, but with the newly acquired information, he wasn’t sure anymore.
