The Cross of Mithras Vol. 1: EOD Operation Welcome to Hell

by Douglas Howell

  Before Hayes could get off a shot he was hit in the helmet. He then killed a Demon Cy-X at the same time another Demon Cy-X rushed him. The Demon Cy-X then tried to jump over the hood of the car, but Hayes shot and killed him. As luck would have it for Hayes the Demon Cy-X landed on the hood of the car and provided him with some protection (He was also lucky in the sense that they didn’t have any hand grenades.). Hayes was, however, shot two more times in the helmet before he was able to kill that Demon Cy-X. Two Demon Cy-Xs then ran around the car while the other four stood their ground shooting at him. Hayes kill one, was shot three times in the helmet and notice the two Demon Cy-Xs trying to flank him. He then killed them while he was squatted down and was hit on top of his helmet. He then noticed that the other three Demon Cy-Xs rushed his position. He killed two quickly, but the third jumped over the car, punched Hayes in the face at the same time Hayes shot him under his chin. Hayes stumbled backwards, hit the wall, his head then rolled back and hit the wall hard and then he stepped forward. After he step forward White Team came in at the same time his helmet fell apart. He was lucky to be alive and he knew it.

  “Sir, are you alright?” Cole asked him surprised that he was still alive. Hayes didn’t respond because he was touching his face to see if he was wounded. He was also too stunned to respond.

  “Sir! Are you alright!?” Cole asked again.

  “I need you to take the APCs down the road several yards and line them up bumper-to-bumper in a perpendicular fashion. Place two more in the same fashion between the monorail and this building.” Hayes ordered him.

  “Sir…?” Cole said confusingly.

  “Do it! Do you seriously believe that it is all over!? We need to hold this position until reinforcements arrive, or we’re dead! Do you understand!?” Hayes asked him.

  “Yes sir.” Cole responded.

  “Then do as I say. I then want you to take the vehicles in this garage in put proximity explosives in them and then place the vehicles in a strategic location around the monorail, the parking garage and several yards in front of the APCs. I then want you to destroy the monorail track a half mile away from us. Go to the building that Team A went into, bust out all the windows on the second floor and do the same with the building that Team C went into. I then want you to place our wounded in the rooms with the busted out windows. As soon as the lab is taken, and as soon as you can, destroy the tunnel under those two buildings. Make damn well certain that nobody can reopen them. After that, I want those APCs manned. Do you understand me!?” Hayes ordered him.

  “Yes sir.” Cole responded.

  “Then get it done, now.” Hayes ordered him. As Cole was walking away Hayes called out to him and said, “See what Ramirez think of my plan first.”

  Ramirez was almost flabbergasted when he heard Cole tell him of Hayes’ plan. Ramirez accepted it without question and with a smile. Ramirez was so glad that he had his lieutenant back. He wasn’t the only one who felt like that.

  In the commotion of the Demon Cy-X vicious attack upon Hayes, he forgot to pick up the picture of his family. He would later remember that he left it there, but at that time period he had more important things to worry about. He had to worry about keeping his people alive. But his plan did help greatly to save the day and to save lives. Including the most important lives of them all.

  (7)

  “Green Team reporting as ordered ma’am.” Nakada said to Vaistll after both he and Caparzo arrived at the monorail.

  “I’m putting both of you on the 3Rs (Rest, Relaxation & Recuperation) until further noted.” Vaistll informed both of them.

  “Understood ma’am.” Nakada responded.

  “So what do you want to do with both of them?” Ramirez asked Vaistll after they left.

  “Do you have suggestions?” Vaistll asked him.

  “Given the losses of Blue Team we could put both of them in with the team.” Ramirez responded.

  “What do you think?” Vaistll asked Taylor.

  “I agree.” Taylor responded.

  “Alright. I’ll go and tell them.” Vaistll said. She then got up to inform both Nakada and Caparzo that they will be a part of Blue Team. Neither one said anything. In a way, both of them kind of suspected that they will join either Red or Blue Team.

  After the lab was fully secured, Vaistll moved their temporary headquarters from the monorail to the main office in the lab complex. Although none of the wounded had any life threatening injuries, they had to wait until a medic arrives from The Hammer of Doom. In less than thirty minutes after Vaistll moved the HQ, two events occurred that would forever change all the lives involved. One occurred in the lab complex and the other occurred with the reinforcements.

  (8)

  Dark Serpent 109T woke up sometime after he fell into the river. He woke up on the rocks with his lower torso and legs in the water. As he looked around he noticed that he was at the base of a cliff and there was no way that he could climb up. Both his legs and his left arm was badly injured and he was unable to use them. To the east he could tell that there was a bridge on top of the cliff. He then made the decision to head there to see if there was a way up.

  While he was trying to crawl over to the bridge the waves would come and slam him up against the rocks. When he finally made it to the bridge he looked to see if there was a way up, but before he could find a way, a wave slammed him so hard up against the cliff wall that it knocked him out. When Dark Serpent 109T woke up he was on a riverbank. He then crawled up several yards and looked around. He then noticed a rowboat 300 feet down the river. After he crawled over and climbed into the boat he pushed it away from the shore and let the river take him down stream away from the bridge. After he traveled two-to-three miles he saw an abandoned shack. He then climbed out of the boat and crawled over to the shack.

  While he was in the shack he looked for anything that could treat his wounds, especially his legs. He stayed in there until his legs were well enough to allow him to walk. He spent so long in that shack that he was near death, but he, in one of his past lives, has been through that situation before. He knew how to survive, how to stay alive, how to overcome to sensation of hunger. He knew from the get-go that he will get better.

  After Dark Serpent 109T fully recover from his injuries he would try his best to find a way off of that world. But most of his time was spent either running away from his pursuers or looking for food, water and shelter. After thirty-five years he would lose count of the total number of years that he spent there. But he would never lose sight of his real mission in life. To exterminate the human race and all those who dare oppose him.

  Dark Serpent 109T would one day get off of that world and pursue his mission. Not being stupid, he knew that he needs to reinvent the Demon Cy-Xs. To make them stronger, more powerful, smarter and far more efficient at extermination. To make the Dark Hand of Nemesis indestructible.

  (9)

  “Ma’am…” Jaguar 42R was saying to Vaistll. She was in the main office in the lab complex. “…the breakdown of our defensives are: White Team and twenty-five Dragon Clones are defending both the monorail and the parking garage. Eight Dragon Clones are equipped with bazookas and anti-vehicular rockets. I also have three of my best snipers station there. They’re not as good as Martinez, but they’ll get the job done.”

  “What did you think of Hayes’ plan?” Vaistll asked out of curiosity.

  “It’s adequate enough. I put ten Dragon Clones with Red Team (guarding the beach), ten with Blue Team (manning the southern defensives), and five guarding the river. Seven are defending the road between the Experimental Research building and the north building. Thirteen are guarding the security station and the lobby in this building.” Jaguar 42R informed her.

  “And where will you be?” She asked him.

  “Where I’m needed.” Jaguar 42R responded.

  “That’s not what I asked.”

  “Assisting White Team.”

  “No. I want you here in the lab complex.”


  “May I ask why?”

  “It’s because of the possibility that the enemy will slip through.”

  “Ma’am, if that happens then we will all die.”

  “Maybe so, but I still want you here.”

  “Ma’am, nobody knows the Dragon Clones like I do. I’ve trained with them. I know what they can do. I’m needed with my people.” Jaguar 42R said.

  “What about Viper 33X? Why can’t he do the job?”

  “Well he can but…” Jaguar 42R was saying.

  “Well see, there you go.”

  “Ma’am, may I speak freely?”

  “Yes.”

  “There are only eighty-nine of us left and seventeen of us are wounded. We are stretched too thin and there is the possibility that we may die here. If the Dragon Clones are to be wiped out then I want to be with them fighting. If I die then I die. But if I live, then at least I fought along side my kind instead of being on the sidelines. How can I live with myself if I am the last of my kind and I didn’t fight with my brothers?”

  “Fine. If that’s what you want, then so be it. Dismissed.” Vaistll disappointedly said.

  After he left she put her face in her hands. She then discovered the bottle of tequila that Dawson left behind. Although she really needed a drink at the thought of everybody she know will die, she laid the bottle down and close the drawer. She knew that the best way for her to save lives is to be sober. God she wished that Lenkov and his reinforcements was there. Five minutes later she got the call informing her that the reinforcements were coming.

  “Ma’am, me and Taylor need you in the data storage area.” Ramirez said to Vaistll over the intercom.

  “What did you find?” Vaistll asked him.

  “The truth on the Dragon Clones and the Demon Xs.” Ramirez responded.

  When Vaistll got to the data storage area she headed towards the back. Both Taylor and Ramirez was standing in front of a door that was marked “Cloning Samples & Equipment.” Ramirez was holding a device that Omori gave them to decrypt secure areas. Vaistll then nodded her head and Ramirez placed the decryption device on the door and opened it. The three of them then went into the area which was dark and most of the equipment was turned off.

  The Cloning Samples & Equipment area is divided into sections; one for testing, one for storing full grown clones who had their memories blanked, one for storing samples with and without cybernetic implants, data storage, medical for the clones, and the lab itself. Although Dark Serpent 109T told the scientist to delete the data in the data storage area, it only refer to the research and development after the Demon Xs and Demon Cy-Xs were created, not the raw data on their creation. That data, which also contained notes that the scientists took, is in the Cloning Samples & Equipment data storage area. Dark Serpent 109T knew that, but he also knew that none of the scientists who were still there, had the door code. Nor would it had done any good to destroy the door. Dark Serpent 109T also knew that the scientist’s computers also backed up their data by sending it to the Cloning Samples & Equipment data storage area. He’d assumed that nobody would be able to get into that room.

  The Clone Storage Vats had only one slightly rounded metal door. The door was designed to remove a full grown clone (in a vat) to be analyzed or experimented upon. On the right side of the door was an electronic panel that could bring a vat to the door, or to send it to the incinerator. The door panel could also send a vat to any area in the CSE.

  Vaistll went to the Clone Storage Vats and pushed a button on the door panel to view the first clone – a 6’5” human male. She then view the next clone – a 6’3” human female. She had no reaction when she saw that the third clone was a Wol’ga’con male, but when she saw the fourth clone she mouthed the words “Fuckin’ assholes.” The fourth clone was her. The EOD somehow got her DNA and made a clone of her. Which would explain the Wol’ga’con male. The fifth clone was two large reptilian eggs. The one on top was marked male and the one on bottom was marked female.

  “Is that what I think it is?” Ramirez asked.

  “Yes it is. The eggs of a Vikyyard – a Apollinarian dragon.” Vaistll responded.

  “So how did they get them?” Taylor asked.

  Vaistll turned to him and said, “Back in the 20th century, on Earth, I lost…” She then had a worried look on face. She turned and looked at the sixth door panel, put her right index finger over the button, close her eyes and pushed the button.

  “What is that ugly little beastie?” Taylor asked.

  Vaistll then opened her eyes, looked down at it, and said, “Hellntl nll’e’dk (hell-na-stl, nal e doc) – a swamp demon. It’s a male. The one that I killed so long ago, to be precise. I guess that I never lost that dragon’s tooth or that swamp demon’s skull – it was stolen. Goddamn them all to hell.” She pushed the button on the door panel and brought up the last clone. As she expected it was a female swamp demon. She then walked away shaking her head.

  “Ma’am, what do you want to do with those clones?” Ramirez asked her.

  “Get rid of the human and Apollinarian ones, but keep the dragon eggs and the swamp demon ones.” Vaistll responded.

  “Why keep the swamp demon clones?” Ramirez asked.

  “They may come in handy later in case the Dragonfly virus don’t work on the Demon Cy-Xs. Don’t forget that the Dragonfly virus was created to deal with the control problems of the Demon Xs. There are no control problems with the Demon Cy-Xs.” Vaistll responded.

  “So what do you want to do now?” Taylor asked her.

  “Search these computers for whatever data that we can find on a weakness on the Demon Cy-Xs and then relay the Intel back to The Hammer of Doom.” Vaistll responded.

  “Hey guys. You need to come and take a look at this.” Vaistll said after five minutes of reviewing the data in the archives. While she was searching for something on the Dragonfly virus a video popped up. The video was from Dark Serpent 109T.

  “What’s up?” Ramirez asked her.

  “Here, take a look at this video.” Vaistll said. She then rewind it back to the beginning.

  “My name is Dark Serpent 109T, and I congratulate you on making it this far. I made this video just for you captain. So let me save you the trouble in your search. The Dragonfly virus will not work on us – the Demon Cy-Xs. Survive long enough and maybe, just maybe, your scientists would learn the truth about us. But I doubt it. Not even the EOD knew the real truth. I did informed the scientists here of the truth, but they’re dead. Guess why. Me? No, Dawson. He’d saved me the trouble. Even if your people did learn the truth it wouldn’t do them any good. For you see captain, the truth that I’m talking about lies within my introns. Once a certain event occurs than one of my introns will trigger. What makes me so special is that I’m the original clone that all Demon Xs and Demon Cy-Xs come from. I’m the one in the Clone Storage Vat.

  Would you like to hear something funny? When they first cloned me they blanked my memories only for it to trigger one of my introns. It’s the one that cause rapid deterioration and would eventually kill the clone. So you see captain, they had no other choice but to let me keep my memories. Now here’s the punch line: the swamp demon in the vat is the one that will rapidly deteriorate. I wonder what your scientists will learn from it. Especially since they will have less than 100 days to learn whatever they can. Don’t believe me? It’s in the data.

  I wonder if you are going to do what you did when we last met. Have the mistaken believe that there are treasures here and then to take them. Did you ever tell anyone about that? No. Let me guess why. Does it have something to do with the fact that it goes against your precious Code Book of Honor? After seeing my face again this close, will you shit your pants again? Do you remember me now? Of course this time around it won’t be me that will kill your friends. But something that came from me. And you have nobody but yourself to think for that.

  Let me tell you why your friends died at my hands so very long ago. My kind was always
far smarter than what your kind gave us credit for. We just chose not to communicate with your kind. Live and let live I suppose. But your kind never even tried to communicate with us. And when they started to come to the conclusion that we may be smarter than what we let on, what did they do? Demonized us, made us out to be some type of a monster. Than one day a group of people came, drove us off of our home land right into the swamps, and then called us a hellntl nll’e’dk. That one single act triggered one of our introns – the quest for revenge. Why do you think that the Demon Xs are driven to destroy those whom they perceive to be their enemy? Although we had our revenge upon the villagers, some of the people escape, creating those stories about us.

  Some point in time after that a religious group, despite their lost of life, came and captured my kind. They took us, along with the ashes of their fallen, loaded us on boats, and took us to their land. They imprisoned us in a pit at the back of a cave. Over the pit was a hole in the ceiling on the cave wall that led to a temple where they practiced sacrificing people. Those religious zealous forced us to do unholy things. Our pain led to a strength and that strength came from an activated intron – the rage to destroy. I was the only one who managed to escape. Although those religious zealous looked for me, they never found me. At some point in time later, for some unknown reason, their high priest left with one baby. I went to check out what had occurred and found nothing. And in that pit was some unholy black liquid which I could feel the truth of my kind. They were all scarified in order to help in the creation of that liquid. Eventually I found my way back home. When you and your friends came I wanted to join my kind in the afterlife. When you killed me another intron was activated – no fear of death.

  One day we shall meet again. And on that day I will consume your flesh. Remember these words: Kadk’suno pa’un’no de mey’os yyde hun’reit oosa. Yyde eylod erw’da frun’do itan. For those words are written within my introns. Who am I? The Dark Hand of Nemesis.” Dark Serpent 109T then ended the video. Vaistll just sat there too stunned to say anything.