Recoil: Chapter 8, Impact
The smog in the turbulent air tossed the cargo plane I sat in mildly, hooks and clasps clattered against the metal walls. "Drop zone in range, T-Minus 60 seconds, stay frosty Panther" Layton spoke through my suits comm system. "Aim for the glass over the roof, that'll make for a warm welcome." "Copy that, I'll give them hell" I secured my FN herstal SCAR-H to my assault vest, along with 8 mags, grenades, rappel gear, K-bar combat knife on each boot, all that on top of my suit, and I was armed, quite literally to the teeth. "And remember, besides your squad already in the drop zone, all targets are hostile, and armed presumably. Just remember to keep all precious cargo safe and intact. And leave the cash for the local authorities; you've got enough to be thankful for." I had to call bullshit on that, because I honestly, aside from my pretty kick-ass panther form, I had nothing. Actually, I had some clothes and my jacket back at the base. But anyway, here I was, about 45,000 feet above one of the vastest cities in the world. Bangkok. The mission was to intercept two recently allied gangs meeting atop a luxury penthouse, to exchange money, drugs, weapons, but what was more important than all of that. Information. Information that was extremely sensitive in relation to the United States military supply lists, times, along with other things that shouldn't be on wikileaks at the moment. Why was I in a plane while my squad members were down there, about to take the heat of two gangs? Well, I was the planned backup, in case things got hectic. "Drop away, drop away. Drop zone down coast. God speed" The pilot spoke through the loudspeaker. I got up and activated the torque mode in my suit, "System engaged" A British sounding female voice murmured into my head, which never got less cool. I sprinted to the now open drop bay in the rear of the plane, and jumped as hard as I could, hurling myself at least a few hundred yards beyond the exiting plane. Wind whistled over my gear, and if it wasn't for the helmet my eyes would have been that of a falling cartoon character I'm willing to bet. Smog and clouds whisked over me, I could see everything for at least a few miles in the dense city, and It would have been much more heartfelt if I wasn't about to take the lives of at least a few dozen men and possibly women. They said I shouldn't leave anyone alive who was attending the meeting. It had to be done, I didn't like it too well, but at least they had crimes to die for. The tower was in my central vision, I focused on the middle window, "Flight path locked, guiding," The suit spoke once more. I read the altimeter in the corner of my visor, 3000 feet and closing at roughly 200 miles per metric mile per hour. I took a full breath of the compressed oxygen in my suit, then threw the dial plate all the way to the left, "Armor engaged, system primed for impact," I held my paws out and flipped hind paws first down, this was the part I read about, I would hit the ground hard enough to liquefy a normal being, but the suit would, Hopefully, prevent that from happening to me.... At least I read that it would. Time slowed a bit, and for a brief moment I could see the new fear on some of the members faces as I shattered through the glass. I hit the tiled floor so hard I couldn't even begin to explain, the material acted as if it was only balsa wood, shattering and splintering to my presents. I dropped a floor below, my clenched fist hitting the new stone floor with the force of a .308 round, cracking it over a few feet span, my knees burrowing into the tile a few inches to the floors breaking point, loud breaking sounds rung out around the room. Which was apparently a restroom. But rather than worrying about whether it was a women's or men's, I spotted something that stopped my blood cold. Barrels. 6 of them, all wired to a black shoe box with an LCD screen, LEDs blinking everywhere. "Panther to over watch, Panther to over watch, we have an RDD, I repeat we have an RDD!" A dirty bomb, the last thing I had expected. Obviously someone didn't plan on playing nice on their part of the deal. "Nice landing panther, you alive?" Bone asked on the radio channel, the sound of gunfire in the background as well as overhead, "affirmative, but we've got a situation. "I know, I'll be down ASAP to disarm the package" Sweets chimed in. "Good looks, I'm heading topside to provide fire." I stood from my kneeling position, tile breaking off the suit. Not even a scratch on the thing, damn. Must be made with duct tape. I went to open the door, when the visor flashed "Low energy" in the right corner. Fuck me sideways, lost it all in the drop. Well, least I wasn't a furry pancake. I switched the armor mode off and bounced a little in place, trying to get the power restored. A little stupid looking, but hey, I had things to do.
50% and Climbing, I'd be done in a second, but still, that's another second I could completing my mission. Sweets jogged by, and slugged my shoulder, "Damn, forgot about the armor. Leave the bomb to me; I'll ring out if it gets to be a code blue." Code blue would mean 2 things. One: we failed. Two: we would most likely die unless we grew wings and flew to the other end of the city. Juiced and good to go, I charged up the stairs, activating torque to kick a self-closing door across the meeting room. "Armor engaged." I raised my rifle, and lite off bursts into some poorly covered guys, dropping them instantly. A few rounds of their own colliding with my chest, sparks flew as the rounds were reduced to small lead mushrooms on the floor. My power level dropped a bit taking even those few shots, I'll keep that in mind next time I turn myself into a walking tank. Charging down the center of the room, I dropped to a fast slide and kicked upward on the edge of a sideways table, sending it spinning through the air and catching the attention of a few thugs. "Gotcha scum..." Still sliding I popped the caps off a few of the attention deficit affected souls. I came in contact with the side of a bar, and rolled to the right, shots raining down on me as I mowed down as many members as I could. The bullet ricochet off me and shattered glasses left on tables, and cracking through windows. I got up and grabbed one well-tanned fellow by the Windpipe and ripped a briefcase from his hands. Now I will say, this is one thing I won't be proud of, and as cool as it seems to use someone as a meat shield in Gears of War, it's a bet less so in real life. I mean, your holding another being in front of you while he loses half his body weight in blood to protect you against his or her will. Holding my rifle with one arm extended I continued to reduce the population of the room. The SCAR clicked empty, I cursed and swung it around my shoulder, pulling out my M9 side arm and kicking my shield away. Most of the still living men and women took refuge in the above head loft, firing down with submachine guns and side arms. Again, more rounds flickered off of me, a few hitting my helmet and damn near deafening me. I took aim and squeezed cartridges off into my enemies, watching them fall back or over the handrail. "We got some runners heading down the stairs, I'm pursuing, so cover me." Jackal informed. I collected a few laptops, brief cases, file folders, cell phones, and other Information containing implements and piled them on a dinner table. I'd come back later to get them. But the file folder, it had some interesting things about it, The Windsnarle logo in the center, and tabs along the side, reading "PROJECT: ADAM," and "PROJECT: EVE" undoubtedly something I'm not supposed to see. But curious minds prevailed and I flicked it open. What I saw made my blood run cold as ice. A white file with "Top Secret" stamped across the text, a picture filling the top right corner. Another panther. Another one like me. But this one was different, it was male I'm sure, but he had a massive scar leading from his left brow, over his blood red eye, and ending just before his neck. But that wasn't all; he had this look about him. The look of a murderer. "What is this? Project: ADAM....?" I questioned to myself. I needed to stop looking at this; I had a mission to finish. One last glance then-
I saw it. The panthers name. "Wyyvin" read under the photo. But this wasn't me!? Was it? No, I never looked like this, those weren't my eyes. My heart was fluttering in my chest at what I was seeing. I had to take this, this was mine.
Sliding the folder into the small pack on my back (puny), I reloaded my rifle then my sidearm, then sprinted to the other end of the floor beyond the bar and loft. A lone thug stood bloody over the edge of a deck that overlooked the massive city, he looked crazy as he held a metal device over the guard rail. "Give it to me." I commanded. He smiled, blood staining his teeth. "No no no, I'm afraid I can't let this pretty gem go." Then he dropped the case. "Fucker!" I shouted as I engaged the suits torque mode, delivering a skull imploding punch to the face of the punk. Memories of when I stomped the brains out the bully flashed before me, stunning me for a moment. I shook them off, and then leaped over the edge in a suicidal swan dive. "What the fuck are you doing panther?" I heard Bone yell over the comm system. "I'm running an errand; make sure Sweets disarms that bomb or this city going to be nothing but dusty fallout. Over" Wind whisked over my visor as I fell, keeping my eyes trained on the device. Then I saw men on the ground throw a heap of dirty mattresses under the case, cushioning its fall. All this was taking place over the course of six seconds, and I had about three more until I met a similar fate. "Drop armor engaged." I used my tail to spin around so my hind leg could make contact first. And of course they pulled the mattresses away, no matter. I landed like a missile on the sidewalk, cracking and cratering it for more than a dozen feet. I winched as the suit depleted its energy once more, a slowing hum sounded. A few thugs were blasted away by my impact; the others held nothing back as lead showered me. "Now that damn well hurts!" I shouted as I stood to my full towering height. Since I had no armor, the rifle rounds from the AK-74s and Uzis hit like hundreds of heavy weight punches to my body, sending me tripping backwards a few paces. I needed to act, I could survive, but I don't know if the suit could handle too much more. I jumped and rolled under an over cocky thug, breaking his jaw with a hard upward kick. Like I planned, he dropped his rifle, which I grabbed. Since mine was reduced to scrap after the fall. I sprayed down the remaining men as pedestrians screamed and ran. "This is still a city; Need to watch my fire..." I muttered to myself. While I wasted my time dropping the gang members, the case as well as whoever had it squealed off in an armored SUV, ramming cars and cyclists on its way into traffic. Throwing the dial to torque, I lifted the faceplate for a few seconds. A little clock-like symbol depleted clock-wise then shown "caution" crossed my vision. If I read correctly, doing this will deliver the same drug given to me at training straight into my spine. I didn't like doing so, but I couldn't get to that car without it. I slammed the faceplate down as a plethora of needles drove into my spinal column, liquid like fire streamed from them. Under the helmet, my jaw flew open at the pain. Falling to my knees as the drug took effect, darkness engulfing my vision. Then Like the sound of a dentist's drill, the suits energy shot full, my strength along with it. Like before, the feeling of invincibility hit harder than anything I had ever smoked. I tore the concrete as I stormed like a true animal down the streets of Bangkok. My heart was racing like a V12 engine, I loved it, every moment I felt more and more like a god. I wonder if this substance was additive..? I thought about random things while I hurtled over tour buses and gapped intersections at supernatural speeds. I spotted the SUV breaking off onto a huge 5 lane highway. This was going to get interesting. I bounded off structures and constructs within the street, gaining height to reach the rooftops. To my luck, the highway was no more than a hundred yards from my position. I waiting, shaking, for the SUV to cross me. "And... Now!" I shouted to myself in my mind. Preforming a sprinting leap across the urban abyss, Then missing the SUV by only a few feet I rolled the landing off and got right back up to catch it. Running on two legs at freeway speeds isn't the best course of action to take when, well... Running at freeway speeds. I lowered into a prowl and began charging naturally on all fours. Moving much faster than most of the passing vehicles, I dodged, spun and bound over them, my pray coming oh so much closer to me. A few more hard strides and I pounced with all my strength at the racing machine, punching through the rear window to grab hold. I could tell the thugs where way off guard, pure fear and surprise painted their facial expressions. Just how I like things. I climbed over the top of the chasses and proceeded to rip the fools right out. The SUV swerved, trying to force me off. I bashed the bullet-proof glass like a graham cracker and clutched someone by the neck and flung him into flowing traffic. Someone else tried, and failed, to hit me with a pair of pistol rounds, I was already in position to do the same to him. The highway leads into another part of the city, and I had a feeling that's where they would attempt to go. I need to stop this car before that happened. I thought like I never thought I could have before. Stop it from the front? I had the muscle power to do so, but I would probably just get whipped under the car. Drag it from behind? No, they would still floor the gas. Then I remembered when I took out the tank, I knew what to do. I gracefully did a side cartwheel to the front of the machine, my paws holding onto the grill for support while asphalt tore only a foot from under me. I smiled with all of my teeth under the helmet, if only they could see. I jutted a flat paw under the hood and ripped it up with ease, causing it to fly off the car. I looked down at the engine, watching every little piece of hardware do its thing. Now to do mine. I punched into a plastic casing just behind the engine, wreaking the air filter and coolant line. I punched again down until my armored knuckles showered sparks from the drive shaft. I reached for the spinning shaft, and squeezed with everything I had as sparks flew and the metal began to glow red hot. I could feel the car slow, and the engine strain against me. I pulled up, bending the shaft into a bow, causing it to throw itself around within its housing. Now... I delivered one final punch to the smoldering section, snapping it into a crazed metal snake. I had to get the case and leave before this thing blew. I dived into the windshield, disabling the driver, then spotted and acquired the case, and then before the SUV could even begin to turn I shot like a torpedo out the rear window, corking myself so I could slide on my side off the road. More sparks flew from under my legs as I rolled like a barrel into the man-made ditch, skittering to a halt after about two hundred yards. "Never again, will I attempt such a move..." I whined to myself while I shook my head, too dizzy to do anything more. An explosion went off a ways ahead; the SUV's free drive shaft broke thru the fuel tank.
I back tracked a few dozen miles to the first plaza where I was dropped. Local police swarmed the hotel, pedestrians not far behind. I couldn't just walk thru the front lobby. "Hey, Anyone still in active enemy engagement? Over." I waited in an alleyway, hidden from all the commotion I had caused. "Panther, how nice to drop back in. Bone said you lost your shit and dove off the tower, what's up with that? Over." it was sweets, "I needed to pursue sensitive material some dick head dropped off the deck. Is that bomb cleared? And when and where is our evac? Over." "There's a sea port a few blocks from here, In ETA seven minutes a cargo sea plane will land. That's our ticket out. Over" Holmes chimed in. "And yes, the bomb is green to go, or to "not" go, would be a better way of putting it. Over" I shrugged, "Whatever works, great work sweets, I'm happy I don't need to worry about being reduced to charcoal. Over"
Wait, how where they going to get down? If they are spotted, Thailand police will know they're Americans, and Christ only knows how well that would go over. "Panther to squad. How are you planning to descend that tower? Local authorities can't know that Americans brought hell to earth here."
There was a brief pause. "Behind the hotel there's a labyrinth of rooftops, we can reach them from the lower floors fire escape. Just meet us at the port, and I don't need to tell you to make it snappy. Over" I had to admit, Holmes is a quiet guy, but he knows what he's doing. "I should say the same to you; you've got a lot of ground to cover. Panther over and out" I ended my transmission and began to work around the scene. I'd say my rush is about at 40% at this point in time, but that should be enough to get to the evac zone. The city wasn't too much to ruin, given there were a lot of big buildings, but those where like the canopy of the rainforest, the rest wasn't much different than a ghetto. I darted through allies, under bridges, and then eventually, I could see the sea port. Massive cargo cranes giving a good waypoint.
I got to the spot then did my best to remain unseen, which wasn't too hard do to the fact most of the work being done was on other piers. So, I slumped down in a medium size abandoned cargo container. I worked the mechanism on the back of my helmet and felt semi-fresh sea air rush into my nose to greet me when it hissed open. I held it in my lap as I rubbed my ears and fur after being compacted in that thing for so long. One thing I also noticed was that the sun was much brighter without my visor, kind of like going from a basement to a sunny sky. While I waited, I looked at the dings, scratches, and abrasions left from combat on my suit, more so my right hand where I had handled that drive shaft. I flexed my arms and felt the suit emulate muscle increase. Fascinating how men could forge such technology. Then I remembered the folder in my pack. I pulled it out and stared. "So much kept secret..." I ran my metal claw over the vanilla paper and turned it open to my new friend's picture. "So let's find out what's what..." I hadn't even looked at the device I worked so hard to get, partially because it was pad locked shut with three different locks, and I didn't want to push anymore then I have information wise. And besides, this was enough for me.