The City VI
#6 of The City
The three hurried their way to the requisitioned truck. Perp held onto the rifle, letting Scripta keep the RPK for now. He slid into the back of the truck, facing Nihilo as the pickup lurched forwards, towards the compound they had just liquidated. Perp snapped his paw to his suit ear, clicking it on and transmitting, "We have a Zero-Eight-Five-Three happening, materials and personnel captured, we are in pursuit to intercept, over."
Lux's voice chimed in his ear, "You got it, Perp. Do what you can and head to exfil when possible."
Perp checked his weapon, then slid another flare into his suit arm, knowing he'd need it for the extraction. As they clambered over the rough terrain, Perp looked over his shoulder at the burning building, nodding as he saw the Daeva climb out of their bunkers and start mopping up the stragglers. The truck made a sharp turn towards a series of caves as the sun crested over the horizon slightly. Perp did a quick check of his suit's timepiece, noting that they were a bit behind schedule for a perfect exfiltration.
The truck slowed to a stop as Scripta climbed out of the cab. Perp and Nihilo jumped from the bed and jogged behind Scripta. Their suit HUDs were pinpointing the distress signal of Astra's suit. Perp muttered on the suit-to-suit radios, "Thank the manufacturer they hard-protected the distress signal, huh?"
Nihilo let out a slight shrug as Scripta slowed to a stop. They saw Astra's suit facedown on the dirt in front of a small cavern. The suit was surrounded by a smattering of blood. The three faced each other, waiting for Perp to say something.
Finally, after a silence, he spoke. "They probably, you know. Parts of the suit stick to the fur... Probably didn't deactvate those systems. Astra... has to be fine, right?"
Slowly, they all nodded and turned, heading down to the cavern, flicking on their thermal visors and moving to a tight triangle formation.
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Khopesh awoke to the white ceiling of his new room, his eyes focusing to the morning light. He yawned and sat up, standing and stretching as he looked at the opened box at the foot of his bed. That's right, that ceremony is today... He pulled the uniform out of the box, letting it furl open as he tilted his head around and took in the details. It was a simple uniform, a black-and-white camo pattern being the base. Khopesh ran his eyes up the buttons to the collars, smirking a bit as he saw the two leaves on the collar, one on each side. His eyes then went to the chest pocket, seeing the stitched "Aeterno" winding its way across the top. He shook his head a bit. Too official and stuffy. He turned over to the shoulder, running his thumb along the design. He sighed softly, seeing the deep blue circle decorated with a golden sword and shield. His eyes scanned the bottom to the specialty of his ;unit' - Rescue and Intelligence - before his eyes slowly wandered up. He teared up a bit, barely able to read "Lapillus Unit" emblazoned on the top. He sniffled a bit. It was not his idea to name this unit after the one he had lost a month ago: He had General Premis to thank for that.
Khopesh took a shower and slid on the uniform, consisting of long pants and the short-sleeved shirt he had just viewed. As he buttoned up the shirt, his fingers danced slightly at the scars on his chest, and he let out a slight shiver. Khopesh tucked the shirt in and pulled on some bits of nonstandard uniforming - His fingerless gloves and the red logo cap he was known around Eagle Rock to wear. He secured a watch on his wrist and buckled a holster on his leg, his signature Glock fitting snugly within it, before turning the corner and going to see the chains of command in his unit.
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He walked down he hall a short way, knocking on the open door to Jak's room. He peeked in, seeing the golden jackal sitting on her bed, already in uniform. She was looking down at a photograph, sniffling a bit, before she looked up and nodded.
Khopesh walked in and sat on the bed next to her, He looked over her shoulder at the photograph and sighed a bit. "They miss you, too. We'll save them."
Jak turned her head a bit, putting down the picture of her with her wife, Palla, and their son, Tanz. Jak screwed her face up a bit in thought before sighing and hanging her head. "We should have come to Eagle Rock earlier."
Khopesh nodded, rubbing her shoulder gently. "Yeah, I... Jak, I fucked up. If I could go back, we would have come here sooner, and I am sorry about that. There's nothing else I can say."
Jak nodded before wrapping her arms around him and giving him a tight hug. "You realize that, and I know when you say we will get to them... We will do it."
Khopesh nodded and stood up before letting his eyes run on her near-identical uniform before smirking. "Dual bars look good on you."
Jak blushed a bit, looking down at the captain marks on her lapel before nodding. "Leaves fit you well, too."
Khopesh nodded before turning, heading to the door and giving a wave before turning down the hall.
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Khopesh made it down the hall and turned into Vir's room. The dragon was sitting on a couch, teaching a few kids from a book about basic biological science. As Khopesh walked in, the dragon looked up and nodded, then turned to the kids and said, "We;ll go over photosynthesis tomorrow. Go ahead and play, alright?"
Khopesh stood in the doorframe, arms crossed as he grinned, watching the kids run by before he looked back at the dragon. "Captain Vir Socra has a sort of... air about it, doesn't it?"
Vir closed the book, shaking his head a bit. "You'd get farther with these people if you contributed. Everyone's doing some teaching of the kids. Why not history?"
Khopesh shrugged a bit. "I know I should but most of these books are a bit advanced. Or a bit wrong."
Vir rolled his eyes at the offered explanation. "Come on, you can do better. Don't be a bastard about it."
Khopesh sighed a bit and nodded. "You got me. I just don't think people want to hear about history. I mean, look what led up to... this whole situation."
Vir and Khopesh sat in silence for a moment before the red dragon muttered, "We caused part of it, too."
Khopesh looked at the ground, nodding slightly. "Indeed. Are you adjusting well?"
Vir nodded, standing and affixing his watch. "I'll be fine. Been through worse."
Khopesh nodded, turning the corner and wandering down the hall.
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Khopesh found Haka's door and knocked on it. He head a bit of grunting before a muttered, 'come in' gave him access.
Khopesh opened the door and closed it behind him, seeing the metallic-orange striped, black and white shark doing pullups in her training gear. He scratched his chin a bit and pointed at the door. "Want me to come back later?"
Haka shook her head and dropped from the beam, her sweat-glistening skin shining slightly under the light. She grinned mischievously, shook her short red hair around, and walked towards him, flexing her muscles and turning a circle around him. "All dressed up, mister officer? But it's much harder to have fun like that..."
Khopesh chuckled a bit. He and Haka had once been something, but his old line of work made communication too difficult to maintain. As a result, they were on good terms. "Here I am, without the right kind of protection."
Haka rolled her eyes, turning and walking towards her desk, letting her rear give him a slight show before she tossed a foil thing at him. He caught it and turned it over, blushing a bit and handing it back. "Fun, fun, but I was here to do a checkup."
Haka pouted a bit, taking the condom back and shrugging, then putting on a formal tone. "Lieutenant Haka Kele is ready to go anytime, and will be ready at the ceremony today."
Khopesh nodded, letting his eyes wander down her body a bit longer than he should have, admiring her toned stomach before he snapped back to reality. "Thank you, Haka."
As he turned to leave, he felt a rough smack on his rear with a slight noise of approval. "Just needed to get another feel, boss. Don't mind me~"
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Khopesh rubbed his rear, walking down the hall and making his way to the basement of the building. They had been given a structure that was once used as the spatial science center as a living quarters and operations zone. He walked down the basement hallway, eyes lingering on a certain door for a moment before he walked into the Mad Science Lab.
The MSL was the name Copp and Sill had given to the center. As he entered, he smelt a slight scent of burning metal as the two cats were busy at work typing away. Khopesh looked at the quickly-working metal printer and saw a familiar kind of tube being formed. He pointed and said, "Flashbangs and Nine Bangs don't work on them, you know. They have the, what's it, trauma shielding for the eyes. Cancels out the effect."
Copp looked up and grinned. The two were dressed in camo-colored t-shirts, with a clip at the neck noting them as Tech Specialists. They were technically outside of the chain of command - civilian contractors, in a different time - but they were permanently assigned to the new Lapillus Unit. Copp handed Khopesh the tube. "Don't pull the pin. We call this a Venti. Twenty bangs in a row!"
Before Khopesh could open his mouth, Sill looked up and explained further. "See, their shielding lasts for nine bangs in a row. We did tests, and ten bangs in a row, twenty percent of the visors failed. Eleven added another twenty, and so on. All the visors should fail at fifteen bangs, but we put an extra five in, just in case." She smirked and crossed her arms as Khopesh turned the device in his paw. "We also figure that, since they created the Daeva, well, there's no reason to hold back ingenuity if it might hurt them a bit."
Khopesh frowned, passing the grenade to Copp and looking Sill in the eye. "We do not do overkill. We can be better than that."
Sill let a slight blush dance across her face before looking down. "It shouldn't do permanent damage. We're just trying to give us an edge, sir."
Khopesh looked at them and sighed a bit. "Okay, I understand that. For now, only Lapillus will use them, okay?"
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Khopesh walked across the campus, spotting the familiar red sight of Strella, stretching at a fountain. He jogged up to her and smiled, giving a wave. She turned and rolled her eyes. "I'm not gonna fuck you, Khope."
Khopesh snapped his head back a bit and tilted his head. "Was gonna ask you a question, is all."
Strella turned and raised an eyebrow, then nodded. "Earn it. We'll sprint to each fountain on campus. Winner gets first question, because I have one, too."
The two turned and took off, weaving around among the people wandering from place to place, tapping a tile at each fountain. The circuit overall was three-quarters of a mile, and at each fountain, they were switching places. Finally, at the final stretch, Khopesh made a mad dash and beat Strella to the starting tile, but barely. He doubled over, panting heavily as she jogged up, bouncing from hoof to hoof. "Alright, old man, ask your question."
Khopesh looked up and inhaled deeply. "Alright, I was gonna ask if you wanted to be in Lapillus."
Strella laughed softly, and nodded at him. "I was gonna ask if you'd let me in. It seems like fun."
Khopesh smiled and nodded, shaking her hand. "Just, go see Jak Rhod and ask for the complete transfer. She knows what to do."
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Khopesh hurried towards the Announcement Arena. After the run-in with Strella, he had gotten distracted with a few books in the library on some arcane rituals and had lost track of the time. As he turned the corner behind the mainstage, he saw Haka, Vir, and Jak standing with three new furs. Part of the deal to create their own team for Rescue and Intelligence was for General Premis to supply a few of his own furs as squad leaders, as well as filling any gaps needed with his own trainees. It was a rough negotiation, but Khopesh had finally agreed to the three supplied. First was Lieutenant Yena Rial, a beige aardwolf. Her claim to fame was her ability to coordinate quick-pull rescues: Once a signal was found in a ruined building, she could get someone out to safety in under thirty seconds, no matter the size. Second was Lieutenant Phel Dapto, a crystal-white raptor who had a hacking algorithm for nearly any system. Finally, there was Lieutenant Chuck Musa, a veteran of the war when it first started. He had stayed on the side of the small, liberty-seeking groups.
The three of them, plus Haka, meant that they had four squads split between Vir and Jak. Vir had Haka and Phel, while Jak oversaw Yena and Chuck. They nodded a greeting among themselves before they heard Zor call from the stage, "...so, please welcome the command structure of Lapillus Unit!"
The group walked onto the stage, waving a bit as a small section, all with a blue-and-gold badge, stood and cheered. The general motioned for silence, then continued to speak. "You all know Lieutenant Dapto, Lieutenant Rial. and Lieutenant Musa. Lieutenant Kele is the fourth, and she comes from their group. The two captains are Captain Socra and Captain Rhod, who were both involved in the rescue of Chap. Finally, most of you have met their leader, Major Aeterno. So please, give them a cheer, a pat on the shoulder, a beer if that's your style, but make sure you treat them like family, because that's what they are. Thank you."
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Khopesh sat on his bed that night, looking at the patch again before he brought the symbol to his lips. He knew it might not mean much, but he still had to close his eyes, and through weeping eyes, he managed to make a whisper.
"I will save you, Palla. I will save you, Tanz. I will save you, Amber. I am so sorry. I promise we will bring you out of Hell."
He set down the shirt, took off his glasses, and settled back, staring at the ceiling.