Chapter 157: A Deadly Ambush! [1]
[11:13pm]
Megabase 023, Captain Ariande's office.
BZZZT!
The 8 computer screens on the wall suddenly turned dark!
Alarmed, Major Roshfield jumped to her feet as she stared at the computer screens with clear anxiety written all over her face.
Thoughts rushed through her head. 'What happened? An ambush? But they shouldn't know that we're coming, the stealth gear should have masked all movement sounds!'
'Not even advanced motion sensors could have detected them!'
Her eyes narrowed as she stared at the dark screens. 'What happened?'
The only reason why she wasn't losing it completely yet was because despite the fact that the screens were dark, they were still clearly connected to Ariande but even this final reassurance didn't last as…
BUZZ!
Static sounds reverberated, then all 8 computer screens suddenly lost connection with Captain Ariande!
"…!" That was the final push that shoved the Major off the edge as she finally lost her composure.
"W-what happened?" Major Roshfield stammered angrily as she felt like all her efforts were suddenly put in jeopardy.
Her imaginative brain instantly started bringing up scenarios of her soldiers being carved apart in the darkness, but then she forcefully calmed herself down.
As a high-ranking soldier, a Major who got her military rank through decades of meritorious service and battle experience, she knew that she shouldn't let her emotions overrule her rationality in critical situations.
This was exactly what she disciplined Thomas Riley about.
The only way to understand what was going on was to calm down and ignore the seemingly hopeless situation so she could analyze it correctly, and that was exactly what she did after taking in deep breaths.
Her brown eyes narrowed, becoming cold and focused. 'What exactly happened? What am I missing?'
She stared at the 8 inert screams with such focus like they hid some revelation even as her brain whirred like a computer.
The decision to change the date of the elite squad's assault on the terrorists was an impromptu decision caused by the meeting at the war room, not many people knew about it.
Heck, not many people knew about the elite squad in the first place.
Her brain whirred. 'An information leak? But how? Where?'
Her brain worked on overdrive as she analyzed every single detail, taking care not to miss any particular clue.
She narrowed down on all the possible candidates for a leak.
'Apart from the 9 soldiers, no one else should know about the assault. Is the leak from their side?' She frowned but instinctively she rejected this train of thought the next moment. 'They're not that unprofessional'.
The main reason for her confidence was that throughout the past 2 days, working on her orders Captain Ariande kept tight watch of the 8 other soldiers of the elite squad, making sure that they didn't leak any information that could jeopardize the mission.
And since Ariande came directly from headquarters, Major Roshfield was confident that she wasn't affiliated with the terrorists.
Her brown eyes narrowed into slits as she thought, and then she recalled a crucial detail. 'There are 2 other people who knew about the attack tonight!'
Her eyes gleamed as she counted. 'The Colonel and…'
She paused, her eyes dilated, then her breath hitched. "AGAKIN!"
Major Roshfield shuddered, her brain reeling the moment the realization hit her.
She held her forehead with one hand, feeling the migraine suddenly hit her even as her eyes narrowed. "Agakin is the traitor?" She was in disbelief.
"How?"
Major Agakin was a true veteran of the Gene Army, he was stationed in Leviathan Quay even before her.
No matter how annoying and racist the Major may be at times, he was still a bonafide high-ranking soldier of the Geneforge Clans whose loyalty was firm and unshakable. She found it hard to believe that Agakin was the traitor.
And yet, despite what she thought, the evidence was right in front of him.
There was no chance of the Colonel being the traitor or else they were all doomed. And with the exclusion of the Colonel from the list of possible suspects, only one name was left… Major Agakin.
She finally calmed down. "So you were the traitor all along". Her voice contained no emotion, just raw facts and robotic precision.
She no longer felt that it was impossible, and she no longer even felt angry, all she felt was cold, calculating calmness.
She thought for 2 seconds then she picked up her smartphone and dialed a number.
Ring! Ring!
[Outgoing call to Colonel Bam-Bam]
The call rang for longer than expected, showing that the Colonel was most likely already asleep and then the call was answered.
Click!
As the call was answered, Major Roshfield was already storming out of Ariande's office even as she locked on Major Agakin's current location.
"Colonel, Agakin is the traitor".
…
Evergreen District.
Inside a cozy but simple 2-story duplex, Colonel Bam-Bam sat comfortably on a sofa chair watching an old-school comedy show.
Unlike Major Agakin and Roshfield who stayed behind in the Megabase tonight, like always, he decided to return to his cozy apartment for the night.
On the TV, a little boy, a Geneform with big fluffy ears looked up at his Dad with puppy eyes. "Dad, how do you catch a squirrel?"
His father grinned. "You climb a tree and act like a nut!"
The little boy laughed.
The Colonel also burst out laughing, clearly relating with the joke. He idly enjoyed a treat from a box of popcorn.
The footage on the screen changed as it now showed a man sitting on a garden with his friend; the man lamented. "You know, I once told my wife to embrace her mistakes. Can you believe what she did? She gave me a hug".
The Colonel burst out laughing again, and then his smartphone suddenly buzzed.
Instantly he grimaced as he threw an annoyed glance at the smartphone. He didn't rise to pick it immediately as he ignored it, making sure to watch the next joke before standing up to go look at it.
BUZZ!
[Incoming call from Major Roshfield]
Seeing the caller, he raised an eyebrow and picked up the phone.
Click!
"Colonel, Agakin is the traitor".
It was a simple sentence but it was a sentence that instantly made this laid-back Colonel's back straighten, his eyes gleaming sharply.
He looked at the smartphone; Major Roshfield already ended the call.
At this moment, he was wearing a pair of pajamas.
Colonel Bam-Bam took a moment to internalize what he just heard, then calmly, he turned and walked to the sofa again where he picked the remote and switched off the TV before casually picking up the thick black trench coat that was on the side of the sofa and putting it on.
With that, he immediately started walking towards the roof of his apartment and as he did, he dialed the number of his assistant.
"Ciel, where is Major Agakin?"
…
That night, Leviathan Quay refused to sleep.
While the civilians hunted down Synths, causing a night of non-stop chaos, the elite squad was ambushed at the heart of the terrorist base and at the same time, 2 of the strongest Ascended in Leviathan Quay mobilized for battle.
…
Pu! Pu! Pu!
Within seconds, the elite squad eliminated the guards that were stationed in the large subterranean chamber to protect the scientists.
And then…
HISS!
From behind them and ahead of them, hissing sounds suddenly reverberated as thick gray reinforced barriers descended, blocking the entrance and exit, boxing them inside this subterranean chamber!
'What?' Captain Raveman was alarmed as his eyes narrowed. 'An ambush?!'
BZZZT!
The world turned dark!
Everything happened extremely fast.
One moment, amid hissing sounds thick gray reinforced barriers descended, blocking the entrance and exit to this subterranean chamber and the next moment, the yellow lights illuminating this large subterranean chamber were switched off.
The moment darkness descended, all the soldiers reacted in the same way as they all immediately rushed to put on their night vision googles.
Unlike her teammates though, Ariande was the only one who discovered that something else happened.
During the same instant that the reinforced barriers descended to box them inside here and the lights were switched off, she also felt her innate connection to the global psionic network being cut off.
Ariande's eyes widened. 'Network isolation!"
In that moment, she realized something. 'This is a perfectly planned ambush!'
'They knew we were coming!"
The enemies knew the moment they stepped foot inside the compound, this was a planned ambush that had been waiting for them for a while.
What they thought was them infiltrating since was just them walking into the Lion's den. At the same instant that Ariande made these realizations, Raveman and Leon also made the same realizations.
But none of them panicked yet.
Afterall, every single one of them was a powerhouse in their own right, veteran Ascended with powerful abilities. They were hard to kill.
But first, they had to see in the dark!
Originally, picking their night-vision googles and wearing them was only supposed to take a second or at most 2 seconds, but then…
Quantum Touch!
They all instantly felt a sense of strange drowsiness engulf them that slowed down their actions, making them feel like falling asleep.
In that moment, Leon felt a chill run down his spine. 'Quantum Shaper!' He thought.
The chill he felt running down his spine was not just a figurative feeling, it was also because at this moment he felt a potent threat to his life.
'Someone's attacking me!'
Time froze.
Leon's brain whirred as adrenaline surged through his body like an electric current. 'I'm not fast enough to put on the visors before it hits!'
'I won't be able to see!'
The moment he realized this, he instantly gave up on trying to see as instead he put all his attention on feeling his surroundings. 'Where's the attack coming from? Behind!'
Leon didn't think twice about his next step, any delay could mean death and he made his decision instantly.
BZZZ!
His ADE flared and immediately from his backpack, a sword drone cut its way out, charging towards the unknown attacker with swift momentum.
Drone Control Matrix!
CLANG!
The sound of metal hitting metal reverberated in the dark but this time, instead of shattering from the impact, the reinforced sword drone only suffered minor damage as it stayed functioning.
Leon didn't just send a sword drone out first to stop the attack though. Through it- the infrared and night-vision sensor cameras of the sword drone, Leon regained his vision in the darkness.
And instantly, he saw what was happening.
He didn't know where they came from but out of nowhere, the moment the lights went off, they were surrounded!
Leon hissed.
He instantly recognized the Cat DNA terrorist, the Cyber Gladiator; he was the one that attacked him. Apart from the Cat DNA terrorist, he also recognized the Demon of Ozempic!
This was the first time that Leon saw the leader of the terrorists live.
Leon saw other shadowy figures in black paramilitary armor surrounding them, but these two were the closest to him and were the ones he saw immediately.
And while the Cat DNA terrorist attacked him, Lucian- the Demon of Ozempic went straight for Captain Raveman's head!
But unlike Leon, Captain Raveman couldn't see!
Leon's eyes widened. "Captain, watch out!"
Even without hearing Leon's voice, Captain Raveman as a veteran soldier despite not seeing already felt the tingling sensation of danger overwhelm his senses as he raised his War Axe to parry blindly.
But unlike him, his opponent saw clearly.
Wearing tight black paramilitary armor, Lucian wielded 2 different weapons- a War Pick on his right hand and a Sickle on his left.
The moment that Captain Raveman raised his War Axe to parry blindly, Lucian quietly side-stepped the soldier's block, then he slashed with his left hand holding the Sickle at Captain Raveman's abdomen.
Overdrive!
Gold and white ADE violently flowed around Lucian's body, flowing into his left hand and into the Sickle.
Whoosh!
The force behind that slash was beyond anything that Leon had ever seen at E Rank as his eyes widened in shock.
The slash felt powerful enough to cut Captain Raveman in two through his abdomen! But then…
BZZZ!
Captain Raveman's energy shield came to life, protecting him, and yet…
CRKSH!
The energy shield lasted less than a second as it shattered instantly!
That was the inhumane power behind that single slash.
The energy shield shattered, but it stopped the overwhelming power of the slash, protecting Raveman's life but not for long because Lucian's right hand came next as gold and white ADE flared around his hand, then…
BAM!
Still slow and lethargic due to the earlier attack, Captain Raveman couldn't react as the spike of the War Pick dug deep into his shoulder!
Blood spurted out of his shoulder like rain.
"Ugh…!" He groaned in pain, wildly swinging his War Axe to retaliate.
Seeing this, Lumian simply let go of the War Pick and ducked, dodging the attack then he calmly touched Raveman's ankle as his gold and white ADE flared again.
Quantum Trace!
With the hand connecting him to the Captain, Lucian's ADE seeped into Captain Raveman's body and instantly, the sense of drowsiness that he felt intensified several folds!
Captain Raveman couldn't bear it.
His eyes fluttered, then they closed.
He slept!
NOVEL NEXT