Chapter 1:
The cold air was howling through the large mountain pass. Most of the soldiers were complaining about not having any of the wind soldiers to fix the wind. The few soldiers gifted in fire had already been told to not give off their location by lighting their hands. The night sky had an overcast and a few feet of snow was going to be coming through the region in the next few hours.
Most of the soldiers had their heads down or covered to the point that most weren't looking into the sky to see the flare that was sent up from their captain. The flare was obvious to the Wind soldiers and unfortunately one person in the castle. The alarm was sounded and the loud roar echoed off the mountains causing an avalanche at a nearby mountain.
The soldiers of Wind had started their aerial attacks on the base working on the perimeter defenses. They had been hovering from a distance outside of the range of the towers whose defensive measures could not reach them. The ground forces had just reached the edge of the kill zone and did not stop to confirm the attack from above. The central base they were attacking was a castle built into a mountain in the former Soviet Union. There would be a kill zone as they came around the mountain to the entrance of the castle.
The first soldiers to enter the kill zone were sniped and never had a chance. The soldiers continued forward and moved at an increased pace to get to the entrance as they knew they were now in danger. The soldiers charged at full sprint as the snipers gave away their position to the wind soldiers who attacked them and either took them out or distracted them. The walls of the castle started to light up with bullets and abilities being hurled in the direction of the oncoming soldiers who were in somewhat of a bottle neck location.
The Earth soldiers started to create defensive walls for them to take cover and get a breather. The infiltrating team didn't bring snipers themselves but were getting closer to where they could attack successfully back. The battle waged on with the Wind soldiers taking out the defenses as they struggled to pick between attacking the ground team versus attacking those above.
The attacking soldiers had uniforms with an emblem on them with the initials UNA. The United Nations of Abilities is Earth's global government. The castle was currently housing a few hundred rebels that claimed to have nuclear weapons. They threatened to detonate on multiple major cities if not given their own independence. Above the castle a few thousands feet in the air were drones flying circles blocking all communication from the castle.
Bullets flying, fireballs, lightning bolts, major gusts of wind, tunnels of water, ice shards, stones flying at the speed of bullets all being unleashed from the castle at the attackers. The ground team was slowly making its way to the castle entrance as the Earth soldiers kept placing more and more walls of earth for the soldiers to get behind. The Wind soldiers attacking from above were slowly thinning out the defenders along the castle walls.
Bang! Bang! Bang! The gate to the castle was being bombarded and the attacks were shaking the entire castle. People were running to and fro trying to resupply or reinforce where needed. The loud bangs that had just started caused everyone to pause for a moment not expecting the gates to already be under attack. The soldiers holding down the castle had never been attacked at this scale before and the confidence they all had to start was slowly waning.
Several hundred miles away in the city of Moscow home to 30 million people going about their day not knowing it was their last one on this planet. The nuclear bomb that was hidden in plane sight via a utility van parked in a downtown garage had a timer to go off at noon. There was no one in the van as it had been deserted for over 24 hours. The attack subsequently was ordered on the castle at 11:30. They had barely started attacking the front gate when they received the update that Moscow was no more.
Two of the earth soldiers were from Moscow and hearing the news of the city being nuked they both screamed in pure rage, came out from their cover, and increased their attacks on the gate. The force that they applied with stones being launched at the gate broke through and started to make holes. The holes were attacked by everyone else to weaken the soldiers behind the gate. One of the two earth soldiers took a bullet to the head and collapsed in front of the other which enraged him further. He pulled together a massive boulder and with all his strength hurled it at the gates crushing them inward. The exertion caused the earth user to collapse in exhaustion but he fell with a smile on his face seeing the gates crushed.
The rest of the ground forces rushed the open gates and launched their attacks to clear out those that might be in the opening. The bombardment of attacks cleared out the enemies quicker than they could replenish. The ground force of UNA was now inside the castle and spreading out through the castle killing all those inside.
Each room was searched meticulously leaving no one alive as they were all deemed terrorists. The soldiers went from room to room opening the doors and clearing each room of its inhabitants if they were occupied. The screams that were heard throughout the castle slowly subsided as there were less and less to find and kill. The entire unit had gone floor to floor removing the inhabitants but three of the soldiers hadn't returned from their search.
Radios had been blocked so communication was through line of sight only and after a couple minutes of deliberating who was missing they figured out that it was Lieutenant Jackson and Privates Williams and Suddle. Lt. Harry Jackson was a gifted Earth ability user who also carried a shield and could expand the shield with his Earth ability. He slowly moved forward with his two privates behind him one on each shoulder. Pvt. Sam Williams had shown promise with ice abilities and was a gifted swordsman. Pvt. Glen Suddle utilized a spear to channel lightning through it. The three of them had stumbled upon a hidden trap door in the floor that led to a tunnel that was lit.
There was an echo as they moved through the tunnel that sounded like a slight drip in the distance. They were cautious at first but when they saw it was a straight tunnel and no one in view they all relaxed as they moved through the tunnel. There were no markings on the walls, just cement seamlessly poured with a power line running along the ceiling and lights dotted every few hundred feet. The three UNA soldiers pushed through the tunnel for a solid 30 minutes before they came across a thick metal door.
Unsure if they should continue or not suddenly Lt. Jackson's earpiece crackled and a voice was heard "Echo Charley Bravo, do you copy? This is HQ requesting a response from the Hammer team. Echo Charley Bravo, do you copy?"
"Echo Charley Bravo, this is Hammer one, found a tunnel inside the castle, followed for the last 30 minutes, now at a locked steel door. How to proceed, over?" Lt. Jackson responded over his earpiece realizing they were outside of the drone's zone or they had turned off the jamming to get a hold of them, he wasn't sure but he was hoping he could get reinforcements to proceed.
"Ground team has located the tunnel and will be joining, proceed when ready. Echo Charley Bravo out" then static for a moment in his earpiece. Lt. Jackson looked at his two soldiers with him and wondered if they would be effective in the upcoming battle if there was one on the other side of the door.
"You ever killed anyone before today?" Jackson looked Glen in the eye while asking the question. "I have not, this would be my first today, which would make it a dozen so far. I thought it would feel different but I guess in all the commotion there was no time to think about it." Glen replied now realizing the weight of taking someone else's life. Lt. Jackson realized he might lose his soldier to his thoughts changed the subject quickly.
"Why did you join the UNA's Military Sam?" the Lt.'s misdirection even caught Sam off guard who was contemplating the fact that he had just killed for the first time as well. "I wanted to hone my abilities of Ice and I grew up in Chicago so I want payback!" the two others nodded their heads understanding the weight of what Sam just stated.
Footsteps were heard and the three soldiers turned around to see that the tunnel was now occupied by their fellow soldiers and they would soon be breaching the next door. Lt. Jackson pulled out his shield and nodded to Sam to open the door which required pulling the door towards them. Sam was struggling to move it so Glen grabbed Sam's waist and pulled as hard as he could to then finally fling the door open. The door appeared to have not been opened in a long time which surprised them all.
The door led to a large power plant based on the machinery in the room that they could see. The machines were loud and no one could hear each other so hand signals became the new communication tool for the soldiers as they fanned out and checked the surrounding area. The three that had been in the lead the whole time still continued into the facility going through the first double doors they saw.
Upon opening the doors they were surprised to see beds lined up along the hallways with people lying in them struggling to survive. There were nurses going back and forth between the people administering sedatives. Lt. Jackson stopped the closest nurse and asked what happened.
"These are the survivors from the attacks on the local villages by the rebels. The villages within a 10 miles radius have all been attacked and the survivors have all come here that we are aware of. Help out by bringing in supplies!" The nurse pointed in one direction and turned to walk away not realizing she just talked to an invading army.
The three of them gave each other glances and Lt. Jackson decided to push forward to see what else they would find besides a makeshift hospital. The two privates followed behind their leader and all three calmly walked through the hallway glancing into rooms that were also occupied with my beds full of people struggling. Glen recognized a lot of the wounds as being lightning burns and wondered if the rebels were mostly lightning users or if it was from one individual.
The moans and groans were dying down in frequency as they continued down the hallway where they were now coming across those that were in worse condition if not dead. The hallway had a double door at the end that opened up with a new bed on wheels being carted in. A nurse was pushing the bed and a small child was groaning in pain with an obvious wound to his hip. Glen noticed the burn mark and decided to ask the child who was looking him in the eye about what happened.
"There were 25 men that had come to our village and were talking to our elders then suddenly they murdered our elders, then started attacking everyone and everything that moved. My puppy was killed, my sister I think is dead as well, I know my dad is dead and I haven't seen my mother since she saw my sister lying on the ground." the child voiced his concern for those he cared about not realizing those he was talking to could do nothing about it.
Glen gave the boy a pat on the head and gave a reassuring smile in hopes of making the kid feel better since he probably would never see his family again. The painful thought was quickly pushed aside in Glen's brain as he realized this was going to always be the case in times of war. The bed with the kid was pushed to the closest spot on the wall and the nurse continued on to help out where needed.
The double doors next opened up and a group of 5 men walked through the doors. Lt. Jackson tensed up as he realized they were soldiers and not of the UNA. The kid that Glen just talked to gave out a muffled scream as he realized as he was making the noise that he needed to shut up. Glen glanced at the kid then at the men and realized the kid was scared because these are the men that attacked his village. The kid was literally pissing himself in the bed and had lifted the sheets over his head to hide.
Glen touched Lt. Jackson's shoulder then pointed with his other hand at those that entered the hallway about 20 feet away from them. They knew getting into a fight would result into collateral to those that were injured around them. "Turn back around and leave this building if you know what is best for you" Jackson barked at the five men who had just entered. Those that weren't paying attention to Lt. Jackson before that was now all looking at him and his two companions. The five men smirked seeing that they were nearly two to one, the leader of the group in the front pulled out his sword which quickly lit up in flames.
The three UNA soldiers formed up with Lt. Jackson took out his shield and expanded it with his Earth ability. Sam pulled out his sword and lit it in flames as well while Glen readied his spear. The five men readied for battle as well when behind a man shouted. "Hold, we don't need to be battling around the sick and injured." a voice of reason was heard and the five men were uneasy but let down their guard and turned back around. The double door opened up and a man came through with a big smile on his face.
The smile caused all three of the UNA soldiers to cringe as it felt completely fake. Glen whispered to his Lt. "Can I just shoot this guy? The kid identified them as the attackers in his village." Which got a physical shake of the head "No" as the Lt. was concentrating on the new presence and trying to determine what was the best course of action given all that was going on.
The man who just entered walked forward with his hands out in a way to show he was unarmed and wanting to talk. "We are not here to fight anyone, we are looking for our own and thought she might be here. I only ask to just do a search for her and if she is here we will take her. If not then we will go on our way."
"What if she is unable to move?" Glen spoke up out of turn. The man kept smiling which made them even more uneasy as he responded with "If that is the case then we will return when she is better, I only want to check up on her health." The way he said it didn't sit right with Glen who was now wondering who could be so important to them.
"What is her name and we will find her and let you know?" Lt. Jackson finally spoke up to the smiling man hoping this would be a satisfactory answer as well as delay and give them more time for backup to arrive. Lt. Jackson had tapped a button on his wrist watch that signaled SoS within a 10 mile radius on a frequency only used by the UNA. The smile on the face of the man suddenly disappeared when he saw the reinforcements come from what he knew was the engineering as well as the main castle.
The change in demeanor of the man told Lt. Jackson that his reinforcements were now coming but he did not expect what happened next. The smiling man made a motion with his arm and suddenly threw an object on the ground which caused a flash of light then a big cloud of smoke. The smoke cleared after a minute and the man was gone.
The three of them pushed through the double doors to find themselves staring out into the forest. There was no sign of the man and what direction he might have gone and they did not feel like it was necessary to pursue him. They had cleaned out the castle and discovered a hidden network of tunnels but also were able to find many needing hospital supplies which Lt. Jackson called in and full scale medical evac was issued for the building.
An hour later the place was crawling with personnel loading up the worst first to transport to an actual hospital. The nurses were all given hot food and relieved of their duties as new nurses showed up to take over and help with the evacuation. Glen was standing outside of the entrance watching patient after patient being taken out of the building, he was paying close attention to the women as he was curious as to who the man was looking for.
Nearly an hour had gone by with patients being removed at a steady stream. A bed came out with a decent amount of blood on the sheets. The woman had a sheet over her whole body and only her head was in view but at the end of the bed there were combat fatigues just like the five men who had been in the hallway. Glen briskly walked up to the bed and asked the nurse "Who is this woman?"
The nurse was taken aback and unfortunately for her she was a replacement so she had just arrived and hadn't spoken to the woman. The woman was unconscious and the file on her bed said Jane Doe. Glen looked around for Lt. Jackson and when he saw him he whistled a sharp whistle that made almost everyone stop what they were doing. The Lt. saw it was Glen and knew it was to get his attention so he headed over to Glen.
"This is the woman that the smiling man was looking for, what should we do about it?" Glen inquired of his superior hoping to get a chance to figure out where these rebels might be located as he wanted to get them back for the kids village at minimum. The crack of a gunshot was heard and suddenly the woman's head exploded right in front of Glen and Harry who were now covered in her grey matter.
Lt. Jackson's head snapped to the direction of the gunshot but it was too far away for him to see and suddenly he felt very exposed. The time gap from the sound to the head exploding told him that the sniper was a long way out and that they had no chance of retaliating. The only thing they could do was get to cover which both instinctively did upon the head exploding. The other personnel had also scattered after seeing the head explode shortly after the gunshot, after a few minutes of no more shots they all returned to what they were doing but everyone was quite wary of their surroundings.
The evacuation helicopters took off with the last of the survivors and the three UNA soldiers were transported in their own helicopter back to their military base while the evac team was taking the civilians to a hospital in the city of Minsk of the former Belarus. The closest hospital once was Moscow but now what wasn't leveled would be at max capacity given the nuke that just went off.
The helicopter carrying the soldiers had gone in a southern direction while the rest took off in a northwest direction. The one helicopter was spotted by the rebel forces and they immediately pulled out a heat seeking shoulder rocket. The helicopter's alarms were going off as the missile guidance took a lock on the helicopter. Flares were fired off as soon as the missile was seen but the missile stayed locked onto the helicopter's main rotor. The missile exploded just outside of the helicopter and sent shrapnel into the helicopter killing the pilot. The co-pilot was frantically trying to adjust but the stick was locked from the dead body leaning on it. The helicopter lost control and crashed into trees.