The Team decide to move north. They had no idea what to expect in this new threat they found in Badger, especially Dryce. Dryce was trying to rationalize in his mind why Badger didn’t try to make contact with him sooner, knowing now that he is alive. That night at the extraction zone heist he swore he saw those other agents take Badger’s life. Dryce felt guilty of his friend’s death for a long time. It’s part of the reason that made him decide to help his new friends in their quest to find Aaron Keener. He wondered in his mind over and over again, how things could have gone differently that night. Wondering if he did all he could to try to save Badger, wondering if his aim could have been a little better to not miss that shot. Eventually he came to the conclusion that nothing else matters except the success of the mission at hand. He wondered if Badger would join them in this quest if he had the chance to talk to him and tell him what was going on. Until that day comes, Dryce will just have to prepare himself for anything. The team approached a Landmark affectionately known as “The Pit”. This area happened to be patrolled frequently by the worst group of rogue soldiers in the DZ. It didn’t help that the LMB group liked to hang around here as well which made it even more problematic for anyone trying to get around it. Fortunately, Dryce knew the area well and lead everyone through some underground alley ways to evade detection. As they were crossing a section leading down the stairs, Dryce noticed some trip wire at the very last step. He signaled for everyone to stop moving. Something wasn’t right, he had a sick feeling in his stomach that they were walking into an elaborate trap. Dryce carefully steps over the wire and investigates. He see’s an explosive device attached to both ends of the wire. He slowly guides everyone across the wire, as they start making their way to the tunnels Phoenix notices that the gates are all locked up leading down. A Shot rings out, before anyone can move a bullet goes right through Moose’s head, she drops instantly to the ground everyone scrambles to find cover, Knuckles screaming at the sudden loss of his friend can’t seem to control himself any longer. The team was trapped. The tunnels were purposely blocked off and the stairs leading out was laced with explosives. The Sniper finally had the upper hand. Knuckles now enraged tells Phoenix he is going to buy them some time to escape. Phoenix pleads “Don’t Knuckles, stop whatever it is you think you are going to do”. “It’s the only way” screams Knuckles and without hesitation Knuckles jumps up and starts running for the stairs, just before he gets to them another shot rings out and hits him right in the shoulder. The impact of the shot knocks him off balance, he tries to gather a few more steps before he leaps and falls right on to the trip wire. BOOM! The explosion from the trip wire bombs rock the whole area, debris and dust fill the Pit to where the sniper losses sight of his targets. He switches over to his LMG and starts firing blindly into the cloud of dust. EO yells “He can’t see us let’s move!” They all start running for the stairs, back up to the top and go in the opposite direction of the gun fire. As they turn down the street trying to put some distance between them and the sniper a huge Pulse signal permeates the air around them. Torex sees a figure standing inside a building signaling them to come inside. As they approach the stranger, Torex points to the sky and asks “Was that your doing?” He answers, “Yeah that was a scrambler pulse, you are shielded now against whoever is after you. But it won’t last forever so you better keep moving, follow me it can get a little tricky to navigate around here without GPS coordinates.” Phoenix extends his hand to show his gratitude “I’m Phoenix, thanks a lot for saving our asses out there”. “You can just call me Dead” Replies their new friend. “So, Dead” inquires EO “What compelled you to help us out here in the DZ? How do we know this isn’t part of the trap?” Dead turned to EO “I saw how your friend gave up his life for you guys. I was caught in a similar situation when all HELL broke loose in this area last year. I wish I had the opportunity to save my friends as he did for you. So everyday I try to make up for it by helping as many people as I can.” As they briskly walk through the dilapidated buildings Dryce turns around and stares out past all the smoke and fog. Phoenix asks “What’s going on Dryce? Let’s move.” “No” said Dryce in a calm voice. “I need to see him, I need to know if it’s really him, because if it is no amount of smoke and mirrors is going to stop him for very long. Let me talk to him, see if I can convince him to stop this hunt”. “Damnit Dryce, look what he did to Moose and Knuckles, do you really think he is in the talkative mood?”. “I don’t know, but I have to try”. Phoenix lowers his head “We lost some good people today. Trust me, It is taking everything I have not to go back there for my friends. But if we don’t move on, they will have died for nothing.” Dryce standing firm in his decision did not even warrant Phoenix’s presence with an answer. So, the team parted ways with Dryce and continued to follow their new ally in the DZ. As they walked off, Dryce faded away into the smoke and fog checking his weapons and gear, making sure he had everything covered for the meeting of two lost friends.
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The Unknown Tracker Diet Cola que’s up the video compilation he had put together. “Everything is ready to go” he says. Then three loud knocks are heard coming from the front door of the safe house. They look at the live video feed watching the front access door, It’s Dryce with a full squad of Rogue Agents waiting outside. “I’m Back Bitches!” Dryce says with a hardy laughter in his voice. “Did you think one little sticky bomb was going to stop me? Come on Phoenix, I thought you knew me better than that.” Phoenix thinks for a moment and then tells Diet to open the door. “What are you crazy?” Torex yells, “Hang on. I have an idea” Phoenix says very calmly. So, Diet pushes the button and a loud buzz is heard as the door began to open. Dryce was a little startled that the door opened so easily and without a fight. Dryce and his team proceeded with caution as they felt it was a trap. When they entered the room with the guns drawn all five of Dryce’s men were focused on Phoenix. EO steps between Phoenix and the Assault Rifles and tries to de-escalate the tension between the two. “Listen, I know you are not very happy with Phoenix right now, but if you know and trust me you will at least hear him out on what we need to do to save our Country”. Dryce looks down at his USAF tattoo on his forearm. He starts to reminisce about his days in the service and the sacrifices he made for his country. He thinks about his family and what they would think of him in this current state of affairs. Dryce looks up at Torex and says “You know, I can never really trust a man that calls himself Daddy. What do you say about all this Torex?” Torex looks Dryce square in the eye and says “I think you should listen to what Phoenix has to say”. “Alright it’s settled then” exclaims Dryce. “Guys put down your weapons, there won’t be any fighting” he looks again at Phoenix “at least not today”. Still bitter about the bomb fiasco, Dryce decided to let things go for now. Diet Cola pulled up a chair next to Agent John and told him to get comfy. As Dryce and John watch the video they find the true horror of the reality they have been missing this whole time hiding under their very noses. In the video Aaron Keener sits in front of a camera and lays out the evidence. “This is Agent Keener, I know I might have done some bad things in my past but someone has got to believe me when I say we have all been had. Our government has tricked us into thinking a terrorist group or the Russians was responsible for the Dollar Flu. I have evidence showing that it was a few high ups in the U.S. Senate that started all this. This document here, I found buried in some old files, it talks about operation Odin and how the Senate was planning to release this virus to produce panic in the population and give the government the ability to claim permanent Martial Law on its people. The very pages of the Constitution are being shredded and no one wants to hear it. So, I had to take matters into my own hands. For now, I will be in hiding, they know I am on to them so I don’t feel safe anywhere or with anyone. Until I see a sign that my message is finally getting out I will stay hidden. I hope not forever. Anyway, if you are seeing this then you probably found the accompanying documents. In there you will find all the evidence you need.” A loud noise is heard in the film. Keener looks off camera and says to someone “Ok that’s enough, we have to move.” The video cuts out, John and Dryce are already reviewing the notes, memos, and secret FISA documents all corroborating what they had just heard. John looks at Phoenix “Holy Shit, what do we do now?” asks John. Dryce slams his hands on the table and bursts out of his chair, angry about what he just learned. “I’ll tell you what we are going to do. We are going to find this Aaron Keener guy, and we are going to fight back from these political Elite Fucks! No more, can they fool around with our lives.” Out of the corner of her eye Moose catches something moving on one of the live video feeds. “Ummm, looks like we got ourselves a catch Lomane. Come check out the cameras.” They all huddle around the screens to get a good look at the mystery guest. None of them could make out a face because whoever it was, they knew how to walk in the shadows making all the right moves to stay hidden from the light. In one frame there was a good view of the person’s back, hanging off his right shoulder was a marksman rifle. EO takes a good look at the rifle and says “If I didn’t know any better I would say that barrel size is the right size to be the one that put that bullet in you Moose.” As they watched him for a while they noticed the person analyzing the garage where the extraction was. They noticed how meticulous this person was trying to recreate everything that happened there. Phoenix finally came to the realization “This guy is tracking us.” Then the unknown tracker gets startled by something, he starts cleaning his own tracks. He moves quickly but cautiously as not to forget anything. A few moments go by and it seems that the Unknown Tracker has disappeared, then out of nowhere he shows up in one of the cameras staring into it. Giving this slight smirk on his face as to let the owner of the camera know that he is on to them. Dryce stares with a blank expression on his face and says to himself aloud “No way, I saw him die. There is no way that’s him.” The team now curious now as to how Dryce knows this person, who he is and why is he following them listen to him speak. “When shit first went down here in NY and we were called up to assist, he was my partner. His name is Badger and I saw him die over a year ago”. Phoenix looks back at the camera, just then Badger pulls out a pistol and fires one round into the lens disabling their view. “He was the best marksman in the entire Division. This guy can put a bullet in your skull 500 yards out without you ever knowing he was there. I find it hard to believe he was the one that shot your friend here because no disrespect, you would have been dead.” Phoenix asked Diet to play the film back, they stop at the part where Badger started covering up his own tracks. “Look there” John pointed out looking at a wound that Badger seemed to be favoring. “It looks like he is injured, can’t tell how bad though” says Knuckles. “Well that would make more sense” said Dryce “But why is he after you guys?”. Phoenix still staring at the face of this unknown tracker making sure it gets engrained into memory finally speaks up and says “I’m not sure what he wants with us, but we can’t let him ruin our mission.” The sound of the sea rushes the ear drums. The smell of the salty air and the wind on John’s face was both calming and exhilarating. He opens his eyes to see nothing but the ocean, he is on a sail ship with some other shady looking characters. Why are we all dressed like pirates John thinks to himself, and why do I have this chain on my ankle? Pinky stops playing her harpsicord and looks at John with complete disgust. “Move it you scallywag. We didn’t let you out of the brig to just stand there”. “Yeah you old Butt Pirate” chimes in Knuckles “Hurry up and mop this puke up before I make you lick it up”. Just then EO bursts through the door from his Captain’s quarters “No one is doing anything on my ship without my permission, got it you scurvy dogs? Now who the hell let you out of the brig?” EO towers over John waiting for an answer bad enough to warrant him the right to throw him over board. “It was me” said a voice from high up in the crow’s nest. The pirate Phoenix comes gliding down the ladder almost as graceful as a pigeon landing. Pinky says to herself “How the hell does he do that?” Phoenix proceeds to explain to EO “I thought he could use the exercise by cleaning up the mess these two made last night when they got so drunk and puked all over the decks and then passed out on top of each other”. Knuckles interrupts “In our defense that wasn’t until after we took down that fort” Then Pinky responds “Yeah I did all the work as usual but we got the treasure from the fort”. “I found the treasure first” says Knuckles combatively. “Come on Lomane, you were so damn drunk I had to go find your stupid ass after you launched yourself from the cannon, AGAIN!” Knuckles soon remembering the night before then puts his head down and says ”oh yeah, I forgot about that.” EO lets out a big sigh of disappointment and turns back to John. “Well what are you waiting for, keep mopping”. Phoenix climbs back up to the top of his perch and starts scanning the ocean horizon. He spots another pirate ship and they are heading right for them. Phoenix starts ringing the bell next to him as loud as he could “Ship approaching get to the cannons!” Pinky jumps to her feet and runs down to start collecting cannon balls and other things needed for the fight that is about to start. Knuckles takes the sails and adjusts them to get maximum wind speed while EO steers the ship to try and cut off the fast approaching enemy vessel. Phoenix glides back down the ladder and loads a cannon ball “READY TO FIRE!” he yells. EO was successful at placing the ship directly in front of the enemy ship so they would not have a clear shot with their cannons. As the ship got closer Phoenix yells “FIRE!” all four cannons burst, sparks of gun powder and smoke ignite the whole side of the ship. The concussion from the blasts were deafening. The enemy ships front end was so damaged it started flooding, instantly sinking the ship and the crew on board. In the excitement and rush of the moment no one noticed that one of the enemy pirates had slipped aboard. He quickly ran down to the bottom of the ship took out his pistol and fired one shot at the gun powder barrel below. The explosion erupted underneath the whole ship instantly killing the enemy pirate. When they finally got back on their feet and realize what had happened, it was too late. The ship was going down and there was nothing they could do to stop it. Phoenix yells for them all to abandon ship, EO runs back inside the captains quarters “I can’t leave without my hat” he yells, then Knuckles runs off “I need my floaties, I still can’t swim” meanwhile Pinky plays the harpsicord and sings “Oh how much I would love to be a Moose, It would be the greatest, just checkin’ out my Caboose.” The ship now almost under water John starts running to jump off the side, his leg jerks back, he was still chained to the ship. He screams for help but no one was around except for Pinky who was so wrapped up in her song about being a Moose she just wasn’t listening. The ship starts to turn on its side and flip over, John falls into the water with the entire ship on top of him. He knew this was the end for him, he tries frantically to free himself but he just can’t eventually he feels the air in his lungs start beg for air, he can’t hold hi breathe any longer and starts to choke on the salty water. John wakes up from his sleep gasping for air all soaking wet from Knuckles pouring a bottle of water on him in a twisted attempt to wake him up. “Wakey – Wakey sunshine. It’s time to go.” John spits at Knuckles in disgust. “You jerk.” Moose starts laughing “Well someone woke up all grumpy”. “Ok you guys knock it off. We need to get moving.” Phoenix looks directly at Moose “Hey Pinky, go help the Brain pack up please.” The team walk through the streets carefully, Phoenix and EO are constantly scanning the area for any activity. Phoenix throws his hand in the air signaling to the team that they had arrived at their destination. Phoenix approaches the rusty iron door that is clearly marked as a contamination area. He knocks three times then once more. After a few minutes a little door slides open at the bottom of the door, Phoenix takes the 12 pack of Diet Cola and slides it through inside. After a minute longer the door latch buzzes and the door is now free to open. John resists at first “I’m not going in a contaminated area, are you people crazy?” “Relax Lomane” says Knuckles “you only die once” and laughs as he shoves him through the door. Inside was a long empty hallway. The contamination signs were just a ploy to keep unwanted guests away. They make their way down the hall and see a glowing light seeping out the cracks of the door in front of them. EO opens the door to reveal a hidden technological marvel inside. The room was gigantic, perhaps an old Ball room that used to host fancy dinner parties. Now the walls are covered from one end to the other with video monitors, circuit boards wired up together and a handmade control panel where every wire in the place flowed to. It looked like the work of a mad man, a brilliant mad man. Every square inch of the city was being watched from this one spot, John even noticed a live feed of the extraction zone where they almost died. He could see the blast from the bomb Phoenix left, but no sign of Dryce and his buddy Collin. “What the hell is all this?” John asks. “This my dude is the nerve center of the NEW, New York City” said the little guy that was under one of the console panels fixing a bad connection. He gets up and introduces himself “You can call me Diet, Phoenix thinks you can help us.” EO mumbles under his breath “I still have my doubts”. “Anyway” says Phoenix putting his arm over Johns shoulder “I know this is going to be a hard pill to swallow, but the reason why I needed you was to show you something we found. The day I ran into Torex, he introduced me to Diet here. Diet has pieced together the missing events that shows what really happened to Agent Aaron Keener and what he found.” John’s eyes lit up with interest. “I mean this with all sincerity I did not believe them at first. But it’s best if I just show you what I saw.” He sits down John in one of the chairs, “Go ahead Diet, Play it for him”…. Dryce scans the room with great intent and focus, he zeroes in on Moose and her wounded arm. “So what happened to you”? He asked inquisitively. “Is it that hard to see that I have been shot? Man you are dumb”. Snaps Moose. “Relax little one, just trying to be considerate”. Dryce tried his best to hide his true intentions and couldn’t mask the grin that was now written all over his face. He heard the shot that hit Moose before they stumbled onto this group. He paused for a moment and thought to himself, there is only one person that can take a shot at someone and still be a ghost. Could Badger be back in this area? It’s been so long since he saw him, but then again, there is no way it could have been Badger…. Badger doesn’t miss his target. Unless something is wrong, is he hurt perhaps? Did he finally meet his demise? All these thoughts started rushing through Dryces mind until he finally snaps out of it. Colin starts cautiously walking towards Torex. “Listen guys, we all know that this is a difficult time we live in and if we want to survive we have to think of our self-preservation” Dryce cuts off Colin and says “But we can do a lot better if we stick together” He gives a look to Colin who immediately understands where Dryce is going with his interruption. EO was clearly not falling for the fake sense of comradery they were offering and did not want them anywhere near the group. Dryce continuing with his inquisitive nature then asks Torex “So, where are you guys heading?” “None of your business” Torex replies with haste. Dryce steps in between Colin and Torex and makes a suggestion “Well the way I see it you guys are being hunted, and I have a theory on who might be the hunter; and if it is him then you are in big trouble.” EO points his weapon at Dryce “How do we know it wasn’t you that took that shot?” “You don’t” says Dryce, “But at this point how many other options do you have? They say strength is in numbers, and you can clearly use some more muscle. No offensive” he smirks at Moose while he starts making his way toward the door they came in through. Agent John finally breaks his silence “Look, I don’t know who you are but if these guys don’t trust you neither do I.” “I never asked you to trust me Agent, all I am saying is you are in my world now and today I happen to be feeling generous and will happily make sure you make it to your destination without too many more bullet holes.” EO and Torex both agree that they better play Dryce’s game for now, EO looks over at Colin and sarcastically says “Alright sweetheart, lead the way.” The team files out of the Electronics store leaving behind any thought on who the ghost shooter was, or if they were still out there. The group continued north on their journey, the silence was so great you could have heard a pin drop in the middle of the street. Without warning a few blocks east they see and hear a flair go up. John immediately becomes hopeful, it’s an extraction being called in by one of his fellow agents. His mind starts racing to formulate a plan to get him and Lamar out of there and on that extraction helicopter. Dryce looks over at the flair and says “Well looks like this is where we split off, No one calls in an extraction in my DZ without my permission.” He looks over at Colin and they both head toward the incoming extraction, John speaks up “But wait, we should go with you, what if something happens with us being separated?” EO knew something wasn’t right “What the hell do you mean? We don’t need him let’s continue on”. John rushes up to EO and says to him “If we take our eye off this guy he will double back and try to kill us, you know it as well as I do.” EO reluctantly agrees “Alright let’s stay on them, Torex keep your eyes peeled for anything weird”. They arrive at the empty parking garage where the extraction was taking place, there was only one Agent waiting there. Dryce pulls out and deploys his mobile shield, he looks over at Collin “Time to get to work”. They quickly move in as the agent was placing his bag on the extraction line dropped down by the helicopter. John turns to Lamar and says “Listen to me carefully, no matter what happens you grab a hold of that extraction line and don’t let go. GOT IT?!” Lamar shakes his head as he prepares himself mentally for what’s to come. A gun fight breaks out, both Dryce and Collin focus in on the unsuspecting agent, all of the sudden shots are being fired from all around the extraction area. It was a trap setup by the Agents. They had Dryce and Collin surrounded, they both hunker down behind the mobile shield cover that Dryce was holding on to. The shield was soaking up the bullets as they flew into its path. John looks over at EO and notices how distracted he was trying to make sure they themselves are not spotted by the Agents that were focused in on the two rogue cowboys. John yells to Lamar “Run, Now!” They both roll out of cover and started running toward the extraction rope, while running John signals to the Agents not to fire at them. One of the agents yells out “Seize fire we got friendlies out there”. They get to the rope and John makes sure to strap Lamar by his belt first, before he got a chance to hook himself to the rope Torex grabs him by the collar and yanks him back toward the rest of the group. The Agents see the situation unfolding and start firing at Torex and the others that have John in captivity. The Rope starts to retract up to the chopper, Dryce seizes the opportunity looks at Lamar dangling helplessly on the rope and says “Not so fast bro, see you in Hell” he takes out his pistol and shoots a bullet right into Lamar’s forehead. Lamar’s body was lifted up as the chopper was pulling out of the extraction area. John looks on helplessly as he is being dragged by his neck collar and the group starts putting distance between themselves and Dryce and Collin. Out of nowhere a loud flash bang hits the agents as well as Dryce and Colin. The flash and smoke blinded everyone in its blast radius except for EO and the team. The flashbang was followed by a well-placed BFB sticky bomb that was now locked on to Dryces vest. Through the smoke a figure emerges, it’s none other than Phoenix himself. Carrying an empty RPG launcher in one hand and a 12 pack of Diet Cola in the other. He puts down his things as he greets the team. EO and Torex High-Five him and Moose and Knuckles start making Pigeon sounds to show their appreciation for him just saving their asses. Phoenix walks up to John and says “Sorry you had to go through all this, but we really need to talk.” Dryce interrupts the reunion with a sarcastic question. “Excuse me Ass Hole, but do you mind getting this shit off me so we all don’t blow the fuck up?” Meanwhile the remaining agents that finally gained their sight and hearing back all realized the situation had just escalated dramatically and decided to retreat back to the nearest check point. “Dryce, I have been watching you for a while and I have to say, I’m not your biggest fan right now.” Dryce smiles and replies “Well, the way I hear it Phoenix, you lost your damn marbles and think you are going to save the world all by yourself. How’s that working out for you?” “Dryce, this is the only warning you will be hearing from me, next time I see you I am pushing this little button in my hand and only God will be able to sort through the mess.” John asks Phoenix “So where do we go from here?” Phoenix picks up his weapon and his 12 pack of Diet Cola “We are going to see an old friend; EO lead us out, Moose, Knuckles make sure no one follows us.” Two weeks after the Dollar Flu hit: It’s dark outside, like, pitch black dark. The kind of dark when you open the front door to go outside and change your damn mind because you just shit yourself dark. Knuckles aimlessly walks the streets around this time without a care in the world. He takes a long pause as he gulps down the little bit of Jack Daniels from his bottle, then relieves himself next to a nearby sewer drain. As he stumbles ahead he sees a street light flickering in the middle of an intersection, he sees a body lying on the ground. He gets closer and notices the young woman on the ground is still breathing. He drops the empty bottle and rushes to her side, “Miss are you ok?” he asks while he checks for a pulse. Suddenly he feels the cold metal from the barrel of her gun digging into his rib cage, she smiles gleefully “LoMane, you done messed up now” she says laughing at him. “Wallet, clothes and shoes - Take them off now”. “Are you kidding me?” Knuckles asks “LoMane, you only gonna make it worse if you don’t shut your mouth. Didn’t anyone tell you it is Moose Season?” Knuckles very slowly starts to put his hands up regretting he ever stopped to help. Two years later in the DZ: Knuckles looks over at Moose as the group walks through the DZ and throws an energy bar at her. “Hey, you got to eat if you’re ever going to grow up”. “Man shut up, just because I have them corgi legs doesn’t mean I can’t whip you.” Knuckles laughs and replies back “Do I smell a challenge? Well, hold on a second let me get the baby oil and we can wrestle.” Moose snaps back “Oh like them Bitches say in that Cheerleader movie Bring it on!” EO has had enough of the banter and yells at the both of them “Will you two shut up?!” “Where are we going anyway, Inquiring Meese need to know” questioned Moose. “We are taking these two idiots to see Phoenix” “You mean we get to play with the Pigeon? Answers Moose joyfully. “Awe yeah” says Knuckles in agreement, “can’t wait to see my Kin! What the hell has he been doing anyway? Last I heard he built a roller skate rink in Donald Trump’s old building.” “I heard he put in a petting Zoo” comments Moose. EO just shakes his head as Torex tries to hold back his outburst of laughter. John looks over at Torex and asks “So, are these two always like this?” Torex still upset he has to be breathing the same air as John ignores him completely. As the group continues to walk Moose and knuckles show no end of their constant back and forth. Moose starts to feel tired and asks “EO, why the Hell are we not taking one of these damn cars? It’s not like they are coming back anytime soon.” EO looks over his shoulder “Can you hear that sound?” Moose listens intently Knuckles fires back “I don’t hear anything”. “Exactly” exclaims EO “No one uses a car in the DZ because on these quite ass streets an engine blasting through the neighborhood would paint a target for the whole damn DZ to come down us. Now shut the Hell up.” “LoMane” Moose says with half a smile to Knuckles “looks like someone forgot to eat his cheerios for breakfast”. EO again was bewildered at the level of nonsense. John came up to an abandoned electronics store a few feet ahead of the pack with Lamar and noticed something strange. It was a department store dummy dressed in an LMB outfit, it was positioned to look like it was peering out from the window to the building straight ahead. Moose sees the two of them staring at this dummy puzzled by its purpose. She walks up to the dummy and starts talking to it like a real person, “Hey, LoMane. Can you tell me where the nearest Dunkin donuts is, I needs a cup of that fresh Guatemalan coffee.” Knuckles joins in the conversation “Yeah, where the hell is Don Pedro and his Donkey? I need to know right now.” Before EO could raise his voice to tell them to shut up again, a single shot rang out. Everyone drops to the floor instantly except for Moose. Still standing there in shock John notices blood coming out the side of her arm. John reaches up and grabs her to pull her to safety, they go behind a concrete wall inside the store and John yells out “Anyone of you happen to be a medic?” He knew the answer was going to be no so he started to wrap the bullet wound with his scarf. Knuckles crawls along the sidewalk and makes his way into the building “You are doing it wrong” he tells John in almost a peculiar calm fashion. He unwraps the scarf and uses it as a tourniquet above the bullet wound to stop the bleeding. He pulls out a knife, pops open a bottle of vodka he had been carrying in his pack and cleans the blade. “This is going to sting a little, drink some of this”. Before Moose had a chance to finish her drink Knuckles uses the knife to examine the wound and how bad it was, he soon realizes the bullet grazed her arm pretty bad but no real damage could be seen. He wrapped up the wound and told her to apply pressure. “Where did that shot come from?” asked Torex. “I don’t know, but I sure as hell don’t want to stick around to find out” yells EO. So they all pile into the electronic store safe from the outside for now. John looks at Knuckles still impressed with what he just witnessed, he asked him “Where did you learn that?” Knuckles looks up and confesses to the group “Columbia Med School, class of 2002. Before the dollar flu hit I was an ER Surgeon at Mt. Sinai Hospital. I lost everything and everyone I ever loved during that time, so I decided I was going to live out the rest of my time doing whatever I wanted to do until someone put a bullet in me.” The whole group was stunned, but most of all Moose was especially shocked. “LoMane who are you?” “I’m just me” replied Knuckles. The interior door to the back room of the electronics door bursts open suddenly and two other former agents come through with weapons drawn. EO and Torex immediately bear down the sights of their weapons ready to shoot. John has his pistol aimed right for one of their heads. The two men lower their weapons and try to ease the situation. “Hey guys, no need to get all out of control here. I see you found my dummy.” He looks down at Moose “Sorry he didn’t do a great job protecting you”. John began lowering his weapon when EO barks out “no one lower your weapon, don’t trust a damn thing out of these two.” Lamar shaking from the rush of adrenaline asks “EO, you know these guys”. “Yeah.” He says reluctantly, his sights still trained on the both of them. “Let me introduce myself” the front man says “My name is Colin and this is my trusted right hand man Dryce”. Agent John and his new buddy JTF officer Lamar walk into the BOO. The mood of the place is very somber, word of their defeated plan and eventual loss of Rogue Agent Disavowed Torrex had already made it back to the others. John stops and takes a look around hoping to find at least one familiar face. Lamar stood by his side wondering what to do next himself. John turns to Lamar and asks “want to go for a walk? It’s a little too stuffy in here for me.” “Sure. Where to?” replied Lamar. Agent John did an about face and marched right out of there. Lamar following close behind. As they walked up the street from the BOO John was overwhelmed with emotion. He missed his daughter Grace, he missed his wife Christine but still very upset he failed the team earlier. “You have any kids?” asked John. “No sir. I joined JTF right after the dollar Flu hit, it was my senior year of High School”. Agent John pulls out a locket from his inside jacket pocket, he stares at his family for a brief moment as they walk. Lamar looks ahead and notices a group of Riker gang members patrolling the street ahead they deemed “Their Turf”. Lamar pulls Agent John down into cover behind an abandoned SUV. Agent John realizing that they wandered way off course started formulating an escape route in his head. “We need to quietly turn back and hopefully these guys will not notice us”. Lamar turns abruptly in fear and knocks over an empty tin trash can. The sound of the metal hitting the concrete pavement echoed throughout the entire neighborhood off the tall buildings. The Riker gang members turn and notice the two in hiding. “RUN” Yells John. Bullets start flying past them, the Rikers right on their heels. John pulls out his pistol and starts firing blindly behind him as he races for his life. Lamar reaches for the strap of his G36 and notices that the weapon is missing! He turns back quickly just long enough to see one of the Riker members picking it up off the ground where they were hiding behind that SUV. John looks up ahead and sees an LMB Squad patrolling the streets in front of them. John pushes Lamar to turn to the left as they race down the opposite street. The LMB members see the Rikers barreling down the street hot on the tails of Agent John and JTF Officer Lamar, so they join the Rikers in the chase. Lamar notices the two groups now chasing them, “Awe Shit! They’re working together now?” John looks ahead and sees it’s a dead end. The only thing in front of them is the large broken scaffolding built to contain the DZ. They both run up to the scaffolding and begin to climb, John hands a grenade to Lamar “Here, use this when I tell you”. John then reaches in his pack and pulls out a Seeker Mine, he pushes in the green glowing button at the top and throws it out toward the two groups of enemies. The seeker mine hits the ground and immediately start rolling toward the Rikers first. “Shit, Seeker mines take cover” Yells out one of the LMB Members. The ball jumps in the air and splits off into multiple little clusters above the Rikers and LMB. As the clusters explode the force of the blast knocks Lamar backwards and into the DZ, he drops the grenade and loses the pin. John jumps down in the DZ, grabs the grenade and throws it toward the enemies now trying to climb the scaffolding. The grenade detonates in midair next to the main support beam and the entire scaffolding starts to crumble onto itself. John and Lamar soon realize that although the threat of the LMB and Rikers chasing them has been neutralized, they are now stuck in the DZ and the nearest check point is over a mile away. As they start walking quietly down the street hugging the sides of the building doing their best to blend into the landscape. Lamar finally breaks the silence “I didn’t think we were going to make it back there, Thank you”. “We are not out of the woods yet kid” whispers John inviting him to keep his mouth shut while they are moving in stealth mode. They cautiously approach an intersection leading to a dark alley. John takes a quick look and doesn’t see anyone around. As he proceeds to cross the intersection, a single shot rings out and the bullet flies right past John’s nose. “Consider that a warning shot” yells out a familiar voice. Agent John’s heart starts pounding in fear, he recognizes the voice of his old friend Torex, the former agent that they just recently lost back in the DZ. “The next shot is going right between your eyes John. No one locks me up and gets away with it”. “Torex. Your beef is with me, let the kid go”. John yells out hoping to at least save young Lamar’s life. “You know what, honestly I would have honored your request, but I have about ten Rikers here that was promised a blood bath. You know I’m a man of my word John”. Suddenly the gang members start slowly walking out of the dark shadows of the alley. John knew they were now in serious trouble. He was the one that originally captured Torex, it was his idea to use him as bait and then eventually lose Torex again in the DZ. It seems that Karma has caught up with Agent John. They start moving in closer ever so slowly almost as if to savor the moment when they finally make their kill. All of a sudden John’s SHD tech device lights up with an incoming message, ISAAC system blares out “A NEW AGENT HAS JOINED YOUR TEAM”. A mobile cover is tossed in the air flying over John and Lamar’s head and landing right between them and the Rikers. The metallic clamps dig into the concrete and the mobile cover extends out providing cover to the two men. Then another rogue agent slams up against the mobile cover armed with two big Alejandro LMG’s. He slaps his SHD tech device to activate his Tactical Link, a huge surge of energy flows through his arms and weapons, he takes aim and unleashes the devastating power of these two weapons. Bullets start flying out faster than the eye can see, the raw power forcing the LMG’s to perform at super human speed and strength start melting the red hot barrels. The entire Alley way is covered in Bullet holes and dead bodies. Torex, the only one to survive yells “Damnit EO, What the Hell?! You almost killed me”. “Stop over exaggerating you pansy, if I wanted to kill you, it would have been a long time ago.” A thick fog started settling in around the area, it was getting difficult to see five feet in front of you. “Wait a minute” John says confused. “You are EO3CB? The guy we have been looking for since the start of the Dollar Flu?” EO trying to expedite their inquiries cuts off the questions from Agent John “Yeah it’s me, nice to meet you, now we have to go. Phoenix needs to talk to you about something important.” John doesn’t want to go anywhere with these two killers, he positions himself between them and Lamar as if he would try to shield him if they start shooting. “Look, with that much noise someone is bound to have heard it. Torex and I will protect you on the way to see Phoenix”. “What?” Torex exclaims almost spitting up his drink. “I am not protecting these bastards. Do you not remember what they did to me?” “Come on Torex, like you didn’t have it coming. I gave my word to Phoenix, anything happens to them, I will kill you myself.” Torex storms off toward the end of the street in protest. “Alright fine, why aren’t we moving yet?” “We are waiting for backup” says EO. “They should be here any second now”. Suddenly in the distance John sees two shadowy figures walking towards them. A twisted laughter fills the air as the two get closer. One was swinging a chain around his head, occasionally smacking himself with it on purpose just to see which one of the two would laugh first, the other was wearing a mask shaped like a Moose. “What the Hell is that? This is your backup” John asks as he stares at the two approaching laughing hyenas. EO looks over his shoulder and shakes his head “The one with the chain is Knuckles, the other is Moose. Think of them as your spiritual guide.” As soon as the two are in full view from the fog Moose yells out “Entrance pose!” and they both stop and pose like rock stars about to hit the stage for their final performance. Torex walks up from behind Lamar and says “I hope you brought a big bag of sanity pills cause it’s about to get weird.” Ominous dark clouds weighing heavy on the atmosphere, they look ready to unleash a sudden down pour of torrential rain. John can’t shake the feeling of loneliness and a deep chill in his bones that just seem too much to bear. He looks up at the sky wondering where the hell he is. Then suddenly the clouds become still and begin to part revealing a beautiful sunshine. The Sun Rays touch his skin and warms him to his very core, he sees his daughter across the grassy field; her head and shoulders barely visible above the flowers surrounding the both of them. The wild blue, red and yellow colors playing with the cool breeze and forming a path leading up to their favorite park. “Daddy I missed you so much” she says as she embraces him. “Where did you go this time?” “Oh honey, daddy missed you too, I am back now and that is all that matters. Hey, you want to go for a push on the swing?” She shakes her head with delight in agreement. John starts pushing his daughter Grace on the swing, her long blonde hair gently brushes his face as she flies up to meet him and then swings off really fast as she giggles with sheer joy and excitement. John, finally made it home after his last assignment and can finally breathe in a sigh of relief. As he takes in the moment he notices a woman badly injured across the park staring at him. She looks war torn, her head bandaged up and a fresh cut across her check still in need of stiches. As the blank expression on her face almost puts John in a trance he hears the voice of his daughter fading away as she is calling for him to come back to her. He begins to walk towards the woman and cannot find a way to stop himself as he moves closer and closer. “JOHN!!” he hears ringing in his head, “JOHN GET UP!” He looks down at his SHD tech watch on his wrist, an orange pulse shoots out from his wrist in all directions. The ring spreads across the park and reveals to him the true terrain this dream world has been hiding. The grassy fields once covered in flowers are now all covered in Concrete and pavement, the trees reveal themselves as the massive buildings they actually are. John finally realizes he never left his assignment in New York City. John now recognizes the woman in his dream, it was Lieutenant Faye, and she screams “Get up John we have to go now! We lost the prisoner, Fall Back!” John tries to get up on his feet as one of the JTF officer drags him back to safety. They open the checkpoint doors of the DZ and the team of twelve pile in as fast as possible, the door seals up behind them as bullets and fire turrets whiz past them. “What the Hell happened out there?” asks one of the JTF officers addressing Faye. You can see the anger in his face as he sneers toward Agent John and his inability to help in the fight at that crucial moment. “It’s no one’s fault” snaps Faye, “We were ambushed by Rogues, and we should have known this was going to happen considering the circumstances.” “Circumstances?” Asked the JTF officer. “When the Hell were you going to inform us that we were using a Rogue Agent as a Prisoner for bait in the DZ? Maybe if you shared that little bit of Intel we could have been more prepared!” The JTF officer now so upset he can’t even catch his breath. His name tag had fallen off in the gun fight, he picks it up off the ground and stuffs it in his pocket. “Well, now what Agents?” Ramirez says snidely. “We had one of the most dangerous Rogue operatives in custody and you lose him because you were trying to dangle bait for a bigger catch. Now who knows how many more JTF officers will die at the hands of Agent Torex.” Faye angrily stands up to Ramirez “You know damn well this Rogue group is our problem! We need to cut the head off the snake if we are going to have any chance of gaining control of the DZ again.” Ramirez starts to snicker at Fayes remark. “You telling me you thought this little plan of yours was going to get you Phoenix?” The look of disgust and disappointment is written all over Ramirez’ face, some of the other JTF men find it just as delusional, the other SHD Agents don’t. After the sarcastic huffing had died down Ramirez turned to Agent John “You are damn lucky we survived that little skirmish with Agent Eagle Eye today.” The rest of the men became silent and they all had a look of worry on their faces. “Don’t they call him Phoenix sometimes?” Asked one of the younger JTF members. “Yes they do” answered Ramirez. “Would you like to know why son?” the young man forces his head to signal for a yes. “Faye, why don’t you enlighten our young JTF officer here about who Agent Eagle Eye is and why they call him Phoenix?” Faye reluctantly standing up on her one good leg to address the room struggling to find a good starting point. “Agent EagleEye1298 was part of the second wave of SHD Agents that came to NY to help eradicate the LMB and Cleaners that have taken control of the Dark Zone. He was very cunning In his method of fighting, rather than focusing on dealing out damage to the enemy he was more focused on healing the group and keeping them alive long enough to endure any battle. Over time word spread around of his amazing revival abilities and he quickly became very popular among the other agents. No one wanted to patrol the Dark Zone without him because they knew that their only chance of survival was going in only with him. Well, because of his unique talents and my need to fill the void of patrolling the DZ, I assigned him to strictly DZ patrols only so I could get more Agents into rotation in there. We were actually making good progress until one day Eagle ran into Disavowed Torex, another former agent that recently turned rogue. Something happened that day, no one really knows what or why but he turned on the agents he was patrolling with. We found their dead bodies hanging from the rooftop of the Police station never to have heard from him again.” The air of the room was so thick you could cut it with a knife, every Agent in there hung their heads low listening to the blistering reminder of what a losing blow the Agents took that fateful day. The young JTF member then humbly asked “But that still doesn’t explain the name Phoenix where did that come from?” Agent John jumped up to explain that part of the story. Eager to show that this last encounter didn’t shake him at all he proceeded to say “One night long after Eagle defected as a Rogue, we were patrolling the DZ looking specifically for him. We came across some Rogue agent lead by their newest officer StonR. StonR happens to be another Rogue Agent at the top of our list to capture. We had eight agents that night and StonR was putting up one Hell of a fight, he had already taken out four of the eight agents single handedly with only one other Rogue agent with him. We finally had the perfect opportunity, the other Rogue agent died in the fight and StonR was finally put down. The remaining four agents went in to capture him when out of nowhere a single Defibrillator shot came down and landed right on StonR, when I looked up, Eagle was standing on a nearby rooftop monitoring the whole street the entire time. Before we realized what had just happened, StonR jumped up fully revived from the Defib and killed another agent. We fought for another hour, each time we thought we were going to get the upper hand on StonR, Eagle was right there with a revive. It was almost as if no one could kill anyone that was under the healing care of Eagle. I barely got out of there alive when Eagle threw out his seeker mines to assist in the final blow to our team.” The entire room was now completely silent, John finished by saying “That day agent Eagle died and through the ashes arose the Phoenix.” As John Started walking towards the exit of the checkpoint to head back to the Base of Operations the young JTF officer asked “Are there other Rogue Agents out there just as dangerous?” Agent John smiled at him and said “I think we need a drink first, then I can tell you about another former agent you will not want to run into. He goes by the name of EO3CB.” |
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