Chapter 12: The Battle At Warehouse #2

The walking was continuous. The rain had drastically slowed, but it hadn’t come to a complete end. The occasional drizzle in the night sky was keeping the ground wet. This was no longer an issue as the damp grass and dirt would smack and gently cling to the armored feet of Ioren. She did keep the armor piece from encircling her head, and when the drizzle came, it got her top head feathers a little wet. As a result, she would occasionally shake her head a little bit to knock the water off her.

The walk southward had been at least a couple of hours. By now, it was nearing 0100 in the morning. The dirt road was a mostly empty field. Stone had kept his sights ahead of him, looking for anything that might be out of the ordinary. Being wet didn’t bother him in the slightest. He simply soldiered on as if it were nothing. His shield, backpack, and two guns didn’t slow him down.

Ioren would use her tilon to continue saying a few comments here and there. Stone, on the other hand, was even quieter. For her, the Itrean felt a slight wave of nostalgia at the scene. Old memories would rise and fall of things she had been to before. She would imagine that daytime was even prettier.

“According to the map layout,” Stone explained. “There should be a series of uncompleted warehouses, with number 2 being closest to being completely built. Each of these warehouses is supposed to have an office building.”

Ioren turned her head back. By now, the central hilltop was much further away than ever. While they passed through areas with trees and light swampland, this area was primarily unutilized.

“Do you need to stop and rest?” Ioren typed.

“No. This time is the best to do this,” the marine continued. “Most of them should be asleep. Knowing them, they’re quite comfortable with maybe a guard or two on post, assuming that they have any at all. If we wait too long, then we’ll be fighting in the morning, we’ll be more tired than expected, or they’ll be even more on alert after one of their patrols fails to respond.”

Ioren agreed with the strategy of the entire plan. It was designed to mend with whatever they were going to face, but again, it was somewhat insane. Taking on so many individuals could be easily overwhelming. Only good training, proper equipment, and sound planning were the ways to build a hope of victory. Regardless, the Itrean knew that there was a viable sense of hope. The armor she had on felt pleasant now that she finally had it. No longer did the rules apply to what they were allowed to do. A part of her did feel a sense of concern for Stone. To her, humanity was supposed to be nicer than its Itrean counterparts. While she believed it to be correct, her observations were starting to show that this was not always the case. She had to be aware that Stone’s bloodlust would grow more, especially if they walked out alive after all this. How many people would have to die to satiate that craving? Even the other individuals she killed didn’t reside too much in her mind, but she had to keep note of it. The argument was all but mute for now. This was simply not the time to discuss it.

They were getting close enough in the walk to see the outer edge of the array of buildings. Not far from it was the ocean. This location mainly consisted of uncompleted structures. Even the road almost ended right next to them. There was a crossroad point that might have been in the early construction process, but nature was reclaiming it rather well. On foot, it would be easy to transition to the east, but the growing number of trees and plants would make it challenging for anything else.

Stone’s vision could easily mark out anything that was unusual. Warehouse #2 had a few adjacent facilities. Besides the ocean, one could see the beach, an inoperable power facility, and a large storage vat near the first warehouse. Again, nature was slowly retaking what wasn’t completed.

Despite the supposedly inoperable generator, power was being supplied to the building. In addition, a few light sources could be seen, partially illuminating the surrounding structures.

“Make sure that we avoid the areas that are generating light,” Stone commented to Ioren.

“What is generating it?” Ioren typed.

“I can barely spot what looks like a wind generator near the beach.”

They had to continue their walk for a little while. Then, as more and more of it was coming into view, Stone could verify a small but sizeable windmill near the beach and dock. Its two blades were spinning continuously to generate a form of makeshift power.

“Should we take it out?” Ioren typed.

“No. We’ll bring alarm to them too early if the power goes out,” Stone explained. “We go with the plan as before. Just avoid the lights.”

In reality, this was going to be easy. The few sidelights only provided an indication of the building in the dark starlight. This also meant that most humans probably didn’t have any form of augmentation to allow them to see in the dark. If they could generate light, it meant they were more likely to depend on it.

Besides the primarily incomplete buildings, the central place of interest consisted of two structures. One was the main warehouse, which was the largest of the two. It was mostly a big single-story rectangular metal building with two entrances. It was large enough to have a garage to house any vehicles. The other, smaller one looked like a single-story office building. There was a window on one side that Stone could make out from his range.

By now, Stone made sure to pull out each piece of hearing protection to fit into his ears. This was a sign for Ioren to go ahead and activate her headpiece device. The torso wrap armor began to extend its metal sheath up her neck. It enveloped her snout, cheeks, eyes, forehead, and the rest of her head. Stone briefly looked at her. This was what an Itrean looked like with their wrap armor entirely on. She was nothing more than a walking metal lizard. The greenish-red color was evident. Ioren could see from her partially red-lit eye lenses. Inside, she had a tactical layout of the entire scene from wherever she looked. The breathing recycler could allow her to operate in space or naturally filter out anything toxic for her anatomy.

“Right now,” Stone explained as his voice got quiet. “I’m not picking up any signatures coming from inside the buildings, but I can see something very brief by the only entrance of the smaller office building.”

Ioren closed her tilon and put them away. Any future communication would have to be done quietly on his part. They continued to get closer and closer to the location. Stone’s augmented eye was continuously making adjustments to spot anything out of the ordinary. The red silhouette was starting to get brighter.

“I can confirm one guard that is at the entrance,” the marine almost whispered to Ioren. “Do you see anybody else?”

Ioren shook her head. There was nothing that her vision could spot. Even her hearing was only that of the wildlife and distant ocean waves that splashed against the beach. Their approach was becoming increasingly promising. If there was only one person there, then it meant that everybody was inside. Then, of course, there was the possibility that they were in both buildings. The Itrean began to spot something that was etched on the outer office wall.

“I’m beginning to see the red silhouettes of a couple of individuals inside the office building,” Stone quietly told her. “Don’t see any form of alarm or notice of our arrival. When we approach, we’ll get to the corner and stand away from that window. The guard won’t see us coming. I want you to throw a rock to distract the guard. The moment that you do it, I’ll make my move. Understand?”

Ioren nodded her head to acknowledge it. She kept a good grip on the chief’s pistol.

“Don’t hesitate to take these men down. The armor etchings on those patrollers we killed matched the card. I can now spot that same emblem on the office wall. We might have hit the jackpot.”

Jackpot ... Ioren would have to look up that definition some other time. For now, she mostly understood the basic generalization of what it meant. They began to hurry at a quiet pace. By now, they left the dirt road and were moving through the wet grass. Any types of heavy shrubs or swamp water, they tried to avoid. The office building was getting closer and closer till they reached the sidewall.

Stone was keeping a close eye on the interior and exterior of the office building. The guard seemed bored by the silhouette movement. He held a single bolt-action rifle and wore the optical lens device to see. He hadn’t heard of the silent approach of the two. The marine could also see that nobody was looking out the window or noticing them. By now, he could see red silhouettes in one of the adjacent interior cubicles near the window. They appeared to be asleep or doing something else.

Ioren bent down and picked up a small rock. At the same time, Stone wasn’t that far behind her. He pulled out and unsheathed his knife. Ioren poked her head around and could see the guard at the front, as Stone had just mentioned. With a simple hurl of her hand, she sent the rock flying. It landed on the exact opposite side of the building, producing a nice, hard thump on the ground.

“What the?” the guard remarked, looking away momentarily at the sound. It was the queue needed as Stone stepped out from the corner, raised his knife, and threw it straight at the man. As his head was turned away, he would never know of the flying blade that was heading towards him.

At the same time, the marine rushed forward, anticipating the possibility that he would miss. However, the knife landed true, impaling the man in the back right side of the neck and throat. His gun fell to the ground, producing a dull thud sound. He tried to gasp for air, but the metal cut off his ability to speak. There was a slight gurgling sound as Stone charged him and used his shield to slam him into the ground. The sheer strength was more than enough to do it. Knocking him on his stomach, Stone used his boot and weight to smother the guard. The audible noise didn’t go that far, but he had to be careful.

Ioren watched the event unfold as she kept her gun at the ready and watched the main entrance. She watched as Stone reached down and grabbed the knife handle. He continued to hold the man down for what seemed like half a minute. Any form of struggling from the guard slowly withered away. The coordinated strike and press down smothered the man to death. Stone stood up to see that the guard’s eyes were open as he lay dead on the ground. He wiped the blood off the knife-edge before sheathing it again.

From Stone’s vision, he could see more and more of the interior. He noted that one of the red silhouettes seemed to respond to the thud sound. An individual was sitting down in a chair. The person’s head showed a state of wonder towards the slight noise. The marine was not going to take his chances any further. He stepped towards the door and quietly tried to pull the handle. Not much to his surprise, the door was locked.

Using sign language, Stone said three words to her. “Grenade ... Door ... Together,” as the queue for her on what to do next. Ioren understood the concept as she pulled out one of the disc-like grenades from her hip. They took several steps back as the Itrean was using her thumb to work with the primary button interface. Stone pulled out his shotgun and disengaged the safety.

It was now or never, with a simple heave, Ioren threw the grenade at the door. It attached itself to the door, and the countdown began. The marine held his shield up to prepare for any fragments that would come their way. Suddenly, it happened.

EXPLOSION ... the door was rocked with a powerful blast that radiated in all directions. The shockwave was enough that it blew the door inward, ripping it from its hinges and towards the ground interior. Fragments and pieces of the entrance flew out in multiple directions. The great commotion caused a sudden alarm to echo in all directions.

“Move! Move!” Stone yelled as he charged towards the entrance. His shield was in one hand, and his shotgun was in the other. Ioren was not that far behind as she pulled out her AKT from her other hand.

“We’re under attack! Get up!” yelled one of the men inside the office.

The marine could see the layout of the entire area. His augmented eye painted a perfect picture of the scene. The office building was small but not tiny either. There were thin cubicle rooms that separated the main hall itself. The blown door lies on the floor. Several red silhouettes were lying on the floor or sitting down at the table when the explosion occurred. The blast was so jarring that their ears were ringing. Some stammered and struggled to stand up. Most of them were unarmed.

As Stone had stepped in, there were no people in his direct line of sight except the person in the right cubicle. This man, who was somewhat tipped off to the commotion outside, was the one who was screaming for everyone to get up. A pistol was in his hand. He stepped around the cubicle wall to investigate the explosion further, but the marine was ready. The moment that the man appeared, the shotgun was already aimed at the man’s face. A simple trigger pull, and the man’s head lit up as heavy buckshot ripped into him. Blood and teeth showered a little bit as the round blast was powerful. Knocked back and down to the ground, the man was dead before hitting the ground.

“Two coming from your left!” Stone yelled at Ioren.

There was enough room for Ioren to use Stone for partial cover. His shield would have to do in this battle, as he didn’t have much else to really protect him. She would have to remain close to provide fire support. It didn’t take long as they pushed towards the front left and right cubicles. A machete blade smacked the corner of the edge near Ioren’s left side. A man jumped out with his pistol in hopes of shooting the two. Using the chief’s pistol in her left hand, she fired two shots at the man before he fell to the ground. She then pulled around and kept both of her pistols pointed at the other person, who was close to the window. He had already pulled out a makeshift scattergun and had it pointed directly at Ioren’s head. Amazingly, he managed to fire the gun, partially hitting the Itrean’s face with a shower of small pellets. Her armor easily shrugged it off as she had direct aim with both her pistols. She pulled the trigger on both guns, hitting the guy in the chest. She turned around to see that Stone was proceeding further inward.

The gunfire inside was loud and noisy. Even though Stone and Ioren were using suppressed guns, the syndicate members were pressed to fight indoors with makeshift weapons. The scattergun blast further added to the internal commotion. Yelling and screaming were almost muted at some points.