Countdown to Apocalypse, page 21
Wey nodded warily, “If you can do as you say, then yes…”
The General took a deep breath as he examined the map of the fighting, showing overhead shots of the burning buildings and vehicles. What was going on out there at the moment would not be enough, so he finally nodded and gestured to his closest aide.
“Signal our remaining armored forces that they are to withdraw from the fighting. Inform them of the plan, and have them re-arm and refuel while they can,” He ordered. “The same goes for air support, and tell the artillery to hold for my orders as soon as they check in.”
“Yes, Major General.”
“Ok, then we need to get mov-” Alex was cut off by Rosie’s voice over his radio and he cocked his head slightly to listen. After a moment he smiled, “Major General, do you have fighters in the area?”
Wey nodded slowly, “We moved several squadrons of J-11 and JH-7 aircraft to Shek Kong along with the attack helicopters, however they are a last resort in case…”
He trailed off, but Alex understood what was left unsaid.
In case China and the United States went to war.
“Understood, however I’m thinking we might have a more positive use for them General.” Alex said firmly.
*****
The probe was pleased with the results as it analyzed the ongoing destruction caused by the latest experiment on the local lifeforms. Normally the cidoforming protocols it held were intended for simple lifeforms, and generally were limited to generating increased toxicity or some other form of environment modification via the life disease itself.
This, however, was a truly spectacular set of results with localized destruction far in excess of initial calculations and hopes.
Worldwide impact remained to be seen, but at the very least it should redirect available resources to combating the altered life forms rather than spending those same resources on exploring beyond the boundaries of the system.
Likely the local star was already contaminated and would have to be collapsed, but anything that kept the life disease occupied until a war fleet could be dispatched would prevent similar actions on nearby stars…
Assuming, of course, that the local life disease was, in fact, local.
The probe made a note to have all nearby stellar locales investigated for any hints of life. While the disease did, in fact, develop spontaneously it also had an aggravating capacity for stellar travel even without advanced technology.
Better safe than sorry, after all.
For the moment, however, the probe merely enjoyed the destruction as it began to plot out the third, and final, phase of the local cido-forming protocol.
Subjects were being selected even as the population center below burned.
*****
Chapter 19
Blue Solar East Headquarters
Wesley shielded his face with his arm as he pushed out of the emergency stairwell and examined the scene on the ground floor.
The glass through the entire open floor had been shattered, laying scattered under foot such that it crunched as he made his way out and looked around for the emergency exit. People were flooding from the other stairwells, and he just hoped that everyone had made it down. He moved with the press of the crowd, emerging from the lobby of his building and stopped dead as the others scattered and ran.
The scene ahead of him was captivating, however, and Wesley found that he could not look away.
The twisting fires of the great dragon towered hundreds of feet above them, but at its base lay the wreckage of countless cars, vans, trucks, and military vehicles. He swallowed as he saw the smouldering wreckage of what looked like a military helicopter half buried in the building across the street, and a tank to match it just down the way.
This is insanity.
The dead and wounded were visible everywhere, blood covering the asphalt like an oil slick, red only where it had spilled over to the white paint marking the road surfaces, otherwise just a black stain that could be any of so many liquids. He couldn’t even imagine how many people were hurt, or dead, and didn’t want to try at the moment.
Others rushed around him, jostling Wesley as he took all that in with a sinking heart and stunned mind.
A sharp crack drew his attention and he looked to the North, spotting men fighting in the distance. Gun fire was blazing as PLA soldiers through themselves over small mounds that Wesley suddenly recognized with a chill as the bodies of their comrades. They fired continuously into a line of men in gaudy cheap suits who were just laughing as they somehow flung energy blasts right back.
The soldiers died in droves, Wesley shaking his head in disbelief… or, rather, a lack of desire to believe.
He only understood when he looked behind the soldiers and saw people pouring out of another building, turning and running the other direction under the orders of a police unit who were frantically directing them away from the fighting.
He felt lost, unable to summon the drive to run away himself as he stared in fascination at what he was seeing. The energy blasts manipulated by the thuggish bastards sparked something deep in his mind as he wondered how that had been accomplished.
He was only brought from his reverie by the sudden realization that the omnipresent roar he’d been ignoring had become louder. Wesley twisted around and stumbled back in shock as he realized that the Dragon had turned toward the people fleeing from his building and was coming closer.
Oh my Lord, He thought, swallowing through a suddenly dry mouth. I’m going to die.
A distant sound barely registered as he stumbled back a few more steps, almost like a soft pop. A louder pop above caused him to look up in time to see a mist of gas tint the air above him briefly before a spark flashed on his retina and the whole sky turned to fire.
Wesley threw himself to the ground as the felt the air pressure wash lightly over him, dissipated by distance, but he had enough tech companies designing military equipment to recognize what had just happened.
What fucking lunatic sets off a thermobaric explosive in the middle of a city!?
The answer to that became clear moments later as he rolled over onto his back and noted with a dispassionate side of his mind that apparently the lunatic would be the same sort who was capable of self powered flight and wore US Marine fatigues.
Somehow, that just figured.
*****
“Hey Puff!” Alex shouted over the roar of the burning flames, grinning maniacally as he waved around the Milcor in a one handed grip, “Round two!”
The head of the Dragon snapped around, hissing in a low roar like a living being that he was half starting to feel that it probably was. He drifted from it, leading it a little farther from the fleeing people below as he leveled the Milcor and casually waved the beast closer with his free hand.
“Come on, Puff,” He called, “You know you want a piece of me. Must have been humiliating, getting dunked in a pool, right? Good news, you get to try to get even.”
The Dragon roared and suddenly snaked out, right at him as he fired off two rounds from the Milcor forty millimeter.
“Uh uh, I said try.”
The two forty millimeter cannisters were ejected at high velocity from the rotary launcher, traveling across the intervening distance in an instant before the first of the two stage detonation sequence exploded, dispersing the chemical cocktail to the air above the city streets. Normally the second stage would ignite the chemicals a moment later, however by the time that happened the fireball was already rending the air as they were ignited by the flames of the dragon.
The Dragon screamed, it’s head disappearing as all the oxygen in the surrounding area was depleted in that single roar of fire. Unfortunately, as the air rushed back in, Alex watched the head grow back, looking more pissed off than every.
Well, it worked for a few seconds. Not exactly a win, but at least I pissed it off.
The fires of the dragon intensified as the beast lunged at Alex, only for him to dodge. It seemed to pause for a moment before burning all the brighter as they wrapped around the man down on the ground who appeared to be in a trance. Slowly, as Alex watched, he was lifted off the ground into the air.
The Dragon turned its fierce gaze on Alex, a gleam of sadistic intelligence glinting in its eyes as it seemed to roar in satisfaction and threw itself at him, no longer tied to the ground.
“Whoops, time to go!” Alex said, eyes wide behind his shooters glasses.
The condensation cone he left behind as he broke the sound barrier was eaten by the dragon an instant later.
Howling in rage, the Dragon flung itself into the sky and into pursuit of the Marine.
*****
Rooftop Nearby
Sarge pushed the Barret M82 ahead of him as he settled into a prone position overlooking the worst of the fighting.
“Cap has the Dragon hopping mad,” He said into the radio, “It’s chasing him.”
“Was there every any doubt,” Verte’s voice crackled over the radio in reply. “That one could talk the devil into a life of celibacy, or a saint into a murderous rage.”
“Triads seem surprised,” Sarge said as he swept the scene without looking through the scope. “They were using the Dragon as a shock troop. The dragon’s distraction opens up a gap in their defenses along the West. Detour left, one block, then right two, and right again and you’ll be able to hit them from the flank.”
“Got it, Sarge, thanks,” Tee said in response. “With me, boys.”
Sarge didn’t respond as he pulled the heavy bolt back on the big rifle, chambering a round for the first time. The situation was ugly on the streets below, but he’d seen far worse in his days. He’d been on the tail end of a long career the first time he met Alexander Hale and become one of a select few acquaintances who’d kept together after they’d been discharged from their service.
He had twenty years on the others, and more than a few wars.
Still, they were closest he had to family.
He didn’t look to either side as the Chinese soldiers slipped into position along the rooftop, setting up their own 12.7mm bullpup M06 Rifles.
He hoped they remembered their jobs properly and were as good as advertised.
I’d hate to have to kill them if they take out one of my friends.
Well, no actually he wouldn’t hate to have to kill them in that situation to be honest. That was a task Sarge would rather relish. He’d just hate the event that brought them all to it.
Better to do this all friendly like, for as long as we can. I doubt the President would like it otherwise.
*****
Yan stared up into the sky, shock on his face for a moment before it was replaced with anger as he spun and lunged at one of his men.
“You said you had it under control!” He snarled, lifting the man clear off the ground, one hand gripped around his throat.
The Triad choked, “I… thought I did. I was… keeping its anger burning so it did what we want!”
Yan swore, “Then what happened!?”
The man in his grasp was choking enough by now that he couldn’t speak until Yan rolled his eyes and loosened his grip slightly.
“It got angrier… at something else.”
“Useless…” Yan casually tossed the man aside, irritated but thinking the problem through.
The Dragon had been incredibly useful, of course, but it wasn’t strictly needed at this point. Everyone had seen what it could do and hunting the boy down again wouldn’t be that difficult. He settled himself, growling in annoyance, but calmed after a few moments.
“Fine, plan stays the same. Hopefully the beast eats that damn flying fool!”
Yan looked over the situation, then directed his people toward one of the target buildings.
“Go secure this block so the others can raid the building,” He said, “Our insiders say that Blue Solar’s CEO is in town. He’s worth billions, so we should be able to squeeze him for a sizeable ransom once we’ve gotten things under control. Any high-level executives as well, they all have sizeable insurance against kidnapping.”
The men nodded and spread out, heading for the building as they started to corral as many of the people trying to flee the building as possible.
Yan looked around, noting that the military had backed off.
Fools finally figured out how badly outmatched they are, He thought with a grin as he looked up and down the intersection in all directions, taking in his City with an owner’s satisfaction.
*****
The sound of thunder overhead was out of place in the clear skies, but the occasional flashes of light that accompanied the rumbling made Lana and her escorts glance up all the same.
She spotted a cloud of fire erupt above them as a blur flashed by, followed closely by the coils of flame that were the body of the now, apparently, winged dragon. Her group paused, not far from the Hong Kong Police Department building they were heading toward, appreciating the view before they got on the with the job again.
“Cap has the Dragon distracted,” She noted as they headed into the building, “but it doesn’t look like the explosives are having the effect we’d hoped.”
“It seems not,” The Chinese PLA officer with her said stiffly. “However it does seem to have angered it.”
Lana nodded with a crystal laugh that echoed from the walls of the station as they walked in, “Unless the Cap just talked him into a rage. I’ve seen the man do it, trust me.”
The police had noted their entry with the sort of caution one might expect given the emergency that was ongoing, but there weren’t that many of them to put up much resistance if they had proven to be hostile. The Officer stepped out front, gesturing to the closest police Sergeant.
“We need help,” He said, switching to Chinese. “This station processed the people from the Hospital incident yesterday?”
“That’s right,” The older police sergeant said as he walked out from behind the divider that kept civilians out of the secured areas, “What is it you need?”
“A woman, she would have been dropped off on the neighboring rooftop with one of your officers,” The PLA officer told him.
“Right, I remember her, hard to forget,” The Sergeant said with a quizzical look, “Shau Qi. Poor girl, lost her boyfriend in the recent mess. She was extremely distraught.”
The Officer blinked, then turned back to Lana and switched to English, “He says that her name was Shau Qi, and she was trying to find her boyfriend. He was lost in the recent events, by what she said.”
Lana’s sharp eyes sparkled as she leaned forward, “What’s the boyfriend’s name?”
The Hong Kong PD officer responded before the question could be translated, switching to English as well, “Li Shen. Why?”
The PLA officer started swearing in at least three languages.
Lana ignored him, eyes intent on the Police Sergeant, “Where can we find her?”
*****
Wesley looked around in alarm as his people were intercepted and turned back as they tried to flee the fighting, the thugs who’d been fighting the military now seemed intent instead on those fleeing his building.
He didn’t know what was going on, but it certainly wasn’t anything good.
He steeled himself, straightening his shoulders and started forward to try and talk the men down, only to be stopped by a hard gripping his shoulder tightly and pulling him back. He turned, surprised to find one of his local board members holding him back and shaking his head.
“What is it, Shuo?” He asked, confused.
“You will not be able to negotiate with them, Sir,” Nihon Shuo said in a lot voice, leaning in to be heard, “They are Triads. I would hazard a guess, but most likely they are looking for hostages for ransom.”
Wesley’s eyes widened, and he looked around in a stunned moment of stupor.
“All this,” He asked, incredulously, “For ransom?”
“Triads are vicious, cunning, and not to be trifled with lightly,” Shuo muttered, “Few, however, would describe them as particularly intelligent.”
The man looked around, frowning, “however, this does appear to be rather stupid, even for them. They’re basically taunting the entire martial force of the Mainland, I do not see how they feel they can win.”
Wesley scowled, “Power drunk. Mad. Whatever, it’s all the same thing. They’ve just gotten these…”
He scowled, shaking his head, “Abilities, whatever they are… they feel like they’re invulnerable.”
Shuo snorted, eyes falling on a tank that was embedded in a building some distance away, “I can see how they might feel that way. Still…”
“Yeah,” Wesley said grimly, “They can’t possibly take on China. If they even look like they might be pulling it off, the PLAAF will likely carpet bomb the city.”
“Hopefully not quite so eagerly as that,” Shuo chided, torn between amusement and grim agreement, “but yes. At some point, the Mainland will simply stop playing games and end the conflict by any means at their disposal.”
Wesley winced. He knew too well what that meant. In the worst case, it would mean a mushroom cloud over Hong Kong, though he doubted that it would go quite that far. The superhuman criminals were tough, but they couldn’t be that tough…
I hope.
*****
Tee examined the scene ahead of him, one hand held up to keep Verte and Ogre back as he evaluated things.
“Well, it’s not looking great,” He said after a moment, ducking back. “Looks like the bad guys are getting themselves a few hostages to play with.”
“That’s not good, mes amis,” Verte said in a too casual tone. He cradled his weapon, a Beowulf assault rifle like the one Tee also carried, “We don’t exactly have a large enough team to secure both hostages and bad guys, non?”
Tee snorted, “We don’t have a big enough team to secure either, let alone both.”
“Not gonna stop us,” Ogre rumbled softly.
The big guy was carrying a different weapon, something never quite intended to be man portable but the XM302 heavy machine gun fit easily into the oversized arms of the Ogre of the Fifteenth. The prototype weapon had been raided from an Army armory in Texas where it had been sitting since 2012.
