Chapter Eighteen: Rescue Mission

March 13th, 2027, 3:07 a.m.
Unit K47 Helo 14, Altai Mountains, Russia

Katia stood holding onto a bar attached to the ceiling of the helicopter, silently contemplating when she was in the clear to detonate the charges. All around her was the enemy, acting as if nobody was there, staying completely silent on the way back. Katia was constantly glancing over her shoulder, waiting for something to happen, but nothing did. It was like this for nearly five minutes until she felt a hand on her shoulder, which made her jump slightly. She looked back to see Amelia, “Are you doing okay? You’ve been really quiet since you came back from that tower.” Katia looked at her through the helmet, then to the ground, not knowing what to say. Amelia sighed, “Look, I know what you did was hard, but it was the right thing. We’ve taken one step closer toward what this world needs haven't we?” She patted Katia’s shoulder, comforting her, even though it was directed to Joshua. Katia had taken Joshua’s position, reversing his intent on himself. “Thank you…” she mumbled back, Amelia took her hand off Katia’s shoulder, “It’ll be alright, we’ll push through.” At this Amelia stepped back to where she had stood, leaving Katia to glance back out the window.

They were far enough away now so things wouldn’t look suspicious, she touched the detonator on her belt as they flew above another mountain peak. Immediately there was a small explosion behind them, and a chain reaction was started, moving along the west side of the factory to the east. Soldiers turned to look back, seeing what had happened as a large cloud of smoke and fire rose into the sky. Behind them ashes fell onto the now steel rubble that was the factory, but nobody looked at Katia as if she had done it. Anyone that looked at her looked at her sorrowfully, as if all her hard effort had been for nothing, all their hard work. Katia looked at them, knowing how they felt too well, feeling like everything they worked for was for nothing, everything gone. Katia shamed herself, now wasn’t the time to get weepy or to mourn, not for Joshua anyway. She turned from the crowd and walked back to her original spot while speaking determining thoughts to herself. Katia glanced away from the window for a second, noticing other people were sitting on the metal benches that rose from the floor of the helicopter. She decided to sit down as well, it was going to be awhile before they reached K47’s base.

Two Hours Later…

March 13th, 2027, 5:10 a.m.
K47 Helo 14, Atlantic Ocean

Katia was shaken awake by turbulence, she must’ve dozed off on their way back. She looked up, her arms had been crossed and her head slumped, causing there to be a knot in her neck. She moved her head side to side, the muscles in her neck coming back to life as she looked around at many others doing the same. Some got up and started stretching, others sat there still staring off into space, possibly still asleep. After a few minutes a voice came over the intercoms in their helmets, “This is squad pilot fourteen, please secure yourselves tightly and prepare for descent.” At this the people still standing sat down and strapped themselves in, while Katia and the others did the same. Katia could feel the helicopter pick up speed as it began to tilt forward and plummet toward the ocean’s surface. The propellers of the helicopter had contracted and became a part of the outer body as the rest changed shape to dive underwater. During the morph of the helicopter the windows were covered by metal, causing the interior to be completely dark, but within a few seconds lights came on above them. Some of them looked at each other in silence as the light reflected off of their helmet visors, concealing any emotion that lay behind. They plummeted another hundred feet down, then slipped into the water with a large but silent splash, now invisible to the world. Those among Katia inside said nothing, waiting for their arrival, as if not daring to speak.

In about five minutes Katia felt the submarine jerk to a stop, docking onto the base. It was time. The back of the aquatic helicopter opened to a small corridor leading to the shining white, gray, and blue interior. Katia sat in her seat, waiting for everyone else to file out before her, she wanted to be last. Everyone but the pilots had left the helicopter, and there was still the nagging feeling of being able to go back, to turn around. There was still the want to disappear off the face of the planet, leaving Abdallah to his schemes, hiding for the rest of her life. She looked into the cockpit as the men started stepping out. “But that wouldn’t really be living,” she told herself, and she got in line with the rest. They continued to walk through the base, most likely heading to the armoury, as that was in the direction they were heading. Katia had never really explored the place when she was first there, mainly because she had no time, but she had seen maps. Once she saw something of valuable information, she didn’t forget it. It was like when she read books, the contents would always stick, she could name any fact at any random moment. They turned left into a hall, taking a few steps closer to the armoury, closer to the moment Katia would have to strike. They walked through the halls a bit more until rounding another corner reaching the armoury door, opening it to see what looked like a locker room full of weapons, armour, and related.

As they entered, Foles came into Katia’s intercom, “Hamus, Adballah has asked to see you privately to talk about the successful mission. Put away your gear and make your way to main control promptly,” Katia grimaced as she walked to Joshua’s area. “Thank you sir, I will,” she then hung up and looked around the room, many of the soldiers were still there. Amelia came up from behind Katia, making her jump, “Hey, it’s alright, did you hear Foles, Abdallah wants to congratulate you, that’s a huge deal, but you don’t want to be late so hurry up.” Katia yet again said nothing, she turned to face Amelia, whose helmet was already taken off, she knew that tricking them was essential to her plan, but it still made her feel a small pang of guilt. She turned back to put away one of her knives then quickly spun, slashing Amelia in the throat, watching her fall to the ground, as the others stared for a few seconds. It only took them those few seconds to realize what was happening, Katia was a fraud, they started taking weapons back from the stands and charged her. She turned and threw the knife at an attacker, lodging it into their neck, while dodging gunfire from the other side of the room. She switched her gloves to what they were originally named for, spraying flames in return for bullets toward those who had guns. They rolled on the ground trying to put themselves out as she continued with others, one had put her in a choke hold, she switched to the strength amplifying setting and threw him over her and across the room into the wall. Only a few remained, one of them still in full armour pulled from his belt what looked like a metal stub, flinging it out to reveal a long silver and blue etched blade. Katia punched one of the soldiers in the helmet, sending them six feet while the swordsman walked slowly closer. She turned on her heel to face him and he swung vertically, and she dogged, feeling the air sliced next to her right arm. He then swung the blade horizontally and Katia ducked under this, punched the sword as it was next to the wall, breaking the metal in half. He charged her and brought the hilt down onto her helmet and facial area, which broke the visor and stunned her temporarily while he thrust the broken yet sharp edge at her chest. She grabbed it with one gloved hand, the metals countering each other, then took the other broken piece from the ground, swept his legs from under him, and thrust the blade through his armour into his chest. Katia could barely see with the cracked visor, so she removed the helmet all together, dropping it to the ground while examining the room. She noticed a surveillance camera on the wall, and glared at it saying, “You’re next,” and left the room.

At this point she already had made herself known, and was dangerous enough for them to be looking for her, but this wasn’t the problem. The problem was going to be trying to get to Abdallah, finish him off, rescue the real Foles after that, and escape as well, all without being killed. She walked around a corner, trying to avoid small groups of soldiers as they marched by, undoubtedly searching for her, but she carried on. The control room was at the center of the base and on the top floor, which meant she’d have to maneuver all the way inside, as she came from one of the many docks on the outer ring. Katia turned another corner and walked through a door, this led to the medical center, which was full of stasis pods, some empty, others not. A few people were there, none of them gave a second glance at her before moving out of the way, they knew she was against them, but didn’t want any trouble. She ran on through, not wanting trouble either, she only had one person on her list, then she was going to rescue Foles. The farther Katia went toward the center the more secure the area was. Guards were patrolling every hallway she tried to go through, maybe fighting was her only option, she didn’t know. She did know she had to make it to the elevator, as it was the only way up to main control. She turned to what seemed an empty hall, but a guard entered the same time she did, and opened fire on sight of her. Katia slid back behind the wall as bullets flew past the corner from where she peered. She changed the gloves to frost and blindly sprayed ice from behind cover for enough time to freeze the guard. Sure enough there he stood completely frozen and unmoving as she ran past.



She’d made it to the middle ring of the base, there was only one left, and the elevators in the very center. She continued to sneak by guards and slipped into small rooms as multiple passed, the alarm lights still blaring and flashing overhead. Katia went on passing by training rooms and dorms, as well as some equipment closets, all of which were locked. Once she made it to the center ring all that would be left to do was get to the elevator in one piece. She looked down another hall to make sure it was safe, then turned into the other side, following some guards from a distance of about twelve feet while staying dead silent. None of them noticed her and they continued on their way as she turned off into another corridor. At this point the area was beginning to open up, meaning she was near the center ring, but she stopped there and realized the obvious problem. If Abdallah was watching the cameras he would know she was almost to him, so he would be prepared. Katia crouched down again, but got herself ready for a fight, and began entering the large room. She peered around a corner, but no one was there as she expected, the question was why. After examining the area a bit more, she slipped back into cover, going over her options. It was most likely a trap, a pretty obvious one at that, but at this point anything could be waiting for her. Katia decided to take a direct approach, casual, but unnoticeably cautious. She stepped into the room, eyeing every corner, anywhere someone could be hiding in plain sight. Yet even after extreme observation no one could be found. The elevator was just ahead, in the very center of the room, unguarded. The room was completely silent apart from the faint echo of Katia’s footsteps as she walked slowly closer to the elevator.

She was about six feet from the elevator door when she stopped. She turned around slowly to see nothing, then back. She silently switched to amplify her strength and quickly whipped back around punching in front of her, feeling and hearing the impact. The other guards who were there charged her, and though they were invisible Katia could feel out every move they made. She maneuvered around the attacks thrown at her, while trying to counter. Though she was able to dodge, she had no idea how many were there, but she felt them closing in around her. There was only a matter of time until they were on top of her, so she did the first thing that popped into her head. Katia stopped fighting back for the split second she had and slammed her fist into the ground, feeling the air rush outward from where she stood. The ground beneath her feet had cracked into a spider web like shape, and all the soldiers had been flung into walls, now visible and limp where they lay. Katia heaved a sigh as she looked down at her shaking hands, then to the elevator. She was almost done. She walked to the elevator and pressed the button, it’s double doors opened and she entered.

Once she arrived on the top floor the doors opened to a short hallway, leading to main control, the side doors led to areas full of prison cells. She looked down the corridors but carried on, trying not to get distracted. Katia reached the end of the hallway, the door to the control room right in front of her. She stopped there, staring at it. Katia shook herself out of a trance, it was time. She kicked in the door, looking in to see the large room, almost completely dark apart from the hundreds of screens on the wall. Behind them sat Abdallah, waiting patiently for her, unfazed as if accepting what was about to happen. “Your time is up Abdallah,” Katia shouted to him clenching her fists, “any last regards?” He turned in the seat and smiled at her, an ugly smile full of crooked teeth, yet genuine. He was wearing what he had been when she last saw him a few months ago. A large black leather jacket, with an outward curved collar, a torn shirt underneath, tactical pants, and black leather boots. “Ah time,” he said after a moment’s silence, “it gives to us, and it takes away, giving everything a beginning and an end. Changing everything it touches.” Katia let out a small laugh, “Ha, feeling poetic now are we?” Abdallah continued on ignoring her, “You know, you really have changed since we saw each other last. That was quite the performance you put on, I must say I am impressed.” He sat observing her, slightly pulling on his beard as if deep in thought, “To say I thought you wouldn’t make it here would be an understatement. You were never supposed to survive the day I met you.” Katia inquired on this statement, “So you regret not killing me that day?” Abdallah threw his head back and laughed, “Regret, regret? I have no regrets, I have done everything according to plan, all is in motion.” he chuckled to himself, Katia stared at him blankly, “Well I’m sorry but I’m going to have to stop your plan to rule the world.” Abdallah straightened up and gave her a quizzical look, “You think that I want to rule the world? If that is what you think I want, you are far from right.” “So what do you want?” Katia asked, “What do I want?” he said, “it is a simple answer. I want power, not the world at my feet.” “So you want to rule part of it?” she asked, but Abdallah just shook his head, “I have told you I don’t want to rule anything. Maybe if you look at it this way. I am doing the world a favor, I give them what they want, and they give me what I want in return.” Katia looked at him in disbelief, “Are you out of your mind, nobody could want what you have done so far.” He looked up and smiled, “You would be surprised by what the world wants Katia Managan. I have given it to them, and I deserve my part of the bargain.” Katia couldn’t make sense of what he was saying, none of it was logical or correct, but how could it be coming from a madman who destroyed things for the hell of it. Katia raised her gloves and readied their flames, “You deserve to burn in hell you bastard.”



At this Katia sprayed flames at the man who was soon to be a pile of ash. Yet after a few seconds had past nothing happened, all that she heard was laughter, cold and distorted. It got closer and closer as a shadow loomed toward her. She stopped the flames, and immediately an arm reached and grasped her throat, “Fool!” Abdallah shouted with laughter as he slammed her into the wall. His hand was searing into her skin as he stared her down face to face, and in pure horror Katia saw the melting face of the mechanical man. “You think that you can kill me?!” he asked rhetorically, his voice grating and cruel. “Soon you will learn, Katia Managan, that this is hell! And no one can kill me, I am a virus, literally and figuratively! I am the embodiment of fear, the true definition of terrorism!” Katia felt her consciousness about to slip away, she sat there eyes glazing as his distorted face moved in closer. “You may be able to kill this part of me, but I am everywhere. Every device, every location, every mind. There is no escape,” he whispered. But she wouldn’t let him beat her, she punched the side of his head which was soft from the heat, and ripped his skull apart. His hand slumped as he staggered backward, his laugh continuing slowly until it was unrecognizable as his body fell to the ground. Katia slumped from the wall gasping for air, even though Abdallah no longer had her in check, she felt like she could hardly breathe at all. She laid there on the ground, massaging her throat, which suffered a two to three degree burn. She sat up, but was unmoving, trying to contemplate what had just happened. Abdallah’s body lay next to her, the one eye he had left still glowing. Katia stared at him sickened as a slight rhythmic buzz emulated from his neck. She punched his face once more and the buzzing stopped. He was dead, or if what he had said was true, this part of him. What he said didn’t matter right now, what Katia had to do now was find Foles and get the both of them out of here.

She got up after a few seconds and looked at the monitors that weren’t completely destroyed. She scanned through the cameras that monitored the prison cells, and found Foles in cell thirty-two in the east containment facility. After confirming Foles’ location Katia gave herself access to the cell from the control panel and headed in that direction. She walked down the hall, passing by containment cells on her way, full of people of many races. Some looked scared to be there, angry, heartbroken, tired, starving, and abandoned. She tried not to look at any of them, trying to focus on the task at hand, but knowing she wasn’t going to be able to help these people was almost unbearable. Katia continued to try and sooth her neck, even though touching it was probably the worst thing to do, it somewhat helped ease the pain. Finally she reached cell thirty-two, inside was Foles as she had seen earlier. He was sitting on his knees, head slumped toward the floor, and his hands cuffed behind his back. Katia opened the bullet proof see through door, and Foles slowly looked up. His face seemed aged and pale, and he looked like he hadn’t eaten anything in days. Dried blood stuck to his face and right shoulder, and he had bruises strewn across his face and arms, implying he had been being beaten regularly. “You’ve made it,” he said, but when he spoke it was as if there was no voice at all coming from his cracked lips. “Come on,” Katia said hoisting him up, “we gotta get you out of here.” She broke the handcuffs restraining him and helped him hobble back toward the elevator. “You’ve killed Abdallah?” Foles asked, “Why else would I be here,” she replied. Katia used the fabricator on her arm and made a bottle of water and handed it to Foles, “Take it, you need it,” Foles took a drink and continued as they hobbled along. “So you know the truth?” she looked ahead to the elevator, they were almost there, “That Abdallah is a computer?” “No,” he said, “but that’s part of it.” Katia set him next to the elevator as she called it up, “Well you’ll have to tell me everything once we make it out of here. But there’s going to be a lot of soldiers waiting for us down there,” she double tapped one of her gloves and it shrunk to a small tablet. “You’ll need this too,” she put the tablet to his wrist, watching the glove unold onto his hand, “I am not strong enough to fight, nonetheless walk.” Katia thought for a moment, then fabricated something else, “This should help, and you won’t be doing very much, you won’t have to either.” She took Foles arm and inserted a needle into it, “What is this?” Foles asked, “Adrenaline,” she said, “to help you feel less weak, hopefully start to walk, etc. etc. But it’s going to take a bit to kick in, so just stay behind me.” Katia helped him back up, and they walked into the elevator, now they just had to get out in one piece. This meant they’d have to go all the way back to the outer ring of the base, but it would be faster getting out than it was getting in. Now that everyone knew she was there and had killed their leader, there was no point in sneaking around. Especially with Foles being with her, and the state he was in would slow them down enough already, but this was better than leaving him.

The elevator had stopped back on the first floor, Katia got ready for anything as the doors opened. There were no soldiers waiting for them directly outside the elevator but they were taking cover behind walls, boxes, and anything else they could find for protection. The fastest way back was practically straight forward, but the path was lined with walls of soldiers. Katia helped Foles stay upright, moving forward at a slow pace, reaching any cover possible while bullets flew past them. She placed Foles behind a crate and stood up to fire back, freezing the entire first line of soldiers, then picking him up again. His legs were beginning to slowly gain strength again while they walked through the hallway, which led to the next group blocking their way. Katia engulfed them in flames as they walked past, but this was disorienting them, as their armour was stronger and more protective than what the other soldiers had been wearing. This caused her to get closer and move them out of the way by force. They tried to continue this process but the farther they got the more protected it became, which was expected, yet was harder to deal with than anticipated. They were almost to the outer ring, near the entrance to the middle, where there were more guards than before. Luckily Foles was almost able to walk on his own, meaning they would be able to fight back somewhat efficiently within the next few minutes. Katia ducked behind cover again, the soldiers ahead were practically walking tanks at this point, but she had an idea. She switched her gloves to the one setting she hadn’t used yet, and rushed forward, punching the first in line. This sent high voltage electricity through all the soldiers, but Katia was also hit with a backlash of almost two thousand volts, sending her flying back toward Foles. Katia’s back slammed against the nearest wall, and she fell to the ground. Foles struggled to scramble over to her, lifting her head up and feeling the pulse in her neck. He immediately withdrew his hand, as she looked up at him seeming to be only shaken a bit. “How the hell-?” Foles started, “I have no clue,” Katia replied out of breath. Foles straightened, his face serious again, “We have to get out of here as fast as possible,” he said as he pulled her up with seemingly new strength. Katia’s armour was scorched on the chestplate and dented almost everywhere else, and she had a slight limp as they ran toward the docking area in the last ring.

Soldiers were running at them from all directions as Foles guided her toward an oblong shaped ship. He sprayed flames into the ground as a short term barrier as they ran inside. Once inside he threw the infernal glove back to Katia, who was closing the door behind her, “Take it, I don’t need it anymore.” Katia caught the compacted version and replaced it on her hand again, struggling to stay on her feet as the ship took off at what seemed to be almost full speed. “Why didn’t we take something faster?” Katia shouted over the noise of the chains that had tied the ship down being destroyed, “Because it’s the only way out of here. Even if we had taken a faster ship, there would be no place to go, now get ready!” Foles said this furiously while punching numbers into a keypad and trying to drive at the same time. While all this was happening the outside of the ship was being bombarded with turret fire and missiles, and warnings were telling them that the plasma shields couldn’t take much more. “The shields don’t have much left,” he said, setting his hands onto a control pad which then scanned him, “you’ll have to go first.” The ship’s long hallway was beginning to transform, arms came out of the floor and ceiling creating a large doorway. “What do you mean?” she shouted back, “There’s only a matter of time, get through the portal now!” Katia turned around to see that the doorway was complete, inside was a gray translucent film like material swirling in circles chaotically. Around her the hull was being torn apart, “I’m not going through there!” “Get through the portal!” he shouted, “I won’t just leave you!” parts of the ship were filling with water as the metal around them was flying through the air. “Go through the damn portal Managan! That is an order!” Katia held her ground, more of the ship was being destroyed on either side of them, “You can’t make me! I won’t go without you!” At that there was another fatal blow and water crashed in, almost taking Katia with it. Foles hung his head low, “You can, and you will! I didn't want to do this, but you are more important than you know!” At that he took one hand from the control panel thrusting it forward, and Katia felt herself fly backward by an unknown force into the portal, seeing Foles and the rest of the ship go up in flames.