Dawn of Deception (part 2)

Emma pounded the punching bag harder and harder. Something wasn't right and she could feel it. First Wess, then Erika. Andreus and Wess had taken off to who knows where, and Hans wasn't listening to her. He may have been the silent type, but he always helped her when she was concerned about something. She stopped hitting the bag for a moment to catch her breath. Then she heard it, it sounded like whispering, or hissing.

“Who's there!” she yelled, grabbing her nearby spear and turning around. At that moment the door burst open, and she gasped.

“You again! How did you... Oh, no. No, no!”

From down the hallway, Hans heard the commotion and clutched his weapon close, but did not try intervene.

“I am sorry Emma; I will come get you.” He whispered to himself.

Outside, under the cover of darkness.

Wess and Mercy snuck up to the perimeter of the base.

“I can't believe we're doing this.” Wess said.

“Just follow my lead and we'll be fine.” Mercy said, looking out for any guards before cutting the fence. They crawled through it and hurried across an open area towards a building. Mercy looked around again but saw no one. “Your security is terrible by the way.” she said, dashing for a hanger.

“No, it's not, it's just unusually quiet, that's all.” Wess said, following her. Slowly they snuck into the hanger and headed towards a platform. They got onto it and Mercy immediately started working on the control panel. The platform then lowered into the ground.

“How'd you know how to do that?” Wess asked.

“Military intelligence had plans for all sorts of “scrapped” devices and how they work. Anything Blitz has, I probably already know how to use.” Mercy replied.

The platform stopped and a pair of doors opened in front of it. Wess and Mercy each went to opposite sides of the platform to hide at first. Upon realising the coast was clear they went through the doors into an empty conference room. They loaded their guns and began making their way through the base. Soon they entered a gym and Wess noticed something off.

“Look at this.” he said, hurrying towards the torn-up punching bag. The marks matched the type embedded in Mercy's cheek. “This must have been them.” he added.

“Keep quiet.” she whispered, moving closer to the now closed door. She could hear talking in the hall, someone, or a group of people, were heading their way. Then one voice among them sounded too familiar. Mercy gestured to Wess to get behind her, then activated her gun. With an iron resolve, she kicked the door open, lunged out and raised her weapon.

Before her stood Andreus, 'Wess', Erika, Emma, Hans and Dutch, all shocked to see her. Without missing a beat, Mercy fired on the fake Wess, the blast of energy from her gun scorching through it and knocking him back. Dutch gasped at seeing this and everyone raised their weapons at her.

“Don't shoot!” Wess yelled, coming out from behind Mercy. “It was an imposter. Look!” They looked to see the fake’s disguise fade, revealing the remains of the Minoride. Dutch recoiled at the sight of it. But the others didn't react.

“Drop your weapons! Both of you!” Andreus snarled. Wess was taken aback, but Mercy simply reloaded.

Suddenly a shot rang out and Andreus snarled in pain. Emma and Erika turned around quickly. Hans grabbed Emma by the shoulder and kicked her back, then turned and shot Erika twice. Mercy, realising what was happening, fired on Andreus, blasting a hole in his arm.

“Fall back!” Andreus hissed. Emma and Erika, slightly dazed, obeyed and left, their movements now not entirely human. Andreus ran too, now under fire by Hans, Mercy and Wess. The three managed to slip away.

“Can someone please explain to me what just happened!” Dutch shouted, still standing there very confused.

“They were fakes, aliens calling themselves Minorides. Andreus, Erika and Emma must have been replaced.” Wess said.

“And I get why they left you untouched. On the other hand, I'm sure they would have replaced Soldier Boy by now.” Mercy said.

“I pretend not to notice anything off. They were too busy planning their take over to deal with loose ends that didn't exist like Dutch and I.” Hans said.

“Any idea what happened to the others?” Wess asked. Hans pulled out a flip-phone like device and switched it on.

“Emma was getting too suspicious, I knew they'd try to take her, so I put a tracker on her. And don't worry, I was nearby when they did it, just in case I had to save her from being killed.”

“And just when I thought I couldn't like any of you. That's my kind of thinking.” Mercy commented.

“I guess there's no time to waste, let's go save our friends.” Wess said.

“S-s-stop right there!” a Minoride hissed as a group of Blitz operatives led by Richter stormed towards them.

“Let's move!” Hans yelled. They hurried back to the conference room and onto the platform taking them to the surface. From there they hurried to a hanger where Nachtvogel had been moved to. Hurriedly they boarded and Mercy got into the pilot seat.

“How does she know how to fly this thing?” Dutch asked.

“Long story.” Wess said.

“Well don't scratch him, alright.” Dutch called. The engines roared to life and the craft took off just as the fake Richter and the others arrived. They snarled and hissed as they watched the craft vanish.

The Bundespräsidialamt

“Let me go!” Emma yelled, struggling against the Minorides grip as she was forced into a room.

“Oh great, of all the Blitz members they had to put us with, they brought you.” Doctor Blitzkrieg said. His mechanical arm had been removed before being thrown in there.

“No use complaining Blitzkrieg. Looks like we're all in this together.” Steinmeier said. Emma looked around the room. Andreus, Erika, Richter and many other Blitz and security personnel were there.

“Not for long. I'll do away with all of you once I'm finished.” Protothulos hissed from outside, his body now mimicking Steinmeier.

En Route to The Bundespräsidialamt

Nachtvogel soared through the sky and soon Bellevue Palacecame into view.

“ETA, one minute.” Mercy called, ripping the bandage off her face, revealing the scar.

“All set. Alright team, you know the drill. Guns up, stay sharp, strike fast!” Hans called as Nachtvogel hovered above Bellevue Palace.

“I never thought we'd be breaking into the President’s office.” Dutch commented as one of the doors opened and three cables dropped out. Hans, Wess and Dutch each took hold of a cable and descended on to the roof. They proceed to attach cables to the roof then leapt off the side and swung into the windows of the top story.

“Get below, let's move!” Hans ordered as they immediately began through the building. A few fake security personnel arrived and opened fire on them, but the team returned fire, managing to knock them out.

Outside, Mercy landed Nachtvogel in the courtyard, pulled out her weapon and exited the craft guns blazing. She knew anyone attacking the Nachtvogel was compromised. In a matter of minutes, she cleared the courtyard and headed inside. More Minoride imposters came at her, but she was quick on the trigger, blasting each one down. She then turned her attention to the higher levels, blasting the Minoride guards who stepped too close to the inner railings of the building. Hans, Wess and Dutch made it to the railing, dropped lines, hooked themselves up and descended, still firing as they went. Eventually they joined Mercy on the bottom floor and made a dash for The Bundespräsidialamt. Some Minorides remained in their disguises, others broke cover to attack the intruders, but the team’s firepower held them at bay.

“The tracker is coming from up ahead, over there.” Hans called, pointing towards a locked room. Mercy reached it first and blasted the door lock. Hans opened it and was met by a fist to the face from Emma. She stopped when she realized that it was actually Hans who she had hit and not a Minoride coming to check on them.

“Sorry about that.” she said, as she and the others exited the room. “We must hurry before that pretender does something terrible.” Steinmeier said.

“I saw them taking our weapons to the next room before they threw us in here.” Richter said.

“The four of us will cover you, then we take them down.” Wess said, reloading his gun. Just then, more Minorides arrived and Wess, Hans, Dutch and Mercy opened fire on them.

“Go, quickly!” Dutch yelled. The rest hurried to the next room. Andreus kicked in the door and began passing out the weapons within.

“I guess we're on the same side today, hey Blitzkrieg?” Andreus said, throwing him his mechanical arm.

“Sure does, and it's Doctor Blitzkrieg to you.” Doctor Blitzkrieg said, reattaching it.

The firefight soon died and the rest joined the four before they headed into the palace once more.

“Hold it right there!” Protothulos hissed from above. With him were copies of Mercy, Andreus, Emma, Erika and Richter. The four copies jumped down and landed in front of the team. They were soon joined by a copy of Doctor Blitzkrieg as well as two others who shifted into copies of Hans and Dutch. “S-s-surrender now!” Protothulos roared.

“I've got one word for you!” Mercy yelled back, firing at him. The blast barely missed and he snarled.

“Destroy them!” He hissed.

The copies each ran in to attack.

“Guns up, stay sharp, strike fast!” Andreus yelled as the others charged in, each meeting their copy. The fake Doctor Blitzkrieg lunged at the real on, striking him across the face with its “robotic hand.”

“So you can copy me, but not properly.” Doctor Blitzkrieg said, punching the fake with his real robotic arm, knocking it back. “Bet you don't have the weapons either.” he said, arming his weapon that looked like a really big gun. He blasted the fake, almost completely incinerating. At the same time, Richter struck his doppelgänger in the back, then threw it over.

“Doctor, how about this one!” he called, kicking it as it tried to get up. Doctor Blitzkrieg turned and blasted the fake, destroying it. Without a second thought, Richter and Doctor Blitzkrieg headed up the stairs, hoping to catch Protothulos. Steinmeier joined them.

“Hate to break it to you.” Emma said, kicking her doppelgänger back. “But you fight like a little girl. Not to mention, you're out of proportion.” She struck it in the face.

“Oh s-s-shut it!” It hissed, kicking her back. Emma landed on the floor, then pulled out a charge.

“Fine.” She said, throwing the charge. It hit the fake Emma in the chest and exploded. Alien goo splatted all over her and she chuckled slightly. At the same time, Andreus and Hans took down their doppelgänger's.

Elsewhere, Erika hit her doppelgänger in the face knocking it back. Dutch tried to attack his, but it dodged his attack and threw him backwards. The fake Erika then charged forth and kicked the real one back. She landed on top of Dutch. As the two fakes closed in, Dutch pulled out a grenade and lobbed it at them. Not quite sure what it was, the two aliens laughed when it landed by their feet. They weren't laughing when it went off, taking them down.

Mercy's doppelgänger tackled her to the ground.

“You're probably the s-s-smartes-s-st here. I s-s-should have killed you when I had the chanc-c-ce.” It hissed, forcing her against the floor. Mercy struggled then smiled.

“I agree.” she said. The alien was suddenly blasted by Wess who had retrieved Mercy's gun.

“That's twice now.” he joked.

“I could have gotten out of that on my own, but thanks for the assist.” she said.

Outside, Protothulos reached the balcony when Richter, Steinmeier and Doctor Blitzkrieg arrived.

“Give it up!” Richter yelled. Protothulos laughed.

“You think you've won? S-s-soon my followers-s-s will be here and deal with you.”

“I wouldn’t want to burst your bubble, but that's not happening.” Andreus said as he, Blitz and Mercy arrived, guns trained on Protothulos.

“NO! This-s-s cannot be!” he snarled. Then looked at them with his six eyes. “The ability to blend in means-s-s that this-s-s is-s-n't the las-s-st of me. Until next time.” His form seemed to melt down into a rat that scurried off the balcony. Mercy fired at it, but he was gone before the blast hit. Mercy grumbled in frustration.

“We'll get him next time, don't worry.” Wess said.

“Yeah, next time.” Mercy grumbled.

Soon, Doctor Blitzkrieg and Mercy had gone off and vanished again whilst the Blitz team boarded Nachtvogel.

“I can't believe I tried asking an alien out for tea.” Dutch muttered to himself.

“Great job today team.” Andreus said.

“So, Hans. How'd you know where to find us?” Emma asked.

“I put a tracker on you before they got you. Sorry about that.” He replied.

Emma gave him a strange look and then laughed. “That's fine. Just next time you use me as bait, maybe give me a heads-up?” she said.

“Sure thing.” Hans replied, giving her a light smile.

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