The plants twisted into grotesque parodies of human form- mockeries of life, vague, writhing silhouettes of leaves and stems that gave relentless chase. Eve and Isa ran. Eve fired back, but her bullets sliced through the things like whispers through smoke. They simply reformed, unbothered.
"Don't stop- just fucking run!" Isa grabbed Eve's arm and hauled her toward the exit. The humming behind them swelled, furious and alive, but they didn't slow. As they did, Eve slipped her smoke grenades and incendiaries behind her, hopefully slowing the plants down. Down the hall, around corners, out of view- they ran until they hit the final door.
Eve halted Isa with a hand. "Your helmet-"
"I'll last till the heli," Isa snapped, already pulling her hood over her head and yanking the turtleneck up.
Eve stared at her, disbelief cutting through the adrenaline. "You're going out there like that? Are you fucking insane?"
Isa gave a breathless chuckle, eyes steeled. "Doesn't matter. We don't have time for this. Move." The door slammed open, and muscle memory took over. Eve swept the perimeter, scanning 360, 720 degrees for any threats. Isa followed, skin already flushing from the cold. But instead of the white-out blizzard Eve expected, sunlight blasted down, harsh and unnatural. Her suit's thermoreg system hissed to life. Something was wrong. It wasn't just the facility. Everything felt off.
Then her comms flared to life.
"Bravo, Command. Bravo, Command-"
"Command, this is Bravo Lead. Reading you, over."
Lieutenant Nia on the receiving end gave a thankful sigh. "Sitrep, over?"
"One operator lightly wounded. Exiting the facility now." Eve hesitated. "Requesting permission for destruction fire."
The Lieutenant paused. "Reason?"
Eve grit her teeth. "Intel was… compromised. One civilian casualty confirmed. Outpost's integrity is-" she faltered, then chose her words precisely, jaw tight. "It's no longer secure."
Another beat.
"Copy. Transferring to the Lieutenant-Colonel now."
As static and rustling filled her helmet, Eve and Isa pressed on toward Alpha Squad. Isa, helmet shattered, trudged behind her, skin chapped raw. Then came the voice of Lieutenant-Colonel Song- dry, even, gravely, and far too calm.
"What's the situation, Sergeant? UAV has a visual on you two."
Eve forced herself to breathe. She kept walking, scanning the snow-blasted horizon, but her tone simmered now, anger just barely restrained.
"The intel's unstable. I don't know what your intel told you—or didn't—but that place is a goddamn nightmare." Nothing in there should've been kept from us, nor the fact that it was a Halcyon outpost in the first place. She bit the inside of her cheek, fighting the spike of emotion rising in her throat. "It's not just uninhabitable, sir. It's hostile. Alive." Eve phrased her words very carefully to avoid revealing too much about what was in the outpost, as well as to keep her tone in check.
There was a long silence on the line. Through the communications channel, she heard him dismissing everybody from the room. Then the Lieutenant-Colonel's voice, lower now.
"Talk to me, Sergeant. Full rundown. No filters."
"Yes, sir."
- - -
"And if not for Ms. Nymera, I wouldn't have left the facility alive." Eve finished as they reached Alpha squad. A Seaward wolf PMC gave Isa / Elise a balaclava to pull over her head to keep her warm.
Throughout the entire conversation, Eve avoided what Elise had told her, as well as the fact that Elise somehow merged with Isa. She also avoided the fact that she had regained some of her memories. She did confirm, however, that a missing researcher, Elise, was dead- now that the glass dome holding the roof was moving, alive like an entity of its own, UAVs could confirm Elise's body on the floor, grass grasping at her limbs, several well placed bullet holes on her chest.
The Lieutenant-colonel remained silent for a while. "We'll need to talk later, Sergeant. I'll pull you and your squad away after you return to base. I believe you deserve explanations… and I would speak to you personally."
"Yes, sir. Permission to speak freely- Corporal Vian is in critical condition. I get that this is urgent, but I'm requesting she be exempt from the debrief. I can bring her up to speed later. If you're concerned she might talk, post someone outside her medbay. That's your call. Assuming she saw what I did... I wouldn't blame her if she did."
"Of course. Please do that, Sergeant. For now, sit tight. I agree that it's too dangerous and too unknown to be played with- not to mention that we simply do not have the manpower to keep constant patrols around the area with the Asphodelians creeping up. Destruction inbound. Over." Eve breathed out shakily, trying to not relive the entire situation in her mind.
Oh well, Eve thought. As they regrouped and recuperated with Alpha team, the scream of jets could be heard in the distance. Two delta-shaped shadows appeared over the horizon, whizzing towards them at high speed, and as they grew closer by the second, Eve could make out their slim, elongated fuselages, wings bent back for supersonic flight.
The Halcyon federation's main strategic bomber, the Halcyon. They had two at MOB 7, possibly more, and we didn't even notice, Eve thought. These semi-stealth bombers were capable of both subsonic and supersonic flight, and were one of the Halcyon federation's strongest assets. As they roared into view, their wings extended to slow them down just enough to get a perfect alignment as one bomber lined up, nose to tail behind the other. Then the bombing run began.
It began with a sizzle, then a whoosh of air and deafening roar above as the bombers screamed overhead, clearing the outpost in less than a second, their bomb bays opening, the orderly lines of deadly ordnance falling to the ground. The first wave of bombs completely flattened the structure to the ground with explosive force, and the second dropped incendiaries that caused such a firestorm that tongues of flame shout out miles in each direction, razing the entire place to the ground as sparks were thrown into the air like confetti.
The snow that covered the landscape sublimated and instantly evaporated in the heat, rising to the sky in a thick cloud.
As the waves of heat reached her, Eve resolved to never make any air force jokes ever again. Nothing remained of the horror which had haunted the outpost, completely leveled by miracles of human engineering.
Soon the phantom hawks arrived, skimming across the snow, kicking up whorls of downdraft. Eve provided security for both helicopters along with Alpha team as the helicopters came down to land.
They stayed prone for longer than usual, as the unconscious members of Eve's TRACE squad and MOB 7's platoon 6 squad one were loaded onboard first and secured for transport. The helicopters only had medical space for four persons each, so they had to improvise by bending seats down and using the straps to secure the unconscious, who had refused to wake up even with all the resuscitation methods they had learned.
Eve didn't see Vian, and assumed she had been brought back in advance given her condition- while she wasn't sure how she managed to be injured to the point of critical condition, she didn't have to imagine. She saw what happened in that outpost herself.
Soon, the unconscious operators were loaded on board and strapped in for transport. Eve then hopped on to the helicopter herself along with the rest of the operational group, eyeing Isa as she did. Their fingers brushed as they passed, and Eve tried to calm her heart, very surprised indeed in how things turned out.
First, they raided an outpost with false information and who knows what the fuck was going on inside.Now, she had left with her long-lost girlfriend. Or maybe just lost. In all honesty, Eve had no idea how long ago she was posted at that research facility.
All that mattered now was that they were back together, however cursed their reunion scenario was- literally.
And they were heading back.
- - -
「Anomaly 01」
- Overview -
Anomaly 01, Object classification: The Bloom is a sapient memetic entity that manifests as a psychological parasite. It does not affect everyone in the same way and will grow differently in each mind. An example of this was found while in the observation phase of this organism, but was proven clearer in the case of Corporal Rena Vian and Sergeant Eve Glen. The anomaly manifests in a physical form as a glass flower of massive stature, with the main bloom of the flower more than an estimated 1000 feet in diameter, which can be mistaken as a glass dome.
- Abilities -
The Bloom is able to warp memories of victims affected by it, cause hallucinations, as well as warp time and matter to its will. Notably, it can overwhelm those it deems as threats in a matter of seconds. As a warning, The Bloom will sing- the sound of this noise differs from person to person as frequently the voices of family, friends, and significant others will appear amongst the choir.
The Bloom is also able to control nearby vegetation and all plants will grow in abundance around it. It resonates well with older species of plants, such as ginkgo. There were plans considering introducing extinct plant matter such as -------- to The Bloom, but plans have since been scrapped due to the Anomaly's destruction.
Specifically, it has a preference of warping space to attack, as well as controlling plants around it and warping them into a humanoid form that is then immune to most forms of attack, including but not limited to: bullets, conventional firepower, slashing, and piercing offensive actions of any measure. They are, however, vulnerable to fire and ----------------------------- --------.
If victims are exposed to The Bloom's influence for an extended duration, The Bloom can plant a memetic seed inside their brains and take over their bodies. This infection and control is not impossible to fight off with pure will, but will still total people of most capacity. Notable changes to people infected with The Bloom: different patterns of speech, a choir / lyrical quality to speech, eyes rolled back that have been coloured an inky black. There have been certain issues regarding this during the early stages where ----- and ------------ and ------ have been taken over by The Bloom, hence the deployment of ----- in the area.
The Bloom also has the ability to manipulate weather.
- Behavior and Appearance -
The Bloom manifests its form as a flower made of glass, with prehensile roots that can grab, grapple, spear, and slash. The flower resembles that of a rose, with a notable lack of thorns. Glass leaves grow at random intervals.
Given its classification as a parasite, The Bloom needs to have one individual infected or under its control at all times to maintain its memetic and physical form.
If all individuals under its control are eliminated, The Bloom will ------------, and if its physical body is destroyed, only then will it be destroyed.
The Bloom seems to ultimately be impossible to negotiate with, and previous talk with The Bloom seems to suggest that its objective is to place all living things under its memetic control. Previous conversation also reveals that it refers to itself as "The First", and that it is -------- --- ------- --- -------.
The Bloom converses via thoughts, emotions, and images displayed through thoughts, however if it has one or more individuals under its control, it prefers for those individuals to speak in their stead.
This information is classified under section A-1 and should not be shown to any individuals or entities outside of Halcyon Special Command. MOB 7 Command is exempt.