Undisclosed Military Base Location.
3 weeks after Operation Balthazar.
Seated around a conference table were some of the most dangerous and specialized soldiers in the world. Shadows and darkness danced around most of the room as it was set up for a briefing. More women were present than last time. . . a stark contrast to the last mission. All three replacements for the deceased members were women. Feist sat next to Lilith and Eliah on one side of the table. Black Vulture, Lucky Stars, and Frostbite were seated on the oppsite side of the table. The old blood and the new blood were seeing one another for the very first time. Hopefully the lush leather executive chairs they sat in would keep them somewhat subdued enough to sit through the mission briefing.
Each one had been selected on their own individual accomplishments and skills to join the legendary BLOODHOUND unit. Plus they all had to pass a urine test in the last twenty-four hours. Administered by a nurse who was laid back and jovial, almost unflappable. Recent events had led some to question the effectiveness of the unit many saw as an accident waiting to happen. So many loose cannons placed together. . . it was a wonder that throughout the entire history of the unit only a few notable blemishes tarnished an impressive field record.
At the head of the table sat a man who must have been in his early fifties in a clean pressed uniform befitting to a man who had reached the rank of colonel. On his chest were more than a few medals that were doubtlessly earned in his younger days as a soldier in the field. Pale blue eyes scanned the room, taking in the faces of those he would soon send onto the battlefield. Etched onto his faintly tanned face were scars of battle that rather than mar his handsomely aging face. . . made him look like an old distinguished warrior.
"Listen up, BLOODHOUND. For those of you new to the unit, my name is Colonel Crenna. Now lets all get something straight and out of the way, we all mourn the loss of Whitesnake and Phoenix . . . and Young Chameleon. They gave their lives for the mission. Thanks to their sacrifices and sacrifices of those still with us today we now know just what we're dealing with."
Lifting up a little remote in his hand, Colonel Crenna pushed a few buttons. First a large projection screen came down and was shortly followed by magnified image of what must have been the Hellraiser Brigade's secret weapon.
"It is a type of nanomachine codenamed 'Sleeper Cell' originally created by a scientist named Dr. Kurt Blutpfuscher."
Next the slide switched to that of an extremely old man in a wheelchair. His features were a now wrinkled mix of white Anglo-Saxon and Asian heritages. The hair on his head had turned into completely wild white tufts with a noticeable bald spot that made it resemble an abstracted crown upon his head. Not to be outdone, his beard was lengthy yet thin. . . the sort belonging to ancient fighting masters of martial arts films. Covering up most of his body was a somewhat raggedy looking white lab coat.
"He came to the US government five years ago with blueprints for what he called Lagerschwellezelle and asked for funding from the military's black budget to continue his research. Upon realizing the magnitude of the impact his work might have on not just the battlefield but the entire human race. . . all records of his research were quickly locked away."
A sigh came from the Colonel.
"Six months ago however, he was kidnapped and was not heard from since. Nothing had come of it until intelligence noticed that series of suspicious emails coming out of Kayersberg. The field intel gathered during Operation Balthazar proved our theory that it was HIS nanotechnology after detailed analysis."
For just a moment or two he looked over at Feist. He had been the only one out of the three who had entered the Kayersberg hospital to get out alive. The only one to encounter Legion in the flesh and survive. Some had wondered if the soldier would collapse from PTSD. Others speculated on how quickly he might recover from the injuries that had placed him near death. But psych evaluations from the medical staff had cleared him.
"In the wake of the Kayerberg incident, the French government had to decide between a cover-up or a rallying cry toward war. In the interests of staying on the road to peace it was covered up. Around the world, while still an undeniably tragic event, it is seen as nothing more than a viral outbreak. It was easy for them, since several of the villagers had already posted youtube footage of their sickly appearances before having later succumbed to the nanotoxicity. Even the napalm was explained away as the villagers nobly sacrificing themselves with suicidal arson in an attempt to keep the mystery virus from spreading. Many suspect a bio-terrorist attack however, which has lead toward a very public cautious government investigation. The entire town has been quarantined and locked down tighter than Chernobyl."
Pictures came onto the screen now of Kayersberg's current state as the Colonel spoke. Concrete walls topped with barbed wire had been erected around the entire village. A military presence normally reserved for martial law was present outside to keep any freaks or weirdos from getting inside. Only scorched buildings remained from the napalm that the Hellraiser Brigade had detonated. Eerily enough, the only building which appeared untouched by the napalm was the village church where so much that was sacred had been left so profoundly profaned.
"However, the French government has secretly informed other European governments that there is a terrorist group running loose. Therefore in response many major countries have deployed PMCs complete with medically staffed biohazard checkpoints to several of their larger cities. All of this is under the guise of establishing a quarantine zone around France to keep this 'mystery virus' from spreading. Public opinion is almost completely behind this development. Aside from the paranoid people who think everything is a government cover-up."
Now the slideshow was turned off and the room started to gradually brighten up.
"Luckily for all of them the Hellraiser Brigade, as they're calling themselves now, have decided NOT to publicly take credit for Kayersberg. More than likely they view their twisted experiment as both a success and a failure. From what our best men can estimate, their current goal is to create a version of the Sleeper Cells without the fatal nanotoxicity witnessed on BLOODHOUND's last mission. Doing so would make them the most dangerous terrorist group this world has ever witnessed. A group that can hold a person's own freewill hostage. No doubt they have been laying low for the past month to focus on perfecting the nanotechnology. We cannot allow them to succeed in this goal at any cost."
Stuttgart, Germany.
8 Hours Later.
Each member of BLOODHOUND found themselves not thousands of feet in the air, or a hundred feet underwater. Yet the newly reconstructed unit sped toward their next mission anyway at over a hundred miles an hour. Silver streaked across Although their ranks had been refilled, overfilled in the eyes of some, not everyone could see all of their fellow comrades. Due entirely to the fact that they had all been split up onto seperate trains for reasons yet to be disclosed. Obviously there was a plan at work. . . but one that remained unclear. Now all they could do was watch the German countryside whip by as the deep, authoritative voice of the unit's commanding officer filled their ears once again by means of codec.
"We've tracked the Hellraiser Brigade to a location less than 200 miles from Kayersberg. Intelligence believes they are currently based somewhere in the city of Stuttgart, Germany. "
"Stuttgart is the sixth largest city in all of Germany. During your little visit. . . be aware of the fact that PMCs have been deployed at checkpoints in several cities, including Stuttgart. Since none of you technically exist, false IDs have been given to each of you that will get you through the checkpoints. Each of you will also find that you've been given a frequency spectrometer that will be explained after I get a few points across."
As the gleaming white train painted with a red stripe closed in on the station, everything started going dark around them. The train was going underground. With every passing moment the more observant members of BLOODHOUND might feel a light sense of unease pass through there bodies. Every so often a section of the tunnel look unfinished, akin to looking into someone's arm or leg with the skin torn away. Right now there were only a few workers present in this particular tunnel. Just one turned to look at the train's passengers before returning to his menial duties. For one of a sensitive disposition, it felt like passing through a damaged vein with the bloodstream tended to by little imaginary helpers. Apparently the tunnels were undergoing some sort of construction that had not quite finished all the way.
"There will be innocent civilians around at all times. If you need to prevent someone from giving away your mission you are authorized only to use tranquilizer rounds and non-lethal CQC. Try to keep the collateral damage at zero and for God's sake don't let any of them get infected with the Sleeper Cells. We don't need another Kayersberg. Understand? Speaking of understanding things better, let me introduce you to a new member of your support team. His codename is Mockingbird. On this mission he will provide any information we gain on the backgrounds of those belonging to the Hellraiser Brigade."
"How's it going BLOODHOUND? Feist! Mountain man! You're still alive I see? Nice Going. Anyway everbody, I'm here to help lighten Lark's load just a bit by handling information on any potential enemies and their weapons. Especially the Hellraiser Brigade."
Only Mountain would recognize the rather energetic voice of a man no older than twenty-seven. Anyone with enough free time on their hands to look at his database photo would find that he was a young Japanese male with a j-rocker haircut in the front that turned into a cornrow hairstyle in the back. Everyone else in the unit would not understand their connection save for Feist himself. Just a teensy little blunder on the last mission had introduced the two purely by accident but now fate had reunited them for an entire mission.
"We aren't sure just how many members the Hellraiser Brigade boasts as of yet, but we do have a list of the known members. Kara Kriegrabe aka Malphas, ace pilot and master in the field of falconry. Amadeus Presley aka King Amdusias aka The King, a hacker with unparalled knowledge of sound manipulation. Legion, who we can tell is a brilliant strategist and suspected former elite french military. And finally the child known only as Beelzebub. Nothing is known of him other than he truly seems to be the Lord of the Flies. All of this is just the tip of the iceberg though guys and gals! If you need more information on a specific member of the Hellraiser Brigade at any time, good ol' Mockingbird will help you out on his little old codec frequency at 149.07! Oh and make sure that you put in the right frequency everybody!"
". . .Anyway, back to the mission. Photographs were taken in the city of a woman with a young child matching the descriptions of Malphas and Beelzebub. Moreover, there have been multiple instances of frequency disruption recorded within the past week exactly like those utilized by the King. The source of his signal was last triangulated to the central district of Stuttgart. We must stop the Hellraiser Brigade before they bring about the end of the world. If you fail this mission, BLOODHOUND will no longer be recognized as a unit. It will be disbanded. But it isn't just your last chance either."
It was then that a voice familiar to those who had survived the Kayersberg incident filled their ears.
”Hello again, BLOODHOUND."
For a moment or two a silence filled the air as wordless recognition took place between Lark and those she had managed to keep alive. Rumors had gone through certain departments that some of the higher-ups had tried forcing her to resign. Practically a conspiracy to turn her into the scapegoat for a mission that 'should have gone better'. Of course that rumor quickly found itself followed by the story of how she had single-handedly defended herself against all accusations of incompetence. Yelling things at higher-ups along the lines of '
SHOW ME THE HARD EVIDENCE OF MY INCOMPETENCE AND I WILL RESIGN RIGHT NOW. IT'S ALL RECORDED. HELP YOUR FUCKING SELF.' just to get her point across.
Lark was a career woman who could accept that her coworkers were going to die from time to time. Even if those in charge couldn't handle it. All they really wanted was a way to cover their own asses anyway. She had a feeling none of them cared about these men and women of BLOODHOUND other than as just assets to the military. Dogs of war let loose to hunt down those that betrayed the United States and it's secrets. Deep down that bird could just sense something wrong with the entire Sleeper Cell situation. If serious players like King Amdusias had gotten involved. . . things were not going to get better anytime soon.
"Insertion will come simply since there are so many of you infiltrating an urban non-combat zone. Sorry if you were expecting another HALO drop. Civilian train transports will drop groups of you off at Hauptbahnhof aka Stuttgart Central Station station to avoid suspicion. You will be meeting up with a contact code-named Wet Nurse on site. Wet Nurse has already entered Stuttgart on a separate cargo train with all of your essential personal equipment. Her frequency is 142.52 and if you forget I'll remind you if you ask me nicely. Call her on the codec if you want more information on the station you will be getting off at. She's also an prodigious expert on human anatomy and biofeedback who helped advance nanotech.”
”BLOODHOUND will search in three separate teams while disguised as civilians. Lucky Star, you're with Frostbite. Feist, you're with Black Vulture. Widow, you're with Eliah. As you all may have guessed already, you are already on the train with your search team member. All of you will link up at a 'sneak point' near the train yard where Wet Nurse will be located before beginning your search. Try to avoid drawing attention to yourselves."
Nearing the main platform, each of them would see not only a rather busy show of evening traffic but the PMCs in place. The checkpoints were not anything a civilian could laugh at. Heavily armed men stood at attention while men in high-level haz-mat suits stood ready with examining equipment. What would happen to someone who did not pass through cleanly? Images of secret little rooms where persons of interest were interrogated came to mind.
One had to wonder just how exactly their contact Wet Nurse had infiltrated Stuttgart with their equipment.
"All three teams will be scouting the Central district of Stuttgart for the location of the enemy base. Once the base has been located, infiltration is the main objective. Each of the three teams will handle this as it fits their specialties. But do not separate. This is how Legion managed to kill half of the unit last time. Past mistakes will be learned from. No lone wolf stuff, no matter how capable you think you are."
At that moment Colonel Crenna chimed in.
"Now is the chance for all of you to redeem the name of the BLOODHOUND unit. It is your mission to track down these terrorists and send them back to the hell their codenames are taken from."
A brief pause came before he spoke again.
"Operation Exorcist, now commencing."