Rosa's face is somber as they move through the broken streets of Basra. "This makes no sense," she mutters, half to herself. The damage simply doesn't make sense with the facts they know, unless a terrorist group has somehow gotten their hands on some kind of newly developed super weapon. Or a major country was responsible for the attack. She puts the thought aside for the moment, focusing on her actual job. "Hold on a second. I think there's a clear road here. The perfect place for survivors to hole up."
Borax pauses.
Kris quickly identifies a need for a long rifle in this situation and turns in his Benelli M1 along with the slugs. He grabs a spare NATO issue M16 along with 3 mags before falling into a patrol formation. He takes his place toward the rear of the column as they depart the FOB.
I see it. Kris calls from the rear. He makes a "cover" signal with his hands as he is hustling forward to stop at the side of the door.
He bangs on the door with the side of his fist
UN Peacekeepers. We are here to help. he calls loudly, waiting to hear something from the building.
Jackalyn silently follows the rest of the group, surveying the destruction, and picking up good foxholes, hiding spots, nests, and places to hold the line. It's clear she's ready for any eventuality.
Jackalyn is too busy trying to find good defensive positions to notice the side street, but she follows Rosa's lead. She keeps quiet on the chatter, obviously focused on the mission at hand. The young soldier quickly takes cover at Kristophe's signal, her Barret at the ready.
"Wait, just a moment," Gavril says, crouching down to look at the footprints leading down the alleyway. "These footprints... I thought they might be a child's, or some sort of animal's... but they don't look right." He points to them, gesturing with one finger to the shape and size. "See? Too big to be some sort of dog or other animal, but the wrong shape for a child; too small to be an adult, either." As he points it out, the rest of you take notice of it as well; the feet are vaguely human in shape, but sport what looks like only four toes and small, claw-like appendages. While the shifting sands could have obscured the original print, it doesn't seem quite natural to any of you.
"Hmm... you two, cover him," says the lieutenant, gesturing to Kristophe. Two men, also armed with M16s, move to cover behind some rubble, watching Kristophe's back. As Kristophe bangs on the door, it creaks open to reveal what appears to be an empty living room of a small house. While the ceiling has crumbled in the few places, the home is still structurally stable from the looks of it, and the second floor of the house is still standing. No voice calls back to answer Kirstophe, but looking closely you can all spot another footprint or two moving into the house.
Jackalyn kneels down and takes a look at the prints, then frowns and gets up again. Holstering her Barret and drawing that mean-looking pistol of hers and a survival knife, Jackalyn cautiously moves in, looking around for any sign of life.
Borax tries to confirm if the prints could be from an animal or whether they are some sort of covered/armored print.
Kris says Stay in formation. I'll take point. to the operators with him.
Kris swings into action moving swiftly into the building to clear the room, trusting that his backup will do their job.
Peacekeepers! he calls out Don't jump out! Stay still! he shouts, not wanting to kill an unarmed civilian because someone got jumpy.
Rosa stays a bit back, letting the man with the big gun take point. "What the hell are those?" she asks quietly, raising her SMG just in case something goes wrong. "Because this isn't some sci-fi mierda. We don't get magic mutant monsters in disaster zones. That's not how the real world works."
"I don't like it either, but we can't go making assumptions." He nods to Jacob, and then gestures to Borax and Jackalyn. "You two, stick with him, circle around and see if there's another way into this place. We'll flank up and head inside; keep in contact." The lieutenant signals for the rest of the men to form a defensive position, in case of an ambush. He then motions for Gavril and Rosa to follow him as he joins up with Kristophe. As the Norwegian hollers into the house, nothing moves; the sound of his voice echoes off the walls again for a second before the scene is quiet once more. "This doesn't make sense... where would they go? Could be upstairs... you three, on me. We'll clear this floor then head upstairs." He speaks into the radio on his vest, talking to Jacob and the others outside. "Keep a look out for second-story windows, they could have made their way through those either to another building or out deeper into the city."
"Yes sir." Rosa shoulders her weapon and moves up, keeping close to the lieutenant. As they clear the first floor, she stops in the kitchen. She grabs her radio and reports. "Sign of a struggle in the kitchen. Looks like at least two parties fighting over something. Possible civilians fighting over supplies. Can't tell without looking closer."
Kris stalks through the building, weapon ready.
"Ja, I see it. " Kris calls to Rosa.
"Peacekeepers! Keep your hands up and make no sudden moves" Kris continues to shout as he moves about the first floor and prepares to clear the second floor
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As Jacob, Borax and Jackalyn start to flank he says "Low and slow, kids. I'm too old to get eaten by morlocks." before crouching...
... and being stealthier than a man his age should be -but not as much as he can, old bones crack loud-
Still silent, Jacob points to the windows and then to the scorch marks, which prompts a shrug of confusion.
Jackalyn creeps in silently alongside Jacob, giving a grim smile at his jest. She keeps her Eagle and knife at the ready as she surveys the house.
Not nearly as stealthy as the others, Borax seems distracted by the what he sees. Borax raises his M16 and sights the second story windows.
Gavril nods as Rosa acknowledges the site of what appears to be a fight, making no other comment. "Outside, anything unusual on your end? And what about those windows?" The lieutenant brings his rifle back up as he releases the button on the radio, before following behind Kristophe. As the Norweigan man shouts again, with still no answer, the lieutenant nods as he reaches the second floor, with only one door left to open. Kristophe kicks it open with a heavy thud, revealing a grizzly scene; a young man, eviscerated by something very powerful. His intestines lie on the floor next to his body, the webbing that held them in place within his abdomen still clinging the the rope-like organs. Blood covers the scene, splattered not only along the ground but even along the wall behind his body and on the ceiling. "Good God... outside, we've got a casualty; looks to be eviscerated. Any sign of exit from these two windows?"
As the lieutenant again comes over the radio, all three of you outside notice movement from across the street; a flurry of movement from sets of legs. The distance makes it hard to distinguish, but whatever it was looked to be about the size of a man. Jackalyn and Jacob both notice a smaller figure as well, perhaps the size of a child. Both appear to be moving quickly from their location, probably aware that they were spotted.
Rosa moves to examine the room. "Jesus..." Her eyes go a little wide at the sight. "Why do this? This is... insane." She carefully steps closer, examining the body, trying to identify source of the damage done to the body.
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"Inside, both windows are blown out. There are scorched marjs on the opposite building. What the hell can burn through concrete?" says Jacob as they keep covering the place when the inside team finds the body "Ugh, eviscerated? That's a helluva effort to kill somebody... wait sir, we got movement! Two figures, an adult and children looks like. We'll follow them!"
Søt mor Mary Kris swears as he spots the dead man. Kris moves swiftly down the stairs towards the building's exit.
Jackalyn inhales sharply when she steps inside the room, but quickly becomes more concerned about the webbing. She speaks for the first time in a while. "Looks like you were wrong about the mutants, Rosa," she says dryly. As she spots the movement, in the blink of an eye she turns around and aims down the sights of her Eagle. However, as she is unable to get a good look at them, she sprints downstairs, presumably with Jacob in tow, and begins searching for the two figures. "U.N. Peacekeepers! Identity yourselves!" she barks, despite knowing that it is likely in vain.
Borax motions to Jacob what he plans on doing.
As Rosa leans over the body, she can clearly tell that whatever killed this man did it very haphazardly; the patterns of the wounds, the tearing of the tissue, and the blood splatter can all attest that this job wasn't done with any degree of precision. The mesenterial webbing, what held the organs in place within the body, is absolutely shredded by some sort of sharp claws, and there are a few puncture wounds that look like they might have been formed by some sort of stake; one of them penetrated so far it impaled the ground beneath the body, leaving a hole in the floor. Whatever killed this man was incredibly strong, but not at all precise; almost animalistic in mauling of the man.
Jackalyn, Jacob, and Kristophe all make their way towards the last known location of the individuals who were spotted, but by the time they arrive whoever (or whatever) was there has fled. However, all notice several large patches of blood near where the two were standing, which appear to have dripped from something. Other than that, they spot footprints; one set that looks similar to those seen outside the house, and another that look almost like pockmarks in the sand, like something was walking on stilts. A few of those pockmarked spots also appear to be bloody, and they end abruptly several meters away from your position, as do the other footprints.
Borax, for his part, attempts to take up a position of interception; figuring their likely escape route, he takes up a spot farther back hoping to stop them in their tracks. However, he spots nothing and no one from his defensive position, even though he's sure he should have. "Do you have eyes on the individuals, do you copy?" the lieutenant asks, his voice coming over the radio.
"This is wrong," Rosa mutters. "This looks more like the attack of a wild animal than any kind of human attacked. You would need immense strength and claws to do something like this. But something like that has no reason to be in the middle of a city like this, especially not now. There's something very, very strange going on here." She frowns at Jackalyn's comment. "Really? What does it look like?"
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"Holy crap... what the hell is going on?" he says to the rest before turning on his combead "Sir, we have blood here. Exactly where we spotted the figures. I don't like this shit at all, because the blood is fresh."
Crouching to look at the ground he spots the marks "Sir, two sets of tracks. One looks like the ones outta that house, the others are... strange. They are pockmarks, some of them bloody. And they vanish a few meters away. Whatever it's sneakin' on us, either flies or can climb to the buildings like it's nothin', because I swear to God that the tracks are fresh and end in the f%~#ing middle of nothing, like whoever did them just jumped away."
When he finish his blasphemous deduction, Jacob grabs his rifle tightly and looks around with it. He checks the buildings from where he is, not going to be the idiot that gets to meet the thing first. "Borax, come here before we have to follow your blood trail. Better not to be alone until we find out."
Kris thumbs his radio Let's all calm down yeah? We've all seen the dead before yeah? Get it together. Let's find who ever did this and put dem down. Ya. Kris says, his accent flooding the last few syllables of the transmission.
Hopefully Borax reports his findings, which will put Kris, Jacob and Jackalyn in a position to flush out the bad guys towards him.
I'll take point. You left. You right. Kris whispers, going forward and pointing to Jacob and Jackalyn respectively.
Kris creeps forward, rifle at the ready.
Borax responds,
"Negative. Either they flew, went underground, or they are still there with active camo. "
Borax checks the ground for any tracks along the path that the quarry should have taken.
"Flew? Active camouflage? What the hell is going on here?" The lieutenant's voice then cuts from the radio as Borax approaches from one end of the street as Kristophe and the others approach from the opposite direction. You all meet where the tracks clearly end, with no sign of where they might have ended up. Moments later, some of the other UN Peacekeepers arrive at your position, likely sent by the lieutenant. They, along with the rest of you, scour the area to make sure the two creatures you saw aren't hiding, but with no luck. "Find anything? Vasquez says the body looks like it was mauled, like some sort of animal attack. Any sign of whatever might have done that?"
While the rest of you continue to investigate, the Peacekeepers at your position hold the perimeter, allowing you time to search anywhere else you might think could hold some clues to unraveling this mess. However, nothing you see at the moment looks like you might have spotted an animal or anything of the sort, and you're certain the tracks you've found end right in the middle of the street, and even active camouflage wouldn't have prevented you from running into them with the number of troops around.
Kris shrugs We ain't mole people ya? We got a mission, lets do it. and he motions people forward.
"It does look like whatever did this is gone by now. But we should be on our guard as much as possible in this area. I doubt that it's going to leave us alone for long."
Borax crouches down near the last set of footprints.
Sweat dripping off his forehead, "Let's start connecting the dots. We've got a city that's been trashed without conventional ordinance; footprints that don't match anything we might expect to see in this situation, a bloody murder with no conceivable motive, a chemical attack that eats through concrete, and a target that has vanished in thin air. This reads like a bad sci-fi novel and it's time we start expanding the list of possible threats beyond the terrestrial. The tech here is something none of us appear to have seen before...."
Borax looks at those who flew in with him,
"Any of you with knowledge in any types of psychological warfare, tell me if this fits a pattern? We may not know what did this, but maybe we can figure out why this is being done."
Not our mission Bohan. We have buildings to clear.
"Our primary mission is to secure the area...then escort civilians to safety. We have a confirmed fatality and no idea where the perp went or what it is. The lieutenant has called in back-up to set up a perimeter specifically to allow us time to investigate what we just saw. The least we could do is attempt to give the man some answers. But if you have nothing to add on the subject, then next time just say that."
Borax's tone is firm but low, in almost a matter of fact tone.
"Hey! Tensions are high, but keep your heads about you," the lieutenant says, his voice scratchy from static. "Bohan is right, though, at least in part; this isn't something we see every day. If this is a terrorist attack, they've hijacked some serious firepower. If it isn't... well, that could cause problems." The radio is silent, but the slight static says the lieutenant is thinking, not done speaking. "If it's some sort of experimental tech... we've seen Chinese armored drones in combat tests, who knows? We need to be careful; Kristophson, Bohan, we're headed to your position. Keep looking around and sit tight." With that, the line cuts out, leaving you to your own devices until the lieutenant arrives, presumably with Gavril and Rosa in tow. In the meantime, the rest of the soldiers assist Jacob and Borax as they do another sweep of the area.
As Jacob searches for any sort of hole in the ground, Borax examines the last of the footprints. There's no hole that something the size of what you saw could fit through, but Borax does manage to notice the sand was significantly agitated at the last set of footprints, like what he might expect if whatever had been here had jumped. One of the soldiers gestures to the side of a building, where a half-demolished fire escape could provide a path to see if there's anything to find on the roof.
"I doubt that whoever caused the explosion or whatever it was is the same person who is responsible for this attack," Rosa points out as they head to rendezvous with their squad. "If this was done by a person, it was probably with some kind of large attack animal. Someone who has access to a weapon capable of leveling a city doesn't need to waste their time with attack dogs. They can get guns. And they had no reason to assume we'd just stumble on to the scene, so it doesn't seem like a scare tactic."
Borax seems encouraged by what he finds in the tracks. "Let's get a sniper on the roof while we wait."
Borax stops to listen to Rosa's assessment.
"Anyone else have any insight?"
Jackalyn leaves the speculation to everyone else, and she's already in one of the nests we spotted earlier literally scoping out the city when Borax suggests they get a sniper up there.
Kris nods to Jacob and moves out with him.
Let's get on that roof yeah? Kris says moving as quickly as he can up the damaged fire escape.
ugh.
After a moment of losing his footing, Kristophe gets a better grip on the fire escape and hauls himself up alongside Jackalyn, where the staccato-like footprints continue in the blowing sand, before disappearing again at the lip of the building. "Chase, Kristophson, do you have a confirmed sighting?" The lieutenant asks, as Jacob volunteers to enter the building. He clicks his radio off, nodding to the older man. "Once we figure out what's up there, we'll clear the building to be safe." He clicks the radio on again, asking the same question. "I repeat, do you have visual confirmation? Hell, do you have anything up there?" Jackalyn can take a look around through her scope, spotting similar tracks on the next few buildings, but no movement; whatever you've been looking for, it's long gone.
"Negative contacts, sir, although the tracks appear in rooftops all over the area," Jackalyn replies calmly, despite the increasingly bizarre situation.
mor jævelen Kris curses in his native tongue We waste time. Loytnant, Sgt. Chase and I can clear down while Farrel and yourself clear up. Kris offers, motioning to roof access
With the reports of no contacts on the roof, Borax prepares to search the building with whoever is on the ground.
As Jackalyn and Kristophe report in, the lieutenant leads you and some of the troops through the building as your two team members on the roof head downwards. The stairs leading up to the second floor have collapsed, but with some difficulty you are all able to reach the second floor as the rest of your team comes from the roof. While you don't find anyone inside the building, you do find another set of footprints; not only do they look human, but they lead towards one of the broken windows. The window looks as if it was smashed and then cleared of glass by some of the rubble, and you see some droplets of blood around the windowsill as well as on the ground. The dirt, sand, and rubble around the window's base look as if they've been significantly disturbed, meaning more than one person might have moved through here recently. However, all the footprints and traces you find appear to be human in nature.
"Looks like we might have another survivor; they couldn't get down the steps... so they jumped? The collapsed roof next door is close enough, they could make it." The lieutenant looks out to examine the next building over, where the broken building forms something of a serviceable ramp. "If they're out there, it's likely they've got a wounded leg from getting through this window. An open wound like that out here is dangerous, we need to find them. I'll keep the rest of the men here looking for other survivors, fanning out from this position. I need you all to find that survivor, if they're still alive, and get them back here. They might have information, and we can get them back to base camp for more extensive medical treatment. Understood?"