By: Greg Elie
Synopsis: Grey felt like a blessed man up until a near fatal accident left him paralyzed from the neck down. Through medical advances, he was able to tap into his mind and discover hidden psychic powers he never knew he had. With the help of scientist Dr. Kinesis, who himself had psychic powers. Grey learned to move objects with his mind, but with limitations. He could only move titanium metals, which had something to do with experimental drugs and the titanium plate in his scalp which somehow created a neuro-biochemical reaction with his brain to form this telekinetic power. Wanting to be normal again, Grey obtained a suit of armor made from titanium. After fully assisted to this suit of armor, Grey started learning how to move limbs, to sit, stand, walk and finally run. He was close to normal again as long as he had his titanium armor on. Much to his surprise, he was more stronger due to the strength of his armor, but what really surprised and excited him was his ability to learn how to levitate using his mind. He could fly with the speed of a helicopter.
Realizing this new found gift, he decided to dedicate the remainder of his life into fighting crime in his neighborhood. Keeping his identity secret while trying to stay away from the public eye, he gained notoriety as a vigilante with special powers. Drug dealers and gangs started vanishing in his hometown which angered the mob who controlled these gangs and other criminal groups. To get back at him, the mob sets a trap and frames him for a murder he did not commit. He becomes a wanted person and sketches of his image and description were displayed on newspapers and broadcasted on television news.
Meanwhile, his psychic instructor Dr. Kinesis tries to recruit him for his own evil plans. When Grey rejects his offer, their friendship ends. Dr. Kinesis starts hunting Grey, he also gives his identity away to a group of terrorists who also wants to use Grey's powers by abducting his ex-girlfriend and blackmailing him into breaking into a federal prison to free their leader in exchange for the life of Samantha his ex-girlfriend whom he still loves.
And when things couldn't get worse, the U.S. government commissions America's first high tech super hero crime fighter, "The Protector". The first of his kind, equipt with advanced exoskeletal technology which amplifies human strength a hundred fold. His mission is to eradicate the terrorist cell, find and capture Grey and bring him to justice.
From fighting crime to protecting his loved ones, Grey has to find a way to prove his innocense against insurmountable odds. But with the mob, terrorists, a mad psychic scientist, police, FBI, Homeland Security, America's superhero, National Guard and even the Pentagon ganging up on him. He knew he was bound to have a cruel summer ahead of him.
(Foreword by Greg Elie: This is the start of a wonderfull adventure which I'd like to share with you. Now and in the proceeding months, I'll be adding more chapters to this novel as the story unfolds. The later chapters of this book will be on sale at lulu.com as an ebook. All proceeds from this sale will benefit the following charitable institutions listed below. If you decide to follow the story and you like it, I hope you can donate $1.00 or whatever you can afford for every chapter you've read to charity listed below. So from the bottom of my heart, thank you very much.)
Charitable Institutions
1. World Relief
7 East Baltimore Street
Baltimore, MD 21202
http://www.worldrelief.org/
2. Feed The Children
PO Box 36
Oklahoma City
Oklahoma 73101-0036
3. Cross International
370 W. Camino Garden Blvd
Boca Raton, FL 33432
4. Salesian Missions
2 Lefevre lane
New Rochelle NY, 10801-5710
5. Donate at stjude.org
6. The Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation
www.christopherreeve.org
CHAPTER 1: THE JUNGLES OF ZAMBOANGA
(Sometime in the near future....)
It was around 3am in the jungles of Zamboanga, an island on the southern part of the Philippines, the weather was very humid and hot. In the dark, leaves parted as a human figure carrying an M-16 machine gun advanced with caution and stealth. After a few feet, he stopped and found his comrades. Six of them gathered together silently while the radio-man was checking their position with a black laptop computer. They all wore comouflage suits, a green beret on their head and black markings on their face. "Where's the Captain?...". one soldier asked. "He's about three meters away from their camp's perimeter".
Captain Chase Brassman was the head of this special forces unit. This was his first time with this group of special forces soldiers who were more adept in jungle warfare. He had been re-assigned from a dessert warfare unit into this jungle warfare unit and was sent by the Pentagon on a mission to rescue Sheila Price, a Peace Corps volunteer who'd been kidnapped by the Abu Sayyaf (Bearer of the Sword) rebel-terrorist group. A faction of the Al Queda terrorist organization which uses ransom money collected to buy bombs which are used in terrorizing cities in the Philippines and other countries in Asia. This time they kidnapped a twenty-one year old American volunteer who worked as a nurse in a poor village in the province of Zamboanga in the Philippines.
"Captain Brassman, what's your location?". The radio-man whispered through a headphone connected to a communicator. "I think I'm getting closer, I can smell burned wood probably from their campfire." Captain Brassman whispered back into his headset as he slowly dropped to the ground and started crawling forward while proceeding with caution, making sure he does not hit any trip wires that might alert the terrorists or set off an explosion.
His uniform was different from the other soldiers. He wore a special flight suit that was created by the high tech robotics firm, "Macro-Strength Industries", that supplies state of the art weaponry to the US Armed Forces. Inside his flight suit, he wore an exoskeletal metallic body frame with braces. It had rods on the back just like a metallic spine with straps that wrapped around his body. The metallic spine had multiple tiny electrical wires that had sensors on it's end that were connected and glued to his skin. They were designed to quickly sense his every move and amplify his strength a thousand fold but still light enough as if he were just wearing football pads. From the spine branched out a pair of metallic arm and leg braces in which he slips into and straps around, once again wrapping into his arms and legs. Multiple sensors were also temporarily glued to his skin which picks up signals from his muscles and relays the information to the metallic spine and finally to a micro-computer which is stored in his helmet. The micro-computer then acts like a brain giving commands to the wearer's exoskeletal system to mimic and amplify the wearer's moves making him one hundred times faster and a thousand times stronger. His solar powered helmet was about the size of a motorcycle rider's helmet. It's visor was tinted dark so nobody could recognize him even if it were in the day time. The micro-computer inside his helmet is voice activated and which he named, "SAM", which was the name of the girl he loved and courted in high school. His helmet was equipt with a defense called, "HALO", wherein the top of his helmet emits a circular bluish luminescent laser light consisting of compressed electrical energy which flows down from his helmet all the way down to his combat boots. His flight suit was made of a special fabric that creates a magnetic field of reverse polarity preventing electrical charged particles from collapsing therefore creating and maintaining a force shield around him. His helmet also had weapon compartments on it's lateral sides that pops out with each compartment having two gun barrels that fires 200 rounds a minute. He also possessed special types of bullets called : "Seeker Bullets", which had motion detection and heat seeking capabilities which mean't that he could fire it at any direction and each bullet will look for the first moving living thing it senses and automatically target it for the kill. The only drawback to his high tech weapon system is that he can't fire his guns when his shields are on. He has to turn off his shield before he can fire his automatic guns. Although this would make him susceptible to getting shot, wounded or killed. This was the biggest dilemma facing Macro-Strength Industries and which the Pentagon was waiting for a solution.
The radio-man pressed his right earphone with his hand then looked towards his comrades and whispered, "Ok, the satellite's within position, we should have eyes in five, four, three, two, one. Ok boys, we've got eyes..." The laptop they had turned on automatically. Moving red and green dots appeared on the screen. "What's those dots mean?...", a soldier asked. "The red dots are the terrorists, we're the green dots, and that one green dot closing in on that bunch of red dots is the Captain, the radio-man explained. "Captain, we've got eyes...", the radio-man reported, "and we're gonna focus in closer.", The radio-man started typing in his laptop and in an instant, the space satellite gave them closer visual footage of the enemy's camp and their surroundings. Focusing closer to the Captain, "Are you eating a candy bar?....", the radio-man asked. "Oooops...you saw that huh?...just giving myself a little sugar rush before the fireworks starts....Ok, I'm switching on my night vision, what do you have for me?...", Captain Brassman asked as he was starting to feel some tension building. The radio-man studied his screen carefully then answered, " They've set up a square perimeter,...two tents in the middle,...fifteen feet apart. I see two perimeter guards on patrol on each side...looks like a total of eight roving guards. The tent closer to you has around thirty or so bad guys, no movements, most definitely asleep. The tent further from you has one person in it, that's what our thermal imaging shows. That's got to be Miss Price....there's two guards outside her tent. Looks like a total of forty in all.".
Captain Brassman pulled out his side arm from it's holster and quietly attached a silencer to the tip of his gun. Lying on his belly, he slowly got up and knelt on one knee pointing his gun forward as he whispered. "SAM, hypervision on....", Suddenly his visor's lens scanned further as if looking through binoclaurs but with a more powerfull reach. " I see one, about a hundred yards away, are there any bad guys near him?...", the Captain asked. The radio-man searched his screen and replied," No Captain, it looks clear from here. You're Ok to take him out anytime."
How's he able to see that far?", a soldier asked. The radio-man feeling a little perturbed answered, " His visor has some telescopic power which he activates via voice command...he's supposed to be wearing some kind'a top secret high tech suit that he's not allowed to tell us about.". Suddenly they heard a, "swishing ", sound on their headsets. "One down,..I'm moving in.". Within seconds, Captain Brassman reaches the fallen sentinel to make sure his dead as he points his gun ahead. He looks around and asked, "Where's the other guard?,". The radio-man scrolls in his computer then answered. " One is behind you about 70 yards. The Captain turns around kneeling on one knee, scans and points his gun forward. He aims his gun and pulls the trigger. "Swish", another sentinel falls down as blood spurts out from his neck as the guard convulsed for a few seconds then became motionless. His heart was now racing as he quickly but quietly moved towards the two tents. Fifty yards away, he aims his gun at the two guards in front of the smaller tent. "Ok gents...I'm going for the prize...". His team of soldiers looked at each other then one of them asked?, "Did he say Price...", another soldier replied. "No stupid!, he said prize...". Then a third soldier said, " I think I heard him say rice...he said, I'm going for the rice!...". The rest of the team rolled their eyes knowing that the last response came from a Filipino American soldier who always complained about not having any rice to eat during their missions. The first soldier rebuttled and said, "I think he said Pri....", the radio-man quickly interrupted the argument saying;" Will you three shut the hell up!...We're on a mission here ok?...", the radio-man giving his men a stern look which ended the argument. "Swish-swish", two silent shots were fired as the guards fell one after the other. After reaching the tent, the Captain quickly went in.
Waking up startled from her sleep, Sheila Price was about to scream when the Captain quickly grabbed her while covering her mouth with his hand. "Shhhh...don't scream, I'm with the United States special forces and I'm here to get you out.". He turns towards her releasing his hand over her mouth as he raised up his helmet's visor, he turned on a small flashlight as he shunned it briefly into his face showing her his bright blue eyes. "I'm Captain Chase Brassman, you're Sheila Price?...". Sheila nodded still shaking from fear. The Captain smiled trying to ease her anxiety as he asked, "Are there any other hostages besides you?...", Sheila softly answered with tears of fear in her eyes, "No, just me...please get me out of here....", sheila started trembling once again from shear fright.
Captain Brassman quietly led her out of the tent, as they quietly sneaked away from the campsite. Looking around, "I've got to hide you,... there are guards everywhere.". He grabbed her close to him and said, "Quickly, put your arms around my neck and hold on tight". Sheila gave him a puzzled look as she asked, "What are you planning to do?...". The Captain looked up to the tall trees around them and said, "Up there, I'll hide you up there on those thick tree branches". Sheila looked up and said, "Up there?!...that's got to be forty feet high. Who do you think you are freakin' superman...Whoa!!!", Captain Brassman suddenly grabbed her tighter, bent his knees as a surge in his suit's energy increased power into his leg's metallic joints and braces. He jumped up carrying her in his arms as they landed on a thick tree branch 50 feet above the ground. "Ok, you'll be safe here for now. Just sit and be really quiet, I'll come for you later.", he told her. But she was still in awe and dumbfounded from what just happened. She stared at him then down below then back at him, all the while with her mouth open. "Are you Ok?", the Captain asked her, she just nodded her head vigorously not knowing what to say. She felt like a damsell in distress from one of those superhero comic books she used to read when she was in grade school. She felt excited, mesmerized and scared at the same time. The Captain pointed to the tree's trunk and said, "Hold on tight and try not to fall...". Sheila not sure what he mean't wrapped her arms around the Captain's chest with her eyes closed. A little surprised, the Captain said," Uh...Oh, Miss Price, I mean't hold on to the tree...not me...". She quickly pushed away gently feeling a little embarrassed as Captain Brassman smiled at her once again to ease her from her worries and fear.
By the time she could speak, the Captain was gone. Out there in the dark jungle her mighty superhero had vanished. All the fear and suffering she went through was suddenly overcome by the presence of this brave warrior. She remembered how she felt when she was in high school having a big crush on their school's football quarterback. It felt the same but different, she was swept off her feet both literally and figuratively.
Meanwhile, the Captain moved with amazing speed. Time was of the essence, it shouldn't be too long before the other guards find out that their security perimeter had been breached and their hostage gone. The Captain was pretty sure they'll be checking on each other soon using their two-way radios. He pulls out two hand grenades from his leather belt. "Ok, I'm gonna deliver the package, is there anyone in my way?", the Captain asked. "No, the coast is clear, you may deliver the package.", the radio-man answered as he looked back at his team of commandos who each activated their weapons.
With his night vision on and hyper-vision lens reaching ten times farther than the human eye could reach, he quietly started moving towards the bigger tent. As he reached the opening to the tent, he pulled off the pins on the grenades then tossed them inside the tent as he quickly ran for cover. After two seconds, the tent exploded in fiery flames lighting up the darkness as screams of men in agony could be heard from a distance. The radio-man quickly waved his hand urging his team of commandos to attack still sixty yards away from the action. While running, they could hear from their headsets more of the, "swishing", sounds from the Captain's gun, and some sporadic gun fire from the enemy as they closed in for the kill.
Upon reaching the burning tent, they were met by Captain Brassman. He was walking casually towards them while returning his gun in it's holster. A commando looked around with palms up asking," Where's the bad guys?...". The Captain gave a quick grin as he said, "I pretty much got them all,...no need getting you guys in harms way.", as he walked passed them. "That was so fast, you got 40 terrorists in less than five minutes?!...", the radio-man asked. Captain Brassman stopped walking and looked back at his men saying,"This ain't Hollywood boys, no need to impress anyone with too much action scenes.", he said jokingly, then continued walking away from them. The radio-man looked around at all the dead rebels the barked out orders, "Ok, secure the perimeter. Make sure no one gets out alive!...The Philippine government does not know were here...we can't have any witnesses.".
Just when the team of commandos scattered, the radio-man's, "Movement Detection Scanner", which was a small electronic device the size of a beeper started vibrating. "Hold on guys!...", the radio-man yelled. Kneeling on one knee, he turned on his laptop and started typing in it, as he programmed a space satellite camera to give them a clearer view of their surroundings. "Oh! shit!....they've got reinforcements coming in from all directions, they must have heard the explosions and the gunfire...Looks like we're surrounded...we're trapped...", the radio-man shuddered as the rest of the team gathered around him. The Captain looked at him and asked?, "How many?...", The radio-man looked back forcing a smile and said, "Oh!...maybe about a hundred or so...". The Captain turned around and waved his hands signaling everyone to come closer like a football team huddling before a play. With a concerned look, the Captain said, "Ok, this might not seem like protocol to you, but I need you to follow my instructions well. I want all of you to get Miss Price, she is safe up on a tree branch north-east from here in this coordinates.". He hands them a written map of were Miss Price was hiding and then said, "Once you have her, keep going north-east as fast as you can. Try not to engage any enemy if you can help it. We need to keep Miss Price as safe as possible. If the enemy spots you, eliminate them quietly. When you're more than fifty yards away from this location, let me know. Whatever happens, don't come back for me. I can take care of myself.". Suddenly, Private Smith, their youngest, newest and most inexperienced member protested: "But sir, you won't survive. There's just too many of them.", the Captain stared at him with a concerned look on his face as he placed his hands on top of Private Smith's shoulders and said, "Look son, I know that team concept is what we always preach on missions like this but unfortunately, this is no ordinary mission, there are things I'm not allowed to disclose to you about the type of technology I've got on me. You have to trust me...besides, I heard you have a newborn daughter". Private Smith was a little surprised that the Captain knew about his six-week old daughter. He quickly pulled out a picture of his wife holding his newborn daughter as everyone smiled while looking at his excited reaction. The Captain held the picture, smiled and said, "Ahh!...good thing she got all her features from her mother...she'll be Ok....". Everybody laughed briefly. The Captain returned the picture to Private Smith as he said, "This is one more reason I need you all to be safe. You have families to go home to.". He then looked around at all his men hoping that they clearly understood their orders. "Ok, get going...". The Captain ordered as his team formed a single line while heading towards the thick jungle leaving their leader alone standing a few feet from the burning tent and charred corpses around him.
Five minutes lapsed as Captain Brassman got up from kneeling on one knee after saying a short prayer. Standing tall, "Ok, SAM....show me the main screen...". Suddenly his visor turned into a computer screen but still with transparent views of his surroundings. The main screen then downloaded several columns of categories that he could check on. "SAM, take me to your combat information systems...". Suddenly, the columns titled, "CIS", became highlighted. "Halo..on!...", a ray of light emerged from the top of his helmet and formed a round circle of transparent bright energy above his head which looked like a halo. After a few seconds, the halo poured what looked like a viscous electrically charged blob of bluish jelly like substance over his helmet which then spread and covered his whole body all the way down to his boots. Hundreds of random electrical sparks appeared due to energy getting compressed to form his force shield which made him invincible. He radiated a bluish glow to him as he now was more visible to the enemy. He tweaked his neck and said, "SAM, could you please turn on the AC, keep it at around sixty-eight degrees. I'm just sweating from this ninety-degree heat and while you're at it, give me communications with the team...". Cold air started filling into his flight suit which added some comfort to the Captain. Meanwhile, the communication column in his main screen started blinking greeen which mean't that he could now talk to his men. "How are you guys doing?...". The radio-man stopped in his tracks, knelt and answered. "Captain, we have Miss Price but we've been slowed down, we've taken down about a dozen terrorists so far with our silencers. We're forty-five yards away from you, I'll let you know if we're over fifty.". Captain Brassman looked around, more concerned than ever as he responded, "Got it!...over and out..". Suddenly there were movement on the bushes all around him as he knelt with one knee with fists clenched in anticipation.. He started hearing voices with unfamiliar dialects, then all of a sudden there was gunfire....
Meanwhile, back in the United States, it was around ten in the morning as a red Ford Mustang made it's way towards the front gate of Travis Air Force Base in California. As the Mustang stops at the gate's checkpoint, a military guard inspects the car's front windshield as he looks at the car's military sticker. He then gives the driver a salute as the gate opens letting the car drive through. The car made it's way to building 4 which was the intelligence building. The driver, Brigadiere General Charles Tate (Head of Special Forces-Pacific Division) got out of his car. From a short distance, he spotted Major Garfield Powers walking towards him. After saluting the General, Major Powers and the General shook hands. General Tate looking around at an overcast day took off his sunglasses and hung it on his right front shirt pocket. "Give me the rundown Major....", as the General walked ahead of the Major while clutching his brief case with his right hand as they walked towards the building. "Well, sir...the latest intel shows that Captain Brassman's team had...". The General quickly stopped to face Major Powers with a puzzled look on his face as he asked, "Captain?....Wasn't he just a lieutenant a month ago?....". Major Powers smiled briefly as he said, "Yes sir, but while you were on vacation, Congress promoted him straight to Captain after they awarded him the Protector suit.". The General shook his head in disbelief and said, "I'd never thought I'd see the day when a O3 gets direct promotion to an O6...", the General gave Major Powers a concerned look saying: "I hope you don't get envious son...you know that I voted for you to be the one, but once again, politicians had to intrude...". Squinting his eyes, Major Powers answered, "I understand sir, it was out of your hands". Reaching the steps to the building, the General inquired, "How's the mission progressing?...", Major Powers cleared his throat as he replied, "Our latest intel shows that Miss Price has been rescued by the team but they're still in a very precarious situation, then about thirty minutes ago, we lost our communication link with the team and our connection at best has been sporadic. We think that the rebels might be getting some outside help. A powerfull electronic jamming device has cut off our satellite, communications and radar links in southern Philippines. To us it's no big deal but to our team, it will disrupt every kind of electronic device they have to help them succeed on their mission.". General Tate quickly glanced at Major Powers as he further asked, "And the Protector suit?...", without hesitating, the Major quickly answered, "The Protector suit should be fine General, the enemy does not know enough of it's technology yet to cause it any harm.", pausing for a few seconds while climbing the steps to the building, the General again inquired, "What does the CIA say about this jamming device...". Major Powers looked at him and answered, " The CIA intelligence director said it might be the Chinese or the North Koreans". Reaching the entrance and pulling on the door handle, the General briefly took a last glimpse at the weather and at the surroundings knowing he'll be indoors for quite awhile and said, " No....it can't be the Chinese, there's already too much tension with the Spratly Islands wouldn't wanna risk further diplomatic deterioration with us...It has to be the North Koreans...they're trying to piss us off....". Both men finally entered the building once again showing their identification cards to the building guards.
Major Powers and Captain Brassman had been best of friends over ten years since flight school, while Captain Brassman trained on flying fighter jets, Major Powers excelled in piloting attack helicopters. Major Powers is a thirty-two year old highly trained special forces commando. He stood six-foot two inches tall, and weighed 205lbs. He was well built and muscular having played football in college as a running back, setting school and NCAA football records in rushing yards, even after winning the , "Heisman", trophy, he still decided to join the Army like his father did. He turned his back on offers of a lucrative salary from many NFL teams because he wanted to serve his country. When the Pentagon was searching for the right soldier to wear the exoskeletal suit, the final selectees were him and Captain Brassman. Having slightly higher academic scores and being more athletic and stronger than Captain Brassman, the joint chiefs chose him to be the one to wear the high tech suit.. Unfortunately because of political reasons, Congress chosed Captain Brassman and over ruled the joint chiefs decision. Another reason they had was that, "Macro-Strength Industries", advised them that a pilot trained in flying fighter jets was more suitable than someone trained in piloting attack helicopters. Eventhough Congress's decision made sense, Major Powers still felt that it should have been the military's decision to select and not the politicians. He couldn't help but feel betrayed knowing that he was more qualified than his best friend. He couldn't help think that being an African American had something to do with him not being selected. Besides, tradition showed that the first ever superhero that came out was, "Superman", and he wasn't black. Then there was, "Captain America, Thor, Batman and Robin, Spiderman, The Fantastic Four, Iron Man, Hulk and Wonder Woman". All of them caucasian, and it wasn't until the year 2008 when an African American superhero finally came out named, "Hancock". Unfortunately, the dude had some serious attitude issues, probably from all those years of repressed anger due to people of color being under represented in the superhero genre.
Major Powers knew that because of this fact, that it's been formed in the collective minds of the American people that if ever there was a real superhero to come out that it had to be caucasian. He realized that in order for the government to sell this new expensive technology to the American taxpayers that it would help if this new superhero was as white as, "Superman". He felt sad knowing that even after America had elected a black President decades ago that racism and discrimination still existed in politics and in American society.
Surrounded and trapped by about a hundred terrorist rebels, Captain Brassman instinctively raised his arms to protect his face as bullets started hitting him all over his body and helmet but they were all deflected by his force shield. There were around twenty-five terrorists surrounding him at a time firing mostly AK-47 machine guns with some using pistols. He shuddered a couple of times as he got hit straight on by a bazooka which lowered his systems force shield by seven percent on each time he got hit. Not used to being invincible, the Captain was disoriented for a few seconds as multiple bullets and bazooka fire hitting his force shield created bright sparks which made it harder for him to see. "Sam, can you dim my view a little, maybe twenty percent darker, and mute the outside noise...these gunfire noise is making my ears ring.". Suddenly the shade of his visor became darker which made the gunfire sparks less blinding, and the volume of outside noise also faded into complete silence as the only thing he could hear was his breathing. Finally, getting a clear view of his enemies through night vision lens, he started to advance towards one group. Being a black belt in Tae Kwon Do-Karate, he quickly did a roundhouse kick hitting three men as they came crashing to the ground. A terrorist behind him pulled out a knife and quickly stabbed him at his back but the blade broke as it hit the force shield making a sound like a coin hitting glass. A few of the attackers were astonished at their foe's invincibility but still continued to attack. As his enemies increased to over fifty, the Captain decided to turn on his exoskeletal system to prevent him from getting tired. It felt like shifting from a car with manual transmission and steering to a car with an automatic transmission and power steering. His movements became amplified with more speed and greater force though it felt more effortless. With his martial arts moves, he was knocking out twenty to thirty foes a minute while catching himself with a contemptuous grin. He couldn't believe the power of this new technology, but the enemy still kept on increasing with unceasing gunfire and unsuccessfull assaults. Suddenly, the Captain's communications turned on as he heard sporadic, unclear messages from his radio-man. "Captain..(cut)... now fifty-...(cut)...two yards away ...(cut)...your location...", a message appeared from his visor's screen showing [Foreign electronic jamming device detected...checking all systems for virus]. The Captain sensing another possible problem arising quickly replied to his men saying, "Great, stay there and don't come closer...there's also a chance we might not be able to communicate until this fight is over...over and out...". Turning to his Visor's screen, "SAM, activate weapons systems, primarily the seeker bullets at a fifty-yard radius limit.". After a second, the column in his main screen showing seeker bullets started blinking green which mean't it was ready for use.
Meanwhile, the special forces team with Miss Price took cover lying prone in a tall grassy field waiting for instructions from their leader. Private Smith was getting anxious and worried about his leader. He kept looking back to were they left the Captain as they heard continuous gunfire and occasional explosions at where the Captain was located. Private Smith pulled out the picture of his wife and baby daughter and briefly stared at it with a small flashlight. He stared at his team as if expecting a new course of orders then he asked, "What about the Captain...we need to help him....". Everybody stared at him when suddenly, their medic, private EJ spoke, "Shut your big mouth...we have orders, and that is to stay here and protect Miss Price....". Private Smith looked at the picture once more feeling a burden of conflict on whether to help his Captain or remain with the team for the sake of his family. His heartbeat raced as the humid atmosphere added to his discomfort as beads of sweat trickled down his face until he suddenly made a decision. " I can't do this...", Private Smith said as the team stared at him wondering what he was about to do. Suddenly, the radio-man whispered, "Oh!..shit...our comm link has been jammed....", he looked around at his team members as he started typing in his laptop while saying, "This could only mean one thing....there are bigger forces who are preventing us from completing our mission...I can't even get in contact with the Captain...". Corporal Oliver looked around if anyone had a suggestion then asked, "How will we know if the Captain's ok?...". They all stared at the radio-man for an answer when suddenly Private Smith stood up and said, "Forget this shit...I'm going back to help the Captain, he can't survive out there alone!....". Before anyone could do or say anything, Private Smith vanished in the shadows of the night. The radio-man looked at his team and softly barked, "Oliver!...go get him back here...go!". Corporal Oliver rolled his eyes as he hesitantly stood up picking up his rifle while he cursed at all the Greek gods in heaven and quietly followed the path that Private Smith disappeared to, which was headed back to Captain Brassman's location.
Walking hunched but in a fast pace while clutching his weapon, Private Smith donned his electronic night vision goggles but it just flickered as the power died out. His communication system was also not working. Squinting hard as his vision focused on the dark surroundings, he suddenly stopped as he thought he saw shadows move in the pheriphery of his eyes. Taking aim at whatever might be out there, he continued walking in a field of tall grass while swaying his rifle from side to side in case of an ambush. Hearing footsteps behind him, he quickly turned around to aim as a rebel shot at him hitting him on the right shoulder, he spun around dropping his gun as he fell to the ground. Coming to his senses, he felt some stiffness with a sharp stabbing pain to his right shoulder. Grabbing some bandages from his pocket, he quickly applied direct pressure to his right shoulder as he felt the wetness of blood sipping out from the bullet wound which pierced into his flesh. In the stillness of the night, he was glad that darkness was his ally as he initially tried not to make any sudden movements knowing that the shooter was advancing near him trying to hunt him down like a wounded animal. After a few seconds, he started hearing footsteps from his right side, then from his left side. He was lucky that the grass was waist high which made it harder for them to find him in the dark, he could see them pass him by barely a foot away from where he lay. But at the same time, he started feeling hundreds of what he suspected were ants crawling around his neck and face and into his uniform. Severe itching started as multiple ant bites felt like a thousand needle pricks to his neck, face and body which was now spreading towards his genital area and down his legs. He must have landed on an anthill. He twitched and wanted to jerk but hearing more footsteps go past him on each side prevented him from making any sudden movements which will give away his location and spell his doom. But the pain and agony from the ant bites was too untolerable, his face and neck started swelling. Ants were now crawling deep into his inner ears as he quietly tried to clear it with his fingers, ants were also crawling into his nostrils which made it harder for him to nose breath. With eyes closed and breathing through his mouth while swallowing chunks of ants at a time, he visualized the image of his wife and daughter as he burried his face into the soil trying not to scream in pain. Ants tried to enter his eyelids, as a sudden feeling of panic overcame him, he quickly grabbed his rifle, got up and started firing his weapon at all directions while he yelled his wife's name. He was able to hit five terrosist rebels but once again got shot on his left thigh from an enemy soldier behind him. Falling to the ground once more, he rolled several times to his left side to change his location hopefully avoiding detection. Now in tears, he knew that this was his end. He pulled out his family's picture and clutched it tightly with his quivering blood stained hands as he quietly wept knowing that he'll never get the chance to hold his baby daughter. He whispered to himself how sorry he was for abandoning them, to leave them without the love of a husband to his wife and the love of a father to his daughter. The feeling of weakness from his blood loss and the stinging pain from the ant bites were now just a minor concern compared to the sorrow of never seeing his family ever again.
Then suddenly, a burst of machine gun fired, he heard several men yelling in pain. Corporal Oliver came to his rescue eliminating seven rebel soldiers who were hunting Private Smith. Corporal Oliver softly called out trying to locate his comrade. After finding him wounded, he quickly did some first aid. Surprised by the swelling of his teammate's face, he quickly packed Private Smith's wounds with battle dressings to slow down the bleeding while wiping away crawling ants on Private Smith's face and neck. Corporal Oliver looked around at the darkness and said, "We've got to go, there's more of them coming...", as the corporal tied a tourniquet above Private Smith's thigh wound. Private Smith in a weak voice turned to him saying, "Just leave me here...save yourself....there's no time...". Corporal Oliver returned the left over bandages in his first aid kit as he stared at his wounded teammate with disdain remarking, "You're not only stupid, you're also a fool...you know that?!....You have a six week old baby and a wife who loves you, now c'mon we're going home!...". With one motion, he lifted his wounded teammate over his left shoulder as he hurriedly proceeded towards the rest of the team. "We don't have much time, we need to be more than fifty yards away from the Captain's location...I don't know why, but I have a bad feeling about this.". With his right hand, he grabbed his communicator as he turned it on, but nothing happened. "Shit!...our communication's is still dead!...but that's ok!...we're almost there...just hang on buddy!...". Corporal Oliver increased his pace as he carried his wounded friend towards his team's location.
Meanwhile, Captain Brassman was still fighting hand to hand combat when suddenly on both sides of his helmet popped out the gun compartments. Unable to fire his guns with his shields on, he transferred power into his exoskeletal leg braces as a surge of energy pushed him up, and in a split second he was seventy feet up in the air. He vanished in the dark which stunned and puzzled his enemies. While still airborn, he quickly turned off his shields and fired off one hundred rounds of his seeker bullets in every direction as they started seeking targets that were moving or that were warm blooded. As he landed back to the ground, there was no one left alive. The few rebels who survived were beyond the fifty yard radius and quickly retreated. He stared briefly at a dead canine with a bullet wound on it's face and with it's leash still on. It was the only non-human being that got killed by his seeker bullets. "Collateral damage...", he told himself, then looking around at all the enemy corpses, he was amazed by his suit's technological capabilities. He suddenly felt some damptness to his left lower leg as he commanded, "SAM, give me damage control.". His mainscreen focused on his left lower leg which was bleeding and a scan showing that there was an embedded bullet in his left calf muscle. It must have been a stray bullet that got him while he was up in the air with his shields off. Although feeling no pain, he once again commanded, "SAM, show me life support systems....".After a second, his visor showed different medical data which showed his heart rate between 72 to 78 beats per minute, blood pressure reading of 110/70, Oxygen saturation rate of 96% and a temperature of 98.1 degrees. There was also an EKG monitor showing a graph with interpretation which read, "Normal Sinus Rythm", of his heart. He then noticed a blinking yellow light in the.left lower corner of his visor which showed his hemoglobin/hematocrit reading which was slightly lower than a few hours ago, his system was able to collect spilled blood and test it. The computer explained to him that this would be lower because of the blood loss he incurred. "SAM, can you do another scan and a neuro check on my bleeding leg to see if blood circulation to my foot is impaired and if I need rapid surgical intervention?...". After a few seconds, the screen showed a message which read, [Neuro checks within normal limits, surgical intervention needed as soon as possible.]. Captain Brassman took a deep breath in as he pushed up his visor exhaling a long sigh of relief, cold air inside his suit escaped throught the opening in his helmet as his face felt the heat and humidity of his surroundings once more. "SAM, can you control the bleeding?...", after a few seconds he pulled back down his visor as he read the computer's answer, [ Initiating first aid...gauze over bleeding wound...built in tourniquet above the wound activated to slow down bleeding...Excision and extraction of bullet wound on standby....time of procedure is approximately twenty minutes...Affected limb will need to be immobile during surgical procedure...General anesthesia...nerve block or local anesthesia available as your choices.....Would you like the procedure to begin?....]. Captain Brassman quickly answered, "No!...I don't have the time right now...", looking back at the screeen, the computer showed the next text message which read, [ Please seek medical attention as soon as possible...full medical telemetry operational....One liter of IV fluids for dehydration and plasma expanders for hypovolemia on standby...].
His exoskeletal system has the ability to bring first aid to any part of his body that gets injured through a pair of small moving devices inside his suit which were half the size of a tennis ball. They are made of stainless steel and are attached to the exoskeletal frame and can slide to any part of the system to make mechanical repairs to the suit or perform any type of emergency treatment to the person wearing the suit. This pair of gadgets were called: "SPIDERRS", which is short for (Surgical Procedures Including Diagnostics and Emergency Robotic Repair Systems.), (Pronounced as SPY-DERS). Each spiderrs has eight limbs, four in each side which has the length and diameter of a needle. The end of each limb has three fork like fingers which does the fine dexterity work needed in electronic repairs and surgical procedures.
Turning off his HALO defense system to conserve power which was now down to 67%, he started walking with a slight limp. While feeling a slight discomfort to his injured leg, communications turned back on.
He heard his radio-man speak, "Captain, are you ok?....". The Captain briefly looked around at the burning battlefield and with his eyes downcast answered, "Yeah, I'm fine....Are you guys ok?...". There was a few seconds of silence then the radio-man responded, "Got some bad news Captain...Corporal Oliver and Private Smith didn't make it...". Captain Brassman stopped walking unsure of what to do as a strong sense of grief overwhelmed him, "What happened?...", the Captain asked, there was another few seconds of silence then the radio-man responded hesitantly, "Private Smith went back to help you...I sent Corporal Oliver to find him and bring him back....we found their bodies thirty yards from your location with fatal wounds on their heads. Suddenly, Captain Brassman fell to his knees in despair as the front of his helmet hit the dirt while he pounded his fists on the ground. He knew that his seeker bullets got to his soldiers. His seeker bullets were unable to discriminate between allies or enemies within the fifty yard radius he set. Feeling a strong sense of guilt, he couldn't believe that he was somehow responsible for the death of two of his men. After meeting with his team and explaining to them what happened, they took Sheila Price to a safer place and within one hour they were picked up by a military helicopter and were brought to safety. (End of Chapter 1)
(To Be Continued)
