New Dawn of Scare (Second Lordi Saga - Story 1)

Chapter 17 - First Battle of the Cosmic War Part I

_ "Monsters! Get ready!" then roared Mr. Lordi to his allies as he returned with Emily to the circle of ancient megaliths.

At the entrance of the house, Mathias and Hella also came out, having heard the call of the Monsterman, but also the loudy noises of the helicopters which had approached, hovering over the place and starting to do descend cables for abseiling. Mathias and Hella then looked at each other and ran to join the others.

All the monsters had taken their position, seeing then humans, about fifty, slid down towards the ground thanks to the cables and immediately coming to form a security perimeter. But what left the monsters puzzled was the fact that these men weren't threatening them with their guns, just giving each other orders and spreading out in several places all around the square.

These men had weapons and military equipment and behaved as such, but their outfits were all black, even their helmets, Kevlar vests, and gas masks they wore over their faces.

One of the groups, the last one getting off a helicopter, walked towards Mr. Lordi and his allies without any hesitation. Even though they wore the same outfits as the others, these five individuals stood out from the rest. Each was armed with a different weapon, and on each shoulder was a logo of a red wolf's head. They didn't look intimidated or surprised to see the monsters at all. On the contrary, it is as if they expected to find them here.

Mr. Lordi, Emily, Hella and Mathias decided to come forward to talk to them, but the monsterman motioned for the others to be on their guard, just in case.

_"Who are you?" Mr. Lordi asked, speaking first, suspiciously.

The man with the WCX assault rifle, who was surely the leader of the group, stepped forward, removing his mask and helmet to reveal himself. He was in his forties, a tough face, short dark brown hair, firm brown eyes, and a thin beard on his chin.

_ "My name is Ian Redfield ..." he said in his hardened voice, but without showing hostility. "Leader of the Red Wolves squad, and member of the S.R.D.O. Here are the other squad members: Omega, Gamma and Sigma."

The one on the far left, Omega, was the tallest and toughest of them all, the one with heavy weapons, like a machine gun or rocket launcher behind his back. Gamma, shorter and thinner, armed with two submachine pistols, appeared to be the technician of the group judging by the high-tech glasses on his helmet and the thing on his belt that looked like a datapad. Sigma was armed with a sniper rifle and scopes on her helmet, and was the only female in the squad.

_ "The S.R.D.O? What is it?" Emily asked, raising an eyebrow.

_ "I am not allowed to say more." Redfield replied bluntly. "But if that is any reassurance to you, know that we know who you are, what you have already done for this world, and that we are not here as enemies, but as allies."

_ "Ah yes? And how can we trust you on this point?" Mathias in turn asked suspiciously.

_ "Listen, if we wanted to capture or kill you, it would already be done. The SRDO has great resources but collaborates outside the jurisdictions of armies and world governments. Our goal is the same as yours: to protect this world against threats of unknown origin. We can continue debating trust for hours on end if you like, but I doubt we have time for that."

Ian Redfield spoke without holding back, saying what he had to say. And he was right on one point: time was running out and in the face of a threat of such magnitude, all help, even the most awaited, had to be taken. Despite his mistrust, Mr. Lordi agreed to trust them and the tension eased a bit.

_ "Agent Redfield. We have found a way to destroy the threat directly at the source, but for that we will have to hold this place at all costs and resist whatever the enemy can send us, because it is certain, they'll want to stop us."