Metal Poison: Restless Absolution

Chapter 6

Meanwhile...

[Saunters stood in a room filled with five other men. They were all cybernetically enhanced, but not to the extent of a Blazer. He paced back and forth before addressing the crew.]

Saunters: You were all once the most elite soldiers this nation had to offer, known as the Metal Sabers. But, as I'm sure you're well aware, you were replaced by that wretched Blazer program. Well, lads, I have some good news. That program is now kaput and you're getting an assignment to hunt down the last one for committing treason against Vandeton.

[He lowered his hands down to the table. He slid a photo of Scorpion towards the crew. On a projected display behind him, it showed video footage of Scorpion tearing through the Blazer Headquarters Facility.]

Saunters: We have vague global positional tracking on the target, but he's quite cunning and extremely dangerous. He destroyed one of my battalions, collapsed the entire Blazer headquarters facility, and killed your previous commanding officer, General Pracht, all in one night.

[The Commander looked towards a projected display on the wall and changed the slide. A single red dot was present on the map within the territory of Vandeton. He stared at it and pondered.]

Saunters: I would send my bots after him, but not only is he on another level, they'll have difficulty navigating in small squads through the other territories, which, from what I understand, is where he will be heading towards.

[Turning back, he grinned.]

Saunters: Thankfully, you have no such weakness. Should he leave our borders, this automatically becomes a covert operation. We can't risk making any more enemies or prodding the ones we've already made, especially after our losses. Are we clear?

[The squad stood at attention and saluted.]

Metal Sabers: Yes Sir!

[Saunters saluted back and dismissed them.]

Saunters: Let's make Pracht proud, boys.

[In file, they all departed to prepare for deployment.]

Presently...

[I opened my eyes. To my surprise, I wasn't buried under several feet of snow. My last memory was of collapsing as I ran towards Blazer Alpha, but I found myself standing guard. Perhaps this was an added benefit of the infusion, to keep me safe when I'm not around to control my body. Benefit may be a stretch, as it wouldn't have been a problem in the first place without it. I wasn't too far from Blazer Alpha at this point, perhaps an hour or two longer by foot. As I travelled, I happened upon where I once originally crashed in the woods when I was shot down from my drone. My impact zone was completely obscured by the new snow that had blown in from the winds, but the scattered trees and branches were unmistakable. Likewise, I could feel some metal parts, buried in the snow from the squad that attacked us. The memory of Cryo's inspiring grace while he fought played through my head. Unfortunately, Cryo's ice road was also covered in about two feet of snow at this point, still, it was easier to walk through than having to wade through waist-deep terrain.]

??: //01010011 01100101 01100001 01110010 01100011 01101000 00100000 01110111 01101000 01100101 01110010 01100101 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01110011 01110101 01101110 00100000 01100100 01101111 01100101 01110011 01101110 00100111 01110100 00100000 01110011 01101000 01101001 01101110 01100101 00101110//

[Another one of those binary messages. I forgot to ask Cryo about that when I was in the World of Wonder. It was probably for a good reason, but I wish this body had an internet connection. Perhaps I could find a working computer at Blazar Alpha, provided the emergency generators hadn't run out at this point.]