Born of Ice

Chapter One

   Here he sat in a dingy hotel room, reading through the case Intel that he had been given. He also had to read through the manuals for the new equipment that he had been given for the mission. Who came up with this thing anyway? It had to have cost a small fortune just to design a suit this technologically advanced let alone 2 of them. He had to sign a waiver that if it malfunctioned while he was in the field, his family could not sue for his death. He rubbed his fingers against his temple in frustration as he attempted to understand the instructions. He was centuries old with several educations worth of knowledge but nothing came close to this scientific garbled mess they called a manual. What happened to plain English?
   He understood enough, he supposed, to operate it without getting himself killed. The seemingly useful feature was the camouflage ability in the suit that would allow him to sneak behind the enemy lines to find this Tisha Rivers girl. The suit was rather snug fitting against his skin almost as if it were another layer of skin, forming to each muscle. He tossed some loose fitting tear away clothing on top of the suit before strapping various knives on underneath. He stuffed a few clips into a pocket on the suit, strapping the gun in between his shoulder blades. Where in the actual fuck was he suppose to keep the second suit they made? It was suppose to be for her when he found her but with him going in light, he had no place to put it. He peered at it thoughtfully as he decided on what to do with it. He folded the suit in half, rolling it up as compact as he could get it. The resulting roll was tied up with breakaway string before he sat back to peer at it. He could make it work he supposed if he tied it to his waist under his loose clothing. He adjusted it a few times until it felt right and held. The sun was beginning to set, marking his time to get a move on. The hotel was a short distance from the building that they suspected held Tisha, allowing him to observe their security patterns for himself. The night guards preferred to stay indoors only walking the perimeter every few hours. That was his best bet on getting into the building. He had already hijacked a key card for the door so he could get in without setting any alarms off. He made his way towards the building with his hands in his pockets, a false relaxed pose so he would go unobserved. He had put colored contacts in to hide his naturally intense blue eyes that would have garnered more attention than he wanted. He made a point to stop here and there, looking into shop windows at what they provided before moving onwards to his goal. Pedestrians walked past him on the sidewalk as he continued his leisurely walk. He slid into the shadows as he approached the building, tearing away the loose clothing and depositing them into a black cloth bag and sticking it into a hollow tree for later extraction. He hit a button on the arm of the suit, praying it worked as he made his way towards the door as guards changed shifts and generally bull shitting each other. He swiped the key card, slipping into the building holding the door until it softly clicked closed.
   He peered around in the dim lights of the hallway, getting his bearings compared to the intel they had received. There was one room on this level and 2 more rooms several levels above that he would have to search, preferably without being detected. He made his way down the hallway towards the first room, knowing there was no way they would be stupid enough to keep her this close to an exit. He made a few turns as he went towards the room, running scenarios in his head as to how he would get her out and to the safe house without being detected. As he made his way to the door, he heard muffled noises from within the room. Could they have actually been that stupid? He slowly cracked the door open to a dark room. His eyes adjusted, noting that there was a lone figure sitting in a chair that was scraping across the floor. He flicked on a light to see that it was not Tisha tied to the chair. The man looked worse for ware, still attempting to get away from his captures. A moral dilemma for sure as if he let this man go the alarms would surely sound but if he didn't the man would surely perish here in this dark room. He approached the man slowly, with hands out in front of him with his flash light pointed to the floor. The man watched him approach with his one good eye.
"My name is Eric and I'm special forces. I'm here to find someone, a girl, have you seen her?"
    The man nodded his head slowly at his question. He slowly reached over and pulled the tape from the man's mouth, asking him if he knew where she was being held. The man's voice came out as a hoarse whisper as he answered. Tisha was being held in the first room a few stories up. He pulled out a knife causing the man to panic. He calmed the man down and cut the ropes holding him to his chair. He put his finger to his lips, effectively calming the man down.
"I am going to show you how to get out of here. If you get caught, I was never here and you found a way to get out on your own. I have to get her out so if you can get out without setting the alarms off that would be lovely. Do you understand?"
   He nodded his head vigorously as he followed behind back down towards where he entered the building. He gestured to the door with his fingers going once again to his lips as the man stumbled his way out the door. He sighed as he made his way up to the floor he needed. He followed the hallway down, only making it part way before he heard screaming and swearing. He ducked into a doorway as the door he needed opened up and a guard stepped out with a smirk followed by another guard with a deep scowl on his face.
"Rauel you will get us in trouble if you continue to torture her like this. This isn't our job, we are just to keep them from escaping."
"Relax they won't believe her anyway. Soon it will not matter as they feel she is useless. She refuses to talk so they will be terminating her the day after tomorrow. Let's go we have to finish our rounds anyway."
    He watched silently as they walked right on by him without a second glance. He waited for the sound of the stairwell door before leaving the doorway to head towards the door. He cracked open the door to see that they had left the light on in the room giving him a ghastly view of Tisha. Her clothes were torn and ragged with blood stains. Her head was down with her breathing coming in short bursts. He approached cautiously, pulling the suit from his waist with a knife. Her head snapped up, eyeing him with a look only a predator could give.
"Tisha Rivers I am Eric Cross special forces. I was sent to get you out of here but I can't do that if you are going to act on whatever plan you have playing through your head. I'm going to cut you loose and turn around so you can put this suit on. It is a prototype suit with camouflage to help us get out of here. We don't have much time I let someone else escape and I am sure they will be noticing soon. Do you understand?"
   She kept her eyes on him as he approached the rest of the way over. He cut her bonds, handing her the suit and knife before taking a few steps back, turning so his back was to her. He heard her shuffling behind him, knowing full well he was going to end up with a blade to his back. It wasn't long after he had the thought before he felt the tip of the blade against his exposed neck. He let out a sigh as he braced himself to disarm her.
"Lets get one thing straight Mr. Cross. I am your equal. I may have been caught by these bastards but I am an elite. I should be allowed that courtesy, don't you think?"
"I was sent to extract you from enemy lines not give you a say in how I do it. I work alone so if you plan on using that blade against me I highly suggest you do so before they set the alarms off."
"This isn't over yet. Once we get out of here we will be coming back to this now lets get out of here. One more minute in here is to much for me."
   He felt her withdraw the blade from his skin before he turned to regard her. The suit formed to her skin, showing every curve of her body. She took a step before almost dropping to the floor. He grunted as he reached out, hauling her up into his arms as he turned back towards the door. He grumbled to himself as he made his way back towards the stairs he had taken to get up here, muttering about her wanting to be an equal when she couldn't even stand up. He was sure that she would be an equal when she was back to full strength, however this was not the time to discuss it with guards all over the building, no doubt about to find the room missing one of their captives. He ran down the stairs as fast as he could without jarring the woman he held onto. Before exiting the stairwell he peered down at her face, her eyes closed most likely due to passing out. His body reacted on it's own accord, causing him to startle. This was certainly no time for it to decide that its passions were not long dead as he had thought. He clamped down on those feelings, eyeing outside the door, looking for any signs of guards walking the hallways. He made a break for the exit right before the alarms started to sound off. He burst through the door refusing to slow down. He scooped his bag out of the hollow tree before charging down towards the hidden vehicle he had stashed a few days prior. He dumped her unconscious form into the back seat, slapping on seatbelts to hold her in place. Jumping in, he started the car and punching the gas as dirt and rock sprayed behind the vehicle. He rocketed into traffic heading towards the safe house. He growled at himself knowing full well he would be getting an earful from the woman in the back seat while he tried to find a way to escape. Stubborn the file had said, he just didn't know how bad yet.