In the Zone (A-027)

A-027-1 [06/03/2022] "Calm Before the Storm"
I locked a fresh particle magazine into my revolver and looked down the sights one more time. Everything had to be perfectly tuned and ready for this expedition. Geo was particularly quiet today. Almost everyone was out with their families and friends for the Winter Solstice festivities, leaving us with a skeleton crew. I holstered the revolver and grabbed my equipment duffel. I exited my lab and locked it up for the time being, there was no telling how long they'd have me working in The Zone. I walked to the aerodock and met with Specter, as well as about three fireteam members and two more scientists. All of them, except for Specter, were wearing the standard hazard gear for A-027 operations. The doc said we specifically were safe from any contaminants, consdering our biologies were already anomalous in nature. Wasn't sure how much of that logic I believed.

"Glad to see you're all ready. Shall we go ahead and embark?" I said. I didn't bother waiting for a response either, hopping right into the MORPHO before them. They all followed suit, with Specter being the last to embark. We all sat down and strapped in, the scientists were fiddling with their devices, and the fireteam members were just trying to keep themselves occupied until we got there. The AV took off, and Specter started staring straight at me, not blinking for a single minute. For a moment I felt a cold wave of air rush right down my spine, and Specter finally started talking... in my mind.

"You're going to smuggle something out of there on the way back, aren't you?"

I was startled, slightly. "Piss off, if you want something just go ahead and tell me. And what did I tell you about this creepy shit?"

Specter leaned in closer, producing a small photo from his pocket. It appeared to be a remote drone's picture of a perfectly preserved loaf of bread on a blanket of snow. He handed it to me, and I took it. Luckily the scientists and gunners weren't paying any attention. I flipped the photo over and saw approximated coordinates written in pen, as well as: "T's Request: 'The Zone's Neverending Loaf.'" I looked back at Specter.

"This better be a joke."

He shrugged, "It's your call."

I didn't have a second to respond when I felt turbulence hit the AV, rocking around and startling half the team. The pilot flicked a few dials in the cockpit and said, "Entering drop zone, Storm's in full swing. Get ready to disembark." Everyone readied their equipment, sealed their helmets, and promptly unfastened their harnesses. I was the first to disembark with the fireteam following close behind, then the scientists, and finally Specter landing in a cloud of ghostly mist. My headset crackled to life as the pilot spoke in my ear. "Heading to nearest FOB, will arrive back for extraction at 19:00." I responded to him with an affirmative as I looked up at the purple glow from the sky. A giant magenta cloud swirled above us, with lightning striking the ground every few minutes. We were in the eye of the storm...

And we had to go deeper.

A-027-2 [06/03/2022] "Seven Hours"
We were about 45 meters in, trudging through the forests of The Zone with the storm raging on overhead. The giant trees had an alien coloration to them, even though they still looked like pines. "These things are creepy," one of the researchers said. She was a junior researcher who just joined the Group after working a year in the public sector. The other researcher, another junior who was personally recruited by Dr. Lambert, gave her a friendly nudge. "At least we're not in the rain, it's almost like these trees repel it! I've never seen anything like it before." I looked up at the canopy formed by the oversized "pine trees" at that, seeing the rain simply bounce off the air around them. I took out my notepad and jotted down the gist, since we were eventually going to have to classify everything here once we can contain The Zone itself.

As soon as I was done writing, I felt a tapping on my back. I turned around and saw that it was one of the fireteam members. "I'm sorry if this is a weird question.. but uh. What's wrong with your face?" I was confused at first, but the leader of the team called out. "Hey rook! Stop pestering V, it's impolite to talk about someone's peculiarities like that." It took a second before I instantly realized what he was talking about. I waved off the leader before turning to the rookie, "Ease off the kid. You're new here, right?" He shook his head in an affirmative, his expression looking a bit embarrassed.

"Don't worry, it must be a bit hard adjusting to the things you're gonna be dealing with. It looks like a dark cloud it, right? It's part of my anomalous abilities, I can't really turn it off either." The rookie looked a bit surprised, it might've been his first mission ever. I knew that the Operations trainers wasn't really giving them any hands-on experience until deployment, even though Agua was rallying against that decision. I pat him on the shoulder, "You're gonna do great on this one, trust me."

After a few more hours, we finally made it to our first destination. It was a group of four buildings just 5km into The Zone including a warehouse, factory, tenements, and a small garage. "7 hours, we have three points of interest and 7 hours to investigate them" the fireteam leader said to me just as I tried to check my watch. "Sorry about the kid, it's his first time ever seeing a human with an anomaly." I chuckled and pulled out a drone from my duffel. "It's fine Cap. I didn't expect you of all people to take this mission Henry, you deserve a vacation more than the ones taking time off over at Geo."

"Spare the joke, I just do my job like everyone else," he said with a chuckle. I pointed at the garage, "Do you think we could get one of the vehicles in there up and running? We're gonna need to take a break either way, I think I saw the researchers considering popping their seals." Specter stifled a snicker, and Henry responded, "It's worth a shot, we'll be back before the extraction flight with time to spare." I pointed at the warehouse and told Specter to set up camp in there with the others while the rookie, Henry, and I were going to the garage to check for any serviceable vehicles. Everyone fell right into place as needed, and we set off to the dull gray building.

As the storm set in overhead, I knew that this was going to be a long seven hours.

A-027-3 [06/03/2022] "Relics of the Past"
We were right up on the garage. I could see a relatively intact four wheel drive sitting inside. "Door's locked, how do we proceed?" the rookie said after giving the door handle a few tries. "Allow me," I said, motioning for him to stand back. I got in front of the door and placed my hand on the handle. As I focused intently, I could feel the locking mechanisms decay rapidly as the force around me flowed over them. With a single click, the door came loose from the frame, swinging open with ease. I reveled in the rookie's surprised expression, and I gestured for them to follow me inside as I walked on in. My eyes had to adjust to the darkness for a few seconds, figures that the abandoned buildings wouldn't have power. At least four other totalled cars sat in the garage alongside the four wheel drive, and just a few motor parts strewn about. "There might be someone else in the Zone, I figured there'd be more parts around here if there wasn't looters." Henry agreed with my observation, and the rookie just remained silent as I got closer to the four wheel drive to examine it. I could identify that it was using one of the more popular HDF engines from the region. Further inspection showed that it had a few broken pieces, but it didn't look like anything I couldn't fix. "Cap, can you try to find an HDF pellet? This thing's gonna need one once it's back up and running." Henry nodded and walked off to one of the other vehicles, searching their HDF receptacles. "So, rook, you have a name?" I asked as I fed a piece of scrap metal through my utility gauntlet's fabricator. "Oh uh, my name.. my name's Luca," he said as fabricator printed the spare parts I needed.

"Well, it's good to be working with you Luca. I mostly go by my codename, but you can call me 'V' like Henry does." As a crack of thunder rang outside of the garage, Luca awkwardly looked down at his watch. "Nice to be working with you too, V." Within just a minute, I had all the broken components replaced. All the vehicle needed now was a fuel pellet. I was about to tell Luca to go get Henry, but we both heard a crash somewhere deeper inside the garage. I drew my revolver and sped off down the aisles of shelves. That's when I saw it, a hulking monstrosity nearly ready to maul Henry. I took aim and fired a slug right into the creature's back, causing it to turn its ire towards me. "Henry, Luca, run!" I shouted, "I'll hold it off!"

Henry quickly gathered himself, picking up a fuel pellet laying on the ground beside him and running to the four wheel drive with Luca. I focused all of the force surrounding me into my right arm, rushing forward and slamming my fist into the creature with all the muscle power I could muster. It recoiled for a moment, but not for long. It stared at me with bloodlust in its eyes... or whatever counted as eyes on that thing. I fired three more shots into it before I heard the revving of the jeep. I turned back and saw that they had gotten the thing working, and were waiting for me. While I had my head turned though, the creature had already gotten too close. It sent me flying across the garage with a single punch, breaking one of my arms on impact.

Even though I didn't land far from the jeep, it felt like an agonizing eternity dragging myself over to it. As soon as I was close enough to the jeep, Luca pulled me in while Henry launched a grenade at the thing. It let out a terrifying roar and recoiled as the explosive hit it, but it didn't seem to sustain much damage once the smoke cleared. As soon as he got me buckled in though, Luca stomped the gas pedal. As we peeled out of the garage, the creature seemed to consider chasing us, but as Henry loaded another grenade it changed its mind. "What the fuck is that thing?!" Luca shouted, keeping his eyes ahead of him as he drove towards the warehouse. "It's a fucking monster, that's what it is, keep driving," Henry responded.

''And now? Now we know that the Zone isn't getting contained without a fight.''

A-027-4 [06/03/2022] "The Never-Ending Loaf"
"A what?!" Lambert's protégé shouted, extremely distressed. "I knew I should've brought my damn pistol!" his counterpart said in response. The third fireteam member stood petrified, looking at Henry in disbelief. All Specter could do was watch as I slumped down against one of the containers they set up camp around. I looked down at my broken arm, painting it in the inky black. I felt each sinew regrow, and each bone reset itself all while A-007 was transmuting itself into whatever was needed or missing. Under normal circumstances, I'd be crying out in pain, but the adrenaline still hadn't worn off from the monster we saw. "S-Specter. Report to HQ, tell them we're gonna need an early evacuation. Best I think we can do is set up the device and get out while we can. Specter nodded, pulling an earpiece from his gauntlet and retreating to a corner of the makeshift camp. As the 007 faded from my arm, I got up and took a look at the device. "What is that thing supposed to do?" Luca chimed in, looking at it alongside me.

"It's supposed to keep this place from getting any bigger. It has a small crystal from the heart of the Zone that'll have a beam fired with it. With any luck, it'll confine the effects of the Zone to where it is now. It's only a temporary solution though.." Luca stared at the device a bit longer, specifically at the enclosure the crystal was held in. "Well when the time comes to contain this place for good, we'll be here then." I smiled at him, and Specter came right back. "We have an hour or two before the Morpho gets here. Should be enough for placing the device." After hauling the device to the back of the jeep, Henry was quick to point out that we didn't have enough space in the four wheel drive for all of us. "Then I guess Specter and I will go on foot. We should be fine with our abilities, but..."

I tossed Henry my revolver. "For you guys, don't break it." Henry cracked a grin at me. "See you guys there then." They sped out of the warehouse in the four wheel drive, riding off in the dark. "Cutting it close then, huh? Never one to disappoint a client," Specter telepathically quipped. I playfully punched him on the shoulder, setting my navigator to the coordinates on the photo. "Watch over them, I should be able to get this done quick." Specter sighed, shifting into a ghostly mist before dissipating into the woods. Now came for the hard part, I put my hand on the ground and let the 007 trail its way to the coordinates, before immersing myself in it completely. I felt as if I was falling forward at breakneck speed, and once I got to where I wanted to go, I was flung upwards from the 007 puddle. I fell straight on my ass as the rain pelted me. My gauntlet's detector was going crazy, and right before me sat the loaf... A perfectly pristine loaf of whole-wheat bread. It looked as if it was just taken from the oven, but the drone photo was from months ago. I slipped on a pair of black gloves and fished a trusty CompactiCube from my bag. I crouched down and lifted the loaf, clicking open the cube and letting it take hold of the loaf. After a brief flash of light and some steam, all that remained was the cube with the loaf quantum-compacted inside it. I tucked it in my bag and got ready to use 007 again...

Now, it's time to end this mission.

A-027-5 [06/03/2022] "The Hunter"
There were screams and gunfire once I came upon the site. I emerged from the puddle of 007, and I could see the others holed up in an office fighting off the thing from earlier. Specter was going head to head with it, blocking slashes of the creature's claws with his sword and slicing at the creature when he could. As it managed to land a small cut on Specter's cheek, I knew I couldn't just sit there and watch. I dashed towards the fight while the creature had it's back turned towards me, jumping up and putting as much force as I could into punching the thing with my 007-armored fist. Specter could sense me approaching before I jumped, side-stepping and slashing the creature's knee just as my fist connected with its head. The hulking monstrosity went to the dirt, even if momentarily. "Glad you could finally join us," Specter telepathically said, but I didn't have a chance to respond to him. I could only pant and regain my breath as the monster struggled to get back up.

"Get back!" Henry shouted, causing me to jump back towards the others while Specter faded into mist. A concussion grenade sailed through the air and blew the monster back into the woods. I looked back at Henry in awe, seeing him load a frag grenade into the launcher. "Get up on that radio mast, we can handle that thing down here!" he shouted, pointing towards the device. I made a run for the defensive position they had set up, with Luca, the other fireteam member, and the scientists all aiming past me at the monster. Specter rematerialized at the back of the jeep, tossing me the device as I ran past. I caught it by the strap, slinging it over my shoulder and jumping up onto the radio mast's ladder. It was a long way up, and I could hear the others fighting off the beast in the distance. That climb was possibly the most exhausting activity I've had in months, but I couldn't stop as I reached the top. I lifted myself onto the platform at the top of the mast, pulling the device from over my shoulder and affixing it to the ancient communications equipment with my welding pen. After plugging it into the mast's system and setting up the power supply, I turned the device on. In a blast of energy, a beam shot from the device into the storm raging above. Right before my eyes, the storm started to shrink and concentrate. I could feel the anomalous field getting stronger and stronger around me. It's job was done.

Time felt like it stopped up on the radio mast... I stared right into the lens of one of the recon drones, realizing that they've been watching us the entire time. As the creature roared alongside a crack of lightning, I turned back towards the fight. With a single leap, I soared through the air. I coated myself in 007, armoring my entire body against what was about to happen. I kept gaining speed as my density increased and the ground grew ever closer, with my sights set right on that horrid creature. It happened lightning fast... "Get them to the jeep, now!" I mentally shouted to Specter, smashing right into the monster at terminal velocity. I could hear its bones crunch under me, and the ground gave way to a crater beneath us. As the jeep drove by with the fireteam and researchers packed onto it, Specter materialized in the back and grabbed me by the collar. "No men left behind!" Henry shouted, keeping his eyes on the ground ahead of him. Even with 007's protection, I felt that the fall did just as much damage to me as it did the monster. Every part of my body ached, and I could barely remember the drive to the extraction point.

Luca and Specter helped me get into the AV, and the pilot remarked that the Zone seemed to just shrink. I felt relieved that our plan worked, but I still felt unease plaguing my mind. I felt a pat on my back, and saw Henry looking at me. "You did good kid," he said, as the AV took off. He handed me my revolver, and we all buckled up. The ride back to Geo was a long one.

Post Operation Summary
Extraction flight picked up all deployed operatives. Three fireteam members, two researchers, and two Roundtable Council members. Recon drones confirmed operational status of the "Zone Attunement Device" (ZAD) and the halting of A-027's growth was confirmed following extraction flight's arrival at Geo-7. Unknown hostile entity was confirmed by both operative debriefings and recon footage. Further action will be decided upon following the end of the Solstice festival.

Major injuries confirmed on Operative Void, minor injuries confirmed on Specter and fireteam members. Secondary research data was collated and forwarded to The Archive for processing. Mission successful.