Chapter 37: Rescue Operation
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Author: Arya
Lucifer, James and Diane were moving rapidly towards the city.
“Alright everyone. The city is surrounded by large walls, with guards patrolling. Because of the sudden intrusion there will be more guards, so we won’t be able to enter the city. The only option we have left is to find another opening to enter.” Lucifer conveyed his thoughts to the team.
Everyone including Lucifer was unaware of the structure and design of the city. They could only hope to find an alternative. They were all lightly equipped with hybrid assault rifles and cold weapons for offense and their standard light armor for defense.
Moving towards the city entrance, they stopped at a certain distance. They could see the guards patrolling on the walls and the city gates tightly shut.
The cities were built with the aim of interdependence. There was rarely any opening left which could be exploited.
Helpness was visible on everyone’s face as they thought of methods to infiltrate.
Diane who was deep in thought, soon noticed something abnormal.
“Lucifer, according to the detector’s location, Sophie seems to be located in an underground location, right?” She questioned.
“Yes” Lucifer replied.
“Since the city is under the jurisdiction of the pre-apocalyptic United Federation. I can guess that the old fossils must be the real mastermind behind the city’s construction and planning. If I am guessing right then the old fossils must definitely have hidden a secret route for escape, only known to them. It isn’t hard to think that there must be an underground tunnel of some sort that would lead directly to the outside from the center of the city. It must be located in a safe location someplace at least far enough from the city.”
Diane’s words encouraged the group and ignited their morale.
“Hmm, that might be true. According to convention the escape route must lead to a safe house with ample supplies. Let us move closer towards the location of Sophie by circumventing the city. Probably we might find something as we move on. I will keep a lookout for any source of abnormal energy fluctuation on the way.” Lucifer said.
The group soon started moving again. The city was constructed beside a mountain. The mountain protected the back of the city from any attack. The beasts inside the mountain had already been cleared by the Holy Church, thus making it a safe place. The center of the city or the inner district was located close to the mountain side. As they moved further and further it took them almost an hour to reach the location close to Sophie.
“This is the location. It is as close as we can get.” Lucifer replied.
“Let us check the surrounding area for any abnormal energy fluctuation, just in case.” James replied as he surveyed the terrain for any danger.
Lucifer nodded and took out a small scanning drone used for the surveillance purpose. He controlled the drone to move around a certain radius looking for any peculiarities.
Diane was also closely watching the small shared screen on her wrist pad. Soon she found something interesting as she pointed at a certain location.
“There, the spot behind that slope. Something seems to be popping out.” She mentioned.
Lucifer piloted the small drone to move closer towards the location. There was nothing but a small patch of wild bushes swaying there.
“There is nothing over there.” Lucifer informed.
“But it is weird, the slope there prevents the wind from affecting the greens. How come there seems to be swaying bushes there?” James replied. Being a trained and experienced mercenary he was well aware of certain traits and phenomena out in the wild.
“Let us check that location.” Lucifer said.
The team moved towards the location and reached the bushes.
“There seems to be some kind of outlet in the ground. The air flow seems to be emanating from below.” Diane mentioned as she checked the surroundings.
“Uncle James, your earth elemental power might help us.” Lucifer mentioned.
James moved forward and controlled his power to connect to the surrounding earth. He focused deeply for at least 10 minutes, more and more elemental energy was being gathered around him.
-HAA-
James shouted and the elemental energy turned into a huge storm which moved towards the earth around the bushes. James, as if moving a huge boulder pressed his arms outwards and very soon, a huge amount of earth from the bushes was moved aside by sheer elemental force. The situation below was soon revealed.
There was a metallic construct with an opening below the ground. The air flow was being directed from the opening.
“It seems your estimation was correct.” Lucifer praised James.
James had just used tremendous energy and was exhausted.
“Let us get ourselves at our peak condition, this might be the entrance that we were hoping for.” Lucifer spoke.
After sufficient rest the team moved.
James took out his battle knife and used it to tear a crack in the metallic structure.
The team boarded the tunnel through the metallic tunnel.
Inside the tunnel was all dark, Lucifer activated his scanner to look for a terminal. It was understood that such huge bases and organization’s had great security systems in place to monitor key locations. So the first target was to camouflage themselves from the system.
Lucifer soon found a box hidden in the ground below which contained a set of tubes and wires going to and fro. He quickly traced the wires to an open port used in case of manual override. As the brain of the team he was well versed with cyber tactics. He quickly gained access to the system and inserted a loop of pre-recorded video for camouflage.
“Alright, this should buy us enough time. Let’s move further.” Lucifer informed.
The team moved further and further in the tunnel as it went downwards and soon reached an inconspicuous hall. There were three military Humvee equipped with weapons along with two Stryker IAV. There were also several crates of ammunition and weapons stored aside.
“Sweet, we hit a jackpot. I will be waiting for you guys here. See that Stryker equipped with Anti-air cannons, that is our ride back. Take the weapons you need and connect with me on the voice com. I will try to gain access to the mainframe and guide you guys.” Lucifer informed the team members.
Everyone agreed as Lucifer was never good in combat. It would be better with him guiding and gaining additional information.
“Alright.” James and Diane moved towards the weapons crate. They carried with them nothing but grenades and explosives.
“Lucifer to team…. Can you hear my voice?” Lucifer’s voice was heard in the ear-cords.
“Loud and clear.” Replied James.
Lucifer soon started his work. Using his skills he was trying to breach the system and gain mainframe access. Allowing him to steal and control the data.
As he was doing his deed, the rest of the team moved further. Soon they encountered a sealed door.
“Lucifer, do something about it.” James spoke.
“Just a minute, I am about to gain secondary level access which will permit me to access certain levels and grant authority. I will be transferring the authority to you. It should be easy to gain access to the level. I have downloaded the structure of the base and its essential positions from the server. I will be guiding you guys towards the source.” Lucifer responded.
Soon the transfer of authority was done and James along with Diane moved further inside the base. The inside of the base was full of white lights, creating a holy atmosphere. Since this was the start of the tunnel, there were no security personnel in the area.
Lucifer’s instructions soon started coming in.
“Keep moving forward, there should be another door just ahead.”
“Good, now wait for a minute. The patrolling team would just pass by you in a minute.”
After a minute the door opened and James and Diane moved ahead.
“Right now, take a right and move towards the second room. The room contains some uniforms and other gear. Use it to blend and try not to show your face that much.”
The team followed Lucifer’s instructions, blended in the base and moved forward towards the prison. They encountered troops but no one doubted them as most of them were confident of the ability and also due to the status which was displayed by the badge on their chest.
“Behind the door is where Sophie is being kept. I have disabled the security system, she is currently not awake and also I won’t be able to maintain the state for a much longer time. You must hurry up.” Lucifer commanded.
James and Diane moved inside the prison and soon found Sophie lying on the bed asleep. Her condition was not worse. She just seemed asleep. Diane moved towards her and unbuckled her cuffs and carried her on her shoulders.
“Let’s move.” James spoke.
“Alright, I am waiting for you guys to move to my location. There seems to be no problem. It seems the captain and the others were able to successfully create a diversion. Now would be the best time to move.” Lucifer spoke through the channel.
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