Chapter 10 - Battle for the Airport
Fulcon
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It was at that moment that the door to the airport pushed open. The Chill was absent, but it took a moment to collect myself and not point my gun and shoot. It was Airport Security, soldiers marching in single file through the doors. Among them was Officer Brown, hefting my crystal.
"Hey, Cloud Guard," Officer Brown said, holding it up. "Can we stow this somewhere you can find it later? I got duties to get squared away."
I walked forward. "Is there a storage room?"
Also bursting through the doors was Devon and her camera man. "Cloud Guard! Can we get a comment on what it is you've asked Officer Brown to hold?"
...oh, the press drawing a bead on my loot-goblin tendencies is really bad. "It's an alien crystal and I found it at the heart of their factory. I'm convinced I can use it to undo the storm the factory made outside."
"What kind of facilities do you have that will allow you to study xenotechnology?" Devon asked before shoving that stupid microphone in my face as Officer Brown passed me the crystal and went off to join his squad.
An AI, advanced scanners and the best scientific skills you've ever seen. "No further comment, Ms. Smith."
I flew up the staircase, over airport security's heads. If I remember right, those necessary but obnoxious lines of scanners should be up this way, which includes the staff entrances.
Cloaking, I flew through the hall, I came to the auditorium with those necessary but obnoxious lines of scanners. And wouldn't you know it, there were aliens here. Four of them. Thumbing the hammer wasn't as fast as fanning it, but I was able to take them out before airport security reached the auditorium.
Where's the staff entrance? There!
Diving down, I holstered my pistol and opened the door with my free hand. Decloaking, I came to the same hallways I had found myself in when I first arrived at Sky Peak. This time, I took a little bit of time to explore and found a maintenance closet.
The closet was large, like a room unto itself, with shelves, multiple buckets on wheels, mops and other cleaning tools on racks. It even took a slight turn to the right and brought me to more shelves. At my feet was a box with a single spray bottle of cleaning solution. Perfect.
The crystal fit inside the box perfectly, and there was a roll of packing tape on one of the shelves which I used to seal the box shut. A black marker sourced from the same place let me draw an X on one of the sides. Then, I stuffed it in a corner with other boxes stacked on top of it, the X facing the wall to avoid attracting attention from the staff.
Okay, it's safe now.
Game, I hate that you made that quest. I really, really hate that you made that a quest. Makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up when something secret like this becomes a quest.
Whatever, put it aside for now. We've got an airport to secure.
I left the maintenance closet and, after making sure no one was around to see, closed the door behind me. Re-cloaking, I flew over to the door that led back to the scanners, and opened it as softly and quietly as I could.
Sneak Check Success: 100/70.
The door could've been very loud if I wasn't smart enough turn the door handle super slowly to prevent the clicks from being audible and then turn it back manually to, again, prevent the clicks from being audible. I closed the door by turning the handle, pulling the nub inside the door to prevent it from snapping back into place as I closed the door.
Good thing I did, too, because Airport security was in the room, but they weren't looking at me. Trailing behind them was Devon and her camera man, where she was speaking to the camera and the angle of the camera was facing away from the door. Didn't need anyone to know where I had just set down my prize. At the moment of my triumph, I heard laser fire directly to my right. Past the scanners in the next room, a firefight was obviously taking place.
I flew over there, down the hall and to the right, where I saw airport security taking cover at each end of the entrance. Scarlet laser bolts where filling the entrance itself as the aliens were laying down suppressive fire.
Sticking close to the ceiling and waiting for the Chill to subside, I flew through the entrance, finding myself in the baggage claim. The aliens had taken shelter in the automatic transit system. The cars weren't moving for some reason, so the aliens were shooting at us from the cover of the car. Oh, and to make matters worse? They had hostages.
From my vantage point, I could see an overweight black woman, an old, frail white man and a Latina in the car, tied up and gagged with tape over their mouths. Not sure why they haven't tried to negotiate yet, but if this firefight kept up, we wouldn't be able to save them at all.
I de-cloaked before shooting this time to more easily aim with visible sights. Two head-shots at the aliens I could see was all it took to bring the firefight to a close.
...which was odd. Where were the rest of them?
Probably somewhere else in the baggage claim area? I mean, the place was huge, stretching out from one side to the other.
I dove down to the transit car and immediately, the Chill made itself known, hanging in the air like a snow frozen in time. Inside the car were seats built into the walls, leaving only a gap for the entrances on both sides. There were eight hostages, each tied up and thrown to the floor, gagged and tied up. The Chill had filled the car.
Something was very wrong.
The danger was omnipresent and I couldn't get a read on where it was. A bomb, maybe?
Immediately behind me, airport security arrived with their rifles, boots stepping in the puddles that were fallen invaders.
"Good shooting," Officer Brown beamed, patting me on the jetpack. "Man, Sky Peak's hit the jackpot with you, hasn't it?"
"Officer," I started, stopping myself from calling him Brown because as far as he knows, we haven't met yet. "Something's wrong. We need to get off the car."
"You got it," Pedro, their commanding officer said to me. "You heard him boys! Get these people off the car and on their way to safety! Move it!"
Some airport security stationed themselves outside of the car, standing guard. I could see Ms. Smith doing some more commentary on the battle for the airport. It was like that shark from before was back, swimming through the air and looking for something to consume.
Was it coming from the hostages?
I looked them over. All of them seemed perfectly normal, some older people, some younger people. The sexy Latina they had tied up would've been arousing if not for the fact that this was non-consensual and she had been in serious danger until we got here.
It couldn't be coming from the hostages, that's insane. They looked scared, relieved at security's presence, everything looked fine.
Then, the car doors shut and the transit started moving.
...oh crap.
Immediately, the ropes surrounding the hostages disappeared, and the Latina I had been trying not to admire punched the officer, who had been working to untie her, in the throat.
He was knocked on his back, legs kicking as he grasped at his throat with his hands. The car descended into chaos as the hostages turned out to be aliens who shape-shifted to lure us into a trap.
I deployed my laser. I said, I deployed my laser! Why won't it deploy?
With a frustrated growl, I holstered my blaster and actually deployed my laser, hitting the guy with a telekinetic field which reopened his throat, and then the Loh radiation fixed him up. Another guy had his arm snapped in half and I had to dodge around a grappling alien and officer to zap him and fix him up.
There was no way I would be able to use my blaster here. The car was too cramped and it would be way too easy to hit a friendly. But unfortunately, my maxed out melee skills were completely useless here because these things shrug off physical trauma like a fish shrugs off a squirt gun.
Well, almost useless. One of the aliens had lifted a security officer up, looking like he was about to rip his arm off, but a well placed kick to the stomach caused its body to deform and forced it to drop him.
Fists were flying all around and I had to alternate between running interference by disrupting the aliens amoebic bodies when it looked like they were gaining the upper hand and dodging around the melee to get a good angle on injured officers so I didn't accidentally zap an alien.
Airport security, however, was much more useful. Their gauntlets cracked with electricity with every swing and unlike my decidedly normal melee attacks, caused the aliens to cry out with distorted pain on every impact.
An officer's knee was kicked out. My telekinetic beam was able to throw the alien in question off of him, but slamming it into the wall did as little as I expected. A second later, the knee was straightened out and fixed up; you would never have known something was wrong.
As suddenly as it began, the final alien took an electrically charged fist to the head and splattered all over the floor and my boots.
I still felt the chill in the air, but it was significantly less present now.
"Great, these things are shapeshifters," Pedro said, taking his helmet off and wiping his brow, then replacing his helmet. "How long you think they've been infiltrating Earth?"
"I don't know, years maybe," Malcolm said. "Any ideas on where they came from?"
They were all looking at me. "I'm as much in the dark as anyone. What I do know is that we can win."
The Chill ramped up in intensity again, and I could see the transit car approaching an exit. "Take cover!"
I cloaked as security scrambled.
Sneak Check Success: 100/85.
When the car stopped and opened up, we came face to face with an alien firing line. From that firing line came a demand. "Step out of the car with your hands up and surrender. You will not be harmed."
A cursory examination revealed that the rest of the aliens were here, all with their weapons pointed directly at us. About thirty or so? Too many to take out before they could deal damage to me and while I could heal myself, fixing my armor was going to be an issue and time was of the essence.
"Fail to comply, and we'll detonate the bomb we've stowed on your transit car," the Alien continued, a sharp spike in cold confirming that they were telling the truth. "You have to the count of ten."
"They aren't lying," I whispered to them.
"One."
Malcolm hissed under his breath. "Damn."
"Two."
"Do what they say," Pedro said. "We'll trust Cloud Guard. Don't let us down, eh?"
"Three. Four."
"I got you," I assured them, the weight of the situation starting to pull down on my shoulders like a pack full of rocks.
"Five."
Pedro cleared his throat and stood up. "Okay! We're coming out!"
One by one, with their hands over their heads, each security officer walked out of the transit car. Behind them, I followed until I was out of the car, and then I walked off to the right. The group was shepherded off by a large armed escort and I followed, noting that about twelve of the aliens stayed behind to guard this part of the airport.
We went through a staff entrance, it being propped open by a door stop. After a few moments, we arrived at one of those meeting rooms with a large glass window. Very typical. On the inside, though? Not typical. There were these pods with people in them, like red sacs with black veins while the people themselves floated inside, their eyes closed like they were living a bad dream.
I recognized the people, actually! They were the disguises the aliens wore back in the transit car. Including the Latina, whose presence made me uncomfortable. Interesting, they need to capture people to take on their guises.
...which means I'm going to have to act soon.
Remaining outside the office, I watched as the alien commanded Pedro to stand in the empty, open sac.
There were six aliens in that office, two standing guard outside and four behind me watching the hallway intersection. Can I fire off twelve shots before they could fire on the hostages? We're about to find out.
I drew my pistol and fanned the hammer.
The six in the office went down in less than a second, then the two standing guard at the entrance. The chill warned me that I was about to get shot in the back, and I whirled to avoid their return fire, shooting four shots and only missing the one who dove behind cover instead of trying to hit a transparent target.
I leaped forward, staying in the air like a hovercraft as I crested the wall, taking another shot at the one who hid and then two more at the ones at the end of the hallway. Opposite them were four four more and I could see the ones left behind to guard the terminal outside were rushing for us.
Well, if they were going to bunch themselves up like that, I wasn't going to waste their kindness and generosity.
Shoot, shoot, shoot!
The four went down quickly, one of the shots pulling double duty and piercing two of them through. Turning on my thrusters, I rocketed out of the door and pulled sharply up, going too fast for them to follow and start shooting.
Some started taking cover behind pillars and railings, but I just circled around. I fired down on them like a storm of bullets, the red muzzle flare of my pistol being the only thing that would give me away. But by the time I needed to duck beneath a single, accurate shot, the aliens were down.
I landed and surveyed the battlefield. None of them were playing dead, and scorch marks from my attacks blackened the surfaces behind them. Took a deep breath, and turned to go find my erstwhile companions, decloaking as I went.
Winding up back at that meeting room, airport security had taken it upon themselves to get those people out of their sacs. The victims were unconscious and security was making sure they were alive.
I opened the door. "Hey, coast is clear. You should be free to grab your weapons now."
In spite of my well received declaration, this wasn't over. The quest hadn't updated, telling me that I had finished clearing the alien incursion from the airport, so we've got one single enemy remaining somewhere in this entire airport. We could be here for hours looking for the stupid thing and every second we waste is a second it could escape.
Man, I hate that!
"Thanks for the save," Malcolm said. "Hopefully we all make it through this, I owe you a drink."
"I appreciate the offer, but I don't drink," I said. The reason I didn't drink? Alcohol came with a stat penalty in addition to its buff and other drinks, like soda, had better buffs to begin with. Like root beer, which increased my effective stamina by fifteen percent. "Bad for flying, you know?"
He chuckled. "I hear you."
Pedro cleared his throat. "Alright, lets wrap this up. Now that we know these things can shape shift, I want all eyes peeled. Look for any more of these pods. Officer Brown, call for medical, I want these civilians out of my airport and away from the fighting."
Malcolm nodded. "Yes, sir."
He got on his radio, walking out of the office.
"Cloud Guard, we'd appreciate it if you stick with us for just a bit longer," Pedro continued, turning to me. "It's been a long night for all of us, but we've really appreciated your help and we could still use it."
"Hey, I'm here," I said, noting that my survival bars were all still green. Barely. No, the drink meter just turned yellow. "Is there a water fountain around here somewhere?"
"Yeah, there's one back out there," Pedro said, pointing to the terminal I had just cleared. "It's right on the left as you leave."
"Thank you," I said, walking out.
My helmet's front visor came apart at the center, letting me eat and drink without having to actually remove my helmet. The air felt cold against my lips and jaw as the vacuum seal over that part of my body was broken. The water fountain was still working, thankfully, I got my drink meter back to full. I found a vending machine and got myself some snacks to pump up my food meter. Nothing but a nap would recharge my sleep meter, though, so I wasn't in a position to do anything about that just yet.
As I finished the last chip in the bag, I closed my helmet, feeling the lower half of my face get warmer now that it was back under climate control.
"Excuse me?" I turned around and saw an old woman. She was slight, hunched over and clutching her purse to her chest. "Are you with security?"
"Working with them," I said, feeling some chill coming from her. But I didn't want to assume in case she was just one of those people who set off my danger sense for whatever reason. Because people like that do exist. I try to avoid associating with those people if I could help it, but some times...times like this happen.
She could be an alien, though. That was definitely weighing on my mind. "How can I help?
"I just need to get to safety," she said, her teeth chattering and she started sobbing and crying. "It was so horrible, first the meteorite hit then these awful things ran into the airport. I hid away in one of the rooms back there so they wouldn't get me."
"Well, the coast is almost clear now," I said, smiling and holding my hands together in front of me. "We'll get you to security and they'll take care of you, alright."
"Thank you," she said, sniffing. "Bless you."
Seriously, is she an alien? I'm wondering.
I brought her back to security. "Hey, we've got a civilian here to managed to hide from the aliens."
The officers were naturally very wary, just like I was.
"We'll take care of her," Pedro said, giving me a nod and her a compassionate look. "Ma'am, if you'll follow me."
Officer Malcolm Brown exited a room further down, laid eyes on the old woman and charged her, his fist cracking and snapping with electricity.
He was on her in moments. "How did you-" She screeched before Malcolm's fist turned her into a black and white puddle all over my armor. Gross!
Panting, he stood up straight. "I found another couple of pods. The real old lady's in one of them."
"Good work," Pedro said.
I sighed in relief. Using my telekinetic laser, I bundled the puddle up into a ball so I could take it back home for study. "I think that was it."
Our celebrations were cut short when the ground shook violently, like the fist of a titan had just slammed into the building because we were being too loud. I flew over to one of the windows and saw a flaming, smoking wreck of an airliner which had crashed onto the runway.
"...new plan," I said, looking around and seeing a small wastebasket with a plastic bag inside down on the floor. Flying down to it, I dumped the ooze inside and tied the bag up. "Be right back. Duty calls!"
I rocketed out an open window and toward the wreckage.
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Author's Note: Man, this chapter was fun to write! Hopefully it was fun to read. Now that the aliens are dealt with, we can dive into one of the other things Cloud Guard's going to be doing; saving people and providing medical attention. And doing science to alien technology. That's fun too.
Chapter after next is when we finally meet the Justice League. Thanks everyone for your patience regarding this, I know twelve chapters of original character isn't quite everyone's cup of tea but I assure you, it will be worth it.
Until the next time!
~Fulcon
---
It was at that moment that the door to the airport pushed open. The Chill was absent, but it took a moment to collect myself and not point my gun and shoot. It was Airport Security, soldiers marching in single file through the doors. Among them was Officer Brown, hefting my crystal.
"Hey, Cloud Guard," Officer Brown said, holding it up. "Can we stow this somewhere you can find it later? I got duties to get squared away."
I walked forward. "Is there a storage room?"
Also bursting through the doors was Devon and her camera man. "Cloud Guard! Can we get a comment on what it is you've asked Officer Brown to hold?"
...oh, the press drawing a bead on my loot-goblin tendencies is really bad. "It's an alien crystal and I found it at the heart of their factory. I'm convinced I can use it to undo the storm the factory made outside."
"What kind of facilities do you have that will allow you to study xenotechnology?" Devon asked before shoving that stupid microphone in my face as Officer Brown passed me the crystal and went off to join his squad.
An AI, advanced scanners and the best scientific skills you've ever seen. "No further comment, Ms. Smith."
I flew up the staircase, over airport security's heads. If I remember right, those necessary but obnoxious lines of scanners should be up this way, which includes the staff entrances.
Cloaking, I flew through the hall, I came to the auditorium with those necessary but obnoxious lines of scanners. And wouldn't you know it, there were aliens here. Four of them. Thumbing the hammer wasn't as fast as fanning it, but I was able to take them out before airport security reached the auditorium.
Where's the staff entrance? There!
Diving down, I holstered my pistol and opened the door with my free hand. Decloaking, I came to the same hallways I had found myself in when I first arrived at Sky Peak. This time, I took a little bit of time to explore and found a maintenance closet.
The closet was large, like a room unto itself, with shelves, multiple buckets on wheels, mops and other cleaning tools on racks. It even took a slight turn to the right and brought me to more shelves. At my feet was a box with a single spray bottle of cleaning solution. Perfect.
The crystal fit inside the box perfectly, and there was a roll of packing tape on one of the shelves which I used to seal the box shut. A black marker sourced from the same place let me draw an X on one of the sides. Then, I stuffed it in a corner with other boxes stacked on top of it, the X facing the wall to avoid attracting attention from the staff.
Okay, it's safe now.
Game, I hate that you made that quest. I really, really hate that you made that a quest. Makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up when something secret like this becomes a quest.
Whatever, put it aside for now. We've got an airport to secure.
I left the maintenance closet and, after making sure no one was around to see, closed the door behind me. Re-cloaking, I flew over to the door that led back to the scanners, and opened it as softly and quietly as I could.
Sneak Check Success: 100/70.
The door could've been very loud if I wasn't smart enough turn the door handle super slowly to prevent the clicks from being audible and then turn it back manually to, again, prevent the clicks from being audible. I closed the door by turning the handle, pulling the nub inside the door to prevent it from snapping back into place as I closed the door.
Good thing I did, too, because Airport security was in the room, but they weren't looking at me. Trailing behind them was Devon and her camera man, where she was speaking to the camera and the angle of the camera was facing away from the door. Didn't need anyone to know where I had just set down my prize. At the moment of my triumph, I heard laser fire directly to my right. Past the scanners in the next room, a firefight was obviously taking place.
I flew over there, down the hall and to the right, where I saw airport security taking cover at each end of the entrance. Scarlet laser bolts where filling the entrance itself as the aliens were laying down suppressive fire.
Sticking close to the ceiling and waiting for the Chill to subside, I flew through the entrance, finding myself in the baggage claim. The aliens had taken shelter in the automatic transit system. The cars weren't moving for some reason, so the aliens were shooting at us from the cover of the car. Oh, and to make matters worse? They had hostages.
From my vantage point, I could see an overweight black woman, an old, frail white man and a Latina in the car, tied up and gagged with tape over their mouths. Not sure why they haven't tried to negotiate yet, but if this firefight kept up, we wouldn't be able to save them at all.
I de-cloaked before shooting this time to more easily aim with visible sights. Two head-shots at the aliens I could see was all it took to bring the firefight to a close.
...which was odd. Where were the rest of them?
Probably somewhere else in the baggage claim area? I mean, the place was huge, stretching out from one side to the other.
I dove down to the transit car and immediately, the Chill made itself known, hanging in the air like a snow frozen in time. Inside the car were seats built into the walls, leaving only a gap for the entrances on both sides. There were eight hostages, each tied up and thrown to the floor, gagged and tied up. The Chill had filled the car.
Something was very wrong.
The danger was omnipresent and I couldn't get a read on where it was. A bomb, maybe?
Immediately behind me, airport security arrived with their rifles, boots stepping in the puddles that were fallen invaders.
"Good shooting," Officer Brown beamed, patting me on the jetpack. "Man, Sky Peak's hit the jackpot with you, hasn't it?"
"Officer," I started, stopping myself from calling him Brown because as far as he knows, we haven't met yet. "Something's wrong. We need to get off the car."
"You got it," Pedro, their commanding officer said to me. "You heard him boys! Get these people off the car and on their way to safety! Move it!"
Some airport security stationed themselves outside of the car, standing guard. I could see Ms. Smith doing some more commentary on the battle for the airport. It was like that shark from before was back, swimming through the air and looking for something to consume.
Was it coming from the hostages?
I looked them over. All of them seemed perfectly normal, some older people, some younger people. The sexy Latina they had tied up would've been arousing if not for the fact that this was non-consensual and she had been in serious danger until we got here.
It couldn't be coming from the hostages, that's insane. They looked scared, relieved at security's presence, everything looked fine.
Then, the car doors shut and the transit started moving.
...oh crap.
Immediately, the ropes surrounding the hostages disappeared, and the Latina I had been trying not to admire punched the officer, who had been working to untie her, in the throat.
He was knocked on his back, legs kicking as he grasped at his throat with his hands. The car descended into chaos as the hostages turned out to be aliens who shape-shifted to lure us into a trap.
I deployed my laser. I said, I deployed my laser! Why won't it deploy?
With a frustrated growl, I holstered my blaster and actually deployed my laser, hitting the guy with a telekinetic field which reopened his throat, and then the Loh radiation fixed him up. Another guy had his arm snapped in half and I had to dodge around a grappling alien and officer to zap him and fix him up.
There was no way I would be able to use my blaster here. The car was too cramped and it would be way too easy to hit a friendly. But unfortunately, my maxed out melee skills were completely useless here because these things shrug off physical trauma like a fish shrugs off a squirt gun.
Well, almost useless. One of the aliens had lifted a security officer up, looking like he was about to rip his arm off, but a well placed kick to the stomach caused its body to deform and forced it to drop him.
Fists were flying all around and I had to alternate between running interference by disrupting the aliens amoebic bodies when it looked like they were gaining the upper hand and dodging around the melee to get a good angle on injured officers so I didn't accidentally zap an alien.
Airport security, however, was much more useful. Their gauntlets cracked with electricity with every swing and unlike my decidedly normal melee attacks, caused the aliens to cry out with distorted pain on every impact.
An officer's knee was kicked out. My telekinetic beam was able to throw the alien in question off of him, but slamming it into the wall did as little as I expected. A second later, the knee was straightened out and fixed up; you would never have known something was wrong.
As suddenly as it began, the final alien took an electrically charged fist to the head and splattered all over the floor and my boots.
I still felt the chill in the air, but it was significantly less present now.
"Great, these things are shapeshifters," Pedro said, taking his helmet off and wiping his brow, then replacing his helmet. "How long you think they've been infiltrating Earth?"
"I don't know, years maybe," Malcolm said. "Any ideas on where they came from?"
They were all looking at me. "I'm as much in the dark as anyone. What I do know is that we can win."
The Chill ramped up in intensity again, and I could see the transit car approaching an exit. "Take cover!"
I cloaked as security scrambled.
Sneak Check Success: 100/85.
When the car stopped and opened up, we came face to face with an alien firing line. From that firing line came a demand. "Step out of the car with your hands up and surrender. You will not be harmed."
A cursory examination revealed that the rest of the aliens were here, all with their weapons pointed directly at us. About thirty or so? Too many to take out before they could deal damage to me and while I could heal myself, fixing my armor was going to be an issue and time was of the essence.
"Fail to comply, and we'll detonate the bomb we've stowed on your transit car," the Alien continued, a sharp spike in cold confirming that they were telling the truth. "You have to the count of ten."
"They aren't lying," I whispered to them.
"One."
Malcolm hissed under his breath. "Damn."
"Two."
"Do what they say," Pedro said. "We'll trust Cloud Guard. Don't let us down, eh?"
"Three. Four."
"I got you," I assured them, the weight of the situation starting to pull down on my shoulders like a pack full of rocks.
"Five."
Pedro cleared his throat and stood up. "Okay! We're coming out!"
One by one, with their hands over their heads, each security officer walked out of the transit car. Behind them, I followed until I was out of the car, and then I walked off to the right. The group was shepherded off by a large armed escort and I followed, noting that about twelve of the aliens stayed behind to guard this part of the airport.
We went through a staff entrance, it being propped open by a door stop. After a few moments, we arrived at one of those meeting rooms with a large glass window. Very typical. On the inside, though? Not typical. There were these pods with people in them, like red sacs with black veins while the people themselves floated inside, their eyes closed like they were living a bad dream.
I recognized the people, actually! They were the disguises the aliens wore back in the transit car. Including the Latina, whose presence made me uncomfortable. Interesting, they need to capture people to take on their guises.
...which means I'm going to have to act soon.
Remaining outside the office, I watched as the alien commanded Pedro to stand in the empty, open sac.
There were six aliens in that office, two standing guard outside and four behind me watching the hallway intersection. Can I fire off twelve shots before they could fire on the hostages? We're about to find out.
I drew my pistol and fanned the hammer.
The six in the office went down in less than a second, then the two standing guard at the entrance. The chill warned me that I was about to get shot in the back, and I whirled to avoid their return fire, shooting four shots and only missing the one who dove behind cover instead of trying to hit a transparent target.
I leaped forward, staying in the air like a hovercraft as I crested the wall, taking another shot at the one who hid and then two more at the ones at the end of the hallway. Opposite them were four four more and I could see the ones left behind to guard the terminal outside were rushing for us.
Well, if they were going to bunch themselves up like that, I wasn't going to waste their kindness and generosity.
Shoot, shoot, shoot!
The four went down quickly, one of the shots pulling double duty and piercing two of them through. Turning on my thrusters, I rocketed out of the door and pulled sharply up, going too fast for them to follow and start shooting.
Some started taking cover behind pillars and railings, but I just circled around. I fired down on them like a storm of bullets, the red muzzle flare of my pistol being the only thing that would give me away. But by the time I needed to duck beneath a single, accurate shot, the aliens were down.
I landed and surveyed the battlefield. None of them were playing dead, and scorch marks from my attacks blackened the surfaces behind them. Took a deep breath, and turned to go find my erstwhile companions, decloaking as I went.
Winding up back at that meeting room, airport security had taken it upon themselves to get those people out of their sacs. The victims were unconscious and security was making sure they were alive.
I opened the door. "Hey, coast is clear. You should be free to grab your weapons now."
In spite of my well received declaration, this wasn't over. The quest hadn't updated, telling me that I had finished clearing the alien incursion from the airport, so we've got one single enemy remaining somewhere in this entire airport. We could be here for hours looking for the stupid thing and every second we waste is a second it could escape.
Man, I hate that!
"Thanks for the save," Malcolm said. "Hopefully we all make it through this, I owe you a drink."
"I appreciate the offer, but I don't drink," I said. The reason I didn't drink? Alcohol came with a stat penalty in addition to its buff and other drinks, like soda, had better buffs to begin with. Like root beer, which increased my effective stamina by fifteen percent. "Bad for flying, you know?"
He chuckled. "I hear you."
Pedro cleared his throat. "Alright, lets wrap this up. Now that we know these things can shape shift, I want all eyes peeled. Look for any more of these pods. Officer Brown, call for medical, I want these civilians out of my airport and away from the fighting."
Malcolm nodded. "Yes, sir."
He got on his radio, walking out of the office.
"Cloud Guard, we'd appreciate it if you stick with us for just a bit longer," Pedro continued, turning to me. "It's been a long night for all of us, but we've really appreciated your help and we could still use it."
"Hey, I'm here," I said, noting that my survival bars were all still green. Barely. No, the drink meter just turned yellow. "Is there a water fountain around here somewhere?"
"Yeah, there's one back out there," Pedro said, pointing to the terminal I had just cleared. "It's right on the left as you leave."
"Thank you," I said, walking out.
My helmet's front visor came apart at the center, letting me eat and drink without having to actually remove my helmet. The air felt cold against my lips and jaw as the vacuum seal over that part of my body was broken. The water fountain was still working, thankfully, I got my drink meter back to full. I found a vending machine and got myself some snacks to pump up my food meter. Nothing but a nap would recharge my sleep meter, though, so I wasn't in a position to do anything about that just yet.
As I finished the last chip in the bag, I closed my helmet, feeling the lower half of my face get warmer now that it was back under climate control.
"Excuse me?" I turned around and saw an old woman. She was slight, hunched over and clutching her purse to her chest. "Are you with security?"
"Working with them," I said, feeling some chill coming from her. But I didn't want to assume in case she was just one of those people who set off my danger sense for whatever reason. Because people like that do exist. I try to avoid associating with those people if I could help it, but some times...times like this happen.
She could be an alien, though. That was definitely weighing on my mind. "How can I help?
"I just need to get to safety," she said, her teeth chattering and she started sobbing and crying. "It was so horrible, first the meteorite hit then these awful things ran into the airport. I hid away in one of the rooms back there so they wouldn't get me."
"Well, the coast is almost clear now," I said, smiling and holding my hands together in front of me. "We'll get you to security and they'll take care of you, alright."
"Thank you," she said, sniffing. "Bless you."
Seriously, is she an alien? I'm wondering.
I brought her back to security. "Hey, we've got a civilian here to managed to hide from the aliens."
The officers were naturally very wary, just like I was.
"We'll take care of her," Pedro said, giving me a nod and her a compassionate look. "Ma'am, if you'll follow me."
Officer Malcolm Brown exited a room further down, laid eyes on the old woman and charged her, his fist cracking and snapping with electricity.
He was on her in moments. "How did you-" She screeched before Malcolm's fist turned her into a black and white puddle all over my armor. Gross!
Panting, he stood up straight. "I found another couple of pods. The real old lady's in one of them."
"Good work," Pedro said.
I sighed in relief. Using my telekinetic laser, I bundled the puddle up into a ball so I could take it back home for study. "I think that was it."
Our celebrations were cut short when the ground shook violently, like the fist of a titan had just slammed into the building because we were being too loud. I flew over to one of the windows and saw a flaming, smoking wreck of an airliner which had crashed onto the runway.
"...new plan," I said, looking around and seeing a small wastebasket with a plastic bag inside down on the floor. Flying down to it, I dumped the ooze inside and tied the bag up. "Be right back. Duty calls!"
I rocketed out an open window and toward the wreckage.
---
Author's Note: Man, this chapter was fun to write! Hopefully it was fun to read. Now that the aliens are dealt with, we can dive into one of the other things Cloud Guard's going to be doing; saving people and providing medical attention. And doing science to alien technology. That's fun too.
Chapter after next is when we finally meet the Justice League. Thanks everyone for your patience regarding this, I know twelve chapters of original character isn't quite everyone's cup of tea but I assure you, it will be worth it.
Until the next time!
~Fulcon
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