Metal Tidings.



Friday Nov 21st 2069.
It is 2:30 am at Threshold headquarters in Langley Virginia. She has been sitting in a de brief room for 35 minutes waiting patiently for the board of reviews to come and hear what she has to say about the latest in a long line of successful field operations performed by the Alpha team. The ten member review board begins to slowly fall into assembly, as Samantha Bliss confidently awaits their questions. The chief of reviews takes his place at the chairman’s seat.
“Good Morning Agent Bliss. So good to see you again, we have read your reports on the Battery Park operations, is there anything that you would care to add to those reports at this time?”
“No Master Chief. Everything is there and in proper order.”
“Excellent Agent Bliss. You may now proceed with the oral part of your report. Begin at your Leisure.”
“Yes Master chief.”
They sit in silence as she carefully relates to them in detail the events that took place little more than twenty four hours previous, beginning with the ambush on the Broad street bridge, how they had forced the retreat of the remaining reds, how they trailed them on foot almost Three miles to the bunker in battery park, but the most important event that she related is what occurred after the members of Alpha had successfully recovered Jessica Bradley. She told them how she came into possession of a metal cylinder, that she’d found inside of the reds bunker. It looked to be of considerable importance so she had the portable lab guys scan it for booby traps on the way back to Langley though they couldn’t with any degree of certainly say exactly what was in it, they did assure her that there were no volatile components within its contents.
“And where is the cylinder now? Agent Bliss.”
“The Threshold lab guys are trying to open it to reveal its content sir, The preliminary reports are that they believe it contains documents belonging to the reds.”
“Agent Bliss it is the opinion of this board that you have performed your duties during the Battery park operation admirably, however, we are requesting that until the contents of this cylinder are revealed that you and the members of team Alpha remain here at the Threshold compound under closed quarters until further notice. You are dismissed agent Bliss.”

Bonding



After she tells the team about being under lock down they all retire to the underground Dormitory to await word on the cylinders contents, it is now 3:55 am in the open walled unisexual dormitory, though the respect level is high within the tightly knit group, Milo Tripper is somewhat amazed at the comfort level of the men and two women. He is awaken by the stirrings of Samantha Bliss and he silently watches her half naked body arise from her bed, and glide effortlessly past him to the shower room seven feet past his bunk. Captivated by her, he slowly follows her down the dark corridor and stops just shy of the door and watches her undress and step under the shower. He draws a nervous deep breath and steps back into the dark corridor and puts his back against the cold wall, within seconds he find’s himself violently slammed to the floor with a knife to his throat, and a very Naked and agitated Samantha Bliss straddling him.
“You shouldn’t spy on people in the bath Mr. Tripper, it could get you seriously injured in here.”
He inhales and holds his breath..
“Yes Ma’am.. How did you know it was me then?”
She halfway smiles down at him. While slowly lowering her face towards his.
“I didn’t, that’s why you‘re down there and I‘m up here.”
Their eyes slowly look each other up and down, with his eyes moving the slowest of the two.
“You’d best get back to your bunk Mr. Tripper before you get yourself into trouble.”
he returns to his bunk but with the vision of Samantha Bliss’s Naked body burning fresh in his memory, he now found it more difficult than ever to sleep. Morning muster came at 7:30 am and during breakfast someone had entered the dining assembly and placed an envelope at the side of Samantha Bliss, slowly every member of the team begins to eye the unopened letter with growing curiosity. She opens it and studies it for a time before addressing the members of Alpha.
“They have uncovered some documents from the cylinder along with a map and a picture.. Of a female red. The word “Priss” is on the back of the picture, they believe that it could be her name, we don’t know the significance of this female yet.. But it would appear that we are going to Cape Nazareth to find out. Meet in the assignment room in fifteen minutes we leave tonight.”

Scratch. ABT Copyright © 2006.

The Eyes of Bliss.


She stands in front of the seven doors with her eyes closed tightly, in her mind she studies as she listens to Mentor’s voice. Her concentration never broken by any distractions, it is just her, the doors and Mentor.
“Do you know why you are here Samantha?”
She stands in silence, unmoved by the question. Mentor smiles.
“You are here Samantha because you are not like the others of your class, your instincts are more refined, you refuse to believe what your eyes tell you is there, you can actually feel the danger, the enemy. This is what will forever set you apart from the others.”
He walks around her.
“The seven Doors in front of you are your last test here at the academy Samantha six will offer you failure and death, only one offers you freedom, there are no clues, you must feel it Samantha, feel the way out. Do not open your eyes until you feel it.”
Without a second thought, with hesitation, she opens her eyes and walks over to one of the doors and opens it to find a room full of her classmates. They are cheering for her but she doesn’t hear them now, now she closes her eyes and all she knows is Mentor’s voice.
“Don’t open your eyes until you feel it.”
Her head cocks slightly to one side, as if to listen to the voice that has been in her mind for the last six years since the academy, offering silent guidance.
“Not until you feel it Samantha.”
She opens her Eyes and she is once again in Battery Park deep into the Canns Landing corridor. It has started to rain softly, the members of team Alpha are patiently waiting for her orders, she looks back over at the red standing by the entrance to the bunker. She looks to Cowboy and Milo Tripper and smiles. She knows it’s a trap. She can just feel it. Lifeguards voice crackles to life in her ear piece.
“Sam? Have you moved on the bunker yet?”
Silence.
“How many reds next to the opening of the bunker Lifeguard?”
“Just one on the outside as far as I can tell.”
She waits. And soon two more hulking figures appear next to the red.
“How many Now?”
“Still only picking up one.” She smiles and whispers to Milo and Cowboy.
“Smart boys.. They made themselves an underground refrigeration unit to try and fool the Sky watch satellites.”
“Shit Sam.. Now what?”
“Now Lifeguard, we wait them out.”
Patience proves indeed to be a rewarding virtue, as they watch three then four, then five through seven more reds emerge from the bunker each rubbing their arms as they step into the rain.
“Lifeguard, wait five minutes and then give me a reading on the heat signatures that are outside.”

Hostage Found.


They wait patiently for another five minute, each member diligently holding their position.
“Damn! Now we’re counting eight, they are faint but they are there.”
“And there are usually ten reds to an outpost, so with the three that we followed here from the bridge that makes thirteen, there’s eight out here and five below with the girl.”
She silently gives the motion for them to move in, and they engage the first reds ten yards from the entrance to the bunker, and the attack catches them totally unaware, and the reds fall easy prey to the advancing Alpha team. They cut them down, one at a time slowly advancing on the entrance to the bunker. There are three left guarding the entrance, firing furiously at the Alpha team. shots are ricocheting in and around the opening, and the last two reds retreat deep into the poorly lit tunnel, Roxx move in behind Twitch and Thump as they ready themselves to launch concussion grenades into the belly of the bunker. She again calls for them to stop, waiting for word from Lifeguard.
“Lifeguard! Feed me the location of the lowest heat signature, that has to be the girl”
“It looks like there could be a small chamber away from the main body of the bunker Sam, It’s in the southeast corner, and has the lowest signature, but if they have a refrigeration unit in there, there could be more Reds hiding somewhere down there that we aren’t seeing. Proceed with caution.” Twitch and Thump move up to launch the concussion grenades and they roll into the main chamber of the bunker, seconds later small explosions Rock the walls deep in the belly of the bunker and they move slowly down the long wide corridor. There is nothing moving, as they enter the main chamber, through the smoke Samantha can see the bodies of five dead reds. They scan the southeast corner and find another small chamber in the floor with two metal doors covering it. Cowboy and Milo Tripper train their weapons on it as Samantha Bliss opens it to find a frightened but alive Jessica Bradley. She stares wide eyed at the team.
“Who Are You?”
Samantha Bliss smiles at her, as she extends her a friendly hand helping her up from the floor.”
“We’re from Threshold Jessica, and we’re here to take you home. Sweep the bunker for stragglers Roxx, Twitch you and Thump go with her, and be careful. Lets get the hell out of this hole.”

Scratch ABT Copyright © 2006

Woman's Will



You never get used to it, no matter how many times your in a blast zone, that first concussive sound and then silence.. And soon your ears begin to acquire this annoying little ring in them, its more of a high pitched hum really, but its all that you can hear for awhile at least.. She sees them but she doesn’t hear them, not at first, she can see Klinger, he’s yelling at Roxx and Cowboy, Twitch and Thump are pinned down behind a burnt out abandoned vehicle at the east end of the Broad street bridge, and Klinger, Roxx, Milo Tripper and Cowboy and returning fire at the attacking Reds, two feet away she sees her rifle laying there on the ground, the charge light is a full green, indicating that it is ready and waiting to be discharged. She touches it with her fingertips and pulls it to her, pausing only two seconds to look at the driver that she risked her own life to try to save, laying badly burnt in the street six feet away, he isn’t moving, more than likely dead, she thinks. She crawls over to the side of the bridge and surveys the situation, from here she can clearly see faint flashes of light coming from the reds firing position, slowly she can hear sounds begin to creep back into her consciousness, She is behind two steel support girders near the railing, she pulls herself up into a crouching posture and begins to return fire on the reds position, Klinger sees her at the same time that Milo Tripper does, and they both begin to focus their own return fire on the reds position. Roxx and Cowboy have repositioned themselves to a better vantage point and also join in on the full frontal assault. Samantha Bliss pauses to reload, and now the reds begin to fire on her, but she has chosen her cover wisely and their rounds simply spark and ricochet off of the steel support girders of the Broad Street bridge. Now she is standing fully upright, almost as if in total defiance, daring them to shoot at her. This is what she does, this is what Agent Samantha Bliss was seemingly born to do. She takes the heat for her team.. And ties it up in a neat little bow.. With a healthy dose of “Fuck You” and returns to sender.. In spades. She stands fully upright now, openly engaging the enemy, as team Alpha, now in full force begin to advance on the retreating reds, “Run you chicken shit bastards!!” They move slowly down the side of hill as they come off of the east end of the bridge, the reds haven’t fired a shot in several minutes now, and as the members of team Alpha move into cover formation they can see the extent of their efforts. Three reds lay motionless two others completely cut in half, three others still burnt to a crisp, Samantha Bliss approaches them and studies the layout of the out post. “They’ve been Watchin the bridge for sometime now, probably knew someone would come for the girl, they were just waitin.”
She crouches down and runs her fingers under a necklace one of the dead reds is wearing, clinching her fist around it she jerks it free and looks at it. “Spread out and pick up their trail.. They’re heading back into the corridor .. They have the girl.”

Cann's Landing.


They are 5.5 blocks east of the Broad street bridge making their way along the dark deserted streets of the Canns Landing corridor, all is quiet, as the move through the darkness and fog. She hears a click and then and faint hum in her ear piece soon followed by the familiar voice of the man that she knows only as “Lifeguard”.
“Easy Now Sam, we are picking up some really faint heat signatures that don’t appear to be human, my intel has it that they are underground but not too far under.”
She silently holds her hand up at the members of Alpha, and they all stop moving.
“Do you have a distance to the bunker for me Lifeguard?”
“Hold on Sam.. I’m getting it now.” a brief silence follows.
“1.5 miles southeast of your current position.”
“And your certain that there aren’t any humans with them?”
“Skywatch is saying that they aren’t human, but from what I’m looking at its almost like one of the signatures is a bit fainter than the rest, I suppose they could have a human with them.. Maybe your hostage Sam. I’ll make contact with you again when your making your final approach to the bunker don’t attempt anything until I feed you the specifics. ”
She motions for the team to fall back into formation and they continue on their way now heading southeast, the fog is steadily getting thicker, and when they turn the final corner and begin to approach the bunker she hears his voice again.
“You’re about forty yards out Sam, careful now, I’m picking up a new signature its bright now, they probably sent out a scout. Its definitely a red. He stopped moving right at the end of the entrance to the bunker, he is probably dead ahead of you, but we aren’t picking up any heat spikes on him, his temperature is normal. For a red, I don’t think he knows that your there, just be careful in that fog, you may trip over him. The bunker should be smack in the middle of Battery Park Sam. Good luck, I‘ll let you know if anything is coming up behind you.”
Twenty two yards in, they spot the red, he is standing in the open, near a square opening in the ground, definitely a homemade bunker. Cowboy and Milo Tripper move to the left and right to ready themselves to remove the easy target. An almost too easy a target.. She holds her hand up in silence and for a time they do not move, They had rolled right up and into a trap once already this morning, the reds have been full of cute little surprises all month long, this time she was going to be sure first.

Scratch ABT Copyright © 2006

Odd Man In



Even before the funeral of Maxwell Creed, or before his body had even been allowed to get cold, the director of field operations for Project Threshold had already found a replacement body for Samantha Bliss’s Team Alpha. He walks into Brainstorm to find all of the members of it waiting there, sitting around a long black table, the walls are bright white with maps covering one entire wall. His Name is Milo Tripper. And he has been in the field for most of his career at Threshold. He immediately draws the attention of the man called “Cowboy” he looks the new recruit up and down with outward criticism.
“So you’re the new guy huh?” he asks with a thick Texas drawl.
He extends his hand to cowboy.
“Milo Tripper, How do you do?”
“I’m Cowboy, that feller over there with the eye patch is Klinger, them two longhairs is Twitch and Thump. That sassy little lady is Roxanne, but we call her Roxx, because she does. The Boss lady ain’t here yet youngun so have a seat, but don’t get comfortable, you won’t be sittin long.”
The room grows cold and awkwardly silent, as Young Milo Tripper can feel the eyes studying him closely. He just gets settled into his seat when Samantha Bliss enters the room. She takes notice of him right away. He hands her his dossier, and she silently sits as she opens the folder and begins to make the professional acquaintance of Milo Tripper. For a man who looks so young he has made his mark in the war with the reds. She raises her eyes to look at him.
“You’ve been around the block a few times I see.”
“Yes Ma’am”
“Three Years in the cape?.. Is that right?”
“Cape Nazareth.. Yes ma’am, three years in blood alley”
“ Seen a few good men fall then haven’t you Mr. Tripper?”
She extends her hand to him, and he takes it as a good sign.
“Welcome to Team Alpha, Milo.”
She lays down Milo Trippers dossier, and stands at the end of the table looking over the best field team in Threshold.
“Well gang, it looks like we’re going back into the Canns Landing corridor, it would appear as though that first team of reds that we took out had some back up.”
She pulls some photos from a manila envelope and passes them to each team member.
“This is senator Aaron Bradley and his daughter Jessica, it would appear as though the reds were out to snatch the girl to give them leverage in their dealings with the good senator. They want information that he is privy to about sensitive ongoing operations here at Threshold, we have a pretty good idea where he was last and Lifeguard is gathering intel for us to go on as we speak. We won’t be going in blind, but we will be going in alone. Its simple, we get to the senator and get him out of that vicinity before the reds find him and the girl. Any Questions? Good then we muster on dock twelve and leave for the extraction point at 0100. Get some rest people.. You’re going to need it.”

Bridges falling



Thursday, November 20th, 2069.
It is I:30 am, they are twenty minutes from Canns Landing when Samantha Bliss receives disturbing news from Threshold headquarters. In the middle of the night a team of reds had located the senator and his daughter, he tried to stop them from taking her and during a struggle he was shot and killed by one of the reds. His body was found three hours ago, and from eye witness accounts the shooting appeared to be an accident. He was no good to them dead, so it seemed logical that they hadn’t intended to kill him. They took the girl. Alpha teams mission just became a rescue operation. They are rolling up to piedmont street on the north end of the Broad street bridge heading south, when Samantha feels the vehicle roll to a slow stop.
“Why are we stopping? we aren’t at the extraction point yet.. Its still six blocks in. what’s going on up there?”
The driver nervously answers..
“There’s heavy debris blocking the end of the bridge agent Bliss, we can’t drive any further in. we’ll have to go back.”
A sinking feeling hits her in the stomach like a rock as she kicks open the back doors of the transport vehicle. The faint flickers of fire at the north end of the bridge confirm her suspicions.
“EVERYBODY OUT NOW!!!!”
The entire team bails out of the Vehicle, but the driver hesitates as he sees them make their way past him towards east Canns Landing. They are fifty feet out in front before he realizes there is any danger, and Samantha Bliss suddenly appears at the drivers side door and yanks him from his seat.
“Agent Bliss? What’s happening?”
“Get up to the rear of Alpha!.. NOW !!”
They get twenty two feet from the vehicle when the first round from the Red’s rocket launcher slams into the side of it. It explodes immediately shooting a ball of flame up into the morning air fifty feet off of the surface. The concussion from the blast knocks everyone within one hundred feet away to the ground. They are one block away from the entrance of the deserted section of Harrisburg called the Canns Landing Corridor. Or as civilians call it.. New Hell.. Agent Klinger has his loaded weapon at his side and is on the floor of the east end of the Broad Street bridge. And as he stares intently through the flames and smoke, the cold misty morning draws eerily quiet, thirty feet from the burning vehicle, he sees two people laying on the ground.. They do not appear to be moving. One of them he recognizes as Samantha Bliss.

Scratch ABT Copyright © 2006

Grhee's Gamble.



She is sitting back in her chair, arms folded tightly under her breasts, there in interrogation one, eyeing him closely as he sits squirming in his seat uncomfortably like a nervous school boy. Samantha Bliss is indeed a patient woman, but they are patience that will only go so far. He sits staring at the floor unwilling to make eye contact with her. The demon known as Ghree has felt this woman’s wrath, and has no desire to feel it again. Though he is much larger in a physical sense than her, only moments ago he found himself on the floor gasping for breath, as every effort that he made to defend himself against the human female was as pitiful as the last. The smaller woman lifted his body up in the air and drove him into the floor, yes this Samantha Bliss was as tough if not even more so, than her male counter parts . And she made it abundantly clear to Grhee that she was well aware of where the male testicles lived. She hasn’t taken her eyes off of him, and he is growing nervous unsure of what it is that she wants to hear.
“Where would you like me to begin agent Bliss?”
“Try the beginning”
“We were sent into what you call The Canns Landing corridor to kidnap a child.”
“What child?”
“The child of a corrupt politician, named senator Aaron Bradley.”
“Who sent you there?”
“Ambala.”
“The new ruler of Hell?”
“Yes.”
She once again sits back into her chair and stretches slightly, she lights another cigarette and throws him one. And slowly inhales the smoke.
“So my next question is, why is it always children that you go after?”
He shrugs his shoulders as he lights the cigarette.
“They are the easiest to corrupt I guess, they don’t put up as much of a fight as most adults, except for your politicians of course.”
She stares at him blankly.
“Politicians.”
“Well Shit Agent Bliss. Everybody knows that they are worse than us.”

A Simple Plan



He sits upright with his legs crossed in front of him, it is clear to her that his discomfort has elevated itself to new heights. She fights back a smirk and continues to study and listen to him, as he offers freely now, new information.
“So what does this Ambala want with the Senator?”
“That.. I couldn’t tell you, she only gave specifics to our team leader, and you killed him first. All that magna and me were told was we were going after the senators sixteen year old daughter. And she was suppose to be a hot little-”
He stops in mid sentence to find her giving him some unpleasant looks, and his better judgment tells him that perhaps it would be unwise to outwardly finish that thought. Her own thoughts however are interrupted by a guard who comes in and whispers something to Samantha Bliss, and she abruptly stands and exit’s the room, as quickly as when she came in. ten minutes later she finds herself in the company of the deputy director of field operations for Project Threshold. His name is William Strong, and he is leading her into his office where two other men that she does not recognize are waiting. They both rise when the deputy director enters the room and he shakes their hands before making introductions.
“Gentlemen, may I introduce one of our finest field agents Samantha Bliss, Agent Bliss these two gentlemen are two of our intelligence operatives, Michael Keyes and Trance Settle.”
Both men shake her hand warmly, but are obviously distracted by her appearance. They manage to keep their attention on the matter at hand.
The man called Trance Settle initiates the conversation with her.
“Agent Bliss, I would first like to apologize for any intrusions that we may have made onto your interrogation of the red, but we found it necessary to observe your interrogation of said prisoner from the next room.”
She nods her approval.
“Agent Bliss, we believe that we know why they are interested in Senator Bradley.”
“And your going to indulge me I take it?”
“But of course.”
Her expression does not change. And her vacant stares make them uneasy. Trust with this woman is not a given, and they know that they must tell her something to lower the growing tension that is felt in her annoyed stare.
“Senator Bradley is Privy to certain information that involves some rather delicate operations of Project Threshold, names of undercover operatives out in the field, involved in months of field surveillance. As well as other security sensitive information involving this very compound. We believe that the reds were going to try to blackmail the Senator into trading department information for his daughters life. And the latest intelligence reports confirm that the team of reds that you took out had a back up unit already in place. But the Senator and his daughter aren’t where they thought they would be, in fact WE don’t even know exactly where he is.”
She sighs slightly.
“And let me guess.. You would like my team and I to go find them before the reds do.”
She leans back in her chair to wait for more good news.
“Agent Bliss.. We have been authorized to ask you to do that very thing.”

Scratch ABT Copyright © 2006.