Assault on Sanderson's base: Many names

Matt kept his M416 raised as he approached the back door of the facility. The gun in his hands shook slightly, this being his first day on the job. A sweat-stained bandana covered his face, as a battered coat, riddled with scuff marks and its collar torn, fluttered with the gentle breeze and his rapid, deft movements.

I should have replaced it, he’d thought, but he was sent into action before he  got the chance.

By now, his teammates that were behind him had moved up

Rufus, the team leader, jogged past the boy all the way up to the door. He forced his back against the wall, his Glock 20 pressed to his chest. A blast helmet covered his head. A ballistic vest strapped tightly to his body with the words “FUCK IT, WE'LL DO IT LIVE” painted in white on the back. Slung over his shoulder was a light machine gun with the letters BMFG inscribed on the receiver.

The third and final team member, who had wished to remain anonymous,  prepared himself for combat with a standard Kabar knife, double-edged. His movements towards the door were casual, and the entrance remained closed despite the group of suspicious individuals approaching it. The mysterious combatant had strapped scrap metal strapped to his torso  and donned a skull mask, as well as some kind of German general’s cap.

The roguelike individual had been assigned to the three-man squad at the last minute, leaving Rufus and Matt clueless as to who he was.

'A real oddball...' Matt thought to himself.

Matt lowered his rifle and took a second to look around. A large moving truck backed up to the building, its back locked shut.

The rookie turned to his higher-up. “Area secured, sir.”

Rufus lowered his pistol, turning to his allies. His tone was serious. “Okay, boys.”  

“You both heard the briefing. In this building is William L. Sanderson, the voice of the AAHW. Command’s been trying to get him for over a year. They’ve had no luck… until now. Here’s your orders: We go in there, kill him and anyone else that gets in our way, and stay together. Quick and clean. Remember, we stay together, people. Let’s move.”

The man with the mask raised his  sword point, as if to hit the tattered steel door. Instead, the entranceway elevated, revealing a very open back room. This took him by surprise, and he jumped back slightly.

Rufus simply pushed him out of the way, Glock raised, and rushed into the room. Matt quickly followed only to see no guards, but rather, three sliding doors in front of them; one to the left, one to the right and one straight ahead.

"Where ar-" Rufus said aloud, before stopping himself mid-sentence.

Matt shot Rufus a questioning look, wondering how on Earth such an experienced combatant would blow their cover like that. While the two were occupied the mysterious third hellraiser silently drifted into the room, his head fixated on something in front of his two squadmates.

Matt and Rufus quickly turned, looking upwards at what man was staring at.

Matt’s heart sank.

On the wall, above the door, was a camera and loudspeaker. The camera’s little red light was blinking on and off, its lens aimed straight for the trio.

'Shit.' Matt thought to himself.

He snapped his rifle up to his shoulder,  centering his sights on the camera, intent on shooting it to pieces.

Unfortunately, they had already been spotted.

"Hello gentlemen!" the sound was the only thing that stopped the young man from pulling the trigger.

The voice blasted from the speaker into the room, breaking a short awkward silence that had fell upon the three.

"So they sent three of you, hm? In that case, I'll have to fire my severance force after this incident! You can never rely on lackies these days now can ya?!"

It was him.

Sanderson.

Rufus raised his weapon at the camera as well.

"Where's security, buddy?" he demanded sternly. "We walked right in here, only to realize we don’t need our silencers, or guns."

There was a thump over the speaker as the skull-masked warrior paced around the room, observing the doors.

"Just because I'm an officer in the AAHW, you expect me to have my boys work a Sunday morning? The day of the church?!"

Another short silence held as Sanderson cleared his throat and spoke again.

"It's just you three, me, and a few surprises in store for you all."

"Like what?" Matt asked.

No response.

"There’s a trap somewhere around here. I can feel it." the skull-faced soldier whispered, "It would be most optimal we should each take a different route." Rufus nodded and pointed to Matt.

"You, go to the left. Nostradamus over here is going to the right and I'm going straight ahead. Simple."

"Wait a minute, sir,” Matt said hastily. “I don’t think we should be walkin’ in, after that.”

The man with the skull mask faced the door on the right side of the room, seemingly eager to attack, but stopping when he heard Matt’s statement.

“Now that I think of it,” the skull-masked man said in a dull voice, “He’s right. If they know we’re here, then you better believe they're ready for some action. We may as well just walk outside and scale the building.”

“Are you questioning my orders, soldiers? Do you have any idea how much time we’d waste if we did just that?” the leader questioned, slightly angered.

“Look,” Matt said as he slowly lowered his rifle. “Say we go in guns-a-blazing. What if they got more men in there than we thought? What if they’re just boarded up in the next few rooms?”

“I am the leader of this mission!” Rufus stubbornly replied, “We do what I say! Now get your asses through those doors and find that sonovabitch!”

“What happened to ‘stick together’?” Matt asked.

Rufus raised his pistol and aimed it at the kid’s forehead. His voice was deadly serious.“Don’t make me pull this trigger, rookie.”

Matt gently pushed Rufus’ gun aside  and walked over to the door. He swung his rifle up into his hand as the door opened in front of him.

”Will,” the ATP Engineer referred to as Mr. Self Important (SI) started saying, “...should I take care of them for you?”

SI switched his AR70 from safety to semi and waited for his leaders’ cue.

“Hold on there, Mr. Self important.” Will said, raising his hand up to halt his guard. “Number one, you haven't gotten those genetic steroid things yet. Second I want to see how much of a threat these people are.”

“With all due respect, Sir,” SI started saying “I think these people are pretty fucking dangerous, especially that guy with the knife.”

“Self,” Sanderson lowered his hand on to his desk. “You need to learn to observe your enemy and his strategies if you have any hope of destroying them.” Sanderson looked down at his phone that set on his desk. It was broadcasting the live camera feed of the three assailants as they finally went into their own separate rooms.

“Whatever,” SI responded with as he walked to the other side of the grey room. “I’m gonna go get a hot dog.” he pressed a button on the wall and the door slid open.

“Get me a diet Fill while you're at it.” Sanderson called out at SI as he walked out the door. Sanderson stroked the side of his head with his fingertips and grinned. “Let the assault begin.”



Matt took a few steps into the dark room with his gun raised, hoping nothing would jump out at him. The lights were shut off, obviously, and since he had forgotten to bring a flashlight, it was difficult for him to see.

All of a sudden, the door behind him shut closed. He turned quick as what little light had remained disappeared, encasing him in complete, pure darkness. Fearing something was in the room with him, he stood still,waiting, hoping, praying that some light would come on.  Come it did; though faint at first,the room slowly lit up once again. It wasn’t what Matt had expected but it was a relief to get out of the thick darkness. The room was filled boxes and crates; an ideal place for an ambush.

“Oh right,” he said aloud “it’s a loading dock. Damn, I should have expected that.” he lowered his gun, realizing no real threat was there, and started walking around, looking at the writing on the boxes. He read them aloud as he walked along. “Weaponry… Medical supplies… Transferred unit?” he stopped at a create with the stenciled words TRANSFERRED UNIT.

Upon closer examination, Matt saw that there were holes in the box. He slowly placed his rifle on the ground and placed his hands on the box. “This is huge, what’s in here?” he muttered as he leaned in and peeked through the hole.

“And more importantly, how did they get it in here?”

A loud, sudden swoosh behind him announced the arrival of an intruder. Matt’s head snapped backwards and his surprised expression morphed into one of horror. A MAG agent stepped into the room.

The agent was dressed in a black agent suit with a monstrous red tie. The agents’ eyes were a pair of smith-like shades,  like the L337 crew wore back in the “old days.” Matt scrambled and grabbed his gun off the floor just as the sound of nails being pulled out of wood filled the room. The Mag agent was ripping the top off of one of the crates and reaching in to retrieve something. Matt quickly took aim at the mag agent’s head and pulled the trigger. Nothing happened, except for the MAG agent removing a large PPK pistol from the crate.

Matt turned his gun, frantically checking for jams, only to notice that the safety was still on. The soldier flipped the switch onto fully auto and took aim again as the mag agent chambered a massive slug. Matt pulled the trigger again, and this time, the gun sprayed bullets that went all over the room, knocking Matt the ground. The mag agent looked amused at the kid’s attempt to injure him. The MAG agent ignored Matt and simply turned towards  a camera protruding from the wall of the room. It’s light flashed a shade of crimson red, indicating the agent had a performance...and clearance to kill

“Time to die, Child” the agent roared as Matt scurried into the piles of crates and boxes.



Mr. Self Important tapped his fingers impatiently at the desk of the cafeteria, waiting for someone to come and give him his food. At such a stressful work environment, SI always liked to gorge himself with food as it helped take his mind off of bad things that might have happened during that day. Finally a man in a dirty smock came out of a door behind the counter.

“Hey there, Mr. Sel-” the man started to say as he approached the Engineer.

“Skip the conversation Wane.” SI said quickly. “I just need a hot dog.”

“Want anything on it?” the man asked SI. SI just looked at him blankly as if telling him ‘just get my meat’ the man went back leaving SI standing there, waiting for him to come back.

“So what’s been going on with you, Selfie?” the man called out from the back of the room

“They want to send me to deal with Nexus. I mean as if they don’t give me enough shit to do already. Next you’re gonna tell me you’re out of diet Fill.”

“Well...” the guy said making SI facepalm.

“Oh no fuckin’ way!” the doors opened again and the same man came back out with a hot dog in a tray.

“Here you are. Oh, and sorry about your life.” SI grabbed the corner of his mask and lifted it up and off his head.

“Well, I was born to suffer.” suddenly and without warning there was what sounded like an explosion and the hole floor vibrated. “And now Riot’s started shooting...”