SFC Smith was pissed.
While his brothers and sisters were fighting on the frontline earning honor and glory fighting the Divine Powers, he was stuck raiding a complex that supposedly housed a cult.
"Sergeant, we are thirty seconds out from the objective, prepare to disembark and proceed with the mission."
"Alright everyone listen up!" Sgt. Smith called out to his troops "One last time, we surround the complex, then we go in hot, these bastards are reportedly running human experiments, so our primary objective is eliminating all of them, first squad takes the northern entrance, second takes the east, third takes the west, fourth takes south, and fifth is on overwatch. Is everyone clear on their roles?"
All 50 of his soldiers immediately sounded off "YES SERGEANT!"
Then LT Hernandez walked up beside him "We have the green light. Everyone don your helmets, maintain stealth until everyone is in position. Good hunting, and stay alive."
Everyone pulled on their helmets, which were full head coverings with a tinted face visor that went from forehead to chin.
"Comm check, all squads report in." SFC Smith called into his helmets headset.
"1st squad, all comms green"
"2nd squad, all green"
"3rd squad, all green"
"4th squad, all green"
"5th squad, all green"
As the last of the reports came in, the RST312 aka "little bird", a troop transport helicopter that can carry a platoons worth of soldiers, landed and dropped its rear ramp.
LT Hernandez's voice cracked through the helmet speaker. "Radio once you are in place, we move as one. Move out!"
All of the soldiers activated their active camouflage, which blends them into their surroundings, and rushed down the ramp before splitting off to their respective objectives.
Suddenly LT Hernandez turned towards SFC Smith
"Sergeant, I know this isnt the mission you wanted, but please keep in mind it's just as important as going to the front."
"Of course sir. Command wouldn't give it to us if it wasnt."
Hernandez gave a shirt sigh "as long as you understand, now let's go wipe this cult off the face of the map."
"As ordered, sir"
○○○
After getting the report that all squads were in position, SFC Smith gave the order.
"Operation housekeeping is a go, all squads move in eliminate everyone in the building, do not let them destroy their records."
And with that four squads moved in unison. They were able to eliminate 15 people before an alarm was raised
As soon as the alarm started blaring, the cultists started appearing in droves, ready to fight. We'll kind of, some had only the top halves of their armor, some didnt have any, but they charged out nonetheless.
"Kill the intruders! Don't let them past us!"
"Well sir, they're tenacious, you have to give it to them"
"Sergeant, the only thing I have to give them is a bullet"
"Well, good thing we have plenty then."
○○○
Floor after floor, level after level they just kept coming. 1st and 2nd squads had gone up making their way to the roof with SFC Smith.
3rd and 4th went with LT Hernandez towards the basement levels.
"Sergeant, how can there be so many of them?"
SFC Smith turned towards the woman who had just spoken to him, 1st squads squad leader SGT Kip.
"Well given what they do here, there's bound to be a shit ton of guards, they cant have their 'experiments' escaping."
"Experiments. If it weren't for them, I'd have opted to bomb the place and call it a day." She made no attempt to hide the disgust in her voice.
"Then let's make sure we are just as effective at eliminating these human trash heaps."
As he said it they reached the 12th floor, the first one without any guards.
"Alright everyone keep your eyes open, dropping your guard is a good way to get shot. Check all of the rooms, I dont want a cultist popping out like a jack in the box and spraying us down."
Carefully they opend the first door and cleared it. Inside was a gruesome scene, bodies littered the floor, all stripped of their clothes, their bodies marked with scars from what looked like multiple surgeries. Some were blackened and burned, and some were missing arms and legs, others their heads.
"Ugh, thank God for the helmet filter. This probably smells horrific."
"Sergeant, there are more over here..."
As he went to the Private who had called out to him, he saw that the second room was in the same state.
Fighting the bile rising in their throats, they checked each room, and each room was the same way. Hundreds of bodies, hundreds of people murdered for these sick experiments and then discarded like a used tissue.
One of the soldiers turned to him. "Sergeant, why are we just raiding this place now? Look at all of these people, how are we just getting to this?"
SFC Smith let out an exasperated sigh. "I was wondering the same thing myself Private, and believe me when we get back to base I intend to find out."
○○○
Finally they made it to the roof.
"Sir, the upper levels are clear, orders?"
"Well done sergeant, have the squads grab anything important. I need you to come down here. Basement level 5."
" On my way sir. Whats going on down there?"
"We found a live one, hurry your ass down here."
Smith ran down the stairs as fast as his legs would carry him. He threw open the door to basement level five and found a room full of large cylindrical cubes. Most were empty, but the one in the center had a transparent fluid inside. And floating in it was a man.
"Dear God, he must be like 8 feet tall."
LT Hernandez turned towards him upon hearing his words.
"Yeah, he's a god damn giant. According to the files we've gone through so far he's the first successful experiment."
"We saw the failures, what the hell were they doing here?"
"Appatently creating super soldiers. And he's the first one, a man named Travis Miller."