Location: North-Western Oregon, USA

Unit: GOU, Coalition forces

Date: July 24th, 2021 CE

The remaining GOU operatives walked down the corridor with a fast pace, night vision goggles over their gas masks, Richards had point with York right behind him. The dark corridors proved no problem for the GOU. They were used to this type of thing, after all. Mclaw had been preparing them for this when they were in training in Canada.

Stopping by a doorway, Richards readied to breach, whispering into his earpiece, "Gibson, knock the door down on my mark; second man will breach with me," Flicking up the night vision he switched on his thermal goggles, "The room seems to have a high number of life forms along with one on four legs. No traps."

Gibson nodded, readying himself for the call, Richards flicked down his night vision, "3, 2, 1... Breach!"

Gibson kicked the door open and the gunfire began. York stopped Richards before he could enter the room and get gunned down. Richards looked back at York and nodded, then the gunfire abruptly halted.

Richards quickly entered the room to be greeted by the jaws of a wolf-like monster. The black monster attempted to bite Richards, but was too slow. Bringing the butt of the rifle down on the nose of the unnatural animal. The animal bit into the weapon tearing a chunk out of the butt and breaking the sling. Richards quickly drew his knife from the back of his belt, slicing the neck of the animal. The blade made contact, sending blood spurting through the air and all over the goggles. Flicking the body to one side, Richards drew his pistol in his left, flicking down the thumb safety he opened fire into the room as York and another soldier entered in front of him.

Immediately, stepping back next to Gibson, he checked his damaged rifle, "Butts fucked but apart from that the internals seem to be fine," pulling off the butt plate a spring falls out, "Uh... that's not good."

Gibson chuckled, "So much for the internals being fine, your buffer spring is fucked."

A call came from inside the room over his earpiece, "Room clear, one door ahead, no casualties, fifteen enemies dead, move up."

As Richards entered the door he tossed his unloaded rifle to the side and went to pick up an ACR-3 when he spotted the spare M16 hooked over Gibson's shoulder, "Yo, pass Mclaw's M16, I want to borrow it."

Gibson raised an eyebrow, "Huh?"

Richards flicked his chin backwards, "You heard me, let me use Mclaw's M16."

Sighing, Gibson threw Mclaw's M16 at Richards, "Break it and Mclaw will murder you."

Turning back to the first door, Richards froze, moving his head towards the door, "Do you hear that?"

A faint clashing sound came from beyond the door; as Richards stepped closer, the clashing grew louder and louder. He quickly chambered a round from one of his magazines and opened the door.

Stepping through the door he saw two figures bouncing off each other, each held a blade, fighting like they were masters the blades perfectly timed with each other, each blocked the other's blow perfectly like they knew what the other one was going to do.

***

Five minutes earlier...

Mclaw stood there, his sheathe hooked on his gear with the handle closest to the ground, grabbing both the sheathe and the handle he adjusted his stance.

Hunt stood ahead of him, smiling, he muttered one word, "Blade," and reached out his hand. Blue sparks started to fill his hands as a shape of a Knightly Sword started to form. The blade was made of some type of enhanced shiny metal. Hunt flipped it around and rested it on his shoulder, "Come on, Mclaw, draw your blade."

Mclaw didn't move, even though his expression didn't change, he knew something was off. Blade was no spell he had ever seen, it seemed to be from a completely different magic system to the one he knew.

Mclaw stepped forward with his right foot, but before he placed his heel on the ground, he paused. Hunt tilted his head in confusion. But giving him an immediate answer, Mclaw shot forward, instantly drawing his blade. Hunt clenched his handle, bringing it around to deflect Mclaw's blow.

With a clang, the two blades collided for the first time. Mclaw quickly darted to the left, sword still locked, this time Hunt was too slow, Mclaw punched him in the face with his handle before pulling his sword back and making a small cut on his nose.

Before Mclaw could do any more damage, Hunt kicked him in the chin, briefly knocking him back before darting away.

Mclaw gripped the dark red handle of his blade with one hand while he clicked his jaw back into place, "That was a nice kick, caught me off guard."

Hunt, with two streams of blood running down his nose, chuckled, "You're not so bad yourself, Sir."

Mclaw dashed forward again, his dark black blade danced in the gentle light illuminating the room; deflecting off Hunt's blade, he bounced left and right trying to find an opening. Mclaw thought to himself for a second, 'This guy is incredible, I've never encountered such skill.' Mclaw was envious of Hunt's skill with a blade, he assumed Hunt must have been a natural with no more than a few months training because he definitely wasn't this capable when he was with Mclaw. Even though Mclaw was only using one hand while Hunt used two, he took his deflections as a mark of true strength. Nothing like those softies that he'd fought back in his own world.

Mclaw jumped back, then darted forward again leading with a slash, Hunt caught it and attempted to kick him in the side. Expecting this, Mclaw dropped his blade for a second and caught both Hunt's wrist and foot, he tilted his head to the side for a second before drawing his back and smashing it forward into Hunts face. Leaning down to snatch his blade from the ground he kicked Hunt in the chest with his left leg. Knocking him further back.

Hunt took a step back, "Fucking hell that hurt, guess I have to go full force now, Sword."

Another sword appeared in Hunt's hand, Mclaw smiled, "Ah full force, more like full of shit."

Without a second thought, Hunt shot forward towards Mclaw, leading with a strike, Mclaw quickly parried before going for his own blow. Hunt quickly recovered, swinging his second blade into the way of Mclaw's dark sword. Mclaw's blade was stopped in its place, and Hunt's weapon showed not even a single sign of twitching, "Full of what now, Sir?"

Mclaw's eyes widened, as he noticed Hunt's second blade coming from his left. He was pincered. Mclaw had no time to think; pulling up his left hand he grabbed the blade with hand gloved hand, then he spoke, "First Flame Generation Missus. Saisho Burst Missus!"

Hunt had no time to react, tiny balls of flame appeared above Mclaw's head before they shot forward, piercing several parts of Hunt's body. Hunt fell backwards onto his side, "Ah shit, I was warned about this..."

Mclaw stood there, bloodied himself, he knew this wouldn't be the end of Hunt. The NZA always had a backup plan.

Mclaw quickly brought the blade underneath Hunt's chin, "You are beaten, surrender."

Hunt looked at him, in a moment of defiance, "No."

Mclaw looked at him, "Well you don't really have a choice." Before Mclaw grabbed Hunt by the throat and lifted him into the air. There was no resistance, he was choked out immediately.

Mclaw checked Hunt's pulse, "He's alive, restrain him," looking down at his limp body, Mclaw took a step back letting a GOU operator tie up Hunt's hands.

Richards stood next to Mclaw, "Sir," he paused, "Heynes is KIA, Soman is MIA, Mabasa sustained heavy injuries but apart form that everything is going as planned," Richards held out Mclaw's M16 before handing it to him, Mclaw quickly checked the chamber and nodded, "We have confirmed 132 enemy have been KIA, 0 captured," Richards paused looking to the side, "There is something else about Heynes's death..."

Mclaw tilted his head, "Go on."

Richards bit his lip, "When we lost contact with him and Soman we went to go check on their position, that's when we saw Heynes, his body was torn apart, limbs facing the wrong way... it was horrific."

Mclaw nodded, "So you put him down?"

Richards shook his head, "We tried, Sir, blew off his legs, but then he responded by dropping the room on our heads."

Mclaw scratched his chin, "I see... this is worrying, do you have his body?"

Richards shrugged, "We didn't check for it."

Mclaw swore... "Dammit!" He shot forwards, disappearing down the hallway, touching his earpiece he opened an unsecure channel, "Reaper-2 we have a problem."

An old English voice responded, "Don't worry, I dealt with it."

As Mclaw ran through the corridor he paused, flipping round a corner, A soldier in SAS black kit stood there holding a British infantry sword, behind him lay a headless body, he nodded at Mclaw before tapping his earpiece, "I thought I told you not to come to the front lines?"

The soldier pulled of his gas mask, revealing his old grey hair and wrinkled face. Mabasa stepped out of a doorway looking at the two soldiers confronting each other, "General Kyton?"

The old SAS soldier chuckled, "Cleared up your mess for you, Jonathon..."

Mclaw exchanged a glare with him before chuckling, "Guess not even age can stop you..."

Kyton stood there hooking his gas mask around his waist, "Yeah, well... you did train me to be unbreakable," Kyton paused looking at the corpse, "That was the problem, right?"

Mclaw nodded, "Yeah apparently he used to be Heynes, and it seems he was infected with a virus which turned him into one of the NZA's pawns."

Mabasa escorted by the two soliders stood there watching the two soldiers catch up, "Hold up, the Captain trained you, General?"

Kyton nodded before cocking his head to the side, "You don't know yet?"

Mclaw rolled his eyes, "I've tried to tell them several times but it seems the newest generation of soldiers don't think the supernatural exists."

Kyton winced his eyes, "Mclaw, the GOU have fought humaniod robots, a virus that can cause you to become an enemy to your friends and even reanimate the dead, and that's not even including your magic abilities... so they still don't believe you?"

Mclaw sighed, "Took you two years didn't it?"

Kyton chuckled, "Well thats because you didn't like to use magic back then."

Mabasa stepped forward, "What are you two talking about?"

Kyton turned his head, "Right I'll give you a simple run down..." The general told him all about Mclaws world and there time on the Falklands, but then he mentioned a name not even Mclaw had heard in over two decades, "When Mclaw used to be much more authoritarian back in the mid 80s, he formed a task force aimed to take down the enemies of the UK and the commonwealth from the inside. It was Mclaw who founded the Task Force, which he named TFR or Task Force Reaper, we became feared by our enemies and undermined their authority every time we needed something fixed."

Mabasa's eyes were wide with envy, "What happened to them."

Mclaw grinded his teeth together and looked at Kyton with a dark look, Kyton nodded "An operation went wrong, we were caught in a trap and lost nearly everyone, in the end there were only four survivors, me and Jonathon plus two others; one committed..." he paused cutting off his sentence realising what he was about to say, "While the other died in Afghan a few years later as a mercenary working with the Americans."

Mclaw nodded, "That's not what happened Kyton... I fucked up... I insisted the raid be carried out in mainland China. It ended up being an ambush, Chinese forces had allied with the terrorists... we were then picked off one by one, snipers were everywhere. But no matter how many we lost, I refused to turn back. And if I refused so did the rest, they were loyal to a fault... too loyal if you ask me, and I got them all killed."

Kyton sighed, "Jonathon, they all knew that was their final mission, if those nukes had disappeared before we could disable them, the war on terror could have been much worse."

Mabasa stood there with the two other soldiers supporting his weight, "Wow... that's a lot to take in... we weren't Mclaw's first Task Force?"

Kyton nodded, "Correct, anyways, lets get to the surface, no point in staying in this hell hole..." turning to Mclaw he spoke, "I've ordered your loyalists to prepare to detonate the whole facility once you give the command."

Mclaw nodded, "Hold it a minute, Soman may still be in here."

Kyton looked at him, "If the NZA got Heynes, that means Soman's also dead."

Mabasa shook his head, "I don't think that's the case, Sir," he paused, "We've found no body, no blood marks and nothing to indicate that she is dead."

Kyton looked at him, "We have nothing to indicate she's alive either."

Mclaw smiled as three figures walked up behind them, Kyton swore, "Well, I'll be damned."

Richards and another Operator were bringing a semi conscious Hunt towards the exit.

Mabasa attempted to take a step forward but Kyton was faster, slamming the bleeding traitor into a wall he made eye contact, "Remember me, yeah?" He paused and watched Hunt nod, "Well, where the fuck is Soman?"

A grin grew on Hunt's face, "Well her tracker is in my upper left pocket..."

Kyton tore the pocket off catching a small device, "Fuck, what did you do with her, bastard?" He slammed Hunt into the same wall, again this time putting his infantry sword against Hunt's throat.

Hunt chuckled through the pain, "Gone, probably left San Francisco already," He paused thinking, "Well anything, I have to go now, it's been a pleasure."

Mclaw watched as Hunt grabbed Kyton's sword, before pulling it full force into his own neck. Coughing up blood, Hunt collapsed, immediately bleeding out.

Mclaw swore, "Shit."

Kyton looked around, "What the hell..."

"Fucking bastards more devoted than most," He paused, "I could tell that was his personality from when I first met him. Should have seen this coming."

The all watched the body, still in somewhat shock, Mclaw reached a hand out, "No one's reported his capture yet?" They all shook their heads, Mclaw continued, groaning, "Well, just to be safe..." he reached out muttering a few words, before flame consumed the body, "Get Zeller to detonate the explosives once we clear the building."

Suddenly, Hunts body fully evaporated, into nothing more than ash.

Kyton nodded, "Understood. Get going then."

Mclaw exchanged a glance with him as he indicated for all GOU members to follow him to the surface.

***

Zeller sat on a hillside, rifle lying next to her. She watched the facility closely. Being the last group in visual range, Alpine unit were allowed to watch the fireworks. While Zeller would have rather done it at the end of a drone feed, Lake wanted to see another explosion.

The group stood overlooking the valley, "10 seconds till detonation," Turner said looking at his watch.

They waited patiently for an explosion to echo around them. Nothing happened... Turner checked his watch again tapping it, "What?"

Suddenly the base started to rumble, sending shockwaves across the valley. The soldiers jumped to the floor to avoid falling down the hill face. Columns of dirt erupted from the ground, filling the sky.

Alpine unit watched in awe as the brief light show made there day, what a beautiful day to watch the enemy burn...

~~~~

Authors message:

Right then... if you got this far in my little project, I thank you. As we just reached the end of the first core I think its a good place to leave this little message for you, the reader. No matter what platform you may be on, thanks for sticking with the story and watching it grow. However, this is not the end for the story... we still have a long way to go.

A very long way to go!

Anyway, while this will be the end of the first core, I might release a few more extra chapters about other units and also next weeks chapter will be an authors note; in which I talk about Mclaw and his country, along with Task Force Reaper and a few other major parts of the story. While doing that I'll be planning the second core which should be starting again within the next few months.

-J