The Guardians' Fate: Book One (On Hold)

Back at Base

"Heatwave this is Echo. Target lost"

The message was all Heatwave needed to realize that they had failed the mission. The ex-marine took off his helmet and ran a hand through his army cut hair in frustration.

As team leader he was beyond annoyed that Echo was not a team player, but when it comes to tracking supernaturals, there is none better and If Echo had lost the targets the search party won't fare any better.

Reluctantly he activated the radio links. "All units this is Heatwave, abort mission"

Silence returned to the forest with the withdrawal of the soldiers. Heatwave contacted the general. "Sir, the mission failed. Target lost"

"Regroup and return to base" his orders were monotone.

"Yes sir"

Heatwave turned to find Echo emerging through the surrounding trees. 'The Ghost' they called him, because of his habit of disappearing without a trace and appearing as if he never left. Echo's unnaturally fair skin and his days as a black ops soldier only helped to make the name more permanent.

"Do that again and you are off the team. Got that?" Heatwave warned his rouge teammate.

The only reaction Echo spared was a slight turn of his head as he walked passed Heatwave to board one of the jets.

Fumed by the insubordination, Heatwave turned around to punch some sense in to him only to be stopped by Terrain as she grabbed him by the arm.

"Let it go Heatwave, That man is a mystery not worth solving. besides we have bigger problems now"

Heatwave turned around to see Terrain with the data she had gathered from around the area.

"Yeah, I guess you're right" He said and relaxed his clenched jaw.

It was at times like these that having an old friend from the forces in the team was a blessing.

"Yeah, you're right. let's get the data back to H.Q"

Within minutes everyone was on board and the jets took off. The hypersonic jets shot through the sky and arrived at a canyon where a wide waterfall plummeted nearly two hundred meters.

The jets hovered before the waterfall as two scanners emerged from the canyon walls and scanned the jets for identification. Once the mosaic patterns of lasers have covered every inch of the jets, the waterfall split in the middle to reveal a massive docking area where a small fleet of jets were already docked inside.

After the jets landed in their designated area, a pit crew arrived to attend to the jets along with the medical personal who attended to the injured. On their way out the speakers in the hangar activated.

"Hunters report to central command"

The central command was filled with people constantly monitoring screens and busily walking around coordinating other missions but all heads turned as the hunters, now relieved of their armour, entered the command centre. The news of the mighty hunters' humiliating defeat against a single supernatural had already spread all across the division. General shade entered the room from another doorway and beaconed the team to follow him.

With the team close behind him, Shade walked in silence through a hallway and onto a circular platform at the end. Once the team was behind him on to the platform he entered a code at a small access terminal. With a small jerk the platform began descending into the lower levels of the base.

The ride down the elevator was silent as failure loomed over the team like a grey cloud. As small lights on the wall around them raced upwards Torrent gave Heatwave a questioning look saying. "What's going on?"