The Metahuman Agency: The Superhuman War

Dark Strike

"Oh fuck," Laureen snarled, her mouth agape as she stared at the screen. Jason gritted his teeth, hearing Hiroshi and Audrey squeal and gasp respectively. They were back. And they were going after civilian lives this time, on a mass scale. Thousands of innocent people were in danger of being killed. Dozens probably already had been.

Axel snapped his fingers and yelled, "Any smartphones active in the area? Newsfeeds, dashcams, anything?!"

"Several mobile devices active!" One woman yelled. She slapped away at the keyboard. "Putting through live feed now..."

The digital map blinked away on the screen and was replaced by a handheld view through someone's phone. Jason stepped closer to the map, squinting his eyes. It was hard to see what was going on. The phone appeared to be pointed straight down at the ground, waving back and forth, the ground itself reduced to a blur. There were screams echoing about, as well as sirens and the distant roar of gunfire.

Whoever was holding the phone suddenly stopped and the picture ceased shaking. It was yanked up, pointing forward. Jason could now see the person was standing inside an alleyway, a chainlink fence at the other end, surrounded by piles of trash. Jason noticed, to his horror and disgust, that a man was lying against the other side of the fence, his limbs all contorted in unnatural positions. Half his head was blown off, blood dripping from the wound.

The person's breathing increased. He or she took a step forward but then stopped and shrank back. Jason knew why. Anyone seeing a sight that horrible...it was a wonder this person hadn't fainted upon seeing the corpse. Jason frowned at himself, a little disgusted he was able to stare it with little more than discomfort. He should be feeling more. But after seeing so much death and destruction, he was desensitized to it. He didn't like that. But there wasn't much he could do to change that.

A woman suddenly ran out past the alleyway, screaming loudly. The person behind the phone cried out, "In here-!" The person's voice was a woman too. But as she cried out, a gunshot rang out. The running woman's side exploded in a spray of blood. She spun and hit the pavement with a loud crack.

The phone woman gasped, her voice sounding small. Jason's jaw clenched. They needed to get out there. Now. But before he could yell at the others, several familiar faces appeared in front of the alley. Skeleton Crew mercenaries.

The phone woman ducked behind a trash can, her breathing quickening. She sounded on the verge of a panic attack. But despite herself, her held the phone out, pointing in the direction of the black clad thugs. They moved in formation, swiveling their assault rifles about but didn't seem to see the hiding woman.

The woman the mercenaries had shot lay in the street but suddenly, slowly, raised her head. She started to say something but one of the mercenaries raised his gun and fired. The burst of gunfire ripped the woman's head to shreds and she fell back against the ground, her head lolling, a splatter of blood flying.

The phone woman shrieked again and pulled herself back, her arm hitting against the side of the trash can and rattling it. She gasped, sounding as if she was struggling for breath, as she pulled herself back and against the wall. The phone flailed in her hand, the picture blurring and twisting.

This time, Jason did whirl on the others. "We need to get out there!" He yelled at Axel, who was staring at the screen. Axel looked at him. He slowly nodded.

"Yes...yes..." The man seemed deeply unshaken. Jason felt unnerved by that. Axel always took the job seriously but never seemed weighed down about it, making dry quips and flippant remarks about the whole business. But the Director's death and now this horrific situation unfolding seemed to have shaken the GHOST leader to his very core.