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"We are the citizens of the state. We invite you, soldiers of the end war. Fight with us, or die beneath us. We, The Common Man, shall persevere through the darkness." - James Hemmingway

The rest of the night was spent talking and enjoying the time together, though heated at times. The food was glorious and the drink made more than one of eagle claw want to punch each other's lights out. In the morning, groggy and hung over, tablets were forced down their throats by the medics as they were called to the briefing room. By the time they got there, most of the hangover was gone and they were reporting for duty. They finally had a mission.

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The commander of the base, Richard Hammond, Addressed them. Standing over a holographic Wargames projector. Showing what seems to be anchorage alaska, black markers all over it. "It has been a while, Eagle Claw." Richard said to them, his hands clasped behind his back as he stared the group down. Leinhart was not with them. "After nearly three weeks with no mission, we have one for you. We have been continuously pushing into old Alaska, the battlegrounds for the great war and where one of our forward bases has been established: Tesla Command. This base is the staging grounds for securing the region, over two hundred soldiers there. Up until about three days ago, everything was going according to plan, but then everything went quiet. No signals, no messages, nothing. We have sent scouts in to investigate, but none have returned. We will not risk a full scale search while the enemy is beating their war drums at our gates. I want you to investigate. Search the area and find out what happened to our troops.Thunder will fly you out as soon as you suit up and ready yourself. "

The team nodded and proceeded out the door, no questions needed asking this time, Alaska was a place that had been on the Enclave's list for a while now.

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Dropping down to the earth in the frigid north, the team unholstered their weapons and let Thunder fly away to find a secure landing zone. It was frigid here, the cold being nearly as bad as Eagle Claw base. The wind biting into what parts of their bodies were exposed. A few of them had extra clothing on, scarves and gloves, an extra layer of clothing maybe. Shibuya had one of the new Plasma Sniper rifles in hand and would stick close to Andrew as his wing-woman. They had a half mile quickmarch through the canyons to the base, old world trenches that were carved to slow down the enemy. There were multiple paths and intersections for them to investigate. It was eerie here, the only sound was that of the wind whipping across the frost covered landscape. Snow crunched underfoot as they moved forward, the sound echoing through the trenches. They felt as if they were being watched, hair standing on end. Andrew stopped the squad before they moved on. "Alright." He addressed them. "Several trenches to comb through to find the two hundred soldiers that disappeared. Search for any clues to what might have happened. Footprints, drag marks, blood, bodies, bullets, casings. Anything. There has to be something. Bear and Lucy, take the tunnels there." He pointed towards a large tunnel entrance to beneath the trenches. They were built for war and were no doubt still standing. "Ginger, you're with me and frost. We'll be taking a look at that trench there." He pointed towards the left most trench, one that winded into the heart of the complex and to the base. "Venom and Whisper, take the right most Trench. We'll meet up in the middle and search it then. Keep your radios clear of chatter and report any movement. "

Taking Ginger into the trench with Frost at the rear, neither of them felt right as they walked, something was definitely watching them, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. As they looked, there was barely any trace of the soldiers that were here. Food and provisions were left on the table like they had simply gotten up and left. Footprints were covered up by snow, no signs of battle, no blood, not even a note. It was as if they all just disappeared. It made Andrew overly cautious and constantly watch corners and the areas above them. The wind itself even made him jump at times as it picked up.

Frost was uneasy, wanting to break the ice a little, she flipped off her radio so she could talk freely, keeping her long bright red scarf up to try and resist the cold. "I like your armor, Ginger. I've seen those patterns in old books. It suits you." Slowly and deliberately he turned his eyes on her with a frown. He glared at her for a few moments then shook his head and put his helmet on. "What did I say?" she said, her smile turning to a frown underneath her scarf. "What [i]is[/i] your problem, Ginger? You've been in a pissy mood since you put on your armor." Said Andrew, whom had switched off his radio as well. He didn't bother to look at either of them. The helmet locked into place and let out a tiny hiss while the insides of the armor compressed. He checked a few things to make sure the displays were still working, "No problem." Andrew frowned, usually Ginger was more talkative. "Bullshit. I've fought for two months with you, you're not gonna hide it. What's wrong?" "Really?" Ginger shook his head, "You don't know what's wrong." Andrew looked at him, his eyebrow cocked. "Not really. No." Ginger ignored him and focused on checking his weapons and systems again. "So, as is quickly becoming the norm, you're going to hide inside of your armor instead of actually talking.", Andrew said to him. His temper being tested.

He looked up at Deathstroke for a few seconds, then looked down and activated the cloak on his armor. "Oh...so it's the armor." He ran at Ginger's last position and slugged him, his hand taking a bad hit, but so did Ginger's helmet. "Get over it." Still cloaked, he straightened himself and made sure nothing had been jarred loose and shook his head, "Do you want to finish the mission or not? Don't fucking touch me again." "Considering you're being a bitch and throwing a hissy fit over a recovering psychopath's reintegration into humanity via drawing on your armor, I'd rather you sat it out instead of bringing us all down with you." Andrew stood defiant against Ginger's attitude. "I'm not the one that's going to bring down this mission. I'm focused. Everybody else seems to be losing their shit over this stupidity now. It's done. It's over." Andrew crossed his arms, his face contorting in anger. "You're focused on killing, not being a human. Lose sight on being a human and what are you? Not a soldier, a damn robot."

"I don't need you to lecture me." Ginger said. "And I don't need you to treat a woman that looks up to you as a hero like she's less than garbage, Tristain." Meanwhile, Frost is just looking almost in disbelief at the drama that has unfolded. "Whatever... Let's just go already." Ginger continued to stonewall. " "Not until you drop this pathetic attitude of yours, Tristain." Andrew sighed, calming himself a bit. "It's dropped." A bit of relief overcame Andrew, even though he "Then next time you see Melanie in base, give the woman a hug and thank her for the armor." He stopped for a moment before continuing. "You did save her life before either of you were in Eagle claw, afterall."

"No I didn't... What the hell are you talking about?" Tristian said, his voice saying that he was truly confused. "I have to read the psyche reports from the psychologists when she goes in for a session. She's recovered memories from when Commander Hammond found her, you were there, one of the soldiers that guarded Hammond. Unlike the partner you were with, whom just wanted to fuck her, you comforted her. She looks at you like a hero, man." Tristain was quiet for a moment. "... I don't really remember that," his tone was less short now, "There were a lot of those." "She's the one that was in the cove just inside Washington." Again quiet for a moment, Ginger nodded. "Right..."

Their discussion over, with Ginger understanding what was happening to the people around him, they moved on. As they turned a corner, they froze as a howl shattered the silence, Andrew slowly turned to the alternate path behind them, leading to an officer's quarters. Above them, a [url=http://img2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20140323120226/wolfenstein/images/thumb/5/57/PanzerHund.jpg/640px-PanzerHund.jpg]Metal Monstrosity[/url]. They all raised their weapons and started firing. The only thing that was actually doing damage against it was Ginger's rifle, denting it a little. It sprinted at them after Ginger's first hit. Ginger's second created a small hole in the face, Frost took the opportunity to hit it with her own rifle and the super heated plasma broke through, melting it enough for the round to rip through to the brain. It wrecked havoc on it and it fell forward, sliding on the snow until stopping a few feet in front of Andrew. He went clicked on the comms then. "Contact, contact. Large steel armored bipedal beast. Very very tough. Two rounds with Gauss rifle, finished with a plasma round through the severe dent on the head. Think we found out what happened to the soldiers here." He approached the beast, the entire inside of the head was melted and destroyed, circuitry sparking. He looked it over for weaknesses and found several. "Completely robotic, legs are weak at the joints. Hydrolics suggest very high strength, has teeth and jaws, very very sharp...armor piercing. Shoot first, ask questions later."