Leon listened intently to Major Usanagi’s words. He knew about the failed attempts to colonize Saturn, but that had been chalked up to technical difficulties. At least, that was the “official” explanation. He instinctively brushed his hand against the firearm underneath his coat; it was good against lightly armored humans and cyborgs but that was about it. Leon made a mental note about getting some better firepower in the next day or so.

	Hotaru cocked her head slightly. 

	‘[i]Built in communication? Impressive...[/i]’ He thought.

	“Have your car auto-drive to the Section 8 Headquarters, it’s time we see if you can handle the job…” Hotaru said, walking towards the gunship.

	“What? Where are we going?” He asked following her. The gunship loosed ropes down on winches. Hotaru grasped one of the ropes and tugged.

	“Looks like the SCTO just got themselves caught up in a nest of them. We are going to go rescue them.” She said. A second later the rope pulled her upwards.

	Leon sensed that time was of the essence and that he wouldn’t have time to run back to his car to grab his gear, so he hoped that there was something of his size up in the gunship. He grasped the rope in his hand and tugged. Immediately he was pulled off his feet and rocketed upwards to the gunship. He kicked off the rope and touched down in the gunship.

	He was greeted by Hotaru’s naked backside. He tried to make it seem like he didn’t notice but it was clearly impossible. He turned to the closest wall and started intensely examining the equipment on it. “I assume Section 8 is a coed institution?” He questioned, half sarcastically and half not. There was a plethora of Kevlar assault vests placed in storage drawers. He removed his jacket along with his shoulder holster and grabbed one, placing it over his head and tightening it securely. He strapped his holster to the vest and put the extra magazines in the pouches. There were several MOLLE pouches on the front and around the waist of the vest.

	Leon felt the gunship lurch forward and its engines roar. He grabbed the running bar and straightened himself against the inertia. His head swiveled around. “I need a weapon. Something that packs a bit more punch than what I’m currently- Oh that’ll work.” He said, his mouth shrugging. He reached down, picking up a very capable looking [url=http://digital-art-gallery.com/oid/105/1600x514_18254_Rifle_2d_sci_fi_rifle_game_art_sniper_rifle_military_picture_image_digital_art.jpg] sniper rifle [/url]. He slung it over his back and grabbed several 10-round magazines and stuffed them into his waist pouches.

	“Hey, Major,” he started, “I’m not exactly equipped to take point on this one; not like you were going to let me anyway. Let me hang back, take up an overwatch position. I don’t feel like getting cut to pieces today.” He finished. He had a feeling that even if he was wearing his assault suit he would get cleaved in two if he wasn’t careful, but there was a measure of comfort in knowing that he wouldn’t bleed out if he was wearing it.

	“Hope you’re not squeamish, Leon…you’re going to see a blood bath. We won’t get there in time to save all of them.” Hotaru said.

	Leon tapped the side of his ear. “Computer, mark my position. Follow me but stay two blocks away at all times. Wait for my mark. I feel like we might need a quick exit.”

[hr]

	The gunship roared towards the destination. As they got closer Leon tweaked his comm-bead – hacking into communications was easy when you studied how they worked in University – to patch into SCTO chatter. He nearly ripped the bead out of his ear with all the screaming he heard. “Major we need to get there double quick, these guys aren’t going to last much longer.” Leon said, checking his rifle again for the hundredth time. He checked the chamber again, noting the high-powered APDS round; that should punch through whatever armor these things were built with. 

	He leaned towards the edge of the gunship and looked over the edge. The cityscape of Mars sped by beneath them; it was starting to get dark and that wasn’t good. His HUD lit up in his eyes, highlighting the building in front of him. Muzzle-flashes lit up the windows. “GOOD. AT LEAST THERE’LL BE CLEAR SIGHTLINES.” He thought. There were just about on it and Leon felt the gunship slowing down. There was a building across the street, directly below him, with a good vantage point on the office building. “Major, I’ll be close by. Just let me know what you need.” He said, stepping out into the air.

	He was in freefall, about 60 feet. His muscles tensed, his heart beating faster. He impacted the building hard enough to crack the roof. He jogged to the edge of the roof, dropping to his stomach and popping the bipod out, lining up with the office structure. He aimed down the sight, spotting his targets. Screaming, gunfire, blood. More blood than he was used too.

	“Officer McGregor this is Commander Miller. I’m on the north side of your building across the street. We’re here to help.” Leon glanced up from his scope and saw that Hotaru was in position and ready to move. He moved back down and forced his heartbeat to slow, counting his heartbeats. He lined up with one of the creatures…and pulled the trigger.

	The rifle sent a shockwave out on either side of him, the sound of the rifle reverberating through the air. The high-powered round streaked through the air, the bullet’s sabot flying off in mid-air. The arrow like projectile impacted the glass, causing it to spider-web and crack. The gunship’s weapons screamed to life and tore through the windows a second before Hotaru landed inside. The bullet that Leon had fired impacted its target, entering through its left set of eyes and ricocheting down through its skull, knocking its jaw off in a spray of blood and muscle tissue.

	“You’re still standing? My God…” Leon breathed, squeezing the trigger again. The second round slammed into its neck; that at least caused it to stumble. One more trigger pull and a bullet to where its heart should be finally brought it down. He changed targets and fired again, this time aiming for its heart. A disgusting spray of blood and viscera exited the creature. Strangely, the beast kept standing. “That was a heart shot,” Leon breathed again, counting his heartbeats, “let’s try again.” He fired in the same spot. His bullet ripped through the creature’s torso, nearly breaking it in half; it dropped.

	Leon saw movement in the peripheral of his scope. He shifted vision upwards and had to fight to keep his heartbeat steady. At least a dozen or so more of the creatures were scrambling across the upper floors, nearly killing each other.

	[i]'No. They are killing each other.'[/i] There was a sick level of relief that he felt thinking that. He switched targets back to cover Hotaru, popping another two rounds into one moving to cleave her in half. 

	“Major, Officer, I don’t mean to alarm you but you are about to have a lot more company coming down on you. I count a dozen or so, three floors above your current position. At the rate they’re currently moving they’ll be on you in less than 30 seconds.” He explained, his voice calm as the dead. He reloaded his weapon and fired three more rounds into a creature ripping apart another soldier. He didn’t kill it but he managed to severely cripple it; shooting off its cleaver-like arms with one bullet, and blasting through its lower body with the next two. Even from the opposite rooftop he could hear its scream; one final bullet to the skull silenced it for good.

	“There’s an elevator towards the back of the floor you’re currently on. If you’re lucky it’ll still be functioning. If you’re not,” he fired three rounds at the creatures on the upper floors, managing to slow them down slightly as they tripped over one of their dead, “well, then you’re not lucky. But you need to move. I’ll cover you as best I can.” He said.

This was turning into one hell of a day…