UCAC Ch. 04

"You're coming back, Subbu! Like we promised each other, we'll be looking out for one another!" I said, hoping to reassure him. He didn't respond, seeing someone walking out of the palace. He chuckled a bit.

"That's my mother." He said. She was a tall woman, taller than Subbu, with raven hair. She had a very chiseled face, high cheekbones and a thin nose. She wore a gorgeous mink coat that draped down to her feet. I don't blame her for wearing it either. It was very cold out here. She got into a SUV, heading out into town.

"I bet you miss her..." I said.

"I do but... It's just strange. This mission takes place forty miles north of my home... Like, my family won't even know I'm here." He chuckled.

"Yeah, I see why it bothered you. I don't know how I'd deal if I were in your situation." I said.
"Bothered me?" He asked.

"Dude, it obviously did if you left the ship early to come see your family." I laughed.

"Yeah, you're right..." Subbu laughed.

"Come in Merlin and Subbu." Tinnu said on the Radio.

"Here." I said.

"Where are you guys?" Tinnu asked.

"About thirty, forty miles out... Heading to objective now." I said.

"Hurry." Tinnu said.

I looked over to Subbu. He was steadily soaring on low held wings, circling on the thermal.

"Race you!" I said.

"Sure!" He responded. The two of us got parallel to each other, descending into a glide. Once we were gliding at the same speed it was on.

"On your mark...get said...go!" I said.

We both accelerated from our shallow, forty mile an hour glide to one hundred miles an hour, one fifty, two hundred, two fifty, to pushing three hundred. We were neck and neck not really wanting to push our top speed until the final few miles. It took about seven minutes to reach the thirty five mile mark. With about five miles to go, we pushed ourselves to our top speed. I began to marginally outpace Subbu, having a top speed of three hundred twelve miles an hour. Subbu's top speed was about three hundred five miles an hour.

Subbu did not take my gradual lead lightly. The boy stooped down, swiftly darting to four hundred miles an hour. There was a bit of a head wind coming from the sea to the north and Subbu was going to use this to his advantage. Not wanting to lose this, I dove too. I powered along my speed increasing drastically. I eventually began to catch up to Subbu. The boy began to ascend again veering northwest. As we came side by side, he banked northeast, descending again. He was catapulted by the wind, whipping past me for the second time.

This was a surprise! Subbu knew how to use these winds and he was placing considerable distance between us. This style of flight was known as dynamic flight, cutting through wind by rising with the head wind and descending rapidly when the wind conditions changed due to rapid ascension. In actuality, it could boost a top flat speed significantly.

It didn't take long for me to catch up to Subbu. Despite being faster than him on paper, we whipped past each other constantly, there not being a definitive winner.

"You guys are coming in hot..." Tinnu noted, "Problem?"

"Yeah," I responded, "Subbu is winning!"

"HAHAHAHA!!" Subbu squacked.

We came into visual contact with the other Wingsuit Pilots soaring above the hills. Nestled in the hills, connected to the cliffs of the coast was a network of giant greenhouses, overrun with plants. I mean they were huge, each one the size of a hangar. They were a frickin labyrinth, connected by long glass corridors and bridges. All of them seemed to connect to a massive dome, standing about three hundred feet at its highest. It made me grateful for the new advancements on my suits, particularly the mapping sonar. It would reduce the time we were in this place. However, we couldn't enter just yet.

"Patrolling the perimeter now. Broad sweeping scans..." Steppe said. His position as well as other Roc Wingers became visible on the HUD. Us Long Wingers circled above, waiting for a go ahead. There weren't any blatant giveaways that this mission would be dangerous. Tinnu looked down at the huge dome.

"I can feel the signature of electronics down in there but I can't see due to that overgrowth..." Tinnu said.

"Ground Penetrating Radar scans," Boots said, sweeping low over the grounds at high speed. His search came up with nothing in particular, "Nothing suspicious..."

"Well that's strange..." I said, "What about you, Steppe?"

"Nothing so far," He said over the air, "I don't think there are any threats... Nothing escapes our radar detection, even bone matter..."

"Strange," Tinnu said, hovering over the dome, "Boots, sweep the facility... I got a bad feeling about this place..."

"Sure..." He responded. He flew over, using his ground penetrating radar to perform meticulous scans. The dense radio waves picked up nothing suspicious at all. The only thing odd that it picked up were dead bodies long decomposed, but all things considered, it was not worth mentioning. The humans that died here most likely were botanists and this was part of the written briefing that Boots had read.

"Nothing..." He said.

"Well what makes this place dangerous?" Tinnu asked, perplexed.

"Yeah, I'm at a loss too." I sighed, unsure why Dr. Helm said that this mission would be extremely dangerous. It seemed it'd be very straight forward.

"You have the go ahead..." Empire, Second Wing of the Rock Wingers said.

"Alright." Gyr said, heading towards the ground.

We followed him, landing firmly on the ground at the old entrance of the Spain Botanical Facility. Still though, I couldn't help but feel that this mission would get grim.

"Let's get this over with..." Tinnu sighed, the first to walk into the building. We followed, the facility being incredibly dilapidated on the inside. Plant vines were everywhere, growing from the walls, the plant shafts reaching back hundreds of feet if not thousands. The tiled floors were shattered and the walls were molded. All and all, this place was incredibly erie.

This was just an entry though, one of many, this being the closest to the core. As we descended further into the facility, the foliage became more and more thick. Broad leaves great for gathering light, did their job. They made it hard for anything beneath the canopy to see and it was getting dark fast. We all froze, daunted by the path ahead.

"How are we supposed to navigate through here?" Tinnu asked.

"I um..." I began, "My suit has some new hardware. Tinnu set up a link between my visual feeds to you all, and I can map out the path ahead for you..."

"Wait, when did you get new stuff?" Saker asked.

"Now's not the time to ask... It's experimental stuff and I'm supposed to report if it works or not..." I said.

"Sure thing..." Tinnu said, navigating his holowatch. He linked us all together, looking perplexed, "What now?"

I navigated my Helm's HUD activating both pulse sonar and the ultra spectrum visual feed. It was then I recieved caution alerts.

"Whoa..." Tinnu said, caught off guard, "What are these alerts?"

"I'm not sure... I think my suit is acting up. It's getting countless motion readings but nothing is moving around us..." I said.

"Is it mistaking us for the motion?" Subbu asked.

"No... It's too many... The suit already is programed to ignore your telemetric feeds especially since we're not synced... Hang on..." I said, truly confused. I began to take detailed sonar scans of the place. It captured a radius of three hundred feet, rendering a map. As I did another scan, I noticed something strange. The giant vines were in a slightly different location than they were just seconds ago. Unsure what to make of this, I did another scan.

The giant vines were creeping along the floor of the facility.

"Why do you keep scanning?" Subbu asked.

"The vines are moving..." I said, "Look..." I pulled up a comparison of the three scans.

"Whoa..." Tinnu said, taken aback.

"Tinnu, have it set up that the IPUs and shaders render a live 3D map responsive to your movements...I'll be sending live updates as we progress through here." I said.

"Will do." Tinnu responded.

"We got to make this standard on our suits..." Milan said, looking around at his environment as Tinnu punched in the updates. Not only could they see the world around them, they could see through obstacles. In addition to this, a map took up the lower left corner of their HUD. It made navigating this dark environment very easy.

"You take the lead..." Tinnu said, "I got to write an auto patch so this shit will automatically know what the fuck to process when in close quarters, low light situations..."

"Eh..." I sighed, knowing his efforts would be in vain. I was going to leave, probably tonight considering how things were run here.

Still though, I took the lead, everyone marching through the labyrinths of halls and greenhouses as quickly as possible. We turned into one of the more massive greenhouses, edging closer to the heart of the facility. The plant activity increased dramatically as we did. It was so fucking creepy. It's one thing to feel watched but it was another thing entirely to feel watched by plants. We didn't know if these things could sense us or not, but the way they slithered about made my skin crawl.

Subbu walked right into something dreadful. A long decayed human body was suspended half-way in the air with a vine growing through the back of his skull, coming out of the eye socket. Subbu was face to face with this, scared shitless.

"Man what the FUCK!" He shouted, stepping back. We all turned to see what had him so riled. Gyr walked over, shining his light on the carcass.

"That's not pretty..." He said, not unnerved at all.

"How the hell?" Tinnu asked, looking at the strange sight. I was at a loss for words, this being one of the most bizarre things I've seen.

"So," Saker began, "Was he dead before of after the vine punched through the back of his skull and started to grow?" I circled the site.

"I"m guessing before because he was still standing and technically still is..." I said.

"What the fuck does this mean then?" Tinnu asked.

"Just," I began, "Be on your toes..."

"Keep moving..." Gyr commanded. It warranted a very concerned look from us all, "Let's get what we came for...and get out."

Was I the only one that felt like this was a warning from these plants? It showed us that it has killed before and that we should turn back. Now that I paid closer attention, this entire greenhouse was riddled with dead humans.

"Guys..." I said, highlighting all the dead bodies on the map. Each one had a vine running through the corps, a quill launched through a skull or a the bones were partially dissolved, some even crushed. One giant vine lay atop a human carcass, obviously falling upon the person. It went from a bit unsettling to completely unnerving.

"Man, what happened here?" Tinnu asked, looking around.

"Let's not stick around to find out." I advised, making my way towards the upper bridge. We were edging closer to the heart of this facility.

As we made it to the upper bridge, a giant vine darted before us, blocking the way. It startled us so bad we all jumped.

"Shit, these things don't want us to go any further..." I noted.

"We got to." Gyr said. Of course this homicidal maniac would say bullshit along those lines.

"How the fuck are we going to get past this damn thing...?" Saker asked.

"Stand back guys..." I said.

They all looked at me, unsure what I had up my sleeve. They stepped back, stepping back even more as the dual pulse beams charged up on my helm. I fired a blast of concentrated light at the vine, singeing straight through it. We walked through.

"Whoa man..." Tinnu said, impressed.

"Let's hurry the fuck up..." I said, a strange feeling of regret coming over me. It was not because of remorse of destroying the giant vine, but because I felt these vines were being kind... They weren't going to hurt us unless we hurt them. Maybe it was what they were waiting for.

We all marched through the upper bridge ready to get to the main dome. I took the lead, scanning the path ahead. Lanner, who kept quiet, was right behind me...to my left. Tinnu and Saker stayed together on my right, Subbu walking behind them. Taking up the rear, just behind Subbu, was Gyr.

"Um," Tinnu said over the air, "Long Wingers to Roc Class Wingers... It appears that the vegetation in this facility is dangerous. Several of the dead humans in this place seemed to have succumbed to injuries caused by the plants themselves."

"You sure?" Empire said.

"A giant vine suddenly blocked our path and we had to cut through it... I'm most definitely sure. Please stand by and be ready to provide support air support..." Tinnu said back.

"Heeded..." Empire replied.

The motion alerts now turned into warnings but I figured it was due to the extra activity of the plants around us. I had no idea that a vine was creeping in from a broken window frame...stalking us. But guess who knew and didn't utter a word... Gyr. He stepped back, wanting this thing to take one of us out. Giving the vine a wide girth as it continued to follow us, he watched the monstrosity. It crept closer and closer, it's pace picking up as we neared the end of the upper bridge.

Subbu, feeling something wasn't right saw the vine creeping along. It had picked out Lanner as its target since he was relatively isolated, walking by himself. The plant launched a vicious attack, Gyr watching in delight as the botanical beast went for Lanner. However, Subbu sprung forward. He stretched out his feet, knocking Lanner to the bridge floor as the vine wrapped him up. The boy screamed loudly, the vine bashing him into the glass and metal frame of the the bridge. Unsure what was going on, everyone ducked covering their heads as debris began to fall.

Upon realizing what was going on, I was horrified.

"SUBBU!!" I screamed. The vine yanked the boy out of the tiny hole it came in from, knocking off a considerable amount of his armor. I ran after them, trying to see where the vine was dragging him off to. Wasting no time, I shattered the dense glass with my talons, slipping out of the bridge.

Powering through the sky after the vine, I was almost paralyzed from horror seeing him yanked through a tiny hole in the base of the dome. Again, more of his armor was knocked off, including his Helm. I entered, not prepared for what I was going to see next. A giant botanical oral cavity, filled with giant hooked spikes was grinding Subbu up. They were piercing his armor...piercing his flesh. His screams made me feel so helpless as the massive plant continued to chew him alive. The boy reached out to me, as though I could help him. It was so heart breaking having to stand here to witness this. I screamed...

"LIAM!! LIAM!!" I shrieked and shrieked until the boy stopped moving...

Blood trickled down through his armor, to his frail fingertips. He was dead. The giant plant had killed this innocent little being and there was nothing I could do.

The killer plant's focus shifted to me. Several vines rose up, ready to strike me. Concentrating on this opposition was damn near impossible. Everything grew into a silent roar, the air around me becoming still. A giant vine came down ready to strike me dead. As it did, dozens of quills embedded into it's fibers, exploding on impact. The boom rang in my ears...

"NOOO!!" Tinnu said, landing next to me. He trembled at the site of Liam. He turned to me, grasping me in his arms.

"Merlin!!" He said, shaking me, "MERLIN!!" I was still in shock... More of the murderous vines came down to strike, "SHIT!"

Tinnu firing instant explosion quills to buy is both a tiny window of time. Saker and Lanner arrived, floored by the sight of Liam dead in the jaws of this giant plant. Wasting no time, both of them began firing a barrage of explosive quills. I began to come out of my daze, having to gather my focus. Liam's death could not be in vain, it simply couldn't...

"Guys... " I said, "I'm going for the Mallet! Cover me!"

"Ok..." Tinnu said.

I took off, shooting high energy beams at vines as I went by. It just didn't gratify me though. I dove in, firing several pulse beams at the jaws of the plants, causing serious searing damage. The plant roared out, angered... a plant...angered! The giant botanical beast spat Liam out on a new quest. It wanted me in it's jaws this time. The creature erupted from it's basin revealing a monstrous body.

It was several dozens of feet long if not several hundred feet. It's body was covered in dense moss. It had six insect-like limbs that looked like tree trunks. On it's back were four massive leafy structures. From it's tail came several hundred vines, each one able to think independently as they still faced off with the rest of the Long Wingers. It looked like a giant wasp, a wasp made of plants.

Still though, I was not fazed. I flew towards the control room suspended high above the facility. Crashing through the window, I landed on the control panel. The Mallet was connected to to the control panel by several wires. The Mallet itself being a tiny computer, could be folded and carried like a suitcase. I disconnected the machine from its ports and closed it. As I did, a vine came crashing into the control room. It knocked me down, wrapping me up with constricting force. I grabbed the Mallet in my talons as I was dragged out of the control room.

The vine blew up, sending me falling to the dome floor.

"THIS IS TINNU! WE'RE REQUESTING SUPPORT!!" Tinnu said over the air. Swooping down to my rescue was, Saker. He picked me up in his arms as a vine circled us. I was close to blacking out, the fall being extremely brutal.

Just when it looked grim for us, Empire came crashing through the top of the dome, firing a barrage of rocket propelled explosive quills at the plant monster. It remembered in glimpses, the massive plant fighting back hard but fearing the flames. I temporarily blacked out. Coming to briefly again, the giant creature burst through the facility, the four leafy structures on it's back, acting as wings. Again, I blacked out. I woke up in a gurney several minutes later, inside the ship. I didn't know what the hell was going on. My team surrounded me, looking on in somber shock.

"That thing took off and headed across the ocean. We were told not to engage... But still thought, you got the Mallet!" Marcell said, proud. I could care less...

"Where's Liam!" I asked.

"He's gone..." Marcell said, his eyes beginning to well over.

"He's gone?" I asked, struggling to believe this.

"The Roc Class had to bomb that place to get us out." Milan sighed, shielding his face as he sat. I leaned up, looking around. Something wasn't right.

"Denver," Someone called from upstairs, "You may want to look at this." I got up, very sore from the nearly three hundred foot fall. Thank God we had these suits because I couldn't have survived without it. Milan helped me ease up the stairs.

"Over here..." Trevor said, looking very serious. I walked over to the computer terminal where a live feed of the footage our suits recorded was taken.

"What?" I asked. Trevor, Malcolm and many other Roc Winger's looked at me concerned with how I'd react. Trevor hit the spacebar.

This was the feed right when the vine initially attacked. It showed that Jarvis was well aware of this vine twenty six seconds before it even attacked.

"He knew..." I snarled.

"I can't believe..." Marcell said, shielding his face. I continued to watch, watching as the feed showed Liam being bashed so brutally, the scutes on his wings came loose, flying about in every direction. All I could do was get angry. I marched down the stairs to find Jarvis. He was sitting in rear near the bay doors, no concerns at all.