Malcom Bishop's Story

The sudden reassignment surprised Malcom Bishop as he listened in on the audio from his suit's comm system. He shrugged figuring that getting assigned to Scorpion again would be like the last time: efficient killing of infected. And that was something Bishop was quite good at. He flicked on his transmitter and spoke to the front cabin of Blackjack Two.

"You heard the man," he said. "Set me down with Scorpion team and take Jackhammer back."

"Roger," the pilot replied. The Blackjack pitched to the left as it moved into a supportive formation around Blackjack One.

Bishop reached his left hand up and gripped the safety rail. With a quick eye scan and blink on his HUD his suit ran a diagnostic of all it's systems, a list quickly being populated with text and percentages of nominal functionality. He stood and walked to far end of the cabin where his weapons were locked in place on a rack. The red lever squeaked a little as the clamps released his MG36, a light machine that was very good at doing its job: mowing down waves of infected. He flicked a switch on the side of his gun and an ammo counter appeared in the top right corner of his HUD, along with a box that would enlarge to encompass his view when needing to use the A.P.R.I.L. sighting. Jamming a new drum into the underside of the gun he reached back and hit the black button on the barrel, magnetically locking the gun to the flat surface on his back. His M27 was loaded next, stowing several clips of ammo in the various compartments along his armor, and then his G18 machine pistol which he clipped into the holster on his right hip. The diagnostic scan finally chimed its completion and gave him green marks all across the board, his modified suit running at 300% normal power. Holding his M27 in his right hand he lifted the other and made a fist. A large silver plate shot from a compartment on his wrist and locked itself to his knuckles. The plate vibrated and hummed with the electrical power that it stored. With a grin Bishop locked the plate back into his wrist and moved to the back of the Blackjack, grabbing the overhead railing as a metallic grinding emanated from the hatch door.

"Opening bay doors," came the pilot's voice over the comm. "Be ready to depart."

The door slowly slid open and for a moment Bishop saw the vastness of the broken city of Manhattan, how things had changed in the few years since the outbreak. His vision was soon obscured by the roof of a building and the Blackjack coming to a hover a few feet above it.

The pilot spoke once more. "Pile out."

Bishop clenched his gun tighter and jumped to the roof below. He struck the cement surface with a hard "clunk." Bringing his rifle up he checked the immediate landing zone, making sure it was clear before clicking his comm over to 'Lynch,' Scorpion Team's Squad Commander.

"All clear. Bishop reporting."

While Roland waited to depart, he was still standing and rocking out, bobbing his head slightly in his helmet to his invigorating tunes. He never heard the birds against the transport, but the chatter he was reading soon after caused him to furrow his brow deeply, and cease head bobbing.

"Thank you," Roland said as the song faded out. "That's quite enough music for now, ALICE. There seems to be dirty work afoot."

"Of course, Völundr," chimed ALICE. Roland the turned on his comm. again.

"The hell is going-" the transport rocked from an exterior impact. Roland almost fell over, but grabbed onto something for balance. "The fuck?! That's from birds!?" He righted himself. "I'm starting to get a bad feeling about this drop..." he muttered.

Soon after he heard Eagle dispatch recalling Jackhammer, and Fist was to take his place. He'd never had a problem working with Jacks, but he just wasn't Sven's type of person. Roland had met the replacement, Bishop, before. Not only was he tactically a perfect person to swap out and to maintain Scorpion team's usual efficiency, but Sven just overall liked the guy more. He just clicked better with the guy. With the whole team being people he could click with, perhaps they'd be even better than before. He was about to find out.

"All, clear. Bishop reporting in."

"This is Scorpion 3, Völundr. We're about to unload. It will be a pleasure working with you again, Fist." With that, Roland didn't wait for the others to fall in. The crows may have rocked him momentarily, but with the news, perhaps things wouldn't go so badly. Standing at the hatch. Sven bounced back and forth on his feet once, to ready himself. Once open, Sven hopped out of the hatch brandishing his AA-12. He waved to Bishop and waited for the rest of the team to fall in.

Bishop smirked a bit to himself before pinging his mic again. "Likewise, Völundr."

The rest of Scorpion squad piled out of the adjacent transport and formed up near the center of the roof. Jacks peeled off the main group and wordlessly made his way to Blackjack 2, jumping inside and closing the hatch behind him.

Must be important, Bishop thought to himself.

Scorpion team gathered around their squad leader, Scarecrow, for instructions. Like usual Bishop was to be the forward member in the formation, followed closely behind by Scarecrow, Völundr sandwiched in the middle along with their medic, Witch-Doctor, and the Squad's marksman, Switch, bringing up the rear and keeping the squad covered from an elevated vantage point. The rendezvous location was only a few kilometers away so Scorpion squad was ordered to book it over and collect God-Slayer before continuing on with the mission, which was to be discussed in more detail once all groups were secure. A nod from Scarecrow signaled Bishop to force open the roof's entrance. The dim interior was soon cross cut and laid over with wire frame targeting structures to better identify objects in their path. Clearing rooms quickly and efficiently, Bishop lead Scorpion team to the stairwell. Scarecrow took point and grasped the handle as Bishop stood directly behind clicking the M27 to full auto. The door was opened slowly to a point where Bishop could easily slide in. Taking to the right corner of the room he quickly scanned the immediate area, moving quickly into a crouched position at the peak of the stairs.

"Clear," Bishop reported.

As the rest of Scorpion piled in behind him Scarecrow gave him a pat on the shoulder giving him the all clear to move. They made their way down the twelve flights of stairs quickly, coming to a halt at the closed door leading into the main lobby. Bishop took position on the left side of the door as a red targeting reticule highlighted over an electronic pad wired to the door.

"All you, Völundr," he said, Völundr moving in on the right side of the door to examine the pad. Within seconds the door slid open slowly and Scorpion Squad made their way through the lobby in a wide spread, keeping close to the walls and crouching low below windows. They rounded a destroyed reception desk and came to the entrance area, glass doors that had been shattered long ago hanging loosely on rusted hinges that creaked with every gust of wind. Off in the distance amidst a sea of rusted and destroyed vehicles was the target location, the still smoldering wreckage of the Blackjack several meters away from it's entrance. Bishop waited for the all clear from Scarecrow before speeding through the entrance and taking cover behind a severely damaged red sedan. He quickly scanned the immediate area down the sights of his M27 before motioning the others to follow. On his motion detector Bishop noticed their Marksman, Switch, breaking off from the pack to get into position on one of the outlying structures. The rest of Scorpion formed up, each a car away from the other and once Switch was in position Scarecrow mic'd God-Slayer to tell them it was clear to proceed to our building.

Sven assumed the usual Scorpion formation, this time with Bishop up front. Roland was starting to feel better and better as the mission went on. However, he made sure to tell himself to be ready for anything. The infected didn't give a single fuck how anyone felt. Fortunately, Scorpion team wasn't big on giving fucks either. The systematically worked their way through the building from top to bottom, scanning the gloom in all directions, like the many eyes of an arachnid predator.They only paused briefly at a door which needed some coaxing from Roland.

"All you, Völundr," Bishop said after approaching the sealed door.

"Roger, Fist," Sven said and broke rank to make his way to the door. The power grid in the city had been long since dead, and the door would be a bitch-an'-a-half to force open. Sven knew exactly what to do, however. He grabbed a small pack off of his AEGIS, right at hand level on his left thigh, breaking off a pick-like device, with which he gave a swift, strong jab right at the edge of the console, opening the panel. "Yeeeaaah..." sighed Roland. "That's the spot." He then pulled out a retractable cable from the box and clamped each of the two prongs in specific locations on the circuit board. Sven then pressed a button on the pack. The circuit sparked slightly from the jump-start, and the door slid open. He then secured his tools, and fell back into formation.

The team continued to progress as before. Almost no chatter, not confrontations, and no issues. They finally made it outside. This is when Sven finally started to feel some anxiety. He gave a quick glance at his read out on his HUD to ensure Switch still had his back. Now that they were somewhat out in the open, he would feel more comfortable knowing she was there. She probably gave the least fucks out of all of them, and was a damn good shot. And since he helped her design those sexy rounds of hers, he knew she'd fuck any thing up that tried to get any kind of drop on them. And Fist and Scarecrow would take care of anything brave enough to approach them. They were the pincers, Switch the sting. God Slayer would soon be in good hands.

It seemed her comment had gone over fairly well. Doc had the look, she imagined of rolling his eyes at her. Normally she would have laughed, but she was in mission mode and it was time to do work. Fun times were over. Her ability to turn her emotions on and off at a whim had earned her, her nickname when she’d joined the Rangers. She’d kept Switch ever since.

Damn, birds. Wouldn’t you know it? Something make the misere before we land. Art thought to herself as the team was finally able to touch down with one final twist. They were having a squad mate replaced. She’d met Fist before and had rather liked him as a person, but it stopped there. She could like people all she wanted so long as she never cared for another one again. So long as none of the people around her were considered friends.

As much as she hated to admit it though, Fist seemed like a better fit to the team than Jacks to begin in. This mission would test the efficiency of the new member as well as how they worked together and would prove whether or not she was correct in saying Fist should be made a permanent member of the squad or not.

Sven was one of the first people off of the Blackjack and she wasn’t surprised. He always seemed ready for missions even when others were reserved. Art came off towards the end simply because it was her job to provide support and cover. At least until she could get to a spot and then it would just be protection really. She watched over them and she used ALICE to watch her own back. Because otherwise, she was out on her own and she didn’t want a repeat of one her first missions with the creatures. She shuddered at the thought.

After formalities were out of the way, the team made their way through the building to street level. It took longer than she would have liked, but before she knew it her feet were on pavement and it was time to work. She didn’t ask or even tell anyone what she was doing. There was no point. She just made a veer off heading for one of the first positions she had marked on the transport.

Art shoved the door open and slowly she made her way up to the top. It seemed luck was in her favor as she hadn’t encountered anything. She knew the rest of the team was probably waiting on her or just making slower leeway without, so she booked up to the final stairs and to the roof. She glanced around making sure none of the birds were around before taking out her AS50 and setting up shop.

“ALICE, upload live screens of terrain behind me.” Once the maps were pulled up she looked through the scope and found each of her teammates. She smiled to herself as she watched each of them knowing she held their lives in her hands, well rather her finger, but technicalities weren’t really important. She took a survey of the area a head of her squad mates. There wasn’t anything within a near seeing distant.

“Mais, boys you’re clear.” She spoke knowing the connection the others was up and running well. She could see that from the corner of her eye, but she kept herself focused on the scope of her rifle. Moving away from her teammates she went further along the path they would have to take. So long as no one was screaming bloody murder beneath her, she didn’t see why she couldn’t do a bit of damage control and take out anything before it reached her partners. She had the range to do it especially carrying her Barrett.

Switch smiled to herself when she found one of the creatures and in the opposite direction her squad mates would be going which would cause a good distraction. She watched the thing for a few seconds before she squeezed off one round and watched it fall. She smirked to herself. Nine left to go before I’ve got to pull out another mag. She watched the area around the fallen creature before moving back to her team. She made sure they were doing fine before going back to surveying the area. It could get rather boring watching from the wings, so she always made sure to give herself a few free shots and this mission at least meant she could have fun with the survivors, so long as no one else got upset with her. Not like she cared. Everyone got their kicks from being on the ground with the creatures. She rarely had face to face altercations and that was only when she’d screwed up.

Moving the rifle’s scope again she went in search of where her team would meet up with God-Slayer because she doubted even with survivors that they would sit put. The 102 didn’t seem to gather members who sat on their asses. When she didn’t see what she was looking for, she pulled out her spotting scope so she could get in closer and find out just how far out they were. Finally she found what she was looking for.

“It appears God-Slayer is making their way towards us. I’ll clear a path if need be.” She went silent again knowing she wasn’t likely to get a response anyway. She put the scope away before moving back down into position with a quick glance at the terrain behind her. The last thing she wanted was one of the creatures to sneak up on her or even the birds from earlier. Once there she went back to looking for creatures in the two teams’ paths and taking them out.

Derek was glad to know Fist would be joining them on the mission, and knew by default that Switch and Sven were glad too.
"Nice to have you a long for the ride, Bishop", he said as they hit the ground in standard formation. "It's ass-kicking time".
The team fell in order, Roland beside Derek, Scarecrow and Fist in the front, Murphy close in the back and Switch tailing from a tactical point. Witch-Doctor always felt safe when Switch had her eyes in the scope. Nothing would be getting too close to them.

As they moved through the building, Derek habitually kept an eye on his teams vitals, especially Switch's, which were linked to his HUD by Alice. Everything appeared normal, if anything, the crew just had a bit of excitement with a hint of nervousness, a slightly elevated pulse and breath rate, which was to be expected any time they went on an Op such as this. The only person who's vitals seemed eerily normal was Switch's, which was to be expected with one knowing her profession and the meaning behind her Callsign.

Satisfied with the teams vitals, Derek pushed his chin into the comm activator in his helmet, turning the team-communications on.
"Gonna check in with God-Slayer. I need to take a mental note of injuries and survivors so I can prep for triage if needed". With that he lifted his chin off the mic button with a click.

"Alice, patch me through to the surviving members of God-Slayer. Thanks".
Derek heard a beep confirming that connection was made with God-slayers communications.

"Hey gents, this is Witch-Doctor from Scorpion team, I'll be your resident ass-patcher for today. I need you guys to let me know how many civvies ya got, and what injuries are present on yourselves as well as the other survivors so I can take mental notes for Triage upon arrival."
Before the other team could respond, the green-translucent border surrounding Switch's vitals flash red once, indicating that her weapon was fired once.
Derek quickly commanded Alice to switch communication back to his own team, but to alert him when God-Slayers survivors responded.
"Switch, everything cool up there?", the medic asked asked.

Scorpion team continued on toward the objective. They kept closing distance to the museum just up ahead, keeping the area scanned for contacts, of which there were none. They made their usual swift progress and were at the building in about a minute. All while Switch covered them from above, and Witch-Doctor touched base with God-Slayer.

"Don't you worry about Switch, Doc," Roland grinned. "Anyway, how're things looking in there? What did they say?" Roland spoke as the team took their positions around the front door, Scarecrow on point. On his say, they entered into the museum. Next, to locate and secure the people within. "ALICE," Sven said. "Gives us an overlay with the building layout and the positions of Alpha, Bravo, and Charlie." A basic, opaque floor plan came up with green blips for each soldier. Five, five, and three. Sven sighed. Well, we'd better get them home.

As they made their way through the museum to Charlie team's position, Roland couldn't help but look about the place. He'd always been a History guy, and always wanted to visit New York to see this very museum. He'd never guess it would have been like this. Better this than nothing, I suppose. Sven continued on, making sure he didn't divert too much of his focus to the relics about him, and made sure to keep ready for any infected that might be lurking in the shadows.