Chapter 3 EXODUS

...

Today was a busy day for 555. Later this afternoon they would conduct the first test of the portal, Project StarGate's outcome, Oswald was in his office, hoping this would not be America's version of the Chernobyl incident.

5 years after the "Special Material" crashed on earth and 4 years since a small group of government contracted scientists experimenting with it accidentally created what they call a "Space Vortex". A phenomenon that lasted for about 3 and a half seconds before disappearing in thin air leaving absolutely zero traces. The only damages being a missing laptop and one of the researcher's glasses.

After this incident the material had been classified as a top secret and had been given the name "Originium" after the forbidden fruit from the tree of knowledge in the Bible leading to humanity's original sin and the origin of both good and evil. The material's raw energy output rivals that of entire energy plants, from what they can tell Originium was humanity's way to paradise, even with the finite number that they have, it seemed to grow overtime, duplicating itself and taking parts of both nature and artificial constructions as part of it.

Originium could bring on the new world energy revolution, change the course of humanity's future in a few years, and that was the problem, it could change the future in both ways. With such a powerful material that could theoretically be limitless in supply, it could destroy the world as much as it can help it. Humans are social creatures dependent on interactions with one another and one of the most common interactions is violence, suffice to say, humanity might self-destruct with a material like this, leaving behind a apocalyptic world from whatever super nuke madmen would make out of it, just like a serpent tempting Adam and Eve to take a bite of the fruit of knowledge, this material was too good to be true. There had to be something more to it than the surface, but apparently one of these hidden effects seems to create portals to other, places?

Oswald sighs, dropping the pen he was clutching to his desk. "Why in God's name did they have to make me write speeches?" Oswald gave up on writing whatever he was writing, opting instead to let someone else do his work; he was never really good at writing, let alone speeches.

""I'll just let someone else do this for me."" As soon as Oswald thought about that, a voice from behind his office doors was heard. "Sir? It's Howard!" How convenient. "Come in Howard!" The doors to his office opened revealing a tall blonde haired young man, Howard Linham, his assistant. He came closer to Oswald's desk, carrying a stack of paper documents.

"Why are you here? Shouldn't you be watching those scientists do the pre-activation tests?" "I'm here to give these, Sir.' He places the stack of documents on Oswald's desk. "These are the files for all our agents that we recalled to come back, Case Officers, multiple SAC SOG, PAG, GRS and Specialized teams, to even sleeper agents that we thought might be compromised." "Are they here right now?" "As of right now all of them except one had been accounted for, the last one who I've checked to be an undercover SOG officer designated with the cryptonym LCSNAF-" "I know who he is." Oswald interrupted. "Don't worry about him, that man should show up any minute now." "I understand, so what should I tell them?" "Tell what?" "The agents, like why have they been recalled back?"

Oswald leaned back on his chair. "It's simple, we're just reassigning them, but that's not the only reason, new tech and tactics have been developed here, we're expecting them to study the stuff DS&T cooked up, for now just tell them that." "And the portal sir?" "Most of them only know little surface level info except for a select few, I'd wanted to keep it that way but the ODNI decided that they have the right to know, not the first time they've tried to push ethics on us, but even still be absolutely sure no unnecessary leaks will occur, alright?" "I'll make sure of that, Sir." "Is that all Howard?" "I want you to know that Deputy Director Laurence Lauffey would be handling our guests, the Intelligence Community, Government and Military reps are currently awaiting the test." "Good, If there's one person those bureaucrats can't walk over with words it'll be him, I have no worries about his ability." Howard nods in response. "Then Sir, I'll get going now."

Howard starts to walk away, until Oswald pulls up a folder. "Wait." "Sir?" "Take this and revise it will you?" Howard takes the folder and skims over the paper with writings inside, his face morphing into confusion. "Sir, this is?" "It's a speech for our guests." "Uhh, it doesn't read like one." Both stare at each other in the eye. "Ahem!" Oswald clears his throat. "You see, I've never really excelled at literature, creative writing no less, so could you?" "Ah, yes Sir, I'll be on it right away." "It's an introductory speech about the space rock- uhh- Originium's capabilities." "Ah, I understand I'll get it done in just a few hours, Sir." "Good, you're Dismissed." Oswald sighed once Howard closed the door behind him.

After pushing his homework to his poor assistant, he looked through the multiple files of the agents. The CIA was an international organization, having operatives in every single patch of land, ranging from simple analysts to battle hardened tier 1 units. As the only independent member of the Intelligence Community, they were the ones with the most freedom and the least restraint. Even the highest seats of government can be left out in their secrets, even they don't fully know where the billions of dollars of the US black budget are being used, only that it was for classified operations, technology, bribes and now an actual portal.

As a former high ranking marine intelligence officer, he was appointed as the Executive Secretariat as soon as the last one retired after the Cold War. Earning the cryptonym "Juno", he expected CIA work at peacetime after the fall of the Soviet Union would be smooth and easygoing. Oh how wrong he was, how very, very wrong he was.

If the advent of terrorism was a sledgehammer to shatter his expectations into a million pieces, then the discovery and engineering of the portal would be a massive MARAUDER coaxial plasma railgun disintegrating the shards into something less than ash. The amount of paperwork concerning NDAs, Bribes, procurement and development of materials that all had to be done secretly made him age 30 years in just the short time he was appointed Secretariat.

"History, Powers, Powers-1, Powers-2, DevilFish, Inglorious, Manners-1, Manners-2, Catalytic-" Oswald lists the various codenames or cryptonyms of the operatives stationed at the east, signing their documents on behalf of the Director and listing their names digitally. Finally stopping once he reached a blank spot. "Is that bastard running late-"

The loud obstructing noise of the facility alarm sirens broke his speech. "ALL PERSONNEL WITHIN AREA 555 ARE TO BE EVACUATED IMMEDIATELY." Oswald's face turned serious in an instant. "Emergency?" He stood up from his desk, running for the exit, hand on the door handle, he opened it revealing a pure white light void.

...

"Woah There!" Snafu said, finger on the trigger. "Hey little cottontail, there's no need to be violent here." He said, locking eyes with the young leader of Rhodes Island. "You'll explain your story, and I'll explain mine, how bout that, hmm?" Snafu says, keeping the amnesiac behind him. "Amiya! don't trust him!" The dog woman said, Amiya continued to glare at snafu, before closing her eyes and letting out a small sigh. "Fine." "Amiya! I don't think-" "Calm down Doberman, I'll handle this."

Amiya takes a step forward, raising her hands up to show no harmful intent. "I'll start, my name is Amiya, I work for Rhodes Island, I came here to rescue one of my companies' higher ups, the Doctor!" Upon hearing the rabbit girl, the woman, now known as Doctor, no matter how odd that sounds to Snafu, spoke up.

"Miss Amiya, I'm sorry, but I think I have amnesia, I don't recognize you." She said solemnly. "I Can't even remember my own name, Sir Snafu here doesn't have anything to do with it, I'm sure of that." "Hit the nail on the head, just accidentally found her here, that's all there is to it." Snafu continued. "Really? Hah! why should I believe the man, not only dressed, speaks, and acts suspicious?" Doberman barked. "Not only that, you seem to use a high quality gun despite not being a Sankta!" "Instructor Doberman! Calm down!" Ace intervened, trying to diffuse the quickly building up tension, not noticing the other Rhodes Island operator that came from behind them.

"Sir! Reunion is coming from the west side! Are you guys finished extracting the Doctor?" The operator said, his exhausted voice interrupting the standoff. Amiya's attention changed. "Ace! How much time do we have?" Amiya asked. "We should have 3-4 hours more before the catastrophe will swallow this city." "We are running out of time miss!" The RI operator said. Amiya faces the agent, thinking of a way to negotiate. "Mister Snafu, how about a deal? You'll give us the Doctor and in turn we'll get you out of the city and protect you from both the reunion and catastrophe!"

Snafu thinks for a little bit, he doesn't know what a catastrophe is, but he figured out from context clues, it would be this world's equivalent of a natural disaster, and apparently it would destroy this already broken down city in four hours, what lucky timing. His best bet at surviving was to accept the deal for now, though they seem to know what guns are, it seems to be very rare in this world if they think so highly of it, giving him a major advantage. If they go back on their word, he plans on just returning to plan A. The only thing he didn't understand was the word Sankta. ""What the hell is a Sankta?""

"Sure, whatever you say." The agent said, slowly dropping his aim. "Uhh, Sir who is this?" The operator from earlier asked. "An unexpected variable, whether he'd be friend or foe, we will see shortly." Ace replied in a sort of a whisper, Snafu heard it of course, but pretended not to. "Thank you, mister Snafu, now, we don't have much time to waste, let's go!"

Snafu finally let his grip off the doctor, to be perfectly honest, he thought of using the doctor as a hostage, but that would make him look like an untrustworthy savage, and he needed their trust, not to mention the Doctor would probably be unhappy at him for doing that, he didn't plan to ruin their positive relationship so far. Amiya comes closer carrying a bag holding some pre-prepared clothes for the doctor.

"T-Thank you, Miss." "Ah! Please just call me by my first name Doctor!" She said with a concerned face. "D-Did you really lose all your memory?" "Yes, I'm afraid so." Amiya closes her eyes for a bit, taking a deep breath, before opening them again. This time, her eyes were burning in determination. "Then, Doctor, we'll just forge a new relationship, just lead us like you did before." "Lead you?" Amiya's face shows a small smile. "Yes Doctor, you were always the one for tactics and leadership, don't worry, I'm sure you could do it."

Snafu, who was listening in on the conversation, was just getting more confused. ""A tactician? Does Doctor mean something different here or is that her actual name?"" "Alright! Guys, let's keep moving!" Ace announced. "Tch." Doberman glared at the agent. "I'll keep an eye on you, Snafu." "I appreciate it."

The group exits the facility the Doctor was kept in, the city outside looks even more hellish than before. The Columns of smoke were larger, more numerous, the fire producing them consumed entire buildings, the sky was gray with all the smoke, and with it the wind carried the screams and wailings of those unfortunate.

More Rhodes Island personnel were outside the facility, alert and on constant guard, suspicious glances were given to Snafu as he exited the facility with the group. Amiya had to calm them down with her speaking skills while Snafu takes notes of the bunny girl's seemingly high reputation and influence in the company. "Miss Amiya! scouts saw a major Reunion movement coming in from the west, we don't know for sure yet but we think they are with a Reunion leader!" Amiya's eyes narrowed "Any news on Nearl's team? "I apologize, but unfortunately nothing so far."

"Umm, can someone explain what's going on here? What's the Reunion?" The Doctor asked. "The reunion is an organization formed by the infected, an organization built on hatred and anger, eager for revenge, no matter the cost." "But, Why?" Ace stares at the Doctor, with a rather surprised look.

"Did I say something wrong?" "No, you didn't, I'm just surprised your amnesia took this away from you too." Ace stares back into the ruined city. "The infected are people with oripathy, a cruel disease which tortures and kills the people it infects, at some stages it becomes highly contagious, making people who are infected by it get exiled, mistreated, discriminated against and hated." "What about treatment?" "There has been little to no progress in treating oripathy, as it is caused by Originium, the main energy source of everything. More and more people are just getting infected by it. Day by day more intense discrimination and hatred are given against the infected, eventually the same hate grows in the infected, first it started with riots and protests, but now, this." The Doctor nods her head. "I think I understand, thank you, Sir Ace."

"CONTACT! REUNION, 9 O'CLOCK! One of the Rhodes Island operators shouted as he engaged in combat with the reunion crossbowmen, volleys of arrows descended upon Snafu's position, he and all the other's quickly try to find cover, retaliating with their own crossbowmen as quickly as possible while operators with melee weapons try to guard openings within the formation. Snafu paused for a bit, questioning how his life decisions put him in a place where he'd be taking cover from a group of KKK looking crossbowmen in a fairly modern looking city next to animal people, but he quickly snapped out of it.

He goes up a small platform made of the rubble in the city, taking all the cover he can, he aims his gun and starts firing back. He needed to conserve his ammo. Two tapping each and every single white mask he sees. His unflinching steely eyed gaze and steady sight, finger on the trigger with deadly accuracy, like a rhythmic beat of death, each small burst of his SMG spelled the death of a rushing or aiming Reunion member. As more and more Reunion forces gathered, the faster his intervals of shooting was.

"Hey! Be careful of that bastard!" "They have a powerful gun user on their side!" "Take cover! Casters, get your asses over here!" The white masks shouted.

Snafu changes magazines and takes aim again. He saw another white mask, but this one had a different uniform than the rest, curious to what he was doing, Snafu observed him for a moment. The man was doing some sort of magic? A black colored energy was forming into his hands, and in a second he released it to Snafu's way. "What the FUC-" He immediately ducked for cover, not wasting any more time before the magic, or whatever that was hit his location.

Some of the rubble which he was using as cover were immediately blown off, Snafu immediately retaliated by express delivering lead into the Caster's brain, all while still following the two bullets per person rule, even in his surprise that black magic exists here. "Be careful! Numerous Reunion casters are attacking!" He heard one of the Rhodes Island operators say. "Casters huh?"

He had a new objective, No Casters, he immediately took aim and tried to spot more, fortunately their more distinct and strange uniform stuck out like a sore thumb compared to the other white masks. So his music continued, the echoing beats of his instrument echoed across the battlefield.

"That's one hell of a gun and the arts skill to go with it for someone who's not a Sankta!" One of the Rhodes Island operators said. "Snafu, who are you?" Doberman took notice of Snafu's skill. "There is no way the Sankta would willingly give a gun of that power to an Aegir!" Snafu had no idea what they were yapping about. "How bout you stop ogling over my girl and focus on the Reunion!" Was the only response Snafu could think of at the moment, he really needed to know what a Sankta is now.

"Fine! But don't forget I'll get an answer out of you after this!" the dog woman said. Snafu once again fired his MP5. ""These fucking white masks seem to never end!"" Snafu thought. He had already used up 2 and a half mags of his MP5, and that was him being careful with his shots.

"REUNION! RIGHT SIDE, 3 O' CLOCK!" Yelled an operator. "Guards! Defenders! Prepare for close quarters combat!" Barked out Doberman. "Any news on Miss Nearl and her team?" Ace shook his head, "Miss Amiya! We need to break out of this area first, if we don't, we'll get encircled!" Amiya turns her head to the Doctor, "Doctor! What do you want us to do?"

Snafu, who was overhearing the conversation even when shooting, was dumbfounded. ""The fuck? Why are they letting an Amnesiac take command?"" Snafu empties his third mag, he only had two left and there's no way he was planning on staying here. Snafu quickly makes his way back down from the rubble, looking for the Doctor.

He saw a lot of the Rhodes Island operators already engaged in close quarters combat in the distance, clashing swords and other various melee weapons they had. People fighting medieval style in a fairly modern looking city was a sight to behold. ""Is gunpowder rare here? This just looks fuckin' ridiculous."" His thoughts were interrupted as a White mask to his left charged at him with a sword. He didn't even let him get 3 meters close as he shot him in the legs, immobilizing him.

"You fucking bastard!" Another came up from behind his right, his reflexes dodged his sword thrust instinctively as he spun himself around using the stock of his gun as a blunt club smacking him straight to his face, brutalizing his nose. The agent's unexpected strength made the white mask drop his sword, and to his knees but Snafu wasn't done yet, he grabbed his head and smashed in his mask with his gun again, the man struggled, trying to grab a hold of Snafu but was met with Snafu's knee to his chest instead.

The Reunion member's mask came off his face as he stumbled onto the ground. Snafu wasted no time and pulled him up by his bear-like ears. "Finally showed your handsome face huh?" Snafu said mockingly.

"Hah!" The reunion member laughed. "Even if you kill me I've already done my part! My brother and sisters have already won! We'll slaughter every single one of you! From man to child! This is our revenge!" Snafu observed his enemy, his old hardened face which was bruised and bloodied, his expression which was that of total hate and spite towards him, something which he is very familiar to, but something else caught his eye, a dark gray crystal growing from the side of his neck, he swore he saw something similar in some of the Rhodes Island operators.

"Oooh, really? Think martyrdom would make you a hero?" Snafu laughed sadistically as he released his grip and kicked him, making him drop to the ground. "Then, let me show you what a hero's last moment is like." The CIA agent ruthlessly kicked the infected's head to the ground repeatedly, a blood pool forming from his head. His screams of pain would soon be covered by the broken concrete and dust as the agent kicked his head further in the debris of the ruined city, burying his head. This was not an effective way of killing a person, but it was damn effective at doing something else.

"Hey! Snafu! Have you heard? The doctor ordered a retreat! I don't know what you're still doing there, but hurry up!" Snafu looked in the direction of the voice and saw the big shield and shades man in the distance, showing him a sign to keep moving in his direction.

"Alright! I'm coming!" He responded, Ace nodded and continued to retreat with the other RI operators. Snafu then turns his head to the other white mask he immobilized earlier. This white mask was much shorter and slimmer than the one he killed earlier, he was shaking, shivering at each of the agent's steps as he came closer to the wounded white mask.

"Y-you are not Rhodes Island! S-Stay away you, monster!"

The young voice pretty much confirmed to Snafu that this was a kid, a child soldier, probably aged 16 to 17, just what Snafu was looking for. Unlike the veteran aged man earlier, young soldiers like this one should be pretty easy to get information from, especially after scaring him by killing his comrade in such a way.

"I'm no monster kid! Ain't no way I'm hurting someone half my age!

He lied as naturally as he breathed.

Snafu came closer, pulling a device with wires sticking out from his bag.

"I'm just gonna ask you some questions alright? And I'll help you plug your leg wounds, we got a deal?"

He smirked.

___ (Arknights is not owned by me) A/N Goofy war crimes my favorite, anyways 4th chapter should come in a few days. Do tell me what you all think so far.