The only sensations that awaited me after my time in darkness was pain and heat. I opened my eyes to scarlet flame and hazy vision. I got to my elbows, my head pounding with the effort. Alarms were blaring into my skull as I got to the door. There was several passes of people running about in a hurry as I shambled to the platform. A bad gasp of air in response to a sudden pain in my chest led to me hacking heavily and sending me to my knees. I tried hard to cough out the smoke when I felt a pair of arms grab me and haul me outside.
The fresh air hurt for a minute as I wheezed with tears streaming down my face. I could make out a strand of blonde through my watery eyes and felt somewhat relieved it was her and not them, or this scene would be a lot more miserable.
Angelina comforted me for a few more minutes as my breathing felt more normal and then she rushed in to help the others put out the rest of the flames. I sat there collecting my thoughts as I felt like the biggest idiot of all time for not catching this sooner. If I had paid more attention to the situation and not been sidetracked by my emotions for Alpha 18, I may have seen the tracker implanted in the fake dog tag. It was obvious, but too shocking to even notice the difference without holding onto dumb thoughts.
I shook my head and slapped my temples a couple times. Now was not the time to regret, but a time for better decisions. And right now my top priority was to find out what our little spy was up to and what damage was done.
My legs buckled like a newborn lamb as I got to my feet. I immediately felt nauseous and began to retch, my chest heaving hard with each impulse. Even the time when Val kneed me in the stomach wasn't as painful as this.
I leaned on the doorway and used the walls as support. I began to feel vertigo as the haze returned and the smoke stung my eyes. I winced and squinted through the moisture towards the communications room. I couldn't tell who I passed by halfway through, but we were both in a hurry so neither noticed the other. I assumed it was either Val or Angelina, but it wasn't till later that I realized I was wrong.
I brushed aside a wisp of smoke as I worked my way to the monitors. Several of the monitors were flashing warnings and showing several lines of coding. I got to a couple and hit some switches. Two went optimal whilst three others turned off.
"Shit." I murmured as I opened up a panel to rewire them. A short burst of static zapped my forearm and sent me reeling with my arm shaking.
"Son of a..!" I clasped my hand several times as the tingling faded quickly. Not my brightest moment. I carefully replaced the wire and heard a whir as the monitors all went operational. I stepped back to admire it, but only for a brief second as my heart dropped at the sight of it.
After a few moments of analyzing the screens, three stations were destroyed, the nearby airbase was under siege and even headquarters was calling for emergency support. I scrambled over the keyboard and my heart nearly stopped as I saw an unauthorized system response for disabling cloaking sensors. The order was being transferred to all stations and spreading rapidly. By the time I located the source code and barely disabled it, it reached 45% of the entire region.
I plopped down on a unburnt chair and wiped some sweat off. Nearly half our army was compromised and I couldn't stop blaming myself for it. Then in a quick unconscious thought I recalled the moment when I came to the monitors. There were three distinct colors listed to my squad at the time: red, blonde, and black.
The only color I saw was blue.
As if in response to my realization, I heard our aircraft begin takeoff sequence. The final functioning cameras posted around the base showed Val, Angelina, and Liz look up from their positions in dousing the flames to confirm my fear. I got up, still groggy as I nearly slam my face into the doorframe and rush outside. The other three saw me and quickly rushed after me. We all arrived to see the jet lift off the pad and ascend into the skyline.
Before it fully took off, I noticed the pilot. It was our captive with streaks of blue liquid covering her face. She turned to us as we watched helplessly in her escape. I could tell she was smiling as she waved at us, but the remote trigger in her cheery hand was what caught my main attention as I saw the blinking light. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed the satchel charge strapped to the wall behind us.
Angelina caught it too and acted faster than me by grabbing my arm and hurling me off the platform. I saw her jump with Val and Liz in each hand as the explosives ignited not a second after she jumped. I hit the ground with the wind knocked out of me, staring into the sky as our assailant got away into the horizon.
I laid there for a few seconds as I finally got a breath of air in, only to see Val's furious stare. But it wasn't towards me or the situation. I could tell from experience that she was about to go on a rampage.
"So you going to lay there all day?" She asked, pure rage echoing from the back of her words despite how calmly she spoke. "Or are you going to help us kill that son of a bitch."