Kelvin stood along with his teammates listening to the reverberating heartbeats of veterans of war as they received the briefing from their captain.
Even after years of experience in war, it was still difficult to quell the unease of entering another battlefield.
It's been nine years since the end of World War III, which began as a minor grievance between NATO and Russia.
What seemed trivial quickly escalated into widespread destruction, ending nearly a century of peace and plunging the world into chaos.
Nobody knew how the war escalated from exchange of firearms and mortars to the launching of nuclear warheads at hostile states.
But from what Kelvin recalled that China, an ally to Russia, was the first to be hit hard by a nuclear strike before the battle morphed into a full-blown nuclear war.
According to press reports released by the Americans, it was a nuclear missile launched from the West coast of South America to Dalian city, China.
They insisted they never launched an atomic bomb.
But nevertheless, a nuclear war Armageddon kicked off, since the Chinese adhered to the claim that the Americans started the apocalypse, claiming it was an attack from a US submarine stationed in Chile.
That was one of the last known pieces of information that wasn't obscured by the tragedies of war.
The first American city to be hit by a nuclear missile was Atlanta, heralding a series of exchanges between hostile and ally nations.
Five years into the war, the radiation levels of the planet had skyrocketed, reaching annihilating thresholds.
Which caused a series of catastrophic events that brought diverse levels of destruction, and global-warming of the earth, reducing the landmass of earth.
Radiation was so high that stepping into the atmosphere without protection of suits caused high levels of mutations and death.
Half of Europe was submerged deep in the tide of water, swallowing many still standing cities and bunker's built in protection against nuclear strikes.
Australia was lost, North America fissuring apart, its component parts drifting aimlessly around the planet, increasing the population of the island, some submerged in the ocean.
South America, Asia were salvageable.
Africa was the only continent least affected by the flood and shifting of tectonic plates.
Now the war wasn't about grievances, dominance, or weapon supremacy but land acquisition, inclining the war's directives to retain and dominate as much of the earth's crust as viable.
A treaty was signed by the remaining surviving states, bunker cities and countries to refrain from engaging in nuclear blitz, albeit a little late, due to the devastated state of the planet.
The population of living organisms had gone to an all-time low percent that extinction was not a distant term, making smaller nations influenced by the destruction of the nations in conflict band together to overcome the aggression of the still surviving supreme nations, forming 'The Republic'.
Kelvin watched his squad-mates' stoic expression as they mentally prepared themselves for the imminent battle.
Almost every person in the room had lost so much from the war and continues to lose more that just walking around the room you would only see people working around uncharacteristically apathetic.
"We will infiltrate the facility from the south district, our transport will drop us close to our objective…." The captain's voice disrupted Kelvin's historic reminisce.
They were an elite squad specialized in infiltration and sabotage.
It was a strenuous but safer assignment compared to the battlefield, where one mishap could cost your life.
But Kelvin loved it, because of the cool gadgets deployed.
Studying the blueprint of the Nuclear Power Plant projected on the screen of the room, which they were to evade.
A sabotage mission meant to annihilate all inhabitants of the facility and retrieve the object of the research.
"….the radiation levels of the facility are high, which might disrupt their radar signals, granting us some few minutes of stealth.
"The Republic has provided us with a new advanced exo-skeletal armor, which will prevent most of the radiation." The captain looked around to ensure everyone understood.
Nodding in satisfaction after inspecting his team's countenance to his words.
"Suit up lads… and try bringing it back in one piece, it costs a lot."
"Sir!" They all saluted simultaneously.
'The exoskeleton suit was just like the iron-man suits of the "Joy Era". A term used to call the century of peace.
But it has less technology compared to Tony Stark's armor.' Kelvin mused as the machine aligned the compartment of the suit on his body.
"Damn I love the elite squad." Kelvin murmured as he examined the flexibility and correspondent of command to the suit.
****
Six Hours Later
Kelvin looked at the series of commands on the interface on his suit as they were transported on a drone.
"One minute to drop. Move! Move!" Captain Vance barked orders to his squad, as they all moved towards the end of the transport, where they jumped down from a height of 10 meters as the transporter drone hovered above the surface.
Even from that distance of jumping, Kelvin felt just a sting from landing.
'Very convenient-'
Booom!
Abruptly an explosion went off beside the transporter, disrupting his thoughts.
"Looks like this ain't gonna be all roses as planned boys, keep to plan. Move out!"
Professionals they were. Even though they lacked the surprise initiative, it took them just an hour to break through the fortifications of the facility and its occupants.
Kelvin held his rifle steady as he gunned down every inhabitant in the facility.
The concept of 'Human Rights' had long been abandoned since the start of the nuclear genocide.
In this war, every breathing entity was a target—no exceptions.
"Fucking move your asses boys, reinforcement will soon be here, and then we cooked, you hear cooked!
"So hurry the fuck-!"
Boom!
An explosion interrupted Captain Vance's frantic orders.
"Goddamit, they're trying to blow us up.
"O'conner! Go retrieve the data from the control room, this whole shit is coming down!"
Immediately Kelvin heard the order, he knew that time was dire, so he dropped his rifle and some compartments of the suit for less weight.
He sprinted through the maze-like corridors of the facility, weaving through attacks from both hostile and friendly fire.
This was the reason he was nick-named 'Runner', because of his gift to move through a chaotic zone, avoiding both attacks of allies and foes, then landing a critical attack and retreating successfully.
He arrived at a large hall, featuring four individuals with advance exo-skeletal armors just like his, but an outdated version and personnel's on lab coats operating computers around a dais-like platform, with a large, spherical object in the center, surrounded by a spire-like metal structure extending vertically from within and some other gizmos surrounding it.
'Last obstacle' Kelvin grumbled.
He positioned his right leg diagonally backward, his upper body leaning forward in a slanted motion, his concentration an all-time high, homing in on his targets.
His mind set on the most easy and quickest method in neutralizing all opponents.
In a battle, every single detail was detrimental to the survival of its participants.
Every slight complacency could lead to varying effects, negative or positive.