WHOOSH.
In a blur, he materialized before them, launching a relentless assault with his honed Muay Thai techniques, augmented by his modest proficiency in karate.
He deftly sidestepped a rifle's muzzle, redirecting its aim toward a woman in a lab coat standing by the platform.
His strikes were precise, exploiting the vulnerabilities in their armored suits: a kick to the back of the knee, a sharp jab to the elbow, a deflection of a punch, a well-placed shove.
Time seemed to decelerate in his perception.
Reflections from the visors of his adversaries' helmets afforded him an almost panoramic view of his surroundings, enabling him to weave effortlessly through the ranks of the heavily armored humanoids.
He exploited their lack of agility and rigidity, his own suit now optimized for flexibility at the expense of its protective qualities.
Every strike landed with calculated precision, rendering his enemies' counterattacks futile.
He moved with the fluidity of water, his body weaving through their defenses, making him nearly invisible to their senses.
"O'Connor, what's the status?" Captain Vance's voice crackled through the intercom, momentarily drawing Kelvin out of his battle-induced focus.
Attaching a stick bomb to the back of the final assailant, Kelvin delivered a powerful kick, propelling the enemy forward and using the momentum to create a safe distance.
Boom!
Kelvin exhaled deeply, calming his racing heart as he surveyed the room to ensure all hostiles were neutralized.
"Hostiles neutralized in the control room. Proceeding to the control panel to retrieve the data." His eyes scanned the area for any remaining threats.
"Good. Now hurry up; this whole facility is about to collapse!" Captain Vance's voice boomed over the intercom, prompting Kelvin to switch off the device to spare his ears.
'It seems they were trying to activate the device,' Kelvin thought as he approached the most intact monitor on the platform, inserting a gadget from his suit into a slot to extract the data.
BOOM! BOOM!
The ceiling of the hall collapsed onto the dais-like platform, obliterating some of the apparatuses surrounding the massive sphere and triggering a cascade of catastrophic events.
Debris that fell onto the machine disintegrated instantaneously, and metal instruments around the colossal sphere began melting at an alarming rate.
A shiver ran down Kelvin's spine as he witnessed the rapid decay of materials engineered to withstand extreme atmospheric radiation.
His battle-honed instincts screamed at him to flee; nothing good would come from lingering any longer.
Snatching the gadget containing the data, he bolted from the hall with the speed and grace of a cheetah.
But before Kelvin could reach the exit, the massive sphere unleashed an electromagnetic pulse that disabled his suit, arresting his movement as though an invisible force had yanked him back.
The inertia of his sprint sent him skidding across the ground until he finally came to a halt.
The exo-skeleton suits were designed to integrate with a neural interface in the soldier's spine and brain.
The machinery would first align the exoskeleton components before attaching the external armor, designed to protect against radiation and ballistic impacts.
While the suits provided formidable protection, they were also a double-edged sword; one malfunction could lead to complete incapacitation.
The moment Kelvin felt the severance between himself and his suit, he knew escape was futile unless his comrades came to his aid.
But given the dire circumstances outside, he knew such a rescue was a distant hope.
Resigned to his fate, he inwardly accepted what was to come.
'Fate.'
"Haha," Kelvin laughed, the sound hollow in the oppressive silence.
They say when a man is on the brink of death, his life flashes before his eyes—a life of joy, sorrow, or perhaps a mix of both.
But Kelvin felt an odd serenity, a touch of amusement, and, above all, a deep pity.
Pity for the future generations of Earth, knowing how bleak their lives would be compared to the "Joy Era" of his childhood in Japan.
Kelvin's thoughts drifted back to those days, the thrill of drifting fast cars around sharp bends, outmaneuvering the city's police, pushing the limits of speed and control.
He turned his gaze toward the ceiling, where the beautiful night sky was now obscured by the blinding flashes of explosions from rail guns and bullets streaking through the air.
The sky had become a canvas of kaleidoscopic colors and the cacophony of thunderous booms, terrifying enough to awaken the dead.
Craning his neck, he observed the platform, which now emitted radioactive pulses and electric currents racing along the machine's spires, creating a loud, ominous buzzing sound.
The radiation pulses oscillated between condensation and combustion, like the throbbing heart of a great beast.
'Perhaps it's for the best that the Republic never lays hands on this kind of technology,' Kelvin mused as he reactivated his intercom.
Captain Vance's voice cut through his thoughts.
"Goddammit, where are you, soldier?" His voice, always loud, carried a note of exasperation.
"Captain, I'm trapped—"
"Trapped where? Snake Eye will come get you—"
"Captain, just shut up!" Kelvin shouted, surprising even himself with the intensity of his voice. 'Well, first time for everything,' he thought with a wry smile.
"Captain, my suit's systems are fried…. I can't complete the data transfer… The device is on the brink of destruction… abort the mission, sir." Kelvin took a labored breath, struggling to breathe and speak through the radiation and dust clogging his lungs.
"And, sir… it was an honor serving with you. Sir!" Even through the interference caused by the radiation, the resignation in Kelvin's voice was unmistakable.
"Fucking hell, O'Connor, get that information—$%^$^*&^%!"
"..."
"I hope I don't see you in any life, hmm." Captain Vance's voice softened, though a gruff edge remained.
"Make it quick. I wouldn't want to be in your shoes right now. Godspeed, Kelvin O'Connor. You won't be missed." The intercom abruptly went silent.
Kelvin inhaled shakily, suppressing the grunt threatening to escape his lips.
The radiation emanating from the massive sphere was wreaking havoc on his body.
From the Captain's words, Kelvin confirmed his suspicion that the Republic had known about the technology in this facility.
Reflecting on their earlier briefing, he recalled the Captain's ominous phrasing: "Most of the radiation, not all of the radiation."
Kelvin was not unaware of the Republic's disregard for their specialized team, but the cold indifference of humanity still stung.
It was this indifference that fueled his pity for the new generations of Earth.
Zoom. Zoom!
The platform's buzzing reached its zenith, the radiation particles swirling in a dazzling display of colors around the hall.
Boom!
The platform disintegrated in an instant, and a massive pillar of blue energy engulfed the hall.
It stretched upward, piercing the night sky and reaching beyond the atmosphere, creating a blinding spectacle of blue light.
Its brilliance was so intense that it illuminated the entire globe, shrouding the world in its radiant glow.
It would have been a breathtaking sight for Kelvin if he were not in the throes of unimaginable pain from the high radiation exposure at the epicenter of the blast.
Pain—searing, all-consuming pain—assaulted him, leaving him incapable of appreciating the spectacle. It felt as though his very essence, his soul, was being stretched to its absolute limits.
In his 31 years of existence, he had never endured such agony.
Pain. Pain. Pain, until everything went dark and silent…