The Center: Smells Chapter 8 by Jennifer Sue Copyright  © 2010 Jennifer Sue All Rights Reserved.   “Children should be seen and not heard,” was the too often used phrase that was physically hammered into his budding consciousness before he even realized he could think. It became the toddler’s mantra.

Chapter 8

Brose felt the three AK47 rounds slam into her chest taking her breath away and knocking her backwards to the runway. The bouncing of her head off the runway momentarily stunned her. As she regained her senses she smelled the tense oppo stealthily approach. She knew she'd be shot as soon as she moved so stayed still. When she sensed a slight change in his scent she realized he was taking aim so she acted.

An inhuman scream briefly erupted from the man's mouth only to be horribly cut off as his entire torso exploded ripping his clothes and snapping his ribs and spine. His hips and legs toppled to the right while his shoulders, arms, and head fell to the left. The rest of his body was splattered in a circle about ten meters across.

Brose wiped the gore from her face and rose to her feet. The silhouette of her body looked like a hell angel (quite a bit more appropriate than a snow angel), it was the only clear space on the tarmac amid the carnage.

The sound of fighting from the other three firefights slackened as the stranded oppos tried to escape. Ray and three of his soldiers along with one green beret came sprinting into the light cast by the burning vehicles. Ray had seen a lot of people killed but this apocalyptic demise almost gagged him. The repugnant smell of the exploded man was horrid. Even with all he’d been through, to see Brose calmly cleaning her Desert Eagle made Ray glad she was on his side.

In the flickering light the green beret looked at the gore covered girl, her silhouette imprinted on the runway, and the top and bottom of the man whose torso was spread about them. He noted the Desert Eagle she was carefully wiping clean. It made him shiver to realize she was cleaning her weapon before her face. One thing he knew was that he was glad he was on the same side as these strange teens. He'd heard the repeated bark of a powerful weapon but had not recognized it. Now he understood the source and would never forget the sound of the powerful .50 cal handgun.

"Delta squad reporting," Ray intoned into the headset. "All opposition on this end has been eliminated. We have three men down, no fatalities. We'll hold this entrance to prevent any escape."

"Roger Delta," Kris responded with a bit of frustration in her voice. "It looks like they're all trying to escape. Beta and Charlie squads, have your green berets fall back to Mule road to ensure none get around us. Everyone else pursuit. Since we lost the quads, we'll at least take out these bastards."

Just then an explosion was heard off to the southwest of the airport.

"It looks like the jet just lost it's left engine," Ray said excitedly as he saw the bright flash in the sky. "It's curving east and losing altitude!"

"I tagged the jet then fired into the left engine," Brose calmly added. "I saw I hit it but it must have taken a bit to knock it out. It looks like the pilot's going to try to bring it down in the boggy area on the other side of the road. Permission to pursue."

Ray and the soldiers looked at Brose in amazement. Not only had she wiped out the rear guard they'd been facing, she taken down the damn jet!

"Permission granted, Brose," Kris intoned. "I'm realigning the squads. Max, form Echo Squad, take Lara, Van and two soldiers. Luce, form Fox Squad, take Ray, Liz and three soldiers. Get Hummers, pinpoint the location the plane stops and head to it from opposite directions. The ranking soldier in Beta, Charlie, and Delta Squads is now in charge. We'll continue to mop up here."

As the squads reorganized Kris called in for more troops from Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst to secure the airport and the crash site which looked to be in Double Trouble State Park, a cranberry bog and prime Pine Barrens ecosystem that began eight hundred meters off the southwest tip of the runway in a southeasterly direction. She also asked for armed military helicopters cover to keep news copters out of the airspace of the airport and crash as well as to ward off a possible oppos extraction attempt.

Max and Luce with their two selected soldiers in tow each snagged a Hummer and gathered their people. The plane went down about fifty five hundred meters from the airport in a bog of Double Trouble State Park... a most appropriate name.

By the time Echo and Fox squads gathered their members and were on their way to the crash site, Brose had run thirteen hundred meters to the southern end of the runway and then east eight hundred meters along an access road that led to Dover road. Double Trouble was on the other side of the road. She followed the road about eight hundred meters further east before turning into Dover Forge, a historical site in the park. Here she turned south for two hundred meters due south through cleared area to cross Cedar Creek into the forest on the other side.

In the forest she followed the high ground along the south side Cedar Creek, thus avoiding the swampy area near the stream. Fortunately the area was sparsely treed. Brose was able to maintain a fast pace through the three hundred fifty meter fairly open stretch. Then came a soggy twenty stretch where a small side stream crossed her path. the next one hundred eighty yards was also sparsely treed. The next one hundred fifty meters was heavily treed but by then her eyes had adapted to the darkness so while she was slowed she was still able to make good progress. Then came another 200 meter sparely wooded section before she had to slow for twenty meters to cross another side stream. The next fifty one hundred meters was through a sparsely treed area followed by an easy crossing of another stream before continuing twenty seven hundred meters. The final eight hundred meter stretch to the crash site was along open land and access roads until she reached the northwest side of the bog. It took her only thirty five minutes to run the seven and three quarters miles. While breathing heavily due to the cross country run she was not heavily winded.

It took Fox Squad five minutes to disengage and gather together in a Hummer. Driving south on Mule Road the turned right onto Lacey Road which until they reached Carriage lane. From there they followed trails one and a quarter miles north until the they reached the southwest edge of the bog thirty three minutes after leaving the airport.

It took Echo Squad longer to regroup since Max and the soldiers were well into the forest and engaged in a fight. It took fifteen minutes before they were gathered in their Hummer. They traveled back down Pinewald Keswick Road five miles to turn south to a trail for three quarters of a mile into the park until they reached the east side of the bog seventeen minutes after leaving the airport.

Echo Squad arrived at bog thirty two minutes after the crash, Brose thirty three minutes after (since she'd started her trek before the plane was down), and Fox Squad thirty eight minutes afterward. The could see the torn apart wreckage in the bog. Echo squad was about six hundred meters away. Fox Squad was about two hundred yards away, and Brose was about seventy five meters away from the wreck.

The landing had not been smooth. The left wing had hit first, digging into the bog and pinwheeling the nose into the muck stopping it abruptly. The fuselage split open just behind the left wing and the momentum of the right wing acted like a lever to slew the tail section around ripping it completely off the face planted nose/left wing section. The right wing then hit the bog pinwheeling the tail section about thirty meters where it settled into the muck. The engines and wings were smoldering but the water had snuffed any open fire. There was no sign of life.

Upon arrival, Max did a quick visual of the crash and let everyone know they were in place and going in. Carefully he led Echo Squad into the morass towards the plane after having one of the soldiers disable the Hummer. They were about half way to the wreck when Fox Squad arrived. Luce notified they had arrived and after surveying the wreck and having her Hummer disabled they headed into the bog.

Brose didn't like what she saw and smelled. As she approached the bog she could see the headlights of a Hummer stop on the eastern side. In moments she knew it was Echo squad. She could see a one body at the wreck, but nothing moved. Her nose told her she wasn't alone so she decided to keep her presence off the airwaves. It took a few moments to determine there were at least seven very anxious and shook up oppos hiding in the tree line along the edge of the bog. A bit deeper into the trees she detected two more opps, obviously injured but functionally alert. With them she detected the still unconscious quads! Cautiously moving about she sniffed for the scents and was able to locate the area they were hiding. Slowly but steadily she began to circle to their rear, confident they were watching for signs of the approaching Echo Squad. For a moment she thought about warning Echo, but felt they'd serve as bait to distract the oppos until she get to the quads. She felt confident the oppos wouldn't open fire until Echo Squad was close enough not to miss.

As she stalked her prey she heard and then saw the headlights of Fox Squad arriving on site. So did the oppos. The seven split off three men to cover Fox. Brose paused until she was able to sniff out the location of the repositioned men, then began to move in on the two guarding the quads.

Brose stopped abruptly. Of course! Keying her headset she spoke. "This is Brose. I'm on site on the north side of the crash site. Echo and Fox Squads, it is vital to keep closing in on the wreck. Do NOT alter what you're doing or look off target. You're the bait I need to rescue the quads. There are two injured oppos guarding the quads about thirty meters into the trees. There are four fully functional in the tree line keeping and eye on Echo and three more watching Fox. Since they haven’t killed the quads I think they might be waiting for a dust off so they won't fire if they think you don't know they're near. When I secure the quads, I'll let you know, then you can hit them."

"Roger that, Brose," Kris cut in. "Echo and Fox, do as Brose said. When she let’s you know she has the quads, let the bastards have it. I already have three armed Apache's en-route. I'll have them circle until you're engaged so we don't spook them."

Needless to say the Echo and Fox Squads were nervous as they continued slogging their way into the ambush. Two minutes later Brose closed in on the duo guarding the quads. She found the quads lying under the tree canopy by a clearing big enough to land a chopper. Brose spotted one guard leaning against a tree looking towards the bog and his comrades. One leg was splinted and his head was bandaged but he still appeared capable of using his MP5. The other guard stood about six feet two inches and had to weigh a muscular two hundred eighty pounds. Obviously in pain, he was walking nervously peering out into the clearing in the opposite direction from the other guard. One arm was wrapped tightly to his chest in a blood stained bandage. An automatic pistol was gripped firmly in his good hand. Judging by his movement and labored breathing Brose guessed he'd probably broken his shoulder and collar bone as well as his arm.

It took another two minutes for Brose to silently make her way to a tree near the pacing man that was out of the other guard's line of sight. When he walked by the tree she waited until his back was to her before she moved. In two steps she was on him. One hand clamped over his mouth while the Bowie knife cut his throat clear through to his spinal column. The only sound that came out of him was a bloody gurgle as she lowered his already dead corpse to the ground.

Brose wasn't even upset, she'd just killed another type of rat. Calmly she wiped the blood off her hands and knife on the dead man's clothes. Then she began to stealthily move on to the other guard, keeping the tree he was leaning against between them. Three minutes later she reached around the tree and jammed the Bowie knife into the man's throat severing his spinal cord and pinning him to the tree. His death was instantaneous.

"Quads secured," Brose keyed her headset as she pulled the knife out of the dead man's throat. Again she cleaned up on the dead man's clothes.

Echo and Fox Squads had almost reached the crash site and their anxiety was at a peak as they waited for the oppos to open up on them. At Brose’s curt message they turned from the crash site to spray the tree line with fire as they scrambled for cover. The startled oppos quickly returned fire but lost the advantage they'd had. A heavy firefight erupted as Echo and Fox Squads spread out. As the squads fired withering covering fire, Ray was able to pinpoint and take out targets.

As the firing erupted from the bog Brose began pulling the quads one by one she about fifteen meters deeper into the trees eastward away from the clearing. With her strength, she had no problem accomplishing the task.

Realizing they'd been compromised the five remaining oppos scrambled back towards their prisoners. At the same time the thundering WHOOP WHOOP WHOOP of a chopper moving at tree top level gave them hope they could still get out of their FU'd disaster.

By the time she got the last quad moved, the oppos firing had ceased so she knew they were on their way. She knew they'd do everything in their power to kill the quads before letting them fall into The Center's hands. At the same time she heard the rapidly approaching chopper. She'd do her best to hold them at bay until help arrived. Without a trace of nervousness she readied her Desert Eagle for an expected assault by the remaining oppos and the arrival of the chopper. Once more she'd become the cold ruthless rat killing machine she'd been on the farm.

The forest canopy moved violently from the downdraft of the chopper as it dropped into the clearing. It was a commercial model, not an armored military type. Even so the two side doors were open, each with a hastily mounted manned machine gun pointed into the trees. Brose took careful aim and fired a round into the front canopy at the pilot. Almost instantly the chopper tilted sideways, the swirling blades bitting into the trees. The suddenly stopped torque slammed the chopper into the ground where it burst into flames. No one got out.

Seconds later the oppos scrambled into the area the quads had been. Clearly illuminated by the flames Brose could see their shocked expressions as they saw their slaughtered comrades and not the quads. Four stopped in shock looking towards the fifth man for orders. The man opened his mouth just as his head exploded. Brose was able to down another before they recovered.

"The chopper is down," Brose spoke into her headset as she searched for the three oppos. "I killed the man in charge and one other oppo. Three went to ground."

"Roger, Brose," Max replied. "We took out two at the tree line."

"That means these three are the last," Brose replied. "I can tell they’re hugging ground close together and they are terrified. They’re between you and the downed chopper. Let me know when you have them surrounded so I can drop a stink bomb. If they move before we’re ready I’ll let you know. I'll take them out if I see them but I can't leave the quads. Come and get 'em. Don't worry about my friendly fire, I can smell the terror on the three oppos."

“Try to take prisoners,” Kris added. “But DO NOT endanger yourselves doing so. We’ve got Apache’s over the area so there won’t be any more outside interference. Let’s end this.”

Brose’s comment that the three oppos were terrified was dead on. In the food court they’d left five men and a top notch dominator as rear guard. As they’d exited onto the parking lot they’d heard the distinctive report of a big gun that wasn’t one of theirs. They’d only gotten one quad loaded into an SUV when the door they’d exited opened and a figure rushed out. At once the startled oppos had opened up but the figure dove behind a dumpster. Then out of no where they were engulfed by the stench of a hog farm. Their fire slackened as they hacked and coughed. Before they could pull themselves together they once more heard the distinct bark of the big gun. Even as they began firing at the dumpster their guys began to drop. These mercenaries had worked with and faced the transitioned. They’d been impressed by some of the transitioned but always felt there was strength in numbers against them. Yet now this mysterious figure was methodically mowing them down. They even lost two vehicles to the insidious deadly accurate fire of what had to be a .50 caliber semi-automatic pistol. When they made good their escape from the mall they breathed a sigh of relief. They escaped a living nightmare.

As they began to relax on the jet as it began it’s take off run they were shocked to see the mysterious figure running full out at the plane while firing a pistol. The person was so close and going so fast they had to have rolled under the jet. As they looked out the other side they saw sparks fly off the engine and could feel the impact of the heavy rounds. Although they made it into the air, the engine exploded and they turned to left headed down. Now, over half an hour later, they heard the bark of the .50 cal followed by the impact and explosion of the chopper that was to get them out of their nightmare. When they got to the clearing they saw their two injured comrades almost beheaded and the quads gone. Then they saw their leader’s head explode as he was about to give them orders, followed instantaneously by the bark of that terrible .50 cal. Before they made it to cover the gun barked again and a huge hole appeared where their buddy’s stomach had been. All three had faced combat, but this wasn’t anywhere near that tension. They couldn’t see a thing but knew they faced a living demon. Their terror and indecision kept them hugging the ground.

One by one the members of Echo and Fox Squads announced themselves to be in position. “Stink bomb,” Brose announced.

The three oppos were suddenly engulfed in the vilest, most putrid smell they’d ever experienced. It was so bad they couldn’t even begin to tell it’s possible origin. They began to hack and cough, followed in seconds by what little was left in their stomachs. Overwhelmed, exhausted, and totally dispirited they were too weak to keep hold of their rifles. As the stench began to dissipate their survival instincts kicked in. They knew the soldiers from the bog were closing in behind them from the south. They figured their scourge was to the north of the clearing so they stumbled to their feet and with a staggering gait began circling the clearing to the east. The man in the lead had enough gumption to pull his handgun.

Suddenly their living nightmare stood before them with a massive Desert Eagle aimed at them. What added to their terror was they recognized their nemesis was a girl! The wretched man in the rear fell to his knees planting his face in the dirt as he began to cry. The guy in the middle just froze with his terror stricken gaze locked in the massive maw of the .50 cal. Nearly crazed with fear and hatred, the man in front raised his pistol. The Desert Eagle barked as the man’s arm separated at the elbow, the forearm flying five feet with the pistol still gripped in the lifeless hand. The benumbed man looked at his blood spurting stump and fainted. The second man dropped to his knees begging for mercy.

“Three in custody,” Brose calmly stated as she kept the Desert Eagle aimed at the broken duo.

In moments Beta and Fox squads rushed to Brose. The soldiers took down the two conscious prisoners and secured them while Luce knelt by the unconscious man and used her talent to staunch the flow of blood. Brose led Liz to the quads where she began to minister to their injuries from the crash.

Brose simply dropped to the ground sitting Indian style while she watched Liz work. Healing seemed to be a much better talent. The adrenalin rush that had fueled her cool unemotional feats throughout the evening crashed. Tears wanted to flow down her cheeks and she began to tremble as she realized how many people she’d killed, but she kept herself on a tight leash just in case more bad stuff went down. It was later determined Brose had personally eliminated thirty five oppos and captured three.

For The Center the operation had been a very messy success. A shopping mall was damaged with the food court basically destroyed. In addition to the twenty two oppos killed there, seven civilians died while twenty nine were injured.

Eight oppos had seized control of the airport at 7:30pm, the same time they hit the mall. The facility was closed down with one person in the control tower and two security guards, all were killed. Three janitors in other airport buildings went to ground and were uninjured. The escape jet with a four man crew landed five minutes after the airport was captured. The rear guard Delta Squad faced consisted of seven men. One had been wounded during the firefight, his comrades killed him when they bolted. Brose took out the rest. Delta suffered two green berets and one soldier wounded. Beta Squad suffered two soldiers wounded before they killed the five oppos they faced. Charlie Squad suffered one green beret and one soldier wounded before they took out the eight oppos that had ambushed them. Alpha Squad suffered the highest casualties, four soldiers wounded to kill the five oppos they faced. The twenty five man rear guard was wiped out. They killed their own wounded if they were unable to fall back, the last remaining defender wounded at each roadblock took his own life rather than be captured. The eight man force that secured the airport was the last to be wiped out. Once Kris determined their were no live civilians inside the control tower where they'd holed up, she decided her unit had already suffered too many casualties so she fried the control tower. The damages at the airport were high. The control tower was destroyed. The runway was damaged when the two SUVs Brose took out burned. Both sides of the Airport road were damaged at the road blocks from falling trees and burned out vehicles. Three more dead oppos were found in the vehicles used in the roadblocks. The .50 cal holes in the back of the vehicles with the dead men showed Brose had hit them as they sped out of the mall.

Ten oppos from the sixty man mall strike force boarded the jet with the quads. The pilot and co-pilot were killed in the crash, the other two crew members were injured as was the remaining transitioned member of the team, another powerful dominator. The remaining oppos killed the injured crew since they were not part of their group. They took great satisfaction in killing the injured dominator whose pain had at least temporarily rendered him unable to effect them. The two injured oppos were patched up and left as guards with the still unconscious quads. The reconstituted Beta and Charlie Squads covered Ray as he took out two oppos while Brose killed the pilot of the dust-off chopper. The two machine gunners were killed in the crash and fire. Brose then took out the leader and one oppo, then captured the remaining three.

The jet had crashed into the bog in Double Trouble State Park as well as the helicopter crashing in the nearby clearing.

In total the oppos suffered sixty six men plus two transitioned killed with three captured. The four man crew of the jet who were later determined to be innocent victims had been killed Of the sixteen green berets detailed to assist The Center Squads three were wounded. Of the twenty soldiers from the Center, ten were wounded. Brose accounted for over half of the dead oppos plus the three prisoners not to mention destroying two vans, two SUVs, a helicopter, and a jet.

The physical damage was too widespread, eighty dead were simply too many to create a believable cover. With the President's reluctant approval they went with a partial truth announcing the incident was the apparent result of a suspected terrorist commando attack that was intercepted by a specially trained army strike force operating under the Department of Homeland Security.

The incident had begun at 7:30pm, the jet crashed at 8:01 pm and Brose captured the last three terrorists about 8:45 pm. The White House press secretary held a news briefing at 9:30 pm to announce the foiling of the terrorist attack, identifying the locations of action and that all of those participating in the attack had been killed. The news media was told the sites were being guarded by armed troops from Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst and were off limits until the preliminary site investigations were completed. The preliminary investigations were expected to be completed before noon the next day and that the President would then address the issue and field questions at a press conference later that afternoon when more details would be available. Everyone was told to stay away from the sites and anyone attempting to gain entry would be arrested and prosecuted to the fullest extent allowed. The news media was kept away until the sites were sanitized.

The Center Team, the quads, the green berets and the prisoners were choppered back to Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst. Three medivac choppers evacuated the wounded from the airport landing directly at the base hospital. Guards were posted about the surgeries and ICU where they could treat yet safely sequester the injured.

The helicopter with the uninjured green berets landed near the Intelligence headquarters where they were taken for a secure debriefing. All the green berets were sworn to secrecy about what they’d witnessed. They would be the public face of the Homeland Security Strike Force, receiving medals and being feted as heros.

The four helicopters with The Center team landed in front of an unused ammunition bunker. Armed troops guarded the outside of the entrance and armed men were positioned around the bunker. A tech crew was just packing up after having installed secure communications systems as well as four cameras and thermal imaging units inside the innermost secure room in the bunker. They had vid monitors and computers set up in the next room. The spacious main ammo transfer area just inside the entrance had been stocked by the base Mess staff with food and drinks. Four gurneys waited by the entrance. Brose, Max, Liz, and Lara were in the chopper with the quads which landed closest to the bunker entrance. Eight of The Center soldiers ran from their choppers to retrieve the gurneys and head out to transfer the quads. Kris detailed Liz, Dani, Christopher, and Lise to accompany the soldiers to the secure room where the quads were to be sequestered so they’d be there to calm the quads if they awoke.

The brightly lit ammo transfer area allowed everyone to finally see each other. The terror that broke the prisoners at the end of their failed mission still effected them. They'd only been exposed to the transitioned two to four at a time but their smug superior cocky bullying attitudes most certainly intimidated them. Working together was a best an uneasy truce and the groups never mingled when not on a mission. It wasn't until they had entered the well lit ammo dump they realized they were surrounded by twenty of the transitioned and ten soldiers.

For the first time they saw Brose clearly. The big Desert Eagle secured to her vest still intimidated them. The man missing his right forearm timidly ran his left hand over the miraculously healed stump as he recalled what that gun had done to him. But what shook them even more was her icy calm demeanor. The entire front of her uniform was covered in blood and pieces of gore. Her face was even more terrifying as it was nearly covered with dried blood. On top of that three rips were clearly visible on the front of her vest indicating she'd taken a burst of gunfire apparently unscathed before their final encounter!

After telling Max to take over, Kris led Luce, Ray, and Brose to the rear where the four were told to be prepared to take out the quads if they went rogue. Kris was there to make that decision. Max assumed command of the others near the entrance to the complex to wait out the inevitable.

The prisoners were relieved when Brose followed the apparent leader and several others deeper into the ammo dump. They had witnessed 'interrogations' by the transitioned and dreaded being left with these teenagers who had just taken down their entire mission without any losses.

Max detailed their surviving soldiers to take turns guarding the inside of the entrance. Once everyone was settled in, he led Van, Lili and Kevin over to the prisoners to begin the interrogation.

"I can see you're afraid," Max declared in a menacing voice. "You should be. We could make your life a living hell."

The men noted the W-1 Warrant Officer insignia on Max's fatigues. How could a sixteen year old be a warrant officer? Yet it was clear the regular soldiers obeyed his orders. They looked at the steely eyes of the blue haired Asian teen with fear evident in their eyes.

"Fortunately, we don't like doing that," Max continued in a gentler but still firm tone. "But you will tell us everything you know about who set this up. Van is a pyrokinetic, he can burn you without killing you. Lili and Kevin are telepaths. They can simply enter your minds and get what we want, but that's painful and difficult on you and drains them. Instead you'll answer every question quickly and honestly. Lili and Kevin can tell if you're telling the truth with little effort. Please make this easy on all of us."

At that point Max signaled Mattie and Cori to bring over food and drink while he had Lili and Kevin untie the prisoners so they could eat. Van kept a wary eye on them and they knew better than to try anything aggressive.

After they'd slaked their thirst and hunger, the blonde, blue-eyed one armed man nodded and spoke with a heavy German accent. "If ve cooperate vhat happens to us?"

"I can guarantee that as long as you cooperate you will not be tortured and will be treated well," Max replied. "I would expect you'll be kept in custody indefinitely and incognito. Those of us here and our commanding officer are the only people who know you were captured. As far as everyone else is concerned, they've been told there were NO survivors. We're in the process of securing bodies to take your place in the body count. Everyone will 'discover' you were on the dust-off chopper and burned beyond recognition. Your 'dead' bodies will be cremated and eventually ID'd by DNA. Your superiors will have no reason to seek revenge against your loved ones."

Another man nodded. "How do we know we can trust you?"

"You don't, Max answered. "You'll just have to trust me. But think about this, we've treated you with respect as POWs. Since you were captured, have you in way been abused?"

They exchanged looks and shook their heads.

"We do have other incognito prisoners," Max stated. "You'll be placed with them in a comfortable secure secret lock-up."

Then the interrogation began.

The one armed man was a German Neo Nazi who as a teen had gone to Bagdad in 1991 as part of a five hundred man modern SS unit to aid Saddam Hussein during the First Gulf War. When the bombing began, the leadership had them flee the country. It had humiliated him and hardened his resolve to fight Zionism and American imperialism. His neo-Nazi cell been recruited several months before into what they knew as the Annihilate Zionism/Imperialism Front or AZIF for short. Their mission was to appear to have been a terrorist attack in an shopping mall to instill terror across the country. The plan had been loosely in place waiting for an appropriate time and location to snag a significant transitioning teen. It had been rushed into operation when they learned about the quads.

The man who had begged for mercy turned out to be frustrated dreadlocked Black American who was a Nation of Islam member and a member of the new Black Panthers. The hatred for whites and jews spewed by Louis Farrakhan and Malik Shabazz had driven him to want to strike out at the enemies. He'd been recruited into AZIF after a Black Panther rally.

The last man was a Bosnian Muslim who had lived in Serbia. Most of his family had been massacred by the Christian Serbs during the fighting during the mid-nineties. Forced to flee, he'd been drawn to Al-Qaeda and fought in Afghanistan before being pulled out and sent to join AZIF.

Once the prisoners started talking they tried to outdo each other revealing details of AZIF. All three were clearly ready to bail from AZIF. The promises and rhetoric of AZIF had faded before the mission. They felt the fiasco they'd survived had been due to poor planning, leadership, and execution. All three had buddies from their respective backgrounds who had lost their lives in the armed blunder. Max had video recorded everything they had to say and relayed it back to Mrs Fine, the head of security at The Center where she would disseminate the info.

Liz had been given a complete med kit on their way inside the ammo dump per orders from Dr. Lynchburg. Together with Christopher and Lise, she cut the soiled clothes off the twins. They were a bit shocked to discover they'd all been cross-dressing! The two who appeared to be girls were boys with padded bras. The two who appeared to be boys were girls with their breasts bound. Once naked, they proceeded to wash them. Before slipping hospital gowns on them Liz snapped photos of them from several angles. Liz then took cell scrapings from inside their mouths, snipped off hair samples, and drew several vials of blood from each quad while Christopher and Lise strapped them firmly to the gurneys. Each gurney was placed in plain site of a camera with the other three in the background. This would be their ’before’ base line.

The quads physically looked like siblings but like two sets of identical twins whose only difference was their gender. The smaller pair, a boy and a girl, were about five feet two inches with fair skin and blonde hair. The larger pair, also a boy and a girl, were about five feet seven inches with brown hair.

The quads had yet to be identified. No one had reported them missing even though the clean-up units had openly requested identities of people who might be missing in the Mall destruction. Those being detained at the mall had been identified and loved ones notified. But of the seven civilians killed, four were still unidentified. It seemed strange that no one had reported the quads missing... unless their family was among the unidentified dead.

The waiting was unsettling to Brose. It had only been five weeks since that day on the farm but her life was now totally different. For one thing she’d killed thirty five people that night. Killing rats, whether human or rodent, was one thing. Yet killing the quads seemed like it would be murder. She understood the necessity of taking out the quads if they went rogue but didn’t like it. The others shared her feelings. Brose cleaned herself up as best as she could while she listened intently while Luce and Ray explained their combat experiences. The happy teens she’d gotten to know back at the center seemed old and tired as they quietly talked. It was obvious none of them liked killing. They simply did what they had to do. This made Brose feel better for that’s the way she felt.

“It’s happening,” Dani called out. “All four at the same time!”

Just as they all gathered round the vid screens to watch, a ball of fire erupted from the smaller male quad. The intensity almost put the cameras into white out while the air visibly simmered from the heat. The readings from the thermal imaging device shot up to twelve hundred degrees in three seconds. As quickly as the fire started it was suddenly quashed. The air above the smaller female quad exploded in ice crystals dousing the flames. The two reactions canceled each other.

Less than thirty seconds later the area above the larger male quad seemed to explode in shimmering light of virtually every color and hue. Three seconds later the area above the larger female quad seemed to fade to blackness. Again the two opposite reaction canceled each other.

Dani and Kris exchanged looks of disbelief. Apparently both twin-like pairs had exactly opposite talents! Pyrokinetic versus cryokenetic and photokenetic versus umbrakenetic!

The monitoring equipment was linked by live feed back to The Center where Dr. Lynchburg and staff could observe.

Kris quickly contacted Mrs. Fine back at The Center to inform her of the conclusion she'd reached. Judging by the wreckage in the food court, the stress of the confrontation with the oppos had jump started the first emergence. Apparently the pyro had gone off first causing the massive explosion that ignited the gas lines in the food stands. That must have set off the cryo which extinguished the pyro flash over leaving only the gas fed fires. The two had apparently gone off within seconds of each other to cause the massive concussive damage and simultaneously limit the burn damage to the food court. Mrs Fine would share the info with the ‘official’ investigators.

The initial second emergence flash point danger had passed. Brose watched in fascination as they began to physically change. Their features seemed to morph then their bodies. The smaller pair grew to about five feet seven inches and their hair grew longer and darkened to a red that nearly matched Brose’s fiery mane. The larger pair also grew about five inches to six feet two inches while their hair also grew and turned the same shade of red. The quads now appeared to be even more identical - identical twin like in appearance. They all became prettier, with fair skin and a cute sprinkling of light freckles across their cheeks and light green eyes. What really seemed strange was that they didn’t seem to change sex!

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> pew!
o