The One Hour War: Genesis.

[Hurricane]

Kim Jong Un was a man that the whole world didn't take likely. As his reign continued the worlds forces with a few exceptions such as China and surprisingly Russia, began to form a naval blockade. All the tests that the Supreme Leader of North Korea had issued were just ruses. China gave them the power to reach across the world with nuclear fire. America and other nuclear armed countries fired back, thus nearly all life one Earth ceased to exist. The One Hour War lasted just as exact, one hour. The strikes left nuclear fallout for years and even caused heavy mutations among the wildlife and human life alike. There is life left, just enough to rebuild what was lost. They call themselves Sentinels and using the pre-war technology, they are slowly taking back the land.


The skies over what was once Washington D.C. was a flying VTOL. The sleek black Warbird rotated it's large turbine fans that kept it hovering above the ground. It was flying towards the reflecting pool where the mangled remains of the Washington Monument resides. The Warbird's pilot opened the side cabin doors revealing a rugged soldier equipped with a exoskeleton body around his limbs. His head being protected by a helmet with face protection as well a rebreather allowing him to breath fresh air rather than the irradiated air that can leave a human being sick. The Warbird swiveled it's mounted machine guns around as the soldier jumped from the safety of the VTOL. He landed with a heavy thud and a compressed hiss from the knee joints of his exo-skeleton. He breathed slowly as he equipped himself with his IMR -- a self ammunition printing weapon with a five shot burst. His other weapons were holstered on his body as well equipment. His mission here was to respond to a ping of a fallen satellite. He was to recover the data within it and report back to the Sentinel leader.


The water and vegetation around him was overgrown and flooded most of the streets around the reflecting pool. His smart watch was reading above average levels of radiation. He couldn't breath the air but he could be exposed to it. He looked to the rubble of the monument beside him and decided to climb to the top. He took off in a job and then jumped manipulating the foot pegs he was boosted to the top. His exo-skeleton gave him the power of limited flight but enough to get to high ground. He surveyed his surroundings, everything was ruined and the clouds were getting darker. He could see his way point destination just a few clicks south of the Abraham Lincoln memorial. He grunted as he ran down the side of the large pile of rubble and made his way across the pool. Little did he know that the local mutants were following.

 

[amlia]

There were six of them in their shelter. A married couple with a baby coming, an older man, a younger woman, and a mother and son. The small group was picked out of a larger one. There came a point after the war where the food supply was limited and could only supply a certain amount of people for a certain amount of time. The married couple was kept because the husband was from the military, and knew quite a bit about survival. He agreed to stay if his pregnant wife could as well. The older man- being in his fifties or so- was kept for his smarts when it came to construction and such. Eventually, we'd need someone who knew what he was doing. The mother and son were kept because they supplied most of the food. The younger girl, Arielle, was kept merely because the said son insisted on it.


Three of them only ever left the shelter, and only on certain occasions. What they wore were- after many tests- approved to show resistance against the radiation. Mostly, to try and eliminate the growing population of mutants prowling the former prospering city. The husband, Cane, came along with the son. Both were experienced with weapons, and Arielle was experienced with the city. She was born and raised there, spent the most time on these streets out of them all, and could most likely navigate through it with a blindfold on.


The group had been tracking the small pack of mutants for a few blocks now when the strange figure appeared. Upon further investigation, he didn't seem like he belonged. Different. And he was looking for something. The mutants followed the man, and the group followed the mutants. They held off on killing anything, figuring that they'd rather see who or what this was. If there was trouble, they could manage to turn the mutants on the stranger.

 

[Hurricane]

The male continued his march across the wasted capitol of America. His boots stomped through the dirty patches and cracked pavement. Just as he was about to clear a charred vehicle he heard movement to his left. He quickly became alert to the sounds and aimed down the thermal scope of his IMR. The green dot laser scope moved across different surfaces before landing on feral flesh. His thermal scope lit up with heat spots resembling a humanoid figure and following the image was a very feral growl. The male immediately engaged and opened fired. His weapon released a four round burst killing the feral human but another and another appeared from behind the first. The soldier cursed under his breath as he expertly shot the next two down. Before retreating back he extended his right arm and deployed his exo-launcher and fired a frag grenade into the fallen building from where the feral humans were coming from. The grenade launched with a "floop" sound and landed inside before exploding. The male turned around and quickly made his haste across the open area he was in. The satellite wasn't too far from his current location, he just needed to hurry before anything happens to it.


The exo-skeleton wearing soldier used his thrusters numerous times to clear obstacles quickly. As he jumped onto the roof of a barely intact gas station his smart watch was making a small sound. The pinging sound alerted the man that the target was just near by and the man can see the fallen satellite just sitting in a crater. He walked to the edge of the roof and jumped off landing with a soft thud. He checked his surroundings, moving his assault rifle from side to side as he walked towards his target. He could hear movement but it wasn't close enough to pose any potential danger but he wasn't going to let his guard down.


Finally he was in hands reach. He holstered his weapon on his drop leg holster and looked around the satellite for anything intact and there wasn't much left but there was one thing; the hard drives. The soldier grabbed the casing with his hand, the augmented glove magnetically stuck while he allowed the servo's in his exo-arm to pry the casing open. he threw the heavy plating to the side, the plate banged and dinged across the ground while he reached in and grabbed the hard drives. Some were burnt but a few were still intact, he grinned under his helmet. His mission was complete and now he could back to base. Little did he know that he was being followed and little did he know that a small group of heavily armed bandits were after the satellite as well and he thought that the mutants were a problem.

 

[amlia]

"He's lost. He has to be." Cane spoke, and the young man named Michael nodded in agreement. Aria looked their way as if they were ridiculous. They didn't want to be out here. There was bad weather approaching and each of them wanted to be 'home' to eat.


"He's not lost. He's looking for something." She mumbled, taking her eyes off the males and returning them to the stranger. She took careful steps and lead them over one of the more damaged areas. If they took the time to go around they'd have lost the man. The trio came to a stop, however, when they watched the being kill the mutants. Michael joked, "Can we kill him? Whatever he has.. I want."


Arielle mumbled toward the two, telling them to shut their mouths. The stranger was moving again, and this time found the crater. They had been aware of the satellite for days, but were waiting until Cane deemed it safe to approach. The three stayed a safe distance while the exo-skeleton approached the crater and put his hands the satellite.


In a world like this, something as simple as this satellite could turn anyone into something like a parent lion protecting its cub. They had a silent claim on the object. As soon as the weapon was out of the stranger's hands they approached. Silent and careful. When they were close enough the two motioned for Aria to stay back. She didn't argue, and allowed her gaze to scan over the figure not too far ahead. His exo-skeleton. His weapons, the contents in his hand.


"Drop it," Ordered Cane, who with Michael, was ready to fire at any second. "Tell us who you are, leave the satellite."

 

[Hurricane]

Drop it? The man looked at the hard drives he was holding in his hand. He had holstered his assault rifle but he was ready to evade them at a possible time. Marcus slowly and calmly laid the drives on top of the satellite then slowly backed away from it but turned to face them. They couldn't see his face, it was shielded by the protective gas mask and eye shields. He was very muscular, without the exo-skeleton locked onto his body, he'd still be one intimidating man. He counted two men, armed and possibly dangerous. They demanded his name and he was contemplating on answering. But after a moment had passed the soldier lowered his arms down to his side before reaching back up to his helmet and releasing the seals so that he could remove that detachable gas mask. A trimmed beard and a handsome face was what resided underneath that mask. Clearly speaking with a understandable accent he spoke his name. "I'm Marcus Smith. I'm with the S.H.D. My mission is to recover the hard drives from this fallen satellite. Now if you leave me be then no one will be hurt. My Warbird is inbound to extract me."





Marcus took this moment to react, using his boosted reflexes, he quickly drew his pair set of SAC3's. The two SMG weapons with their silencers attached and mounted laser sights were aiming at the two men. The soldier had just leveled the battle field with his akimbo weapons. His eyes glaring at the armed survivors who apparently wanted the satellite for themselves -- more than likely for scrap of some kind. But Marcus was a fair man, a understanding man and he knew how he could get out of this stand off.


"You obviously want this satellite and I want to get this mission over and done with. If supplies and equipment is what you want, I can order you a supply drop but that's all I can do. You can also have this satellite also, I don't care. I got what I came for." Marcus was beginning to slow lower his weapons just as he heard the rumbling motors of Junkers. Those armored monster APC's that plow through anything with their huge front mounted shovels and armed with military grade machine guns. Marcus groaned as he holstered his weapons and reattached his gas mask. It looks like he'll be fighting but before he even decided to help these men he attempted to get ahold of the Warbird. "Eagle One, this is Bravo - Two One. LZ will be hot, I repeat LZ will be hot." - "Rodger that Bravo - Two One. Approaching vector two niner. ETA ten minutes till arrival."

 

[amlia]

The weapons aimed at the stranger never wavered, even when Marcus had pulled his own weapons and pointed them right back their way. Cane kept his face emotionless as always. The only time the man ever seemed to crack a smile was when he was at his wife's side. It seemed that the only thing that kept him sane was that woman. Michael shifted uncomfortably on his feet, but that was it. That was the only sign of fear he dared show. Unlike Cane, the younger man hadn't had too many experiences in this way. They had, in fact, wanted the satellite for just that. Scraps. The data and hard drives it carried help no purpose to them.


Standing out of sight but certainly not out of earshot, Aria kept herself hidden around the corner. She had agreed in advance not to involve herself in situations like this. She was there to navigate, and if she got involved she was putting the other two at risk. At least, that's what Cane had in his head. The first time the stranger spoke she straightened her posture a small bit. His accent suggested that he might not have been from there, and that almost worried her. Meanwhile, however, movement caught her attention and her eyes locked on what they were originally in the city for. Mutants. A pack of them moved a street over, though paid no attention to the stand off so close to them. Instead they froze still, looked off in another direction, let off an awful sound that would make any being cringe, and hastily took off.


Then came the rumbling of the vehicles. The man that they had followed here could be heard groaning just as Aria grew uncomfortable with the sound. The dead city was quiet for so long, and now there was a strange man along with the sound of strange vehicles. A sound they hadn't heard in what seemed like forever. "Cane.. Michael," She leant around the corner nodding in the direction the sound originated from. Her voice showed that she was anxious to leave, to get back to safety, "Forget the satellite."


The husband and soon-to-be father waved her off and kept his eyes glued to Marcus. Michael mumbled something to the man, most likely seconding what the girl suggested.

 

[Hurricane]

"Screw this!" The male growled as he holstered his weapons and exo-dashed to the left behind some cover as he drew his IMR from his side. The two men weren't people he wanted to kill, if they wanted to fight they would have shot him already. Marcus looked down at his smart watch that was projecting a hologram of the new pings detected; he knew there was going to be a fight and that was when he realized he left the drives behind. He sighed as he mentally banged his head against his hand. He kept his eyes on the blimps of the vehicles moving around the site. He could hear the bandits shout and take a few crack shots at the two men who were now in the middle of this fire fight.


Marcus stood up and shouted at the two men trying to get them to stay down. "Get to cover you idiots!" A shot was taken at Marcus but it missed, only coming close to striking a piece of his shoulder armor. Marcus quickly looked down his sight and struck the glowing target with a burst of four shots then moved to the next target. He quickly took out the four men in the first truck. He was using his exo's dashing abilities, dashing and sliding across the ground and air. He was making it very hard for them to hit him but one of the managed to strike him in the chest. The bullet proof plating under his load out vest took the blunt force of the shells but it knocked him out the sky. Marcus grunted as he rushed for cover and allowed his IMR to print more ammo into the reserve before reloading. The bandits had powerful machine guns, some good gear too -- they must have looted a military base that was long deserted and forgotten. He had to eliminate them before his Warbird could extract him.