Becoming Alice

  "Eighteen hours ago, we finally spotted the terrorists Marker’s hideout on Europa. They hijacked a migrant spaceship from Mars to Jupiter orbital station. Therefore we must carry out an urgent rescue. " Alex Kelly donned his powered armor as he explained the mission to his wizard squad. Fireman Kaul and Ross, scout Luke, hacker Jeff, and medic Susan. "There’s nothing those cranks can do to surprise me." Armored, Jeff shrugged. "Won't they be desperate? " Susan asked, concerned about the hostages. "They never kill sacrifices before the ceremony. It’s considered a sacrilegious act of profanity. As crazy as they are, these guys are surprisingly principled in this respect.” Jeff mocked. " Metas are what worry me. According to the intel, there might be metas here. Enemy deployment worried Luke the most. "Okay, guys. Here we go." Alex confirmed the time. "It's 2:49 AM on October 12, 2176, GMT, and we will launch an attack on Markers in 10 minutes." Their craft soared through the thin atmosphere and hovered above Europa's ice sheet, crimson positron cannons firing from the front of the spacecraft. The ice sheet was torn, melted, vaporized and sublimated. The red beams of light dug up the layer of ice in one minute, and revealed the man-made structures a hundred meters below. “Move!” The wizard squad leapt from the cabin and rushed to the surface. After the ice sheet broke, countless droids poured out from the base. "Suppress the fire!" As Alex gave the command, he pulled the trigger, shooting the Marker’s droids. Bullets hit their power armor from time to time but didn’t even leave a scratch on them thanks to the military's latest technology. Instead, this elite squad sprayed the enemy by the row. "All clear." When they descended to the ground, Luke scanned the area but couldn’t find any droids that could move. "Jeff, open the door." Jeff cracked the firewall of the base, and then entered in. The moment they filed in, they were attacked by the terrorists. "For the Alien God!" After Kaur and Ross pinned down the enemy with fire, Alex threw a bomb. After letting out a roar, he rushed through the cover and suppressed the enemy. "Let's go! " Alex took the lead and rushed forward. After crossing the corridor, they came to a weird room with several glass jars filled with human bodies, showing no signs of life. "Oh, damn, we’re too late. " Jeff's eyes widened. "Hold on. These aren’t hostages." Alex noticed that the bodies were still developing, and that the jars had numbers underneath them. "Alice001, 002..." There were 7 jars and the jar labeled 007 was empty. "Captain," said Susan, the medic, checking the console, "these are biological implants. This is a biology lab." "What's that?" Jeff asked. "You can interpret it as carbon-based machinery, droids made from flesh-and-blood or something." As Susan said that, she suddenly noticed something. "Oh my gosh, they're working on consciousness transfer!" "Where are the hostages?" Alex shot two enemies coming at him. "In the innermost sacrifice hall." "Keep moving." The wizard squad raced all the way to the end of the base which was sealed off by a gate. "Jeff, c***k the gate. Luke, scan the room." Luke and Jeff went to the gate. And almost immediately, a hand penetrated the steel gate, grabbed Luke's hand and crushed it with the power armor. Luke fell to the ground, howling. The hand swung aside and Jeff, who was trying to break through the door, stumbled to the ground. "It’s a meta! Attack!" As Alex shot at the meta, he grabbed Luke and pulled him behind. The meta withdrew his hand and backed off at once. "Medic!" Alex left Luke with Susan, and then rushed in with the others. "Holy s**t! What a place." What’s inside was more than spooky. Countless human bodies were piled up in the center of the room. Some were corpses, and others were still breathing. They was only one enemy in the room, a red robed meta covered in bizarre tattoos. "How dare you spoil such a grand ceremony. You're preventing the arrival of the Alien God, preventing me from relieving the world. You, must pay the price!" He growled, with his face twisted. The meta charged at the wizard squad, who responded with suppressing fire. But the meta’s body seemed indestructible and the bullets only left white scratches on his surface. He lunged at Kaur, sending him flying into the wall with a single kick, knocking him unconscious. Using his recoil, the meta instantly came to Ross and knocked him through the air. "Try this!" Alex loaded armor-piercing bullets, which finally made the meta shudder. Bullets rained down on the meta. He zigzagged through the air at lightning speed. But Alex's bullets were right behind him, and everywhere the meta went, there were more bullets following him. "Boom!" Finally, Alex shot him. The meta staggered back a few steps, and Alex seized the opportunity and bullets poured down, penetrating the meta’s chest. "Prepare to die!" The meta roared at them as his face twisted, and his blood turned red. "Warning, high-energy response ahead! Warning, high-energy response ahead!" A warning came from the powered armor. "You will perish, and I will live forever. I will enter the holy body and be the light that guides mankind!" "Damn it, this guy's going to blow himself up!" There are still many survivors here and it’s too late to evacuate. "Scan for weak structures." Alex gave his order calmly. A red area was displayed on the power armor screen. "You guys, protect the hostages!" After giving the final order to the wizard squad, Alex threw a high-explosive grenade. With a an almighty roar, the wall was blown open and the air inside the base was sucked out. The base's emergency recovery system immediately kicked in, but before it did, Alex had fired his rocket jets, grabbed the unstable meta and leapt out of a window. They landed together on the icy surface of Europa. "You bastard!" The meta roared. But as he roared, a grenade was shoved in his mouth. "Straight to hell, you fool!" The meta's body turned red and exploded with the grenade. The explosion created a sun beneath the ice sheet. Alex felt a flash of light before his eyes, and then he lost all sense of it, and the pain seemed to disappear altogether. His consciousness began to drift away, and the air became thinner and thinner. "Alex! Wake up! I've called for backup. Hold on... Susan, do something! Now!" "I’m afraid he won’t even last an hour. " "Oh, s**t. How did this happen?" "Maybe... Maybe there's a way. There’s a biological prosthesis in the sacrifice hall, and a full set of surgical equipment in the lab. Consciousness transfer is still in its early stages, but we’ve got no choice..."