It's even colder up here, north of the fifty first parallel. No wonder it was part of Canada once upon a time. Even if it's barely north of Montana.

  The brutalist facility lay at the bottom of this wide, shallow bowl in the plains. The grass was sharp and black, brittle to the touch.

  It didn't rain for a change. As when it doesn't rain, it hails instead.

  And you do not want to be hit by the golf balls of the sky.

  Even still, John welcomes such a magical change as they look upon the facility from a far distance. Very far; the distance clearer through hail.

  Gary sat beside him in the passenger seat and speaks as a lighting strike lights up a titanic satellite dish just behind the facility.

  “There is no way in Hell that place isn't heavily guarded. We should've at least done some training in those virtual devices or whatever.”

  “She'll be alright.” John says as the hail eats away at the clear coat. He turns off the headlights and replies to the glows of the facility to guide them closer in the vehicle. Crosby speaks, sitting in the back with Lex and Yukon.

  “Intel says that security should be minimal. They reckon security was made redundant a few years ago due to raising overheads or something like that. And this is called a… SERaMACs relay? Hmm...”

  “Know what that means?” John asks Gary.

  “No clue. Was never much into business.” Gary replies.

  The vehicle descends down a shallow slope into the bowl the facility rests in. It seems more like a giant crater than a natural formation, even if it houses the glass grass of the plains.

  Another lightning strike above the facility, soon followed by the echo of its thunder. There was no music to be heard. Just wind, hail, lightning and the hum of the tires.

  It took a couple minutes for them to reach a close enough location. John had spotted a hydraulic door which seemed to match the description of the plans Donovan gave them.

  They stop the car about a minute's walk from the facility walls, exterior lights illuminating the immediate outside. John turns the car off and turns to the rest of the men.

  “Boys, what we are about to see is a target rich environment. There shouldn't be much resistance, but be vigilant. We need to run towards that place as quickly as we can, we can't risk being hit too much by the hail. Pull the weapons out the back and lock and load. Make sure you put some armor on.”

  The three in the back twist around to reach for the weapons.

  Crosby handed John his signature akimbo pistols. Yukon handed Gary his M16 rifle, the one from the obelisk which he personally chose.

  The others ready their weapons, although the space is to cramped to reach for the armor.

  “Boss, I… uh— I can't reach for the plates. I'm gonna have to get out and open the back.” Yukon informs.

  “Ahh, fuck it.” John says opening his door and heading out. “I'll grab it.”

  He slammed the door behind him and covered his head with his hands, walking around the SUV to open the rear hatch upwards. The grass made a ceramic crunch beneath his boots, and the hail felt like stones being thrown at him. It was as loud outside as it was inside, though as he opens the hatch, the door serves as some cover while he grabs the equipment.

  Two plates for each of them which he hands to Crosby over the rear chair. Afterwards, he hands over the camouflage vests. Then extra ammo. Then… that should be all that is required.

  He gives them a moment to suit up and load up.

  Slides racked, rounds chambered, uniform tied.

  He slams the rear hatch shut, speaking as he does so.

  “It's go time, ladies.”

  As John walks past the bonnet the doors all over behind him before slamming shut. The crunch of the grass grows closer as they catch up, the group transitioning to a tactical jog before reaching the lit metal walls.

  The things are warped and dented from how much hail has pummeled away at it. John presses his back against the wall and knocks on the door from the side.

  “Authorization, required.” The door asks. John looks back to Crosby who hands him a pack of C4 explosives. He takes it and plants it on the door, which asked again. “Please present the authorization required.”

  “Crosby… Crosbyson!” Crosby told the door as they all backed away.

  “Error— authorization not recognized.” The door says.

  Crosby tells it again as John puts his thumb on the detonator while covering his ears. The crew clear the blast radius, thie backs firming against the outer walls

  “Nonono you're not hearing me! It's Crosby, Crosbyso—”

  The explosion goes off, blasting the doors to the inside like projectiles with a shock wave that shakes the bones of those present.

  Like clockwork, John takes the lead, followed by Gary who stood opposite him as they entered. The group peel inside like the teeth of a zipper, the interior bright and metallic. Echoey as all Hell. Guns raised.

  A stranger with both expensive and punkish attire ran into the far side of the hallway from a corner unseen, seeing the boys stampede in his direction.

  “GET DOWN!” John yells at the frightened man. “YOU'RE UNDER ATTACK BY REBELLION!”

  “OH! Uhh, okay!” The guy panicked as he fell to the floor. As John walked over him the man asked a question.

  “Are you people the security force to deal with them?!”

  “Uhh… yes! Stay down or we'll shoot!”

  John yells back as they circle the corner from which the man came.

  The corner leads to another corner which they navigate with speed.

  The corner leads to an extremely long corridor with closed doors dotted evenly on either side. The alarm system finally comes on, the white light turning into a red flash intermittently. The hallways, to echoey that each blare of the siren leads into the next.

  A few people pop into the hall from the side rooms in panic. For each of them, John clues his pistols to them like a magnet. Each of them is far away, and runs back into a room without resistance. About half way down the hall, a woman with long hair pops out of a door barely a foot away from John.

  She turns to look, by which time he grabs her neck and pins her to the ground. The group stops and guards as John tries to get intel.

  “WHERE’S THE FASTEST WAY TO THE SATELLITE DISH!”

  He yells next to her.

  “Ahhh! I don't know! Please don't hurt me!” The lady replies.

  “BULLSHIT! YOU WORK HERE! HOW DO WE GET TO IT!” John reject.

  The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  “Oh, fuck!” The woman cries as she begins sobbing on the floor. John's grip loosens as Gary gives his shoulder a tap.

  “These people are defenseless man. Soften up a little!”

  John looks around momentarily. There are no guards. No one is armed. These are miserable, regular people like he once was even if their uniform is snazzy. He let's go of her and rises, his face drowned by red light every other second of the alarm.

  “Woman. Can you lead us to the antenna?” He tries to ask softer.

  “DON'T FUCKING SHOOT ME!” The woman was inconsolably on the floor. John grimaces. But he doesn't let it get in the way as he turns for the others. “We'll find one to lead us to it. Let's try to look less intimidating.”

  The squad marches with weapons lowered to the next door on the left. It opens for them and they walk in, revealing it to be some sort of refrigerator.

  The temperature bites them as they walk inside, seeing three people in yellow weather suits hiding within. John taps for Gary to take charge here, pulling Lex away with him to check out the supplies within.

  “No need to fret!” Gary tells the suited people who are behind some random shelves.

  “We’re the security coming in! We need to know where the satellite dish is to protect it from the intruders!”

  “Mmph! Mmph! Mmhmmhmph!” The closest one to him says. As Gary gets closer, the person backs off.

  “I can't quite hear you son. We need someone to lead us there!”

  “Mmmph! Mmhmmhmph!” The person says again, pointing to the corner of the room. Gary looks where the person was pointing.

  “What the fawk are you on about?” As his sight is drawn away, the person reaches for his gun and tries taking it away. Gary feels it and the two begin a struggle, Crosby and Yukon raising their weapon at the two while John and Lex remained distracted.

  “Nice try you stupid dick!”

  Gary yells at the yellow figure as he headbutts. The person is knocked onto the floor, the glass of their black visor shattering.

  Their face as a voiceless, screaming, cyber augmented mess as they scatter backwards on the floor in fear.

  Gary turns his attention to a shorter one behind a shelf. His voice, much more threatening as he speaks.

  “Now you're gonna fawkin lead us to that disc or you're gonna learn what lead tastes like in your chest. Do ya hear me!?”

  “M— mhmmm!” The person mumbles as they nod desperately. John comes back with some vials which he hands to Crosby. “Some sort of glowy liquid shit.” John then moves to Gary. “Got us a lead?”

  “Yes sir.” Gary replies, his gun firming on said lead.

  They slowly emerge from behind the shelf with hands up, John grabbing their collar. “Alright chump. Let's get moving on. Wouldn't want those rebels blowing it up now would we?”

  The others follow John as he pushes the yellow-suited person out the fridge. The hallway is hot in comparison. It is a dead gray, then deep red. Then dark gray. Then deep red with the lights of the sirens blaring.

  The person power walks in front with a pistol aimed at the back of their head. They finally reach the end of the hallway, the person scanning a key card to enter. Antiquated technology.

  This place is not as well developed as was led on.

  The group peel into the grand room, the roof stories high with a glass dome enveloping the center; where the satellite tower was.

  The crew looked up at the construct with mixed feelings. Some in awe of the magnitudes and grandeur, others with distrust on whether their explosives will do the trick.

  John is the first to look away and back to the yellow person. He approaches them with one pistol holstered.

  “Get out of here. We'll take it from here.”

  The person quickly runs away back from where they came. John turns and clicks his fingers to get the attention of the others.

  “Alright. Lex, Yukon, you plant explosives on the outer walls. Gary, you provide cover and keep an eye out. Crosby, you're with me. We'll be planting bombs in this inner tower.”

  “Got it. Alright. On it.” Some of them say. Lex goes to Crosby and unzips his back pack, taking multiple handfuls of explosive. Crosby unslings it from his back, the bag in his left hand and shotgun in his right.

  John takes it from him as he can one-hand a pistol.

  “Alright. We'll start from the top. Follow me.”

  The sirens still blare in this massive circular hall, though only from the exterior. The room itself seems to lack a siren.

  As John and Crosby ascend up the massive superstructure via the catwalks, staircases and ladders scattered around the thing, the sound of the hail on the roof glass gets louder and louder.

  They finally get to the top and look down, the other two hard at work as Gary protects them. No one else enters the hall. All is going well.

  Their attention turns to the superstructure as Crosby grabs explosives and sticks them to the metal girders and struts of the dish tower.

  And so began the descent downward. John carried the bombs while Crosby planted them.

  “Boss, how do we know the detonator will trigger them from afar?”

  “We don't.” John replies. “I'm more worried about the staff. What the Hell happens if they don't leave in time?”

  “They can run outside, can’t they?” Crosby asks as he sets the fuses on another bomb. John looks up at the glass ceiling.

  “With this weather? They'll be pummeled to death in a couple hours out there. Let's just hope they have some vehicles.”

  “Not likely.” Crosby says, grabbing another bomb from the bag.

  “This place reminds me of the fulfillment center. I highly doubt most of these people live abroad.”

  Crosby's comment makes John look down with worry.

  “Fuck. We can't let all these people die. They're just workers. Half of them think we're security!”

  John looks vacantly at the catwalk, waiting for a solution to come to mind. A potential one doesn't take long to come.

  “Alright. Crosby, I'll have to rely on you to do these explosives. I'm going to go back down and get Gary to warn everyone that he can. I'll provide security down there. Hopefully there's a place they can wait for emergency service to arrive.”

  “I don't think emergency services will find this place.” Crosby tells John as he walks down the stairs. John assures Crosby before he leaves.

  “They will. They saved me after a car accident. They'll come for the people.” John heads off, Crosby turning to focus on the bombs.

  He sets up another one before reaching for the bag. As he does, he murmurs to himself.

  “Blowing up these cunts would tie us some loose ends anyway.”

  John's descents was far quicker than his ascent. His cybernetic leg slammed on the metal floor as he jumped down from the last of stairs. He rushes down to Gary who saw him from a far.

  “What's the problem?!” Gary shouts, John only answering once he was closer.

  “Gary, I need you to run around the facility and warn as many people as you can about the explosives. We do not want innocent casualties. I'll take over from you here.”

  “Got it boss!” Gary nods as he rushes back to the hallway from which they came. John moves closer to the exterior wall to check on the others.

  “Evening going smoothly boys?”

  “Yep. Almost done.” Yukon tells his boss.

  John noticed a small thud from the ground. And then another one. And then another one. It came from the opposite side of the room, where a huge, gigantic warehouse door lay closed. It looked similar to the ones of the mass hauler back at his old job. But he's never seen them closed, the metal like interlocking teeth where the top and bottom meet.

  There's another thud. Growing louder. The hail and sirens seem to go quiet as the thuds get bigger, louder, closer.

  It gets the attention of all of them, bar Gary as he isn't present. John unholsters his other pistol. Yukon raises on the ground and shoulders his rifle, and so does Lex. John looks up to Crosby high above, who too looks down at where the noise comes from.

  Finally, the thudding stops. Only to yield to the titanic sound of the doors depressurizing. The hydraulic pumps sound like a spaceship.

  It feels like the door is sucking them towards it from the pressure difference between them and what's beyond.

  Finally, the source of the ground shakes becomes visible. What is revealed is a gigantic, modernized MeKSUT. Pristine, white, high tech. Synthetic. But most of all, massive. It must be close to twenty feet tall.

  The door widens more, the machine's blue headlights coming on near the cockpit; a thunderous war-horn blaring, more like a war machine than a glorified forklift.

  The two throw themselves to the floor behind some objects. John jumps to them so as to hide from the beast. The ambiance now the sound of its turbine engines spewing blue flames from behind.

  At last, the maws finally open with a clank and a pressure vent. The MeKSUT takes its first hulk into the room as if an anvil dropped from orbit. John leans over to Lex and whispers.

  “We just got a big fucking problem on our hands!”