Operation Snowstorm, Chapter Five: Thunderbolt

ALASKA, CP Army Hub Headquarters, Original Stories Office – The Army Hub presents to you the action-packed fifth chapter of the original story written by Scorpion Demon: Operation Snowstorm. It’s packed with pure action, engrossing to the core, and features a cameo too!

Chapter Five: Thunderbolt

The snap of that single dry twig, shattering the deathly silence of the warm afternoon, instantly got the attention of the four penguins standing outside the door to the Everyday Phoning Facility building. In the few hours that passed between Zebra scouting the battlefield and Magnus leading the group to it, via an almost invisible route through the Forest, Blaine had nearly doubled up on his security. Other than the four hefty looking penguins, there was a barbed wire fence, connected to a buzzing generator-it was electrified. There was no chance that they could vault over it, Ian had himself sneaked around the perimeter to find a way to get in. The gate was bloked by the four guards, and if the attack was discovered it might put the lives of the EPF agents at risk.

Ria glanced at Magnus and realized it was up to the plan that they had worked on to get them in. She started moving slowly out of the Forest, limping heavily and groaning loudly. The guards shouted,”Who is that?”. She yelled, pouring just perfect amount of pain in her voice, “It’s me, Ria! I finally escaped from those barbarians, but I’m hurt!” “Ria?” A voice inquired, and she saw the face of one of the penguins whom she had lead into the cove. “Help, plea-” She promptly flopped down, avoiding her reflex to use her flippers to soften the blow, and did not attempt to get up.

At once, the four guards rushed towards her, to help her up. In the heat of the moment, none of them remembered that just one of them should have moved to help her, while the other three should guard the gate. Neither did they see the faces of the penguins waiting in the bushes and the trees for them. As they reached the edge of the forest and helped her up, snowballs began sailing out of the forest and finding their marks on their faces. All of them were outmatched, and three of them flipped backwards towards the ground. One of them, despite the hammering of snow he was presented with, remained standing, only slightly dazed. He moved towards Ria, walking at a slow, leisurely pace.

Bruce emerged literally out of nowhere, running at full speed, flew into a tackle and pushed that penguin to the ground, even as Ria scrambled to get out of the way. The penguin, however, was stronger than Bruce, and pushed him aside, pinned him to the ground and calmly said, “I’m not hypnotized like them, but I’m not on Blaine’s side either. So you better stop hitting me.” With that, he stood up, casually patting the snow off his guard vest.

It was now, while Magnus helped quickly drag the three unconscious guards back into the cover of the forest, that he realized he had seen this same penguin before- on the list of the agents gone missing-in-action. His real name was Lucas, but he went by the code name Lucifer during missions. He was rumored to have completed entire squad missions as a lone agent, and had lead tons of Special Operations to counter threats as big as Herbert. But that was all that was known about him. How he went missing, and why, was never mentioned.

Right now, he was standing in the shade, flashing a smile at all the penguins standing in the group, introducing himself to them. Ian glanced at Magnus knowingly, and nodded. At the same time, Lucifer turned around and faced Magnus, “You’ve got a nice party going on here.” “This isn’t a party, it’s an attempt to free the captured agents.” “Oh, I mistook it for a party.” Lucifer replied mockingly. He turned towards Ria. “So you’ve turned traitor, huh? Don’t worry, Blaine hasn’t done anything to your brothers, they’re safe.” Turning again to Magnus, he said, “All of you go into there, and Blaine has to only press a button and the EPF agents go crazy- literally. He adapted one of the machines to make their minds so confused that no snowballs will reverse it.” Magnus replied, “Yes, we know the risk of trying a direct assault on the building. Only four of us will go inside first, free up the agents, and then signal the others to attack, rescure and escape. Lucifer, Bruce, and of course Ria, come with me. Zebra, Ian, and Alaska, you take charge and wait for our signal to-” “Hold up there, General Stonewall. Who said anything about me coming?” Lucifer interrupted. “You- you’re not coming with us? But why? You just said you are not with Blaine and-” “I blew my cover, kid. If I go in there and get caught, it’s over. I’m not heading back into that creepy base again. So bye-bye! I hope they still serve tacos in the plaza.” With that, he took off his guard vest, and walked away into the Forest. Magnus stared after him for one second and said, “We don’t need him to attack, we had planned to do this without him anyways. Ian, you’re coming with me.” They put on the guards uniforms.

The four of them walked back towards the building, supporting Ria. Suddenly, static broke the silence and a garbled voice spoke, “Why did you abandon your positions?”. There was a radio in Ian’s pocket! Before he could do anything Ria grabbed it and spoke in the same pained voice as before, ” It’s me, Ria. I managed to escape from those ruffians, but I need help. Also, I know where their camp is now. I need to meet Blaine immediately!”

There was a small pause before another voice broke in, “Two of you escort her in, one stay behind.” “Yes, sir.” Ian replied to the voice, that was very similar to Blaine’s. Magnus asked, “Will you be okay out here alone Ian?” “Yeah, I’ll keep watch for you guys. Go on, quick!” Bruce patted Ian’s shoulder as they walked past the gate and into the building.

The gate had been reinforced with metal, and there was a security keypad attached to it. Magnus groaned internally, and Bruce cleched his fist in anger. There had to be a way to get in! Before they could even talk, however, the door opened by itself, and a handsome looking yellow penguin stood in the doorframe. “Beckham!” Ria cried out, overjoyed at finally seeing her brother. “Ria, I hope you’re okay..” “I’m hurt, but I can still walk with some support.” “I’ll help you, come on, let’s go. Blaine wants to meet you immediately. You two, come with me as well.”

They moved through the ground floor of the building. After having visited this very room to head into the Elite Penguin Force headquarters, Magnus felt like his home had been overturned by a storm. The couches were thrown here and there, several of them missing. The phone was nowhere to be seen, and the door to the headquarters lay open. There were at least 40 penguins in just that room, standing as guards. More were huddled around a weird, bulgy looking machine. From where Magnus saw it, it looked like a toad’s head that had been elongated into a small pencil. Several penguins were working on different parts of it at once. Behind it, lay three more machines, except that they were finished products. They had been painted black and white, and looked like giant insects ready to blow fire. “Ah, the snow cannons.” Beckham spoke, “Blaine created these. The rebels will stand no chance against these if they even try to come and attack our headquarters now.” They moved straight towards where Magnus had been expecting them to move to- the Command Room.

The room looked almost the same- the huge screen at the centre, the missions centres surrounding the room, the conference zone, Gary’s testing bay, all intact- except, they were now adapted to suit Blaine’s needs.

The big plasma screen still aired a footage from all the security cameras around the island. There were lots of penguins moving around- but they were almost all hypnotized. Most of the rooms were looking utterly damaged, almost as though Blaine was taking them down peice by peice. “Looks like a storm, tsunami and an earthquake all hit at once.” Bruce muttered, sad to see his home like that. The command room had been changed as well- the field missions area was now converted into a bulletin for several tasks laid down by Blaine. They moved towards the direction of the conference room, and Beckham spoke up, “That’s where they’re keeping those agents.” He pointed towards the EPF testing bay- the place where Gary tested all of his new inventions.

Magnus glanced at Bruce and Ria. There were few penguins in this room, and with their skill they could easily overpower almost all of them. He gave them a signal, and Ria, who had been leaning on to Beckham all the time to walk, suddenly stood up by herself in a combat stance, and tackled Beckham. Taken by surprise, he fell backwards, and before he could recover Bruce had dealt another blow to him. Beckham lay on the floor, out cold. “Sorry, brother.” Ria said. They quickly moved him into the shadows, where hopefully, he wouldn’t wake up soon, and wouldn’t be discovered as well- the walls had prevented any other penguins from seeing what had happened.

Magnus and Bruce moved towards the testing bay, which was as usual protected by Gary’s keypad. They entered the normal password, and the door opened with a hiss- fresh air and light finally moving inside the room. And even as they entered, Magnus suddenly felt himself go limp- he did not care about anything anymore, he was just tired, and he needed a deep sleep. Before he himself hit the floor, he heard Bruce and Ria fall too, and he realized that they had been trapped after all.

Come back next week for Chapter Six.

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What do YOU think of Chapter Five? Are the trio really captured? What will the fate of these heroes be now? Will Lucifer return? Let us know in the comment section below!

Scorpion Demon

CP Army Hub Story Writer

 

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