Welcome to the Misfits

The Devil You Know...

Chapter 12: The Devil You Know Kidnaps The One You Don't

- S09: Northern Perimeter Watchtower -

- Start of the defense of S09 Base -

Springfield stretched out with a yawn as she neared the end of her watch. The shooter's chair that was in the watchtower was uncomfortable no matter how she adjusted herself. She tried to distract herself with thoughts of what she would do when she got off. Dinner was well underway which meant she would need to hurry back when the rotation happened and get her cafe prepped for the after dinner crowd.

She smiled at the thought of trying out a new recipe for crepes FAMAS had emailed her in exchange for her famous apple pie recipe. As she stared off into the forest and continued to plan her evening, her eyes caught a glimpse of movement. She frowned and opened a comms channel.

"Defender 2, this is North Tower, do you have anyone patrolling by me?"

"Negative Tower, we're at Checkpoint Charlie, you got something?"

"Standby."

Springfield picked up her binoculars and scanned the tree line, at first everything looked clear, then she saw someone running behind the trees.

"Defender 2, I've got eyes on someone moving in the northern tree line."

"Copy that North Tower, I've got a team moving to investigate."

"North Tower copies."

An explosion shook the tower and Springfield had to grip the railing to keep from falling over. She spun around to see what had happened, and saw the antenna farm collapsing. An alarm started to blare over the base PA system. She saw people start running to the farm.

She remembered the movement she saw earlier and turned back to the tree line. Multiple figures dressed in black combat uniforms were running towards the perimeter fence. She raised her rifle and peered through the scope. They weren't Sangvis, they were human, and they were sprinting towards the fence with explosives in hand. She tried to pull the trigger, but her finger was frozen in place outside of the trigger guard. She willed it to move with every fiber of her being, but it would not budge.

"Son of a bitch!" she cried out in frustration before switching the Command Frequency.

"I have human contacts trying to breach the perimeter, I cannot engage without authorization!"

Static.

"Dammit!"

Springfield did the best she could. She shot at the ground in front of them. As close to their head as she dared, and if she saw someone approach the tower, she would shoot directly behind them, but she couldn't kill them, not without authorization.

Springfield looked around for any friendlies, but saw none. Another explosion rocked the base.

After that, Springfield heard a whistling noise overhead a split second before a deafening explosion right behind her. The watchtower lurched backwards and with a metallic screech, started to fall. Springfield braced herself as best she could as ground rushed up to meet her.

- 25 minutes later -

Springfield groaned in pain as she sat up and let out a hiss of pain. She looked down and saw a piece of metal sticking from her leg.

"Ah."

Springfield grasped the hunk of metal, wrenched it out with a jerk and let out a grunt of pain. As she stood, her leg buckled, as it struggled to support her weight. She sat down and clicked her tongue in annoyance. She surmised that the piece of debris had damaged motor function in her leg. She began looking around the wreckage.