BOOM
The roof of the bank erupts outward as a wave of explosive force and fire is forced upward in a cyclone.
People outside the bank and nearby news choppers did not miss this intense and profound light show, as they had been recording since before the recruits arrived.
As the flaming cyclone of pure explosive energy shot upwards, it spread out and dissipated harmlessly in the air, leaving the people and buildings down below virtually unharmed.
A collective gasp seemed to echo through the air as they watched the show with wonder, but the sound of the bank's doors opening forcibly brought their attention back to the subject at hand.
THUD
An unmoving body fell to the ground in front of the bank before more and more bodies of men, clearly the robbers were laid in a pile before the front of the bank but just when the people outside think that there are no surviving robbers to question Hunk walks out of the front doors holding the still struggling sniper amongst the robbers out of the bank and with a toss sent the robber slamming to the ground before a group of police officers.
After a moment of shock, the police immediately move to arrest the sole surviving robber, and as they do so, they see a Vertibird swoop in through the now gaping hole in the bank's roof and disappear with the new heroes.
WHOOSH...
It disappeared into the distance, leaving onlookers both shocked and in awe at the new team of heroes.
Inside the vertibird, the recruits were all celebrating vigorously in their seats, filling the cabin with uproarious laughter and cheer.
Soon, they arrived back at headquarters and dispersed to do their own things, as everyone had lives outside of being a hero.
As the group of recruits dispersed, in another part of the solar system, a ship was steadily approaching the atmosphere of the red planet known as Mars.
WHOOSH...
RUMBLE...
The spacecraft was suddenly struck by turbulence due to atmospheric reentry, and the astronauts aboard the craft had nervous expressions on their faces visible through their visors, save one who remained calm the entire trip.
Conor sat in the fore of the craft with a stern and distant expression on his face, his shadows swirling like the living abyss within his spacesuit.
On top of the spacecraft, a young female half-viltrumite was standing firm against the waves of heat and concussive force, seemingly relishing in the change rather than the challenge of it.
Within a few seconds, the ship makes it through the atmospheric barrier, and they level out over a vast desert; however, unlike the world Conor was from, life at the very least used to bear civilization here, he just hoped that he did not have to deal with any of those face-hugging Sequids.
Landing the ship gingerly in a rather open area between these strange, seemingly abandoned buildings, from the roof of the ship, Marie casually leaped from the roof and began performing mid-air flight maneuvers.
One thing her dad had instilled in her completely during their training was to always get used to your surroundings first.
Nolan had told her about the time that he and another Viltrumite, whom he did not name, landed on a strange planet, seemingly rich in resources, only for the ground to collapse around them as the gravity was incredibly strong.
If a creature is out there capable of casually destroying Viltrumites, there could always be others, so the best thing she could ever do in any new place was to get used to her environment.
She heard the hiss of the ship doors opening and turned her head at an angle.
"Sigh, can't believe I have to babysit a bunch of scientists when I could be getting back at Amber" She said in a soft mutter, which was blocked out by the much louder winds.
Boom...
In front of the astronauts, Marie landed and began leading the way forward with a huff, seeing this somewhat irked the astronauts, even Conor had a vein bulging in his neck, but the hypnotic sway of Marie's hips as she walked had made the male crew members nearly all gulp in unison.
The two female astronauts could not help but roll their eyes and sigh before continuing forward in front of the boys.
They moved through what appeared to be an abandoned military or scientific facility, based on the orderly structure and what appeared to be sand-faded markings on the entrance of each building.
It was too bad that they could not read Martian because the large building they entered just happened to be labeled as a containment facility.
Unknowing of this, they forced open the doors of the facility with a high-tech version of the jaws of life meant to force open sealed and protective metal barriers.
BZZZZZZZZZZTTTT
The high-tech jaws of life began to saw into the sealed metal doors, and sparks along with bits of melted metal slag fell to the ground as a giant opening was being cut into the door.
When the laser finally penetrated the other side of the door, the pressurized air within shot outward.
HSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
The air sent one of the male astronauts flying backward and was only stopped when Conor grabbed the man's foot.
Conor's feet slid forward a few feet until the man fell harmlessly to the ground with a thud.
Standing to his feet, the male astronaut sighed in relief that he was virtually uninjured and there were no ruptures in his suit.
WENG... WHOOOSH...
After removing the jaws of life from the door, Marie strode forward and thrust her hands into the melted part and pulled it free, and with a casual gesture which only further proved her strength to the astronauts sent the metal door flying into space with a mere flick of her wrist.
The inside of the facility is dimly and sparsely lit with red lights that constantly flicker as if the power supply is faltering.
One of the astronauts was about to take a step forward, but Conor appeared next to him and held his shoulder. "Wait a moment, I have a feeling!" As he says this, he takes a device from his suit and breaks it in half before throwing it into the gaping hole in the door.
WHOOSH...
The stick-shaped device had chemicals inside that, when mixed, erupted in a brilliant light, and this light suddenly erupted in the halls of the facility behind the door.
HSSSSSS..
Strange pink creatures hidden within the shadows hissed and thrashed violently in response to the sudden burst of light.
HSHHHHAAAA....
The pink crawling creatures now revealed within the light suddenly surge towards the signs of life.
The astronauts, however, came equipped with the GDA's best weaponry, and they immediately fired upon the strange squid-like creatures as they approached the hole in the door.
Shots of gunfire swept through the hole in the door, reducing the squid-like creatures into small chunks of flesh.
Stepping through with caution and their guns at the ready, they soon arrived at what could only be an elevator and hopped onto it.
One of the astronauts finds the controls and, after a few failed attempts, finds the correct button for descending to the depths of the facility.
They eventually reached the bottom of the elevator and arrived in an area designed for security, but the trashed surroundings along with the blood stains, pink squid corpses, and bullet holes riddling the walls made it clear as to what had happened here.
The truly strange thing was that there were no bodies besides the pink squids.
In this room, there are two exits leading to different areas, and they are forced to split the group into two, with half the males and one of the females following Marie, and the rest following Conor, who took point heading in the opposite direction with his gun raised.
Conor made sure to maintain a permanent lead on the rest so they could not see the blazing shadow-like flames within his irises as he scanned the surroundings, the shadows in particular.
Every so often, he would see something lurking within the shadows, but it would vanish into the porous walls before he could get a clear look at whatever it was, and this was putting him on edge and giving the rest of the group a feeling like they were being watched by an eldritch predator.
They continued deeper despite this, and as they did so, the walls that began were filled with holes and were occasionally lined with thick purple veins that pulsed as if by heartbeat.
"I have a bad feeling about this!"[1] One of the astronauts behind Conor said with shaking hands.
They continued to descend through the halls and arrive at a single door, and with their guns pointed towards the door, they began working to open it.
THUD...
THUD...
THUD...
The sound of the impact of something soft against something hard was heard as the door opened.
On the other side of the door, a green man, presumably a Martian, was repeatedly smashing his skull into the facility walls.
His face was a mash of torn skin, bone, and bits of rock from the wall, but the second the creature realized there were people nearby, it stopped mid-bash.
Slowly, the Martian turned towards the group and pointed forward before opening its mouth.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
A raspy and deathly roar that echoed through the walls of the facility like the last scream of a long-dead man, and the Martian lunged towards the nearest person, seemingly able to sense their location despite its destroyed eyes and face.
BRRT x3
BRRT x3
Two burst rounds from one of the astronauts formed a hole in the chest of the Martian, and the alien fell backward, seemingly dead.
The fearful astronaut in the back made an audible sigh as he approached the dead alien and kicked it in the side.
"Not so scary now, are you hah—" The man is about to begin laughing, but before he can get out his second HA, the seemingly dead creature grabs the man's legs with great force and causing him to begin bleeding.
"AAHHH, you bastard!" He roared before turning his weapon on the alien
BRRT x3
BRRT x3
The fearful astronaut fired into the skull and chest of the creature with two three-burst rounds; however, after looking at his leg, he once again sent another couple of bursts of gunfire into the creature that was at this point merely a puddle.
BRRT x3
BRRT x3
Purple blood sprayed on the surrounding walls and onto the visors of Conor and the rest of the astronauts, who could not open fire without hitting their companion.
"You, okay?" The female astronaut asks with concern on her face as she approaches with a medical kit in her grasp.
The man makes no response and stands there looking towards the same spot, and the female astronaut, seeing the blood pooling on the floor from the wound on his leg, approached and began applying medication and a seal for the suit when she realized that the bleeding had stopped shortly before she arrived.
With a confused look on her face, she stands up and turns the astronaut around, only to have a look of horror on her face as the man inside has pink veins running through his skin as if some kind of creature was forcing its way just under the surface.
PSHH
The helmet suddenly opened on the man's mask, and his eyes flashed pink from their original color before he lunged at the woman with jaws like iron pincers.
RIPPPP...
He begins to tear into the suit along her neck, and before the rest of the astronauts can react.
"AAAAHHHHGGG!" She lets out a bloodcurdling scream as her former companion bites into the flesh in her neck, and jets of steaming hot blood spray outward and drench both of them in red.
BRRT x3... CRUNCH
A burst of three rounds hit accurately onto the back of the attacking astronaut and destroyed the bone with an audible crunch, causing him to helplessly fall to the ground as he lacked the support to hold himself up.
Even after all of this, he never stopped chewing into the limp corpse of the female astronaut as if entranced by the taste of fresh meat, but when the blood stopped flowing, the creature lost interest and turned its eyes onto Conor and let out a scream that caused their very blood to freeze, in the scream they could hear the pain their comrade was experiencing, as if he was still in there somewhere, clearly desperate for an end to his now permanent suffering before suddenly he began attempting to claw towards the group.
"HAAASHHAA!" He hissed after failing in his attempt.
Conor approached with a saddened look on his face, "Clearly it's some kind of biological weapon or contagion!" He shakes his head before he points his weapon towards the head of his former companion, whose incessant screams and wails sent sprays of blood shooting from his mouth.
BOOM
A single shot echoed through the room, and the former astronaut's head was reduced to pink mist.
The group, now more trigger-happy and cautious than before, moved into the next area, but within moments of the group closing the door behind them, the female astronaut who was dead before suddenly began twitching in place as pink veins forced their way through her body and revealed themselves only as they came close to the surface of her face and neared her brain and eyes.
Suddenly, her eyes shot open, now a bright and eerie pink!
In another part of the facility Marie was covered in the corpses of Pink eyed Martians who all seemed to relentlessly attack the group initially she had found what looked like a shivering alien female and attempted to offer aid when the alien suddenly let out a scream that nearly caused Maries ears to bleed and disorient her to the point of bringing her to her knees.
After this, suddenly more and more pink-eyed aliens arrived from the doors on the side of this area, clearly former alien civilians who hid here as a last resort based on what they were wearing but soon these former alien civilians tore most of her crew into pieces before she came back to her senses and with her speed that could cross planets with ease she turned the zombies in the room into a pink mist which dripped from her as she reappeared in front of the last two surviving members of the crew that followed her.
[1] Death flag = Activated