the inferno

"come on man time to get up!” a voice said through the closed door. “ five more minutes” a half-conscious wildfire said into his pillow. “ come on you need to get out of bed” the voice in his head told him. Brushing the blood red hair from his eyes he managed to get out of bed without falling over. He got dressed in his usual black shirt, black pants and black combat boots. He grabbed his red trench coat, noticing it didn’t want to move.” looks like the scales need to be oiled again” if you didn’t know about the armored scales inside the fabric you would never have know that the trench coat was bulletproof. Finally he opened the secret compartment and took out his two pistols. On the grips of both guns was a flaming heart broken in two. He reached for the gun that was normally hanging in the back but grabbed nothing but air. “Oh yeah, the grenade launcher” he reminded himself. He closed the closet and left the room.


“Another boring day” he complained on his way to the armory. Opening the door he saw a man behind the desk cleaning a small revolver. Wildfire smiled, he couldn’t resist. He walked quietly up to the man and then….”JOHNSON!”

The man fell backwards in the chair.” damn it wildfire don’t do that!”

“Sorry. Did you fix the HK?”

“Yes there was something in the grenade launcher that was blocking the firing pin from moving.”

“What was it?”

“Ash”

“Sorry.”

“ You need to be careful with this. I also fixed the sights as well as cleaned it.”

Wildfire smiled. “what would I do without you?”

Johnson just rolled his eyes. “ you’d have a gun blow up in your face.”

“Very funny. I’m going to try this out right now. See you later” before Johnson could say anything he was out the door.

At the firing range

“Oh no not him again” Adam thought when he saw wildfire. “Um wildfire. I can’t let you use the heartbreakers again. Last time you shot the firing range to pieces . You’re not firing those guns in here again!”

“ Not today Adam. Just trying out the 416 again. Johnson did some work on it.”

“Oh…sorry. What kind of targets do you want?.”

“…Moving Human size metal targets with heavy body armor.”

“Wow. You sure your guns strong enough?”

“Just get the dummy ready!” Adam hit one of many buttons on the wall and a target popped up in the firing range. Wildfire raised his rifle and emptied his whole 30 round clip into the dummy. It was shredded.” get another one ready!”. A second dummy popped up. Wildfire reloaded and fired a second clip into the target. This time there was only one hole in the target, right in between the eyes.
Suddenly the intercom crackled to life. “ Attention attention all combat personal. A possible high value target has been sighted nearby. Wildfire I know your listening. Assemble your team and take it out.” Wildfire was out the door before the last shell hit the floor.

At the assembly area.

Wildfire opened the door and saw around 30 men getting ready. Looking at the faces he saw some that he didn’t recognize.” why are there…oh the grenade….so these are my replacements” he thought. He walked over to his locker and took out his knife. “I’m sick of doing this” he though as he cut his finger. He wiped the blood on the scanner witch unlocked the locker when it figured out who’s blood it was. He reached in his locker and took out some clips for his favorite rifle: the H&K 416. He also grabbed a grenade but then put it back. “ I don’t want to scare the new guys.” as the team finished getting ready 3 striker APCs pulled up to bring them into the city. “I hate New York.” Wildfire thought “way too many people.” Wildfire ordered the new recruits onto one APC ant the veterans onto the other ones. Wildfire than climbed into the first one to talk with the new guys.


Wildfire took his seat at the front of the APC and was about to talk to the soldiers when a voice said “your late.” he turned around to see the gunner climbing down from the turret.

“ Sorry Shade I was in the firing range.” he said as the woman came over and sat by him. “Everyone this is shade, my second in command. You will listen to BOTH of us understand.”

“YES SIR”

Then one man spoke up.” your shade?”

“you sound surprised”

“I’ve herd rumors about you”

“Like what?”

“That your…not human”

She smiled at him and his face grew white….she had fangs.

“ they aren’t rumors at all….that’s the truth”

Wildfire smiled. He know what was coming. “everyone cover your eyes or go blind!”

Everyone covered their eyes and shade lit up in a bright purple light. When the light died down. Everyone opened their eyes and wildfire plugged his ears. Everyone started yelling. Sitting next to wildfire was a demon. Everyone just stared at her. Shade just glared at the group “what? Haven’t you ever seen a succubus before?” Wildfire laughed. “don’t worry your not the ones she’s going to hurt.”

“We’ve arrived” the driver said.

“finally. Time for some fun” wildfire thought as the door opened….
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As the hatch of the APC opened the scent of the ocean filled the striker. Everyone left in an orderly fashion. Wildfire looked around as saw he was at an old harbor. Closing his eyes he breathed in the sea air. “Wildfire!” a voice brought him back to reality. He turned to see Shade calling him over to the second striker where everyone was gathered. “Get over here!”

“yea yea I’m coming.”

“The call said that one of the phoenix organization’s commanders have set up a command center in that building” a soldier told the group.

“it’s most likely a trap for me.” Everyone looked at Wildfire. “Think about it, an anonymous phone call comes in that a terrorist group that we’ve kept secret has set up a small base in a remote part in New York. Also remember, they created me and I turned on them. If I know their leaders their first priory will be killing me.” when he said that some of the new guys inched away from him. Shade glared at them and mouthed the words “don’t make me hurt you”. “ let me deal with them.” Wildfire continued. “ I’m sure that our ‘target’ is just some small time mercs.”

“Ok but if we let you go alone you need to put this on” Shade said handing him a small device. “it’s a microphone and camera. So we can see and hear what you see and hear. we’ll be watching on my laptop ” Wildfire hooked the device onto his sunglasses. Shade then whispered in his ear “give the new guys a good show”. Wildfire just smiled.

“I won’t be long” and with that he walked over the building and went inside.


He had barely gotten inside when four men surrounded him. “so your Wildfire?” one asked him. ” you don’t look that tough to me. Why don’t you take that mask off and face me like a man?” Wildfire knew the guns pointed at him well, they were AK-47’s

Wildfire smiled remembering shades last words. “ those AK’s have 30 shot’s in the clip. I’ll kill you all before any of you empty you magazine.”

Back at the strikers nobody could believe what Wildfire said. “there’s no way he can do that.

“Want to bet?. Shade asked. “all of you bet money and if any of them empty their clip I’ll pay the money to EACH of you.”

Everyone scrambled to get money out ant they managed to get 800$. “ok” shade said. “if anyone empties their clip each of you will get 800$. If they don’t I get the 800$” Everyone gathered around the laptop to watch


The first man fired a shot at Wildfire’s head. The bullet was inches from his head when he disappeared. There was a flash of light and the four men herd something behind them. Three of them turned around to see wildfire standing with his back to them. He was holding a combat knife, It was soaked in blood.

Then the first man noticed that the fourth was still looking at the door.” Frank?…Frank can you hear me?” without looking Wildfire threw the knife at Frank. It hit him in the back of his head and the head rolled off his shoulders. ” good god!” the first man was frozen in place but the two remaining opened fire but wildfire was gone. Suddenly wildfire reappeared behind one of the shooters. He swung his left arm around the mans throat and with his right hand grabbed his victims AK. The third man barely turned around before wildfire shot him around 8 times in the head killing him. He then brought the gun up and rammed it in his hostages mouth and pulled the trigger sending a crimson spray four feet in the air

The last man came to his senses and opened fire but stopped and dropped the gun when he felt a pistol barrel press against the back of his head. “pick up you gun” wildfire said. “and eject the mag. The man did as he was told. “how many shots are left?” when the man saw he started to feel sick. “say it out loud!”

“There’s…..there’s one shot left.”

“I win” with that wildfire pulled the trigger and everything above the man’s upper lip was blown off. When wildfire got back to the strikers he saw shade pocketing the last few bills.” shade, you need to stop tricking the new guys out of their money.”

“it’s not my fault that they don’t know what your capable of.”

“ please just leave the new guys alone”

“…fine. I made enough to get that necklace anyway”

As they loaded on to the strikers wildfire looked at the people riding with him. Their faces were paler then they were when they saw that shade was a demon. “I wonder how many are going to request a transfer out of the unit this time” wildfire though as the started their long ride back to the base…
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“GET ME OUT OF HERE!!!” Shade was out the door the second the hatch opened. Wildfire just shook his head as he climbed out of the APC.

“What’s her problem?” a soldier asked Wildfire.

“ She can’t stay in one spot for too long. Sitting still drives her crazy….don’t ask I don’t know why.” he guessed she had ran to the training room to get moving again.” Everyone I’m going to train. You can come with if you want. Otherwise your dismissed.” the men all left but a handful followed wildfire to the gym.

Around 50 people were in the gym but everyone was focused on the two in the sparring ring. Wildfire was sparring with Shade.. They were both using two knifes, one in each hand Shade was in her succubus form and also had her tail wrapped around a knife. One of the new soldiers walked up Garrett, a squad leader and good friend of wildfire.

“Sir?”

“What?”

“Wildfire. Why does he wear that mask?”

“ Honestly I have no idea. He never takes it off. I’ve herd only shade has seen what’s behind it.” he saw the look in the rookies eye.” Don’t bug her about it. One guy did and Wildfire found out. The medical report said that he had 216 fractures in his body.”

“Do you know anything?”

“Not really. All I know is one day I was talking with the president and an assassin burst in and fired. Wildfire appeared out of nowhere and took the bullet in the arm. Then I saw shade walk up and kiss the guy. It may not seem like much but she’s a succubus. When she kissed him she sucked the life from him. I’ll spare the details but the assassin looked like a mummy when she was done.”

The crowed started cheering. The two men looked at the ring. It was full of blood. The two fighters were climbing out of the ring. Wildfire had a knife sticking out of his right arm. Garrett heard wildfire quietly cussing. Wildfire walked up to Garrett and handed him two 20 dollar bills. “You never told me she uses her tail.”

Garret pocketed the money “You need to watch her train more. Maybe then she wouldn’t have hit you.”

“Is this the way you thank the man who saved your life?”

“That bullet would have missed.”

“We both know it would have blown your eye out. Anyway I’m going to bed.”

“Alright see you tomorrow…and you might want to take the knife out”

Wildfire ripped the knife out And left the room cursing.

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Singing. Someone was singing. Shade opened her eyes and looked around but the only ones in the room were her and wildfire, who was sound asleep. She sat up in her bed and felt something small slid from her chest to her lap. Looking down she saw her ipod, it was almost dead. “why do I always fall asleep with it on?” she asked herself as she turned it off and took off her head sets. Looking at her clock she saw it was 6:30 in the morning. Looking back at her ipod she grinned at the idea that crossed her mind. She snuck out of bed, walked over to Wildfires bed, put her ipod in his clock and set the alarm for 6:50. “that should give me time to get breakfast”


In the cafeteria

“Pancakes again? Can we try something new?” shade complained.

“You get use to it” Garrett told her as the two sat down. “ listen, I saw you sneaking out of your room with that look on your face again. I KNOW you’re going to mess with wildfire. I want to be there when it happens.

She had to think about this, last time she included him she got caught and was almost hit by the chair wildfire threw at her.”…ok just stay out of the way.” she looked at her watch, it was 6:45. “ it’s almost time. Follow me.” the both got up and headed over to the barracks.

“stay here” shade told garret. She crept over to her room and put her ear to the door. Right on time her ipod started blasting ‘see who I am’ by within temptation. Both shade and Garrett, who was at the end of the hall, heard very loud cursing. Shade took off running down the hall as the door opened. She barely ducked in time to avoid one of the heartbreaker. The gun hit the wall with such force that I was embedded in the wall. She hid around the corner and laughed as she heard wildfire yelling at Garrett.” now that I’ve had my fun I guess I should train” with that she set off for the firing range.

At the firing range

Shade smiled as she counted the number of headshots she was getting. She had Adam set the moving target course at the fastest it could go. As she fired Garrett came into the room. He had a nice sized burse on his forehead. Shade was in her own little world and paid no attention to her recently wounded friend. One of the other soldiers that was training walked up to Garrett.

“sir?”

“What”

“I saw that joke you played on wildfire. is our second in command always this…immature?”

“it’s true that she love to harass wildfire but I’ve seen her display maturity that only come after hundreds of years. She’s a pro with the black widow.”

“What’s the black widow?”

“Her gun.”

“Why does she call it that?”

“there’s a red hourglass painted on the grip. But the main reason is….hold on a sec. Shade! Can I get a venom shot from you?”

“ok catch” she threw a bullet over to the two.

“it looks like a normal bullet right?...wrong” he pulled the bullet out of the shell. There was a small click as razor sharp fins sprang out of the sides.” the fins make the bullet hole like a spider web. Also she poisons the shots.”

Just then an announcement came over the radio.” attention attention our scouts have found a small phoenix organization base. Inferno company, take it out…no survivors” shade grabbed Garrett and ran out the door.

“wildfire don’t be late this time.”
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Shade arrived at the locker room to see Wildfire in the middle of opening his locker. Shade went to her locker and bit her thumb. Her fang easily drew blood. After her locker opened she grabbed some kunai and her two tantos. She also grabbed a small device that she placed on the tip of her tail.. Steel armor came out of the device and completely cover her tail. The tip was razor sharp.


Meanwhile Wildfire was busy getting ready as well. He had already loaded his H&K 416 and the heartbreakers and was busy loading his AA-12 automatic shotgun. After he finished loading the drum magazine he started to sharpen his katanas. He then grabbed a small box and undid the lock. Inside were his combat gloves. Each finger ended in a razor sharp claw.


After everyone was ready three strikers pulled up to take them to the drop off point. The ride was uneventful. Everyone was talking about what was about to happen or, if you were by shade, betting on how many kills you were going to get. 30 minutes later the APCs stopped. “Ok everyone” wildfire said. “the base is a mile north of here. Intel said that they could detect us if we rode all the way so we’re sneaking in. luckily we got here after the sun went down so the night should help hide us. Make sure you silencers are on and follow me”.


Just ten minutes later one of the soldiers saw a lone guard. He raised his rifle to kill him but Garrett grabbed the barrel and pushed his gun down.” look in the tree above him” Garrett whispered. The man looked up to see wildfire crouching on a low branch. He was in the middle of drawing his katana. He then dropped down blade first. The guard looked up just as the cut started. Wildfire then stood up to face the man he cut. A second latter the guards clothes fell away. Everyone could see a thin red line down the middle of him. Another second later the man fell sideways…in two different directions. Everyone felt sick and one of Garrett’s men threw up. Garrett walked up the man. “I don’t think you should come with us. You won’t be able to handle it. If you come you’ll see how the devil himself fights”….
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After 25 minutes the group came to a fence. Shade walked up to the door and lifted her foot up. She hit a small switch inside the boot with her toe. A small spike came out of the small pillar that made the heel of her boot. She kicked the door, ramming the spike into the lock. She twisted her foot and everybody herd a click as the door unlocked.

“ OK everybody” wildfire said. “the base has a few buildings but what I’m worried about is the watch tower in the middle. Also, we need to make sure that no one gets away. There’s a huge steel reinforced concrete gate in the front and a smaller gate at the back. Shade and I will open the main gate. Squad 2 I need you to circle behind the base and snipe anyone trying to run after the fighting starts.........what are you still doing here? GET MOVING!” 6 men ran from the group as fast as they could. “moving on, once we open the gate everyone will come running out. Remember to watch where you’re firing and let’s end this as fast as we can.”


After checking ammo everyone took their places. Wildfire used his claws to climb the wall into the gate house 2 stories up. The men inside died without a sound. Shade then spread her wings and flew up with a small amount of C4. The two placed the explosives on the gate controls and blew them to pieces. Just as wildfire predicted men swarmed out of the barracks. As the firefight raged below wildfire and Shade watched from the now burring gatehouse. “I don’t know about you but I’m going to have some fun” shade told him. With that she spread her wings, drew the black widow and flew off to join the battle.


“that sound like a good idea” wildfire thought. He jumped over the railing, fell two stories and landed on his feet…behind one of the phoenix organization’s commanding officers. He was trying to call in reinforcements.

“I repeat we are under att-” he felt the cold blade of a combat knife under his chin.

Wildfire smiled. “be quiet” he said calmly. With that he sliced the man’s head clean off. Then he heard the unique sound of the black widow firing. he turned around to see shade firing away. He then saw one of the men she shot had crawled behind her. He lifted his gun and aimed.

Time seemed to slow down. Wildfire started to run to her. The man yelled something to shade that made her turn around. He fired all 10 shots. She was hit with all of them. Wildfire froze as she hit the floor. Anger built up inside of him. He dropped his knife and ran straight at the man who shot her. When he reached him he spread his claws and tore into the man. The first hit killed him but wildfire didn’t care. He kept swinging. When he finally stopped bloody chunks of meat littered the area. Everyone stopped fighting to see what this monster would do next. Wildfire then picked up shade. He put his ear to her chest, she was still breathing. He carried her over to Garrett and handed her to him. “ tell every one to retreat.”

“Why”

“…..I’m going to burn everything to the ground”. Wildfire took off his sunglasses and garret suddenly worried everyone would die. Wildfire’s eyes were pure red. Garrett then saw something on the back of wildfire’s right hand There was a pentagram on the back of his hand. In the middle was a flame. The pentagram was glowing blood red.


He then turned to face an army alone………..

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“Fall back.” when Garrett gave the order no one hesitated to get away from the monster that was their commander. As the men of the inferno company retreated they could only wonder what Wildfire would do. as the last man left the base the phoenix organization’s men surrounded Wildfire. Around 170 men aimed their guns at him. All at once the mob opened fire. Hundreds of rounds hit Wildfire from all sides. After 15 seconds of shooting everyone was empty. Wildfire’s bulletproof trench coat was shredded. As he fell face down everyone started to laugh however, ten seconds later the laughter changed to shocked whispers. The man they shot full of holes was standing up. Once on his feet wildfire started to laugh.

“now it’s my turn.” he drew the heartbreakers and aimed at two different spots in the crowd. The pentagram on his hand started to glow which caused the flaming broken heart emblems on his guns to glow as well. A thunderous blast ripped through the air as the guns fired. The bullets tore through 10 men each. A second later the shockwave ripped apart around 20 more. He then holstered the guns and charged the shell-shocked mob. Using his claws he easily tore men in half. The sound of bones breaking, skin tearing and men screaming filled the night.

When he finally stopped 10 men were left. Out of desperation one charged wildfire. Once in reach Wildfire grabbed the man by his face and held him two feet off the ground. Slowly his tightened his grip. His claws started to dig into the man’s skull. Right before the skull shattered Wildfire loosened his grip. The pentagram started to shine and the man felt an intense heat on his face. A jet of fire similar to the fire a jet engine creates shot out of Wildfire’s hand and burned a three inch hole in the mans head. He then threw the corpse away like a kid throwing a broken toy away. The pentagram started to shine again and Wildfire faced his palms towards the last nine men. A stream of fire like a flamethrower shot out of his palms and engulfed 8 of the men. Wildfire started to walk to the last man. Before wildfire could reach him he pulled out a hand gun, raised a shaking hand to his head and shot himself. Wildfire then started to walk back to the APCs


When Wildfire got back to the staging area the first thing his did was find Garrett. When he found him Wildfire grabbed him by the collar and said three words. “where is Shade?” Garrett just pointed at a bus that wildfire recognized as a covert ambulance. As he got closer he herd yelling.

“go away”

“but Shade-”

“I know you’re a doctor but I’m fine!”

“Just let us-”

“you took the bullets out right?”

“ yes but-”

“then I’m fine now GO AWAY”

Wildfire smiled behind his mask. He walked over to the two. “you heard the girl go away”

“Wildfire!? Ye-yes sir” he took off running.

“Are you ok”

“Wildfire, you worry to much”

“I do no-” suddenly Wildfire dropped to his knees, a second later he fell face down on the floor.



The last thing he heard was Shade calling for a medic……
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Fires raged around the two people in the huge room. one man was aiming his two pistols at another man. There was a woman on her knees at the feet of the second man. An explosion rocked the building but nether man flinched. “let her go Alex ” the man with the pistols said.

“she’s made you weak” the second man answered. We created you to be strong.”

“Let. Her. Go.”

“she’ll only get in the way”

Shaking with rage a pentagram appeared on the first mans right hand. Suddenly the five points and the flame marking in the center burst into flame. The man closed his eyes and a second later six wings burst from his back. They were covered with black feathers. The man opened his eyes and every feather burst into black flames.

“finally we see release level 0.”

“I’ve had enough of you” the first man said in an inhuman voice. “it’s time to die!”

Alex reached in his pocket and pulled out a switch.” remember that chip in your head? I press this switch and you die!”

The woman started to laugh. “ what’s so funny?”

She reached in her pocket and threw something on the ground. It was a microchip.

Alex’s face went white. Determined to take someone down with him he pulled out his pistol the demon in front of him knew what was about to happen. Using his wings he shot forward towards the two. He was a foot away when the gun fired into the woman’s chest…



NO!!!

Wildfire sprang up in bed. He immediately regretted doing so. Pain shot through him. He looked at himself so see he was covered in bandages. They were slowly turning red. Looking around he saw he was in the medical bay of the base. He let himself fall back onto the pillows.

“it was that dream again wasn’t it?”. Looking to the right he saw shade sitting on the bed next to him.

“…it’s been years since it happened.”

Shade started to say something when the door opened. After seeing who came in shade started laughing.

“you can’t be serious”

“Only one rose is mine” Garrett said as he put the three pounds of flowers on the bed next to shade. “ I tried to tell them but they sent them anyway. Anyway can I ask you something?”

“Sure”

“……what are you?” shade stopped laughing.

“I need to focus on healing. Shade…tell him”
“..ok Garrett come with me”

“ok”


Later in shade and wildfire’s room.

“wildfire was once human, now he‘s much more” shade told Garrett. “ the terrorist we’re fighting created him. They had all kinds of research going on. He is the result of a breakthrough discovery of the occult division. They found out a way to give a normal human a demons power.”

“so how do you fit into all of this?” Garrett asked her.

“after seeing how effective he was they tried to summon a true demon. I was walking along cocytus when I saw a gate to this world. I had enough of my world so I came through. They told us that were would be hunting criminals. We were really killing innocent people. I was hacking into their computer when of found out what they were really doing. I was going to tell him but the caught me first. He tried to free me but I got shot…he killed the man in charge of the occult division as well as everyone in the base….a staff of 23,000 dead in two minutes.

“so why doesn’t he take his mask off?”

“I can’t tell you but he might. let’s head back. If I know him he’s most likely arguing with the nurses.”


At the medical bay.


“he’s gone!”

The only thing in wildfire’s bed were some bloody bandages. Shade walked over to the nurse on duty at the time.

“have you seen wildfire?”

“he left some time ago. he said something about the killing fields.”

“thanks” with that the two headed to the training area.


At the training area

British special forces train in a two story house called the killing house. The men of the inferno company train in a small town wildfire calls the killing fields. Wildfire was in the middle of training new recruits.

“remember, there are no second chances on the real battlefield. Team one you did good but you lost two men. In my squad everyone comes home. Team two you also did good. but one of your men was taken hostage. However you did rescue him so I guess I can let it slide this one time. One more excise and we’re done for today. All of you against me”

“sir are you sure?”

“I’m not the commander for no reason I’ll give you five minutes before I start the attack”

All the men took off for one building. After five minutes wildfire walked over to the bulding door and kicked it down. Inside he was at least 8 dead bodies.

“here we go again” he thought. With out looking he drew one of the heartbreakers and fired into the ceiling. He herd a thud and walked upstairs. In the middle of the room lay a single man. He leg was torn apart by the bullet wildfire shot. “I’m sick of assassins killing my men” he fired a second shot and blew the mans head clean off. He then heard a cell phone ringing. Wildfire walked over to the corpse and picked up the phone

“is he dead?” the voice on the other end said.

“me, no. your assassin, yes”

“I had a feeling you’d kill him”

“you know I wont stop until your all dead.”

“your welcome to try” he heard a click as the man on the other side hung up.

Wildfire looked out a window and saw it was late. he started the long walk back to his room to get ready for bed. Little did he know that while he slept the whole world would change...