Slavegear 2 - Katsura's Mask

Slasher wrote:She looks to Matej and conciders his suggestion to admit where things went wrong, "I tripped that agent that shot his buddy." She holds back a giggle, "It might have blown our cover but the look on his and friends face was priceless." She silently laughs whiping a small tear from her eye.

"Okay! That's good." Matej nodded encouragingly "If we can avoid contact with the enemy, we can maintain our stealth longer. Snipers who try to hide their presence in the field, even pick up their own trash and liter, and take it with them when they move, so even after they stayed in one spot for days and then moved, there's no trace left of them ever being there.

So if we can leave no trace of our presence, we can be in and out of a building, with no one even knowing we were there."

Geoff wrote:Having returned from his patrol, Geoff sits in the corner by himself, uninterested in politics as he is.

"Hey, you're back." Matej nodded "I actually wanted to talk to you about the same subject. I gathered you're unable to speak. But communication is vital for unit cohesion.

For example, if a member of a team decides on a course of action, without informing the squad of his intent, he might accidentally wander into their line of fire later and get hit by friendly fire.

Stating intentions and relaying information in the field is very important, in fact, team coordination may even be more important than superior firepower. So, I was thinking," The batpony scratched his ear in thought:


"If you can't communicate with words, maybe there's other ways you can relay information to us. For example, if we ask a yes or no question, you can tap your earpiece once for 'yes' and twice for 'no'. It will create a brief burst of static on the radio and give us a quick reply, even if you're really far away.

And if you're close, or have to rely a complicated message... mmm... do you know any sign language?" Matej asked "Maybe we can invent a really easy one, even if you don't. But something like that. Cos we really do need to communicate when we're in the field."



"Speaking of friendly fire, I noticed that when we turn invisible, we can't actually track each other on long distance." Roksana chimed in "The enemy can't see us, but we can't see our allies either. Now, I can write a quick program to alter our stealth goggles, so when we look at each other, our invisible silhouettes will become high-lighted. That way we won't accidentally shoot each other, even when invisible.

However, if we use this program, I can't guarantee that someone won't try to hack our equipment at some point and they could stumble upon this program by accident, effectively making our stealth suits redundant.

I could patch it later but, its kind a risk either way. Do you want me to write that program for you?"

Gamma wrote:"When I'm being equipped for a mission like this I want more than invisibility, a hacking module, and a limit of only arm based cybernetics. We expect our body to have enough tech that if I was flesh my essence would be in the negatives. Anyways, can't expect someone who's used to driving a sports car to be happy in a rental SUV. Just my two New-Litas"

She looks to Mataj at his suggestion

"Just tell us what we did wrong and we'll do better. I was taught to think yourself perfect and let someone else tell you your flaws. "

The more you spoke, the more Roksana looked at you incredulously. After a while, her expression slowly turned to pity and she quietly asked after a while:
"...how... old.. are you?" She asked with a quivering voice. There wasn't even mockery there anymore, she looked genuinely concerned.


"Great..." Barker sighed, rubbing his face "...Shi-Tong literally paired us with actual children, who are stuck in adult bodies... that's great..."


"Okay, first of, whoever taught you not to think for yourself, is a moron. Or they didn't have your best intentions at heart." Roksana made a cut-off gesture with her hand "Second, if you think you're perfect, why did your hand got cut off? This argument collapses in on itself the moment you think about it. Perfection is not something achievable, its an asimptote, you strive toward it to survive.
And third, you need to learn to self-correct, because no one will care about you, more than you care about yourself."


"...that's a little morbid but okay." Matej quietly mumbled.

"Don't give me that shit! You know I'm right!" Roksana snapped at him "Selfless people are an exception, not the rule. And running into one is a statistical impossibility. Don't delude yourself or you'll wind up dead!"




"Okay, so, back to tactics." Matej eyed Slasher's chin where a bruise was visible a few minutes ago "I noticed we only have 1 combat medic on the team, like a mage medic I mean. That's pretty bad for us, cos we get shot a lot, and Krys will get depleted pretty fast, if we all eat a bullet. We can't expect him to risk his life every time by shooting himself up with stimulants, to extend his magical limits.

So.. I think our team could benefit if we had more healers on our team." He looked toward the Kirin and the Deer "Slasher, Inferno, do you guys think you could pick up a healing spell? I think it will really improve our survivability in the long run. Three healers is a lot more than one."



"I think one last thing I noticed," Krys somberly chimed in, still sore about being unable to leak the video "Most of us got shot, when we moved out in the open, without any cover to hide behind, and with nobody laying down sufficient suppressive fire.

I think we should be more mindful of our environment. The first thing you should do in a firefight - is get behind cover. Never stay in the open. Never move in the open. Not for long periods of time.

If you have to move in the open, for example to extract a wounded comrade, you need to coordinate with your team. Your team needs to lay down concentrated suppressive fire on the enemy position, so they won't be able to get a clear shot, and then you can move in the open more freely.

Another way to move in the open, is hiding behind a riot shield, or a magic shield, if you are a mage, then everyone else can hide behind that person and advance single file. These tactics are easy to implement and can save us from grievous injury in the future."



"I think that covered most topics, "Matej nodded "Does someone have anything more to add? We could have missed something."

Slasher wrote:"Krys! We cant-!" She sighs as Shi-tongs voice butts in, "It is not your duty Krys. Shi-Tong has a plan. If your prophet didn't release this initially, why didn't she, hm?"

"I have a distinct feeling she tried. Or intended to." Krys leaned back against the staircase wall and gloomily sighed "Otherwise she would not have set up Logan. She wanted the world to know who he really is... now she suffers for our sins... wasting away in a padded cell somewhere..."

"Heh..." Matej released a very smug grin but said nothing.

Krys gave him a sideways glance "...you have something on your mind, Vampire?"

"Oh I know where Audrey Swan is... and it aint a padded cell," Matej chuckled smugly "Haven't you heard?"

"No. I was imprisoned for the past 3 years." Krys seriously replied "I had no access to world media at that time. Does the prophet yet live? Is she alright?"

"Oh she's more than alright." Matej's grin grew smugger still "Audrey Swan has been recruited to serve as the political advisor to the new Nyx government-"

Barker, who was taking a gulp from his flask that smelled with alcohol, spit out his drink, some of it ending up on Inferno's boots "Excuse me?!"

"Oh yes." Matej nodded with self-importance "Recruited by General Rain Runner herself. Audrey Swan is now the right hand woman to Kristina li-Asteria, the Princess Councilor of Nyx. The Princess is still young and inexperienced in politics on the world stage, and leading a new, battered nation like Nyx, requires a lot of finesse. General Runner thought Audrey would serve best as an advisor to Kristina. They've been doing relatively well, all things considered."

The batpony shrugged "The Princess is young, naive and idealistic. And she has no idea how to govern a nation, a nation of former slaves especially, so I don't believe her vision of Nyx will have any long term success. But Audrey has been trying to steer her right, for her part."


"...I'm sorry, when did this happen?!" Barker wiped his mouth and threw a sheepish, brief glance at Inferno and his boots.

"Right after the Digital Waltz fell." Matej nodded "Rain Runner took Audrey aside for a confidential discussion. Hell if I know what they talked about, but Runner hired her by the end of it."

"...so the prophet is free..." Krys stared in concentration at an empty spot in the air "...and constricted by political shackles again... I see..." his eyes narrowed "...so there is hope yet... to restore her to her rightful place."

As Roksan talks about survival and concidering yourself and nobody else. Slasher reflects on how this mission went a moment, what the deer expected to happen vs what really happened. To be honest with herself, she wasn't really taking the mission seriously until now. Fully expecting this team to perish within and Shi-Tong just hiring another team, but at the time she hadn't concidered riots in the street, she hadn't concidered a uranium nuclear device. Mass death and destruction on a truely inhuman level.

"I think Shi-Tong has good work for us." She glances at Roksan, "I can understand your selfishness though." She looks back to the computer.

"...hm..." she stares at the screen for a long moment before raising an eyebrow at Matej, "How do you... know this?" She shakes her head after a moment of thought "Nevermind... stupid question. No matter how secret they keep her shes bound to appear. Glimpses of her by perhaps press or... interviewers... or..." she squints, "I 'unno... just... news in general?" She lets out a soft frustrated sigh, "Small glimpses of her lead to rumors that are probably true." She lets out a long, somewhat bored sigh.

She bites her bottom lip a moment in thought as Matej suggests she takes a healing spell, "Uuuuugghhhhhhh." A groan of distain escapes her, "If I wanted to be a doctor i'd have gone to school for it!" You swear, you can feel her very soul shreek at the prospect of.... 'healing'.

She looks at Matej seriously a moment, "Maybeeeeeee." She hisses, "i'll. Concider. It." She says through semi gritted teeth.

Geoff simply stares at Matej, and then leaves on another patrol, preferring solitude to conversation.

"Not gonna be able to learn healing magic within the next 3 minutes. And maybe not for the next 3 hypothetical missions, even if I start cramming now." Inferno says in the least sarcastic way possible. "Everyone who uses magic has an affinity for some kind of magic. Some are better with certain elements, while being weaker with others. There's also those who have greater finesse while others exert greater force. All things to considder."

He rest his head on his knuckle. "While picking up magic you're good with is done quick enough, the further you stray from your core, the more effort it takes. Some types of magic are also harder then others, given what they entail."

His eyes narrow. "And no magic is harder then healing magic. The fact we have one healer is already a blessing, very few have either the talent or perserverance to learn it." He stopped leaning and sat up more. "Fun fact, that magic prodigy, Twilight Sparkle, unable to learn them. Girl is pretty much an archmage before legal drinking age, but can't even patch up a mere scratch. Healing mages are rare, otherwise conventional medical facilities would cease to exist. I can try with whatever Krys has to offer, but don't raise your hopes up high for miracilous recoveries with a wave of my hand."

"As for reflection on actions..." He pondered. "If enemies are holed up, like in the hallway we entered first, we should fire podshots to see how the individuals react. The thing that nearly killed Jane Doe here was that after starting her rampage, she hit a wall that hitted back, hard."
"By shooting small rounds we can see who are unarmored, as they would hide behind objects to not get hit. Armored targets can stand in the open, as light fire would be as effective as raindrops on them and thus keep a more advantageous position."

"I hate those metal fucks!" she suddenly roars, overtaken by some random spout of anger. Her voice going high pitched and mocking suddenly "Ohhh im so special because, my ffffffffUckING SKELETON IS LITTERALLY MADE OF METAL!" she clenches the side of her head, "Grrrrahhhh... I apparently need to chrome up myself to get the job done right!" A Katana slides from her arm, "It'd help if these weren't BUTTER KNIVES!" she storms across the construction sights roof in fury then turns back and paces the other way, now seething.

She does look like she takes Roksana's words to heart, even if she doesn't directly respond to them or the question of her age.

Then, adding in her own suggestions;

"Always a minimum of two when splitting from the group during a mission. Prevent what happened to Epsilon.

Better communication. Even if that means using the text function of the data pads if you can't or won't talk.

Longer recon and prep if things allow. If time permits we spend a few extra hours or the day making sure that everything goes smoothly."

Slasher wrote:"...hm..." she stares at the screen for a long moment before raising an eyebrow at Matej, "How do you... know this?"

Matej smirked, raising his index finger:
"Never underestimate the Vampire Unit's intelligence network."

"You even have a network anymore?" Barker eyed him with one eye closed: "I thought the Union pushed your shit in."

"We're down but not out." Matej said, turning uncharacteristically serious "We have many sleeper cells still embedded throughout Soren and Nyx, especially inside our capital Drahoslav. They're keeping their heads down, masquerading as the average working class. But they're stockpiling weapons and intel. And if the command is given, they'll activate."


"Activate? To do what?" Barker curled his upper lip "Nyx is free, isn't that what you wanted?"

"That's a naive thought, one that our Princess shares." Matej grimly replied "Kristina is deluding herself if she thinks another country won't try invading Nyx again, to get at our precious deposits of Tilerium. That stuff is used in every cybernetic enhancement.
You mark my words," Matej said gloomily "One day someone will catch the Princess off guard and launch a surprise attack against Nyx. And when that happens," he absentmindedly checked the chamber of his rifle "the true patriots of Nyx will be ready."

"With what?" Barker smirked "Sticks and slingshots?"

Matej didn't reply for a while, inspecting his gun. You got the feeling he was choosing his words carefully:
"Lets just say, the Vampire Unit didn't sit on its hands, while the rest of the world continued its arms race."

Slasher wrote: "Uuuuugghhhhhhh." A groan of distain escapes her, "If I wanted to be a doctor i'd have gone to school for it!" You swear, you can feel her very soul shreek at the prospect of.... 'healing'.

She looks at Matej seriously a moment, "Maybeeeeeee." She hisses, "i'll. Concider. It." She says through semi gritted teeth.

"That's all I ask." Matej nodded "Who knows, maybe next time Krys will need his jaw mended."

Geoff wrote:Geoff simply stares at Matej, and then leaves on another patrol, preferring solitude to conversation.

Matej sighed very heavily in disappointment "...are we sure Geoff understands Soren?... or.. that he isn't deaf?"

"Why don't you call him a funny name, see what happens." Barker suggested "If he starts peeling your face off, that'll answer both your questions."

"Pass. Thanks." Matej replied irritably.

Inferno wrote:"Not gonna be able to learn healing magic within the next 3 minutes. And maybe not for the next 3 hypothetical missions, even if I start cramming now."

"If you could start learning now, I think it would be a good investment of time, in the long run." Matej nodded "We likely won't need something too major, if you could just learn how to mend major blood vessels, lets say, injured arteries, that will give us a major boost in first aid application. Even if it takes a while to learn, it'll be worth it."

Inferno wrote:"By shooting small rounds we can see who are unarmored, as they would hide behind objects to not get hit. Armored targets can stand in the open, as light fire would be as effective as raindrops on them and thus keep a more advantageous position.

"That could work, yeah," Matej nodded "Yeah, we could try that. Human psychology may make some armored folk reckless."

Slasher wrote:"I hate those metal fucks!" she suddenly roars, overtaken by some random spout of anger. Her voice going high pitched and mocking suddenly "Ohhh im so special because, my ffffffffUckING SKELETON IS LITTERALLY MADE OF METAL!" she clenches the side of her head, "Grrrrahhhh... I apparently need to chrome up myself to get the job done right!" A Katana slides from her arm, "It'd help if these weren't BUTTER KNIVES!"

"Well, I'm glad you brought this up," Barker beamed evily and picked up one of the silver packs he had stashed by the wall of the staircase:
"Ta-daaaaa! Sub-dermal Kevlar Armor Weave! Literally weaves bullet proof armor under your skin! You install this upgrade in a lab and even if you get shot in the head, the worst you're going to get is a concussion."

"Unless the enemy is using armor piercing rounds.." Matej quietly interjected.

"Oh for fucks fake, who uses armor piercing rounds on a regular basis?" Barker waved at him "You install this upgrade, 90% bullet proof guarantee!"

"Unless you get shot from close range several times in the same spot." Matej interjected again.

"Well don't get shot in the same spot then!" Barker irritably scoffed "If we had these armor upgrades for this mission, the most we'd have right now, would be scraped skin and bruises! I'm telling you, you get this upgrade installed, it'll be like wearing a bullet proof vest, under your skin!!! And its weaved across your entire body! Not just the torso!
I mean you fought those guys tonight, remember how hard it was to kill them? Imagine you had that kind of power."

"What are you, sponsored by May-Tech Cyberware or something?" Matej curled his upper lip.

"By the by, Slasher," Barker turned toward the Deer, ignoring the batpony completely "Those butter-knives, if you swing them hard enough, you could cut through most firearms, or at least destroy or bend their barrel out of shape, preventing further enemy fire."

Gamma wrote:"Always a minimum of two when splitting from the group during a mission. Prevent what happened to Epsilon.

Better communication. Even if that means using the text function of the data pads if you can't or won't talk.

Longer recon and prep if things allow. If time permits we spend a few extra hours or the day making sure that everything goes smoothly."

"Yeah, that's good!" Matej smiled, nodding "Never wandering alone, intel gathering and text communication! Our Data-pads can totally support messaging!"

"Maybe we can communicate with Geoff?" Barker pondered.

"You know, I'm starting to suspect he just doesn't understand what we're saying." Matej looked in Geoff's direction "If only we could figure out what his mother tongue is.. Gamma or Roksana could run an auto-translate software pretty easily. But he needs to try to communicate with us first, before we can do something like th-"


"I got him." Roksana suddenly jolted in place, straightening up.

"Wha-?... Got whom?" Barker raised an eyebrow.

"Keener." Roksana frowned "I had a flying drone surveying the crater from a subtle angle and feeding its camera feed directly to my retinas. It just positively identified Keener on scene." She said and subtly rushed toward the edge of the building again, laying down on her stomach and picking up her binoculars again.

"...where'd you get a drone?" Barker looked at her sideways.

"Its one of the drones I liberated from the intelligence office." Roksana whispered over the earpiece "Managed to hide one before the military destroyed them all. Keener's down there, check it out."


Approaching the edge of the floor and letting the rain showers pepper you, you tried to follow Roksana's line of sight. It was difficult to spot anything with clear detail in the dead of night, and with the rain getting in your eyes and the magnification lenses.

Down in the ruins, the astronaut bio-hazard team was still sifting through the crater with exceptional sluggishness. The edges of the crater were marked by yellow tape that wasn't guarded, but nonetheless, no one dared to step over. And some 30 meters away, in the large square that once housed a parking lot - now filled with giant concrete chunks of debris - several people is rain coats stood, talking and articulating wildly.

They all seemed on edge, unnerved and frankly scared of the lone figure, that just stepped onto the scene.


A man with horrible scars on his face and the eyes of a predatory animal, wild and glazed and vicious. He wore a strange tactical combat suit, painted in black and gray urban camouflage colors. A ripped up cloak was billowing in the wind behind him, a scarf covered his neck and a hood was pulled back, all of which had the same urban camouflage colors.

Apart from a single pistol in a bullet proof holster on his hip, you couldn't see any obvious weapons. The man was pissed. He wasn't shouting but you could tell every word he spoke was spat out with venom and barely contained rage.

"Running facial recognition software." Matej said, laying down beside you on the edge of the floor and looking at the man through a set of binoculars:

"Standby... standby... Got it. Major Adrian Keener, 97.45% match."

"What are they saying?" Barker whispered, as if he could be heard by Keener from a kilometer away.

"I have a directional mic in my bag, get it." Matej said, without moving.

Barker slowly took out the contraption and aimed it carefully at the crater "Patching it into our radio frequency, standby."


A few moments ticked by in silence, before static burst through and you heard a rough voice chiming in:

"...-buvote atsakingas už šį skyrių! Informacijos praradimas buvo jūsų atsakomybė!!" Keener muttered through gritted teeth.

"Anybody speak Themis?" Barker grimaced.

"Running auto-translate software and patching it into our coms." Roksana said seriously "Filtering out background noise... standby."


The static in your earpieces slowly faded to nothing, and only Keeners digitally distorted voice came through:

"...-the enemy must have had access to the structures blue-prints. They knew exactly were to go, and what to look for, even before the Bess got fried!"

"You can't possibly think this is my fault!" The man dressed in a brown raincoat protested, but feebly, seeming unnerved under Keener's gaze. "You handpicked that Rumba psychopath! This only went tits up after he got his brain fried! Its your fault for sticking me with incompetent personnel-" The man gasped and was cut short, as Keener suddenly grabbed his wrist and bent it at an unnatural angle, forcing the man to scream out in pain and fall down to one knee.


"Commanders who can't keep their men in line, and then blame their subordinates for their fuck-ups, are the worst kind of SCUM!" Keener spat, his hair standing on end.

"You're breaking my arm!" The man in the trench-coat screamed. Every other man present took a quick step back, watching Keener in abject horror.

"...You know what I think?" Keener hissed "I think the enemy was too well informed for this mission.
I think they knew that tonight, most of our tasks force would be outside the city, leaving the building understaffed. I think they had our floor plans, I think they knew exactly where to go and what file to look for. And I think they knew what was on it."


"FUCK!" The man shrieked horribly, as his bone audibly snapped and burst out of the side of his forearm. Blood sprayed on the pavement as the man tried to collapse, holding his arm with an open fracture, but Keener still held his broken wrist in a death grip:


"I think there was a leak. I think you were in charge of this branch, and the responsibility for that rests on you." Keener whispered, mercilessly staring at the man with cold, vicious eyes.

"IT... WASN'T... ME!" The man shrieked in pain, his free hand subtly darted toward his belt.

"Really." Keener cocked his head, his piercing blue eyes drilling into the man "Then why is there an off-shore account linked to you, that just received 30 million credits?"

The man's eyes widened. His hand made a jerking motion, and then you went deaf, as a single gunshot rang so loud through the area, you heard its echo even without the directional microphone.


Keener shot the man with a Desert Eagle, point blank, right between the eyes. The hole it created was the size of a tennis ball. The man in the trench-coat stared with wide open eyes at Keener, as a trickle of blood ran down his mouth, before he slowly collapsed to the ground, a silenced pistol still gripped in his uninjured hand.


"Clean up this mess." Keener spat, holstering his weapon and turning on his heels. The rest of the men in the group watched horrified, as a pool of blood rapidly spread out from the corpse.


Keener was starting to walk away from the crater.


"Anybody got a sniper rifle?" Barker casually asked.

"Shoot him from a kilometer away?" Matej grimaced "In this weather?"

"We only have one chance to pull this off." Roksana said calmly "If we shoot him now and miss, he'll disappear. Besides, he's surrounded by hundreds of military troops and a gunship overhead. We'll get massacred. Lets follow him for now, wait until he's away from any backup and ambush him when he's alone."

As Barker brings up the subdermal armor the Doe looks back at him, and for a second she looks like she might flay you before her breathing eases and she cools down rather quickly after her outburst, "Yeah..." she lets out a soft breath pressing her palm to the side of her forehead a moment, her eyes becoming a distant glaze before she seems to snap back with a couple of blinks and her gaze shifts to Roksan.

"Maybe now isn't the best time?" She cocks her head, "I mean... we blow up their shit, he knows who the rat is." She shrugs, "He might be expecting to be shot... or us to still be out here. I wouldn't put it past a man like that."

Slasher wrote:As Barker brings up the subdermal armor the Doe looks back at him, and for a second she looks like she might flay you before her breathing eases and she cools down rather quickly after her outburst, "Yeah...

"What's the matter, Smiley," Barker suppressed a giggle "don't like sub-dermal surgeries?"

"You know, I have to question how you survived for this long, with that brain." Matej quietly commented, eyeing Barker sideways "Its like you took too many blows to the head and your survival instinct just evaporated."

Slasher wrote:"Maybe now isn't the best time?" She cocks her head, "I mean... we blow up their shit, he knows who the rat is." She shrugs, "He might be expecting to be shot... or us to still be out here. I wouldn't put it past a man like that."

"I'm sure a man like that expects to be shot every day of the week," Roksana sighed with detachment "whether his office is blowing up or not. He's an intelligence officer, its an occupational hazard. But we still got a job to do."

She began rising up and packing her gear "Come on, we need to get down there and start tailing him, before he fades into the ether again. Stealth-suits on, everyone."

Before the laptop is packed up Gamma quickly writes some code and creates an encryption and generates a key, which she quickly sends over to Shi-Tong, and attaches creates a security lock for accessing the data drive. The code also has a secondary job, which Gamma explains.

"It won't hold back a rumba with a hacking module, but the moment anyone without the key tries to access the data it will scramble it so bad it will take decades to figure out. And it will purge the system and anything it's connected too. If Shi-Tong can't have it, then no one can"

She double checks her suit to make sure that it still provides enough stealth despite the damage and dirt it's taken

"We need to assume that in us following it's actually him that is hunting us. For that reason I say we split into two or three groups and follow him that way.

We make less noise in smaller groups, failure means less casualties, and the splitting allows for extra options with flanking"

"Ueeeh.... No." She eyes Barker carefully, "Migrains make things a little... 'fuzzy' sometimes." She huffs, "I'll probably be needing that armor later." Her stance wavers as she stares, blankly at you for a good second or two, her eyes looking past barker as if he isn't even there before she shakes her head clear and turns away, "Head in the game girl." You hear her mutter.

She sighs as she steps up next to Roksan, "If you say so." She stares down at the road, she pats her pockets a moment searching for a chocolate bar or whatever shi-tong gave her. She wrote "Toblerone" on the "Favorite candy" section on Shi-tongs form... she squints trying to remember if there even was a 'Favorite candy' section on the form.... or of there even was a form at all.

Barker gives Gamma a strange look, following her explanation:
"While I understand the reasons for encrypting the hard drive, why would you go out of your way to please Shi-Tong? He won't pat you on the head for it, and if he's really planning to kill us off after this mission, this act won't stay his hand."


"She's been conditioned. Indoctrinated." Matej gloomly said "I've seen it with slaves before.. some would tell on their own family and friends, because the masters would beat it into them with shock therapy and starvation."


"Gamma.." Roksana sighed deeply "...mindlessly serving a master, may provide simplicity to a complicated life. Maybe even security. Stability.
But one day, you may find yourself with a choice. A choice to continue wearing a familiar collar around your neck, or shed it and step into the unknown, scary world of free choice."

The full-metal woman 'looked' at you very intently:
"If that moment comes, I urge you to ask yourself, should you really hold undying loyalty to a digital voice, who sits 5000 kilometers away in his ivory tower, forcing you to rub your face in gravel and mud, for a cause that isn't your own? For a digital demon that won't share your burden, and discard you like trash, the moment you outgrow your usefulnes.

Think on my words." Roksana turned around and walked slowly toward the other side of the building, located opposite to the crater. Unfolding a metal cable that was prepped before-hand, she hurled it over the side of the building, letting it unfold all the way down from the 28th floor, then attached a climbing gear slider to it.

"Stay in radio contact." Roksana whispered over the radio "Geoff, you too." She clicked a button on her wrist and turned invisible, before starting to slide down the cable.



Inspecting your Stealth-suit, to your surprise, you noticed something extremely alarming, maybe even unnerving, or interesting, depending on your outlook.

The suit had repaired itself. Or was in the process of doing so, if the damage was too extensive. The thing had stuck to your skin like glue, so seemlessly, you didn't even feel it anymore, and its micro-filaments were spreading out with tiny fibers, latching onto your other gear, your holsters, your weapons, knives, and literally borrowing their material, repurposing it to rebuild itself.

It was happening on a microscopic level and so slowly and gradually, you didn't even notice until now. But the suits were literally consuming your other gear, taking microscopic chunks out of them to repair themselves.

Bullet holes closed, tears mended, burn marks regenerated. Inferno's suit was particularly interesting. It looks like it adapted to extreme temperatures that it got exposed to, and coated itself with an inflammable layer, theoretically allowing for use of fire based magic on a massive scale, without damaging the suit.


The downside was that some of your handguns and holsters resembled swiss cheese now, but the damage to them seemed superficual, possibly still allowing them to be used.

The suits Stealth mode seemed to be lighting up green in self diagnostic. Looks like its ready to go.



"Splitting into 2 teams sounds like a good idea," Matej nodded "We can try blocking his route with one team, and have the second attack from the side, catch him in a cross-fire."



Unfortunately there wasn't a favorite candy form to fill, and you remembered you were forced to raid a vending machine before your deparchure on the VTOL. And by raid, you meant literally, as you had no money at the time, being freshly extracted out of a maximum security prison, shortly after having your death faked by Shi-Tong.

You guess that cat's out of the bag now, since most members of your team who were supposed to be dead, now had their faces broadcasted from every jumbo screen TV in the city, and perhaps the whole world. Shi-Tong wasn't happy about that. Not one bit.



Your squad quickly packed up and slid down the same metal cable that Roksana did. Matej briefly considered unfolding his wings and doing aerial surveillance, but eventually decided against it, eyeing the gunship over the crater with unease.



Stepping down onto the muddy construction site on the ground, you adjusted your hair, as strong wind picked up and the freezing rain got worse. Your suit tried to compensate, isolating the cold and trying to stop your body heat from escaping, but the rain was too cold and it wasn't nearly enough.

You clearly saw Roksana's invisible silhouette in the downpour and the woman swore, the rain drops so numerous, they charted her body structure in the air.


"Come on" she signaled with her palm "Split into 2 teams and move out. My drone has Keener walking down a sidewalk, two blocks north of here. He just left the military perimeter around the crater"

"Do not assume our motivation or mindset based on your limited understanding of me."

Gamma pulls up her hood and follows down the line.

At the bottom she steps in with Roksana, joining her team.

Inferno grimaced at his suit being alive, he did not like the idea of it. But with little choice, he went along down to ground level. Once there, he looked around, then nodded.

"I'll go intercept him. I want to see what he's made of. Who's in that team?"

As soon as Roksana signalled him over the radio, Geoff suddenly appeared behind her out of nowhere, and gave an almost-imperceptible nod.

"Yeah im comin'." She says hooking herself to the line and working her way down, "Maybe it'll up my mood again." She huffs.

"Mmm... fair enough I suppose." Matej said to Gamma, looking unconvinced, as he secured his laptop back in his backpack.


As you attached to the metal cable, the slider emitted a very faint buzz, its mechanism whirring, taking you down with a controlled descent.

With the last one down, Roksana clicked something on her Data-pad and took a few steps away from the line. Something inaudibly popped on the 28th floor and the entire cable fell down in a neat circular heap. Roksana effortlessly collected the cable, rolled it around her forearm and after compacting it, stored it back in her backpack.


"Never leave a trace of our presence." She said softly over the radio "Even a discarded candy wrap can tip the enemy of-"

Her head suddenly darted to the side and her arm seamlessly gripped the pistol on her hip. She made a reflexive jerk to draw it, but stopped, the pistol ultimately not leaving its holster. She was 'looking' sideways at Geoff, over her shoulder.

It almost looked like you startled her. Perhaps her claim about seeing through the back of her head was a lie. Roksana furrowed her brow slightly, making a "Hm" sound, but said nothing else.




"Com, check in." her voice rang softly in your earpiece, barely audible over the rain:
"Alpha team will consist of Inferno, Slasher, Krys and Barker, try to get ahead of Keener and cut him off.

Bravo team will consist of Gamma, Geoff, Matej and myself. Our job will be to circle around and attack Keener from the side, to catch him in a cross-fire with Alpha team. Be mindful of your surroundings. We don't want to end up in each others line of fire."



She signaled with her palm to move out, which was difficult to see, even in the rain. As soon as she started moving, her silhouette seemed to dissipate in mid air, the rain drops falling on her invisible form inconsistently, making it extremely difficult to track her movement.


Sprinting across the morning streets of the city, you came across very few people and the traffic was thin. The Data-pad read 6:14 in the morning, but the sky was still so dark with storm-clouds, it still felt like the dead of night. A lightning strike flashed in your peripheral vision, leaving a purple after-image, and the air felt heavy for a moment, before the sensation passed.


You sprinted down several alleys, then crossed a street without bothering with the crosswalk, as only two cars were in sight, driving slow and too far away from you. Roksana suddenly increased pace, breaking into a full sprint. You gathered something was wrong because she no longer bothered being subtle, as water started spraying hard away from her boots, splashing across her invisible suit and briefly marking its outline.

"Shit.... Shit!..... Shit!" she swore repeatedly, breaking into a mad sprint, then stopping abruptly next to a street corner and looked around the edge: "...Suka." she cursed on Verrian.


"Bravo, status?" You heard Barker on the radio.


"Keener vanished." Roksana quietly said, her voice drowned out momentarily by a lightning strike that colored the sky, deafening you momentarily.

"...-repeat!" Barker called again "..-what do you mean vanished!?"

"I mean I was watching the drone footage and he literally dissipated like gas, seconds before we reached his route." Roksana muttered through gritted teeth.



You looked around the area. You were standing at a street juncture, with 4 roads leading in 4 directions. Each road has only 2 lanes, one in each direction. Apartment complexes lined all sides of the roads, no taller than 7 stories each. The sky was catching an eerie green luminescent color, as the sun slowly rose somewhere, behind the clouds and another lightning flashed from the same direction as last time.

There were no cars in the vicinity, and only 4 people walked hunched over, trying to hide from the rain under umbrellas that seemed to small. There was no sign of Keener, yet according to Roksana, he was walking this way.


The woman tensed "All units, be advised, Keener is using stealth technology."

"You're shitting me." Barker swore "He's wearing the same suit we are?"

"No. His one looked different, but the concept's the same." Roksana narrowed her eyes "Stay calm. People don't evaporate. He's still here, maybe still walking in the same direction. We need to figure a way to spot him, just don't reveal your presence, he may not know we're hunting him yet."

"He's expecting something alright." Inferno speaks into the communications. "If he thinks the deal is settled with the death of his subordinate, he probably wouldn't be as infamous as your stories imply, and he wouldn't feel the need to cloak himself halfway through his walk."

He grinned. "Let's make him expect the wrong attack."

"What's the plan?" Matej nervously whispered in your earpiece "How do we locate this guy?"

Slasher tilts her head, "Find his footsteps... sillouettes in the rain." She says whimsicaly, "Perk your ears and listen close." She whispers. Her eyes flick and search along the sidewalk, she listens, counting how many sets of footsteps she hears, and what direction their coming from. She wouldn't be able to smell him in the rain, but she didn't pick a pray animals gene for no reason.

She removes her radio from her ear a moment so she can get a clear sound profile of everything around her without anything talking in her ear. Her ears swivel like tiny radar dishes, searching for that one extra set of footsteps among the white among the white noise of the rain.

"Hey, Roksana, can I play with your drone?" Barker's voice came over the radio.

"Ugh... sure." Roksana sighed and tapped something on her Data-pad's screen "I've transferred the drone controls to everyone's Data-pads, so everyone can take control of it whenever you want. Just don't fly it lower than a hundred meters to the ground, its not exactly quiet."


You took out the earpiece and the blessed silence saves you from Barker's cringy retort.

The rain felt good against your forehead, as you raised your head. The cold water slowly seeped through the stealth-coated balaclava, lessening the migraine you had ever since the explosion that cratered the intelligence office.

Scanning the street with your eyes revealed little, the rain fell everyone in equal measure, nothing really disturbed it, no silhouettes, no inexplicable splashes of water. Keener was good, you're not sure how he stalked the street but however he moved, he turned himself into a literal ghost. Perhaps he had training for stealth, sneaking, or perhaps this was just a property of his suit, making it more advanced somehow.

But he was still human, and had a physical presence, even if you couldn't see it. You closed your eyes.


Felt the rain gently tapping over the sidewalk, running down the storm-drains, tapping over the roofs and windows of buildings. Its staccato was soothing, reminding you of childhood. The sound of its lullaby occasionally interrupted by a bright flash of lighting, coming from the same direction as last time.

For a moment, the air felt heavy, stale, a rush of wind blew past you, ruffling your hood, then the wind got sucked back in the opposite direction. Weather didn't typically act this way. As you tried to regain your footing, almost blown off your feet, you finally heard it.


A mistake.


The sudden rush of wind didn't just make you lose your footing, it caught Keener by surprise as well.
He was good, masking his steps very gently in the rain, stepping slowly and gradually, careful not to disperse the water under his feet too suddenly. Its very likely you wouldn't have heard him at all, and he would have slipped by, if the wind hadn't blown by and he made one sharp step, to prevent a fall.

A step that was too sudden. You heard the barely perceptible splash of water on the sidewalk. You would have missed it entirely if you weren't specifically waiting for it.



Opening your eyes, you couldn't see him at all, but you were sure you heard that one misstep. Keener was about 24 meters away, walking down a sidewalk directly away from you, away from both teams.


"You found him?" Roksana whispered next to you, her voice barely audible, she must have noticed a change in your body-language, or just had a hunch. "Alpha team, prepare to circle around and cut him off. Bravo will follow from behind. Move."



She started crossing the road, as another sudden blast of wind almost knocked her down and she braced, crouching low, waiting, and the wind rushed back just as suddenly, as if an air vaccuum was created somewhere, expanding and then imploding, sucking the air back and forth. Another lightning zig-zag flashed across the air to your right. Same direction as before.


Roksana swore as the wind stopped blowing and continued her run across the street. Matej followed her but slowly came to a stop, right in the middle of the road. His body-language was strange. It was difficult to make out his silhouette in the rain, but you think the batpony was raising his head, staring up into the sky somewhere, completely leaving himself open, arms lowered beside his body.


Roksana looked over her shoulder and hissed "Matej! What the hell are you doing!? Get off the road!"


"Hey... guys...?" The batpony's voice was strange, deflated somehow, as he stared down the road at the sky, when another lightning struck and the air became filled with eerie, strange clattering noises that didn't seem to have a source, as if they were emanating directly from inside your head.


"...was that tower... always there?" Matej slowly raised his invisible hand.

Slasher inhales slowly, taking in the thunderstorm scent a moment. She lets out a slow breath before her attention snaps to the out of place footstep. Her radio goes back in, "Gottem. 24 meters. Across the road. Heading away." She takes a step to follow Matej when the wind throws them off and she turns to see what the batpony was looking at.

Slasher stares up in awe, "whaaat the fuck?" She says slowly, "Shi-tong... do-... do you see that? I'm not having a schizophrenic episode? Theres no way thats real..."

"Mother fuckers! The target!" Gamma hisses into the radio as she un holsters her gun and starts heading towards Keener. It's loosely aimed in his direction.

The longer you stared at the tower, the more it seemed to sear itself into your retinas, perhaps into your mind. It was completely black, with a bright orange outline. You became aware of its presence, as if it was a part of you. You got a distinct feeling that even if you closed your eyes and turned away, the tower's after-image would still be there, letting you know exactly where it stood. You could feel its presence now, vividly.


"Slash-... -peat your last!" Shi-Tong's voice cut in through growing static on the radio "...-ctromagnetic interf-..." his voice cut into complete white noise, static, intermixed with something else.

A whisper.

A dozen whispers. A hundred, a thousand.
Millions.

It took you a second to understand that their voices weren't coming from the earpiece, they were originating inside your head. As if your own thoughts were conjuring them. Millions of tiny voices all whispering something in a language you didn't know, speaking so softly, you could barely hear them.
You could not make out the words and it felt painful, their meaning lingering just on the edge of your consciousness. If you tried hard enough, if you concentrated harder, perhaps you could make out the words.










The tower burned vividly inside your mind, whether you were looking at it or not, you knew exactly where it was at all times, its orange highlight seemed to be aflame.


"Schwarz-..." Shi-Tong's frantic voice cut through the static for a brief moment, before drowning in white noise again "Your vitals are spikin!-....-bloody hell's going on down thr-"



A brilliant idea just occurred to you. Roksana had such a beautifully shaped skull. Wouldn't it be nice to split it open with a blunt object and see what her brains look like? You have such a beautiful knife, why not flay yourself alive? Actually, why not conjure the biggest fireball you can muster, and melt the skin of everyone around you, until you can see muscle beneath the burned flesh? I bet it would make the most wonderful sight.

Why don't we do that now?


Matej released a quiet, deranged giggle, as he suddenly de-cloaked. His eyes were mad, wild, as he suddenly put his submachine gun right up to Barkers temple, his finger inching toward the trigger.

"Hahahahaha.... AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHA!!!" Barker spinned around on his heels, laughing hysterically, his eyes completely euphoric as he aimed his rifle at Matej's neck.

Tears of joy began streaming down Krys face, as he whooped, spreading his hands wide and a massive fireball began dancing between his palms, easily a meter in diameter.
They seem to be having fun. Why not carve some pictures on their faces with that knife of yours? It would be... beautiful.

Actually, why don't you de-cloak while you're at it? You should let everyone see how cool you are, no?











(Gamma)


You were staring at the spectacle, as it continued to exponentially spiral out of control. You didn't hear any voices. You didn't hear any whispers. The tower in the distance appeared as just a giant black pillar to you, it didn't burn with any orange outlines.

Whatever was happening to the others, it didn't seem to be affecting you. You didn't feel any urges to laugh or turn your guns at your comrades at any rate.


Roksana wasn't laughing either, but her eyes were far from sane, she was 'staring' in horror at the others, slowly tippy-toeing away from them, her hands slowly rising up to her head, as she began repeating, over and over:
"...make it stop... make it stop!...  make it stop make it stop make it stop make it stop make it stop make it stop make it stop make it stop make it stop make it stop make it stop make it stop make it stop make it stop make it stop make it stop make it stop make it stop MAKE IT STOP!!!"


More voices began reaching you, the other 4 pedestrians on the road, stopped in their tracks and slowly zeroed in on each other, then at you, their smiles began growing crazed.


You try to spot Keener in the rain, but his silhouette is illusive. You only have a very vague idea of where he's at. You think he's moving away from you still, walking down the same sidewalk, but you're only 70% sure of that. The displacement of water under his feet and the rain falling on him, were playing tricks on you. The rain water soaking through the balaclava was obscuring your vision, getting into your eyes and making it hard to see, let alone concentrate, as the entire street began slowly erupting in unhinged laughter.

Slasher tilts her head, somewhat dumbstruck by these sudden urges. Her hand slips to her knife and she draws it her thumb digging deep into its tip before she grips it by the blade.

'That barker is so fucking stupid. How could he have ever made it this long?' the thought flitters through her mind, 'Roksana would probably be able to do her job so much better without a blundering idiot by her side.' she rears back the knife its handle smacking her shoulder before she sends it spiraling into the side of barkers skull before he can fire a shot into Matej.

'those eyes....' she thinks, her own flicking to Roksana, '...I've seen what they do... I think......... I think....... shes next. I need those eyes.'