Slavegear 2 - Katsura's Mask

Slasher frowns and sighs drawing her knife, "If you say so." She huffs. Her cloak activating and all of a sudden slasher dissapears into the smoke.

One at a time windows begin shattering,. household items from around the apartment are evicted through the windows to send smoke pouring out into the air and clear up the apartment so she might get a better bead on Keener.

A sigh of frustration escapes her at the time it would actually take to clear all the smoke with just the windows open, "COVER YOUR EARS!" she calls.

Slasher claps and then when her palms seperate, a ball of swirling wind whips and struggles in a magical vice.

Slasher aims it at the ceiling.

Slasher casts wind explosion.

Inferno was kicked down, and he could sense Keener was behind him, ready to strike. One moment was all he had. And all he needed.

He turned around, and while the smoke obscured it, there was a palpable unhinged feeling coming from him. He threw the remains of the shotgun at Keener's eyes, and used the moment to seize the tazer with one hand. With another, he delivered a punch right at the height of his liver. Subdermal plating or not, that would hurt.

Inferno would then kick Keener back, before readying a new assault, this time intent to take the lead. A grin on his face, he was enjoying the sscuffle.

Gamma checks the ammo in her weapon then crouches down into a defensive position. Watching the hall for Keener. Neuro Chip or not, in her current state of damage she is in no position to actively engage.

Geoff grunts as he picks himself off the floor. He throws the empty pistols aside and draws his knives, then runs in after Keener.

A fierce gust of wind exploded over the ceiling, sending a spider-web of cracks across its painted layer. The air rushed fiercely around you like a tornado, sucking out the air and blasting it out of the open doorway and windows, taking swirls of black smoke with it. The burning couch was set aflame even stronger and a flaming tornado rose out of it, spreading up to the ceiling and scorching the paint black.

The black smoke and searing flame began spreading over the ceiling, venting out of the windows. The bottom half of the apartment was now relatively clear of smoke and with visibility restored there, you could see bizarre shadows and silhouettes swaying in every direction.

A green holographic ring materialized over Roksana and Barker's invisible forms, it danced and swung around with them at the center, before the merc yelped and something in the back of his head exploded, emitting thin plumes of smoke. Roksana released him immediately and darted into the room on the left, where she had sent Krys flying earlier.


The woman ducked low as a zig-zag of blue electricity shot over her head and struck the wardrobe behind her, before she vanished inside the room. A few dull thuds echoed out, that sounded alarmingly like boxing punches to the abdomen, Krys's muffled yelp and another green glow emitted out of the room.


As Slasher looked down the corridor, where Keener was fighting, she felt the searing heat of the flaming tornado growing stronger, created from the burning cough and the fierce vortex of wind over her head. In the billowing shadows and smoke, you saw an invisible silhouette suddenly dart out of the left room and sprint at you with hostile intent.

Just as you braced for the attack, the silhouette inexplicably dissipated into thin air. The next second your feet were kicked out from under you, and you felt Roksana's metal leg making a long swipe and colliding with the back of your shins. As you began collapsing onto the ground, the woman caught you halfway and you felt her palm planting onto the back of your head and a small wire shooting into the back of your neck, slicing right through the skin and connecting with something metal, that was embedded deep in the tissue.

A green holographic ring surrounded you both and your vision became briefly obscured by erratic red text running right down the middle.








Something blew out of the back of your neck and all text faded from sight. You inhaled and felt as if some great weight has just been lifted, as if you've been hauling 50 kilos on your shoulders without even noticing and they were suddenly dropped to the floor.

"You good?" Roksana's voice echoed next to your ear, as the woman attempted to help you sit upright, or at least prevent you from collapsing onto the floor "Shake it off, help me with Gamma-" she cut herself off as you saw Geoff draw his blades and rush into the corridor toward Keener:

"What are you doing?!" Roksana only managed to exclaim in alarm.




Upon the ejection and examination of the magazine, Gamma concluded at a brief glance that she had 9 bullets left in her sidearm. Feeding the clip back to the pistol, she noticed that the numbers in her retinas stopped counting down, but that red number 3 still remained in sight, it just flicked itself to the top left corner of her vision, no longer obscuring her sight.

It looks like the counter was paused, but didn't disappear.





Back in the corridor, Inferno hurled the remains of the shotgun in Keeners face and heard the metal debris collide with something equally sturdy. Keener had reflexively raised his forearm to block the projectile and it haphazardly bounced off his arm, then off his chest and spinned away into the smoke. As you lashed out to grab his arm, your fingers locked around empty air.

Keener was standing further away than you predicted, and you realized he baited you. He must have been anticipating an attack, he intentionally turned on the taser with an outstretched hand, making you think he was closer than he actually was, and the moment you turned around he leapt back, breaking the distance between you.

Moving on pre-planned auto-pilot, you thrust your fist forward and had to really outstretch yourself to reach his liver. The punch collided and you heard a muffled grunt, but the force behind the attack was much smaller than you planned, both because you had to outstretch yourself further than you anticipated, and because you felt your fist striking metal beneath the skin. Keener had sub-dermal armor.

He waited for you to attack. And as soon as your punch landed, his knee went flying into your face. The blow was so devastating you blacked out for a split second. It felt like being struck by a crowbar. When you opened your eyes, you realized you were laying on your back on the floor and couldn't remember how you got there.


By the time you started getting your bearings, Keener suddenly fell on you, roughly grabbing your shoulder and flipping you onto your stomach. You felt his knee press into the middle of your back, right into the middle of your spine and felt most of his weight shift there, pinning you painfully in place.

His hand flew up to the back of your neck and your entire body seized up. Every muscle cramped up in pain as you released an involuntary roar and something blew out of the back of your neck. Your retinas were briefly filled with red text, before it too, faded.







The Neurochip in the back of your head blew out and the cramping in your muscles faded. Keener removed his weight from your spine and faded somewhere. He couldn't be too far yet, he was moving extremely silently and that took time, so he had to be close still.

Lifting your head you noticed the reason for his stealth tactic. Geoff was rushing down the corridor with knives raised and faint plumes of smoke emanating from the back of his neck.


Out of the corner of your vision you noticed Matej rising up from the floor in the bedroom and drawing his sidearm, pointing it at the floor. His eyes were cautions and locked onto you.

Kaylee Brown wrote:Keener removed his weight from your spine and faded somewhere. He couldn't be too far yet, he was moving extremely silently and that took time, so he had to be close still.

Lifting your head you noticed the reason for his stealth tactic. Geoff was rushing down the corridor with knives raised and faint plumes of smoke emanating from the back of his neck.

Seeing Keener begin to fade away into the non-visible part of the spectrum, Geoff starts throwing a seemingly inexhaustible flurry of knives randomly down the corridor towards his last known location, more to identify his whereabouts than to actually harm him.

Slasher lets out a startled yelp and then lets out a pained hiss as she grips her right leg at the shin, "Ow holy- ouch!" She cringes as Roksan clears her chip.

Some relief passes over her and she lets out a sigh, "owieee... thats gonna leave a bruise." She rubs her leg a moment before bracing a palm against Roksans shoulder and lifting herself up. She takes a few limping steps towards geoffs fight. seems like you might have struck her a bit too hard, "...Walkin' it off..." she huffs.

//Happy day of birf. Or "birf day" as you humans call it because I am definitely not an alien.

(One day late, but happy birb day.)


Inferno leapt up once Keener was done, intending to finish what they started. "Now we can really enjoy ourselves..."

When he sees Geoff going wild, Inferno scowls at him, preparing another fire attack. "Drop the knives, this spar is mine."

((Thanks!))

"They're all just so fucking dumb" Gamma shakes her head as she utters the words to no one in particular. Her weapon still raised with trigger on the finger.

"Fight me like a man Keener! Or are you too scared you'll lose to the one arm damaged girl with a limp?" Gamma calls down the hallway.

Roksana turned into a blurry silhouette as she locked her sights on Gamma. You could just barely make out her invisible form as she veered through the fading smoke, first darting left, then right and closing in toward you with each step, before she suddenly broke into a full sprint.

A vase suddenly flew into Gamma's pistol from the side, knocking off your aim and sending your hand veering off to the side. The next second you suddenly felt Roksana grabbing you under your jaw with one hand, her other hand suddenly planting on your lower back and she flipped you, like flipping a lever. Your legs went out from under you and before you could fall on your back, Roksana accelerated your fall by pushing your neck firmly down and smacking your head against the floor with such force, your vision briefly glitched out.

Your teeth rattled and your head felt heavy. Rapidly blinking the visual glitches away, you suddenly felt yourself gun-arm pinned to the floor by Roksana's knee, her other knee pressing uncomfortably into your solar plexus. Both of her palms were locked over your neck. You thought she was trying to chose you, until you felt a wire dig into the back of your neck and your vision flooded with warning signs.







Several holographic rings materialized over Roksana's invisible form and started to flip over her, as the woman grunted in concentration.






The back of your neck blew out, emitting plumes of dark smoke and terrible short-circuit hissing. You didn't need to run a diagnostics test to realize your Neurochip had been turned into scrap, but you ran a check anyway. No vital systems have been damaged, as far as you could tell. Apart from a miniature bomb inside your chassis, that was now disabled. Apart from that, everything still worked as intended.


Roksana exhaled and left you alone, her invisible form retreating into the depths of the apartment.






Back in the corridor, as the new petals of fire began dancing inside the palms of the Kirin, Inferno blinked and found himself staring directly into the barrel of an oversized Desert Eagle, point blank. The weapon was pressing into your forehead, you could feel its metal still warm, from the last time it was discharged, a few minutes ago.

Keener had materialized into the visible spectrum, standing a little sideways to you. Several knives whooshed through the air, bouncing off his bullet proof vest and two of the blades getting stuck just over his chest and below the clavicle. They didn't penetrate deep, the sub-dermal armor prevented that, the knives only broke the skin and became stuck inside the stealth-suits fabric, sticking out of Keener at unnerving angles.

Even under his balaclava and goggles, you could tell the man frowned and in the next second, a P-90 submachine gun materialized in his other hand, held at the hip and aimed right toward Geoff.


"If you attack me again, I will kill you." Keener's gravely voice rang loud in the corridor. The threat rang heavy, accented by his dead-aim and vicious body language. He waited a moment, allowing the stand-off to sink in, before he continued:

"...I thought I'd show you professional courtesy, by not shooting you in the face the moment you set foot through the door. Because you were slaved to a chip. That's over now." It was hard to tell who he was looking at, Inferno directly in front of him, or Geoff slightly off to the side and further down the corridor. His balaclava and goggled obscured his eyes. His raspy voice echoed heavily over the corridor:

"...If you attack me again, I will kill you.

I won't warn you again."



You heard faint footsteps around you and saw your team mates materializing around the corridor. Their weapons, however, were not aimed at Keener.


Matej slowly creeped behind Inferno, intentionally stepping into the Kirin's peripheral vision so he would be seen. The batpony's handgun was aimed at Inferno's head, his expression strained but unwavering.

Roksana, Barker and Krys slowly stepped into the corridor, moving as a single unit, their weapons aimed at Geoff, fingers on the trigger, as the closed in on him from behind. They looked beaten up, some of them conflicted, but there seemed to be a very firm consensus between them, on what to do next.


Keener waited, letting the developing situation sink in, before he visibly tilted his head toward Inferno and Geoff, seemingly speaking directly to them:

"...why do you hold allegiance to a digital cartoon, dancing on your Data-pad screen, broadcast from some bunker 5000 miles away? Are you black-mailed?... Clearly not. Since the Neurochip would be redundant.

No. You were just enslaved." he tilted his head slightly "Is that want you want, to be enslaved?"


"No..." Matej grimly muttered, aiming his gun at Inferno.



"What did the cartoon offer you?" Keener continued "Money?"

Barker winced.

"No... slaves don't get paid." Keener audibly sneered "You want money? You work for me. I'll give you money.
You want contracts? Kill orders? Work for a hitman? I'll give you contracts." Keener's imperceptible gaze seemed to wash over Slasher.

"You want an excuse to kill? I'll give you an excuse." his gaze washed over Geoff and Krys "You want to free your prophet? You ain't gonna do that chained to a chip. I will help you.
I won't be 5000 miles away, I'll be crawling in the muck beside you. I think that's the minimum of respect an officer can offer his comrade.

You want your sisters back? Both of them? I'll get you the resources, I'll get you the intel." Keener seemed to talking to Gamma, raising his voice to the heard down the hall.


His eyes then shifted to Inferno, probably "You want strong opponents? You want worthy duels to fight? I'll give you that too. But most of all, I'll give you something else, something very important..."


Keener's head turned just slightly, as he tried to capture everyone around him in his peripheral vision:

"...you follow me... and I'll give you vengeance.


Against the cartoon... against whoever fucked with you... against who put a slave collar on your neck... and most of all..." his head drifted slightly, in the direction of the tower:


"Vengeance... against whoever built that tower..." His cold eyes seemed to be staring at you, through his goggles, drilling into your soul:

"...so what's its gonna be?"




"...come on man," Inferno heard Matej whisper faintly, his handgun aimed at the Kirin's head "Don't be stupid now... don't make me do this... make the right call."


"I kinda liked you maaaan," Barker sourly said, aiming his rifle at Geoff's back "Don't make me shoot you in the back."

"Stand down, both of you." Roksana said quietly but sharply, addressing Geoff and Inferno "We had a contract and now its over. We have no reason to honor Shi-Tong's orders. Shi-Tong was going to kill us, the moment we killed Keener. You know that.
Don't die in this muck for nothing-" her voice became hoarse and broke slightly, before she went on "I'm following Keener. He's a soldier like me. He knows what its like-" she cut herself off again, conflict clearly written on her synthetic face as she winced:

"Don't turn me into a murderer. Don't make me shoot a comrade. Stand, down."

Slasher stumbles a bit and throws her back against the apartment wall and slides down to a sit, watching the couch burn.

Her eyes glance to Keener, then to Inferno and Geoff, "Mask man can bite it." She says spitting onto the floor beside her, "Shi-tong has good work for us. Yeah- Well I take it back." She breaks a small smile the back of her head hitting the wall, not even seeming to realize the name drop, "No... No I dont... That was a good job gotta be honest enslaved or not." She chuckles and coughs, as they are in a now burning building, "Looook guys... even the merc wasn't being paid. At least this guys offering something." She tiredly motions to the standoff, "With freedom comes opportunity."

Gamma picks her self up and walks over to join the group

"Verbally sucking of Shi-Tong was getting annoying. Though it had the lot of you tricked" she chuckles "I'm in, Keener, and so is Epsilon."

Geoff glares at the others, but lowers his daggers.

Inferno first seems rather intruiged at the gun to his forehead, his own fingers having reflexively pointed at Keener. However, when he took note of Keener's eyes and words, his smile faded, and a feeling of disappointment seemed to hang over him.

The extra guns to his head gave him something too look at. After that, he closed his eyes, then he lowered his hand, flames dissipating as they did.

For a minute he stood there in silence, before opening his eyes, looking straight at Keener. "Before I give my answer, allow me to ask a question."

His tone was distant, factual, the gun against his forehead not bothering him in the slightest. "What's in it for YOU, Keener? Why bother recruiting us, after what we did to your men and company?"

His gaze became neutral, but firm. "You had every reason to eliminate us the moment we crossed your path. Despite that, you went out of your way to free us from the neurochip, and even now, you gave a warning not to attack anymore, followed by a job offer. You also made something of an assessment about our wants, praying on those desires to sweeten the deal. Again, why do you want us?"

Seemingly completely absent-minded, Krys vaguely aimed his palm at the flaming couch that was starting to set the ceiling on fire. The mage's eyes and gun-barrel never left Geoff, as he blindly aimed his free hand at couch behind him and a very sudden and violent gust of wind sucked the air into his palm in a sudden and wild vortex.

From the side it looked like a sudden thunderclap, as all air in the living room was suddenly sucked into his palm, swirling in his hand in the shape of a sphere. The flames were snuffed out almost instantly, emitting faint plumes of smoke from the couch and blackened ceiling. Slasher tried to inhale and realized there was no air to breathe. Your eyes briefly opened wide at the realization, before the air from the broken windows rushed into the vacuum and filled the room with oxygen again.

The ashes of the scorched coughed glowed orange again, but it didn't reignite. Krys lowered his hand and grabbed his rifle with both palms more firmly.



"Hmmmm...?" Roksana faintly hummed, briefly eyeing Gamma "...if true, you had me genuinely fooled. That doesn't happen often. You're a good actress."

Upon seeing Geoff lower his daggers, Barker, Krys and Roksana shifted their aim toward Inferno. His flames dissipating, they too lowered their weapons, but slowly, they still seemed on edge. Matej as well, as if he was still expecting a fight to break out, even though he also lowered his handgun, very slowly.


Keener lowered his weapons as well, pointing them at the floor at a 40 degree angle, but his body-language told you his guard was still up. You couldn't see his eyes through his stealth goggles but you had a firm feeling they were staring right you. He man didn't answer right away. Like you, he seemed to be choosing his words very carefully:


"Its true. I was planning to kill you. The death of my men and destruction of my office demanded it. But that was an occupational hazard. My job. We're past that now."


His head shifted very slightly, tilting in the direction of the dark obelisk on the horizon "The tower changed everything. It went beyond petty shit-slinging between nations and spy agencies. That crossed the line."

Keener's gaze seemed to focus on Inferno again, you think, it was impossible to tell for sure, but the aura he emitted was unnerving. He didn't move much, nor did he raise his voice, but you couldn't shake the feeling that he reminded you of a rabid, vicious animal, cruel and cold blooded, just barely holding himself back:

"My country betrayed the trust I placed it in. They let this happen. They were incompetent, and weak. I have no use for them, anymore. I have no obligation to kill you.

And you," Keener audibly frowned "you, who have been spat on, and left to rot and die. You, who were discarded by your superiors as if you were nothing, not even afforded the courtesy of a soldiers death, you were pressed into slavery like disposable meat. Schwarzesmarken. Marked for death and no one would help you.

You're like me. Discarded soldiers." Keener's fists visibly clenched, shoulders hunched, he was seething.

"They trained us, they used us. They left us to die, drowning in shit in a foxhole, for a war that had nothing to do with us."


You could almost feel the man's piercing gaze as he slowly shifted his head toward everyone in the apartment:

"I want specialists for a mission. I want vengeance, on anyone whoever fucked with us. No matter how high it goes. But most of all," his head shifted visibly, toward the dark obelisk, outlined on the edge of the city by lightning storms:

"...whoever built that tower... I'm going to kill them..." Keener's fists clenched so hard, you thought his nails had drawn blood:


"I'm going to kill all of them."

Inferno held something of a neutral gaze, even under the given glare. The viciousness his presence gave in the current situation, made Inferno give a nod. A nod of approval. He also followed the gaze outside, at the tower, his brow now less furrowed in frustration and more in thought.

"Our motivations may differ." He starts slowly. "But I don't disagree with the end result."

He looked at Keener, neutrality back on his face. "As a warrior, I love a good fight. But, only with those willing and able to fight back. Anything else is a violation of the honor of combat. There's no glory in killing the helpless, like the civilians caught in that tower's brainwashing effect. When you go after the helpless, you've lost your right to a fair duel, and need to be put down."

He gave a nod. "I'm not walking away from this. Count me in, at least for this mess. Though I will stick to my code."

"Yaaaaaaaay..." Slashers voice half heartedly cuts through the room, "Maybe we can put masky man under his own slave chip." She stares up at the spiderweb of cracks on the celings paint, "Make him rebuild your entire building from the ground up electrical defenses and all." She lets out a long whimsical sigh.

"Wheres the base now ass kicker?" She points at Keener, "Did we just blow up HQ or is there another building?"

"The wealth of information you stole tonight, will be instrumental for our mission." Keener surveyed everyone present, his eyes inevitably shifting toward the dark tower on the horizon. His body language was tense, like a coiled spring, ready to explode:

"We won't have a permanent base for a while." His hand holstered the P-90 behind his back, and drifted toward his Data-pad, eyes locked on the tower:

"...We're going mobile."



With a faint swish, his form glowed with a thousand green hexagons and vanished from sight, dissipating from the ground up. And soon, the entire apartment was filled with faint swishes and flickers of light, as 8 figures de-materialized and faded out of existence, as if they were never there, ghosts, fading into the morning mist.

The city of Sakamundu was still obscured by the heavy cover of storm clouds, hanging over the city like a shroud. The sun didn't pierce its veil and as dawn came, a million voices rose to the sky, whimpering, broken and sobbing. The voice of the girl on the stairs kept ringing in your ears, long after you left the apartment, the image of her blood stained thumbs, her eyes gouged, became seared into your memory.

- TRANSMISSION TERMINATED -




END FILE

Post Scriptum



The aforementioned video was reconstructed using body-cam footage, CCTV and SIGINT, detailing first witness accounts of the appearance of the 3rd Teleportation Tower, out of 9.


Kepler
Country of Themis
Capital city Sakamundu
24th October, 2068 (Post Impact)
Local Time: 06:15


32 days before Migration

Kepler
Country of Tesia
Capital city Beusoleil
ICU unit in the 'Kashiwagi Pharmaceuticals' tower, 50th floor.
Date: 25th November, 2068 (Post Impact)
Local Time: 01:43



4 Hours, 32 minutes, 16 seconds after Migration






"...-a little bit to the left.. wait! Hold it there!" Kaylee stretched her palm out, eyes still locked to the screen, as Johan froze like a statue in a bizarre angle, holding the satellite dish with both hands. The computer terminal on Kashiwagi's desk finally stopped displaying epileptic inducing static and switched to a grainy image of a poorly lit conference room, its contours lit up by dim neon lights on the floor.

There was only one desk in there, round, very big, and 23 chairs. But only 16 were lit up by holograms. The rest, were unnervingly empty.


Watching this picture unfold on the computer screen, the kids piled up on top of Kaylee, pushing her slightly down as several heads materialized atop her hair and shoulders. Kaylee caught a very flat expression as both Zoy and Lightning rested their chins right on her head.

"...mind backing up a bit?" Bastila rubbed the bridge of her nose "so the rest of us can see something other than your wings?"


"Right-right-right-right." Ursula sheepishly smiled and the kids dispersed around the room in a half circle, allowing you a better view of the computer terminal.


"...-you are now on with the Union Council." Mercer's chief of staff quietly commented from the speakers, disapproval ringing in her voice.

Watching the computer screen, you noted the 16 holograms flickering around the desk there. It seems not a single Councilor had the time to attend the conference in person in Adelheid, underscoring how everyone was caught off guard.


"...Cent-Com confirms, all Mental Breakdowns across Kepler have ceased, the moment these 6 foreign cities have... Migrated to our soil." The Soren Councilor, a graying general in his late sixties in pristine uniform commented with stark disapproval on his face "The Unicorn population have also reported their magic returning, albeit at a significant reduction in power, compared to before this incident."

He adjusted his glasses, the sharp edges of his face hardening as he stared at his documents:

"...this seems to corroborate the claim that, the source of Mental Breakdowns AND Unicorn's loss of magic, was located on this... other world... this Nifelheim... and once the connection with it was severed, the magic suppression and Mental Breakdowns have ceased. However," The Councilor aggressively slammed his documents on the desk:

"That does not alleviate the blame from this... Witcher community, for this unprecedented disaster! Nor does it confirm with certainty, that their Teleportation Towers aren't the real source of these catastrophes!" The general pointed right at the camera, his index finger inevitably finding Zoy, who's face had grown grim:

"Other than your word, what guarantee do we have, that these so called Teleportation Towers, aren't weapons of mass destruction, that you can activate again at a whim! How do we know the savagery you unleashed upon us for the last month, hasn't been a meticulously calculated military operation, to soften us up for your invasion!"


"...I believed Councilor Mercer has already informed you on the preliminary cause-" Zoy grimly began, and Mercer cut in:

"-I have-"

"-and the towers have completed their purpose." Zoy adjusted her hair. She seemed pale, nervous and trying her best to maintain composure under the Soren General's piercing eyes "...I wouldn't mind providing you the schematics for our towers, so you can verify these claims for yourself. But as I've stated before, we had no idea the towers would have such a horrific effect on your planet. Our people were shielded from these effects, so we naturally assumed you would be too-"


The general slammed his fist on the table "1,400,000 lives were lost across the globe to Mental Breakdowns! Husbands slaughtered their wives! Children eviscerated their parents and disfigured themselves beyond repair! Siblings murdered each other in cold blood before committing suicide, and you're telling me it was due to a MISCALCULATION!?"


Zoy turned sickly pale. Her lips quivered for a moment and her eyes briefly drifted toward Ryu and Viki, before she looked down "...we didn't know." her face turned ashen, as she slowly rose her glowing yellow eyes at the general, her gaze growing piercing:

"...let's not forget... General... you're not immune to human error... let's not forget... the 100,000 civilians the Asteran fleet slaughtered with incendiary ammunition, when they laid siege on our city of Ashra..." her eyes squinted, fists clenched "...you'll note that city never Migrated... because it no longer exists."

"Perhaps you shouldn't have built your cities around weapons of mass destruction." The General scowled.

"THE TOWERS ARE NOT WEAPONS YOU MISERABLE F-" Zoy launched into a lengthy shriek of profanity and you noticed that Mercer had blissfully muted her, before the girl reached her more colorful descriptions of the General and his ancestors.


"The temporary cease-fire between the Witchers and the Union, is not the subject of this meeting." Councilor Mercer calmly and sternly said, unmuting Zoy, when the girl seemed to have run out of steam. Angry, bitter tears appeared in Zoy's eyes but she didn't wipe them, she just continued to stare daggers at the Soren General.


"This emergency conference was called into session by the Witchers, I wish to note, because they believe we have entered an existential threat to our planet." Mercer continued, throwing a frown at the Soren General, who composed himself under her piercing gaze. "Captain Brown, perhaps you can brief us on the situation."


"Ma'am." Kaylee nodded "We are experiencing a bio-hazard outbreak in Beusoleil. The situation is grave."

"Bio-hazard?" The Mikasa Councilor, a Changeling elderly woman adjusted her half-spectacle glasses and leaned forward in her seat "Of what nature, be precise please."

"A highly contagious Parasitic life form, with an extremely rapid reproductive cycle." Kaylee nodded.

"...she's gonna call us 'stomach worms' again." Squiggles cringed, clanking his spider legs on the ground, remaining blissfully invisible to the union council.


"They vary in size between 0.2 and 15 meters in height. They remained undetectable in the visible spectrum, completely invisible to the naked eye and they are impervious to conventional weapons." Kaylee said grimly "Even a single, newborn Parasite life-form can telepathically induce Mental Breakdowns up at a maximum of 1 kilometer away, to render its victim helpless, turning him into easy food. It can infect a host body, devouring his soul from the inside and turning him into a walking corpse. And it can reproduce every 24 hours by Mitosis." Kaylee blinked:

"Every 24 hours, 1 Parasite can spawn 20 more."



The Union conference room went deathly quiet. You could see changes in body language, the Councilors shifting in their seat, facial expression changing as they changed their calculus of the situation, and the appropriate response to it.


"Finally sunk in, didn't it." Zoy bitterly said, with a vicious, piercing gaze "We can't Migrate... anymore... there's no other planet left to run to. A single rabid Parasitic life-form can spell the death of a world. If this outbreak isn't contained, Kepler will be wiped out, just like Nifelheim."


"I'm advising a quarantine on Beusoleil, effective immediately." Kaylee said grimly "No one leaves the city, until the outbreak is contained. If the Parasites spill out, the world dies."


The Soren General exchanged glances with the elderly Changeling from Mikasa. He made some sort of imperceptible hand gesture and several Councilors behind the desk nodded. Mercer scowled at them but said nothing. Her gaze returned to you:


"Task force Bruiser, you are the only ones who dealt with situations like this before. You are the only ones equipped to stop this.
Attempt to organize a series of safe-houses and evacuate the civilian population there, while methodically finding and killing every Parasitic hostile in your path. Coordinate with the Tesian Councilor, his name is Raphael Durand, its his jurisdiction. He's believed to be in the city tonight, he will help you."

"Councilor Durand has been glaringly absent from this meeting." the Soren General frowned.

"His convoy was on its way to the Beusoleil parliament building, when it came under attack and communications ceased." Mercer nodded "I'm sending you his last known coordinates." She flicked her Data-pad and the ones on your wrists beeped in turn:

"Find Durand, organize safe-houses, neutralize the threat." Mercer lowered her head, placing a palm to her heart:
"The hopes of our world, go with you."


"This meeting's adjourned." The Soren Councilor's hologram flicked off, then so did the holograms of the rest and the computer switched to a black screen reading 'Session Ended'



Shifting your gaze, you noticed the ICU wing in the room, where various medical and ventilation machines still beeped, over a notably absent bed, where Kashiwagi's daughter once laid. She and her dad, were long gone.

Beyond the bed, a large window revealed the city beyond, as seen from the 50th floor of the Kashiwagi skyscraper. Dozens of jet-fighters strafed the large avenues, peppering them with minigun fire and igniting them with heavy ordinance bombs. Combat helicopters moved over neighborhoods, unleashing missiles on targets on ground. A convoy of tanks rolled down a highway, overrun by an orange swarm of insects, that tore open the machines and devoured the drivers alive.


Kaylee picked up her rifle from the desk, checked if there was still a bullet in the chamber, took a firm hold of it and nodded, tilting her head toward the express elevator at the end of the room:

"...Lets move."

Rain lets out a long yawn as she begins restrapping her armor pieces, "They'll never understand Zoy. No use thinking too hard about it. They blame you for something they dont fundimentally dont understand." She shrugs, "-I guess you didn't either to the extent that people were going to die here, but you guys had to find some way out, and there was no telling what was happening on the other side."


Circi had toppled over a filing cabinet and was sitting on it like a bench. Carving knife in hand, she idlely sharpens one of her spiderlegs as she listens to world leaders bicker. As the meeting ends, she stands herself up. She hooks her left bicep above her right elbow as she preforms a warm up and pre-workout stretch, "Ready whenever you guys are." Her monotonous voice echos slightly off the meeting room walls.

Ryu and Viki had tried to hold Zoy at bay once she went on her verbal rampage, also offended but trying to keep a straight face through it all.

Once the meeting was over, they joined in checking up on their gear, though the conversation still rang in their heads.

Twilight walked up to them, joining with the gear check. Soon afterwards, they began to talk as they went along with the march.
Viki: "Are the world leaders usually like this, or is this special?"
Twi: "More or less. There are those who focus on the problem, rather then a solution. Pointing fingers to divide and make it Us vs Them."
Ryu: "I thought the overlaying organization was named "The Union"."
Twi: "It is. Some don't get the meaning though."
Ryu: "How did he get to be in charge again?"
Twi: "Playing the political game the best."

The conversation continued like that, covering various topics surrounding the Union and politics. If anyone was listening, they could hear that Twilight was trying to not be overly biased about the Union yet. Soon enough, one topic came back up again.

Ryu: "Hope these people can actually get it through their heads it wasn't planned."
Twi: "Doubtful, humans have great trouble accepting things as they are."
Viki: "It wasn't an attack!"
Twi: "I know that, and I also don't think it was a miscalculation. The ones who designed and built the towers did what they could, with the information and data they had. However, there was no communication to the other side possible, so it wasn't possible to factor in these results. It's as stated, you didn't know. How can you know, this is a plan 250 years in the making. The best we can do is present the facts, all of them. If they won't listen, well..." Twilight's tone turned ice cold. "They better quickly remember that I also play the political game."

The eyes of the twins widen slightly, then they gave a nod at the implications of their mother's words. "Understood." They spoke in unison.

Viki readied her weapon. "Let's do this, the sooner this world stops burning, the sooner we can deal with the petty squabbles."
"Well said." Ryu adds, brandishing his weapon.

Thena picks up the handgun she had placed beside her and nods that she is ready. She held the weapon like someone who had only seen people use one and never actually touched it in their life.