Jane
Sitting alone in one of the break lounges, Jane laid back into a leather couch as she kept her eyes on a hanging display showcasing highlights from the cash grab round. She reviewed several clips of Dan resorting to his strange berserk mode to take on one particular group of Prime Swords. Somehow, this strange team gave Dan difficulty, even against the significant stat boost Dan gained from entering the violent transformation.
Watching Dan’s team fighting against the Prime Swords only made Jane more suspicious of the opposing team. Something about the way the performed screamed too visceral and efficient for what she thought was typical tier one caliber performance.
Jane stopped the highlights from the third round in her HUD and switched over to the various teams competing in the fourth round, the battle royale. As a high-ranking agent within the Alpha Corp, Jane was allowed access to choose the specific feeds she could watch at her leisure.
Her ears picked up footsteps walking into the room toward her direction. She still didn’t take her eyes off the screen. Jane initially assumed it was more rebid fans wanting to ask questions or advice or wisdom on topics outside of combat. But she heard the gait of the pairs of footsteps and ruled that out. She glanced and saw two staff members of the Combat Games with grim expressions on their faces.
They both stopped in front of her in unison.
“Is there an issue?” she said, keeping her tone neutral.
One of them cleared his throat and said, “Ma’am, we’ve encountered an issue and we need another party to give us an informed opinion on the matter.”
Jane narrowed her eyes at the attendant. Why would they need her services for? When their expressions still remained unchanged, Jane gathered it was a serious matter and stood up from the leather couch.
“Very well then,” she said. “Lead the way.”
The two attendants didn’t say another word and they turned and walked, kleeping a brisk pace. Jane followed closely behind them. She scrutinized them both while their backs were turned towards her and could see through their body language. The tensing of their neck muscles, the beads of sweat and their serious and efficient gaits as they strode through the halls.
After more walking, the two attendants stopped at a hallway that was blocked off by chest high barriers and armed agents guarding it.
The two Alpha agents standing guard immediately straightened their postures and stood straighter in Jane’s presence. Jane gave them both a polite node before one of them pushed a section of the barrier out of the way, allowing the two attendants and Jane to fit through.
Past the barrier, Jane followed the two attendants as they walked up to a locked door. Jane’s nose detected a scent she knew shouldn’t be inside a hallway.
Blood.
“To anyone else, this is the door to a storage closet,” one of them said.
“And I assume your not storing packs of blood for your clinic inside this closet?” Jane replied.
“Afraid not,” the attendant said. His frown somehow became even more pronounced. “One of us found this inside the closet.”
The attendant typed in a code in the keypad next to the closet and the door slid open. Once open, Jane widened her eyes and saw the source of the smell of blood.
A pool of blood covered the floor of the storage closet. The bodies of three fully-armored agents laid sprawled in cramped positions inside the closet, as if forcibly shoved inside hastily. Jane stepped closer and scrutinized the one of the bodies and saw the grey finish on the armor along with gold markings and blocky visored helmets. She knew this was the typical armor for the Prime Sword shard.
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Jane’s mind flashed to the team of Prime Swords who faced off against Dan’s team in the cash grab round and how one of them held their own against Dan who was powered up with his berserk form.
“No, it couldn’t be,” she whispered.
“After finding these bodies, we determined the identies of these three and reviewed the entire list of candidates who initially entered and registered into the Combat Games, as well as all the candidates who completed every round so far and progressed to the next,” the attendant said.
“And?”
“The identities of these three are Rachel Cutter, Adriana Skill and Clark Dagger, agents belonging to the Prime Swords. And yet, whoever is impersonating these three are now in the battle royale.”
Jane’s heart skipped a beat hearing that news. When she reviewed the highlights from round three, Dan’s team competed against a team of Prime Swords with those same names.
“Was this team missing for any period of time?” Jane asked. “They had to have been out of sight for a time so that these intruders could kill them and assume their identities.”
“We reviewed all footage, including from the rounds themselves as well as surveillance footage throughout the buildings and facilities here. We didn’t see anything that appeared suspicious or indicated what you just described.”
Jane pondered on what this meant and how much danger her own squad was in. Then the other teams who were unaware they had a full team of intruders in their midst that were far stronger than the average tier one.
“The fourth round has already started right?” she asked.
“Yes,” the attendant said.
“Cancel the Combat Games, now,” Jane side jamming her finger into the attendant’s chest.“I don’t care how the viewers will react or what the ratings will look like. Shut this shit down now.”
“We tried ma’am, but we couldn’t,” he said grimly.
“What do you mean you can’t? Do you not understand that our young agents are in danger?”
“It's a matter that goes even beyond me,” the attendant said nervously. “The order to keep the Combat Games running in spite of this…” he pointed at the three corpses in the closet, “came from up top.”
“Give the private channel you used to have this call. Whoever that suit is, I’ll set them straight,” Jane ordered.
“Yes ma’am,” he said.
Within seconds, Jane’s HUD received the forwarded info on the private call, including the parties involved in the conversation. She saw one particular name and raised an eyebrow.
Michael Cynosa.
What Michael had to do with the proceedings or the operations involving the Combat Games was beyond her. Michael may have power within the Alpha Corp, but he was overstepping his boundaries dictating how a tournament for tier zeros and ones would operate. She saw the names of two Alpha Corp executives as well.
Using the info, she began a call with all three of these men. She would get to this nonsense sorted out and the Combat Games shutdown and eliminate these intruders.
Neither the execs or Michael Cynosa answered after numerous attempts. This wasn’t the first time she had disagreed with the decisions made by those ranked higher than her within the shard. And her requests for meetings and appeals would conveniently go ignored.
But this time, she would make a decision and take matters into her own hands.
One of the attendants asked, “Ms. Sunheiser, what are your intentions?”
She gave a sideways glance at the attendant while taking one of her Aero SMGs off her back. “Since your bosses won’t talk to me, I’ll be operating on my own authority. Get transport ready for me because I’m going into the battle royale. I’m going to hunt down those intruders and get answers. If they refuse to cooperate with me peacefully, they will be killed.”
The two attendants looked at each other nervously. One of them cleared his throat and finally said, “Ma’am, if you do that, the Alpha Corp will come down hard on us. You would be interfering with the tournament as an outside party.”
“You already have outside parties interfering with the Combat Games and they murdered three young contestants who would have grown and developed into competent agents in the future. The safety of the other agents who entered this tournament overturns what the shard’s executives believes to be best for ratings.”
Jane stepped forward and walked up to both attendants, standing uncomfortably within their personal space. Jane was practically breathing down their heads as she towered over them both.
“Get my ride ready and I will take action on this matter.”