Jane

To an outside observer, Jane Sunheiser moved from one car to another in a split-second blur. To Jane, it was child’s play. It wasn’t just a matter of having fast legs. No, her entire body was optimized for speed. So much so that regular civilians and even lower-tiered agents thought she teleported from how fast she could move in short bursts.

The streets were washed in heavy rainfall. Visibility was quickly becoming poor beyond just a few dozen paces. Water flowed off the hydrophobic coating of her long coat. She looked up and could only see the dark clouds in the sky and the occasional glowing orbs from street lights.

“Hailey, are you still with me?” Jane said, speaking into the private channel between them.

“I am, but it’s getting harder to see you. I can only make you out as a green silhouette. I can’t see much of anything else.”

“What about your drones?”

“I recalled them. They need a quick recharge. Sorry, Jane, I can’t be your eyes and ears until then. Unless you can make the rain go away.”

“No such luck,” Jane said. “Remain where you are. I don’t like this.”

Since the initial ambush at the subway station entrance, they hadn’t encountered much opposition. Aside from butchering a few rebels and first tier Kodak agents, she and Hailey had easily made their escape. Allen, Ben and the rookie went their separate ways.

Jane found it difficult to keep her breathing and blood pressure in check. It was hard not to smash open the windshield of one of the vehicles beside her. She hoped Kate Razor had lived a meaningful life until now. She wouldn’t give her the courtesy of a quick death. A clean decapitation would be too easy. The next time that blonde bitch showed her face, Jane would crush it to a pulp.

Jane entered a menu in her HUD that only a squad leader had access to. She swiped through another menu before she arrived at the screen showing the status and wellbeing of her entire team.

Hailey Monsoon: Alive

Kate Razor: Defected

Benjamin Colt: Dead

Allen Draco: Alive

Dan “Arctic” Orion: Alive

She gritted her teeth. She didn’t even have to read the list of names. She saw the word “dead” written in red letters and knew instantly. The only thing that managed to calm her down and stop her from putting her fist through a wall was that, against all odds, Dan was still alive somewhere out there.

“Jane, you got trouble heading your way,” Hailey said. “I see outlines hopping along the rooftops towards your position.”

Jane didn’t need her sniper to tell her they were Kodak agents. Only agents, even low-ranked ones, had the athletic ability to dart across roofs.

“Let them come to me. I’ll deal with them,” Jane said. “Don’t interfere until I say otherwise. I don’t need you to reveal your position.”

“Understood,” Hailey said. “You sure you don’t need some help?”

“I deal with pursuers every day. Now sit tight,” Jane said before shutting off the channel. She immediately accelerated down the street. With each stride, she covered as much ground as a cheetah at full sprint. She reached what looked to be a roundabout. In the center was a demolished fountain, its statue in pieces.

This was a semi-open area where Hailey had a good look at her in case the situation escalated beyond Jane’s control and she needed her sniper to get to work.

“Can you see me?” Jane said through the channel.

“Affirmative. You found an area without much cover. Is that a good idea?”

“Where’s Kodak approaching from?”

“Multiple angles. From where you’re standing, you have multiple agents approaching from your two and four o’clock and the rest coming from the west. I hope you know what you’re doing.”

“Thank you, Hailey. I will keep in touch,” Jane said.

Jane knew that Kodak wouldn’t take the killing shot from afar. She knew exactly how Kodak agents preferred to battle their enemies. Up close. She hadn’t even seen her opposition yet, but she anticipated their weapons and formation.

The majority would be equipped with CMA rifles and shotguns. They would quickly surround her once they all arrived and would most likely try to take turns taking her on in a fist fight. Even knowing her fearsome reputation, Kodak agents were careless enough to throw caution to the wind and simply approach a situation with their gut instincts.

An overestimation of one’s own abilities. Jane wouldn’t give them the opportunity to learn from such a fatal mistake.

She looked up, and just as Hailey had said, multiple silhouettes in the rain-soaked air dropped around her. Several dropped down on her right while many others began swarming the open area. Jane didn’t do an exact count, but she knew there were at least three dozen surrounding her.

She saw many Kodak agents moving under the nearby street lights. All of them without helmets and making no attempt to hide their glee.

“If you came for a date, I’ll have to send you all home,” Jane said.

A series of snickers and laughter spread across the mass of agents surrounding her. Jane looked around and allowed her HUD to perform a mass scan of her opposition. When the results came back, she found that no one here ranked above tier two. While Kodak agents were on average stronger and faster than an Alpha agent of similar rank, Jane was still disappointed. Somehow, these first tiers were overconfident enough to think they were enough to take her on.

“So you’re the legendary Jane Sunheiser our bosses warned us about,” a black male with dreads said.

“Ha! She doesn’t look so tough. And I look prettier than her,” a female agent said.

Jane didn’t respond since this one had the most pale skin she’d ever seen paired with bloodshot eyes, physical traits common with Kodak agents. Jane would soon end the agent’s delusions, along with everyone else’s.

“Listen, bitch, you’re outnumbered and outgunned. We have you surrounded and you can’t take on all of us. So why don’t you save us all some time and surrender,” the same black male said.

Jane suspected these agents wanted a good fight. But she didn’t expect them to take her in alive. Kodak forces rarely ever took prisoners. Whatever purpose they had in mind for her, she had no interest. Jane had seen firsthand what Kodak did for fun to the few prisoners they captured.

“Trust me, honey, we and our bosses will have a lot of fun with you if you come quietly,” the agent said.

Jane’s definition of fun was very much different from what this naive agent had in mind. And they all would soon learn.

“I hate this shit,” the female agent said. “Can’t we just kill her?”

“No, you stupid bitch,” the male agent said. “We have our orders to take her in alive. Colleen will strangle us if we don’t comply.”

It was time to get started. Jane took a step forward, which immediately stopped the conversation. All gun barrels were now pointed at her.

“Regardless of your orders, you won’t be fulfilling them,” Jane said.

“Yeah? Who says?” the female agent said.

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

“That’s big talk coming from someone who’s surrounded. We can end this quick if we wanted to. This wouldn’t even take five minutes,” the male agent said.

Jane smirked at the poor man. It seemed that their superiors didn’t properly brief them on her capabilities. “Sorry, but I won’t be accommodating those wishes.”

What the Kodak agents didn’t realize was that while their conversations took place, Jane had been studying their admittedly poor positioning and properly determining where to strike for maximum effect. She could tell most of them were overconfident and inexperienced from how bunched up they were. Nothing but easy pickings.

Jane’s statement was met with blank stares and genuine confusion.

The Kodak agent with the dreads began laughing and pointed his finger at her. “My bosses didn’t tell me you were a comedian.”

“This standstill we’re all facing won’t be settled in five minutes. I’ll end this in thirty seconds,” Jane said with a level tone.

“Yeah, bitch?” the female agent said. “I’d like to see you try.”

Jane reached down for the hilt of her sword. “Gladly. Now you see me.”

She took a step forward and charged the entire group in front of her. In the next moment, she was right behind the female agent. Jane held the hilt of her sword against the agent’s upper back where her lung would be, then ignited her viper fang sword.

The majestic pink nano-blade pierced the armored chest of the Kodak agent as easily as paper.

Jane, who stood almost a head taller than the female agent, leaned over and whispered into her ear, “Now, you die.”

She showed no mercy as she wrenched the sword out of her enemy, the blade easily cutting through more flesh and armor as she did.

The rest of the group snapped out of their shock once the agent’s body hit the ground. Before any of them could redirect their barrels at her, Jane spun around a full three hundred sixty degrees with her sword extended outwards. After the spin, another four agents, including the one with the dreads, collapsed, spurting blood and spilling guts.

The entire roundabout erupted into chaos as Kodak agents shot wildly at her. It was futile. Jane knew the fight was over the moment she’d impaled the first agent.

In her free hand, she grabbed her submachine gun and darted around the place, weaving in between the sloppy firing lines and shitty aim of the remaining Kodak agents.

At this point in her career, Jane didn’t think of this as a battle. This was just a dance to her, and she was eliminating her competition. She periodically tapped the trigger in one hand while slashing and cutting with the other. One short burst from her submachine gun was enough to blow the heads off the Kodak agents, and her sword easily chopped through their armor as if she were cutting through air.

Jane leapt into the air and somersaulted, weaving through more gunfire. She squeezed the trigger and scored another three kills before she landed back on the ground, plunging her sword through the torso of another agent.

Two agents mustered up the courage to attack her up close. Jane met their challenge with a gesture of twisted gratitude to her enemy. Even after the display of strength and speed she put on, no one had backed down or fled the area.

Jane moved her gun-carrying arm across her chest and delivered a nasty backhand across the face of one of them, snapping his neck instantly. She ran up to the second agent so fast that he didn’t even comprehend she was in front of him until it was too late.

She shoved her knee into his stomach with such sudden force that the agent dropped his rifle. The attack was so fast and the shock from the trauma prevented the man from screaming. Jane deactivated her viper fang, grabbed the man by the neck and tossed him into a crowd of other Kodak agents, knocking down three of them in one throw.

Moving quickly, Jane sidestepped multiple bursts of gunfire and ran straight towards the last standing group of six Kodak agents.

She blasted the three on her left side with her submachine gun before leaping into the air again. Her foot connected with the face of another agent before she landed. Another four agents had been eliminated.

Jane looked over her shoulder and saw an agent with a grenade launcher.

She cursed under her breath for being so careless and not taking care of that one first.

The agent fired a grenade at her and she swerved out of the incoming arc. The grenade exploded around her in a brief flash of orange.

Even with the heavy rain, Jane’s ear picked up another set of footsteps behind her. She glanced back and saw a distant Kodak agent carrying a sword that resembled an oversized machete. From a glance, Jane could tell that sword wasn’t ordinary. She was familiar with the arcs of electricity running through the blade. While it didn’t compare to the cutting power of her viper fang, that sword could easily bring down her energy shield with two well-timed swings.

In front of her, the Kodak agent fired another two grenades, forcing her to backpedal.

They’re finally strategizing, Jane thought.

One of them was firing grenades at her, not only to keep her attention, but to force her in a certain direction. Then, the Kodak agent with the sword would strike her from behind.

It was a decent strategy. But not good enough. Even Dan Orion could come up with something more creative when fighting against a tier three agent.

Jane decided the agent with the grenade launcher was the weakest link between the two. She rushed him as he was reloading. Jane pointed her submachine gun at him and pulled the trigger. What Jane didn’t anticipate was the agent seeing her approach and sidestepping the incoming rounds.

The agent’s arms blurred as he immediately switched from the launcher to a pump action shotgun. Jane saw it and knew that this agent was beyond a typical first tier. No agent of that level had the dexterity to swap weapons that quickly.

Unless that agent wasn’t a tier one.

Behind her, the rapid footsteps got closer. The agent with the sword dashed towards her in a zigzag pattern. And he was quick on his feet too.

Without needing to check their stats, Jane already knew these two Kodak agents were second tier in rank. Unlike the rest of the group, both had held back and remained patient, waiting for the best possible opening to employ their strategy against her.

While tier two agents in general were considered superhuman by all the shards, Jane still wouldn’t be threatened by agents of that rank. So long as she avoided the sword-wielding maniac coming from behind.

Jane flipped backward, narrowly dodging a slash from the Kodak agent behind her. As her feet hit the ground, the agent with the shotgun had already adjusted his positioning and fired a blast at her. It knocked her back a few paces, but didn’t penetrate her shields.

Shield strength: 72%

Her energy shields would provide her with protection against gunfire and explosions, but she knew she couldn’t get cocky. She ducked underneath another wide slash from the sword agent.

“Alright then, I’m ending this shit,” Jane declared.

She took out her viper fang hilt and reignited her sword. She brought it up, the Kodak agent’s sword slamming into her pink glowing blade, and both were briefly locked.

The Kodak agent tried to push against Jane’s blade, but she simply stood her ground. She was strong enough to keep the agent at bay while holding her viper fang with only one hand. As the agent tried to press his blade, Jane’s viper fang slowly cut into it.

All Jane needed was to use a little more force and point the blade slightly downward. And so she did.

The Kodak agent’s sword snapped in half, leaving him with a sword with half its blade missing. The brief moment of shock and confusion was all Jane needed to end the agent’s life.

The agent tried to escape, but failed. She grabbed him by the arm and squeezed until she felt the wrist snap. She raised her sword and slashed, taking his head off. Before the agent hit the ground, Jane dashed at full speed while also sidestepping the shotgun blasts from the last agent.

Jane dragged her viper fang along the pavement, easily cutting through it, and then slashed upward as she reached the agent. The agent’s shotgun broke in two, and he fell to his knees with a deep slash running along his torso.

The final agent fell, and Jane deactivated her viper fang sword. She looked around and saw all of her enemies face down on the ground. She counted thirty-seven she had just killed.

Her HUD notified her of the experience gains from slaying such a number of enemies, but she ignored it. Right now, she had to focus on any other threats coming her way.

Jane opened the channel. “Hailey, it’s Jane. Any more assholes coming to capture me?”

She heard nothing but silence.

“Hailey, respond. That’s an order.”

Her ears picked up slow but deliberate footsteps approaching her from her right side, but she saw nothing. She narrowed her eyes and scrutinized the area until she something faint in the thick sheets of rain.

Most other agents might have missed it, but Jane’s eyes could see the faint translucent outline. The longer she stared, the more the minute details set in. Jane’s eyes spotted the familiar and faint iridescent sheen along with the refracted background elements. Someone was cloaked in front of her.

The outline materialized into another Kodak agent. Jane looked at the agent up and down, taking in a woman with bloodshot eyes and pale skin. Her raven hair was untied, flowing down onto her shoulders.

The agent flashed her a toothy grin. “Sorry, your sniper won’t be getting up for a while. Actually, she’s deader than my chances of finding a decent challenge around here.”

Jane pulled up her team roster to confirm Hailey’s status.

Hailey Monsoon: Dead.

Jane stared down the new agent in front of her. Not only did she kill her sniper, but she confidently walked up to Jane and decloaked instead of resorting of sneaking up on her. This one was confident.

“Oh my, why such a look?” she said. She flipped her rain-soaked hair. “Are you jealous of my good looks? I know, I rock the red eyes quite well.”

Jane tried to pull up her enemy’s stats, but all her HUD gave her was:

Agent: Lola Odyssey

Age: 27 F

Shard: Kodak-Cresh

Rank: ***ERROR***

What the hell? Jane thought. She tried her scan again and was met with the same result. Jane couldn’t get anything on this agent beyond her name and affiliation. Her rank and stats were unknown.

Why were her stats scrambled? Why did her HUD fail to analyze her opponent?

“Who the hell are you?” Jane said.

The Kodak agent grinned. “My name is Lola, and I’m here to crush you.”