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OLD CONTENT WARNING
Everything below is the unedited, un-rewritten story line of Archon. Treat it as an alternate dimension for now - one where certain side plots, relationships, and personality types are vastly different from what you've read up till now. Thank you for your patience. The rewrite is covering chapters 8-12 in the future.
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Silent as the grave, a high placed, small window opened and closed as a shadow slipped into the warehouse space. Balancing easily on the metal rafter, Adrian looked around as he moved further in.
Darkness shrouded him and his surroundings. Large blocks of light would cut through the I-beams that crisscrossed the upper portions of the building, but he’d only move around them and submerge himself back into the shadows. He cast his eyes down and analyzed the scene once again, intently cataloging and quantifying the enemy’s movements in relation to the environment. Every gesture and action was absorbed to an inhuman degree and he quickly began to form an attack strategy. He planned the time it took to reach the ground and the first group of five that had just taken a break to chat, the radial acceleration he’d need to successfully connect a slashing pivot, the highest probability reactions of those he’d encounter, the melee movements and the appropriate force to use without being wasteful on the survivors, the vectors of the bullets that would undoubtedly be fired at him, his path between each target with keeping the the captured girls out of the line of fire, and inevitably the manner of each and every one of the men’s deaths.
Over the past month’s worth of flights in coach he’d endured, he elected to study up on anatomy in his spare time. He’d found that pretending to be a med student was a great alibi to pass his boredom on planes. Seat mates would question him and he used the experience to mold his faux persona into something ironclad while learning at the same time. Adrian had gained great insight into the most crucial parts of the human body and was itching to employ it in a larger scale battle like this one. He anticipated that his planned brutality would also serve another purpose: to incite fear. If he could successfully create a gory enough bloodbath, he could trigger the primal fight or flight response and collapse their rationality early on. Once that was achieved, all that was left was to mop up.
Well that and he had a little surprise for Heather. When he’d mentioned that they’d bruise and wouldn’t be able to walk for a week if they got focus fired, he hadn’t been referring to himself. His finite control over his body and exorbitant difference in strength and resiliency would enable him to shrug off the kinetic forces directed at him like he would a child’s fists. It may be a little harder if they shoot him center mass as it would transfer into his body more uniformly, but if they hit any of the more angular pieces of armor, the bullets would be deflected off while departing minimal resultant force.
Adrian listened to the banter of the men 7 meters below, their joviality discordant with the faint whimpering in the background. Through his helmet, Raide flagged 29 boys and girls, predominantly girls, of various ages spread out among a few large cages. A few sniffled as they clung to each other, barely wearing anything beyond a set of lingerie that was given to them at wherever they came from. Is their lust so great that they can discard their humanity to such a degree? A slap rang out when one of the workers felt that the girls were getting too cheeky. Adrian couldn’t see the victim though - the line of sight was off. Curious, no one’s crying. A conditioned response, he guessed.
Positioning himself over the largest idle group, Adrian breathed in slowly as a smile of anticipation crept onto his face. A small message from Raide popped up on his HUD as he stepped off to plummet to the ground 7 meters below.
Happy hunting!
Inside the helmet, a small smirk flashed in the opaque glass as twin orbs of crimson began to intensify and shine, air whistling past his body. With a thud, body armor met flesh.
***
Born to parents Jou Tamura and Tamaki Tamura, Inori had spent all of her life in the States. Her father is a mechanical engineer that accepted a position at Georgia Tech back in the early 1990’s to teach fluid mechanics in undergrad. He brought his new young wife with him. Both of them struggled to adapt to the culture and language at first, but as time went on they became more comfortable and learned to enjoy the new experiences and environment. Eventually, Tamaki became pregnant in 1994 and gave birth nine months later, in the heart of April, to a baby girl they named Inori.
Any who saw the babe were enraptured by her bubbly cuteness and knew that she would grow to be a beautiful woman one day. From that moment onward, Inori was a light in her parents life, excelling in etiquette (which they insisted upon), sports, and her studies. Driven by the examples of her academic father and loving homemaker mother, Iori cruised through her middle and high school years with little difficulty and trials of life. She was popular in her own right, having a happy life with a close knit group of friends and family. There were a few boyfriends, but each came and went when Inori found that they wanted a relationship that was more serious than her studies could allow.
Her dream lay in the stars. Inheriting her father’s love for math, she knew how much that would be needed when she felt the call towards the final frontier. Aerospace seemed the best choice and upon high school graduation, she swore that she would satisfy her curiosity and bring humanity a step closer to what she felt was their desitny. She desired to prove that mankind could do anything once they set their mind to it and reinvigorate a generation of dreamers who were disillusioned with life. Soon, it became time for her to pursue her own college dream and she applied to the college her father had worked at for 22 years. Easily accepted, she spent the next two years working her way through undergrad before that day. How the fates must have mocked her up until then.
Three days before her birthday, Inori was abducted. A group of men had seen her on her daily walk and train commute to class and planned out the deed. It wasn’t to extort her family for money, these men worked for Envy - an up and coming underground slave auction that had moved into the Atlanta area in the past few years. Twistedly lucky for her, this group was more professional in a sense than she expected. The event itself was unremarkable; it was a classic snatch and grab. Blindsided by a bag over her head as she passed a van, she never even had a chance to use her painstakingly practiced Weng Chun.
After she was taken, she was humiliated and examined like livestock. Found to be a virgin, she was shunted off to join the so-called Diamond Standard group that consisted of other much younger girls and even a few boys. Her treatment was better, but still belittling as all whom she interacted with saw them as a product and nothing more. Their fear and anger meant nothing to them. She endeavoured to protect the younger girls and boys there, so in a short amount of time she came to be looked up to by everyone in the group of which she was the oldest. Some of the younger girls even took up calling her “big sis” after they learned what she was like.
A few days after she was abducted, she was given a set of lacy black lingerie and was paraded onto a stage where several men and a few women ogled her, along with several cameras. No chains adorned her limbs, but she nonetheless felt suffocated and bound by the intensely sickening environment and situation. All hope of rescue left her as the bids rained down and she was sold a bit later for an undisclosed astronomical sum. She was later told that she was sold to a particular oil sheikh that had a penchant for breaking in American girls. Finally blacking out due to the stress of her new harsh reality, Inori didn’t awaken until they had all been shipped back to their customary warehouse to wait to be transferred to their buyers.
Groggily sitting up, Inori’s body ached as her bones and muscles strained against the cold concrete. The rattle of chains connected to her collar clinked against the hard surface. Raising her emerald eyes, she threw a halfhearted glance to her surroundings before turning her dead gaze on her captors. How she hated every single one of them, especially... Oh no...Shit. Looking to her right, Inori accidentally met eyes with the worst one of the bunch, Jakub. He had taken some type of perverse liking to her and ritualistically tormented her whenever she “gave him a reason.”
Sauntering over, Jakub smirked after licking his lips. “What do we have here? Our little princess finally decided to grace us with her attention.” Speaking a little louder for his coworkers to hear in his heavy Albanian accent, he said, “Staring so intently at me. What do you say boys - think she’s falling in love with me?” Leaning a little closer, he grabbed the chain connected to her collar and dragged her face towards the bars of her personal cage. He slowly reached out his left hand and caressed her face, thumbing over the small beauty mark beside her left eye.
“Such a shame…” he continued huskily, lust thick on his breath, “I could have showed you such pleasures. Though, I’m sure you’ll get plenty of use though when you get to Sheikh Khalid. Lucky bastard.” Inori’s dead eyes gazed back at him, registering his words but not deigning to give him the response he was looking for. Jakub ran his fingers through her jet black hair as he continued.
“You know, if the stories are to be believed, I hear he ties up his fresh meat for two weeks solid when they arrive. Something to do with vibrators and never allowing them to get release until they see him for the first time. From there, a lot of ‘conditioning’ happens and then, well, it’s a long life of S&M for you little lady. You’ll be a masochist along with the best of ‘em before long!” A little fire came back into Inori’s eyes as she heard his words and spat in his face.
Chuckling, he wiped the liquid off of his face with his sleeve while opening the cage door. When it was fully open, he suddenly reared back and threw a massive slap. Inori’s state of malnourishment and shackles didn’t allow her to try and avoid or block, so her head was turned with the force thrown into her right cheek. Her body was lifted a little of the ground as her head was thrown against a perpendicular set of bars, dazing her. “Fucking whore.” Turning, Jakub walked back to his friends.
Watching the person she hated most in the world walk away in a bleary haze, Inori felt hot tears well within in her eyes. What did I do to deserve this?
Just then, the sound of a body hitting the floor hard echoed from her left. Straining to clear her vision, she confusedly looked over to see a sight she’ll never forget for the rest of her life. A man, helmeted and emblazoned in pitch black and crimson armor, was piercing a large, glowing knife into one of the worker’s heads. Slight tendrils of steam could be seen wafting to the rafters above as he withdrew the blade. A sizzling hum reached Inori’s ears.
The entire room was silent as everyone gaped at the impossible scene, a slight tremor could be witnessed from each of the four other men right beside him. Never, in a million years, would anyone there have suspected that a futuristic looking soldier would drop down like an angel of death. Inori raked her eyes over the terrifying visage, inevitably drawn to the crown that sat imposingly on the man’s helmet. Regally adorned for war, his body was perfectly composed. An air of superiority seemed to gush into the room from his very presence . A...King? No matter how hard Inori looked, she couldn’t rationalize the sight before her. This man belonged in a fantasy novel, not standing in front of her. Not in a place like this. Slowly, the stranger rose to his feet as the light returned to all the Envy workers’ eyes.
Finally, Jakub seemed to recover himself the fastest.“What the he-”
The figure moved. Reaching out with the glowing dagger, the soldier burst forward in a speed not befitting a human and delivered an arcing slash across the three tightest grouped of the four near him. Immediately, rivers of blood flowed out of each of their necks as they desperately clawed at themselves, trying to stem the receding tide of their own life force. The other 13 men spread out across the room finally recognized the threat he was and leveled their semi-automatic weapons.
Noticing the adjustment, the armored man grabbed the last of the group of the five and hauled him in front of him right as gunfire erupted in bursts across the room. Inori saw the bullets shredding into the unfortunate worker and looked back at the gunmen with wide eyes. These men were trained. They didn’t empty their clips into him and think it was over, some immediately tried to flank around to the intruder’s sides while their comrades kept up suppression fire on the meat shield. Things looked incredibly dire for the armored man until something changed.
Inori watched as some sort of armored fingers laced their way around the the neck of the long dead captive and picked him up like he was a paperweight. Everyone present could only stare as the armored man broke into a sprint towards his left where three men were trying to flank him. In the blink of an eye, he’d reached the first of the three and flung his opponent’s corpse at him like a shield bash. Bodies connected and the two were catapulted towards a forklift. Seeing what was coming, Inori couldn’t look away as both were forcefully impaled on one of the forklift’s arms. Inori knew that no human was capable of that kind of strength. Maybe if a really strong person was slamming them towards it right next to the machine, but definitely not from two meters away of empty space. The math...it just didn’t make sense.
The thing that confused her the most was that she couldn’t see any type of gear mechanisms built into the suit of armor. The only things that looked sophisticated at all was the helmet and the weirdly glowing dagger still in his left hand. Is it ionizing the air near the critical edge? Nothing could explain the feat that she had just seen though except maybe cybernetics. But this level of technology was way beyond what humanity was currently capable of if that was the case. The integration necessary for such finely tuned movements and strength would require invasive neural linking and programming that would put all modern roboticists to shame. The more she watched the carnage unfolding before her, the more sure she was that she had absolutely no idea what this man actually was. Snapping back out of her reverie, Inori focused on the figure who was now no longer moving, two more corpses dotting his surroundings.
A rich baritone voice rippled across the concrete like waves lapping at the shore. “Your fate was sealed before I ever appeared.”
At these words, he started walking calmly towards the next group. Seeing this, the remaining 9 men who were already terrified resumed their shooting. Droves of bullets raced towards the speaker, yet all simply deflected off as he pridefully strode forward. All training flew out the window for the ones in front of him and by the time he had appeared a few steps away, Inori could hear the frantic clicking of their guns signifying the empty clips. Light gleamed off the edges of his crown as he brought up his dagger.
In a burst of motion, he sliced cleanly through the patellar tendon in one man’s kneecap causing him to lose his balance and fall back and then buried the blade high in another’s chest up to the hilt. What Inori didn’t know was that it just missed the clavicle and scapula bones but still precisely severed the subclavian artery. The man would bleed out in a few minutes. Withdrawing the uncharacteristically cold blade, he blocked an incoming gun butt to his head and brought his free fist up into the attacker’s solar plexus, the sound of shattering ribs reaching Inori’s ears. Bringing his now glowing knife back down in the blink of an eye, he dispatched the man with the disabled leg by a blade to heart and then kicked off to the remaining 6 who were closing in on him.
Having seen the reality of their ineffective bullets, each of them rushed the man in a desperate attempt to overwhelm him. Circling around as they met his charge, two men suffered the brunt of his fist and dagger combination earning broken limbs and punctured vitals. Another closed in swiftly and knew a bit of wushu. After a second, the combat turned however and the martial artist staved off the retaliatory blows as best as he could while each blow he blocked earned him a cracked bone. Every move was met almost intentionally by the attacking soldier. Soon, his arms hung limply at his side useless and he knelt down on the ground. Acknowledging the gesture, the armored infiltrator brought his 30 cm dagger up to a white hot glow and decapitated him in one fluid motion.
Not pausing to wait for the final three, he slid his feet towards them with footwork that Inori couldn’t recognize as belonging to one of the major martial arts. Seemingly gliding across the floor while dodging hastily thrown punches, he rotated his body gracefully in an upward spiraling arc, slamming the back of his boot into the carotid canal protecting the artery beneath and shattered both, rupturing the flow of blood to the brain. Settling back into a stance, he then reached out with that same free armored glove and gripped another man’s throat before squeezing. Blood sprouted from the places the fingers were puncturing and soon the body went limp as he released it to hit the floor. That brought it to one remaining: Jakub.
Whether intentional or not, Inori thought about how ironic it was to be watching Jakub’s death like it was the best saved for last. Did their...rescuer...know what he had been doing to Inori? Impossible...surely, it’s just by chance. The same rich voice interrupted her thoughts in a mocking tone.
“Seems my perfectionism is showing itself in the fact that I’ve been allowing your deaths to be too clean up until now. And here I wanted to send a message.” Inori was just close enough to see Jakub’s knees knocking together as a thin veil of steam wafted off of his pants. Grabbing Jakub’s hair and bringing him limply up to eye level where his sniveling and terrified face could be seen in the visor’s reflection, he continued quietly, “Good thing we have one of you left.”
The scene to follow could only be described as savage. Inori motioned for all the other boys and girls to look away, but she herself could not. For the first time in her life, she felt a sense of sick satisfaction watching the tormentor of her last few days meet a deservedly cruel end. When it was all said and done, hands and feet were aligned side by side in a grid along with every other extremity his body possessed. All that was left afterwards was an IKEA version of a human, ready and waiting to be reassembled.
[A/N: Just in case you don’t recognize the reference, IKEA is a furniture store popular in the States and Europe.]
Hearing a sigh, Inori watched with wide eyes as the man got up and wiped his bloodied gloves on Jakub’s clothes. Turning, he strode over to the first few cages and began severing the locks with his hot blade. At the sound of a door opening, everyone, except for their rescuer, turned their eyes in fear to see who might come to try and hinder their escape. What they saw though was not another of Envy’s lackeys, but rather a petite woman armored similarly to the figure before them - the only differences being she had a toned down tiara-like crown and a different underlying colored suit. Her hips swayed lazily as she made her way to what Inori could only assume was her colleague.
A few seconds passed as the two looked at each other. The man would shake his head and the girl would throw up a hand in a dramatic way. She looks pissed about something. After a small while, their exchange ended and the soldier continued slicing apart cells with his colleague doing the same from the other side. Soon, all of the kidnapped girls and boys were free and gathered in a group before the pair, their eyes showing their confusion and uncertainty. Who were these people? Were they with the police, or were they from another group just like Envy who planned to steal their “merchandise.” These thoughts whirled in Inori’s head, but she couldn’t help but have a feeling that it was not the latter.
Contrary to the earlier powerful tone, the man started talking in a smoother, calming air. “I want to apologize for just now. I showed you all something pretty barbaric and I realize that may have scared some of you. Rest assured, I will not harm you in any way. While I’m sure you want to be reunited with your families, I need to ask that you wait for just one more hour. My team is currently in the process of hitting the entire organization of bad guys and if the police found out about you now, we wouldn’t be able to finish this tonight.” Pensive faces could be seen on each of the older one’s faces while the younger kids looked confusedly between the groups.
Inori recognized what he was planning for Envy and quickly spoke up as the representative of the captives present. “You’re planning on taking them all out?”
“Correct.”
Inori’s eyes darkened. “Then take as much time as you need.” Pausing to look at the younger girls, she continued, “What will we do in the meantime though? Will one of you stay here with us?” An aura of hesitancy passed between the two for a brief moment before he responded.
“No, bu-” Several of the girls started whimpering and crying. “BUT, I have a partner who will watch over you. He’s tied into all of the cameras near and in this building, so you’ll be perfectly safe. You, what’s your name?”
A small tinge of warmth flooded Inori’s cheeks because only then did she remember how embarrassingly exposed she was. “I’m Inori.” Earlier, she didn’t think anything of her dress because she was effectively in front of beasts, not men. Now that an actual human being had shown up, the concept of decency returned to her. I’d kill for some clothes right now.
“Well then, Miss Inori, would you feel comfortable wielding a weapon as an extra precaution?”
“Yeah, I’ve shot a gun before. I also know a bit of martial arts.”
He chuckled a bit, probably from the stereotype she was perpetrating. It didn’t bother Inori though. She’d experienced similar reactions before. “Good, good. Walk with me and we’ll pick one out for you from what these thugs have dropped.”
The pair walked over to the dead bodies and Inori finally saw up close the damage that had been wrought. If she hadn’t seen the entire thing, she’d have guessed that a cyborg wielding a lightsaber had cut his way through the room. Thinking of the man walking next to her, she could only laugh to herself. That’s not too far off. As she studied the various wounds, she could see that the majority were cauterized, thus confirming her suspicions that the dagger was outputting an incredible amount of heat. Stealing a sidelong glance at the blade in question, she futilely tried to discern any clues of the technology housed within, but couldn’t see anything as it was sheathed.
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The rescuer suddenly stopped and bent down, grabbing an uzi and glock from a corpse.
While examining them, he said, “If I recall, this guy was one of the first five to die so he didn’t waste any bullets. Here.”
Inori received the weapons and gingerly held them before throwing the uzi’s strap over her right shoulder and leaving the glock in her right hand. She hadn’t been lying when she said that she’d shot a gun before, but truth be told, she’d only done it twice at a range. Even then, it was a .22 rifle - a small caliber rifle and more famous as a squirrel gun than as a weapon for home defense. Once more, she looked down and turned a bright shade of red seeing lots of bare skin and that disgusting black lace. Either the man didn’t notice, or he had the grace to not comment. Turning back towards the group, he motioned for Inori to follow and the pair moved back to rejoin the others.
After a bit, the two armored figures had found a suitable hiding spot for the remaining captives including Inori.The crimson warrior once more spoke to them, saying, “I know you’re scared, but Inori here is going to be with you and will keep an eye out for any stragglers that may come in. I really don’t think this will happen though. As I said, I’ve also got a friend watching over the area’s cameras so you’ll be perfectly fine. He’ll send a text to this if anyone other than police or us move towards this building.”
Taking out a cellphone he’d palmed off of one of the dead guys, he handed it to Inori. “Remember, one hour from now you can call 911 and they’ll send someone out to you. I’d appreciate it if you don’t mention me or my colleagues, but I understand that some of the younger children probably won't be able to keep a secret, so it’s okay if it inevitably comes out. We were just passing through, so it’s not like they’d be able to find us in this city. I wish you all the best of luck.” Turning, he started to walk towards the door.
Inori’s mind began to race as she looked at his receding back. If I let him walk out that door, I’ll never get to see him again. When will I ever get another chance to see such advanced technology up close? I’m sure his organization isn’t only involved in weapons...maybe he’d let me work for him? Oh, who am I kidding, I don’t even have a degree - why would they even be interested in hiring someone like me? But...on the off chance he could use me...UGH, screw it! Biting her lip, she scurried after the duo and tapped the man’s shoulder, causing him to turn around with his head tilted to the side.
Steeling her resolve, she brought voice to her thoughts while bringing her clenched fists to her chest, “I know you probably already have a team to help you out, but...please let me work for you!” Several seconds of silence passed before she realized that she hadn’t said anything about herself or what she’d be helping with. For all she knew, they might think she just propositioned them like a harlot trying to secure business for the night. Holding her breath, she almost launched into a hurried explanation, but the man started talking first.
***
I swear, how do I get into these predicaments. He’d just been verbally lashed by Heather for not warning her about his body being able to handle the impact forces from the barrage of bullets earlier. She was not the type to appreciate surprises it seems.
Now, Adrian could only stare at the girl behind him dumbly for a split second before he turned off the voice channel to the outside and consulted Raide privately by uttering a single word.
“Background.”
“Already running facial recognition...ah, that’s fortunate, she’s a student at GT, your alma mater. Age 20, Inori Tamura, studies in Aerospace Engineering and was an honor graduate in high school. Parents are Japanese immigrants, blah blah blah.... relocated for work reasons back in the 90’s..let’s see, no ties to any government associations or politicians….no outstanding loans or obligations beyond school and family life. Her record’s clean. My recommendation is in favor of her recruitment. We may be able to increase the intelligence of your team, but we can’t fabricate passion. She has it and could be very useful when we start on the aeronautical projects. I’ve read some of her personal files and she’s quite an impressive young lady. I should also remind you of the fact that you just saved her from slavery; her loyalty is practically assured.”
Adrian mulled over his A.I.’s words for a few seconds, trying to decide how to deal with the situation. He agreed with Raide’s assessment for the most part, but he’d have to be careful in how he handled it. He’d already lied about where they were from to throw some misdirection into the witness accounts. May as well do it again. Looking over to Heather, he could feel something weird coming from under her helmet while she looked at the scantily clad beauty. Almost like a tingling on the back of his neck that seemed to warn of danger. Ignoring it, he reengaged the outside channel and started speaking to Inori who looked like she’d just swallowed something that made her sick. He had been trying desperately all this time to not look down at the provocative image she was cutting, but it was becoming harder as time went on.
“Inori, you do realize that I just killed 17 people in cold blood, right?”
She slowly nodded her head while regaining her composure. “I know, but I’m not so naive as to think that it would have been better for those men to go to court.”
A girl after my own heart.
He paused another moment before looking into her eyes saying, “I’m sorry but my answer’s no. I’ve looked into your background just now and I can’t condone you throwing away your safety to become associated with us, no matter how talented of a prospective engineer you are.” It pained him a bit to see the resulting dejected look, but he had to cement the idea that she’d been shut down in the other’s minds. If the police questioned them later - which they most certainly will - they’d undoubtedly find out about how Inori asked to work for us in front of everyone. In order to crush that association before it was made, the public rejection was necessary. Now here comes the redeeming part.
Turning off the outside channel once again, he spoke to Raide saying, “Send a text message to her on that phone detailing a location and time to meet us in three days. That should be plenty of time for the police to get all their questions out of their system. Delay it’s sending by 5 minutes and then delete the record of it from the phone company’s logs after it’s been read.”
Raide sounded quite amused. “Oh, deleting evidence is my favorite!”
After saying a few parting words of comfort, Adrian and Heather both waltzed out of the warehouse, leaving the group to wait for help to arrive. While they were walking back to the van to go and pick up the others, Heather threw a look towards Adrian while her comms light blinked on in a vivid blue.
“You know you just announced our presence to the world, right?”
Adrian sighed a little and responded into his mike. “I know, but what little of a conscience I do have wouldn’t let me leave it alone when it almost happened to Nova. When I decided to do this, I knew there was a high chance of us finding girls like them. It’s a risk, but one I’ll gladly take for the payoff of not having these assholes on the streets anymore.” They arrived at the van and Adrian opened the door for Heather to get in. “Plus, all the things that might tie us to my usual nighttime activities are nonexistent. The MO is different and I also hadn’t used my plasma dagger or armor before everything happened with Nova. So don’t worry about it. Raide will keep an eye out.”
The two drove off and picked up the other two teams before moving towards the next locations. During that time, Adrian got bombarded with questions from Peter about the 17 kill streak. He could tell that his friend was agitated, but Pete would get his chance to catch up in the next few places. Adrian was planning on taking a step back again anyway and focus on team learning.
Over the next few areas, Adrian encouraged Heather to take the brunt of the kills, bringing her total up to the top three easily. Meanwhile, he was absorbed in watching combat feeds from the rest of the team, as well as checking in on the other captives that they’ve run across. It’s not like Raide wasn’t already doing this, but Adrian had found that when he received his upgrade, his capacity for linear thought processes had been opened up.
Humans often have the misconception that we’re capable of doing many things at once, that’s where the term “multitasking” comes from, but the truth is that the mind can really only handle a sort of juggling between tasks. Like a switch, it flits back and forth between assignments after they’ve been ordered at such a pace that it creates an illusion of being able to do more than one thing at a time. His research had discovered that the area responsible for this ordering and switching was called “Brodmann’s Area 10” which is located in the brain’s anterior prefrontal cortex. Normally slow to develop and quick to degrade from age and lifestyle abuse, the modified serum had restructured and strengthened the area equally along with the rest of his body.
The result wasn’t readily apparent at first. He was human after all. After literally thinking a certain way for the entirety of one’s life, how could he fathom that the brain reconstitution was producing effects in such a manner? It actually didn’t hit him until one day on a flight back from a job in northeastern Illinois where he’d been frustrated by the sheer lack of time he had to work on his suit. He couldn’t upload information directly into his mind yet, so he still had to learn via traditional methods like reading and videos, albeit at a much faster rate. During that moment, he experimentally pushed his consciousness to the brink of its synaptic firing limits. The results were surprising, to say the least. He felt, for just the briefest of moments, a split in his consciousness. At the time, he’d been terrified that he’d forced himself into a state of dissociative personalities, but he found that he had some control of the separate line of thought and began to practice directing its flow. Afterwards, he easily merged the two back together.
Now, almost a month after the discovery, his control of the new ability had expanded to covering three separate lines of thought. He could proficiently keep tabs on his personal perspective as well as explore two other avenues of interest. To this purpose he designed his armor’s helmet to be a bit different than the other’s, dubbing it the Overlord’s Helmet - though, he’d take that name to the grave with him. All of the team’s vitals and sensors fed back to he and Raide. From his helmet, he could access any array or combination that he desired. So during his and Heather’s assigned building raids, he’d been simultaneously helping her, monitoring his other team members, and also monitoring Inori’s group while thinking about the future.
The exercise was extremely taxing mentally, but the possible benefits in the future far outweighed any momentary discomfort on his part. However, no matter how much he wanted to train it, the maximum amount of time he could use it before frying his brain was 1 hour with all three mental pathways opened. In any case, he resolved to keep this new ability of his under wraps. For safety’s sake, it’s better that no one apart from him and Raide knew the full extent of his capabilities. Information control and all that.
Checking on the separate captive groups one last time, Adrian and the team assembled and traveled to the last building. According to Raide, some phone calls had been directed towards the men who had already been taken care of, but he had skillfully played them by blocking their calls through the network, eliciting the ubiquitous “call dropped” sound. This made it seem as there was something wrong with the telephone company instead of their colleagues, so no one had been sent to check on the men at the other 9 buildings - a grievous error.
Abandoning his teammate monitoring process, Adrian focused down to the two regarding the captives and his personal POV upcoming finale to the night. Everything had went extremely well up until now. The rankings looked like the following.
RankingContenderKills1Victor242Heather233Adrian224Peter195Sergio146Rich12
As luck would have it, Pete had ended up drawing the short stick with his buildings. There just weren’t that many kills to be had, even after he hogged the ones from Rich. Victor was continuing to make a strong showing and had retaken his number 1 this last round of building incursions. Heather, of course, was getting the dedicated entirety of kills from her and Adrian’s pairing, but even still, Victor was holding his own. The footage had been eye opening when Adrian reviewed it in one of his linear thought processes. If Heather was said to be the talent when it came to hand-to-hand combat lessons, Victor was the prodigy when it came to tactical strategies for dealing with foes. Everyone he encountered was handled in a similar way that Adrian would have if were the one to be wielding the knife. This only served to bolster Adrian’s opinion of his friend and looked forward to when the facility was completed two months from now and they could start working towards getting them upgraded.
Altogether, a total of 101 Envy member’s had met their end in the course of two hours. Thirteen of them had leadership positions, so there were twelve left in the shut down club before them. At this time of night, no one was out. There could also be up to 37 lackeys scattered about, but Adrian doubted the full number being here. Raide had already confirmed the presences of the twelve, but didn’t bother counting the others as his processes were already maxed out monitoring everyone and keeping the network locked down. They’d do an initial sweep, clear out any captives, and then set off some charges in key structural places to end the night in a grand way.
Four of the six moved forward into the confines of the final building, moving swiftly and silently. They’d all gotten a lot more used to their armor and weapons by now. Room by room, they crept stealthily, echoes of compressed air being released or the warm hum of a blade the only sounds that reverberated to indicate their presence. Heather decided to hang back with Adrian and take care of talking to the captives they ran into, which didn’t really surprise him. She’d already made a strong showing, and Adrian remembered her earlier comment about not wanting Big Ben. She was also a pilot, so he didn’t really expect to send her into too much combat in the future if he could help it. Together, they corralled the 14 discovered so far and placated them by saying they were safe now.
In the span of 5 minutes, the entirety of the three story club was cleared out except for a final room. Upon arriving, the team of 6 found the door to be barricaded. Undoubtedly, they weren’t able to stay completely unnoticed as he had hoped. Victor walked up to the door and rapped on it, doing a quirky knock while saying, “Anyone home?” He quickly stepped to the side as bullets tore their way through the door where he had just been standing.
Turning to Adrian, he asked in the group channel, “Bearcat, mind doing the honors?”
Adrian smiled beneath his visor and walked up to the door while saying, “Don’t mind if I do.” Lining himself up with the center of the double door entrance, he balanced himself on his center of gravity and threw a thunderous kick right above the doorknobs. Wood chips flew as the doors splintered along the edges of the locks and a wooden scrapping rang out that accompanied the doors swinging inward towards the room.
Almost immediately, a hail of bullets flew through the now open doorway, but Adrian just stood there while looking from side to side, taking all of the bullets that flew at him. Scuffs and nicks on his armor were a testament to how much abuse he had put them through this evening. If he hadn’t been helmeted, a dark glint could be found in his crimson eyes as he thought to himself in a rare moment of arrogance. Struggle, fight for your disgusting lives.
Sharpening his perception, he observed his team members moving slightly slower than normal time and breaching the door along the sides. Victor was the first in, swinging his silenced AR up and squeezing off three single shots which all found their mark. Adrian couldn’t help but wonder how much of that was his friend’s skill and what was the result of Raide’s assistive targeting. On the other side of the doorway, Peter bolted into the room in a flash, doing a roll that ended with him skewering a man holding an uzi. Blood dripped with a hiss as it flowed over the super-heated plasma blade.
In mere moments, the gunfire died down and the discharged smoke floated in the air. A small scuffle could be heard as Sergio unceremoniously dragged a man out from behind his large oak desk he’d been hiding behind. A trio of girls were huddling on a couch not far away. Looking over the four remaining survivors, Raide automatically brought up the dossiers for Adrian to read. While he was perusing the material, the captive man started speaking.
“Wh-why are you doing this!?”
Silently taking out his 1911, Adrian dropped two of the girls with headshots while the third shrieked in terror. Eyes wide, the boss man started yelling obscenities, “I’ll fuckin’ kill you! I will fuckin’ destroy you and anyone you’ve ever known. You think you can ju-” A swift kick came from Victor’s direction and the man hit his head on the side of the desk, causing it to tilt a little from the force and skitter a few inches across the carpet. Adrian squatted down as the man recovered his bearings. This was the boss of Envy in front of him.
“I don’t just think I can. I can and will do whatever I like, you miserable piece of shit. You had the unfortunate luck of drawing my attention by going after a friend of mine. Consider your current position as being a result of being involved in such a sick trade. As for your two lady friends, they were collaborating with you by luring in girls that were a little too trusting. Naturally, I wouldn’t let someone like them live.” Motioning to the remaining girl, he continued, “You’re free to go, dear. I’m aware of your circumstances. There is another group of girls gathered near the entrance. Go and join them. The police should be here shortly.” Still terrified, the young teenager fled the room after taking one last look at the group of strangely armored people.
The boss was fuming. Looking towards Adrian, he said with a bit of pride, “You can’t take out all of us! I’m sure when we don’t check in, everyone will come running. They’ll find you and kill you and your entire family!”
Tilting his head, Adrian thoughtfully made a decision and then slowly removed his helmet. His long black hair that was bound in a ponytail came out and flowed over his shoulder armor. Opening his eyes, he brought his face up to level with the boss of the organization that was responsible for ripping families apart and stealing countless women’s dignity and freedom. A look of astonishment crossed the man’s face as he glimpsed Adrian’s cold, crimson eyes.
There it is.
Adrian watched a look of pure terror wash over the boss’ features as he came to a conclusion. Answering the man’s unspoken question, he said quietly, “What you’re thinking is correct. I’m not human.” Tapping his still free 1911 on his left thigh, he smiled cruelly while observing the range of emotions playing out on his victim’s face and added nonchalantly, “Oh, and the others are already dead. You were the last. Judging by the tally, a few of your messengers or drivers got away, but the rest, the entirety of Envy, is dead and already starting on their journey to hell.” Placing a hand on the shoulder of the boss, Adrian gently pulled him into a kneeling position.
At this point, the man was crying and pleading for his life. None of it reached Adrian as he just impassively regarded him as something that was a waste of breath. Images of the previous girls and boys he’d encountered flashed through his head. Their fear. Their despair. Sighing, he raised his pistol and shot him between the eyes, the body falling forward. Blood leaked out the front and exit wounds. Turning around, Adrian looked over his team as they all took an involuntary step backwards and simply said, “Shall we go?” Notifications flashed in their HUDs.
Quest Complete!
The organization known as Envy has been eradicated. While there were a few who missed the swing of the scythe, it is clear to see that they will never plague the area of Atlanta again.
In addition, the decimation will serve as a powerful warning to any other criminals who bear the same evil mindset from coming to the city.
Envy leaders eliminated [25/25] - shared
Envy lackeys eliminated [118/125] - optional, shared
Highest # of kills: Victor [30]
Please collect your reward!
Monetary Rewards have been deposited into your bank accounts. The Armor Set is also yours to keep. Adjustments will be made in the future as technology available improves.
Please make your way to the vehicle for transportation back to base. Congratulations on a successful first mission!
Also x 2, bear witness to my incredible work of art! Jk. You may notice I kinda gave up about halfway through. It's Adrian's helmet. Sort of. Imagine a cross between a crown and the Master Chief's helmet from Halo, except slightly toned down. You'll see.
Spoiler :
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BxEObN7SO7llLUlVQ2tUblRrYzA