“There will be answers. The veil will be unveiled. They may have triumphed at crushing the truth, but the collapse is clear—it will bring about the collapse of the rotting order, and pave for the new order. One where all of humanity is subjected to one law—one system.”

- Unknown Militant Leader, Children of Jericho, 21st Cycle

+++ Jonathan Jones +++

Jahellios System

New Krakow

Artowisz

District 4

“Here we are,” Louise said, as all of us deployed to our respective overwatch positions. It was already dark, and the abandoned alleys down below barely had any lighting in them. “I think, I can see them…”

My back hugged the walls closely, as I inched to peek at the people ahead of us. They were all armed, mostly with pistols. None of them wore anything other than soft clothes though, similar to us. I kept myself silent, as we listened to them.

“We didn’t find him nor her, boss,” one of the shady men said. “We’re gonna have to scour the city.”

“We’ve already been delayed enough, it’s only a matter of time before word gets out,” their apparent leader angrily said. “We can’t have any loose ends, or this will reflect badly on us. We can’t let her escape.”

“Someone went to the Duke’s estate,” one of them reported. “They seemed to have sneaked through a secret route. My men are tracking them, but no returns. They were able to slip away through our blind spots.”

“God, you’re all goddamned incompetent!” Their leader shouted. “It’s just two brats. How the hell are all of you struggling to find them? Arts? Seriously, out of every excuse you all have for losing those firefights, it’s because of that? I didn’t know that the talent of the Agency was this braindead. Did all of you only get in because of your family connections, huh?!”

I looked at Juliett and Louise. Louise herself silently nodded at me, as she readied her wand. Juliett on the other hand pulled out another of her specialized pistols, while I kept mine ready. We would have to deal with this group. It was the only way to find actual usable intel. Even Ms. Kalista lacked enough intel for us to work with after all.

I could really use Harold today. I thought to myself as I scanned them after another quick peek. I could use an extra gun out here. That would be better than three versus twelve.

I however truly wondered, what exactly made Louise and her brother so special in their use of the Fed-System that they managed to beat a platoon of these people. I had heard that the “arts users” were the counterpart of “spacefarers” in the Fed-System class. A “Spacefarer” like me didn’t really have any magic to speak of, but what we did have was passive abilities that could help us in space warfare.

No one knows how it would work, but for example, I heard that the “Range Amplifier” spacefarer ability was one of the best in the circles of “spacefarers” capable of tapping into the Fed-System. Somehow, when it was done, the piloted ship of the spacefarer would have the Universe “conspire” to increase the effective range of its weapons. As if the Fed-System recognizes that your railgun slugs would be more accurate at a further effective range, as if magic.

I hadn’t unlocked a single ability yet, and quite frankly, I hadn’t started aiming for it yet. Because while it was interesting, I had no idea what abilities lay out there for me. They also said that one could only unlock the first one at “Level Five”, and I wasn’t there yet. Did that mean that I would have to get myself into more fleet battles to gain XP?

In comparison, “arts users” like Louise truly had “true magic” like abilities that they could derive from the Fed-System. She told me that she had already “trained” to increase her levels, skills, and “arts repertoire” since she was a child, a result of her parents encouraging both her and her brother to “protect themselves” from the New Krakow Colonial Government.

As such, it would be a denial to say that I wasn’t feeling excited at seeing Louise in action. Even Juliett was an “arts user”, but apparently, she hadn’t developed her capabilities there as “she didn’t need it yet”. Meanwhile, all I have is a pistol. Not that I would look down on myself. I may not have Louise’s abilities or Juliett’s nano-swarm-induced capabilities, but I carried the legacy of the Von Wicht Gang. And with it…

“Go,” I said, as I cocked my pistol.

Louise walked from her hiding spot, approaching the group of arguing men from the darkness. “Scum, I present myself to you. I have heard that you have been searching for me…well, here I am! The Heiress of House Fleur herself!”

All of them turned to face her, all of them immediately pointing their guns at her face. Of course, I wouldn’t just let that happen. I immediately barged in and pointed my pistol at the face of their leader, all while Juliett followed behind, her pistol also aimed at what appeared to be their leader’s second in command, ensuring that if anyone fired a shot, their two most important members would drop.

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“Well, well, well, gentlemen, I believe we can’t just let all of you put down an innocent young girl like that, that would be quite unbecoming of a civilized Federation citizen, don’t you think?”

They all looked at us, their frowns hardening. I held a cheeky smirk as I stared at their leader before I replaced it with a hardened frown as well. “Put down your guns!”

They flinched, and I heard Juliett mutter something under her breath. “I can’t believe we’re in a Mexican standoff again…”

“You three,” their leader said, as he moved to the side with his men. In accordance with that, we began moving to keep our guns trained at them, while Louise herself raised her want at the face of their leader as well. “Would do well to surrender yourself, now.”

“As if that’s happening, mate. I had heard you screwed with this woman’s family. That’s some pretty nasty shit, don’t you think? I think you should be the ones laying down your weapons and telling us what exactly your whole business is, no?”

“Oh, I see, so the two of you are mercenaries then,” their leader laughed to himself, as he cautiously moved to the side, while I kept my gun on him. “Do you really want to do this, just for a few bucks? Her family’s rich. We could both loot them if you want.”

“Sorry pal, but that ain’t my style,” I said back. “Plus, I can’t help but notice that you’d probably shoot me first before letting me get a cut of the spoils.”

I heard Louise scoff. “Ugh, you people irk me. Vultures.”

“Apologies, lady. Get used to me. I’m quite similar to them, I suppose,” I laughed, before refocusing myself on their leader and giving him one last serious glare. “Put your guns down. Now.”

“Fire at them!” He shouted, before ducking. I placed a bullet in his arse, but he dodged it well enough that I only clipped his shoulder when he rolled into cover. Multiple bullets flew to our faces, but they all stopped in front of us.

“[PROJECTILE DEFENSE!],” Louise chanted before all the bullets fell right in front of us. That almost looked like that old-fashioned movie where the dude stopped a barrage of ammo with his palm alone. I ducked, and so did Juliett and Louise. Immediately, a pistol shootout developed, with Juliett putting down two of the bastards before she was forced down.

I myself raised my head from the shabby garbage bin I used as cover, only to be dissuaded by a torrent of gunfire. “Well, shit folks. Don’t ya all think we’re being a bit inconsiderate to the locals?” I shouted at them. “Because we’re being a bit too loud now.”

“Shut the hell up, mercenary bastard!” Their leader shouted back, with a slight hint of pain in his voice. “You fucking nut! You’ll regret coming to her aid!”

“Well, she pays well!” I taunted, and I could almost feel Louise’s sudden glare bore through me. “Think you should switch sides?”

“Why do you have to be such a crass barbarian at all times?” She hissed at me, as she was also hiding behind a garbage bin on the other side of the lane.

“They say evil weeds die old,” I cracked at her with a smirk, before ducking a bit as three gunshots nearly clipped me. I took a peek and gave them retaliatory gunfire, clipping two of their gunmen with two quick shots before I pulled back into cover. “You know, those guys are going to need a lot of medical attention!”

“You three won’t be getting any medical attention after this!”

“Oh yeah? Shit man, I feel scared!”

Three of them tried to rush us, except I already anticipated it. I gave Louise the gesture to do her thing, and immediately, three fast bolts of purplish light sliced through the three of them that attempted to attack us. I stood up, and pushed forward, firing my pistol at them, as many of them began running away in a disorganized rout.

“Fuck! Fuck! They have arts!” One of their members shouted as he limped away with a bleeding leg. I didn’t give him a chance, and shot him a second time, dropping him on the floor. Both Louise and Juliett pushed forward, as I gave the downed man the knee-on-neck treatment, separating him from his gun while Louise and Juliett chased the rest of them off.

“Alright boy, line’s up. You’re speaking. Where is her brother?” I coldly said as I kept my pistol trained on his face. “My finger’s getting quite itchy, so you better speak up.”

“Fuck off! You rat! You’ll pay for this!” He tried to spit on me, but it only landed on my boots. “You don’t know who you’re messing with. You don’t know. You’ll see the goddamned consequences of disrupting us.”

“But it doesn't matter to you,” I said, appealing to his survival instincts. “Because regardless of the end result of this for me, if you don’t talk, it’s game over.”

“As if you’ll give me mercy,” he laughed. “Rats of your kind have no honor to do that.”

“Hmm, you’re quite a difficult fellow,” I said, even colder now. It seemed that my intimidation game didn’t work, and I’d rather not torture a fellow man. That went against my code. But since he really wouldn’t talk, well, I wouldn’t just leave him running alive around. I pulled the trigger, and a silenced shot went off.

“You chose that fate,” I said to his corpse, as I stood up, disappointed at my lack of findings. I looked at the other “corpses” around me, and knowing how it would go if I wasn’t careful, I aimed my pistol at them and fired at their heads one by one, fully ensuring their continued silence. I sighed to myself as I placed my gun back in my holster.

More blood in my hands I guess.

“Juliett, status report.”

“Hostiles extinguished,” she said through my earpiece. “We chased them off to a corner. They didn’t surrender. All dead. Their leader refused to spill information.”

“We’re gonna have to do a little body disposal,” I said, groaning a bit internally at the mess around us. Their guns were also not suppressed unlike ours, which meant the Artowisz Police were probably on the move already. “We have to be quick on this. A dozen bodies.”

“I’ll deal with it,” Louise said over our comms. “I have spells for it. I’ll teleport their bodies to a hidden location I prepared.”

She prepared a location to toss dead bodies. No, this aristocrat was not just a brat, goddamn, she was a psycho. “Jeez, Ms. Fleur. You prepared that too? You’re hardcore.”

“Shut up.”

I cracked a little laugh. God, this day was getting too long.