Blast-doors sealed behind Archius as he entered the command deck. It was empty but for a few cleaning drones, wiping the floors and computers, and Sato. She was sitting on a hover-chair on the other side of the table sipping on a cup of coffee whilst watching something on her holopad.

Sato was a tricky person, she knew how to play against him. But even if Kazuki was aware of their little bouts for power, he never stopped them. Though her skills are remarkable, able to hide away for a month whilst a member of the seven hunted her own, she was not perfect. She's failed.

And her first failure to him was the worst. Maybe if she was faster, he'd be somewhere else. He hid his contempt as he slid his hand across the edge of the table, walking towards her.

"So, what're you watching, anything I should be aware of… you better not be slacking off."

She glanced up at him, placing the holopad onto the table as it projected a hologram upwards for the two to watch. It was a movie, nothing remarkable, Archius thought. She grumbled, "I'm on the clock, don't worry…" Sato's navy uplink was on full display, the earpiece slab covering a portion of her ear, a gold star seal of the navy still as pristine as the day it rolled off the factory.

"Ah, I'm guessing this means you're occupied, hmm?" asked Archius, crossing his arms over his jacket, feeling the arsenal of knives attached to his vest-rig. She grumbled silently. He pressed his face into his more jovial and friendly persona. "Oh come on! Won't you tell me what's going on in your noggin?"

"No." said Sato, somewhat boringly, her face was laden with post-uplink exhaustion, it seems like she overworked herself again. "To both."

"Good, how about the two of us go for a ride?" Archius nestled the thought in her head. "Take a break from all that uplink chatter."

"Alright, what are we doing now?" asked Sato, "Let me guess, you have some insane plan on how to win the war? Tell me, what happened the last time we accepted a plan like that?"

"It's not fully insane!" said Archius, waving the idea away, "Blacksite infiltration mission. Not your style but we can send a ping there to find other Loyalist bases. Mind-snared eye told me."

She rolled her eyes. "And? Get someone else to do it, Archius."

"Out of all our operatives, who'd you trust to go deep into enemy territory on a black-ops mission?" asked Archius.

Sato shrugged. "Hosea? Our old man's always able to pull shit off… Well, it's not necessarily our forte."

"Exactly." Archius started to ensnare Sato. "And he's currently managing forces on the opposite end of the country."

"But… we don't have the manpower for such a mission. And you're using Mind-snares now? Why don't you get them to do it??" asked Sato, putting a roadblock in Archius' manipulations.

But instead, she fell right into his trap. "They're dead. It was the last transmission they got out before ENFORCERs found their head on a spike, eye wobbling got them caught. You think it could be done if we had the expertise available?"

Sato was proactive to a fault. And Archius knew that. Kazuki wanted to balance out his own hands-on experience with Sato's proactive networks.

And as expected, she bit the bait. "Of course! A catch like that'd be war-changing, maybe I can finally get some rest."

"And it seems like you've just volunteered. Come on, let's go," said Archius, placing a hand on Sato's wrist and pulling her out of her chair, making it spin as it powered down, down beneath the floor.

"Woah?!" Sato tugged back, using her superior strength to stop him, "I ain't interested in whatever you have mining away."

Ow, fuck, fuck, forgot she has that navy strength.

"I need someone with the expertise to crack things from the inside. Of course, I can always go alone… might be messy." said Archius, using her pragmatism to his advantage. She might think him to be dishonest, but he wasn't lying… He really did need her for this; and that was all the credit he will ever give her, though at least Sato is more worthwhile than Eliza as an asset for the AGENCY…

The two had their differences, maybe even their odds, but they knew each other's worth, and that was all he saw in her. She reluctantly sighed and loosened her grip on his arm. "Fine."

"Good," said Archius. He smirked as Sato followed him. With Kazuki being out of action, it seems like he'll have to pick up the slack.

∗ ∗ ∗

But his small triumph would fade as his smirk turned into dismissive whistling. Sato glared at him across the small gap between opposing shuttle seats. A drone was piloting it, skidding through the lanes of the Sublevel as it sped towards the infiltration point.

"This is sanctioned, right?" asked Sato, leaning in towards Archius. She placed the front of her stun-knuckles up to his exposed neck.

"Yeah," said Archius, nonchalantly lying directly to her face.

She grumbled as she retracted the knuckledusters from his neck. Her suspicion of him had skyrocketed. But before she could ask anymore questions the drone twisted towards them. It beeped and booped as it caught their attention. Nice save, Archius thought.

The two slid their uplinks on, activating them as the devices hooked onto their ears, like a large earpiece. Archius threw one of the armoured disguises towards her as he started to put his on. "So… the plan is we just walk in and everything will be alright?"

"Of course. I had eyes on the inside mismatch documents and IDs, we'll have temporary access to most things." said Archius.

"Alright. I'm also guessing you know a bit about who Kazuki faced back in the sewers, right?" asked Sato, locking and sealing her armour in place.

She felt disgusted at the mark of Clandestine painted on the crimson shoulderpads, crescent moons and circles. As they finished, they placed raincoats over their armour. Though it never rained, it'll help against the moisture.

"Kazuki wasn't all too keen with sharing that info. An Eden Initiative Instructor— don't worry, it's not Hartius."

"Fuck… well, at least it's not Hartius… Fuck, this is a bad idea!" Sato clawed at her face in regret. "I saw that merc blow up a dreadnought singlehandedly… from the outside."

"Don't worry, in and out, quick ten minute mission - tops!" assured Archius. "And don't worry about Svenn, alright? We'll leave Kazuki to deal with him.

"Offloading the hard killing to him, sure."

She nodded dismissively as the shuttle came to a complete halt, parking nearby the hidden blacksite. Archius shimmied towards the back door of the shuttle, manually opening it and stepped out. He placed his revolving-load pistol into his right holster, tucking it under the raincoat as Sato followed him out.

Their eyes quickly adjusted to the dim, hovering street lights dotting the darkness. Half a dozen people walked by here and there, but most stuck to themselves.

"Who knows what shit's in this place…" Sato said, her voice twitching slightly.

Archius shrugged. "If we're unlucky there might be a Hazard-shard user, driven to insanity! Ready to blast us with star-powers."

"Very… funny…" Sato trailed off. Judging by her voice, she DID NOT find it funny.

With the thousands of platforms, walkways and sublevels, it may seem like a dead city - but it was far from tranquil.

"What? Surprised that it hasn't changed much?" asked Sato, tapping him on the shoulder as she left, closing the doors behind her as she tapped on her ICAPAD, activating it.

"Well… not the worst place I've been in…" said Archius, walking off she tailed him closely.

Passing across one of the high-walkways, Archius glanced to the side. The Sub-Levels were alive with light, gunfire and a putrid smell of filth, just as he remembered it.

Stretching far up, down and beyond were what felt like a thousand levels, sections, of the hive cities that dwelt below the surface. Massive bastions and pillars connected the roof of each level to the ceiling, acting as support beams. Numbers were painted on them and they had a lot more bright lights shining from them, with makeshift houses dug into the pillars… It looked all jagged and rough, as if it came out of a necessity to live above the shit-filled wastes below, instead of anything that was planned by some bureaucratic committee.

Steel and stone made manifest stung high above him, and far below, further than the eye could see. The only consistency here was that there was no consistency. It was an eyesore of grey steel and neon lights, though magnitudes better to look at than the Deadzone wastes, long forgotten since the war.

"You know…" Sato started, glancing at Archius. "It's beautiful, from some perspective."

"Not to them," said Archius, stopping in his tracks and pointing out towards the endless masses of steel and the flesh that were held within them.

"Better than the wastelands over yonder…" said Sato.

Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

Archius nodded. "Wastelands you created."

She stopped in her tracks, grumbling. "Sorry to burst your bubble, but that was the Imperials. WE fought to protect the hive cities and Sub Levels. They were the ones that destroyed it."

"What difference does it make? If the Imps won… nothing would have changed." Archius formed a scowl, twisting away and continuing to walk.

"Touché…" said Sato. "I guess I can't talk for everyone…"

"You never will talk for anyone," said Archius. "People like you never had to know the taste of sewage… except that one time."

"I wonder fucking why," Sato hushed her tone as she spoke. Archius chuckled to himself, remembering back to one of their first encounters. "Kazuki nearly waterboarded me to death…"

Archius formed up a friendly facade, glancing back towards her whilst walking. "Great thing you listened to us, eh?" he mused.

He laughed it off, hiding his distaste for talking about the past… He shouldn't have prompted her, but he couldn't help himself… He won in the end against her, so he really couldn't care less now that she thinks about it.

Of course she had to be the one to bring up those topics. To him, it wouldn't have mattered if the Imperials or the Republicans won the war, it'll just be a different regime with a different flavour of corruption.

∗ ∗ ∗

Sato and Archius went across more platforms, walkways and streets, passing by posters, run-down establishments and numerous bounty-boards, filled to the brim with reports. They walked by a small group of ENFORCERs that were talking to each other at a street corner.

They had special masks and armour that hid their identities, but even with that he could tell they were hammered drunk, ignoring the stabbing just around the corner - everyone did: it was the sub-level after all.

Sato kept herself ready. Her head was on a swivel as she looked around at the decrepit slums, both blank and bright in vibrant hues of grey. It felt more like a mess than a city, forgotten by the empire and republic that came after it.

'Eyes front. Don't draw attention to yourself, I'd prefer things to be clean.' whispered Archius over the uplink, increasingly annoyed. Unlike Sato, he kept his head facing forward.

'Got it… it's been a while since I've been on the field.' said Sato, nervously. The Sub levels weren't safe, and here they were walking through it. Archius, however, felt no such weakness.

'Handlers go out on the field?' asked Archius, 'I thought I was just the exception.'

'Well, because you are!' shouted Sato, following Archius as they turned the corner onto a long walkway, walking across a massive traffic bridge between two sub-districts. Below and above were thousands of platforms and elevated levels brimming with light and life.

As they got to the other side, Archius pulled himself and her into a protruding alleyway, hugging the wall as he peeked out from the corner. He saw a small patrol of ENFORCERs passing by, with their lightly armoured plating.

Sato took a look. 'The Loyalists are right under the law's noses, huh?'

'Yeah.' said Archius, 'Come on, we're getting close. Let's not get spotted, m'kay? Even if this is greenlit, we'll be getting no aid. Especially not from the ENFORCERs.'

'No shit…'

Continuing down the alley, the two eventually reached a small 'park' area nestled between several run-down apartment buildings. It was filled to the brim with trash bags and cargo containers.

The two paused as they heard rustling within a pile of trash bags, their heads twisting towards it. Bright orange pupils peered out from the gaps, with a pale, sickly skin colour hiding behind it. Sato's face scrunched at the sight, but Archius merely shrugged.

"Ghoul-creatures, they're scavengers, let's hope there's no broodmother.". The stench was unbearable, but Archius pushed onwards as he approached one of the cargo containers, sliding its door open.

"This location wasn't on Clandestine's archives…"

"New safehouse?" suggested Archius, looking in to reveal a steel blast-door on the other side of the container.

They entered into the container as Archius slid the container shut behind them. Whilst Sato analysed the door, stepping towards it, Archius took out his key-chain and injected it into the port beside the door. Sato waited as she slowly stepped behind Archius.

"I'll do the talking," said Archius.

Sato was about to answer as the door opened, revealing a Loyalist. They looked tired. He looked at the two of them for a second whilst smoking a cigarette. Aspan Grey, Archius noticed, it was a cheap brand.

"You guys weren't followed, were you?" asked the Loyalist, taking the cigarette out of their mouth for a moment to speak.

"No. Slicked through the alleys to avoid AGENCY patrols," said Archius, walking past the opened security door as Sato followed.

"Ahh, don't worry about those contract-breakers, it's the ENFORCERs that I'm more worried about." The Loyalist leaned against the wall of an interior staircase leading downwards. "Anyways, keep strong."

"Thanks," said Archius, following Sato down the stairs. Talking to these people as if he was one of them was second nature to him. Deception was his forte.

Archius placed his hands in his pockets as they continued down the stairs. 'Alright, just play it cool and follow my lead. The server farm is on the bottom floor.'

'Got it.' said Sato, isolating their uplink channel for security.

Sato was the perfect person for this, even if she's not used to field work.

'I should have taken a few of those Seekers in the Stealth Division from Clandestine, would have made missions like these easier,' Archius admitted to Sato.

'Those fucks were loyal to the Directors, even getting one of those stealth agents on board would have been nice…' Sato commented.

After a few dozen flights of stairs, they reached the bottom, being greeted by a security checkpoint. There were a few guards manning the station, though most were slacking off and playing Holocards.

One was actively manning the post, average features, Archius thought. If it came down to it, he could kill him easily. Archius nodded at him as Sato stood beside Archius.

"Evening," said Archius.

They walked over to the duo, blocking their way into the facility as he crossed his arms.

"IDs. You know how it is." said the man, Archius looked at a patch on their armour, spelling out the name Kyle. Simple, Archius thought, it'll be easy to remember.

"Yeah, yeah, standard procedures," said Archius, flicking his and Sato's fake IDs over to him.

Kyle injected the IDs into a handheld device. It beeped and booped as its screen then shone a bright green.

"Aight, come on, I guess you two are recent transfers, I'll show you 'round the place, how about that?" asked Kyle, grabbing the ID cards and providing them back.

Archius caught his back whilst Sato snatched hers. Even if she was usually apathetic, she does have times where her nervousness defined her.

"So is there any place you guys are interested in seeing first? Things are quiet right now, might as well give y'all a tailored tour, kill some time till our next op."

"I guess we should go bottom to top. It feels more linear, you know?" suggested Archius. The server farms were at the bottom, it'd be far more suspicious to say the server farms, but by passing it off as bottom to top, it seemed far more plausible.

"Sure…" said Sato, Archius could feel sweat seeping through the words. She was clearly regretting joining him, he thought.

Kyle nodded as he glanced towards Sato, hidden behind Archius. Even without looking at her, Archius could feel a sense of nervousness in her.

He turned and walked through the checkpoint, leading both Archius and Sato through it. The other Loyalists gave dismissive looks towards them as he could see Kyle peek a few glances back at Sato. The air was tense, but that didn't matter to Archius, he'll have a laundry list of things to tease her with afterwards if she keeps this up.

They reached the elevator leading deeper into the facility, standing in front of it. "So… Arcia and Satina was it?"

He made idle conversation as he placed his hand on the screen beside the elevator, a holographic light up activated as the elevator started to ascend, a blinking number highlighting its location. But all Archius could think of was how much of a nuisance Kyle will be.

"Yeah, sorry about my friend." said Archius, gesturing back to her as she quickly slid behind him, hiding from Kyle's gaze. "She doesn't like getting close to people. Republican guard…"

"Ah… I understand." said Kyle, "What they did was fucked up…"

The elevator arrived as it opened up. Kyle entered, followed by Archius then Sato. Sato made sure to stand opposing Kyle, placing Archius in between them. He had little historic knowledge, but knew full well that the guard was decimated.

"How about you then?" asked Archius. He felt comfortable, at his best. He created the temperature for smooth sailing.

"Hmm?" Kyle said, pressing down on a button, on the touchscreen, labelled level-sub-9. "Kyle. 42nd Shockdrops. Admiral Ryzaku picked us up from a dead-end posting and took us all the way to the capital."

"Well, that's one hell of a glow-up." said Archius, "93rd Republican, we were lucky…"

"Yeah, no shit." said Kyle, scratching his head as he leaned against the elevator walls. "Hell, maybe we fought against each other on the field…"

The irony wasn't lost on Archius as the elevator started to descend. Walls became semi-transparent. The elevator was seemingly built as the core of the facility, with numerous floors and platforms attached to it from one massive hub area.

The place had enough facilities to maintain a large force for months. Hell, it made the old Clandestine HQ seem like a run-down safehouse.

Kyle looked out into the facility. "Hell of an upgrade, right?"

"I guess." said Archius, "I mean, didn't think this was in the budget."

"Me too, but HICOM was able to strike a deal with some benefactors, it seems," said Kyle. Archius' ears tingle at the sound of that. If Sato and him can loosen Kyle up, they might get another lead. "It'll make up for the losses we got."

"Really?" asked Archius. He placed himself against the wall beside Kyle. "Never knew. Communications are tight, getting missions done is much harder."

"I know right!" exclaimed Kyle, "And my sister keeps pestering me for stuff…"

Familial problems… Archius can somewhat remember that. But he didn't feel versed enough to use that, it's been too long for that avenue of approach. Instead he'll use Kazuki's complaints when he talks about his own sister.

"Oh, tell me about it! I'm currently paying for my sister to go to school and she has the gall to complain about the fucking homework!" lied Archius, shouting to better sell his frustration.

"Hah, my sister wants a space-map, says she wants to explore the stars…" Kyle laughed for a moment.

"Well, good luck to her," said Archius, feeling nothing as Kyle smiled. Every bond he made was for the mission. Kyle reminded him of himself, back before the bombs fell. His sister always pestered him… he hated it back then. The thoughts slowly wandered to hate, as he glanced towards Sato.

But those thoughts quickly faded as he gave his response to Kyle. "Woes unto the elder brother!"

"Woes indeed," said Kyle, "I've only been here for a month and it already feels like home…"

"Yeah, transferred from the surface," said Archius. The elevator's outside view gave way to a concrete wall surrounding it. They were getting closer…

"The surface?" asked Kyle, raising an eyebrow. "Didn't we abandon it? You saw what happened to Kelly's team; heard she got captured. Well, she did do a lot of damage though, a few dead civvies should stir some trouble."

It seems like Kyle was just as ruthless as all the others, Archius thought. But that was the least of his concerns, or worth of notetaking.

"We got stranded up there," lied Archius. Shit. He slipped up. He should have avoided such rosy topics… Kyle's face maintained suspicion.

Then, he turned to Archius. "Wait—"

It was enough. He sent a ping to Sato on his uplink as their earpieces blinked red. Her eye glanced to the camera in the elevator as she tapped her ICAPAD - scrambling it. With that dealt with, Archius dropped his face. With a soulless stare, he slit Kyle's throat in a single motion with his pen-knife