Not much to say here, had some spare time so I had the time to write a bit.

Enjoy.

Ps. if anyone knows that name props to you. And if you know it you probably can think of at least three other characters. that might Show up at some Point.

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It took us barely 10 minutes to come into vision of the outskirts.

To be honest it looked more like a slum than anything else. From a small hill we could make out a multitude of streets leading towards the inner city. It seemed like most of the population was currently asleep. Barely any cars were moving through the dimly lit roads.

Thought there where single buildings that looked a bit out of place with well tended walls and surrounding.  Most of them where simply run down. I was sure that the further one got into the town the better the living conditions would get. It was always like this.

"Liam marked their hideout on the map. Rose, you head over to the both of them, while me, Alex and Songe take a look at where our friends from the military have been.

Rose, tell Liam that if anything comes up I want him to instantly signal us about it. I don't want to risk "Child's play" being able to prepare."

Karen's orders left no room for arguments, as such we silently nodded while another green marker left the premise into Liams direction.

"Ok, we're going. Try to keep long range coms to a minimum... to be honest, don't try to talk at all. We don't know what kind of equipment they have at their disposal. Follow me.

Slowly she starts jogging towards the first buildings and jumps into their yard. The grass has long seen better days and is already yellow from lack of water.

I look around while slowly moving after our Captain. Broken rusted toys and a small sandbox is everything I can make out before we jump over the small fence and head through the next one.

I wasn't in fear of ever being discovered. Everyone was either already asleep or not interested in what happened outside... and even if, from what I could gather this was not a good neighborhood. As such most citizen that saw dark clad figures walking through their garden would try to stay out of trouble ignoring us completely.

Luckily for us the motel we wanted to 'visit' was not a long distance away from the border of town. We reached its backside quickly and stopped at the sight of Karens fist.

"Our men are supposed to be on the upper floor, luckily for us to be honest. We're going to climb up and make our way to their rooms. I want anyone that sees us knocked out. It does not matter too much if one or two people see us but I don't want that to go overboard. Understood?"

She had not talked over the com but through simple speakers integrated into her equipment.

Both of us nod.

"Let's go."

Without hesitating Karen jumps against the dark bricks of the hotel leaving the trashcans behind her. Skillfully she grabs different ledges and swings herself further upwards. Next to me Songe does the same.

A small laugh escapes me while I look at them. Although I had their limbs and maybe even reaction time superior to them I didn't know whether I could make these kinds of movements.

I was still carrying my entire equipment plus weapons.

I shook my head involuntarily and used my power to attach myself to the wall. Then I simply stepped on it and walked upwards.

I had done this often enough in the past.

Careful not to step on any windows I make my way up to them. Arriving at the top I see Songe who seems to laugh inside of his suit shaking his head.

Tilting mine I send a message towards him.

What?

I knew he was not going to answer but he just pointed at me and shook his head again.

A sharp motion from the side from our Captain made us cease everything.

Yea... we were not here for fun. We had a job to fulfill.

There was quite literally nothing but a few vents and a door leading down... Not that I expected anything else.

Karen walks towards the door and opens it without much effort.

I had expected it to be locked but paid it no thought while following Songe who had went second.

The stairs leading down were old and unilluminated with a rusted handrail... Not that we needed any of those.

Stopping in front of the door leading to the highest floor Karens voice once more echoes through her speakers.

"We're going straight to room 410. No talking except if there is actual danger. Anything else you can deal with how you see fit. Let's go."

With that she slowly opens the door revealing a illuminated corridor. Though there was nobody in sight we still sneaked on the yellow carpet.

With a motion our Captain signals Songe to take the front. In the small formation I slowly walk backwards keeping the doors behind us in check. Suddenly one of the ones to our side with the label 423 opens and a young couple walks out. Both of them seem like tourists clothed for warm weather with shorts.

"How about we go to that place in th-"

The rest of the blonde youth's sentence gets cut off as Karen and Songe instantly react.

Both of them grab one and while covering their mouths with one hand they knock them out with the back of their other.

They lose consciously instantly and we transport them onto their bed while I keep watch outside.

Songe and Karen didn't seem fazed in the slightest due to what they had done and just keep moving forward.

All other rooms seem quiet and though we had to wait once for an attendant to move away we quickly arrive in front of our target room.

With a few hand signs Karen signals us to ready our weapons and both of us aim towards the door while she slowly and silently lifts the door out of its hinges.

It was easier and more silent than breaking into the room.

With the door still in both hands she takes a step back and lets us move into the dark room.

Afterwards she slowly places the door back how it was supposed to be and turns around to us.

Through our sensors we quickly make out four people sleeping in the two double beds. They did not seem to have noticed us. Without making any move to wake them up Karen walks up to one of the beds and musters the two inside.

Then her muffled voice reaches us.

"It's them for sure... but why are they sleeping? They should've known that we were coming."

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Then more brutal she shakes one of the people awake while Songe turns on the lights. Instantly the four wake up from the brightness surrounding them and two pull out small arms from under their pillows and aim at us.

I muster them. Two middle aged men and two women. They probably had the cover of two couples living here or something. Both men though had the typical military short haircut together with one of the women. The last one seemed younger,wore her light brown hair long and looked at us in confusion.

Karens visor glides up to reveal an angry Captain.

"Put those guns down right now. Why are you just asleep like this during a liquidation mission of a high ranking esper? Even if you're part of the elite this is slacking off at its highest. What do you have to defend yourself? Sergeant Kisk?"

The man in the left bed with short blond hair sits up and motions his companions to put down their guns. He looks at us with dark blue eyes and a stern face. Though he seemed tired he was not intimidated in any way.

"Captain Ithild. We're not your personal hunters that have to follow your exact orders. We're from the Espers, so at least treat us like colleagues. Since we were told not to engage in combat we decided to take a rest."

If looks could kill. With a frosty tone to her voice Karen simply glares at him.

"I want an answer. We thought you had gotten compromised or something. You didn't even send us a conformation signal and you were asleep during the time we were clearly going to arrive."

Seemingly surprised the Sergeant opens his eyes.

"What do you mean? Leila said she send you everything you needed, this was the reason why we even went to sleep."

I notice a movement in the corner of my eye but I was too slow. Multiple silenced shots could be heard and both the Sergeant and the other woman fall to the side with blood flowing from open wounds in their upper bodies.

My instincts take over as I jump to the side aiming towards the two other people inside the room.

The long haired woman smiled dubiously and aimed a gun towards us while the other man reloaded a rifle...

I was surprised, I had not seen him pick it up.

Karen and Songe did not seem fazed though. While I had jumped into cover the both of them had stood their ground not caring about the bullets that had hit their armor, barely leaving a mark. Though both aimed their respective rifle at the two enemies.

"I take it you're Leila... Care to tell us your real name? I know you're part of the forces stationed here so when did you betray your superior?"

Tilting her head the woman laughs out once. Then her hair started to change revealing long golden strands. Her features changed to leaving us with a golden eyed half naked beauty.

"Friends of mine call me Slaanesh... Not that this really matters for you, You don't really need to remember my name, I'm just returning the favor of a friend. I didn't think you'd actually instantly head here... Ahh well, take it as a small mistake on my part."

She laughs again but before she can move Songe overtook the distance between them trying to seize her.

Sadly he did not succeed and collided with the other man who's facial expression seemed dull with blurry eyes.

Still laughing the woman opened a window behind her bed.

"I'd love to play with you guys a bit more but I have more to do right now. Don't bother looking for your intel, it's gone."

I aim towards her and start unloading at the open window. Again the man intercepts the things heading for the woman. This time by simply stepping into the rain of bullets coming from me and Karen. Blood starts leaking out of his torn body but he remains unmoving.

"Karen? This guy... I don't know what's up with him but he clearly does not feel any pain."

Songe opens and closes one of his hand that seem to have bloody mush inside of it.

"It doesn't matter. Everything dies once it's brain is destroyed."

With that she jumps forward burying her fist inside of the man's face. A sickening sound fills the room and the man who didn't have the time to react simply fall back with a hole where his nose once had been.

Sadly the woman had already left.

"We don't have any intel on her. Songe look through the room and make sure that everything has been destroyed. I wish she was lying but I think the information the team has gathered is probably dead right now."

Nodding Songe makes his way through the rooms.

Then our Captain turns towards me.

"Alex, can you do me a favor and place the corpses on the beds? I'll call command telling them to come pick them up."

I follow her command and muster the three dead espers. The Sergeant's face still had the surprised expression while the woman's face had been distorted by a bullet wound. Lastly the remaining man. Not a lot was remaining of his face ... or his head in that regard. Karen had not hesitated at all. Although it was quite likely that this had been mind control or something comparable. I did not voice my concern though. I knew I probably would have done the same.

I shoved the body on the bed leaving red stains all across my armor while Songe came back from the other rooms shaking his head.

"The data's gone, that woman said the truth, everything's gone. If we want to take "Child's play" out we'll have to do it with the intel we gather ourselves."

Karen shakes her head.

"We'll take care of that woman some other time. Our main target is him. As of now we have to improvise a bit... She'll pay some other time."

Then she motions at me.

"Alex, tell Liam what happened here. We're going to meet up with them. I'm still quite confident that we can take care of anyone as long as we take out "Child's play" beforehand."

Nodding I concentrate.

Liam? You there?

A short silence follows but then he answers.

Yes. Rose arrived without problems we still shut down our coms. We know that "Child's play" has more people at his disposal than we knew. Though only a few of them are unidentified.

Nodding I tell him what happened here.

Ok. So we've been betrayed, or at least compromised. But from what we can gather he's not making any preparations to move out. Rather I think this does not have that much to do with our mission but with something else.

Anyways, we're going to wait at Ignar's position.

Karen looks at me and Songe before finally opening her mouth.

"K let's head to them and talk things over afterwards. I have contacted command to clean this mess up, let's hope none of the civilians notice this mess here."

With that she heads out of the window the golden haired woman had disappeared through.

Looking back at the death one final time I think about what had just happened.

I pitied the three corpses behind me. But my feelings stopped there. They were soldiers that knew what could happen to them.

I shake my head and jump out into the darkness following my Superiors.