Point of Documentation: Unknown
The soft dirt made a wonderful bed for all forms of life, be that bugs, animals, or people. The tree cover above the dirt cast a warm gaze in an otherwise chilly morning and bathed said dirt and weeds in its nurture. The light was interrupted, a premature shadow cast across the ground as a body moved over it in slow, rhythmic patterns. The worms and beetles that made their home amongst the foliage fled back underground in annoyance at being disturbed so early in the morning. A simple rabbit, brown of fur and beady of eyes, watched from a nearby bush as the body carried itself slowly forwards. The tanned form moved so slowly that it nearly seemed that of a dead body more than a person scooting along the ground.
The man, as was evident from the shape and how they carried themselves, drug their own body along the ground some meters forwards before coming to a stop at a break in the greenery. A small cliff sloped down before him and made for a rapturous view of the forest below. The forest that was a spot of green in this grey and dying land that was Earth. A sigh escaped his lips as he thought back to what it looked like before. Whilst the urbanization of the world was nothing short of expected, swathes of green still existed in plenty of places. One of those was near here, but now was nothing more than a graveyard to remind those that come after of what they can never have again. Well, at least in that area.
Fishing in his cloak, the man brought out a pair of oddly shaped binoculars and raised them up to look through. His eyes fell on what seemed to be the entrance to a compound of some kind. The distance they were in the wooded grove meant that this had to be the place of the bandits. It wasn’t far from the town he received the job from, which raised all kinds of concerns within him.
The job was a simple one: spot the place and record how many and where the forces were. If able, he was to sabotage anything that might be defenses and record anything out of place. The gate of a compound definitely fell under ‘out of place’ here. The man raised the binoculars up and followed the apparent path through the forest that the gate guarded.
Where normal binoculars and his pair differed was not so fundamental. His pair was a ‘Spotting Binocular’. All binoculars are spotting by nature, but these ones come with some built in niceties. One of which he used as the man ran his eyes over the trail and it was marked on like a display on his device. It recorded the winding nature of the trail and plotted the most likely course and recorded it to the device as well. With this he was able to easily follow the path up to a decaying and destroyed building hidden behind some trees in the distance. Whatever compound this was at one point, it was one-hundred and eighty meters of road just to get to the building itself. The red cross above what seemed to be a main entrance said that it must have been a medical building of some kind. A hospital, maybe?
An armored vehicle lay at the entrance of the building. It seemed to be some kind of open-top vehicle with an HMG, a real nasty machine-gun that hits far above its weight class. While infantry would obviously be worried over any gun, an HMG can also punch holes through lightly armored vehicles and armored cars. The vehicle it was mounted on what looked like a pretty standard armored car that the Ural Federation used before The Fall: open top, light, and meant to haul people and supplies.
His eyes once more drifted up to the building itself. Barely held together with wooden band-aides applied by the residents; the building was crumbling down and nearly falling apart at the seams. He spotted some patrols on the upper and lower levels as well as some bandits out and about in the compound’s area. A mix of people of different weapons, styles, and armor. Yeah, this was definitely a ‘come as you are’ kind of outfit. They probably looted or stole half the gear that they wear.
The earpiece the man had in crackled to life as a voice came over it. “Mr. A, it’s time to check in. What’s the situation, over?” The voice was smooth, warm, and felt like an embrace every time he heard it. If only the voice matched the personality.
He heaved a sigh as the supposed ‘Mr. A’ raised a hand up to his ear and pressed on the comms button. “Mr. C, this is Mr. A here. I’ve found the bandit’s lair. Same spot they thought it was in, minus some deviation. Sizeable force, more than the local enforcers can deal with. Guards, were they? Roughly thirty-plus hostiles, one hard target, and a dilapidated strong point. Distance from checkpoint to gate is five-hundred meters, from gate to building is roughly one-hundred and eighty meters.”
A sizeable silence came over Mr. A as he waited for the reply. In the meantime, he started looking over some of the windows in the building to see if he could spot anything unusual in them. With a flick of his index finger, the man switched over his device to a piercing view that showed heat behind walls. A thermal view that used predictive analysis to construct people even behind objects. The man gave a low whistle under his breath as he marveled at how far this technology had come over the years.
Mr. A’s jaw set as he looked through the device. Mr. C’s voice came back through and spoke once more. “The White-Coats here have elected to continue their movements regardless. They stated that normal weapons won’t have much affect on their shock-troops. Have you spotted anything else?”
The lack of reply from Mr. A as he stared made Mr. C start to ask his question again. However, it was cut off as Mr. A spoke. “Artillery it first. Use what the scavenger offered and hit them before we go in.”
“What? I thought it was only–” Started Mr. C before he was cut off again.
“I’m seeing close to fifty-plus hostiles now, and a heavy dark spot on the second floor. Either that means we have nine 1st-Grades clumped together, three 2nd-Grades–”
“Or a 3rd-Grade Void-User in the building.” Finished Mr. C. “I’ll let them know and maybe they’ll change their minds. Anything else unexpected?”
The man looked over the building a few more times before sighing again. “Looks like a 1st-Grade Void-Scourged near the bottom in what I think is an office. I saw some signatures go down a stairwell next to that room, so I’m guessing there’s an underground too. No sign of anyone in the building bound like they were looking for.”
“Must be downstairs then.” Came the reply. “Keep a lookout for a little bit longer, then head back if you don’t see anything. Cadence is already telling those white-cloaked bastards where to shove their ‘caution’, and Valentine is having a hell of a time convincing them to not kick them all out. I have a feeling they will either move soon, or the artillery promise will be revoked.”
Mr. A grunted at this. The woman had convinced the white-cloaked men to put out a mission on her behalf, and had even rallied some of the Garrison and even some of the locals to her side. She wasn’t a very convincing person, but that Valentine with her sure was. He was the one that had convinced Mr. A to take on the job after all. If only the White-Cloaks hadn’t tacked on their information about Mr. J to the end of the deal.
“Right, right. When I’m done here, we’re getting our pay and moving on, yeah?” Mr. A muttered before raising the device again.
Mr. C sighed on the other end and replied. “Hopefully. This is the third town we’ve tried, and I’m starting to think desperation is a poison to all common decency. Over and out.”
Point of Documentation Shift: Cadence
Cadence had answered the call to the Mayor’s own district. By the time they had gotten there, night had fallen, and it was a pain to get them in. That was until Valentine had come out to get them. Not only had Valentine come, but so had Arnold. This had resulted in a group of Martinez, Cadence, Valentine, and Arnold all standing at the gate, two of which were on the opposite side, attracting a small crowd of guards to investigate. The White-Coats had come some time after to let them in and clear up the confusion with the guards. So much of it was a rush of events that Cadence barely realized that she had crossed the threshold of the White-Coat’s, the “Mayoral Guard” as they tried to be called, main place of business.
The group of them were ushered into a main lobby that had more security than the main gate did. Metal detectors, snipers on the balcony outside, armed guards with heavy armor colored white, and security doors just to name a few. The place was like some kind of fortress within the city as it paraded as nothing more than a building for offices and business.
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Valentine looked around at everything they passed with an eye that seemed to be taking in everything in extensive detail. Whether he was looking for something they wouldn’t miss or an easy way out was hard to tell. The look on his face, however, was not missed by the trio of guards leading them along.
“Oui, quit your rubber-necking. Trash like you should be honored to be in such a building as this.” The lead guard was a woman of some kind, hidden away behind the outfit, armor, and helmet. She was, however, apparently a massive grouch.
Valentine grimaced at the reprimanding. “Now now,” he said, putting an inflection of apology in his voice, “there’s no reason to get all upset. I’m a man of many talents, and one of those is simply being more observant than the common man. I’m admiring your works of art.”
It was not lost on Cadence that the room they were currently in lacked furnishings, let alone much art on the wall. She winced as the lead guard stopped their procession and turned towards him. “You’re here under the request of Chief Albatross. I, however, can rescind that invitation at my own leisure if you’re deemed a malignant individual. So please, mind yourself. Or else. I will not ask for a second day in a row.”
Valentine put up his hands in surrender and said nothing more. Arnold gave a roll to his eyes, but nothing more was added to the confrontation. It seemed as if Valentine had been here since they split up, Cadence noted. How long had Arnold been here?
The group made their way to an elevator and rose up to near the top, the eighth floor, before exiting. The building had ten floors, but she doubted the top floors were open to people not in the organization at least. They exited to a hall that they proceeded to go all the way down. Dozens of doors went past, each of them having no markings or designations on them to differentiate them from the last. Yeah, that wasn’t concerning at all.
They stopped at one of the doors, still no marking on it, and opened the door for them. Valentine groaned in annoyance. “Please tell me there’s at least furniture this time–” His words were cut off as the guide gave a hard shove to Valentine to get him in there. Arnold just continued after, and Martinez luckily helped Cadence into the room on her unsteady feet.
There were a pair of couches in the room around a tea table. A chair sat at the head of the table facing away from the door, a table that was laden with sweets and drinks. The room itself was furnished in nothing but monochrome colorings and décor that made the room almost seem liminal in nature. In the chair sat Chief Albatross with a folder in hand and a bored look on his face. He gazed up and gestured to the couches. “No need to stand this time, please take a seat. Accommodations were made.”
The quartet of miscreants, as they felt, sat themselves down on the couches, Martinez helping Cadence to the one on the right. As they sat, Albatross set the folder down and sighed. “I asked you all to come here for different reasons. I held a mockery of an interrogation when it came to the two of you,” he gestured at Valentine and Arnold, “but you two came to my attention soon after.” He said the last part as he looked to Cadence. “I hear you’re all trying to raid a local crime family. One that’s been causing us trouble in no small amounts.”
A spark of hope ignited in Cadence’s heart as she heard this, but then died as the man shook his head. “Illegal activities carried out by the non-security populace for a good cause is still illegal by a wide margin. There’s a fine line between making a citizen’s arrest and lobbing grenades into a building.” He stopped and frowned before continuing. “Well, I guess not that fine of a line. The point is, I have gotten enough out of Valentine and Arnold here, under duress that is, to have all of you thrown out of the city and your assets seized.”
Valentine leaned up and put his hands on the table. “Now hold on–” Martinez also started to shout at the man, but their words never came out. At the same time Valentine was about to continue his sentence, the sound in the room stopped traveling as it should. Albatross’s features became sharper, and it seemed as if the man was more of a wild animal than a man. But as soon as it came, the feeling vanished. Valentine and Martinez both sat back in a small haze, Valentine the better off.
Albatross leaned forwards and scowled. “I will not hold. As it stands, your actions since you’ve entered the city, Miss Cadence, have been malicious at best and terroristic at worst. We’ve been tracking you since a ‘Templar’ entered the city, and have gathered what you have done so far as evidence if we need it. Valentine here was a suspected criminal already, and the other two were model citizens. All three are now in a meeting room with me, and that is because of you and this man, yes?”
It was less of a question and more of a statement. One that made Cadence’s forehead clammy with sweat. This man easily outclassed Valentine in power, and the rest of them were just normal people comparatively. She had no chance to walk away from what she thought would be a friendly check-in. She swallowed and spoke, a raspy tone in her voice. “That… would be right.”
“And where is this man now?” His stern expression was not wavering.
Cadence gave a shake of her head and answered nervously. “He’s what we were going after. He had been kidnapped by Petrov’s men and… we don’t know where he is or what they might be doing with him.”
Valentine shook his head and chimed in. “No, not true.” All eyes fell on him and he continued. “I found out through my contacts that they have a base of operations outside the city in the old town’s center.”
Cadence looked mortified that Valentine would talk openly like this, but Albatross just sighed to his words and looked back towards Cadence and Martinez. “I’m currently willing to waive everything and those charges to speak to the man that came in with you. This Outlander that you came in with and tried to pass off as a Templar. Since he’s currently not reachable, as Valentine has stated, I’m willing to extend a helping hand. But I won’t budge without a favor from you.”
Cadence stared for a moment before she clued in that he was talking to her. Her?? “What could I possibly offer that you would need?” She was not only drawing a blank, but couldn’t even drum up the ghost of a thought for what the man could even need of her.
Chief Albatross sighed, leaning back and relaxing for the first time since they had entered this room. “You’ll understand at a later date. We can talk about it then. However, Petrov and his men are some of the scummiest the city has to offer for thugs and day-light robbers. If they have your man, we need to move. Quickly at that.”
The 180 that this mood shifted by still had Cadence at a slack-jawed look as the man who was threatening to put them under turned around and offered to front help. She nodded, Martinez nearly shaking her as she needed roused from her stupor, and answered. “Alright, we can discuss that later. What can you offer us in the meantime?”
Albatross fingered a button on his chair’s arm and spoke. “Send in Mr. A and Mr. C. I have a new contract for them.”
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A day passed after that, Cadence being offered residence in the meantime from Martinez. They had each gone back to their own business while the White-Coats worked on finding and scoping out the place of residence for Petrov’s gang. By the mid of the second day, however, they were all brought back to the White-Coats headquarters and let into the upper levels.
A man by the name of Mr. C was in the room with a team of operatives that ran this nerve-center. They were relaying back and forth with some kind of device that was in his ear, and communications were not being passed between that nerve-center everyone stood in. The pale man was tall for a human, built like a foreman instead of a scout as he was introduced as. He also had an aura around him that seemed to soothe Cadence when she stepped too close to him. That was alarming by itself, but Valentine refused to go anywhere near the man. Something about the man being ‘worse than Albatross in the worst way’.
She stood in there for some time before Mr. C started confirming that the place they had suspected was crawling with people. When the report came over, Albatross had immediately called for a detachment of troops from the Guard by sent and to flush them out. Cadence, seeing the writing on the wall, argued against immediate action. Marshall was just a normal man. Lost, sure; but normal. If he was caught in the firefight he would die.
Mr. A was asked to stay on station and Albatross turned his attention to Cadence. “Miss Cadence, I must ask: what would you suggest other than breaking down the door on these thugs? I doubt they’d put up much of a fight, and we have a half a dozen Void-Scourged on the payroll we can mobilize.”
Half a dozen made Cadence’s eyes go wide. To see even three in a town was a lot. To know that one group had at least seven to their number? That was unheard of this far out in a remote town like this. She cleared her head and answered quickly. “I have a team outside the town that has artillery. They can shell the top of the building and the yard, causing chaos and allowing you all to slip in to extract him. You can do that, right?”
It was less of an accusation, and more wonder on Cadence’s part. This was all far too new to her, and she was hanging on words she half-knew. When Albatross paused and actually thought about it, it surprised Cadence. Valentine cut in here and tried to assure that Cadence meant the best by the comment. He was trying, she’d give him that. However, it didn’t look like Albatross needed much pushing in the matter.
“Alright.” came the reply to two shocked faces.
“What?” Valentine replied in a surprised tone, looking to Cadence as he spoke again. “We can defer to your judgement, as you’re the tactical–”
Albatross gave a wave and faced towards the screens showing the map of the area. “No, we’ll use your artillery. My men can be in position in thirty minutes. How long will it take you to contact your team?”
With a quick movement, Cadence stepped up next to him. “As soon as I can get back to my warehouse. I have a line right to them. But how will I–”
“They’ll go on the first shell,” came the curt reply. He leaned over and spoke to one of his number, eventually turning back to Cadence with a piece of paper. “This is the coordinates. Give them thundering skies, and we’ll get your man out.”