Fusion Frenzy

Nobody had followed him through the hatch before it shut, so he put some distance away from it before it was torn away. There had been a second vault door that shut behind Gai as he slipped his way through the hidden entrance to his personal lab - even with the best laser cutters available, a good half an hour would be spent breaching it.

He contacted his most trusted security chief and the lab operations manager with the news, then gave the lab manager the command: Omega Contingency. It was the "screw you" to corporate espionage - back up all data to physical devices at another Arisawa location off-site, then scrub everything to factory defaults.

The entire building had been put on Alert Stage Five, which gave clearance for all personnel to shoot to kill any resistance. Alarms had started going off, and security was being mobilized.

An announcement was made in Japanese, with the English follow-up being, "Alert! Level Five Security Breach! All non-security personnel evacuate immediately!"

With alerts going on and the vault door holding for now, a hidden freight elevator in his personal lab brought his customized Type-16 suit up. Unlike the current generation Type-24 (which was effectively a bipedal light-armored tank that a user entered), the Type-16 was wearable heavy armory equipped in much the same way as conventional armor, albeit far more resistant to ballistics and energy. All his usual refinements were present on this: jetpack and wrist launchers, the latter of which held the full suite of gadgets from mini-rockets to rail gun to a flamethrower.

Gai stepped in and started getting the gear on in a speedy and seamless fashion, finishing off with donning a full-face helmet with an opaque, T-shaped visor before cutting the lights and going to light-amplification, an Apollo Systems Model 9 laser pistol in his hand.


"Keep on guard - Intelli-cams are not responding," one of the approaching security members said.

Outside the executives office, a squad of four security personnel, led by a point man in a Type-24 thundered down the hall, about to open fire on the intruder in sight when the door suddenly closed. An invisible barrier seemed to be blocking any shots from getting in, even from the massive shotgun in the point man's hands - it was based on the old Soviet KS-23, making it one of the largest bore shotguns in existence.

Nawi silently followed, her acute senses picking up the scent of many people inside the office prior to the door being forced shut. There was a faint thrum elsewhere, like an elevator moving. That's when she noticed something off about one of the guards - the next most armored guard took up the rear, and he smelled of fear and desperation. His arm shook lightly as he diverted his aim from the office door to the back of the point man's head. A third guard looked back, mind still trying to process exactly where their rearguard was aiming.

Nawi burst forth with the speed of a leopard, hand swiping up, grappling with the guard that appeared to have gone rogue, the 7.62mm round glancing off of the point man's helmet rather than going through it like the rogue guard was aiming for. The weapon's report drew the attention drew the rest of the team's attention, with them brandishing their weapons at Nawi.

"Freeze!" one ordered, drawing Nawi's attention, which allowed the rogue guard to headbutt her as he drew his sidearm and desperately fire again at the point man.

"Blue on Blue! Blue on -!" one of the guards called before taking a leg shot from the rogue guard. Nawi recovered quickly, instead swiping her claws at the rogue guard's weapon, damaging the gas-system and rendering it incapable of cycling (effectively reducing it to bolt-action), following it with a backhand at the rogue guard's head, knocking him to the floor and dazing him.

While the other mercs were startled by the hatch being flung into the ceiling, Revenant didn’t even blink, his cold white eyes locked on Ryans. The stare was commonly one that made people uneasy, as it was looking into the eyes of death itself.  

Ryan, however, didn’t show any signs of fear, or unease. No, what Revenant saw was the eyes of a man filled with a desire to inflict pain on him, the subtle warning in his eyes crystal clear to the mercenary.  

“Good boy...” If Revenant felt anything, it clearly didn’t show, as he stepped right up to Ryan, signaling a couple of his men to pursue Gai. “I can tell you want to hurt me...” He stated, reaching a hand up, patting the young hero on the cheek. “But I know you’re a smart boy, and you wouldn’t dare risk your friends life...” He held up the remote, leaving it clearly in reach, as if coaxing him. “Just remember, you keep doing as I say, and you and the pretty boy can go home, and we just pretend this day never happened.”  

”Boss, they’re purging the files, something called an “omega contingency”, the files are being backed up to another site, I can’t get a location.”

“Well, Arisawa was bound to win one round at least, no matter...” Revenant turned and walked over to the hole in the floor. “We’ll just have to force him to give us the location.”

“Boss, you need to see this...”  

Revenant cocked his head, before jumping into the hole.  

“A panic room inside a panic room?” One of the mercs looked to Revenant, then back to the vault door.  

“No, this is something else...” Revenant tapped on the solid steel door. “I think Arisawa might be more than he appears to be...” He looked back to his men. “Seems like the theme of today.”  

Suddenly the alarms began to blare, and a voice came over the speakers, declaring the place was locked down.  

“Get out the big guns, I feel we are in for a fight...” Revenant walked back to the exit, taking one solid jump as he left the room, returning to the office.  

Jacob finally pulled himself back to his feet, his eyes locked on Revenant. “What’s wrong, couldn’t hook the big one??” He smirked, wiping away blood from his mouth. He could feel his insides burning, signs that there was some internal damage done. “I heard of you, you’re the guy that hijacked that Military supply train and stole a bunch of weapons and tech...” He winced as he talked. “That’s where you got the guns and this shock disc...” He chuckled, wincing more. “I would be impressed, if the tech wasn’t ancient.”  

Revenant slowly turned to look at Jacob, walking over to him. “I see someone is too stubborn to know when to keep his mouth shut...” He held up the remote. “I supposed I should give you a lesson.”  

“I can get you what you want.”  

Revenant paused, his finger on the button, but not pressing it. “Explain.”  

Jacob stood up straight, fighting through the pain as he fixed his jacket. “Let me guess, you’re here for Arisawas files, more specifically, his designs...” He stepped between Ryan and Revenant. “But Arisawa had the files backed up, and is purging the site now...” He smirked, gesturing to himself. “Fortunately, I have a way to retrieve those files.”  

“And let me guess, you want me to disable the device?”  

“I mean, that’s what we are aiming for, yes?” Jacob looked from Ryan, back to Revenant. “We get you what you want, and everybody goes home?”  

Revenant rubbed the button of the remote, contemplating what to do next, before finally lowering the remote. “Okay, get me my files.”  

“Well, I can’t just snap my fingers and make them appear...” Jacob snapped his fingers, making a point. “I need my watch for that.”  

Revenant chuckled, shaking his head. “Oh, I see, you think if I let you talk to your little AI friend, he cuts the signal to the device, and you just overpower me.”

“I know the tech, and what will happen if I do that...” Jacob stepped up to Revenant, looking him dead in the eyes. “I know the only way to release the device is a special FOB, which I’m sure is in a safe and secure location.” He shrugged. “I was never a strategist, anyways, I mean, if you haven’t seen my previous work.”  

“Oh I have...” Revenant paused for a second, before pocketing the remote. “Alright...” He looked over to Ryan. “We’re gonna need a clear path.”

Ryan felt the faint thrum of bullets against his barrier. Little bites, nothing that wore away at his ability to hold the barrier keeping people out of the room. Nothing they could do would be able to break through, that much Ryan knew. Despite that, he couldn’t push away the deep, biter hatred that roiled within his stomach. All it would take was a thought, a smear across the floor, and nothing more. Even still, he was held in place by someone that had  managed to control him with the press of a button.

All in all, it was something he really hated.

Even his removal of the safe room door was something he did with great reluctance, his own burgeoning despair muddying up his mind. It was hard to think of anything else, which made the whole thing even more difficult. This probably made him no better than Jacob rushing, as if he had a chance against trained mercenaries. Looking between the men, he was constantly thinking of plans to get them out of this.

Jacob spoke up, and he could feel a sudden concern well up in him. He didn’t know what the man was thinking, though there was the hope he had some kind of plan. His following words were the only thing that kept the man from pressing the switch, furthering whatever pain that could follow.  He turned his attention briefly to the appearance of conflict through a blown open door, a familiar woman seemingly fighting with some people out there.

Internal issues? He reached out towards her, trying to connect her mind to his little network of his mind. Once that happened, he could relay a few ideas towards her. He just had to hope she didn’t reject it, otherwise he was in trouble.

If you can hear me miss, I need you to retrieve Jacob’s watch. If you don’t, i’m not sure what I might be forced to do ,

A single thought he hoped the woman would be able to hear, be willing to allow across the line.

His eyes turned to Revenant, still sharp and cold.

”Fine.” If they were still out here, Ryan would just blow through whoever was in his way. The barrier fell, and he stepped through into the fray that was unfolding. Nawi was clashing with the guards, it seemed. With a sigh, he raised a hand and willed the men to slam into the ceiling with what he felt was enough force to incapacitate them.

Outside the office, the rogue guard was cuffed, and the one who took the leg shot was being tended to with a tourniquet.

"Explains why the Intelli-cams are out," the security guard in the Type-24 said. "What I don't understand is why he did it. Arisawa-sama is one of the most generous to his employees among the companies of Japan."

"All I can think of is that whoever is attacking threatened someone close to him," Nawi surmised. The sound of the rogue guard's heartbeat speeding up told her that she wasn't far off the mark. But she tried to focus on what was happening inside the office. The voices were muffled, but it sounded like a hostage situation - and it sounded like they were going to try to make a break for it.

"Look sharp, it sounds like they're going to breach their way out," Nawi informed. The Heavy Guard nodded, sending a signal for reinforcements.

"What's your stake in this, gaijin?" he asked Nawi, trying to avoid looking at the exposed skin from the torn-up linen dress.

"Arisawa-sama was generous enough to give me a few months' security contract," she said. "I'm repaying that generosity."

A voice sounded in her head - she had heard it only briefly earlier...

”Nice to meet you. I’m Ryan Masters.”

That was where she heard it...and he sounded in her mind like he was under duress. Like he was being forced to do something against his will. Nawi wasn't sure if the others were being communicated to in a similar way, but as soon as the doors opened and bodies were being flung, she got on all fours and made a mad dash to the security checkpoint. Only the Heavy in the Type-24 maintained any form of consciousness, albeit he was dazed.

His KS-23 custom was loaded with less-lethal plastic baton rounds, so he took aim and fired at the offenders.

Nawi got to the security checkpoint, though not without issue. Rounding corners at 35 miles per hour wasn't exactly easy. When she was at security, more Heavy Guards were there. She bounded over them. "They have a telepath and telekinietic under duress," she stated bluntly as she clawed open the safety box where guest belongings were held. She grabbed what she suspected was Jacob Mercer's watch.

"What are you-?"

"It's important," Nawi stated plainly, before bounding up into the vent system, surprising even herself at it not giving out under her weight, and her relative silence in moving about the duct.

Great...I'm a panther-loaf... she thought bitterly.


While it was known that Arisawa Heavy Industries had a corporate partnership with Global Armaments, exactly how deep this partnership went was relatively unknown. As the vault door opened, a combat android stood there, its boxy and heavily-armored design before the two mercs that were left behind. Its lone optical sensor glowed red in the dark as it raised its right arm, where a Gatling gun was held and began firing the thing at 80 rounds a second.

Primarily, it was to suppress, but any merc it hit that got killed was one less for what happened next: Torch thrust forward, the orientation of his jetpack allowing him to close the distance between him and the mercs. As he closed in, he cut loose with the flamethrower in his right bracer, sweeping in a cyclone, catching any unfortunate sap with the jetpack's exhaust.

As the door to the office opened, and Ryan cleared the men from the hallway, rendering them unconscious.  

All except the guard in the Type-24, the armor protecting him.  

As he started to open fire on Ryan, the young hero would be quickly yanked back into the office, as Revenant pulled him to the side, to avoid the oncoming fire.  

“You go down, I lose my new weapon...” Revenant signaled to his men, who had moved out of the firing line. “If I lose my weapon, pretty boy doesn’t make it out alive.”  

Jacob, however, wasn’t rescued, as he had to dart for cover for himself, only to get grazed in the arm by one of the rounds, which hit with enough force to spin him around, and put him on the ground.

The mercs returned fire, shooting off rounds of energy, the output strong enough to penetrate armor. They shifted to the doorway, taking up position as they awaited further instructions.  

Before Revenant could give the next order, the sound of gunfire erupted from the panic room, followed by the bursts of flame.  

“You two, deal with that...” Revenant pointed to the panic room. “You three, on me!!” He pulled Jacob back to his feet, holding his arm as he pointed Ryan to the door, the three mercenaries moving in front of them, guns up as they swept the area.  

“Once you get what you’re after, what’s your plan for getting out of here?” Jacob tried to pull himself free from Revenants grasp, but the mercenary had quite a firm hold. “I mean, not exactly like they’re gonna let you get out of Japan with those plans.”  

“Oh I wouldn’t worry about all that...” Revenant pulled him back to his side, gripping his arm tighter. “All I need you and your friend to concern yourselves with is getting me those files.”  

Jacobs face tightened, as the vice-like grip on his arm hurt. “Ya know, your teammates back there could be seriously hurt, or even dead.”  

“Doesn’t matter, means a bigger cut for the rest of us.”  

The three guards glanced over to each other after the comment, before shrugging and continuing forward, guns up and ready.  

“Man, that’s cold...” Jacob looked over to Ryan, then back to Revenant. “So who hired you?” He smirked as Revenants eyes glanced over to him, or at least he felt like they did, it was hard to tell with them being solid white. “I mean, you’re smart, but more tactician smart, you’re not the kinda guy to steal blueprints and prototype designs for yourself, no, someone is footing the bill for this job, and is looking for a score.”  

“Anyone ever tell you that you talk too much?” Revenant didn’t look over this time, as they rounded the corner, the Mercs watching both directions.  

“Oh...” Jacob looked over to Revenants pouches, eyeing the one where he stored the remote. “More times than I can count.”  

Back in the office.

The two mercenaries slowly moved up to the entrance to the panic room, their guns trained on the hole.  

“Hey, you guys good down there?”  

When they didn’t get a response, one of them pulled out a grenade, pressing the button on the top before rolling it into the hole.  

The grenade would drop into the panic room, bouncing a couple times before landing at Torchs feet. It beeped three times before exploding and filling the room with fire and shrapnel.

Of the people taken down there was one that didn’t get affected much by his attempt to throw the guards around.  Most of them hit the ceiling and then collided with the floor, too stunned to do anything else. There was one left, wearing armor that looked heavy and advanced enough to resist his casual attempt to throw them around.

A weapon was raised, and a round fired off. He didn’t really find himself concerned with any damage, it would have been a bruise at best, and even then he knew it would heal up quickly. This Revenant didn’t know that, so he pulled him away from the fire and not Jacob.

”If he dies, no one will save you from me.” Was all he responded with, noting his friend having to dive for cover before he was riddled with holes. The surrounding mercenaries returned fire, deadly energy rounds firing off in a way he was sure were meant to kill. There was a desire to do something, yet he knew what was on the line now. Even now, he kept his eyes on the pouch, wondering if the switch were real or a decoy.

Would taking it actually take the power from him, or would it simply put his friend in a situation where he had no chance to be saved. Nawi held his friends' life in her hand now, if she were fast enough to get what the two of them needed. The connection existed still, so he hoped she would send something back eventually.

Even still, he had to follow, there was too much riding for him to ignore for now. If we can hold out for a few more minutes you should have access to Yuri back, He sent the message across to Jacob, trying to keep track of all around him.

He approached the door with the other three mercs, the armor was still an issue. He needed to deal with the man in armor somehow, so he motioned and put a lot more force behind it. A telekinetic will meant to throw him through whate he assumed would be several walls, likely to be less of an issue now.

On the first bounce, Torch turned his head, registering the grenade and recognizing it on the second bounce before jetting away to another corner of the panic room. A warning on his HUD read "Danger: Heat", indicating that he had taxed the jetpack and flamethrower too hard, and that they'd be unusable until enough heat had dissipated.

Some shrapnel had lodged itself in his armor, but since he was at the edge of the blast radius, nothing had entered his body.

He still had his laser pistol, and the active GA03-SOLARWIND combat android was moving up to the hole, its gatling gun trained on the hole in the event that someone dropped down. I swear, as soon as my heat dissipates, I'm going to introduce these mercs to the concept of a "glory hole".

The Heavy Guard outside the office wasn't so lucky with his happenings. While his Type-24 tanked the first two energy bolts without much problem, every one of them after that went through, peppering his organs. Being thrown throw several walls was just insult to injury, ensuring he'd bleed to death out of sight.


Nawi was impressed by the progress she made through the vent system, despite them not really being meant to accommodate human travel. Arisawa Heavy Industries was a lot of things; a corporation from the Deus Ex games was not one of them. Still, she was able to force open one of the vents in a side office while the sound of energy weapons firing was in the air.

Silently, Nawi landed in the office on all fours, before rolling behind a conference desk, Jacob's watch in her mouth. She then started fiddling with it. She hoped this Ryan guy was still on the line, as it were...

I don't know if you can hear me, but I have the watch. How to I operate this thing?

”It’s  voice operated...” Jacob replied in his head. ”The AI is named Yuri, and just tell him to activate the guardian protocols...” He looked over to Ryan as he smirked, before looking back ahead. ”I’ll take it from there.”

Revenant, none the wiser, finally let go of Jacobs arm, spinning around as someone approached from behind.  

“I did as you asked...” The Rogue guard, still in cuffs, had regained consciousness. “Now please, you gave me your word me and my family would be safe.”  

Revenant lowered the pistol he had trained on the guard, rubbing the back of his head. “Yeah, you’re right, I said your family would be safe...” He aimed the gun again. “I never said anything about you.”

The guard was about to protest, before a bullet would go through his head, and he would drop to the floor, dead.

“Nothing person, I just can’t afford loose ends.” Revenant holstered the pistol, turning back to the group. “Come on...” He grabbed Jacob again, moving him forward. “We’re on a deadline.”  

“What, boss get cranky if the little rabbit isn’t back in time for tea?” Jacob followed the Mercenary.  

Office

The two mercs moved over the panic room, seeing their comrades, who were what one would describe as "thoroughly cooked". They stood at the edge, out of line of sight from the mini-gun aimed at the hole.  

“You go first, I’ll cover you.”  

“Screw that, look at them, and we don’t know if whatever is down there is dead, throw another grenade.”  

“I only brought the one.”  

“You serious? You only one brought one grenade?”  

“I used the other two back in Tijuana, and couldn’t afford to resupply, why do you think I joined this job?”  

“So unprofessional!”

The two men continued to argue, seemingly forgetting about the situation they currently found themselves in, unaware of the threat that resided under their feet.

Now with the two connected through his mind, he could start the steps towards unraveling this mercs little plans. He smirked back at Jacob, a little pleased with the plan. Tacticians were fine, but without strategy that could survive contact with an enemy they were worthless. He didn’t plan for anything like telepathy from what Ryan could tell, which would be his downfall. Lacking knowledge in how the watch operated, he said nothing, opting to let the expert explain himself. Instead he would keep his mind on Revenant, contemplating how he would hurt the man. Countless different ways that roiled, cut off from the access of the others in his hive mind.

It wasn’t their business anyway. Intrusive thoughts were something that everyone was allowed to keep secret. Killing off his accomplice was another reason for Ryan to contemplate how he should kill this bastard, if only because he got rid of people at his own convenience. He had no morals, not even ethics, he ran off of beside base personal gain. It was enough to make him sick, to feel a cool kind of rage that burned in his veins.

I’’ll kill you, i’ll kill you, i’ll kill you,

A mantra he spoke within his own mind, holding back the energy that begged to be released from him.  He jerked on Jacob’s arm again, committing another sin against him now. Even still he followed the man step by step, having swept away the obstacle in his path.  What was his plan? Find wherever Gai kept his spare files? Oh well, they’d find out soon enough.

The two mercenaries arguing outside the panic room had went on long enough for the heat to dissipate and the jet pack to be usable again. But Torch didn't do so. Creeping silently along the edge of the hatch's blind spot, he pulled out a fragmentation grenade, pulling the pin and letting go of the safety lever, let it cook for a second, and - with the minor strength increase of the Type-16 - tossed it up through the hatch.

The resulting explosion would be a demonstration of the downsides of looking down a glory hole. Regardless of whether there were kills or not, the GA-model combat android would jet up and sweep the office for threats before proceeding down the hall.


Lowering her voice to one that would be extremely difficult to pick out - more so with several layers of wall and would between her and the attackers - Nawi listened to the voice in her head. In the normal world, voices in one's head would be a sign of mental illness, but Nawi's life since the gods gave her the power of the panther had been a giant stretch of one weird happening after another. At some point, you questioned things less.

"Yuri...Jacob's orders," she muttered. "Activate Guardian Protocols..."

”Voice recognition activated...” The watch lit up, as Yuri spoke out loud. “Level one access confirmed, hello, Nawi, confirming command, activating guardian protocol.”  

Customs.  

The Agent set to watch over the buildings storage sat at his desk, his eyes glued to a small, portable television. He was watching a local game show, eating his lunch his wife made.  

He didn’t hear the massive crate stored away, as the lock beeped rapidly three times, followed by a click, indicating the latch had been unlocked. The crate then swung open, the Talos suit rising out of it, hovering over to the exit.  

The guard nearly dropped his bowl of ramen as he watched the suit hover past him, it’s head turning, scanning him, before reaching the door.  

It paused for a second, then slowly reached up, being careful to not rip the door off its hinges as it opened slowly. It turned to look at the guard, giving a wave, as if saying goodbye.  

The guard, confused, raised his own hand and waved back, unable to speak as he watched the suit step outside, and take off into the air.  

Arisawa office  

“Look, we’ll flip for it...” One of the mercs pulled a quarter from one of his pouches. “Heads, you go, tails, I...”  

Before the merc could finish, their attention was diverted to the grenade that had been lobbed up at them from the hole. Their bodies were sent flying across the office before tumbling to the floor.  

Arisawa Hallway  

”Boss, we got a situation back at the office, three and four are dead in the panic room, and five and six just got blasted by a grenade.”

Revenant stopped, looking back towards the Office, then to Jacob, and finally Ryan. “Oh, you two are clever.” He pulled out the remote, hitting the button again, letting go of Jacobs arm.  

Jacob collapsed to the floor, the second wave hurting even more than the first, most likely due to the damage already done.  

“So what was the plan, divide and conquer?” Revenant turned off the device, but pinned Jacob by his throat, holding the remote up, to remind Ryan what he could do if the young hero tried to make a move. “You knew Arisawa would have a plan to fight back, and you decided to lure me away, give the old man a chance to even the playing field.”  

“What, are you talking about?” Jacob choked out. “We just met the guy today, and you kinda interrupted our chance to get to know him.”  

“So you’re trying to tell me you had no idea?”  

“If I did, I would have said something, contrary to what you may think, I really don’t want to be shocked to death.”  

Revenant looked up to Ryan. “You better not be lying to me, pretty boy...” He drew his pistol again, aiming it at Ryan. “See, I think your friend here won’t let me kill you, but how far is willing to go to save your ass?”  

“You kill him, and you won’t get those files...” Jacob snarled. “He dies, you’ll have to kill me too.”  

Revenant paused a few seconds, which felt like a lifetime to Jacob, before lowering the pistol. “You know what...” He lifted his foot, pulling Jacob to his feet. “You make a good point, I can’t afford to lose your friend right now...” He adjusted the young heroes tie, helping him straighten his already damaged suit. “Especially since we are going back.”  

“Say what?”  

“Arisawa most likely knows of our plan, he has this whole place wired and monitored...” Revenant looked back down the hall. “And I am afraid he isn’t just cowardly CEO...” He looked back to the two young heroes. “So, we take the fight to him, well, more specifically, blue boy here...” His eyes rested on Ryan. “Oh yes, I know exactly who you are, Cobalt...” He nodded to Jacob. “Talos and Cobalt fight off Jacks nightmares in Vegas, and suddenly Jacob has a new best friend?”  

Jacob looked to Ryan. ”He’s got a point there, sorry...” He stated in his head. ”This is actually good, the suits got at least twenty minutes before arrival, so we head back...” He paused, realizing something. “Can you add Arisawa to our little private chat here, let him know we need a diversion, and that you’re gonna be holding back, enough to convince the creep here, Nawi, if you are still listening, I would suggest getting out of the building, things are gonna get heated.”

Soon. That was a word that echoed around in the confines of his mind. All he had to do was wait for Yuri to figure out what would jam the signal, counteract it or whatever it did. How long would it take, and how much would revenant get away with before they could stop him? It was a kind of shame that burnt cold in his chest, as if he could have done something, but there was something holding him back.

His attention turned quick to  Revenant spoke up, raising the switch and pressing again. He hit the floor in an instant, Ryan watching with helpless and wide eyes.  Eyes that were beginning to glow a low, yet brilliant icy blue color. Brimming with the very energy that bubbled beneath his skin. Would he be able to hold the cold rage back or would this man splatter across the wall the moment he made another mistake like this? Was this the last mistake?

The mercenary shouted around accusations and threats, pointing a weapon at his head. Did he even know how little that peashooter could do to him? The moment a gun was pointed in his face, he felt a smile curl onto his lips. An almost unspoken do it. The man didn’t know what he could do, not what his body was actually capable of. Would being shot in the head actually kill him? Would his brain regenerate, all of his memories left intact? So many questions with so little time to answer.

Jacob was talking, likely trying to deescalate whatever violence that could unfold. Kindling in him like a flame. Distant sounds of combat, explosions that sent little rumbles through the walls and floors. Not everyone had it as easy as he did, even his friend needed a suit to really match this kind of people. He wasn’t so worried about that, nothing about them made him actually think he could die. All the others were the weak links.

It was so hopeless.

” Congratulations on your rudimentary deduction. Do you want a cookie?” He couldn’t deny the building ice that mingled with biting despair. He didn’t know what it was, yet he knew it was something that was beginning to twist within him. He exhaled, breath now a long stream of visible cold air.  I can try. I just need to feel out for his mind first, That was what he did, though there were many minds around him. Many reticent to the touch of his own, fighting against the brush of his mind without thinking about it. He couldn’t blame them there.

Eventually he managed to contact the mind that felt like Arisawa. This is Ryan. We met earlier when things weren’t so chaotic. We need a diversion, because the big man in charge of this little attack is one of those tactical cowards. So I need a convincing fight, long enough of a distraction that Jacob can enact whatever plan he has. He can fill you in on the rest, He left the rest to his friend, hoping that he would know what to do and what to say that would get them both free from this.

Explosives having ruined the room. The hatch was still open, made sense considering he blew it open a few minutes ago.  I’m hard to kill. So don’t worry about going all out on me, He descended downwards, landing in a crouch, eyes honing in on the tight hallway. It wasn’t an ideal place to get into a fight, even still he wasn’t too worried about that.  An explosion rang out at the end of it, so he stepped forward he raised a personal barrier and prepared for the worst.

Cripes. He was being talked to telepathically now? Gai's eyes - not visible through the one-way glass of his suit - darted to and fro through a map of the complex. He easily deduced that the mercenaries were after his Type-24 data - on its own, this wouldn't be a problem, since there have been reports of models being seized from black market traders and the model was coming to the end of its service life, anyway.

Or it would, if the latest upgrades weren't scheduled to be installed to extend their lifespan for a year or two prior to the new model's rollout. He needed to get down to the research levels to make absolutely sure the installations hadn't happened yet, just in case the assailants had a second team that planned to steal a model. But then, he remembered that the mercenaries had broken in from above - and somehow, the assailants knew exactly what happened back in his office.

There must have been someone up there tapping the communications. He had to be disposed of.

Alright. Here's the deal. You'll be dealing with a GA03-SOLARWIND combat android - not me. It's not a precision-shot model, so don't trust your badges to protect you. I'm certain someone is on the roof tapped into the building's lines, Gai said through the link. I need to get down and make sure that the research area is clear. Can anyone get up there and take care of business?

Yes. I can do it, Nawi's voice said in the link.

I'm counting on you... he trailed before stepping into the elevator that was hidden within the redundant panic room; a straight shot down to the sub-basements. It was just large enough to fit him and his gear in, but not so large that it stood out on the floorplans.

In the meantime, the above-mentioned combat android used thrusters to lift itself out of the panic room. The minigun it held in its right arm began spooling up. The android itself was rather boxy and well-armored - like an Abrams tank on legs.

From her hiding place in the side offices, Nawi noiselessly got back into the vents, silently thankful that she wasn't claustrophobic. It was rather convenient that Arisawa's building had vents large enough to accommodate her...barely. When she reached the vertical shaft, she had to take her time to avoid slipping, and had to forcibly shut off a vent fan...the hard way. Even so, she was able to get to the roof through vent access.

In a maneuver that consisted of three consecutive moves, Nawi knocked the vent out, bounded out onto the roof, getting out on all fours to dive behind concealment. The vent itself being knocked out caused quite a bit of noise, but Nawi was silent in her footfalls, as was her landing out of sight.

Rooftop

Sitting alone, the eighth mercenary was scrolling through a tablet-like device, checking the live feeds. “Scanners are still clear, like we thought, the alarms are completely internal, seems like this guy doesn’t want cops showing up.”  

As he spoke, an alert popped up, showing a drone feed high above them, revealing a familiar suit flying towards the tower.  

“Oh that tricky little shit.” The merc said to himself, before pressing the PTT on his coms.  

Before he could get a word out, there was a loud metal clang behind him, as something hit the ground.  

The merc tossed the tablet onto one of the dead guards, quickly drawing his rifle. “Hey, who’s there?” He got to his feet, walking over to the source of the noise.  

On the floor, with a dent that indicated something had busted out of the vent, laid the grate that once covered the exit point,  

“Shit, boss, I got company up here.” He said, scanning the area as he moved cautiously, peeking over vents.  

Hallway

“Copy...” Revenant looked to other three Mercs. “You...” He pointed to the middle one. “Go up and give him some back up, the rest of us will move on Arisawa.”  

The merc nodded before turning, heading for the stairs.  

Revenant looked back to the direction of the Office, signaling to Ryan to move forward. “Get moving...” He grabbed Jacob by the collar of his jacket, pushing him forward towards the Office. “I don’t have all day here!”  

Jacobs hand clenched into a fist as he was pushed, a low growl in his voice. “I swear, if I didn’t have this thing in my neck, you would be a smear on the wall by now.” He looked back to the Merc. “I really hope whatever Arisawa has in that office tears you a new one.”  

“Oh, it won’t be me fighting it...” Revenant seemed unphased by the threats, though he didn’t seem to have any emotions at all, even when he was threatening them earlier. “Blue boy here will be the one getting torn a new one...” He looked over to Jacob. “And you better hope he wins this fight, cause otherwise, you won’t make it out of here.”  

“Ya know...” Jacob spun around, pointed a finger at Revenant. “I just realized something...” He glanced over to Ryan as he stopped in his tracks. “The only thing keeping you from being torn to pieces, is this.” He pointed to the device in his neck, looking back to Revenant.

“Well now, you finally caught on...” Revenant stated, locking eyes with Jacob. “Now, move it.”

“Now, here’s the problem with your little plan...” Jacob brushed his hand away as he attempted to grab him. “I die, he obliterates you...” Whatever fear Revenant could pull out of the young hero with his dead stare, no longer showed. “And, if you keep dragging me into hostile situations, who’s to say a stray shot doesn’t just hit me in a vital spot...” He shrugged. “I mean, my friend here is good, but if he’s busy with a threat, he could lose focus and, well...” He gave the merc an evil grin. “Accidents happen.”  

Revenant looked up towards the office, rubbing the skull chin of his mask. “Huh, you got a point.”

“Look, it’s a simple equation...” Jacob paused. “You keep me here, your two GI Joes here can keep an eye on me, I mean, not like I can fight either one of them...” He pointed to Ryan. “You two go fight whatever the hell Arisawa is sending after us, and you won’t have to worry about little old me becoming a causality.”  

”I’m sure one of these guys has the backup remote, or both have one...” Jacob stated in his head to the others. ”But I can handle that when I get my suit, and numbskull here will be none the wiser.”  

Revenant took a few seconds to think it over, before snapping his fingers at the other Mercs. “You two, take pretty boy here to get his watch, me and blue boy will go handle Arisawa.”

Jacob grinned and winked at Ryan as he followed the two mercs back down the hallway.

Slowly those who needed to be in the know were in the know, communicating through the delicate network that flowed through his mind. Undermining these people was easy enough now, even if they thought they had all the plans and back-ups prepared for now. Really, their plans were nothing more than guesses, ones that could not have accounted for someone like him. They’d pay for threatening to hurt his friends, for killing and using people. They had no decency, nothing that any other person should have and that meant they didn’t quite deserve to live.

Hopefully Nawi could do something to fix what he could not. I’ll try not to break it too badly, He offered to Gai, unsure if he could afford not to break it.  No, there was no holding back, not if he wanted to seem convincing. Even if it pissed someone off. If not for Jacobs quick thinking, well he was sure this song and dance would have dragged on longer than he cared for it to.

He was prepared for the worst. Explosive, fire or even just high-powered rounds meant to punch through tank armor. When people made combat androids, they tended to include things like that in their designs. Anything to deal with the more annoying metahumans.

So he advanced, barrier still in place as he prepared to face the android. He raised a hand, barely perceptible undulations of air around him that rippled outwards into blasts meant to slam into the target. He wouldn’t be protected by his badge but that was fine. All he needed to do was waste time, until Jacob could get his plan done. Lifting small bits of rubble and having themfly around the room, aiming for blind spot strikes that might take the thing down. Despite that he didn’t believe it would.

The initial shockwave and air distortions didn't do much to phase the combat android. The machine merely slammed into the wall with no lasting damage; the small bits of rubble did get into a few of the actuators, however. This slowed down the arms from moving. The armor itself stood up to the barrage. Global Armaments models were notorious for being able to take a lot of abuse and go for long periods of time without the internals requiring maintenance.

However, they suffered one major flaw: their armor wasn't treated properly for energy weapons fire. The heavy armor would melt like a hot knife though butter.

The biggest consequence, however, was that the combat android no longer regarded the guest badge as a hindrance to its combat protocols. The minigun spooled up, peppering the android's entire frontal arc in 7.62 X 51 mm NATO rounds at 80 rounds per second. The machine didn't use the shoulder-mounted micro missile launcher, if for no other reason than the range was too close for them to be effective.


Nawi always stayed one step ahead of the mercenary as he searched, going from a protruding vent shaft to hiding behind tightly clustered gas piping. The rest of the area was wide open, but so long as there was even a single point of cover, Nawi had the advantage. She was predator - the mercenary was her prey to stalk...to hunt and kill. To color her claws red with blood - the origination of her title as "Scarlet Reaper".

Just as the mercenary went to check another cover point, Nawi made a silent dash for the dead bodies. Arisawa corporate security - a recently-used tablet was on one of the bodies. Snatching it up during a roll, she got back to cover, looking it over - there was a birds-eye view of the building. A drone. There was also live feeds of the interior. It went a long way in explaining how the mercenaries managed to match the movements of those inside.

The rooftop mercenary's search had taken him near an electrical conduit - likely for rooftop lighting. Nawi closed in for the kill, her enhanced speed putting her on par with an actual tiger in terms of speed - upwards of 40 MPH on level terrain. As she closed in, she made four moves: one strike with the tablet to the head, a claw to the rifle's trigger group (most likely disconnecting the trigger from the rest of fire-control group), a backhand to get the mercenary facing her, and finally, her claws across the neck. The longest two sliced through both carotid artery and jugular vein.

Blood splattered on her face, further emphasizing her killer instinct - and from this angle, the merc could see Nawi's slit pupils glaring at him. And then, she jammed the tablet as far as she could into the power conduit before flipping backwards though the air on top of the rooftop access structure.

Nawi had cut down her share of men - and certainly enough necks to know that if one's jugular was severed, they had maybe thirty seconds before they died. To have both of those blood vessels severed, though. The merc didn't have good odds - not unless he could plug four cuts at once.