Prologue
The Vanguard
2335 A.D.
Levis, Capitol City of Novus, U.P.G. Inner State
The Spliced Animal Hotel, 7:32 P.M.
---
It would take time. Too much time, in fact. In the time that the Novusian military would use to set up shop around the hotel in order to issue the formal capture of the target, one Magna Drexeles, said target would have ample opportunity to bolt from the hotel, escape back into the city while bribing witnesses, and leave a small thank you note for the strike team sent in half an hour late.
It was why Eva absolutely despised the rules and regulations she had to go through.
As far as she knew, Drexeles was very dangerous. A criminal. Someone that got the entire planet of Novus up in arms once they realized he was here. With that information, Eva figured that no normal mook could surround the place and detain him, so she relayed it in. At first, she was rather shocked to hear a chunk of the entire military was being sent to secure the site, but in the hour it took for them to even get halfway here, Eva started to become rather jaded.
“This is ridiculous.” She said as she paced back and forth between two of the police’s squad cars, the lights on them flashing the traditional red and blue from the days of old Earth. “What the hell are the military doing? Having a fucking tea party every block?!” No one answered her rhetorical question, but it was for the best – given her current condition, she might have just shot the first person to say a word.
Stopping her pacing, the woman took a moment to, once again, glance at the hotel. The Spliced Animal, as it was known as, was somewhat large for a hotel, being comparable to a small skyscraper, and quite…circular. The entire building was, essentially, a circle – aside from the main entrance on the north side, the only other thing visible was a myriad of long windows looking into exquisite rooms. Those as far as Earth would come to Levis just to spend a night, or a week, in it. As far as Eva knew, its main selling point wasn’t the odd architecture, but its excellent staff and amazing facilities ranging from full-sized kitchens to grand master bedrooms.
Eva had never spent a single minute inside the building, given she wasn’t filthy rich, but she could respect the magnificent aura it radiated usually. Tonight, however, the only thing emanating from and around the building was anticipation, irregularity…and outright annoyance.
The visor on her helmet heads-up-display flashed slightly, waking her from her brief thought process. Expecting some sort of mission update, she reached up and pressed a button on the side of the helmet. She sighed in irritation as she read, which was simply yet another message stating that the military was still on its way and should arrive shortly. The fifth she had gotten in the hour since she ‘gave’ them the information.
It was at this time Eva lost what little cool she had left, and jerked the helmet off of her head to get the air she needed. Her hair, an odd silver color, fell around her shoulders and cut off mid-back. She quickly ran her hand through it to untangle some of the rogue knots, and began to walk towards the rest of her unit.
She focused her amber eyes on one of the human men; a veteran, by the looks of it, who seemed just as tired of the situation as she was. The man was dressed in head to toe in the same armor she had, only minus the helmet and instead wearing a military cap. He had a lightly trimmed beard, with a few locks of brown hair stemming from underneath the hat. Upon her approach, the man stiffened and turned towards her, suddenly snapping to attention. “Ma’am,” he announced.
Eva cocked her head to the side a bit. This man was oddly forward and straight for a normal cop. “Uh…at ease?” The man seemed to relax, but kept his brown eyes focused, which slightly unnerved her. “…Is there a problem with my face or something?”
The officer looked taken aback, and responded quickly with a, “No ma’am!” With a frown, Eva ventured a small guess as to why he was acting like this.
“You ex-military?”
He stared into her eyes, suddenly perking up as if he was proud of the accusation. “Yes, ma’am! Served with the corp. back on Earth for ten years!” Indeed, very proud.
Eva sighed. “Do me a favor and try to cut with the ma’am crap, okay? If anything just call me lieutenant.” She said, closing her eyes in exasperation. She never did enjoy hanging around military – ex or not, they always had a formal disposition about them that she hated dealing with. Too straight, too…whipped. When she didn’t get a response, she continued the conversation with something she figured she should ask. “Alright fatigues, let me ask you something. Does the military usually take this long when they say they’ll show up?”
‘Fatigues’ frowned even more than he had been. “Well…no ma’am, I mean lieutenant. There’s really no reason for them to take such a long time. They should have been here a long time ago…” he paused. Suddenly, his eyes widened a bit, and he tensed up a bit before turning towards the hotel. “…unless…”
“Unless?” Eva asked, noting the surprise on his face.
“Lieutenant, we…may be dealing with something the military can’t exactly handle on its own.” ‘Fatigues’ admitted, clenching his assault rifle tightly. “You ever heard of a…renegade, ma’am?”
Eva ignored his use of ma’am, instead focusing on the word ‘renegade.’ She had heard of it, she just couldn’t remember where. “…Somewhat. What’s the point?”
Before ‘Fatigues’ could say anything else, another voice cut in. It was a voice Eva knew quite well, as the owner had come to her household more than once, both with offers and updates. The voice of the one who took her brother away.
“The point is, Miss Exillerius, is that we’re dealing with a man that couldn’t be held by any local militia even if they tried.”
The two turned, eyes trained upon a man who appeared to be in his late thirties or early forties, walking slowly towards them clad in nothing but a black, form-fitting suit. The suit complemented his shoulder-length, jet black hair which seems to cling to his head except at the edges, which curled out slightly in the back. For a moment, Eva’s amber eyes met his ice-blue ones before she turned her back to the man, gaze falling upon the hotel once again. “Exeter Altair. It’s not every day you come out in the open. Confines of your office a little too stuffy tonight?”
The man called Exeter smiled, and quickly dismissed ‘Fatigues’ when he was saluted. “You’re looking well yourself, Eva.” He said, his voice rich with charm. He was always like this, and Eva absolutely hated him for it. Well…there were a few other things, but it was the only one he was demonstrating at this moment in time. “No, I’m afraid my office is quite habitable, and I’m only here on business.”
Business, huh? “Well, don’t let me keep you. I certainly wouldn’t want to be the one to hold it up, now would I?” she retorted, obviously not caring much for Exeter’s wit.
“You still don’t get it? This is my business, Miss Exillerius.”
Eva froze for a moment before finally turning around to face the man she could not stand. “What the hell are you going on about?”
“Your friend here was right when he mentioned a renegade.” Exeter muttered, crossing the arms he had previously had behind his back. “You see, renegade neophytes usually are my business. I thought you’d remember that, Eva.”
Renegade…neophyte?! “Are you telling me this bastard is a neophyte?” When she received no response other than a smirk, she continued, “The military should have been down here in less than five seconds if that was the case!”
“The military is not coming.” Exeter muttered. “It is a front.”
“…What?”
“I thought it was obvious.” He muttered. “You should be getting the message in your helmet right about now.”
Only pausing to stare incredulously for a moment, Eva quickly snapped her helmet back on, ignoring the hair that still hung down around her shoulders, and waited. For a few seconds, nothing happened. And then, the HUD flashed once again, this time much brighter and more spastic than it had been when she received the ‘routine’ military message. Glancing at Exeter briefly, she accessed the message.
[INCOMING MESSAGE]
FROM: The Silver Flame
TO: All NPD and NMF Personnel
1934 Hours
Irregularity confirmed at SPLICED ANIMAL HOTEL. Silver Flame, Silent Viper, and Wildcat moving to intercept. Provide backup as needed.
[No remorse, no chivalry, no mercy]
We are the Vanguards.
---
“Think the message was ‘justice-y’ enough for you, Z?”
The silver-haired man turned his amber eyes to the only other man on the road, one with dusty black hair and heterochromatic eyes. “You know it’s protocol with us…gotta be all secret and whatnot.”
The other human scoffed. “Yeah, yeah. That whole bit at the end about remorse and chivalry wasn’t protocol. It just makes us sound like weeaboos.” After a pause, he added, “Which you might as well be.”
Silver-hair shrugged, and turned his attention to the other person with them, constantly twirling her twin knives in a fairly bored fashion. The woman was a splicer – one of the feline variety, with blonde hair just about Eva’s length, and jade green eyes. Her large, catlike ears and tail were the same color as her hair, which wasn’t unusual, but uncommon in feline splicers. “And what about you?”
The girl stopped twirling her blood-red knives and glanced at him. “Oh come on, Zero. The damn message is our subject of discussion today? Camo, you know better than to go off on how glorified the Axis likes to make us.”
“Ah, Miyu, always so blunt. Perhaps the kitty would like to provide an alternative?” The black-haired man, Camo, retorted.
“Of course.” The splicer known as Miyu replied, ignoring the condescending nickname. “How we’re going to do the mission sounds good.”
Camo sighed. “We all know it’s going to be as cut and dry as ‘shoot the bastard before he shoots us.’ Even renegade neophytes aren’t unpredictable.”
"This one is." Zero, the silver-haired man, chimed in. "Drexeles isn't to be underestimated."
"Drexeles...? Wait, isn't that..."
"Yeah." Zero muttered, frowning. "Descarta. Come on, we've got a job to do."
As the three continued down the road, Zero briefly mused that this would be the first mission he had where his own sister could be at risk. And frankly, the thought scared him more than his target ever would.
No comments:
Post a Comment