VIEW THE PROLOGUE BEFORE THIS!
Chapter One
Perpetrator
Levis, Capitol City of Novus, U.P.G. Inner State
The Spliced Animal Hotel, 7:40 P.M.
“And that would be our target building.” The man known as Camo addressed rather matter-of-factly, staring up at the unique building. Or, as Zero mused to himself, the building that took way too much time and effort to make look different and completely fail at it.
He’d always found it odd that the people here on Novus, and the entire universe for that matter, would come to this one building to spend a night in it, especially since he could have sworn he had seen several similar hotels with the exact same offerings on other planets…Earth included. And all for a lot less than this place charged. “He picked quite the place to hide away in, didn’t he? The most popular overpriced hotel in the entire universe…”
“…with nearly fifty floors and a hundred rooms on each.” Miyu chimed in, finally holstering the knives she had been twirling for the past half hour. “The stuff you have to go through being a Vanguard.”
Zero frowned, thinking back on what they described to him when he was first recruited. Vanguards…the personal go-to task force whenever things got too rocky. Officially, they are the right hand of the Axis – the all-knowing, all-seeing eye of the United Planetary Government – and are called upon to ‘detain and/or erase irregularities.’ In other words, the boogiemen of the universe personified. The ‘irregularities’ the Axis deployed their Vanguards for varied depending on their assigned missions. Discovered illegal weapons trading, crackdowns, illegally spliced humans…and, of course, renegade neophytes.
Neophytes, in general, were the U.P.G.’s attempt to bio-engineer the ‘super-soldiers’ one would often see in your typical modern or science-fiction setting. They were artificially created from organic tissue and splicing human DNA with that of animals – similar to everyday splicers, though to a smaller degree as not to produce the ‘animal traits’ – and then, strengthening every single cell to their extremities. The result was someone who looked and acted human, but with reflexes and skills that far surpassed any human or splicer in existence. They were also bred to follow orders without question.
But, of course, there came points when certain neophytes began to realize they had a life of their own…became ‘aware,’ as it were. They get curious, and start to figure out they’re just taking orders and following the will of the person that ‘owned’ them. So they rebelled. They went renegade. They become ‘irregularities,’ and a designated threat to the universe.
Or, so the Axis says. However, when it came to Zero, there was no doubt in his mind they were absolutely right. He was doing the universe a favor, and bringing justice to the world as everyone knew it. Everything was exactly as the Axis had said, even if the only reasoning behind his belief was…
“Hey, sunshine! Wake up!”
Camo’s voice jerked him out of his stupor. Zero shot the black-haired man an apologetic look, and replied, “Sorry. Reminiscing.”
“It’s not exactly the time for that, Z.” Came the response. Zero brushed a few locks of silver hair from his face before glancing over to his right, near the front of the hotel. A frown came to his face as he noticed the blockade of Novusian police cars surrounding the only entrance. Following his gaze, Camo added, “There’s no way we’re getting in without getting noticed, so we might as well just parade on over.”
Unfortunately, he was right. Vanguards take pride in being able to take care of their jobs without ever coming into contact with the ‘fronts’ – decoys – aside from the message warning they were on their way. However, it didn’t look as if there was any other way to do this other than, as Camo said, ‘parade on over.’ Trying to get through the windows would cause the police to uproar, moving to that location as fast as possible to intercept something, and causing the target to become alerted to a third party. “Let’s just get this over with.” Zero said, beginning his trek over to the cars.
Dr. Exeter Altair. Eva didn’t exactly know what his position in the Axis was, exactly, but she assumed it was a fairly high one. He was the one who personally showed up at her doorstep to ‘recruit’ her brother into the Vanguard, dressed in a pressed black suit, ‘bishonen’ hair straightened and downright wavy, and wearing a cheerful grin upon his face during the entire ‘visit.’ Even from that, Eva knew there was something off…something wrong about this man. And when Rick decided the very next day to become one of them, her feelings towards Exeter rose in both uneasiness and straight-up loathing.
And now, here he was again, with the same damn suit, the same damn hair, and the same damn grin. If she weren’t bound by law, Eva would have liked nothing better than to slam her fist into his face. Even more so that he wasn’t telling her or any of the Novusian Police what was actually going on.
“The rest of the information is classified, I’m afraid.”
“You’re not pulling this on me again, Altair!” Eva snapped. “My brother’s one of your ‘knights of justice,’ so I have all the right to know why the hell my unit’s being played for fools!”
Exeter stared at her with a raised eyebrow. “Miss Exillerius, your unit is doing its job to the letter. Quite admirably, I might add – without you, Drexeles could have escaped.” Closing his eyes, he straightened his glasses with a single motion of his finger. With a sigh, he continued, “The Vanguard isn’t invisible, you know. You’re providing excellent leverage.”
Eva growled. Leverage? Is that all the Axis thinks of anything but their precious mass mercenary coalition? Her frown deepened. Of course they did, they’re glorified politicians. Politicians who had a not-so-secret ‘knight templar’ thing going on. She shook her head, trying to focus on the man in front of her. “Tell me what the hell is going on, Altair. Why are three members of the Vanguard on their way here to deal with one renegade neophyte? And why the hell was I not informed of any of this?!”
Exeter’s gaze lingered on her for a moment before he abruptly looked to the left. “It seems our discussion shall have to wait.”
“What the hell are you…?” The silver-haired female was cut short when she followed Exeter’s gaze. Three figures were approaching the growing crowd surrounding the Spliced Animal, each dressed in a fairly odd fashion and carrying their own stance and walk. They practically looked like normal teenagers from the area. However, Eva sensed that they were definitely not here to sightsee. If her guess was right, these were the Vanguards.
Out of the three, there was only one woman. She was a splicer of the feline variety - that was obvious, what with the ears and tail – with ice-blue eyes complimented by blonde hair that seemed a little unkempt, reaching the middle of her back. From what Eva could tell, she appeared to be very comfortable in her physique, as the girl wasn’t wearing much. Her top, black with a green pattern along the bottom, was reminiscent of a loose tube top with one large strap over her right shoulder to keep it in place, showing a bare midriff. To complete this, she was also wearing short, yet baggy black shorts, with orange straps on both sides of her hips. Currently, they held a pair of sheathed daggers. Along with black knee socks, her ensemble was complete with black and green shoes, and black fingerless gloves. The woman was fairly interested in black and green, it seems. A VK-42Ms, the standard Novusian military assault rifle, hung from her hip lazily.
The second of the three was a tall man, human, with an incredibly large sense of pride about him. His dusty black hair was spiked and slicked back in various places, all the while keeping a fair amount of bangs and hair in the back. He seemed to have heterochromia, as his right eye was an emerald green and his left a deep, ocean blue. Eva made a mental note of that for later, as heterochromia had become very rare in society as a result of years of splicing. The man was dressed in a plain white t-shirt, with another black dress shirt over it. The shirt had its short sleeves, as well as its pockets, colored a metallic red. He wore simple, baggy blue jeans that overlapped black sneakers with the same metallic red color for the heels. What appeared to be chains hung from both pockets of his jeans. With a frown, Eva studied him for a moment before deducing she’d seen this man before – she just didn’t know where.
Then came the last one. Eva’s frown deepened. She definitely knew this one. Silver hair, spiked and slicked forward everywhere but the backside and bangs, complete with amber eyes. The man wore a gray combat vest over a white shirt, with dark blue jeans that were overlapped by black boots with a gray trim. Over all of this was a long, black trench coat with various ice-blue designs over it, most prominent a slight arch near the bottom and two stylized stripes down the sleeves. He seemed nonchalant as he waded through the crowd towards Exeter and Eva, with his hands in the pockets of his coat and the same, stoic expression, which couldn’t be said for the other two, constantly flashing annoyed glances in the girl’s case or cheerful and toothy grins in the other man’s case.
The typical expression of an Exillerius. Even more typical of Rick.
Rick’s group finally reached them after a minute of silence. Exeter’s cheerful disposition returned as he turned to greet the newcomers. “I see you’ve finally arrived. I hope the trip was eventful!” he said, hands behind his back.
“As eventful as the dark, absolutely positively dangerous streets of Levis can be, boss.” Black-hair mused, his voice dripping with sarcasm while retaining his grin. Eva rolled her eyes. She could tell she wasn’t going to like this one already.
Rick focused on the black-suited enigma, his expression unchanged. “SITREP?” was the only thing he asked.
“Nothing’s changed since we were called in.” Exeter replied, removing his glasses. He turned, locking his blue eyes with Eva’s amber ones. “The Novusian Police have been doing an excellent job locking the placed down. Miss Exillerius in particular has barely moved from her position, though…”
“What, have you been stalking me for the past hour or something?” Eva asked, annoyed. Black-hair turned his gaze towards her, as if to survey her. After a second or two, his eyes began to drift southward. “Eyes up, Vanguard.” Eva warned, to which the man shrugged and interlocked his fingers behind his head. Rick briefly seemed to glare at his partner, but slid back into his posture without missing a beat. Yeah, Eva really didn’t like this one.
“…Though she’s been getting a little rowdy ever since she found out she wasn’t informed of the situation properly.” Exeter finished, his voice faking exhaustion. Eva’s eye twitched, but she said nothing, only crossing her arms with an ever-increasing glare towards the man. “Either way, they did their job admirably.”
Out of the corner of Eva’s eye, she saw the female of the group turn to glance at the hotel. The splicer had taken one of her daggers out, and was…playing with it. It was the only way Eva could describe it. Twirling it, stabbing the air a bit, and variations of the sort. It wasn’t a normal dagger by any means – normal daggers barely existed anymore. It was colored a deep, blood-red color, and it almost left some sort of trail in the air as it was twirled. Eva guessed it was outfitted with that new subsonic speed tech they were going on about on the holoscreens; makes even the dullest of melee weapons able to cut through steel. She could have sworn the technology hadn’t been released yet, but then again, this was the Vanguard. They probably have advanced testing.
The splicer suddenly stopped, sheathing the dagger. Her eyes were moving across the windows of the hotel, as if scanning it. Eva frowned, and turned her attention back to the rest of the group. Exeter and Rick were engaged in a hushed conversation, presumably about the mission or the fact they thought she was too ‘out of the loop’ to inform her of something. Black-hair, while he was listening in, didn’t look terribly interested. Then again, it seemed he always had that look on his face.
“…so going right in is the only way, huh?” Rick mentioned, loud enough for her to hear. “Figured as much.” He rubbed one of his hands through his hair, the stoic expression somewhat perturbed.
Exeter nodded, his face currently warped into a frown. Eva raised an eyebrow at this; she’d never seen the disgustingly charismatic man have such a serious face. The man glanced at her briefly before answering, “Drexeles is not one to take many risks, but when he does, the results are not something the Axis ever wants to see again. The Descartan incident will not be repeated, Zero.”
The Descartan incident. Eva racked her brain for a moment before remembering the event in question – several thousand dead due to some kind of bomb on Descarta. The public never knew the culprit, but it seems from this revelation that Magna Drexeles was the one who caused it. And from Exeter’s tone, the Axis had something to do with it that they didn’t want to happen again. A failure, perhaps.
Rick, or ‘Zero’ as he was now called, eyed Exeter for a moment. The look he gave was familiar to Eva – one of stone, of calculation…of certainty. She had been on the receiving end of that look several times in her life, and each time, she regretted seeing it. “I will not fail. I promise you that.” He stated indignantly. Eva frowned.
“I will hold you and your unit to that promise.” Exeter muttered before the two broke apart, his expression returning to the faux twenty-four-seven grin. “I’m giving you five minutes before I give the signal to move in. Make the best out of it, will you?” he told Rick, once again briefly glancing at Eva before moving off towards the rest of the higher-ranking members of the Novusian Police.
Rick stood for a moment before muttering something unintelligible to his black-haired partner. The man smiled and moved off to join Miyu in scanning the hotel. Whether or not he was actually going to perform the aforementioned scanning or simply hit on her was debatable. Rick himself turned towards Eva, and his expression softened somewhat. “Hey.” He said.
Eva frowned. She didn’t know exactly how to respond now. She could slap him, curse at him, possibly a combination of the two. After a moment or two of silence, she simply said, “Hello, Rick.”
“You’re doing well for yourself, sis.” he replied, his frown breaking into a small smile.
The silver-haired woman’s eyes narrowed. Her mouth, which was already scowling beyond all practical needs, somehow worsened. “I’m not exactly sure how you can say that, since I probably look similar to a stage three berserk splicer at the moment.” She muttered, voice evident with venom.
With a sigh, Rick turned away from her, focusing his stoic gaze on the Spliced Animal. “You know I’m not allowed to divulge any information to you.” Came the Vanguard’s reply. He briefly eyed his two ‘teammates,’ Eva supposed, before coming back to stare at the hotel once more. “As much as I’d like to, non-Axis personnel are required to be kept in the dark…even if they’re helping us.”
“Yeah, that became apparent when I learned I was supposed to sit here and look pretty while the champions of justice are supposed to roll in and take all the credit.” Eva replied icily, not even bothering to look at Rick anymore. After a second, she scoffed. “Who the fuck came up with that code, anyway? No ‘chivalry?’ You’re not exactly knights serving King Arthur.”
Rick seemed to shift uncomfortably for a moment before giving his reply. “I’d say we’re pretty close.” Eva turned to stare at her brother with a dumbfounded expression – clearly, she had not expected him to reply like that. “We are the Axis’s Vanguard. We keep the peace and deliver justice to irregularities. Simple as that.”
‘Simple as that, huh?’ Eva thought, her expression once again turning sour. She could easily counter that statement, but it was a load-bearing reply. She didn’t exactly want to hit the berserk button. Not now, anyway. “Fine.” She muttered. “Just answer me one thing.”
“Can’t promise anything.”
“Is Magna Drexeles so much of a threat that it takes three Vanguards to take him down?”
The silver-haired Vanguard turned to give Eva a peculiar stare. She couldn’t quite place whether he was angry, annoyed, contemplative, or sad…the message wasn’t clear, and it was almost like every one of them combined. An uneasy silence erupted between the two for several moments, all the while his gaze never faltering and Eva feeling more uncomfortable by the second.
Finally, he turned away from her as if to leave. “He caused the Descartan incident.” He began. Eva narrowed her eyes slightly – she pieced that together quite a bit ago. “…That incident was because an entire team of Vanguards ignored their priority of disarming the bombs, and tried to track him down.”
Eva raised an eyebrow. “You’re divulging information, you know.”
“You weren’t involved. You have a right.” He replied. “When they thought they found him, all that was left was a note. No one knows what it said, because Descarta went up in flames that very second.” He paused to let the information set in, Eva’s frown deepening with every word. “So no. Magna Drexeles isn’t a threat level for three Vanguards. He’s a threat level for an entire squad, and we’re all the Axis can spare.”
With that, Rick turned slightly to lock his eyes with his sister’s. “I’ve got an operation to perform. I’ll see you later. Hopefully.”
And then he was gone, off to join his ‘comrades.’
Eva, for the first time since her brother was taken from her, was afraid. Magna Drexeles outwitted an entire team of Vanguards, and killed thousands within a matter of minutes. And now, three Vanguards, significantly less than the amount at Descarta, were told to apprehend the very same madman. And her brother was one of them.
He was in danger. She didn’t care if the entire city went up in a spectacular fireworks show – all that mattered was that her brother was in danger of being taken away from her again. Eva Exillerius inched her hands towards the two holsters on her side as she watched Rick and the other two converse with Dr. Smiley for the last time, then quickly enter the large hotel, weapons at the ready.
She would not lose him…not again. She would make sure of that herself.
“This is going to take a while, no matter how we do this.” Zero mused, eyeing the floor plan on display behind the sign-in desk. “Miyu, you weren’t lying when you said nearly fifty floors…there’s about forty-two, looks like.”
Camo, who had been glancing down the two corridors to the left and right, turned to cock an eyebrow at the other two Vanguards. “Forty-two?”
“The ultimate answer.” Came Zero’s amused reply. “We’re going to have to split up.”
“Because that’s the best idea to have with a genocidal supersoldier running around the complex with God knows what kinds of access to the building.” The black-haired man muttered in response, returning to ‘guard duty,’ shotgun at the ready.
Zero ignored this, and instead finally took notice of Camo’s weapon, which he had somehow conveniently concealed until now. The weapon appeared to be a standard Novusian military shotgun, the S-87 ‘Black Viper,’ as it was infamously known…but the barrel of the gun was wider, and instead of a complete jet black, it had a few red designs here and there. Zero finally recognized it as the Axis variant, the ‘R2’ version as it was called – a weapon that was largely unneeded in most situations. It fired a smaller spread of more pellets, and utilized a wider shell, and was promoted as being even stronger than the original version. Given the Black Viper could tear a man clean in half with a single shot, why anyone had the desire to make a stronger version, possibly able to evaporate a weaker man into a cloud of blood, was anyone’s guess.
“You do realize this is a stealth mission, right?” the silver-haired man said, frowning.
“Yeah, so?”
Miyu rolled her eyes. “You brought a damn R2 Viper with you, and you expect to be stealthy? That thing’s louder than a stadium in the right conditions.” she snapped, twirling one of her knives. Given that the hotel was currently darker than usual, what with the lights off, the afterimages of the blade had become a lot more vibrant and clear, effectively giving off a bright, red trail.
“Says the cat-girl who brings a lightshow to the party.” Camo replied.
“Alright, shut it.” Zero cut in before the female splicer could reply. “Camo, be careful with that thing. Don’t want the entire city to hear you unless it has to. Miyu, don’t twirl those things around so much. That’s more attracting than the flashlight on your VK.”
The blonde-haired woman stared at Camo for a moment before sheathing the dagger and bringing out the other weapon in question. The VK-42Ms assault rifle wasn’t all that different from the Earth XM35, utilizing the same shape the series had used for the past three-hundred and thirty years or so. The first notable difference was its color, which was a jet black. Miyu had apparently liked this weapon quite a lot, as she had personalized it by painting green lines along the side. The second difference was that the barrel was somewhat longer, possibly to make it more accurate. She quickly ejected the clip, making sure it was full, before slamming it back into the gun. As Miyu began screwing on the silencer, she returned Zero’s gaze and said, “Either way, we’re going to get spotted unless we turn on some lights.”
With a nod, Zero glanced at the floor plan again. “Exeter said they turned off the power to cut off Drexeles’ escape. Unfortunately that limits our options. Power’s in the basement, as expected, so one of us is going to have to boot it up.” He explained, his voice taking on a thoughtful tone. For a moment, no one moved other than Camo, who continued to glance down both hallways for a sign of anything. “Camo, that’d be you.”
“What? Why do I have to be the lapdog?!”
“You’re the one without a silencer of any kind. Drexeles was sighted in the upper levels. You won’t be getting any resistance, and it’s safer for us.” The silver-haired Vanguard muttered.
“Unless you decide to get spooked by a rat. Then we’re screwed, because your desire to shoot things is about equal to your desire to hit on everything with boobs.” Miyu chimed in.
“Screw you.” Camo replied, obviously dejected. “Where the hell is it?”
With one last glance at the floor plan, Zero replied, “Down the left hallway, last door to the right. That’ll take you to the basement stairwell. Once the power’s back on, radio in, I’ll have further orders for you then.” With that, Camo sauntered off, shaking his head.
“It’s his own damn fault for bringing a shotgun.” Miyu muttered.
Zero decided to not answer that. Instead, he motioned for her to follow him to the nearest stairwell. “Take floors eleven to twenty-five. I’ll take twenty-five to forty-two. When the power comes back on, I’ll have Camo take the first ten floors.”
“Drexeles might be gone by then.” Miyu said as the two continued upwards. “Hell, he might be gone by the time we get to our respective stairs.”
“We don’t have much of a choice. Without working elevators and a building this huge, it could take several hours. Let’s hope he’s a patient man.”
Neither of them said another word until they arrived at floor eleven. Miyu offered Zero good luck, and vice versa, before she aimed her rifle down the blackened halls and left the stairwell. Zero continued upwards, passing the time by checking and re-checking that his gun was in working order. It was a heavily modified version of the standard Novusian military’s Viper-3 .45 magnum, lighter than its original counterpart and customized to have a larger clip size. Also, due to his own modifications, the gun could fire any number of ‘special’ bullets, from armor-piercing rounds to pulse rounds, depending on what clip was in the gun. The magnum had the humorously standard title of the ‘Viper-3 Mark Two,’ or Mk.II.
As Zero neared the twenty-sixth floor, the building itself began to stir to life, as several lights within the stairwell charged to life, illuminating it in its entirety. After getting over the brief shock, he continued up the stairs as his earpiece radio crackled.
[“Power’s on.”] came Camo’s matter-of-fact statement.
[“I kind of noticed that.”] Miyu replied sarcastically.
“Affirmative. Floors one to ten are all yours. Report if you see anything and only fire a shot if you’re discovered.” The silver-haired man instructed, reaching the door to the twenty-sixth floor and cautiously inching it open. To his dismay, it creaked a fair amount, announcing that something opened the door on this floor.
[“Roger that, boss.”] Camo finished.
[“Looks like the doors are fitted with scanners. Can’t lockpick them.”]
“That complicates things a little…” Zero muttered.
A few, silent seconds passed before Miyu returned over the radio. [“Alright, score one for being a Vanguard…scan your badge, door opens automatically.”]
[“The Axis are seriously close to becoming intergalactic stalkers, now.”] Camo replied.
“They pretty much already are.” Zero said in return. The Vanguard silently exited the stairwell, his Mk.II at the ready. With the lights on, he could tell that the building had been an extremely expensive investment. Every inch of the floor was covered in flawless red carpet, lined with golden edges. The walls didn’t even seem to have a dent in them, and the white paint was not chipped in any place he could see. The ceiling was tiled perfectly, as well. It almost seemed like they redid every part of this building every single day…or at least every week.
The radio sprung to life with Camo’s voice, effectively turning his own thoughts into words. [“Whoever owns this place has got to be a friggin’ millionaire. Rich bastard.”]
“It’s certainly very…clean.” Zero muttered, finally beginning to move to the right down the circular hall.
[“It’s…kind of eerie.”] Miyu chimed in. By the sound of her voice, she was obviously perturbed at how perfect the place was, and Zero had to agree. It was…jarring, to say the least, after coming from the particularly ‘used’ look of Levis. Either way, however, Drexeles was in this building…somewhere.
“Focus on finding Drexeles…he’s here somewhere.”
[“Do you realize how long that’s gonna take, Z?”] Even though all he could hear was his voice, Zero could tell Camo had a skeptical, disbelieving look on his face while he said it. [“Dude could be in any of these rooms!”]
Zero approached the first room on the left, which was labeled room 501 according to the gold plate. “Yeah, I do. Start looking.” Ignoring the groan that came from his teammate, Zero knelt down before the scanner, situated underneath the doorknob, and opened his coat slightly to reveal an intricate, silver badge with a stylized “V” emblazoned upon it. Small, green lights erupted from the scanner and travelled down the badge, and after a moment, the door unlocked with a resounding ‘click.’
And so, the search began
9:23 P.M.
[“Kill me now.”] Camo groaned. Over the past hour and a half, his voice had become exceptionally grating to Zero’s ears, and he wondered how the Vanguard survived on diplomatic missions.
“I’d be glad to once we find Drexeles.” The silver-haired man replied, now on floor thirty-three. He’d lost track of the room numbers four floors ago, and as much as he hated to admit it, he was tiring out.
[“I just opened my four-hundredth door, Z. I’m sure you’re somewhere up there, too. This guy is either really high up, or on some really obscure floor. Miyu hasn’t radioed in with anything either, so I’m just gonna assume she hasn’t found the bastard.”] Camo snapped.
[“Yeah, I’m going to just confirm that assumption.”]
“Thank you, Miyu.” Zero muttered, annoyed. “I realize this isn’t exactly the best situation, but unless you guys want another Descarta, I suggest you keep looking.”
[“I wasn’t even at Descarta! C’mon, Z, it probably wasn’t even as bad as they say. Another Axis cover-up. We all know they do that, we’re a part of it!”] Camo replied, fairly obvious he had stopped the search and was probably standing in the middle of his hallway.
Zero narrowed his eyes as he finished another room check. After a quick glance down the hallway as he exited, he continued his conversation. “You think the Axis has the power to cover up the deaths of thousands?”
[“Quite frankly, I think they have the power to blow up an entire planet and cover it up.”]
Another room. Empty. Just like the others. “If you don’t want to be checked for insubordination, I’d suggest shutting it.”
[“Yeah, yeah. I’ll keep looking, whatever.”]
It was maddening, but Camo did have a point. Descarta could, indeed, have been a massive cover-up. As much as Zero hated to admit it, the Axis was ridiculously powerful. However, several very competent Vanguards were lost that day, and the negative publicity the Axis and the Vanguard got for that was nowhere near pretty. He doubted that they wanted to cover up something with an explosion that screwed up their reputation.
Zero scowled, examining yet another room only to find this one empty as well. With a sigh, he leaned against the doorframe, his eyes closed. ‘Alright, this is starting to get on my nerves. This would have been a hell of a lot easier had Exeter done his research and questioned someone about the room number he was in.’ he thought, rubbing his eyelids with his free hand.
The radio crackled to life. “Camo, unless you have something to say about our psychotic renegade friend, shut the hell up and keep looking.” Zero began preemptively. He didn’t need this anymore. Hell, he didn’t need it at all.
[“That’s an interesting greeting, Vanguard.”]
Zero’s eyes shot open, his body suddenly rigid. That was not Camo.
[“I’ve been watching you and your friends scramble around for past hour and a half. It was entertaining for the first twenty minutes, then it just got sad.”] The foreign voice stated, his voice evident with pity. [“If you’re going to catch me, do it quickly, would you?”]
“Drexeles?!”
[“What the fuck!? What the hell is this?!”] Camo interrupted. Miyu did not interject – she was most likely in a stunned silence.
[“This is me getting very bored, Vanguard numero dos. By the way…a shotgun? Really?”] the voice, now identified as the renegade neophyte himself, replied, amused. Camo did not reply. He was either too angry to talk, or too shocked to talk. [“Now, I earnestly took the most obvious location so I could confront you easily. You idiots think too logically for your own good.”]
The most obvious location…?
[“It’s a nice view from here. Levis looks beautiful at this time of night.”] Drexeles continued. [“I do hope you don’t bore me again. Ciao.”]
With that, Drexeles went silent. Zero, too stunned to move, simply stared ahead. The most obvious location. A nice view of Levis. “Floor forty-two…” he muttered almost unconsciously. “Penthouse suite.”
[“You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me!”] came the exasperated scream of Camo.
[“Can we trust him?”] Miyu asked.
Zero turned, moving as quickly as possible down the hall to the left. “We don’t have much of a choice, now do we? I’m going up the elevator to the south. Camo, secure the lobby, we don’t need him escaping under our nose. Miyu, take the northern elevator and meet me at the suite.”
[“Roger, boss…”] Camo replied, irritation in his voice.
[“On my way.”] Miyu said, offering her confirmation.
Drexeles’s voice made his way into Zero’s ear. [“I’ll be waiting. I’ve been running for a long time, Vanguard. And I’m…tired.”]
“Was that an admission of surrender?”
[“I’ll be waiting.”] Drexeles repeated.
“Fine.” Zero muttered, entering the elevator. “I’ll be happy to oblige.”
Sneaking in had not been a viable action for Eva. There was only one entrance, all the windows had been sealed, and her own unit had surrounded the hotel at every angle. Admittedly, she had trained them to do so and it was probably the best option in any situation, but it definitely put a damper on her plans.
Therefore, she had done the alternative. Force her way in and threaten anyone who tried to stop her with three barrels to the forehead. She would revel in Exeter’s expression for the rest of her life, and it would brighten up any bad mood she was in – that she was sure of.
Finding the Vanguards’ radio frequency wasn’t exactly hard, either. For whatever reason, they weren’t using an encryption – probably a mishap on Exeter’s part. It would also explain how Drexeles managed to listen in on her brother’s group, and how he muscled in on their conversation. It wasn’t the most secure way to conduct the mission, but it did eventually lead them to his location, even if it was later than they’d intended.
Then again, this building was probably the biggest waste of tax payers’ money Eva had ever seen, and it was definitely too large. So perhaps they found him a lot earlier than they thought they would have.
Whatever the case, Magna Drexeles was on floor forty-two, and Rick was already on his way there. And she had to get to him before Drexeles did…whatever he was going to do. After Descarta, she didn’t know what he would do in a situation like this.
Right now, the only way to get to him fast enough was to use an elevator. With her brother using the southern elevator, she had to make it to the northern elevator before that golden-haired splicer did.
With as much speed she could muster, the silver-haired woman continued her mad dash towards the northern end of her current floor, the number of which eluded her. By now, Eva was very much out of breath – she had been running all over the building for last hour or so, and she was beginning to feel the consequences. She knew this would make her dash towards the northern elevator lean in the splicer’s favor, but she didn’t care.
Splicers, no matter what animal they had been spliced with, were abnormally fast and abnormally strong. This also made them have the constitution of a bull, so an hour of running around a building actually wouldn’t tire them out that much. Considering they were trying to be quiet, this ‘Miyu’ probably hadn’t ran at all yet, so she’d be in top form.
In other words, she was at a disadvantage. So, she’d just do what she did best. With her hands gripping both of the pistols on her hips, Eva peeked around the corner to the elevator hall.
Nothing. “Thank you, cliché and contrived plot device God, for not sticking her on the same damn floor.” She mused, taking a breath before moving down the hall. Once at the elevator, she surveyed the meter at the top – somehow, someway, she had gotten here before the splicer. She decided to take the initiative. Pressing the button for the penthouse suite, the elevator doors closed and the device began its ascent.
She heard the radio in her tactical helmet begin to beep. Quickly fastening it into place, she pressed the button on the side of the helmet to listen in to whatever was going on now.
[“Zero, you said to take the northern elevator, right?”] It was the splicer – Miyu.
[“Affirmative.”] came her brother’s voice. Eva could tell he was fairly tense now – his elevator must be close to or it reached the top.
[“The damn thing’s in use.”] Miyu replied, irritation evident.
[“What? Is Drexeles fucking fooling us now?”] That voice belonged to the other one – the complete asshole apparently known as ‘Camo.’
[“I don’t think so. It’s going up.”] Miyu.
[“Going up? Is there someone else here?”]
Eva frowned. Well, she certainly didn’t expect her cover to be blown that fast…
[“I’m going to guess it’s just Drexeles screwing with us. Wait until it stops, then order it back down.”] came Rick’s voice. [“And if it’s not, I’ll be there waiting.”]
“Damn it.” Eva muttered. In retrospect, blocking off one of her potential allies when they don’t know she was there was a fairly dangerous move. Now, her cover was sure to be blown…all because she didn’t want to lose him. Not again.
As the elevator crawled closer to floor forty-two, Eva retrieved her weapons from their holsters, and stood back, aiming them at the door. The guns she used were identical, but nowhere near standard issue. They were heavily modified Viper-3s, the same model that her brother had modified into his “Mark Two,” but Eva herself had made sure they had much more damage potential than most modifications of the Viper-3. Affectionately dubbed the “Punishers,” the handguns had three barrels each, and could be configured to fire one of each, as the barrels rotate, for a faster rate of fire, or all three at once, which would cause a considerable amount of damage to whatever target the guns were aimed at. The downside to this setting is that the rotating mechanism does a full three-hundred and sixty degree rotation to reload each bullet, and is thus slower than simply firing it.
Thus, Eva chose to use two of them. She could interchange the guns on the second setting, firing a second barrage off while the first reloads, and vice versa. And, while not particularly a good strategy most of the time, have the guns on different settings. Given how graphic the barrage of triple-bullets looks, and because it usually kills or severely maims the target, she rarely uses it.
This time, however, her resignation might be assured…it all depends on whether or not Magna Drexeles was going to threaten her family. If he did, he would not be leaving the building alive.
Her thought process was broken rather abruptly upon feeling the elevator stop, and the “ding” of the elevator resounded throughout the compartment. As the doors opened, the six barrels of her Punishers were met with the single, longer barrel of the familiar Viper-3 Mk.II, with visible surprise on the user’s face.
“Eva?!”
[“…what?”]
Zero chose to ignore the confused inquiries of his comrades, however justified they may be, and stare in a continued disbelief at his sister’s sudden appearance with six barrels pointed at his face.
Eva blinked, a look of tension slowly melting into a blank, skeptical expression. “Uh…hey.” She replied. After a few seconds of silence and neither of them moving their weapons, she added, “I’m pretty sure you’d lose this exchange, Rick, no matter how good you are.”
His confused look turned into shocked irritation as he let the arm holding his Mk.II fall to his side. “What the hell are you doing here?!” Zero yelled as his sister twirled her Punishers and holstered them. “Where’s Exeter?!”
Walking past him into the hallway, Eva replied, “Probably still standing there dumbfounded. He doesn’t take kindly to a gun to the face, I assure you.”
If Zero didn’t know any better, he could swear she was rather proud of the fact she threatened a leading head of the Vanguard and got away with it. Well, so far. “That still doesn’t explain what you’re doing here!” he said. He was quite surprised, actually, that he hadn’t heard a single thing from his teammates since their exclamation. Either they were stunned, or they had thought anything they said would have been blatantly ignored. They’d be right.
Eva shot him a glare typical of the Exillerius family – the death stare patented by their father themselves, though she obviously had their mother’s facial structure. Zero noted that, for whatever reason, it made it seem all the scarier. “My entire unit is being used as a scapegoat for you. I’m not going to sit around and get treated like a fucking kid, being told to play with my toy soldiers, while the ‘adults’ are in a meeting.” Came her reply. Behind her, the elevator doors closed – Miyu was apparently calling the elevator.
‘An interesting metaphor.’ Zero mused, putting his free hand to his temples, attempting to massage an incoming headache. “Look, I really don’t know what your deal is. This isn’t the first time this has happened; the Axis does this all the time.”
“They…what?!” Eva turned to stare at him, a look of shock plastered on her face. Zero inched towards the wall, peeking around the nearest corner to make sure nothing was listening in…though that last exchange with Drexeles proved he didn’t need to be anywhere near him to hear anything. As he turned back to look at his sister, the Exillerius glare had returned, albeit twice its initial intensity. “Who do they think they are?!”
With the straightest face he could muster, Zero simply replied with, “The government.”
“Well that’s just…fucking brilliant.” Eva replied. “You’d think after hundreds of years they’d stop being a bunch of conspirators. Though I guess I knew that already, right, Zero?” His codename was said with, quite possibly, the most venom-laced voice he’d ever heard her use.
If Drexeles was listening in on this conversation, Zero couldn’t help but think he was either as annoyed as he was, or laughing his head off. Speaking of… “Eva. I don’t have time for this. You’ve jeopardized this mission enough already by sneaking in here and effectively cutting off a Vanguard from the best possible way to finish this.”
Before his sister could respond, a sudden beeping noise caused the two to turn their attention to the elevator as its doors slid open, revealing an annoyed, if slightly curious, feline splicer with an assault rifle slung over her shoulder. “I hate to break up this family reunion, but there’s a psycho serial killer on the loose that we need to take care of.” Miyu said, eyeing the two.
“I know.” Zero replied. He turned to his sister, who was still staring at him, arms crossed. “Miyu, wait for me outside of the suite. I’ll be along shortly.” The splicer sighed, cautiously moving away from the scene. “I’ll only say it once, Eva. Stay out of the way, and return to your post. Do not cause any more damage than you already have.” When Eva was about to respond, Zero cut her off by a single barrel to the forehead.
Neither of them moved. Eva’s face was a mixture of shock and anger, obviously not expecting the turn of events in the least. Zero’s eye twitched slightly – he wasn’t sure if she noticed or not. He didn’t want to do this, but the Mk. II did have a tranquilizer setting. If worst came to worst, he would use it. Drexeles had to be stopped. That was the mission. Zero uttered one last word to his sister before drawing back the handgun:
“Leave.”
He turned abruptly as he began to walk down the hallway towards the penthouse suite. It was cold. It was uncharacteristic of him. But at least he had enough remorse to not look at his sister’s face after what he did.
Of course, if he did, he would have been more confused than sad at her smile.
END ONE
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