Every mission begins with silence. There’s this small window of time – about 15 minutes before the shuttle reaches the drop-zone – when you’ve double checked your equipment enough times, and you know your objectives like the back of your hand; all you can do is sit and stare at your feet. I’ve made a habit of putting extra polish on my spider-sword.8964 copyright protection519ＰＥＮＡＮＡgTEXhK8bcw 維尼

My new sword is an interesting piece of tech; a new addition to our mech-suits. Essentially it’s just a fancy gauntlet with a blade that folds over the length of my forearm. When it’s in action it’s like a deadlyextension of my body; my new favourite toy.8964 copyright protection519ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9QMEDpkoJc 維尼

When I’m waiting I see myself in the reflection on the blade, and surprisingly I don’t look as tired as I feel. I gather my hair in my hands and clip it up. I could have cut it when the alliance promoted me to spec-ops, but according to my team I wouldn’t be the same Captain Kelly Jade without it. They call me Blood, behind my back. It's the colour of my hair, and my kill count.8964 copyright protection519ＰＥＮＡＮＡpaVm3OexdW 維尼

I said that every mission begins with silence, but sitting here in the hanger, that isn’t entirely true. The hanger is full of all kinds of sounds; turbulence, for one, rain and thunder. Across from me I hear Blue cleaning his pistol; an array of clicks and tangs. At the weapons bench Splicer is playing with his plasma rifle, of course, raw plasma always has the sweet sound of boiling water, until it clicks into the casing, producing a low bwaaap!8964 copyright protection519ＰＥＮＡＮＡTvdydZoq9O 維尼

“Commander,” says Lieutenant Malcom – his code name is Ice – “Nav. says we’ve arrived at the drop-zone.”8964 copyright protection519ＰＥＮＡＮＡbYJfE6G1ML 維尼

I smile. Finally. I stand up to talk to my team, using the net above to help balance against the rocky turbulence. “Alright guys, we know our objectives. I want a quick, clean mission. Once we’re in we need to sweep the penthouse floor and apprehend Rodrick Vayne, it’s essential that he’s taken alive. Command says his men are expendable and are likely to be hostile, so there’s no holding back on this one. Understood?”8964 copyright protection519ＰＥＮＡＮＡy3Y9HDToSN 維尼

My team responds in unison. “Yes ma’am!”8964 copyright protection519ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7Kf4ibKImE 維尼

The standard alliance spec-op team consisted of six members, and here they stand before me. Splicer is our lead marksman, thus why he owns the plasma rifle; he’s the real quiet type, never really talks about himself, but damn he can shoot. Next to Splicer is Blue, our tech expert; he was your typical geek, underground sort of hacker before the alliance found him and put him on the team. Ice is our medic; he got his name after a piece of shrapnel shredded one of his eyes open, and needed to get it replaced mechanically, an operation that left it scarred and milky-coloured, like a sheet of ice. Ghost ran heavy munitions; he’s a brute with a special knack for explosives, but I guess that’s part of the job. At the end of the line is Charlie, but the team took to calling her Buttercup, although she’s hardly what I’d call sweet. She works the stealth system on our mech-suits better than most, so she normally acts as our recon unit.8964 copyright protection519ＰＥＮＡＮＡdZ2YXnM07q 維尼

I see a red light go bleep. The back of the hangar opens up over the city and the rain and wind lashes past angrily. From the shuttle the city is just a giant maze of fluorescent blue and orange lights whizzing past. I close my eyes and feel the exhilarating cold on my face. I hear the voice of our pilot over the intercom. “Departure in 10, cap.” He counts down, and then we jump.8964 copyright protection519ＰＥＮＡＮＡfvnYgsPeRy 維尼

Hitting the ground after leaping from a speeding shuttle is always a shock, but the mech-suits take most of the force. I shake it off and cock my pistol. We’re on the balcony of the penthouse floor with the noise and colours of the city behind us. Blue runs a scan of the floor. “7 hostiles spread throughout, looks like they’re patrolling.”8964 copyright protection519ＰＥＮＡＮＡvOOEG4XGnY 維尼

I had a feeling Vayne might have been onto us. “So they’re expecting company.”8964 copyright protection519ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4OAqrRoWCi 維尼

“There’s a lot of heat coming from the room at the end of the hall, and there’s someone inside, it could be the operations hub.”8964 copyright protection519ＰＥＮＡＮＡTufS4gWNbs 維尼

“Vayne,” I murmur. “Alright, Ice and I will go down the hallway to secure Vayne in the operations hub. Splicer and Blue sweep left and take down the guards, Ghost and Buttercup sweep right.”8964 copyright protection519ＰＥＮＡＮＡyXmgvwOATG 維尼

Then I see Blue go wide-eyes. “Take cover!” Without thinking we dart behind the flower beds as a volley of machine gun fire tears over the balcony. Amidst the rain we get a shower of glass as well. I check to see that we all made it. Ghost, Blue and I are on the right side; Splicer, Ice and Charlie are on the left.8964 copyright protection519ＰＥＮＡＮＡocsJZRAtTf 維尼

I turn to Blue and he scowls at his scanner. “Oh,” he remarks, “now it picks up the sensors.”8964 copyright protection519ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9jWOw4W6IK 維尼

Without our com units they wouldn’t have heard me over the rain and the bullets. “Never mind the sensors. This mission just got a lot messier. Blue, can you block their sensors now?”8964 copyright protection519ＰＥＮＡＮＡD4N6ZK94Ll 維尼

“Yes ma’am.”8964 copyright protection519ＰＥＮＡＮＡaphHLP4W9f 維尼

“Alright, do it. The rest of you, lay down suppressive fire and keep their attention. Buttercup and I will flank them using the stealth systems and see how many we can pick off.”8964 copyright protection519ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4LZDPNjEzT 維尼

Blue gives me the thumbs up. “You’re good to go, ma’am.” I nod to Buttercup and activate the stealth system, and a moment later it’s like she, nor I, don’t even exist. I sneak away, out of their line of fire. The gunshots are just added thunder to the storm, and as I climb through the window they become a rumble. I’m in a neat, empty little bedroom, and I move on as the stealth system flickers off. In the next room there’s a man perched up near the window, shooting away. I raise my pistol and bang! He falls to the floor. Of course, they would have heard the shot, so I quietly hide behind the door. The next man runs in and I see fear grip his features. He sees me, so I let my spider-blade swing out and I drive it into his chest. I leave the two bodies – one with smoke rising from his bullet hole, the other bleeding out – I report my kills and head to the next room.8964 copyright protection519ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7G5eGNXJFy 維尼

The heavy rumble has become a small clamour. Buttercup reports her kill. I look into the hallway, at the end opposite to the operations hub, to see a ball of plasma the size of my fist rip through a man’s torso and splatter along the wall. Splicer reports the kill. A few seconds later the shooting stops and I hear Ghost’s voice. “Hostile down. That’s 5.”8964 copyright protection519ＰＥＮＡＮＡIYLn9jxrZ2 維尼

Blue responds. “The last two are still in operations. No sign of Vayne?”8964 copyright protection519ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ4pbkTvi62 維尼

I lead my team down the shattered hallway. “He’s alive.” We stack up at the door, Splicer behind me with pistols at the ready. Blue plants the small explosive and I take a deep breath. There’s a flash, and a thin cloud of smoke, and then we’re in. I shoot the man on the left before he can raise a weapon and he topples limp over a computer chair. That just leaves Vayne; trying to aim a pistol at all of us at once, with a stupid mad grin plastered to his face.8964 copyright protection519ＰＥＮＡＮＡhBTz5UCT2P 維尼

I tell him to drop his weapon but he stubbornly refuses. There’s something wrong about his eyes. “There’s no way out of this,” I say. “It’s over.”8964 copyright protection519ＰＥＮＡＮＡMFmGZy8MXO 維尼

His purple eyes zap over to me and I feel them digging in. He laughs at us. “Oh, it’s not quite over!” And then he lifts his own gun to his temple and bang!8964 copyright protection519ＰＥＮＡＮＡFdayaMrZt0 維尼

Cursing, I watch his body topple to the floor. Mission failure. I look to my team and we’re all silent, but the job isn’t finished yet. “Blue, see what data you can salvage from the computers. Charlie, call the shuttle for evac. and tell HQ what happened here; target is dead but we’re salvaging what we can from his computers.”8964 copyright protection519ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1Sd6baWvQs 維尼

The computer screens light up, and we hear a scrambled automated voice. It sounds like Vayne. “I told you it wasn’t quite over.”8964 copyright protection519ＰＥＮＡＮＡxCg2oe59MY 維尼

I turn to Blue, who is tapping away at one of the computers. “What is that?”8964 copyright protection519ＰＥＮＡＮＡbIoqCZX3e2 維尼

“I don’t know, I’ve never seen anything like it.”8964 copyright protection519ＰＥＮＡＮＡoWiibmWzoR 維尼

The voice came from all of the computers. “Ever wondered why the alliance shut down the Nexus Division?”8964 copyright protection519ＰＥＮＡＮＡG1Fn6UsQ0i 維尼

I look up, but I honestly don’t know where I’m looking. Someone is watching us. “Who are you?”8964 copyright protection519ＰＥＮＡＮＡQHoW9Ph1fl 維尼

“You don’t know? You just saw me kill myself.”8964 copyright protection519ＰＥＮＡＮＡWqpV08yj3N 維尼

I turn around. My eyes flicker towards Vayne’s dead body. “That’s impossible."8964 copyright protection519ＰＥＮＡＮＡu2efxMKO5n 維尼

The voice continues. “Not entirely. The alliance shut us down because we found a way to establish a link between the human mind and a virtual intelligence. You destroyed my body but my mind is now a part of the nexus, and just think of the damage I can do now.”8964 copyright protection519ＰＥＮＡＮＡQlNKabfptk 維尼

I take a step back. I’m no computer genius but this sounds bad, so I glance at Blue for confirmation and he just stares forward blankly. “Ma’am,” he says, “I don’t know how to put this, but if we don’t find a way to take down the nexus, the alliance is done for.”8964 copyright protection519ＰＥＮＡＮＡKDg5Cr4uBS 維尼

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