"Security forces deploying to all areas within the spire. Please stay in your homes and secure your doors." "Secure your doors?" Kami said with a devillish grin. She walked up to the nearest door, flipped her Javelin around, so the rifle's stock was facing the door, then blipped the throttle. A quick flash of fire blasted a red hot hole in the door. "Oh, darn, this one isn't looking very 'secure.' Freaking plastic doors. When will you people learn?" She tossed a smoke grenade inside. Cackling like a madwoman, she skated away, carving through the streets until a man came running out of the cloud of smoke, coughing and wheezing. "Gotcha!" Kami said as she rode up behind him and whacked him in the back of the head with her rifle, using it like an enormous club. The force of the blow made him do a front flip and he crumpled to the ground. "Hmmm... you're not Linda, are you? Well, that sucks," Kami said, leisurely skating in circles around the unconscious man. "On to the next one!" She dropped to one knee, took aim, and blasted a door across the street from the first, choosing one at random. The shot took out the door, most of the wall, and probably obliterated half of the apartment behind it. "Let's see what's behind door number two!" She waited. And waited. And waited a little longer. "Oops, I think I killed 'em." Kami said, when it became clear no one was going to come out. "Security forces deploying to all areas within the spire. Please stay in your homes and secure your doors," the annoying computerized voice said again, for what seemed like the millionth time. "Yeah, keep tellin' 'em that," Kami said. "I mean, c',mon, could you possibly take any longer to get here?" In truth, only a minute or so had passed, but anything that takes longer than the blink of an eye is too long for Kami. Impatience is a virtue. She skated around the tree at the center of the courtyard, using a low flame from her rifle's thrusters to set the grass on fire. The flames began to spread until they were lapping at the base of the tree. Kami fired three shots into the air from her handgun. "Dear people of G-Block!" she shouted, silhouetted against the smoke and flames. Her cybernetically enhanced blue eyes glowed like a demon's. "Do you feel secure behind your puny doors!? Do you feel safe in your stupid tower!?" Without warning, Kami fired at the tunnel connecting G-Block to the rest of the spire. The impact rattled the walls and much of the hallway collapsed, leaving only a narrow passage. "You think because you live in a big metal dick in the sky you're safe!? I will tear this place down, brick by fucking brick, and show you sheltered shitstains what the real world looks like!!" Kami fired a second shot at the balcony and laughed like a psychopath as rubble and debris rained down around her. "Linda Grey, come out and play. Bitch, I ain't got all day."
Emma was easily pissed off by the random guy, trying to tell her what to do. She was perfectly capable of not throwing her knives. But she wanted to anyways. Racing past the sentimental idiot by the door, she flung a knife towards his foot. Then she raced after the other guy, who became her favorite person after the second murder. "Well then, it would seem its time for you to die." Emma smiled and brushed past him, and saddled up to the child in the room. Mouthing the words, "He's mine jackass." Towards the other guy, she wrapped an arm around him and hid a knife behind her back
“Understood Master, unleashing Junebug virus programs. The simulation accounted for Corporate level ICE, so finding Ms. White’s location will take a little time. I will report any progress straight away.” After thirty seconds the AI managed to produce the location. Kami had in fact arrived at the correct area, with Grey currently residing on the second floor furthest away from the stairs, next to the floors armoury. With a slow final breath, he bellowed his voice loud over the sirens, "This is the ISEC Bomb Squad here to evacuate. Cease and desist!" Aaron winced but kept one eye open. Please, please, please don't fucking shoot me. There was silence from inside. Not a single person responding to the commands. If they were the bomb squad, then it would be shown on one of the many screens spread around the area, instead of having someone come and shout through their door, not to mention that they would have just opened the door themselves. Then Alexander broke the door down via fleshy battering ram and stormed into the room. "Shit." Was all that the occupants said, before trying to sprint away, dashing into a room. The mother who is in her late thirties managed to get in first, pressing a button on the other side that caused a thick metal blast door to begin descending. "Julie, here quickly." She half cried, crouching with her arms open in an attempt to rescue her daughter, while the father stood up straight and spread his arms, as if trying to block them. It would have been somewhat impressive, if not for the fact he was 5' 3". "Linda Grey, come out and play. Bitch, I ain't got all day." There was silence for a moment, then a moment more till almost thirty seconds had passed. Many of the homes had some sort of defence system installed, similar to the panic room of the other target, but applying to the entire home. Yet the flat at the end one floor up did not. Instead, there was the sound of a door opening as a broad shouldered woman wearing appeared. There was a clatter of steel as the shutter outside her specific area was shot apart by a hail of bullets, before she jumped down to Kami's level. Her form was coated by a mixture of metal plates, exposed wires and enough ammo belts to maintain a small war. In her hands was a large machine gun, the exoskeleton letting her hold it as if it was a carbine. "Neither do I." She murmured, before the barrel started to rotate as she prepared another barrage.
"You've got to be fucking kidding me!" Alexander bellowed as he witnessed the team's lack of coordination finally starting to truly mess things up. "You!" He shouted in Emma's general direction, immediately dropping the crazy attacker act. "Don't you dare discard the only trump card we have, we need that girl alive, and you!" He shouted at what he presumed to be the girls father, "Don't do anything stupid, come with us and the girl lives. I'm having a really bad fucking day right now, so this offer lasts exactly ten seconds." "Master?" "Well, what do you want?!" "I have located the position of Mrs. Grey and she..." "Well don't tell me, tell the gamer girl!" "Yes Master." Kami's computer pinged before MAIA's voice came through as matter-of-factly as ever. "Miss Azata, Mrs. White appears to be about eight metric meters from your position. I should warn you though that the files describe her as heavily armed and extremely dangerous."
“Yes, finally!” Kami cried with glee as she rocketed away, putting the burning tree between herself and the hail of bullets. She laughed as she shoved another round into her Javelin and snapped the receiver shut. “Thought I was gonna have to play by myself all day, Linda. So glad you could make it.” She tossed a smoke grenade in the woman’s general direction and, using her gun like a pogo stick, rocketed up to the second floor, where she grabbed the railing and swung down behind the safety of its low walls. "Miss Azata, Mrs. White appears to be about eight metric meters from your position. I should warn you though that the files describe her as heavily armed and extremely dangerous." “Eight? Nah, it's 22.452 meters now. C’mon, try to keep up,” Kami said. A heads-up display in the corner of her vision, right next to the ticking clock, kept an accurate reading of the distance to her target. Now that I've seen you, you're as good as dead, Kami thought. Kami wheeled away at high speed, staying in a low crouch, so she couldn’t be seen. Using the balcony as cover, she circled around nearly halfway to the other side of the courtyard, behind Linda’s last known location, and took aim. She didn’t have to look over the balcony’s wall or peek out of cover; she just aimed down, at where she’d last seen Mrs. Grey, and squeezed the trigger.
Things were stsrting to get interesting, Lizzie saw. The people targeted by Chesire and his crew were running. And through the heat another figure, possibly this Linda Grey came out, and was engaging with her. Through her vision, Lizzie saw the woman's gun emitting sharp bursts of heat. Probably some kind of auto rifle. And the asian girl's gun was easily distinguisable. Good, Lizzie loved an easy target. She took out her 007. Playing with her gun a little, she turned ot to sniper mode. Capable of hitiing target up to 800 meters away. That is if the auto aim system works, obviously. She crept to the warehouse's entrance, and locked the gun's aiming system at Linda. Then, praying to whatever was up therethat it would work this time, she pressed the trigger.
Grey had already moved by the time Kami fired, the pistons on her legs letting her jump up through the hole she'd made, and dodge Kami's estimated shot. Linda's shot was a little better, striking her in the arm and causing her to give out something between a hiss and a roar. While not quite hanging limply, it became apparent her arm was no longer useable. However, it was the arm she was using to steady her gun, not to fire it. "I'll kill you all." She growled, firing at Kami. The guns recoil proved too much however, and she was not able to fire it for long before it veered off horribly. It also became apparent that she was filled with paranoia, glancing around and moving from side to side, as if expecting another shot to hit her at any moment.
Dammit, dammit, dammit, thought Lizzie ro herself, as her shot hit Linda's arm instead of her chest. She played slightly with the auto-aim, and fired again.
"Now it's a party," Kami whispered to herself as she rocketed away to find another firing position. With Linda' ability to aim severely compromised, the tide of battle had shifted. More importantly, the woman was terrified... which is exactly what Kami wanted. Guerilla tactics was her specialty. Keep the enemy guessing. Make them think you can strike from anywhere, at any time. Might even be able to take her alive, Kami thought. Not that she actually wanted to. Hostages just slowed her down. She stayed low, moving from cover to cover, and keeping quiet. She reached one of the destroyed apartments she'd fired into earlier and crouched just inside the doorway to reload the Javelin. Five shells left, Kami thought as she checked her reserves. I'll save those for later. She began quickly gathering anything metal. Bits of shrapnel, nuts and bolts. She took her last smoke grenade, along with the metal scraps,wrapped it in a piece of cloth, and stuffed it into the gun's receiver. Technically, the railgun could fire any ferrous metal. It's computer would compensate and adjust the firing settings to match whatever payload was placed inside. Accuracy was another story, but Kami knew she could easily get within spitting distance of Linda. Armed with this ad hoc shotgun cocktail, Kami charged back out. "Yolo!" she screamed as she hopped over the railing, fired a shotgun blast at Linda's feet, and then activated her thrusters for a divebomb attack, just as the smoke grenade exploded.
Before Kami could charge the woman Lizzie's shot struck the woman in the back of the head, sending her tumbling forward, on top of Kami. The full weight of the exoskeleton and gun pushing down on her. It was then, in the top corner of each of their visions, the timer hit zero, and the elevators that moved up and down the spire stopped, two on each. As the steel slid apart, a dozen men came from each. Nine were standard riflemen, wearing ballistics vests and each bearing two grenades. The other three were wearing exo suits. Two had riot shields, though made of steel to account for their strength, and bearing shotguns. The other had no weapons, but it was apparent from the various antennas and sensors that they were in control of something, though it was yet to be apparent.
"I love you too, Linda, but now's not the time for hugs," Kami said, trying to squeeze out from under the headless corpse lying atop her. She was still gripping the Javelin by one hand, while the other was pinned to her side. Meanwhile, the smoke grenade she'd fired just before colliding with Linda began to waft around her, concealing them both in a hazy cloud. Kami didn't even see who'd taken the shot that blew half of Linda's face off. Once I figure out which one of you assholes stole my kill, I swear I'm gonna- And that's when the sound of elevator doors and stomping boots signalled the arrival of security forces. Okaaaay, time to leave. "Javelin, disable containment field and anti-recoil protocols," Kami whispered, using voice commands to adjust the gun's settings. "This is gonna hurt." She squeezed the trigger and the gun emitted a low buzzing sound as its magnetic field --which was normally contained within the rifle's barrel-- overloaded. The resulting electromagnetic pulse shoved Linda's body a few feet away and sent Kami and the Javelin hurtling in the opposite direction. She slammed into the wall. Kami quickly snatched up the Javelin and ran as fast as she could toward the apartment she'd initially entered; the one she'd blasted into from outside of the Spire. Because of the EMP, her gadgets and even the Javelin itself would be incapacitated for a few seconds. But a few seconds was all she needed to get the hell out of there.
There was the sound of heavy footsteps as the two squads began to move up the stairs, quickly reaching the flat where the squad had grabbed the family apart from the mother. The men with shotguns had taken point, keeping their shields level as they went up the stairs so that no attack from the front would work, and would greatly endanger anyone who tried. Inside the apartment was a much more chaotic scene. A look of resignation came down on the man's face, while his shoulders slumped down. He closed his eyes and walked over to the table, sitting down and preparing for what was to come. The mother had moved away from the door as the metal plate continued to lower, now being only two foot off of the ground. Unable to retrieve her daughter, she was clearly sobbing. On Kami's end, things were going much, much better. The EMP had caused the three in suits to freeze up, the electricity no longer going to their motors, while the guards associated with them set to work. Six riflemen from each squad continued onwards, following the operative beginning to lay down some fire. It was by no means accurate, more intended to suppress and limit movement than kill. Three from each set to work on the exoskeleton, manually resetting the fuses to speed up the process. However, those in the unarmed suits seemed to be in significant pain, the emp causing surges of electricity to enter their neural implants and start significantly damaging their brains.
Yay, thought Lizzie to herself, as her shot blew Linda' face off. She gave her gun a gentle, loving stroke. Then her elation turned to horror, as the elevators stopped, and two dozen men came out. Two squads moved up the tower, while the rest came after Crazy Asia. "Hey hey people, attention," she called through her computer, hoping the connection will work. God, she had to have those earpiecesfor the next mission. "You have two squads coming your way right now." Then she turned her attention to the asian chick. The girl was crafty, Lizzie had to admit. She used her Javelin to blast herself backwards, while at the same time jamming the three vuards' exoskeletons. Three people from each squad were busy repairing their comrades' exoskeletons. Lizzie attatched a grenade launcher to her gun, and fired three shots, to the three stuck exoskeletons. She always loved an easy target.
Guards were about to storm the room. The mother apparently cared enough about her own safety that she was willing to sacrifice her husband and daughter for it. And he was stuck with psycho-girl and propaganda. What the fuck did he get himself into? "MAIA, why is that door still closing?" "Independent system, Master." "Of course it is!" He made a few big steps towards the door and a wire shot from his cybernetic arm into the electronic lock of the door. He ducked down and used his normal hand to grab the ankle of this rather rebellious woman and gave it a good pull. It may not be his cybernetic arm, but he'd done a lot of strength training lately. If she didn't brace herself she would surely fall on her back. "Look ma'am, I admire your desire for self preservation, but I really don't have time for this shit right now." Shooting a quick look at Emma he added "Feel free to help me any time!" He kept pulling, trying to get her out of that room, but she struggled rather fiercely. Meanwhile, the door was still closing. "MAIA, the door!"
Kami ran like hell toward the apartment door. The guards who weren’t spazzing out were peppering her with gunfire, but they were too slow. They always were. She dove through the doorway and could hear their bullets pinging off of the walls. Meanwhile, her own toys were still rebooting. The simulation timer reappeared in the corner of her vision, flashing zero. That was a good sign; it meant the cybernetic enhancements on her eyes were back online. Her wrist computer was working again, too. The Javelin should be functioning again shortly after. Kami scrambled over the pile of rubble, dragging the Javelin behind her. The apartment was a total mess and looked like someone had blasted a hole in the all with a cannon. Oh, wait, that was me! Ha! High altitude winds whipped through the breach. Kami crawled over the destroyed furniture and bits of concrete and drywall and stood on the edge. The Javelin still wasn’t online yet, but she had about thirty stories of freefall for that to sort itself out. No problem. Without hesitating, she swung the dead gun between her legs, jumped off, and giggled like a kid in a candy store as the ground rushed up. To her disappointment, the gun’s thrusters kicked in shortly after, long before she could even think about becoming a splat on the ground. “Boring,” Kami remarked as the soared upwards and leveled out, flying in a holding pattern around the Spire’s upper levels. She tapped her wrist computer. “Hey, idiots… erm, I mean ‘teammates.’ If you can hear this, I’ve got a question. Did any of you geniuses bother to actually take the targeting beacons I gave you?” She reached behind her back --which is easier said than done when riding a missile-- and opened the gun’s receiver, to reload it. The wind snatched it open and she nearly lost her balance… but that was half the fun, right! “Please say ‘no,’” Kami added as she shoved a round inside and slammed it shut. “Because I’m really, REALLY looking forward to shooting at random. What’s a little friendly fire amongst… well, friends?”
“Hey, idiots… erm, I mean ‘teammates.’ If you can hear this, I’ve got a question. Did any of you geniuses bother to actually take the targeting beacons I gave you?” "You've got to be kidding me," sighed Lizzie. "Was this before or after I joined?" “Please say ‘no. Because I’m really, REALLY looking forward to shooting at random. What’s a little friendly fire amongst… well, friends?” Lizzie laughed, "Just don't shoot at the warehouse, crazy bitch," she said. "You know they make you watch your death in simulation?I'd rather not see me all bloody and, well, dead."
The door to the safe room stopped closing, with enough room for someone to slide through on their stomach. However, that was the least of their problems. One of the mechs with a shield was now at the still open door, putting his shield in the doorway to block any escape, yet he did not fire. Instead there was a series of distinct metal clinks, the sounds of pins being removed from grenades before half a dozen metal spheres were thrown inside, and the other guard with a shield put his on top of the others, preventing anyone from jumping over. The father seemed to have expected it, and quickly flipped the table and get behind it. It would not save him. The woman fell on her back, now captured. On Kami's end, things were going much better, however, it became apparent that that could change very quickly. As she was going up the side of the spire, she passed one of the cooling vents that ran up the side of the tower. Moving up the inside were a small army of drones, antibodies to find and remove the infection that was the operatives. However, the EMP on the controller early had caused half of them to stop moving, resulting in what might be described as a traffic jam inside. The three guards that had been incapacitated by Kami were easy targets for the grenades, the engineers noticing and either running away, or attempting to get behind the shield of their allies. One of the suits with a shield managed to get their arm working in time, able to shield herself from the blast, but leaving her allies to die.
Finally the door stopped closing. Alexander made a mental note to have a little chat with whoever programmed this simulation about the standard protection of door locks. Having his mechanical hand now free again he could easily pull the woman out from under the door back into the room. All three targets nicely gathered in one place and all the fight crushed out of them. Finally, some progress. Apart , of course, from the grenades that just bounced into the room. You've got to be fucking kidding me. No other exits, no time to think of a new game-plan. Well psycho-girl, I guess I'll see you in the next level. He flicked one of Kami's trackers towards the shield wall and crawled underneath the gap as fast as he could. The moment he was on the other side he rolled to the side, as far away from the hole under the door as possible and waited for the blast. "Gamer Girl, if you have a shot, take it!"
"Just don't shoot at the warehouse, crazy bitch," Lizzie said. "You know they make you watch your death in simulation? I'd rather not see me all bloody and, well, dead." "I'd love to see that," Kami said. "Hell, if I knew where you are, I'd have blown the tits off you hours ago. I'd be doing you a favor." The verbal jabs helped pass the time and Kami was about to give Lizzie an earful, but was interrupted by a bright blue dot appearing in her vision. One of these morons had finally activated a targeting beacon. Next to it was a small readout, showing the distance to the target. It was pretty deep inside the spire. She would have to punch through a lot of concrete and steel to hit that and pray the shot didn't ricochet off course. "Gamer Girl, if you have a shot, take it!" "Oh, now you need me?" Kami said as she veered up, gaining altitude. "I was falling asleep out here." Once she was high enough, she cut the thrusters and swung herself off of the gun, so she could line up a shot. "By the way, you owe me for this," Kami added. "I accept booze or cash..." There was no scope; she just aimed by feel. Almost there. "But you can start by not calling me Gamer Girl." Right there. Gotcha. She squeezed the trigger and the recoil made her do a backflip. "Weeeee," Kami said as she swung the gun back under herself and narrowly managed to pull up before hitting the ground.
As the grenades exploded and he found himself indeed safe from their blast, he took a second to catch his breath. He straightened the collar of his armour like it was a jacket and leaned against the safe-room's wall. Because of the explosion he missed half of what that flying nutjob had to say, but he picked up the last part. "I would if anyone had had the courtesy to introduce themselves before this shitstorm started. I don't know about you, but I don't know who....." Whatever he said afterward even he couldn't hear over the sound of a railgun blast crashing through his safe-room, taking half of his good arm with it as it passed. He would have made the mental note to confirm positions before using artillery like that, if he wasn't too busy screaming in agonizing pain. Stumbling through the newblown hole, driven by an adrenaline-infused rage, he looked at the other newblown hole in the shieldwall the guards had put up. He raised his cybernetic arm and prepared to take as many of these bastards with him as possible. Killed by friendly fire... Elizabeth was never going to have him hear the end of this.
Lizzie whistled to herself as two of the exoskeletals exploded from her grenades. One of them however, managed to raise his shield in time. Her grenade bounced back, and smashed into the wall near the warehouse. Shit, thought Lizzie to herself, as the blast threw her back. Talking about shitty luck
"Oops," Kami said as the screams of agony filled her ears. "Sorry, I guess..." It's only a sim. He'll be fine, she thought. Very pissed off at me, but totally fine. On the bright side, she now knew how many floors the Javelin could penetrate. She might as well go check on him. Even if it wasn't the smartest move, it would show she gave a damn. He ought to appreciate that. Besides, the mission had gone to shit; she could do whatever the hell she wanted now and it really wouldn't make much of a difference. Kami flew upward, toward the Spire's top and cut power to the Javelin's thrusters. Momentum carried her up the last couple of stories and she softly landed on the roof. The view from there was... rather lousy. Lazy ass sim can't even render a decent landscape, she thought. There was nothing but flat, dull, brown stretching away into infinity in all directions. "Stop whining, Pussycat, I'm coming," Kami said as she shoved another round into the gun and aimed its muzzle at the ground beneath her feet. "I'm taking the elevator." She squeezed the trigger and the tower's roof seemed to disintegrate. The noise was amazing. She fell for what felt like a really long time before landing atop a pile of rubble. If her random guess was accurate (and why wouldn't it be; random guessing had always worked for her in the past) it would take one more shot to actually reach Cheshire's level. The dust was still clearing as Kami popped open the gun's receiver and began reloading. But, as it cleared, she found herself surrounded by red dots. Laser sights, she realized. When the dust finally cleared, there were two dozen security guards standing around her, with their weapons ready. "Oh... hi, there," Kami said with a nervous laugh. "Sorry, you'll have to take the stairs. This elevator's for one. No hard feelings, right?" They were not amused. Each one squeezed the trigger. So did she.
As each of their simulated bodies was destroyed, their wounds served as a clear reminder that they were in the simulation. Instead of blood pouring out or flesh being visible, bright orange polygons could be seen inside, vaguely resembling the shape of bullet holes, but clearly not as well rendered. Either the AI had gotten lazy during optimisation and decided to conserve rendering power, or it simply decided that showing gore wasn't worth the effort. The main cause of people no longer function as agents, apart from death, was psychological issues caused by people losing their friends and having to murder others on regular basis. As each of them was terminated, a small portrait of their faces would appear in the top right corner with a red X by the side, appearing for five seconds before fading away. Once they were all removed, all they could see was black, before a series of pictures appeared on the screen. At the bottom was each of their portraits again, with their own times of death, while at the top were the images of the four targets. Three of them had red Xs over them, and a line linked Grey to both Kami and Lizzie, while in the bottom of the husband and child's portraits were small stylised pictures of a guards helmet. The word "FAILURE" appeared in bold red text in front of the pictures, before fading. Eventually, the simulation started reconstructing, though this time each of them was in their own small glass cubicle, arranged in a ring so that they could all see each other. Each of them had a grey table and chair, both holding an untextured look. The entire room seemed a little off. The lighting seemed off as well, curling around corners slightly. On top of the table was a small cube, easily holdable in two hands, with each face being divided into nine different coloured sections, with a total of six colours. It became clear that each row and collum could be rotated, moving it to another face. "This is a challenge of intelligence and dexterity. You are to make it so that each face only holds one colour. If needed, you are allowed to request aid from your team."
“This must be punishment for failing to murk that family,” Kami muttered under her breath as she picked up the cube. She had actually solved one of these --the proper way-- before. It took weeks… mainly because she couldn’t sit still for more than a few minutes at a time without getting pissed at it. She would turn it a few times, then give up and toss it aside until later. She eventually got it done. Congratulations! Well, not today. Ain't nobody got time for that shit. Kami turned the cube halfway, so its edges were at a 45 degree angle, then began bashing it on the edge of the desk until one of the corner pieces broke off. She then pried away that piece and began disassembling the damn thing. Within a minute or two, she had taken it all apart and began putting it back together. “Done,” she said when it was whole once more, with all of the colors on their proper sides. She tossed the useless device over her shoulder, leaned back, and put her feet up on the desk. “Next!"
"A rubik's cube? What is this, gradeschool?" Alexander had always thought of the rubik's cube as a silly waste of time. Solving it had nothing to do with skill or intelligence, but merely with the memorization and fast execution of predetermined algorythms. Being a hacker though, and an arrogant self-centered one at that, he did have a go at it once. He started by looking for the algorythms he needed to move squares without moving any others and went on to solve the whole thing in under an hour. It had been a while, but after taking a good look the patterns came back to him. He'd done them again a few times in the company of others, just to show off how useless the concept was. I guess that his superiority complex was actually an advantage in this case. He was halfway through the puzzle when he heard a loud banging noise coming from the stall next to him. That girl might be a psycopathic maniac, but she's got the instinct of a hacker. Push boundaries until you find the spot where they break. He wasn't going to admit it any time soon, but he was starting to like this girl. Of course his competitive side got the better of him and he made sure he finished the puzzle about ten seconds before she did. "I thought you said you were good at these games. What took you so long?"
